ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 183 



Crystals of the Cockroach's Egg-shell.* — P. Hallez points out 

 that the crystals which form a mosaic on the ootheca of the cockroach 

 are quadratic octahedra of oxalate of lime (not carbonate as Bordas 

 supposed). 



Genital Apparatus of Female Cockroach.f — L. Bordas describes in 

 Periplaneta orientalis the seminal receptacle or spermotheca, which 

 consists of two unequal tubes, which unite for a short distance proxim- 

 ally, but have distinct orifices between the eighth and ninth abdominal 

 sternite. Two accessory or arborescent glands, also unequal, must not 

 be confused with spermothecae. The larger one secretes abundant 

 octahedral crystals, and helps to form the ootheca. The other is 

 different in structure and function. The opening of these glands is 

 on the ninth abdominal sternite. None of these organs — spermothecae 

 or arborescent glands — has any connection with the oviduct or the 

 uterus. 



Myrmecophana fallax Brunner.J — J. Vosseler finds that this form 

 is a young stage of the Phanopterid genus Eurycorypha. The larva? of 

 two (perhaps of all) species of Eurycorypha pass through a creeping 

 stage and six jumping stages, with considerable changes in appearance 

 and behaviour. In the first three jumping stages they are like ants ; 

 in the two last stages they are like leaves of plants. The colouring 

 in the leaf -like stages is in part due to the food. The phrase " trans- 

 formative mimicry" is applied to the remarkable resemblance first to 

 ant and then to leaf. 



Flies in Amber. § — F. Meunier has studied over 800 specimens of 



Phoridae and Leptidte in Baltic amber. They are very closely allied to 



modern Palaaarctic species, though none of the amber species can be said 



to survive now. There has not been much evolution in these Diptera 



since the Tertiary times began. 



i 



7- Myriopoda. 



New Littoral Millipede. ||—K. W. Verhoeff describes Isobates 

 adriaticus sp. n., for which and for Isobates littoralis Silv. he establishes 

 a new subgenus Thalassisobates. He found this new millipede on the 

 Croatian shore, and he shows that it is in certain respects specially 

 adapted for its unusual habitat, e.g. in having very long claws on the 

 appendages, probably for holding on by. 



8. Arachnida. 



British Spiders.^!— Frank P. Smith calls attention to the need of a 

 revised monograph of British spiders. He gives a number of records 



* Comptes Rendus, cxlviii. (1909) pp. 317-18. 

 t Op. cit., cxlvii. (1908) pp. 1415-18. 



% Zool. Jahrb., xxvii. (1908) pp. 157-210 (1 pi. and 13 figs.). 

 § Comptes Rendus, cxlvii. (1908) pp. 1362-3. 

 || Zool. Anzeig., xxsii. (1908) pp. 486-95 (11 figs.), 

 f Joum. Quekett Micr. Club, Nov. 1908, pp. 311-34 (1 pi.). 



