416 SUMMAEY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



functionless in her, but functional in allied forms, e.g. wasp, of less 

 specialised nature. These glands are the honiologues of the sex-deter- 

 mining glauds of the workers, which open at the mouth, and can be 

 divided into male aud female glands and merely nutritive glauds. By 

 the introduction of the secretion of male, or of female, or of both glands 

 into the cells, the workers determine the sex. 



Prof. August Weismann ,* in a reply to Dickel, reaffirms the older 

 view, laying special emphasis on the absence of proof of fertilisation in 

 drone eggs. He contests Dickel's statement that drone eggs can be made 

 to give rise to workers or even queens, and doubts the statement that 

 drones, the otispring of an Italian queen mated with a German drone, 

 display the characters of the German race. 



In a further note, j Dickel gives some details concerning crossing 

 experiments which were conducted with all possible care, and showed 

 the appearance of paternal characters in the male offspring. He also 

 describes some experiments which, as he believes, prove that (fertilised) 

 drone eggs, if artificially placed in queen or worker cells, will develop 

 into queens or workers. 



5. Arachnida- 



Habits of Water Spider.} — W. Wagner gives a detailed account (in 

 Eussian) of the habits of Argyroneta aquatica CI., and a French resume 

 on which the following notes are based. 



There is marked sexual dimorphism, and the males have a different 

 way of entangling the air, and a specific gravity brought thereby nearer 

 to that of water than is the case with the females. 



During resting periods much care is given to the arrangement of the 

 fine threads attached round the body. Keciprocal relations are placid ; 

 there is no quarrelling except in cramped captivity. The females chase 

 the males if they importune too much, and yield to them if they are 

 strong enough. One large male was seen to devour a female, the 

 reverse was never observed. 



The making of the diving-bell nest seems wholly instinctive, but the 

 summer nest is different from the winter one. The repair of the nest is 

 a continuation of the original constructive activity, and not a novel 

 work. There is considerable diversity in the choice of a site — among 

 algae, in a hole, in a piece of floating wood, in an empty gasteropod 

 shell, and so on. The visual organs are poor, and there is little evidence 

 of mutual recognition. A comparative study of webs shows that the 

 architecture of Argyroneta has a close resemblance to that of the 

 Drassidae. 



The maternal care increases towards the time of hatching, but it 

 seems rather for the cocoon than for its contents. After hatching, the 

 care rapidly wanes and disappears. 



Parental Care in a Spider. § — Dr. L. Kathariner has made some 

 interesting observations on an Algerian spider, Stegodyphus lineatus Latr., 

 which he brought to Freiberg. An egg-clump found iu his collecting 

 box was placed on a twig near the drinking-horn-like nest which was 



* Anat. Anzeig., xix. (1901) pp. 108-10. t Tom. cit., pp. 110-1. 



% Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, 1900, pp. 61-174 (1 pi. and 37 figs.). 

 § Biol. Centralbl., xxi. (1901) pp. 72-4. 



