1 62 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. IV, No. 7, 



b}^ Sandusky Bay. Here the^^ lay their eggs immediately, except 

 when the weather becomes cold, as during the summer of 1903. 

 For weeks during that summer, there were strong winds from the 

 west and northwest that drove a heavy surf against the beach 

 mentioned. Moreover, the major portion of the season during 

 which oviposition generally takes place, remained cold and cloud3\ 

 The result was that the myriopods did not lay their eggs until 

 late. During the latter part of July and the first of August, 

 adults were not to be seen, as during hot summers like that of 

 1902, running about in groups on the sand, but were found hud- 

 dled together in numbers under the dead marsh grass and debris 

 that covered the bay beach above the wash of the waves. 



For a short while in the second week in August, some were 

 found pairing in the grass farther towards the middle of the Point, 

 and a little later, several nests were discovered. The nests are 

 built in loose sand, preferably that when mixed with a little loam 

 and alwaj'S soil that is somewhat damp. The nests are dug by 

 the female while the male is mounted. She uses her anterior 

 appendages to dig the hole, passing the dirt upward to the open- 

 ing of the hole by means of the remaining appendages. She 

 removes the dirt until she has made a cavit}' a little greater than 

 the width of her body and about two inches in depth. When the 

 greatest depth has been reached that she is to make the hole, she 

 widens out a cave-like terminus which reaches a diameter of about 

 half an inch. She is now ready to deposit the eggs. To under- 

 stand this process, it is necessary to keep in mind that the exter- 

 nal generative opening of the female is on the second body seg- 

 ment. Hence the female is enabled to deposit the eggs without 

 withdrawing from the hole. The eggs are fastened to the walls 

 of the enlargement at the base of the tubular nest, and after she 

 has lined the cavit}^ she keeps on depositing eggs until she has 

 made four or five layers of eggs. Sometimes the whole of the 

 enlargement is filled, but generally there is a lumen in the center 

 of the mass of eggs. 



There is no evidence furnished by the present observations for 

 the statement made by some authors' that the female guards the 

 nest after she has deposited her eggs. Of the many cases watched, 

 none of the females nor males remained in the vicinity of the nest 

 after the egg-laying had been completed. The mouth of the nest 

 was in each case left uncovered, but usually, by chance, the open- 

 ing became stopped up either by rain or wind or some other 

 factor. 



Young specimens were found during the whole of the summer 

 amongst the adults. The.se immature individuals ranged in length 

 from three-quarters of an inch to full size. In color they differed 



I. Korschelt and Heider, ICmbryology of Invert. Vol. Ill, p. 218. 



