696 SUMMARY OF CUEEENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Poison-Glands of Latrodectus.* — L. Bordas describes the minute 

 structure of the poison-glands in Lactrodectw I3~gnttatu8, a common 

 spider in Southern Europe, which is usually much dreaded. He finds 

 that the bite is not at all dangerous to man or larger animals, though it 

 causes paralysis and rapid death in insects. When he tried the effect of 

 the bite on himself, the result was a slight swelling and inflammation, 

 which disappeared in a few days. 



North American Spiders.j — Nathan Banks gives a handy synopsis of 

 the families and genera of North American Araneida, to which is prefixed 

 a general account of the external characters of spiders. 



Classification of the Tartarides.+ — H. J. Hansen and W. Sorensen 

 have — as the result of the examination of a considerable amount of 

 material obtained from various sources of this tribe of the Pedipalpi — 

 reduced the four genera formerly accepted to one and a sub-genus. 

 They have increased the number of known species from five to sixteen, 

 and of these, fifteen are described in the paper. The genus and sub- 

 genus retained are respectively Schizomus and Trithyreus. 



Structure of Pedipalpi.§ — C. Borner gives a monographic account 

 of the Pedipalpi, which includes a large number of new results. The 

 following may be noted : — The proof of the similar segmentation of the 

 carapace in Palpigradaa and Schizonotidae ; the discovery of a probable 

 vestige of the thirteenth episthosomal segment of scorpions and Mero- 

 stomata between the ninth and tenth body-segment of Thelyphonidae ; 

 evidence of homology in the jointing of the second to the sixth prosomal 

 appendages in Pedipalpi and other Arachnids ; the probability of the 

 regeneration of the flagellum in Kwnenia and Thelyphonidse ; the 

 genetic relation between pore-canals and lyriform organs ; the discovery 

 of a very primitive form of the prosomal entosternum in Trithyreus 

 cambridgei ; the interpretation of the odoriferous glands of Thelypho- 

 nidae as anal glands ; the discovery of three successive regions in the 

 coxal gland of Krmenia ; the demonstration of coxal gland openings on 

 the inner side of the base of the coxae of the third appendage in all 

 Pedipalpi ; the discovery of a pair of extrusible ventral sacs in the 

 second pulmonary segment of some Tarantulidse, which are not true 

 lungs, but comparable to the lung-books of some species of Kmmnia ; 

 the demonstration of the heart in Kmnenia. But there are many other 

 new points, e.g. as to the nervous and reproductive systems. The mono- 

 graph is one of great importance, and throws much light on a group of 

 animals which have received relatively little attention. 



New Pycnogonid.|| — J. G. C. Loman describes Pipetta weberi, 

 g. et sp. n., from deep water in the Banda Sea. The body is slender, 

 distinctly jointed, with long lateral processes separated by large intervals, 

 with a very long, thin, bottle-shaped proboscis, and with a long thin 

 abdomen. The chelifori are absent, the palps are slender, longer than 



* Ann. Sci. Nat. (Zool.) i., 9th series, 1905, pp. 147-64 (1 pi. and 4 figs.). 



t Amer. Nat., xxxix. (1905) pp. 293-323 (23 figs.). 



t Arch. Zool.. ii. (1905) No. 8, pp. 1-78 (7 pis.). 



§ Zoologica, xvii. (1904) heft 42. pp. 1-104 (4 pis and 52 fins.). 



|| Tijdschr. Nederland. Dicrk. Ver., viii. (1904) pp. 259-66 (7 figs.). 



