spider presents an intermediate type between eggs with general superficial segmentation of the Crustacea, such as Peneus, and the eggs with regular discoidal segmentation, such as those of certain fishes, that is to say, it has a blastulation intermediate

between periblastulation and discoblastulation. It greatly approaches the eggs of Chelifer (Metschnikoff), Tetranychus (Claparède), and of insects (Bobretsky). Thus is plainly manifested from the outset the affinity of the Araneina with the groups of Arachnida and with the insects.-The Bezoar or guliga stones are concretions or calculi formed in the " stomach and intestines of the red monkey, a species of Semnopithecus abundant in the interior districts of Borneo. Mr. A. H. Everett says (in the Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., March) that "accounts vary very much among the natives as to the exact position in which the guligas are found, some saying they may occur in any part of the body, others that they occur only in the stomach and intestines, whilst I have heard others declare that they have taken them from the head and even the hand." (Everett does not state what would seem more probable, that they may be renal calculi.) The monkeys drink the water of certain springs, which must be saline mineral springs, or the creatures are cut off from the use of fresh water. Everett adds that "the widespread idea of the medicinal virtue of these concretions would lead us to suppose that there is some foundation for their reputation."The Cervus maral, of Siberia, has recently been domesticated by Cossacks in the neighborhood of Kiakhta, in Western Siberia, where there are herds of seventy head. The horns of the wild deer, when filled with blood and not ossified, are much prized by the Chinese, who buy them at the Siberian border; but the horns of those which have been domesticated, lose a good many of their original qualities.

-In a recently-discovered stalactite cave at Kinchberg, near Kremsmünster (Austria), a jaw-bone of a man with well preserved teeth was found among numerous remains of Ursus spelæus.

ENTOMOLOGY.'

THE PERIODICAL CICADA, alias, "SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUST.". The present year will be marked by a quite extended appearance of this interesting insect, both a seventeen and a thirteen year brood simultaneously appearing. The readers of the NATURALIST are doubtless familiar with the habits and natural history of Cicada septemdecim Linn., and those of the thirteen-year race (C. tredecim Riley) which agree with it in every respect except in the time required for full development. We will, therefore, simply quote here, with brief comments, what was said in 1868, in the writer's First Report on the Insects of Missouri, regarding the two broods that 1 This department is edited by PROF. C. V. RILEY, Washington, D. C., to whom communications, books for notice, etc., should be sent.

are to appear the present summer and that will be rendering the woods vocal with their rattling song, in the more southern parts

FIG. 1.-Cicada septemdecim; a, pupa; b, pupa shell; c, perfect insect; d, twig with egg-punctures, nat. size; e, eggs, enlarged. (After Riley.)

of the country, by the time the present number of the NATURALIST is out.

BROOD XVII-Septemdecim-1864, 1881.

In 1881, and at intervals of seventeen years thereafter, they will, in all probability, appear in Marquette and Green Lake counties, in Wisconsin, and may also appear in the western part of North Carolina, and about Wheeling, Virginia; in Northeast Ohio, and a few in Lancaster county, Pa., and Westchester county, New York.

There is abundant evidence that they appeared in the counties named in Wisconsin in 1864, and fair evidence that they appeared that year in Summit county, Northeast Ohio, while straggling specimens were found in the same year, by Mr. S. S. Rathvon, in Lancaster county, Pa., and by Mr. James Angus, in Westchester county, N. Y. Dr. Fitch also records their appearance in 1847, or seventeen years previously, in the western part of North Carolina, and Dr. Smith, in Wheeling, Virginia, in 1830, '47. and '64. The distance between the localities given is very great, and it is doubtful whether all these records belong to one and the same brood.

In the year 1881, and at intervals of thirteen years thereafter, they will, in all probability, appear in Southern Illinois, throughout Missouri, with the exception of the north-western corner, in Louisiana, Arkansas, Indian Territory, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and North and South Carolinas.

Though, as already stated, I published the first account ever given of the existence of a thirteen-year brood, yet, besides the others mentioned in this chronology, this particular brood has been traced since, as having occurred in the years 1816, '29, 42, '55, and '68; and Mr. L. W. Lyon, at the July (1868) meeting of the Alton (Ills.) Horticultural Society, even mentioned its appearance in 1803.

In Missouri it occurs more or less throughout the whole State with the exception of the north-west corner that is bounded on the east by Grand river, and on the south by the Missouri river. The south-east part of the State, where Dr. Smith has re

1 As Mr. Wm. Raucher, of Oregon, Holt county, saw a few individuals in the north-east part of Buchanan county in 1855, it may occur in small numbers in districts even north of the Missouri river.

corded it since 1829, is most thickly occupied. I enumerate those counties in which there is undoubted evidence of their appearance during the present year (1868), viz: Audrain, Bollinger, Benton, Clarke, Chariton, Callaway, Cooper, Cole, Franklin, Gasconade, Iron, Jefferson, Knox, Lewis,. Marion, Macon, Morgan, Moniteau, Pike, Phelps, Pulaski, Polk, Pettis, Schuyler, St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Francois, St. Clair, Warren and Washington.

It not improbably overlaps some of the territory occupied by the septemdecim Brood XIV [a brood which appeared last in 1879], but I do not think it extends into

Kansas.

In Illinois it occurs more or less throughout the whole southern half of the State, but more especially occupies the counties from the south part of Adams county along the Mississippi to the Ohio, up the Ohio and Wabash rivers to Edgar county, and then across the center of the State, leaving some of the central counties in South Illinois unoccupied. To be more explicit, I enumerate all the counties in which it undoubtedly occurred during the present year (1868): Adams (south part, back of Quincy), Bond, Clinton (north-west corner, adjacent to Madison), Champaign, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Clay, Clark, Edwards, Edgar (especially in the eastern part), Franklin, Gallatin, Hardın, Hamilton, Johnson, Jasper, Jersey, Jefferson, Lawrence, McLean (east end), Macon, Madison, Marion, Massac, Monroe, Pike, Perry, Piatt, Pope, Richland, Randolph, Sangamon, Saline, St. Clair, Union (north east corner), Washington, Wayne, Wabash, Williamson and White. There were none the present year, either at Decatur, in Macon county, or at Pana in Christian county; nor were there any at Bloomington or Normal, in McLean; nor in Dewitt county, which lies south of McLean; nor in Spring Creek, Iroquois county, which is northeast of Champaign.

In Kentucky, according to Dr. Smith, it occurred in the north-west corner of the State, about Paducah and adjacent counties south, in 1829, '42 and '55, and it occurred there in 1868.

In Arkansas, it occupied all the northern counties in 1842, '55 and '68.

In Alabama, it occupied Russell and adjacent counties on the east side of Black Warrior river, in 1842, '55 and '68.

In Tennessee, it occupied Davidson, Montgomery, Bedford, Williamson, Rutherford and adjacent counties, in 1842, '55 and '68.

In North Carolina, it appeared in Mecklenburg county, in 1829, '42, '55 and '68. In South Carolina, the Chester district and all the adjoining country to the Georgia line, west, and to the North Carolina line, north, was occupied with it in 1816, '29, '42, '55 and '68.

In Georgia, it has occurred in Cherokee county since the year 1816.

In Louisiana, it appeared in Morehouse, Caddo, Clairborne, Washington and adjacent parishes, in 1855 and '68.

It also doubtless occurs in Mississippi and Indian Territory, though I am unable to specify any localities.

The last simultaneous appearance of these two broods was in 1860, and their appearance the present year will doubtless enable us to perfect our knowledge of the geographical range of either. Already we have received undoubted indications of their early ascension, as the pupæ have been reported either near or upon the surface of the ground in several of the localities indicated.

It will be observed that the thirteen-year brood (XVIII), is by far the most extended, and that it occurs very generally throughout the Southern States, both east and west of the Mississippi. We have gathered together since the last appearance of this brood in 1868, various facts which extend its range in Georgia and Tennessee, and which show that it also occurs in restricted parts of Indiana.

We shall be very glad to receive detailed information of the 1 Edgar county also has the septemdecim Brood III.

exact limits of either of these two broods, or indeed any record of the appearance of the insects the present year, and these records will be all the more valuable if the years of earlier appearances in the same localities can also be furnished. Information on these points should be sent to the editor of this department.

A NEW SPECIES OF OAK COCCID MISTAKEN FOR A GALL.—An esteemed correspondent from Ohio (Dr. Jno. A. Warder) sends us what he supposed to be some kind of gall which he found at Iron mountain, Mo., on the twigs of Quercus palustris. They are pretty large, globular or almost globular, objects fastened to the twigs either singly or in clusters, as we are accustomed to see certain Cynipid galls. Their shining, yellowish surface is handsomely variegated with light-brown patches and with undulating or interrupted black lines. These objects have frequently been mistaken for galls, even by entomologists, but they are in reality the female scales of a Coccid, and are often infested by a Lepidopterous inquiline, Euclemensia bassettella (Clem.).

The particular species sent by our correspondent is tolerably common in the South and West on the twigs of different species of the black oak group. It is undescribed, and may be characterized as follows:

Kermes galliformis n. sp. Mature scale, average length 5 mm. Subspherical, usually somewhat broader than long, and often with a broad shallow constriction medio-dorsally. Attached by a broad, dark-brown cut or excavation, which is covered by a beak anteriorly and notched anally, the brown color extending to a point above the notch. Polished and smooth. Ground color pale yellowish, appearing under lens minutely and evenly speckled with brown; more or less suffused or mottled with gray or brown, the constriction, when present, generally dark. A series of about seven irregular rows of black punctations running across the scale, often connected by an irregular black line, and this again relieved by white or pale yellow. The three uppermost rows most distinct and constant.

The species is quite variable, the general shape and the form of cut point of attachment varying according to the position on a twig or as individuals are crowded; while the general color varies according as one color or the other predominates. Specimens which we have from New Mexico are uniformly without the constriction and with a pale-gray rather than a pale-yellow ground color. Prof. Comstock, Entomologist of the Department of Agriculture, is at work on this family of insects, and will, we hope, soon give us the natural history of many of the interesting forms, of the development of which nothing has so far been recorded.— C. V. Riley.

THE "WATER-WEEVIL" OF THE RICE PLANT.-In the February number we called attention to two of the worst insect enemies of the rice plant, first, the "grub," which injures the plant when the water is withdrawn from the soil, and which is the larva of Chalepus trachyperus Burm.; second, the "maggot," which has not yet been identified in the imago state, and which we suggested might possibly be the larva of Spalacopsis suffusa Newm. We have re

cently received the following interesting communication from Mr. John Screven, of Savannah, Ga., the specimens accompanying it being Lissorhoptrus simplex Say-a tolerably common species throughout the eastern part of the country, and found on various other water plants, so that it is probably not confined to rice as food. We have little doubt but that Mr. Screven is correct in his deduction that this snout-beetle is the parent of the "maggot," in which event the larva differs from the more typical larvæ of the Curculionids, in being quite elongate and not arched. Mr. S. writes as follows:

I send you by express a number of "water-weevils" preserved in alcohol, together with some specimens of the young rice leaves on which they were found feeding. You will observe on the latter the method of the insect in feeding, and will find no difficulty in concluding that when in sufficient numbers, as is sometimes the fact, they may do much damage in the rice fields.

I have observed with great interest and attention your allusion to this insect in the general notes from the AMERICAN NATURALIST, Feb., 1881. But it has suddenly occurred to me as possible that these "water-weevils" are the perfect insect of the "maggot" larva which I sent to you last summer. Allow me to suggest some reasons for this opinion.

1. Both the weevil and the maggot are water insects; both seek the same food, namely, the rice plant, differing however in this, that the one feeds on the leaf and the other on the loot of the plant.

2. They differ in their periods of existence, the weevil appearing in April and May, the maggot in the summer months; but this may account merely for the time and circumstances necessary to incubation. Among the specimens sent you, I found several pairs in what appeared to be the act of copulation. These specimens were taken yesterday, April 29th, many of them in the very spot where were found the maggots which I sent you last summer. My first note of the latter was July 13th, and allowing one week for the appearance of the weevil after the fields are inundated for the stretch flow, the latter would be found, say, April 17th, making an interval of say ninety days between weevil and maggot, or between the beetle and the larva. This may appear an over-long period, but I assume that water is necessary to the generation and existence of this insect. Now, the "stretch water" does not last more than thirty days. At the expiration of this time the fields are drained and kept dry for at least thirty, very often forty days, and I presume that this fact, forbidding incubating during this period, it would not commence until the harvest flow is put on the fields. In 1880 this flow was applied say June 18th. The maggot was found July 13th, say thirty days after. I am quite ignorant of the periods of insect incubation, but it appears that if water is necessary to the generation and existence of this insect, the "maggot" larva, if from the water weevil, will hatch within thirty days after the harvest water is applied to the fields.

3. The water weevil and the maggot are found in the same habitat, and both disappear on the removal of the water in which they live. I may note here that the weevil is sluggish in its habits, is easily caught, and never "plays possum." It is seen in the greatest numbers in the early morning, feeding on the delicate leaves of the plant, and seeks, crawling down the stem, the cooler recesses under water as the sun grows warmer. Many, however, feed all day.

THE IMPREGNAted egg of PHYLLOXERA VASTATRIX. It is interesting to note how, one by one, all the conclusions we have in former years arrived at, are verified and their accuracy established by European observers having, presumably, no knowledge of what we have recorded. In 1875 (see Transactions St. Louis Academy of Science, Nov. 5, 1875, p. 286) we remarked: "Having already had the young from the impregnated egg of rileyi hatch in about a fortnight after it was laid; having shown in pre