152 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



" common cockroach." One species was recognised as Evania laevigata 

 Olivier, and was found to lay only one egg in each cocoon. The other, 

 an unnamed form, is smaller, and lays on an average 50-60 eggs in 

 each cocoon ; the mature insects hatch out after an interval of 30-40 

 days. 



Cardiac Body in the Larva of Phalacrocera replicata.* — Simon 

 Bengstsson states that lie observed this remarkable structure in 1893-94. 

 He now supplements and corrects the description given by L. C. Miall 

 and R. Shelford f in 1897. The organ in question is a glandular body 

 Cin the heart-cavity) with a secretory portion and an efferent duct ; it 

 has probably a compensatory respiratory function of much importance 

 in the (apneustic) larval life. Its structure is fully discussed, and its 

 possible analogy with annelid cardiac bodies is dismissed as too remote. 



German Collembola.J — C. Borner, in the course of his studies on 

 this subject, has found that the species of the genus Sminthurus have 

 never been classified in a scientific manner, and that further Willem's 

 discovery of Megalothorax minimus necessitates a revision of the dia- 

 gnosis of the family Sminthuridse. He makes the new form the type of 

 a new sub-family, gives revised diagnoses of the family and of the two 

 sub-families, and finally describes and classifies all the German sjjecies 

 of the genus Sminthurus. 



Guests of Dorylinae.§ — E. Wasmann makes his 114th contribution 

 to our knowledge of myrmecophily and termitophily — even the number 

 expresses an achievement — and discusses new Eciton-gnests from Brazil, 

 new guests of the African driver-ant Anomma, a new guest of Dorylus 

 helvolus, and a new guest of JEnictus. He also gives a list of the known 

 guests of Dorylinae in general, and makes a comparison of those from 

 Neotropical and Ethiopian regions. 



/3. Myriopoda. 



Male Dimorphism in Diplopoda.|| — H. W. Brolemann opposes Ver- 

 hoeff's view that of the two male forms which occur in the Julidae, the 

 forma typica is the more primitive and the forma elongata the derived 

 form. Brolemann believes, on the contrary, that it is the forma elongata 

 which is primitive, basing his opinion on the following grounds. As 

 indicated by the structure of the copulatory appendages, the Spirobolidaa 

 are to be regarded as the most primitive of the Julidae (in the wide 

 sense). In the genus Spirostreptus we have intermediate forms which 

 link Spirobolus to the specialised types included in Julus and Schizo- 

 phyllum. Now in the families Spirobolidaa and Spirostreptidas, the 

 author has found that in the males the copulatory appendages do not 

 pass suddenly into the mature condition, as in the forma typica of Julidae, 

 but exhibit at least one intermediate stage (Schaltstadium) as in the 

 forma elongata. The suppression of such a stage in the forma typica he 

 regards as a proof of specialisation, suggesting an approach to the 

 complete metamorphosis of higher Arthropods. 



* Bihang K. Svenska Vetensk. Akad., xxv. (1900) 23 pp. (2 pis.). 



t Of. this Journal, 1898, p. 299. 



% Zool. Anzeig., xxiii. (1900) pp. 609-18. 



§ Zool. Jahrb., xiv. (1900) pp. 215-89 (2 pis.). 



|| Zool. Anzeig., xxiii. (1900) pp. 630-4. Cf. this Journal, 1900, p. 198. 



