ALBERT

Description: Among some coccids from Indonesia, received from Dr. L. G. E. KALSHOVEN, four large specimens were found which by their well developed ovisac showed some resemblance to Icerya purchasi MASK. After comparing the specimens with the photographs in MORRISON\xe2\x80\x99S Classification of the Margarodidae (1928) it appeared, however, that the wax covering of the body was more alike that of Walkeriana floriger (WALKER).\nThe old pinned specimens were not labelled, but Dr. KALSHOVEN remembered that they had been collected by Prof. ROEPKE on \xe2\x80\x9etjemara\xe2\x80\x9d (Casuarina). Upon inquiry Prof. ROEPKE informed me that in 1910 he had collected a giant coccid on old stems of Casuarina Junghuhniana MIQ. in the Tengger Mts. (East-Java). The specimens were found on trees near the last bend of the road leading to Tosari, a well-known health-resort at an elevation of about 1750 m, where Europeans often used to spend their holidays. Some specimens had been sent to Mr. E. E. GREEN in Ceylon who replied that it was a species of Walkeriana, but that he wanted the larvae for a description of this new species.

Description: In May 1938 I had the opportunity to observe seven living Aplysia depilans in the Zoological Station Naples. Notes on the size and colour were made and different methods of preservation were tried.\nAs one often wonders how much of the original colour pattern has been preserved in museum specimens of Aplysia, it seems important to give the result of the comparison of the living specimens as studied in 1938 and the same specimens after 18 years of preservation, in 1956. The best way of preservation appears to be killing in diluted alcohol as specimen nr. V shows.

Description: In an adult female of the common eel Anguilla anguilla a large lipoma was found, situated on the left side, caudally of the left operculum. Microscopically, the tumour, which originated from the subcutaneous connective tissue, was composed of areas of adipose tissue and areas of fibrous connective tissue.\nThe tumour belongs to the fibrolipomatous type and shows a striking resemblance with the lipoma, described by Stolk (in press) in the lizard Lacerta muralis.

Description: Twenty-one species of Distichopora have been described after specimens from various localities in the Indo-Pacific region, viz., D. violacea (Pallas, 1766) from \xe2\x80\x9cMare Indicum\xe2\x80\x9d, D. cinnabarina Nardo, 1844, from the Red Sea (?), D. gracilis Dana, 1848, from the Tuamotu Islands, D. coccinea Gray, 1860, from New Caledonia, D. fulvacea Michelin, 1862, from R\xc3\xa9union, D. nitida Verrill, 1864, from the Marshall Islands, D. rosea Kent, 1871, from the East coast of Australia, D. purpurea Schmeltz, 1875 (nomen nudum), from the Marshall Islands (?), D. irregularis Moseley, 1879, from the Philippine Islands, D. livida Tenison-Woods, 1879, from the Solomon Islands, D. brasseyi Wright, 1882, from the Gilbert Islands, D. allnutti Wright, 1882, from the Gilbert Islands (?), D. breviserialis Quelch, 1884, from unknown locality, D. milesii Quelch, 1884, from the Pacific (probably from the region of the Society and Tuamotu Islands), D. granulosa Quelch, 1885, from Rarotonga (?), D. conferta Quelch, 1885, from Rarotonga, D. ochracea Quelch, 1885, from the Solomon Islands, D. profunda Hickson & England, 1909, from the Chagos Archipelago, D. borealis Fisher, 1938, from the Aleutian Islands, D. fisheri Broch, 1942, from the Fiji Islands, and D. serpens Broch, 1942, from the Philippine Islands. Most of the described species came from shallow water, only three species were collected from great depths, viz., D. profunda (187\xe2\x80\x94274 m), D. borealis (518\xe2\x80\x94881 m), and D. serpens (91\xe2\x80\x94183 m). The type specimen of D. irregularis came from a depth of 10 fathoms (18 m).\nTo the species enumerated above should be added D. providentiae (Hickson & England, 1909) from off Providence Island in the Western Indian Ocean, collected at a depth of 125 fathoms (228 m). This species was originally placed in the genus Sporadopora, but the manner of arrangement of the gastropores and the dactylopores indicate that it presents at least some affinity to the genus Distichopora, and accordingly it may provisionally find a place here.

Description: The results of a complete census of the breeding population of the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) in the Netherlands, carried out in the year 1950 by the State Forestry Service, have been published by M\xc3\x96RZER BRUIJNS and BRAAKSMA in Beaufortia 5, Nr. 45, April 15, 1955, p. 23\xe2\x80\x9442.\nA new census was performed during the year 1955 ; it is the intention to repeat the census from now on every year.\nThe results of the last census are even more alarming than those from 1950 (see table, p. 113). The number of occupied nests decreased from 83 nests in 1950 to 58 nests in 1955. The number of fledged young decreased from 195 in 1950 to 96 in 1955. Many nests, still occupied in 1950, were either in a state that they could no longer be used or they had vanished altogether in 1955. On the other hand some new nests have been erected in recent time, some of them yielding good breeding results. The data have been arranged in tables according to the provinces. Every nest is numbered. The numbers of the 1950 census are given in parentheses. Nests marked + means that the nest was occupied by a pair of birds, but that no young were fledged. Nests marked \xe2\x80\x94 means that the nest was not inhabited, or that it was visited irregularly or else occupied by one solitary bird. The number of young fledged is marked by a figure. A gale in the spring of 1955 destroyed 4 nests ; 12 eggs got lost.\nFighting was reported frequently, the unfortunate result being that 3 young storks and at least 37 eggs got lost. These figures probably indicate that at present an insufficient number of nesting sites is avaible in the Netherlands. Therefore it seems worth while to try to erect new nests in localities where fighting has been frequently reported, and to repair those nests that have been visited, but remained unoccupied, owing to the poor state of the nest. In this connection Mr. W. DRIESSEN got most remarkable results with a newly erected nest, made according to a special method. This method should be used for the nests which we hope can be erected or repaired before the new breeding season. Surely the alarming decrease of the White Stork in the Netherlands is not primarily caused by housing problems, but a more appropriate condition and a greater number of nesting sites probably helps to prevent the yearly destruction of perhaps ten or twenty eggs or chicks.\nPhotomechanical reproduction

Description: The main purpose of this study is to search for an explanation of the curious differentiation within the genus Chamaeleo. Since the species of this genus are rather doubtful units, I have studied the geograpical distribution of characters, not of the species, a method first used in botany (BAUR, ROTHMALER a.o.). I found that the number of characters is largest in east Afrika, gradually decreasing from this area to the periphery of the total range of the genus. East Africa proved to be still more important, as practically all the characters occur in it. This means that the chameleons in the other areas practically never possess characters that are not found in east Africa.\nThis pattern of distribution fits in rather well with REINIG\xe2\x80\x99S elimination theory (1938): \xe2\x80\x9e.. bei Einzelwanderungen wird nur ein Teil des gesamten Allelbestandes einer Art mitgef\xc3\xbchrt... eine durch Einzelwanderung entstandene Population weist eine geringere Zahl von Allelen auf als die Ausgangspopulation.\xe2\x80\x9d The existence of many parallel series of variation (meaning that several characters originated several times independently in different groups) led me to the conclusion that the mechanism described in REINIG\xe2\x80\x99S theory as elimination, has consequences also for the genes predisposed to change into others.\nThis reasoning gave a key to the reconstruction of the ancestral chameleon. By two different ways I arrived at the same conclusion, viz. the ancestral chameleon was probably an animal resembling mostly Chamaeleo chamaeleon s.l. (\xc2\xa7 21).\nAs for this theoretical part of my study a survey of the species was needed, I first made an attempt at a natural system. I have divided the genus into groups of related species. For practical reasons the chameleons of Madagascar are treated separately. Their connections with the species of the African continent are examined in a special section (\xc2\xa7 11).\nAs a result of my investigations I had to propose the following taxonomic changes: Ch. rhinoceratus var. lineatus + Ch. labordi + Ch. voeltzkowi + Ch. barbouri = Ch. rhinoceratus (\xc2\xa7 3), Ch. lambertoni = Ch. lateralis (\xc2\xa7 4), Ch. semicristatus = \xe2\x99\x80 Ch. verrucosus (\xc2\xa7 5), Ch. guibei nov. spec. (\xc2\xa7 6), Ch. calcarifer = Ch. chamaeleon calcarifer, Ch. zeylanicus = Ch. chamaeleon zeylanicus, Ch. etiennei = Ch. gracilis etiennei (\xc2\xa7 12), Ch. anchietae vinkei + Ch. anchietae mertensi + Ch. marunguensis = Ch. anchietae (\xc2\xa7 13), Ch. unicornis = Ch. oweni unicornis (\xc2\xa7 14), Ch. pumilus = Ch. pumilus pumilus, Ch. melanocephalus = Ch. pumilus melanocephalus, Ch. gutturalis = Ch. pumilus gutturalis, Ch. ventralis = Ch. pumilus ventralis, Ch. ventralis occidentalis = Ch. pumilus occidentalis, Ch. ventralis karrooicus = Ch. pumilus karrooicus, Ch. damaranus = Ch. pumilus damaranus, Ch. caffer = Ch. pumilus caffer, Ch. taeniobronchus = Ch. pumilus taeniobronchus. (\xc2\xa7 16).

Description: 1. In einem kleinen Material aus der Uferzone des Ohrid-See wurden 16 Arten freilebender S\xc3\xbcsswassernematoden aufgefunden ; es werden systematische Bemerkungen zu einigen Arten gemacht. Neochromadora trilineata W. SCHNEIDER, 1943 wird mit Punctodora ohridensis W. SCHNEIDER, 1943 identifiziert, die Gattung Hofmaenneria W. SCHNEIDER, 1940 wird diskutiert und es wird ein Beitrag zur Synonymie von Theristus dubius-setosus (B\xc3\x9cTSCHLI) geliefert. 2. Von den gefundenen Arten wurden 10 schon 1943 von W. SCHNEIDER aus dem Ohrid-See bekannt gemacht. Die f\xc3\xbcr den Ohrid-See neuen Arten sind : Tripyla filicaudata, Dorylaimus intermedius. Chromadorina bioculata, Ethmolaimus pratensis. Paraplectonema pedunculatum, maenneria brachystoma. 3. Der Anteil endemischer Formen an der Nematodenfauna des Ohrid-Sees ist gering. Abgesehen von Ohridia bathybia SCHNEIDER, 1943, deren Verwandtschaft und systematische Stellung unklar sind, ist allein Punctodora ohridensis W. SCHNEIDER, 1943 eine Art, die bisher ausserhalb des Ohrid-Sees nicht beobachtet worden ist.\nEs sind aus dem Ohrid-See keine Nematoden-Arten bekannt, die als marine Relikte angesprochen werden k\xc3\xb6nnten.

Description: The present short paper forms a continuation of my partial revision of certain species of the genus Bactra (Zool. Verhand., no. 29, 1956). It is chiefly based on a revision of the entire material of Bactra in the collection of the well-known specialist of Microlepidoptera, Dr. H. G. AMSEL, Karlsruhe, Germany; along with the new material of the genus from Irak, and that from Afghanistan, of the German Afghanistan Expedition 1956, collected by Dr. AMSEL himself and entrusted to me for identification. Besides, interesting material was received from Mr. TOSHIIO OKU, Sapporo, Japan, and from some other sources. The author gratefully acknowledges the kind help of the senders, and their permission to retain certain duplicates for the collection of the Leiden Museum.\nSince the publication of my above mentioned paper a few errors were detected and some alterations became necessary. They will be found below, together with descriptions of five new species and one subspecies, and records or notes on some 15 already known species, with five new synonyms.

Description: A review is given of the recurrent outbreaks of the tentcaterpillar, Malacosoma neustria L., affecting the elm trees in the city of Amsterdam in the period 1930\xe2\x80\x941957. An outbreak of the brown tail moth, Euproctis chrysorrhoea L., in 1935\xe2\x80\x941936 is also mentioned and some occasional loss of foliage through the caterpillars of the vapourer moth, Orgyia antiqua L.\nLarge fluctuations in the size of the Malacosoma populations were found. After some years in which the damage was negligeable, the increase always started in the N.W. part of the centre of the city. In the following years the outbreaks moved to adjacent parts of the centre and finally sometimes even to more eccentric parts (see Fig. 6\xe2\x80\x949). However, the occurrence of really harmful numbers of tentcaterpillars was mostly restricted to the centre of the town.\nThe merits of the control measures which were carried out with derris/talcum powder spread by motordusters are discussed. The insecticide was thought to be the only sufficiently harmless for its use in the centre of a city. Some cases of defoliation and other inconveniences caused by the presence of crowds of caterpillars could apparently be reduced by the control measures. In several instances, however, the efficacy of the method remained doubtful.\nThe urgency is stressed of further studies of the bionomics of Malacosoma under local conditions and some suggestions are made for a better organization of the measures applied.