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Psyche 4:254, 1883.

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PSYCHE.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES,
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., JAN.-MAR. 1885.
Communications, exchanges and editors' copies should be addressed to EDITORS OF PSYCHE, Cam- bridge, Mass. Commitnications for publication in PSYCHE must be properly authenticated, and no anony- mons articles will bepublished.
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PERMANENT MOUNTING OF
TRACHEAE OF INSECTS.
I have succeeded in a very simple way in mounting permanently the tracheal system of insects. I dissect out the soft parts and spread them on a glass slide of the usual size ; let them dry perfectly; then with pen- cil-brush give them a good coating of collo- dion, after which I melt a little hard, pure balsam in a test tube and put it on the object with a cover glass applied at once. This is, so far as I know, a new method, It is re- markable for its results. The intestines, the ganglia, and the brain are perfectly magnifi- cent. The intestine makes thus one of the most beautiful objects for dark-ground illumi- nation. The brain shows the most abun-
dant ramifications of the trachea, especially in the immense parallel branches in the rods of the eyes. The ganglia can be floated on a cover glass, dried, and mounted in this way. The entire process is simple and easy, and gives the most satisfactory results. There are many points of histological in- terest in the brain which are thus demon- strated.
Lynn, Mass. F. T. Hazlewood.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 01; LONDON.
I ~ ~ U N E 1883.~. . . Prof. E. Ray Lankester. I?. R. S., read a memoir on the muscular and endoskeletal systems of Li~nztZus and - Sco?*$io.. . . These investigations seemed to confirm Prof. Lankester's previously ex- pressed views as to the near affinity of these two forms, hitherto usually referred to differ? ent classes of the animal kingdom, and to justify the association of Limulus with the arachnida.
18 DEC. 1883.~. . . Dr. F. Leuthner read an abstract of a memoir which he had pre- pared on the odonfoZabi?~i, a subfamily of the coleopterous family lucanidae, remarkable for the polymorphism of the n~ales, while the females remained very similar. The males were stated to exhibit four very distinct phases of the development in their mandibles, which the author proposed to term "prio- dont," "a~nphiodo~~t,""mesndont," and "telo- dont." These forms .were strongly marked in some species, but in others were connected by insensible gradations, and had been treated by the earlier authors as distinct species. The second part of the memoir contained a monograph of the three known genera which constitute the group odo~ztolabini.. . . Mr. J. Wood-Mason, F.Z.S., read a paper on the
embiidae, a little-known family of insects, on the structure and habits of which he had succeeded in making some investigations
during his recent residence in India. He came to the conclusion that the embitdae un- doubtedly belong to the true 01-thoptera, and are one of the lowest terms of a series formed by the familiar acridiodea, locustidae, grylli- dae, and flasmatidae.
I APRIL 1884.~. . .Mr. F. D. Godman,
F.R.S., read a paper containing an account of the lepidoptera collected by the late Mr. W. A. Forbes on the banks of the Lower
Niger, the rhopalocera being described by Messrs. F. D. Godman and 0. Salvin, and
the heterocera by Mr. H. Druce. The species



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of butterflies were fifty in number, and com- prised representatives of all the families of rhopalocera hitherto known from tropical Africa, except the erycinidae, a group but feebly developed in this region.- Selected from Zoologischer anzeiger.
21 FEB. 1884. - Mr. R. Miller Christy
brought before the notice of the society a series of lepidoptera, hymenoptera, etc., cap- tured by him in Manitoba, some of the
humble-bees being supposed new to science- 20 MARCH 1884.-In illustration of his
paper-"A contribution to the knowledge of the genus Annfhe Walker"-Lord Walsing-
ham exhibited a large and remarkable nest of a congregating moth, a species of the genus, from Natal. It contained a packed mass of cocoons, specimens of the larvae and of the mature insect; there likewise was shown a living example of a dipterous parasite which had emerged from the moth eggs.. . .
3 APRIL 1884. - . . . A. paper was read by Mr. Francis J. Briant,
On the anatomy and
functions of the tongue of the bee (worker). The author, after referring to the structures of the more conspicuo~ls parts of the endoskel- eton and relations of the tongue thereto. treats specially of the manner in which the bee takes up the honey by its tongue.
It ap-
pears that upon the nature and function of the organ in question authorities are by no means agreed. Kirby and Spence, supported by Hux- ley and partly Newport, aver that the bee sitn- ply taps up its food ; while Hermann M~iller and others rather attribute the action as due to the terminal whorl of hairs to which the honey adheres and therefrom is withdrawn inwards. The author of the paper on the
other hand (from experiment and otherwise) is inclined to the view that the honey is drawn into the mouth through the inside of the tongue by means of i complicated pumping action of the organ itself aided by the closely contiguous parts.
6 NOV. 1884.-Mr. R. A. Rolfe exhibited
and made remarks on examples of British
oak galls produced by cynipidan insects of the genus Neuroterus, collected by him
chiefly at Kew Gardens. He admitted that, as a rule, the plan and detail of the galls de- pend on the nature of the irritating fluid deposited by the insect; but at the same time the various species of oak have special influ- ence in determining color and often size of the galls.
20 Nov. 1884. -A paper was read, entitled 'Notes on the habits of some Australian hy- menoptera aculeata" by H. L. Roth. Therein he states that the wasps of the
genus Pelo-
'poem (P. laetus) build their nests on the walls, ceilings, legs of chairs, under tables, in cupboards, vases, between pictures and the walls, on curtains and in all sorts of crevices in the house, or on the roof.
No place is safe
from their intrusion. When a cell is cotn- pleted the wasp goes in search of spiders, and seizing these, packs their half dead bodies in the cell, lays an egg and closes the cell-top. Then afterwards rows of cells are added to the primary one and dealt with in the same fashion ; generally finishing with a streaked coating of mud, to deceive as to the real con- tents beneath. Of the Australian ants For- mica rz~j57zigra is both numerous, bold and destructive. They destroy the webs of cer- tain caterpillars and drive them out, to fall a prey to a host of attendant warrior ants. Mr. F. M, Campbell exhibited a dragon fly caught in September on the left bank of the Dordogne from a flight of dragon flies (do- natci) which were taking a southeasterly di- rection; numbers were observed passing
continuously for an hour and a half. He also drew attention to the steady progressive movement of a sphingid moth when placed
on its back.- Selected from reports by J. Murie in Zooloyischer ameiger.




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