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Psyche 4:286, 1883.

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286 PSYCHE. [April-June 1885
of pear, Ulmus and Platanus as food of the larva; and (Entom. corresp,, 1869, p. 360) again describes the egg and imago. In Amer. entom., Nov. 1868, v. I, p. jg, this species is mentioned as injuring oak and pear trees. Packard (Guide study ins., 1869, p. 228) quotes Harris'account of the habits of this species. Huggins (Amer. entom., Feb. 1870, v. 2, p. 128) found this insect ovipositing in an apple tree. Packard (Bull. 7, U. S. entom. comm., 1881, p. 105-106) figures the larva, which he states to attack Ulmus, Suer- cus, Acer and Plataiiiis; and (@. cit., p. 129) says, " In yellow birch at Providence," R. I. Harrington (Can. entom., Dec. 1882, v. 14, p. 225) gives some notes upon this species and adds Fagus to the food-plants.
Croesus latitarsus Norton (Proc. Entom
soc. Phil., 1862, v. I, p. 199).
Norton (2.c.)
describes the male of this species and later (Trans. Amer. entom. soc., 1867, v. I, p. 84) describes the female, and adds, "Bred by Mr. Walsh from larvae feeding on birch."
Xypkidria attemiafa Norton (Proc. En-
tom. soc. Phil., 1862, v. I, p. 144). Norton (Z.C., and Trans. Amer. entom. soc. 1869, v. 2, p. 354) describes the male of this species, and Patton (Can. entom., Jan. 1879, v. 11, p. 14-15) describes the female. Patton (L.c.) writes of his specimen, "Taken from a dead stick of Betula ni~t'a," and mentions that Rhyssa hiimida is aparasite of this species. NEW SOLVENT OF CHITIN.-Dr.
Looss, assistant in the Zoological in-
stitute at Leipzig, has found that a so- lution of sodic hypochlorite (eau de
Labarrape of the druggists), or of po-
tassic hypochlorite {eau de Javelle), is a fine solvent for chitin in making mi-
croscopical preparations. He writes
(Zuol. amez'ger, I June 1885, jahrg. 8,
P- 334) :
" The liquid, as bought, completely
dissolves, when heated, even the solid-
est and hardest chitinous parts of insects in a short time, first making them glass- like, transparent, and entirely colorless. If the liquid is diluted with six or seven times its volume of water, and the chi-
tinous parts, either fresh or after they have been hardened, are put in it for
twenty-four hours, or even longer ac-
cording to size, the chitin will be al-
tered, altho not noticeably externally ; it loses much of its original brittleness, and above all things is more permeable
to staining solutions. The objects re-
quire, for complete staining greater or
less time according to size, but the col- oration is beautiful and distinct with
either alcoholic or aqueous staining re- agents. In our Institute pedicu/idae
and ma?Zo$haga have been prepared by
this method which show, besides their
great transparency, complete and clear
coloration. This is likewise the case
with nematodes and their eggs. It is
furthermore especially remarkable that
by this treatment the underlying soft
parts are entirely spared and admit
studying upon them the finest struc-
tural relationships, such as the element- ary structures of striate muscular fibres (' Muskelkastchen') and the nerve end-
ings. Sections of bees' heads have been
made which were as beautiful as could
be desired. At all events this reagent de- serves to be experimented with further."



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