ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 177 



been introduced by human agency. They hope that their work — which 

 is as welcome as it is useful — will stimulate fresh inquiries. 



Grapevine Root Worm.* — E. P. Felt gives in a well-illustrated 

 bulletin an account of the life-history and habits of the Chrysomelid 

 beetle Fidia viticida Walsh, which has proved itself a destructive enemy 

 of the vineyards in the Chautauqua grape belt. The natural enemies 

 and the various remedial measures are duly discussed. 



0. Myriopoda. 



Structure of Myriopods.f — Gk Rossi has made a detailed study of 

 Julus and Scolopendra, with notes on other forms. The first part of the 

 memoir discusses the skeleton and musculature, the second is devoted to 

 the body-wall, the third to the respiratory system, and the fourth to the 

 vascular system and the cavity of the body. The development of the 

 zonites and skin is also dealt with, the problem of the metamerism is 

 discussed, and careful attention is given to the mechanism of respiration. 



Labial Excretory Organs and a Phagocytic Organ in Diplo- 

 poda. | — L. Bruntz has used the injection-method to discover the 

 excretory organs of Glomeris and other millipedes. He finds four 

 kinds of excretory organs : — (1) Uric cells in the adipose tissue ; 

 (2) nephrocytes around the perineural sinus ; (3) the Malpighian 

 tubules ; and (4) labial organs. The last consist of a saccule which 

 eliminates injected carmine and a labyrinth leading to the exterior on 

 the gnathochilarium. He compares them with the antennary and 

 maxillary excretory organs in some Crustaceans. A phagocytic organ 

 which Cuenot demonstrated on each side of the perineural sinus has 

 been found by Bruntz in various Julidse. 



5. Araclmida. 



Gamasus auris.§ — E. Trouessart gives an account of this interesting 

 mite which lives as a commensal in the external auditory tube of cattle, 

 feeding on the abundant cerumen. It is parthenogenetic, but two males 

 were found in five hundred specimens. It seems to be sometimes ovi- 

 parous, sometimes ovoviviparous. A careful study of the animal described 

 in 1872 by Leidy as Gamasus auris has led Trouessart to establish for it 

 a new genus Raillietia. In a note (in discussion) Racovitza calls atten- 

 tion to the mites (undetermined) found abundantly in the mucus of the 

 nostrils in the Antarctic seal (Lobodon carcinophagd). 



Thick-skinned Acarina.|| — Sig. Thor shows that the thick skin is 

 not a dead layer, but composed of many iiving elements diversely disposed. 

 He describes in particular Trombidium holosericeum, Arrenurus pustu- 

 lator, and Lebertia obscura, and gives a detailed account of the skin 

 layers — epiostracum, ectostracum, hypostracum, and hypodermis. 



* Bull. New York State Mus., No. 59 (1902) pp. 49-84 (6 pis.). 



t Kicerche Lab. Anat. Univ. Roma, ix. (1902) pp. 5-88 (1 pi. and 10 figs.). 



X Comptes Eendus, cxxxvi. (1903) pp. 57-9. 



$ Bull. Soc. Zool. France, xxvii. (1902) pp. 231-3. 



il Arbeit. Zool. Inst. Wien, xiv. (1902) pp. 291-306 (1 pi.). 



April 15th, 1903 n 



