PSYCHE. 



ON A SINGULAR GLAND POSSESSED BY THE 

 HADENOECUS SUBTERRANEUS. 



MALE 



BY H. GARMAN, LKXINGTON, KY. 



The male of this cricket is found at 

 times with a pair of white, fleshy ap- 

 pendages protruding from slits between 

 the terga of the 9th and 10th abdominal 

 somites, the nature of which is not clear, 

 and about which I find nothing written 

 in the literature relating to the species, 

 to which I have access. 



The slits through which the organs 

 appear are situated one on each side an- 

 terior to and a little within the cerci. 

 When fully protruded the glands are 

 white, cylindrical, a little 

 tapering, and are about XX 

 1-8 inch long. They are 

 not protruded by the 

 young, as far as observed, 

 but the slits, which are of 

 rather large size, can be made out in 

 them without difficulty. I believe 

 they are protruded during the period 

 of sexual excitement. A number of 

 examples were taken in copula with 

 the lot in which individuals with pro- 

 truded glands occurred, but unfortu- 

 nately were not noticed with refer- 

 ence to the glands at the time of 

 collecting. They appear to the have 

 no immediate connection with genital 

 organs. 



What their function may be can only 

 be conjectured at present. Scent glands 

 somewhat like them have been observed 



in some female moths of the family 

 Bombycidae. If the organs are scent 

 glands, however, it is a little strange 

 that they should be borne by the males. 

 I can imagine no other use for them. 

 The sense of smell is certainly the one 

 best calculated to bring the sexes to- 

 gether in the darkness of the caves. 

 Auditory organs such as occur in Locus- 

 tidae and Acrididae they do not possess, 

 and the tactile sense, though highly de- 

 veloped, is manifestly inadequate to all 

 demands of the peculiar surround- 

 ings. 



As organs possibly of the same 

 nature, I may mention that Miall 

 and Denny refer to glands of un- 

 known function which are pro- 

 truded in the pleural region of the 

 abdomen in Corydia carunci(ligera, 

 one of the Blattidae. 



Prof. A. S. Packard figures on pi. 17, 

 fig. 3, of his work on cave animals, a 

 male cricket which is said by him to be 

 infested with a parasitic fungus. There 

 is some probability that this supposed 

 fungus is one of these glands. 



The figure represents the tip of the 

 abdomen of the male cricket, seen from 

 the side, and with the somites drawn 

 apart more than is natural. 7, S, 9, 

 somites ; a, gland, partly protruded ; 

 3, fully protruded gland. 



