539 



9) Packard's »brick-red gland« is of mesodermal origin. It con- 

 tains in its interior the cavity of the fifth post-oral somite. Its inner 

 end is terminated by a thin layer of flattened epithelium. It soon be- 

 comes folded on itself and the region of the bend grows rapidly forward. 

 The outer limb of the fold becomes in time folded at four points and 

 these new bends grow out in each body segment, giving rise to the 

 lobes characteristic of the organ in the adult. With the folding num- 

 erous fusions of the walls occur, followed by perforations, giving rise 

 to the peculiar anastomosing structure of the adult organ. 



These points so briefly summarised , go far I think towards the 

 support of that view which would recognise a close relationship between 

 Arachnids and Limulus^ while at the same time they serve to remove 

 the Merostomata more widely from the Crustacea. 



Woods HoU, Mass., July 17. 1890. 



III. Mittheiliingen aus Museen, Instituten etc. 



1. Bitte. 



Dr. Paul Pelseneer (Ecole normale, Gand) occupé à l'étude de 

 Lamellibranches, serait reconnaissant à ceux de ses Collègues qui pour- 

 raient lui procurer des spécimens, en alcool, des genres : 



Crassatella^ Gastrochaena, Pholadomya^ UnguUna^ Verticordia. 



2. Linnean Society of New South Wales. 



30th July, 1890. — 1) Geological. — 2) and 3) Botanical. — 4) On 

 a new genus of Tenthredenidae, with a description of two new species. By 

 W. W, Froggatt. The writer describes two species of saw-flies allied to 

 the Australian genus Pterygophorus, for which he proposes the generic name 

 oi Philomastix; they are remarkable for the handsome funnel-shaped joints 

 of which the antennae of the male are composed, and the great length of 

 the antennae of the female. The species described come from the northern 

 parts of New South Wales and North Queensland. — 5) Additional Notes 

 on Peripattis Leudiarti. By J. J. Fletcher, M.A., B.Sc, Some account is 

 given of forty-two specimens of Peripaius from three new localities in this 

 colony — Mt. Kosciusko, the Blue Mts., and Dunoon on the Richmond 

 River — all collected since the last occasion on which the attention of the 

 Society was drawn to this species. Apart from the interest attaching to the 

 occurrence of the specimens from Mt, Kosciusko at high altitudes (5000 

 — 5700 ft.) where for several months in the year the ground is covered with 

 snow, the collection as a whole is remarkable for the interesting variations 

 of colour and pattern which are presented, but chiefly for the unusual abun- 

 dance (50 per cent.) of males, the characters of which were not found to be 

 precisely in agreement with those of the only two male specimens hitherto 

 recorded ; that is to say, round whitish papillae were found on some or all of 



