712 RECOKD OF CURBENT BESEARCHES BELATING TO 



Cryptops, and others it is faintly alkaline; while the Julidae are 

 remarkable for having an acid secretion. After this, digestion seems 

 to be at an end in the carnivorous forms, as is shown not only by the 

 extreme shortness of the remainder of the digestive tract, but by the 

 fact that the excreta are enclosed in a tine membranous envelope, 

 which is formed in the median intestine, and which is capable of very 

 eftectively resisting the action of chemical agencies ; this fajcal mem- 

 brane is absent in the herbivorous forms, who have, as we now know, 

 a somewhat coiled terminal portion. 



Julus and Himantar'mm are shown to resemble a number of in- 

 sects in resisting for a long period the effects of starvation. The 

 secretion of the buccal glands is colourless, and is neutral or slightly 

 alkaline in reaction ; it is never venomous, nor is it similar to the 

 true saliva of Vertebrates or Insects inasmuch as it is incapable of 

 converting starch into glucose. The Malpighian tubes seem to bo 

 exactly similar to those of the allied Insecta, and to have the same 

 function of depuratory urinary organs ; they produce uric acid, urates 

 of sodium, &c., and oxalate of calcium. This important memoir is 

 illustrated by three plates. 



New Scolopendra.* — Professor Giebel gave an account to the 

 Naturw. Verein in Halle of a new Scolojiendra, discovered in 

 Ecuador, for which the specific name of respuhlicana is proposed ; 

 most nearly allied to the S. inslgnis from Columbia of Gervais it 

 differs in its smaller size, the coloration of the uj)per surface, which 

 is olive-green in the new species, and the armature and number of 

 spines on the legs, of which it has twenty-one pairs ; there are nine 

 pairs of stigmata. 



Pentastoma tsenioides in the Ear of a Dog.t— Dr. Gille presented 

 a specimen of this organism which he had taken from the middle ear 

 of a dog ; he observed that the mucous membrane was greatly 

 thickened and inflamed ; the " worm " (Linguatulid — one of the 

 Arachnida, as ordinarily regarded) must have entered by the 

 Eustachian tube, and indeed another and smaller specimen was 

 observed in the nostrils. The creature is ordinarily reported as 

 inhabiting the nasal fossfe, the frontal and ethmoidal sinuses, and the 

 region now recorded is one in which it has not been hitherto found. 



Genera of Acari.| — Dr. Kramer gives a careful history and critical 

 account of the genera Bhap>ignat]ms of Duges, Leptognathus of Hodge, 

 and Caligonus of Koch. B. ruber of Koch has not the slightest 

 resemblance to B. ruherrimus, while the genus Caligonus which this 

 latter author subsequently founded for the species, is too slightly 

 described for accurate or certain recognition. After referring to the 

 work of Canestrini and Fauzago, who appear to have put the forms in 

 question in a more natural position in the system than any they had 

 before occupied, the author goes on to refer to the work of Mr. Hodge 

 who formed the new genus Leptognathus. The author in proceeding to 



* ' Zcitschr. Ges. Naturw.,' lii. (1879) p. 326. 

 t ' CE. Soc. Biol.' for 1877 (1879), p. 394. 

 t ' Archiv Naturg.,' xlv. (1879) p. 142. 



