Bibliotheca sphragidologica 173 



occupies a posterior position. The insect would be in no 

 way inconvenienced in the matter if the copulatory ori- 

 fice were hermetically sealed for the rest of its life after 

 pairing. This fact of butterfly anatomy has doubtless 

 escaped Professor Houlbert's notice. The remaining point 

 whit which I must deal is the statement on p. 158 that 

 the uncus of the male is more highly developed in those 

 species whose females are found to bear a sphragis, and 

 is very small in cases where the genital plate reduced 

 or absent. In very (p. 293) many of the smaller Acraeas 

 the sphragis is not or scarcely at all developed, yet in 

 these the uncus is, in proportion to the claspers, very 

 large and well developed. 



In one or two places Professor Houlbert suggests that he 

 has had some difficulty in making ont the structure of 

 the genital armatures owing to their desiccated con- 

 dition. Should he continue his investigations, and I sin- 

 cerely hope he will do so, he will find that if the ter- 

 minal Segments of the abdomen are boiled in caustic 

 potash (KHO) for a minute or two all extraneous matter 

 is easily removed, and the specimen can be dehydrated, 

 cleared in clove oil, and mounted in Canada baisam in 

 a cell so that it is not compressed. He will then find 

 that the organ can be examined under the most favou- 

 rable conditions, and its form easily made out with the 

 help of the stereoscopic microscope. 

 If he will submit a sphragis to the same treatment he 

 will find that it disintegrates and dissolves with great 

 rapidity, conclusive evidence that it is of an entirely 

 different chemical Constitution from that of the organs 

 to which he would he seek to ally it." 

 [133] 1916—1918. E. Fischer, in: Arkiv f. Zoologie XI., 



No. 18. p. 34 (1918). Vgl. 1. c! 



[134] 1916. F. Bryk (M. S.), in: Arkiv f. Zoologi, Vol. 11, 



No. 18, p. 35, 36 (1918). 



,,Am 21. IX. unterhielt ich mich wieder einmal mit Prof. 

 Aurivillius über die Sphragisbildung bei den Lepido- 

 pteren, wobei ich ihn auf die Vlllte Schuppe aufmerksam 

 Sterigma machte und fragte, ob für sie ein wissenschaftlicher Termin 

 existierte. Prof. Aurivillius pflichtete meiner Meinung 

 bei, daß man dieses Organ jedenfalls mit einem neuen 

 Namen belegen könnte. Als unser Gespräch später auf 

 die mir von Dr. E. Fischer mitgeteilte Sphragis- 

 Sphragis bildung bei den Argynniden kam, fragte ich: ob 

 Argynnis und Acraea als Nymphaliden in naher Ver- 



;■ . wandtschaft zueinander ständen. „Ja, schauen sie sich 



die Cethosia an, die gewissermaßen in vielen Beziehungen 

 ein Bindeglied zwischen den echten Nymphaliden und 



5. llett 



