246 
Notes. 
[April, 
crepitate like the Brachinidse, emitting a yellowish matter, which 
stains the fingers yellow and cannot be removed for some days, 
in spite of washing. Their relation to the ants seems to be 
rather one of mutual tolerance than of actual benefit to either 
party. The ants drag them back if they approach recently- 
hatched larvae. On such occasions they never crepitate, but if 
touched with a straw they discharge with great violence, and any 
ants in the neighbourhood appear as if stunned. 
At the same meeting was exhibited a large green grasshopper, 
recently caught in a conservatory, but belonging to the African 
genus Conocephalus. Though belonging to a phytophagous 
group it was strictly carnivorous, devouring flies, spiders, and 
bits of raw beef. Its introduction into England is not ex- 
plained. 
At the meeting of the Entomological Society, March 7th, 
Mr. McLachlan, F.R.S., exhibited a living specimen of Polistes 
hebrceus , an Indian wasp, which had found its way to London in 
a cargo of bamboo. 
It appears that the prothoracic stigmata of the Elateriaas are 
provided with trap-doors, which close the entrance to the 
tracheae. 
According to “ Ciel et Terre” the caterpillar of Zerene pantciria, 
which feeds on the ash tree, is not at all affected by temperatures 
of — 30° to — 40° C. Neither birds, ants, nor any other insect- 
ivorous creatures attack them. Wet weather is the greatest 
hindrance to their spread. 
Yponomeuta cognatella , -a social caterpillar, often occasions 
great damage in the apple-orchards of Normandy, sometimes 
ruining the entire crop. 
M. R. Blanchard, in a memoir presented to the Academy of 
Sciences, maintains that the chromatophores of the Cephalopoda 
do not differ in their general structure from those of fishes, ba- 
trachians, and especially saurians. The surrounding tissues 
take no part in their movements. 
With reference to the “ Cruelty to Animals Bill ” the “ Medi- 
cal Press and Circular ” remarks — 1 “ It would afford us no sur- 
prise to learn that the majority of Mr. Jesse’s supporters are 
indignantly averse to such restrictions on their playful amuse- 
ments as in the near future will be imposed.” (A very different, 
and we believe much more correct, view than that taken by Mr. 
Lawson Tait.) 
Prof. Nordenskiold intends visiting Greenland in August next, 
with the intention of penetrating into the unknown interior, 
which he believes cannot be permanently glaciated below 8o° 
north latitude. 
