THE GENERAL SUBJECT. 
hlS, 5 
verschiedenen Insecten-Ordnungen. Z. wiss. Zool. xxx, Suppl. 
pp, 556-592, pis. xxiii. & xxiv. (reviewed in Am. Nat. xii. p. 616). 
The wide hiatus between the complex structure of the brain in the 
social Hymenoptera and that of other insects with less developed instincts 
is now apparently bridged by a knowledge of the cerebral organs in the 
common cockroach, Periplaneta orientalis^ the structure of which can be 
homologized without great difficulty with that of the bees. 'J.^he term 
“ brain ” is restricted to the upper pharyngeal ganglion and its append- 
ages. Its structure is described in detail in P. orientalis (based upon over 
2000 microscopical dissections), more briefly in various Hymenoptera^ 
Orihoptera (excluding Blatta'), Lepidoptera^ Coleoptera, Nev.roptera^ Di- 
ptera, and Hemiptera. A table (p. 581) shows the different degrees of 
development of the various component parts, the highe.st being Vespa 
and the lowest in the Hemiptera. The author considers that the single 
parts of the brain have their homologues in the different Orders, and is 
thus enabled to give an outline of the comparative brain anatomy in 
Insecta. The remarkable central body is always present in the imago 
state of all Orders, but almost absent in Lepidopterous larvas. The 
antennas are probably organs of smell. There is no connection of nerve- 
fibre with any part of the brain except the lobes and surrounding sub- 
stance. 
Forel, August. Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Sinnesempfindungen der 
Insekten. MT. Miinch. ent. Ver. ii. pp. 1-21. 
The commencement of a proposed series of articles on the sensitive 
faculties of insects, devoted (after some preliminary general deductions) 
to that of sight. The Hymenoptera, and especially the Formicidce, fur- 
nish (as might be anticipated) the chief illustrations. 
Girard, M. Catalogue raisonne des auimaux utiles et nuisibles de la 
France. Paris: 1878, 8vo, two fascc. 
Consists chiefly of insects. Noticed in Pet. Nouv. ii. p. 268, & Nouv. 
et faits (2) No. 21, p. 81 ; an abstract by the author himself in Bull. Soc. 
Ent. Fr. (5) viii. p. c. 
Goss, H. Introductory papers on fossil Entomology. Ent. M. M. xv. 
pp. 1-5, 52-56, 124-127. 
After a general discussion of the bearing of fossil Entomology on the 
question of evolution and antiquity of types, the author commences a 
proposed review of records on the subject by an analysis of species of 
the Devonian period. 
. The Insect Fauna of the Secondary or Mesozoic Period. London: 
1878, 8vo, pp. 37. 
The second of the three proposed papers on fossil Insects mentioned 
in Zool. Rec. xiv. Ins. p. 1, reprinted from the Proceedings of the Geo- 
logists’ Association, vi. (No. 3). 
G RARER, V. Vorlaufige Ergebnisse einer grosseren Arbeit fiber ver- 
gleichende Enibryologie der Insecten. Arch. mikr. Anat. iv. 
pp. 630-640. 
