444 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
lias been evolved, on its own lines, from a common source, as a separate 
branch of the Heterocera. Particular attention is given to the early 
stages of Eriocephala calthella. 
Seasonal Dimorphism and Polymorphism in Japanese Butter- 
flies.* — Dr. A. Fritze describes these phenomena in Papilio machaon , 
P. xuthus , Pieris napi, Colias Jiyale, Terias biformis, T. multiformis , 
Thecla arata , Polyommatus phloeas, Vanessa levana, V. burejana, and 
F. c. aureum . He refers the extraordinary frequency of the pheno- 
mena to the peculiar climatic and physical conditions of the Japanese 
islands. The ends of the chain exhibit Arctic and tropical conditions ; 
and even within narrow range very diverse climates are combined. 
The winter of central Japan is not very different from that of South 
Germany, though the snow melts almost at once, but the summer is much 
hotter. Thus the winter generations are very like, the summer gene- 
rations very different in these two widely separated countries. The 
variety of climate within narrow range may account for the great 
variability of many Japanese butterflies. It seems that, in general, 
higher temperature is associated with darker pigmentation of the 
scales. 
Bees and Dead Carcasses. f — Mr. W. F. Kirby directs attention to 
an article by Baron 0. B. Osten Sacken $ on the production of Bees from 
the carcasses of dead oxen, in which it is pointed out that the original 
cause of this mistaken belief is to be found in the fact that the common 
drone-fly ( Eristalis tenax ), which does lay its eggs on carcasses, has in 
shape, hairy clothing, and colour, a remarkable resemblance to Bees. 
The wasps said to be bred from horses are really examples of Helophilus , 
a genus of Diptera allied to Eristalis. From Mr. Kirby’s extracts it is 
clear that the Baron’s article is well worth reading in its entirety. 
Glandular System of Ants.§ — M. C. Janet has chiefly studied the 
glands of Myrmica rubra , but other ants examined show no essential 
differences from it. All the salivary glands which he describes are 
formed of very large cells, each of which has a large nucleus and a 
small excretory canal. The cells may be isolated, when they are 
spherical or pyriform, or they may be packed more closely and have 
plane surfaces of contact, or they may, lastly, be fused into more or 
less large masses. The gland situated at the base of the antennte of 
Hymenoptera has not, so far as the author knows, been seen by any 
author. The mandibular gland is extremely well developed in Ants, 
its excretory ducts are grouped in bundles and abut on a perforated 
plate situated on the inner side of a large reservoir with very delicate 
walls; this reservoir varies in volume, and the variations are partly 
effected at the expense of the large tracheal trunk which passes near it. 
After giving details as to some other glands, the author states that 
he has till now failed to discover groups belonging morphologically to 
the thoracic segments, but he has found two enormous groups of glandular 
cells which ought to be regarded as belonging to the first post-thoracic 
* Ber. Nat. Ges. Freiburg, viii. (1894) pp. 152-62. 
f Nature, xlix. (1894) pp. 555 and 6. 
X Boll. Soc. Entomol. Ital., xxv. (1893). 
§ Comptes Kendus, cxviii. (1894) pp. 989-92. 
