a dozen others, as it came up rather indistinctly through the trees, I would say: "There, Shep,' that is our bell; go and get the cows!" As soon as he seemed to feel sure of the sound he would start off upon a run, and it would be but a few minutes until I would hear the bell coming towards home. From many trials I satisfied myself that he could distinguish the sound of our bell as far as I could myself. He could doubtless have been trained to do many such tasks, but he had had little or no training of any kind, and this instance that I have stated seemed to have been understood by him as a matter of course, and had not come through any special effort or discipline.-Chas. Aldrich, Webster City, Iowa, 1881.

DISCOVERIES IN THE ANATOMY OF CRUSTACEA.-Herr. Nebeski in his contributions to our knowledge of the Amphipoda of the Adriatic, adds considerably to our knowledge of the anatomy and histology of these forms. He first discusses the glands in the legs of certain forms first pointed out by Prof. Smith.2 Next the urinary glands, which are found at the posterior portion of the alimentary tract are investigated. Following this comes an account of the structure of the gills and the rectum of Orchestia. The next point discussed is the fact that certain portions of the testes of Orchestia produces eggs, and our author says: "we have here in general (überhaupt) no hermaphrodite gland, but the organ corresponds in toto to the testes of the allied Amphipoda, and shows only the remarkable exception that a definite portion of the genital layer produces eggs." The article concludes with a review of the Amphipod fauna of Trieste.-J. S. Kingsley.

Effects of DIFFERENT COLORED LIGHT ON THE GROWTH OF ANIMALS. Various persons have experimented upon the effects of different colored light upon the growth of animals, and have universally found that animals develop at different rates under the influence of the different colors. M. Yung in his recent investigations on the eggs of frogs, trout and Lymnæa, found that they developed in the following order, the violet accelerating and the red retarding:

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES.-The Proceedings of the United States National Museum, just issued, contain a check-list of duplicates

1 Otmar Nebeski, Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Amphipoden der Adria. Arbeiten aus

dem Zool. Inst. Wien, III, pp. 1-52. pls. 4, 1880.

2 Tube building Amphipoda. Am. Jour. Sci., III, VII, p. 601, 1874.

De l'influence des lumières colorées sur le développement des animaux-Mittheilung Zool. Station Neapel, II, p. 233, 1880.

of fishes from the Pacific Coast of North America, distributed by the Smithsonian Institution, in behalf of the National Museum, to different college museums. These collections are of great value, comprising many rare typical forms, and will do much towards the progress of ichthyology. Valuable notes on the fishes of the Pacific coast by Messrs. Jordan and Gilbert appear in the same periodical. Among ornithological papers in the signature of the same Proceedings, issued April 13, 1881, is the description of a duck, Fuligula rufina (Pallas), which is new to the United States, having been found in the New York market, and supposed to have been shot on Long Island sound-From his extended observations on the food of the fresh-water fishes of Illinois, Mr. S. A. Forbes is impressed with the "supreme importance of Entomostraca and the minute aquatic larvæ of Diptera as food for nearly or quite all of our fresh-water fishes, a conclusion that gives these trivial and neglected creatures, of whose very existence the majority of people are scarcely aware, a prominent place among the most valuable animals of the State, for without them all our waters would be virtually depopulated." He also brings out the interesting conclusion that a prolific species having an abundant food supply, and itself the most important food of predaceous fishes, may, by extraordinary multiplication, so diminish the food of the young of the latter as to cause, through its own abundance, a serious diminution of the numbers of the very species which prey upon it. It is not certain that the excessive increase of the gizzard shad would, by eventually reducing the supply of Entomostraca, cause a corresponding reduction in the numbers of all the species of that stream by starvation of the young; and this decimation, applying to all in the same ratio, would take effect upon the ordinary number of the other species, but upon the extraordinary number of the gizzard shad, would reduce the other species below the usual limit, but might not even cut off the excess of the shad above that limit. Consequently, important as is the supply of food-fishes for the predaceous species, it is not less important that the predaceous species should be supplied to eat up the food. The third volume of Dr. G. S. Brady's Monograph of the Copepod Crustacea of the British Islands, published by the Ray Society, has appeared. This valuable and fully illustrated work will be welcomed by those in the United States interested in the Entomostraca.- -The Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, for 1879-80, just issued, contain some important faunal entomological lists by Prof. F. H. Snow, of Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico; articles on the Batrachian reptiles of Kansas, by F. W. Cragin; and notes on the birds of Riley county, Kansas, by Dr. Blachly.

ENTOMOLOGY.'

DIMORPHISM IN CYNIPIDE.-The first record in this country, if not elsewhere, of the actual proof of dimorphism in the Cynipida, was by the editor of this department, in the AMERICAN NATURALIST for 1873 (Vol. VII, p. 519), where the common wooly oak gall which produces in spring the bisexual Cynips q-operator, was shown to have a larger asexual dimorphic form (our C. qoperatola) that develops in an autumnal pip-like gall formed between the cupule and the fruit. Walsh had previously given good reasons for the belief that C. q-aciculata was the autumnal agamic dimorphous form of C. q-spongifica (Am. Entomologist 11, p. 330, ff.), and Mr. H. F. Basset has, following Adler's interesting experiments in Europe, suggested the probable dimorphic connection of several of our vernal galls which produce bisexual individuals with autumnal forms which produce larger, asexual flies. Dr. Adler continues his successful study and experiment in this direction, and gives in the Zeitschrift für wissens. Zool, (Vol. xxxv, p. 151), the results obtained so far in his researches, and the number of species in which the occurrence of dimorphic forms has been proven is already quite considerable. The following is a list thereof, the name in the first column referring to the agamic, that in the second to the bisexual generation:

Of Nos. 1-13, the first form appears in March until May, the second in June until July, or in some species in August. In Nos. 15-19 the agamic generation appears from October until March, and the sexual generation in May until July. In No. 14 the first form appears in January until February, the second in May until June.

Very remarkable is the fact that in some closely allied species no alternate generation seem to occur. They are the following species: Aphilotrix seminationis, marginalis, quadrilineatus and albopunctatus.

1 This department is edited by PROF. C. V. RILEY, Washington, D. C., to whom communications, books for notice, etc., should be sent.

BlepharoceridE.-The very interesting discovery, by Dr. Fritz Müller, of the earlier states of Paltostoma torrentium, has been followed in rapid succession by that of other Blepharocerid larvæ and pupæ in various parts of the globe, and it seems that most, if not all, species of Blepharoceridæ agree in the mode of development and in habit. Thus Dr. F. Brauer finds that pupæ from the mountain streams at Meran, Tirol, are closely allied to those of Paltostoma torrentium, and that they are, in all probability, those of Blepharocera fusciata. We have for some time had in our collection a number of pupe which were found six or seven years ago in the month of June by Mr. H. G. Hubbard near Fitchburg, Mass., and which we at once recognized as of some species of Blepharocera, upon seeing a photograph of the figures by Fritz Müller in Dr. Hagen's possession. The pupæ occurred in a mountain stream on a flat rock over which ran swiftly a thin sheet of water. The surface of the rock was coated with the pupæ. Another species (Liponeura brevirostris Löw) has been described in the larva and pupa states by H. Dewitz in the Berlin Entomologische Zeitschrift (Vol. xxv, p. 61-66). The latest contribution to the natural history of these interesting Diptera we owe to Dr. A. Wierzejski of the University of Krakau, who gives in the Zoologischer Anzeiger (No. 81, p. 212-216) full descriptions of the larva and pupa of another Blepharocerid. He found them in a mountain brook in the Tatra mountains, adhering to the rocks in the swiftest part of the current. The larvæ are able, by means of the six suctorial disks on the ventral side not only to withstand the swift current but also to move freely about, usually sidewise. Dr. W. did not succeed in rearing the perfect insect, as the larvæ and pupæ soon perished when confined in standing water; but from examination of the pupa he is confident that his species is very nearly allied to Blepharocera fasciata. He promises further investigation of the subject, and especially on that most interesting discovery made by Dr. Fritz Müller, viz: the occurrence of dimorphic females in the species of Itajahi, the two forms of the female widely differing from each other in the organs of the mouth, the size of the eyes and the structure of the last tarsal joint. Dr. Müller's full paper on the metamorphosis of Paltostoma torrentium and the anatomy of its larva will be shortly published in the "Archivos do Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro."

For those not familiar with the descriptions already given of the larvæ and pupa of this interesting group of Diptera we would add that the larva is one of the most remarkable in the insect world. It has apparently but six joints to the body, and its general appearance recalls that of Asellus, the joints being, however, deeply cut on the sides and widely separated. The six-jointed character is, however, only apparent, as the last joint is evidently composed of three, and the first joint is also evidently composed

of several, the head being distinctly separated beneath. The sides of the joints appear tuberculous and each joint has, indeed, a pair of separate, decurved, cylindrical and pointed tubercles issuing from it, resembling six pairs of legs, and used doubtless to lift the larva from its attachment when movement is desired. Medio-ventrally there is a series of six circular, elevated sucking disks, each having a series of tracheal filaments on the side, which filaments also doubtless aid in suction. The pupa is very flat ventrally, convex dorsally, with two conical horns on the anterior end, each composed of four compressed lamina, which easily separate, and which are the thoracic trachea, corresponding to those of other aquatic dipterous pupæ, as in the common mosquito. The pupæ collected in Massachusetts are somewhat smaller than Fritz Müller's specimens, but structurally identical. They strongly recall in color and general appearance some of our smaller Gyrinid beetles.

BRAULA CŒCA NOT PARTICULARLY INJURIOUS TO THE HONEY BEE.-Mr. J. Fedarb has in Hardwicke's Science Gossip for May 2, 1881, an article on Braula caca, that curious dipterous parasite of our honey bee. He asserts that there can be no doubt that the damage done by it is generally overestimated, and that the ravages of other hidden guests within the apiary are often wrongly attributed to Braula, the real authors of the mischief being overlooked. Braula is no doubt annoying to the bee it infests, but only when it occurs in very great numbers has it an injurious effect on the bee colony. Mr. Fedarb finds that Braula was unknown to the ancient authors on the honey bee, while even such careful observers of a more recent time as Swammerdam and Huber do not mention it at all. The parasite may have only lately developed the habit of living on the honey bee, being present formerly under other conditions, or it may have spread recently from some restricted point of the globe.

ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY IN ENGLAND.-Miss L. A. Ormerod's "Notes of Observations of Injurious Insects" for the year 1880 has been kindly sent us by the authoress. Of the numerous instances of insect injury during that year in Great Britain, none is more remarkable than that of the wide-spread damage caused by various species of Tipulid larvæ to wheat, barley, oats, cabbage, potatoes, peas and strawberries. The larvæ gnaw away the outer part of the plant just at the surface of the ground or a little beneath it, thus weakening or in many instances killing the plants. Tipulid larvæ are very plentiful in many parts of our own country, and occasionally inflict some damage to rich meadows, but no case of injury to field and garden crops has so far been reported to us. Miss Ormerod is doing an admirable work, and we are glad to see that she is meeting with success and encouragement.