Article beginning on page 124.
Psyche 2:124-126, 1877.

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her at about six, a.m., she had made a flat web about a centimetre in diameter, held by threads extending in various directions to the sides of the bottle (A in the figure). The spi-
der stood over this web and dropped the eggs (E) in a soft mass on it. She then spun threads from one side of the web to the other, over the eggs, until they were completely covered, and finished the cocoon by biting away the threads that held it to the bottle.
This agrees exactly with Menge's description of the cocoon- making of Lycosa piratica. In all his later accounts of this process, in various species of spiders, he says that, after the eggs are laid, the spider drops over them a small quantity of liquid which the eggs absorb, thereby becoming larger. This did not take place in any of the cases which I have seen. The eggs were always laid in a soft and wet condition, the whole mass resembling a drop of jelly, and they were always covered immediately by the spider. J. II. Emerton. Proceedings of the Club.
$ 27. LOCUSTS IN MID-OCEAN. Mr. SAMUEL H. SCUD- DEE. exhibited a bottle full of Acridians put into his hands for identification by Dr. H. A. Hagen. They had been sent to the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, by Rev. N. H. Chamberlain, accompanied by the following memorandum : These locusts came on board the ship H:wr~slmrg, of Boston, on the pas- sage from Bordeaux bound to New Orleans, on the 2d day of November, 1865, in Lat. 25O 28' North, Long. 41å 33' West, making the nearest point of land 1200 miles off. They came on board in a heavy rain squall; the clouds and ship's sails were full of them for two days. E. G. WISWELL, Master.
The locusts prove to be Acridium (Schistocerca) peregrinum, long known for its powers of flight and destruction in the Old World. The Compte-rendu of the Belgian Entomological So- ciety, No. 44, Nov. 3, 1877, p. 3-5, contains a note upon their appearance in Corfu, in Spain, and even in England. The Corfu swarm was composed of the variety with yellow colored hind wings, and therefore came from northern Africa, where that form is found ; while the Spanish and English swarms were



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of the rose colored variety, and must have originated in Sene- gal. But the most interesting point of all is the fact, first pointed out by Still, that all the other species of that group of the genus to which this species belongs are American, whence it is highly probable that A. peregrinum also is indigenous to America, from whence it has been recorded. Its occurrence in mid-ocean in such numbers is a clear indication that it orig- -
inally flew from one continent to the other in sufficient numbers to establish itself in a new home.
( Dec. 24,1877.)
$ 28. CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS ON THE RESPIRATION OF INSECTS.
Mr. G. DIMMOCK called attention to an article, by Robert Pott, in Landwirtlishaftliche Versuchsstationen, xviii, 1875, p. 81, entitled Ueber die Mengen der durch Respiration und Perspiration ausgeschiedenen Kohlensaure bei verschie- denen Tliierspecies in gleichen Zeitraumen und unter ver- schiedenen physiologischen Bedingungen, in which are recorded the results of experiments to determine the amount of carbonic dioxide given off by forty-two different animals, under similar conditions. The results of the experiments on the insects were as follows :
For every one hundred grams weight of living in- sects, there was exhaled during six hours, the annexed weight of carbonic dioxide (COs).
Mistkiifer, Geotiym vernalis, . . . 0.678 grams. Lauf lciifer, Carabus, . . . . . . 0.98 1 ‰Û Engerling, [larva of May-beetle1], . . . 0.592 .. Fuchsschiiietterling [Vanessa uriicae], . . . 0.888 .. Kohlweisslingraupe, Pieris brassicae [larva], . 0.706 '; Ligusterschwarmerraupe [Sphinx liyustri, larva], . 1.321 1,igusterschw~rmcrpuppe [Sphinx liqustri, pupa], 0.780 L' Weidenbohrerraupe, Cossus lipiperda [larva], . 0.51 9 L4 Biirraupe, [Bondyx caryae] . . . . . 0.861 id Grashiipfer[grasshopper], . . . . . 0.475 " ' (andere Species) [grasshopper, another species], . . . . . . 0.442 ..
(andere Species) [grasshopper, another
species], . . . . . . 0.593 "
Gryllus campestris (6 Tage alt) [6 days old], . 1.356 " t. " (and. Individuen) [other individuals], 1,382 .. . . . . .
Blattwanze [Tenthredo?], 1.276
1 The parts in brackets were added by Mr. D. The rest of the table is quoted. It
is to be regretted that writers on cliemical zoology do not always give the scientific names of the species experimented on.




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From Mr. Pott's experiments, of which a more extended ab- stract can be found in the Jahresbericht fur Agriculturchemie for 1875 and 1876, Bd. ii, p. 119-121, it appears that the evo- lution of carbonic dioxide, for like weights and times, is greatest in aves, less in mamtnalia, still less in insecta and batrachia, and least in vermes and molluscs.
In a house-mouse experimented upon, the same author found the amount of carbonic dioxide exhaled varied when the animal was kept in different colored lights, being greater in colored light than in white light, and the greatest in green or yellow light. A series of extended experiments upon the respiration of insects would be a valuable addition to entomological knowl- edge. (Jan. 11, 1878.) -
STRIDULATION OF COLICOPTERA. Is it worth while to note in PSYCHE the two following cases of stridulation ? I would be glad if other persons
having the opportunity would observe the noises made by Coleoptera, and the movements by which they are produced. Passolus corntitus makes a very loud stridulation by rubbing the acute edge of the ventral segments against the inner edge of the elytra. Luca- nus, on the contrary, is entirely mute.
Prionus brevicornis stridulates by rubbing the rough surface of the inner side of the hind thighs, near the distal end, against the outer edge of the epipleurse, i. e., against the lateral margin of the elytra. The movement of the legs is alternate and the sound is made "while the leg moves downward. J. L. LeConie.
ELYTRA OF DYTISCUS AND ACILIUS. On page 436 of Packard's " Guide to the Study of Insects," is a singular error, namely: - " The males of these two genera [Dytiscns and Acilius] often have the elytra deeply furrowed "while those of the females are smooth." The reverse of this is the general fact. The elytra of the males are smooth and those of the females are furrowed.
This arrangement is for the pur-
pose of enabling the males to get a good foothold. One does now and then
get hold of a sn~ooth female, and it would be interesting to know if such females are fertile.
W. V. Andrews.
MODE OF ADVENT OF ANTHRKKUS SCROPHULURIAE. I have noticed the new '( carpet beetle," Anthrenus scrophulariae, in considerable numbers for the past two years mingled with A. varlus, among the dried skeletons of Peabody Museum. As a large number OF these skeletons have been brought from England, I do not doubt but that the beetles were in this case originally from thence, especially as they thus cling to their previous habit of feeding upon dried meat. 8. W. Wi/liston, Sew Haven, Conn. CORRECTION. In no. 45, of PSYCHE, v. 2, p. 101, lines 13 and 14, for Haldeman's read Leidy's.




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