266 
The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. 
[Nov. 
it has merely guided and supported the setae which form the true boring- 
tool. This point should be stressed in view of the fact that the fallacy 
which supposes the insect to plunge its whole beak bodily into the tissues 
of the host is still widely held by those who are not specialists in the 
Hemiptera. 
Even when the labial sheath has been folded back the boring still 
continues deeper, until even the labrum, a flexible flap protecting the front 
of the mouth-parts, may have to be bent forward to allotv the setae to 
embed themselves deeper. In this position the insect may continue for 
long periods, imbibing the sap, and making no movement save an occasional 
stir of an antenna when another bug approaches. 
Fig. 1 shows the bug testing the surface as a preliminary to feeding. 
In fig. 2 the maxillary and mandibular setae have bored in to such a depth 
as to necessitate bending of the sheath, which is formed by the four-jointed 
labium. In fig. 3 the setae are inserted so deeply that the labium is 
tucked right out of the way, lying along the venter in its usual position 
of repose. 
UNIVERSITY AND SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
International Geological Congress. 
The following letter giving notice of the forthcoming Geological Congress, 
meeting in Belgium in 1922, has been received by the Director of the New 
Zealand Geological Survey, to whom those wishing to receive further circulars 
should apply. 
[ Translation .] ' 
International Geological Congress.—Belgian Meeting, 1922. 
July, 1921. 
The honour of organizing the next International Geological Congress has been 
reserved for Belgium since 1913. The brutal invasion of our soil in spite of all treaties, 
the ruins which accumulated in the course of the war, the distress of the entire country, 
have forced a long adjournment of this meeting. But sympathetic requests, coming from 
all quarters, induce us to delay no longer. 
In the name of the Organizing Committee we have the honour to bring to your 
knowledge that an International Geological Congress will be held in Belgium in the latter 
half of August, 1922, and to invite you to take part in it. 
Excursions will be organized before, during, and after the meeting. They will 
extend over the whole of our country, of which the varied geological constitution has 
already been studied in great detail. 
