EMBIIDAE 353 



flimsy, and the ner wires are ill-developed ; stripes of a darker 

 brownish colour alternate with pallid spaces. We figure the an- 

 terior wing of Oligotoma saundersii, after Wood-Mason ; but should 

 remark that the neuration is really less definite than is shown 

 in these figures ; the lower one represents Wood-Mason's inter- 

 pretation of the nervures. He considers * that the brown bands 

 " mark the original courses of veins which have long since dis- 

 appeared." A similar view is taken by Eedtenbacher, 2 but at 

 present it rests on 110 positive evidence. 



One of the most curious features of the external structure 

 is the complex condition of the thoracic sternal sclerites. These 

 are shown in Fig. 223, representing the under- surface of an 

 Embia of uncertain species recently brought by Mr. Bateson 

 from Andalusia. 



According to Grassi 3 there are ten pairs of stigmata, two 

 thoracic and eight abdominal ; these are connected by longi- 

 tudinal and transverse tracheae into a single system. The 

 ganglia of the ventral chain are, one suboesophageal, three thor- 

 acic, and seven abdominal ; these are segmentally placed, except 

 that there is no ganglion in the fifth abdominal segment. There 

 is a stomato - gastric system but no " sympathetic," Salivary 

 glands are present. The stomodaeal portions of the alimentary 

 canal are remarkably capacious ; the stomach is elongate and 

 slender, without diverticula ; the Malpighian tubes are elongate 

 and slender ; they vary in number with the age of the individual, 

 attaining that of twenty in the adult. The ovaries are arranged 

 somewhat after the fashion of those of Japyx, there being in 

 each five short egg -tubes, opening at equal intervals into a 

 straight duct. The testes are remarkably large ; each one con- 

 sists of five masses of lobules, and has a large vesicula seminalis, 

 into the posterior part of which there open the ducts of two 

 accessory glands. The large joint of the front tarsus includes 

 glands whose secretion escapes by orifices at the tips of certain 

 setae interspersed between the short spines that are placed on 

 the sole. 



Species of this genus occur in the Mediterranean region, but 

 their characters have not yet been examined. Our information 



1 P. Zool. Soc. London, 1883, p. 628. 



2 Ann. Hofmus. Wien, i. 1886, p. 171. 



3 Atti Ace, Gioenia, vii. 1893. 



VOL. V 2 A 



