THE GENERAL SUBJECT. 
Ins. 9 
the splachnodemes. The upper part of the cranium of the bee is 
described; it is strengthened by the endocranium, which consists of a 
pair of pillars arising by strong roots from the cranial floor, and fixed 
above to the clypeus. A similar structure is found in the ant (in which 
there are short tendons in the neck serving to antagonize them), as well 
as in insects of the other principal orders. On examining the mouth of 
the bee, the maxillaa and labium are found to be strung upon a long 
framework, with elbows and hinges, by which they can be thrust out or 
drawn in ; and for this structure the name “ maxillary suspensorium ” is 
proposed. These structures are then described in the bee, and are com- 
pared with the corresponding formations in other insects. In Coleoptera 
the mesocephalic pillars appear as involutions of the wall, and descend 
to the region of the submentum, and near them the maxillary cardines 
are inserted. It appears that the basi-cranial parts of a beetle are in 
other insects condensed into the strong complex system of ridges which 
border the front of the occipital opening. The Coleoptera alone have 
these parts resolved so as to show the primitive arrangement. The paper 
concludes by some brief observations on the cranial splachnodemes. 
Magretti, P. Intorno ad alcune casi di albinismo negli Invertebrati. 
Bol. Sci. Pavia, i. Aprile, 1881. 
Relates to Lasius niger, Linn., Bomhiis senilis, Fabr., and other bees, 
and Armadillus vulgaris, Latr. 
Malfatti, G. Bibliografia degli Insetti fossili Italiani finera conosciuti. 
Atti Soc. Ital. xxiv. 
[Not seen by the Recorder.] 
Mignault, L. D. Quelques notes sur la fertilisation des plantes. Nat. 
Canad. xii. pp. 242-250, woodcuts. 
Muller, H. Die Entwickelung der Blumenthatigkeit der Insekten, 
Kosmos, ix. pp. 204-215, 258-272, 351-370, & 415-432. 
The author discusses the gradual increase of flower-diet among insects 
and the development of the mutual modification and interdependence 
of flowers and insects in Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. These relations 
sometimes differ in the ‘sexes of the same species. Several tables are 
added, showing the adaptibility of bees to their food. 
. Die Wechselbeziehung zwischen den Blumen und den ihre Kreu- 
- zimg vermittelnden Insecten. Schenk’s Handbuch der Botanik. i. 
Breslau : 1879, 8vo. 
Muriu, J. Die Mundtheile der Insecten dargestellt auf funf Wandtafeln. 
Prag : 1878 & 1879. 
Noticed in Psyche, iii. p. 283. 
Nickerl, O. Bericht uber die im Jahre 1880 der Landwirthschaft Boh- 
mens schadlichen Insecten. Prag : 1881, 8vo, pp. 11. 
Only 20 species of various orders noticed. 
18S1. [VOL. XVIII.] 
B 21 
