146 Mr. G. Newport on the Reproduction 



Dr. Burmeister indeed, in 1836*, made a general vague state- 

 ment that mutilated caterpillars are said to obtain new limbs, 

 but his remark was not accompanied by any reference to experi- 

 ments in support of the fact ; while he remarked of insects gene- 

 rally, that they " display but very slight traces of a power of re- 

 production." Subsequently to this, Professor Miiller, in the excel- 

 lent English edition of his ^Physiology' byDr.Baly in 1837, stated 

 that the larvae of insects reproduce their antennse, and that those 

 of Phasma also reproduce their legsf. No observations had yet 

 been made to show that any of the Myriapoda possess this power, 

 until a specimen of tO^colopendra subspinipes with the eleventh leg 

 on the left side extremely diminutive, was exhibited by myself at 

 a meeting of the Entomological Society in November 1839, and 

 pointed out as an instance of reproduction in that class. In the 

 following February the Rev. P. W. Hope exhibited an Australian 

 Scolopendra with one of the posterior legs very diminutive, and 

 which, with me, he regarded as a structure that had been repro- 

 duced. This view was strongly objected to by Mr. J. Obadiah 

 Westwood, the entomologist, who contended that these were only 

 instances of retarded development ; and he maintained this opi- 

 nion with much perseverance. In November 1840 the same gen- 

 tleman produced to the Society, in support of his assumption, a 

 specimen of Litkobius with a diminutive posterior leg, which he 

 regarded as an instance of retarded development, and not as one 

 of reproduction. - 



As the promulgation of erroneous opinions is a matter of 

 serious import to science, more especially when sheltered by ap- 

 parent facts, I endeavoured to put these opinions and my own 

 views to the test of experiment. Accordingly, I instituted a series 

 of experiments on the Myriapoda^ both on the Chilognatha in 

 1841 and on the Chilopoda in 1842. These most fully verified 

 my formerly expressed belief. The lulidts and Lithobii were both 

 found to possess the power of reproducing their antennse and 

 legs. This was proved to be most extensively possessed by the 

 very young anim.al, in which the legs can be reproduced even a 

 second time. The first of these experiments in 1841 were wit- 

 nessed by my friend Mr. Waterhouse, and this gentleman bore 

 testimony to the facts at a meeting of the Entomological Society 

 in January 1844 when 1 announced them J, on the occasion of the 

 reading of some observations by Mr. Portnum on the repro- 

 duction of a limb, observed by himself in Phasma. On that 

 occasion I also pointed out the fact, that the armature of spines, 

 &c. on reproduced limbs is almost always imperfect, and often 



* Manual of Entomology by Shuckard, 1836, p. 427. 

 f Elements of Physiology by Baly, vol. i. p. 405, 1837. 

 X Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xvi. p. 274. 



