38 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



in Southern Europe some slight assistance is given by A. pseudopictus 

 Or. and A. superpictus Gr. ; and that in tropical countries far and wide 

 the diffusion is essentially due to the two species last named. 



Studies on Zoocecidia.* — J. da Silva Tavares continues his sys- 

 tematic account of Portuguese Zoocecidia, extending his list from 235 

 to 329 species. He alsoj gives an account of 63 forms collected around 

 Vienna. 



Mallophaga from Galapagos Birds.!— V. L. Kellogg and Shinkai 

 I. Kuwana give a systematic account of these. They deal with 43 

 species, of which 25 are new. One of the interesting general facts is 

 the unusual eccentricity of the occurrence of the parasites on the 

 various hosts ; thus one normal to a land bird occurs on a tern, and so 

 on. We have to do with an abnormal phase of normal straggling. On 

 the rocks of the islands maritime and land birds sit closely huddled, 

 actual contact of the bodies often occurring. Migration is easily 

 effected, and thus a parasite (Colpocephalum anciferum Keel) normally 

 peculiar to pelicans, finds its way to a warbler or honeycreeper, Certhidea. 

 On Geospiza fuliginosa, 20 species of Mallophaga occur, — the largest 

 recorded list from any bird species. Four or more species are recorded 

 from each of the 18 out of the 34 birds examined, — a condition unique 

 in the records of collections of Mallophaga. This condition, of abun- 

 dant parasitism, is, of course, due to the unusual facility of migration 

 (or normal straggling) afforded by the forced gregarious habits of the 

 Galapagos birds. 



5. Arachnida. 



Monograph on German Spiders.§ — W. Bosenberg continues his 

 valuable monograph, dealing in the fourth part with the Dysderoidae, 

 Misumenoidse, and Lycosoidse. 



e. Crustacea. 



Fibrillar Continuity of Epithelial Cells and Muscles in Nebalia.|| 

 A. Labbe finds that in Nebalia there is an actual continuity of substance 

 between the epithelial " tonofibril " and the myofibril. The terminal 

 delicate discs of the myofibril form a membrane in uninterrupted con- 

 tinuity with the basal membrane of the epithelium. Thus it comes 

 about that the whole external epithelium has a tendinous function, the 

 muscles being apparently inserted -directly on the chitinous cuticle. 

 According to Claus, the muscle-fibrils pass betiveen the epithelial cells, 

 but this is not quite accurate. 



Excretory Organs in Malacostraca.lF — L. Bruntz has used Kowalev- 

 sky's injection-method in studying the excretion of higher Crustaceans. 

 Cuenot found (1895) that in Decapods, in addition to the antennary 

 kidney, an excretory function was discharged by nephrocytes in the 

 branchial canals and by vacuolar cells in the "liver." Bruntz has 

 extended this conclusion to other Malacostraca, and has also found two 



* Broteria, i. (1902) pp. 1-48. t Tom. cit., pp. 77-93. 



\ Proc. Washington Acad. Sci., iv. (1902) pp. 457-99 (4 pis.). 



§ Zoologica, xiv. Heft 35*". (1902) pp. 289-384 (9 pis.). 



|| Comptes Rendus, cxxxv. (1902) pp. 750-2. ^ Tom. cit., pp. 589-91. 



