56 SELECTED NOTES FROM 



separates the anus from the sexual opening, and is, I think, the 

 homologue of the " curved semi-circular plate/' which Mr. Lovvne 

 describes as similarly situated in the ovipositor of the Blow-Fly. 

 The ventral plate of the eighth segment is, I believe, wanting ; 

 that of the seventh has been already referred to. 



There remain now to be considered, first, two minute hairy 

 appendages situated above and on either side of the anus; 

 second, the terminal portions of the sheaths ; and third, the 

 spiculae. 



The first-named are found immediately behind the fine dorsal 

 margin of the eighth segment, and appear to me to be the dorsal 

 appendages of that segment (see Fig. 8, p. 53). 



2. — The terminal portions of the sheaths are, I think, the 

 dorsal appendages of the ninth segment ; they are situated on 

 either side of the dart just below the anus, and are homologous, 

 I believe, with the " leaf-like appendages " of this segment in the 

 Blow-Fly (see Lowne's Anatomy, p. 112). 



3. — The spiculae are, perhaps, more difficult to understand 

 than any of the preceding parts, but they appear to arise from the 

 eighth segment, and I am inclined to regard them as the ventral 

 appendages of that segment, corresponding on the venter to those 

 on the dorsum mentioned previously. A. Hammond. 



Gamasus coleoptratorum.— This is a predatory acarus, found 

 in many different situations. This, although found on the ground, 

 is very similar to one parasitic on the House-fly. I once placed one 

 in a test-tube with a lot of acari which I had collected, and was 

 much disgusted to find, after the lapse of an hour or two, that it 

 had made a meal of them. I caught it in flagrante delicto, for it 

 was in the act of " putting itself outside " the last of the unfortu- 

 nate acari. Alfred Atkinson. 



Hypopus muscarum. — I once or twice have had the good 

 fortune to capture a fly suffering from an attack of these creatures, 

 and I am sure the poor flies were not in a state either of mind or 

 body to gyrate very hai:)pily, and certainly not to devour their 

 voracious tormentors as they have been said to do. It seemed to 

 me they were in danger of being devoured themselves, so numer- 

 ous were their antagonists, whilst the weight of the load they had 

 to carry prevented them from doing more than just crawl along. 



J. Sargent, Jun. 



I have found Hypopus upon Wire-worms very plentifully. 



W. Case. 



