On Discoarachne brevipes Hock, a Pycnogouid from South Africa. 247 



in auother paper^). No description of this process lias ever been 

 giveu for a form in which the feraale is provided with ovigerous legs, 

 and it is possible that in these cases it is a more coraplicated process 

 in whicb these appendages niay take part. All of this emphasizes the 

 need of more observations on the habits of these interesting animals 

 by those who have opportunity. Most of the physiological actions 

 that have been incidentally attributed to them by writers upon the 

 group have been from their structural peculiarities, and not from direct 

 Observation or experiments. 



Of the immature specimens that accorapany this lot I have little 

 to say. In size they are nearly as large as the males, which they re- 

 semble in general. The eyes, however, are without pigment and the 

 ovigerous legs are only partially developed. They might be com- 

 pared respectively to what Morgan ^) has described as the ninth and 

 tenth stages in the development of Tanystylum orhiculare Wilson. 

 In the first of these (Fig 7) the ovigerous legs are short and no 

 joints can be distinguished ; in the second (Fig. 8) they are about 

 twice as long and 8 of the final 10 joints can be indistinctly made 

 out, No hint is yet given as to whether these would have developed 

 iuto the longer appendages of the female, or into the modified 

 ovigerous legs of the male. 



For convenience in systematic refereuce I append by itself the 

 following brief 



Description ofthe male. 

 General appearance similar to that of the female ; somewhat smaller 

 and more slender; chelifori represented by rudiments or wanting. 

 Ovigerous legs 10-jointed; joints 1 — 6 as in female, except that scattered 

 spines mostly point backwards; 7. Joint rounded at distal end and 

 furnished with numerous long, mostly recurved spines ; 8. Joint much 

 smaller than 7., Coming off from the side of the 7. at an angle, its 

 distal end bulged and beset with long spines; 9. Joint slightly longer 

 and of smaller diameter than 8., with a few long spines at distal 

 end; 10. Joint very small, two short spines at tip somewhat resem- 

 bling chelse. 



Zoological Laboratory, University of Michigan, 

 Ann Arbor, Mich., U. S. A., April 17, 1901. 



1) CoLE, L. J., Notes on the habits of Pycnogonids, in : Biol. Bul- 

 letin, V. 2, 1901, pp. 195—207. 



2) Morgan, T. H., 1. c. pp. 44—45, tab. 6, figs. XIX and XXI. 



