442 



PSrCHB. 



[Novciiitfer— December 1890, 



as is well known, these parts are prin- 

 cipally composed of an upper and a 

 lower pair of oppositely curved, stout, 

 falcate hooks, serving as scrapers, work- 

 ing in opposite directions in boring or 

 rather scratching a vertical hole in the 

 earth in which to deposit eggs. Plainly 

 the oviposition of this creature must be 

 something quite different and veiy likely 

 analogous to that of the locustodea^ for 

 .these hooks or scrapers are reduced to 

 a couple of sets of straight, compressed, 

 tapering, bluntly pointed laminae, en- 

 tirely without serrations or armature of 

 any kind, and attingent only at tip, the 



upper pair the larger. They would ap- 

 pear to be useful only in crowding eggs 

 into already existing crevices of wood 

 or bark. Such a difference in sexual 

 armor between two closely allied species 

 I have never before seen. 



Another point of interest in the spe- 

 cies is the somewhat unusual contrasts 

 of color and somewhat vivid color, es- 

 pecially in the antennae, in an insect 

 which otherwise by its monochrome of 

 dead leaf brown would seem to be gain- 

 ing defence by avoiding vividness and 

 contrast. Such are some of the anom- 

 alies in nature. 



Lowne's Anatomy of the Blow-fly. 



The first part of Lowne's Anatoinj, Mor- 

 phology and Development of the Blow-flj 

 has just appeared. The prospectus an- 

 nounced five quarterly parts each with about 

 64 pfiges of letterpress four plates and some 

 20 original drawings. As usual, however, 

 the first part runs beyond anticipations, con- 

 taining 98 pages. The introductory matter of 

 3r pages gives a life history of Calliphora, an 

 introduction to insect anatomj in general 

 and the broad characteristics of the Diptera 

 and its subdivisions; while the body of the 

 part is given up to the anatomy of the larva; 

 half a dozen brief topical bibliographies are 

 scattered through the Part and a brief appen- 

 dix gives methods for histological work. 



Hydrocyanic Acid" Secreted by 1'oly- 



DISSMl'S VrRGINIENSIS. DrURY. 



Guldensteeden-Egeling has shown (Pflii- 

 ger's Archiv f. d. ges. physiol., 1882, v. 28) 

 that Paradi'.sinus {Fonlaria) ffracilis^ Koch, 

 a myriopod indigenous to the Fiji Islands, 

 •Moluccas, etc., but which has now become 

 acclimatized in some of the hot-houses of 

 Europe, produces a secretion that contains 

 "besides bfcnzaldehyd free hydrocyanic acid. 

 In the same year Weber (Archiv f. mikr. 

 anat., v. 2l) showed that the repugnatory 

 •gJands which produce tlie secretion open near 

 the median dorsal line on certain segments 



and that it is only from these segments tha 

 the characteristic odor of prussic acid is dif- 

 fused. Haase in a recent note, from which I 

 have taken these bibliographical references, 

 has again called attention to this curious se- 

 cretion. (Sitzungs b. d. Gesell. naturf. Fre- 

 unde zu Berlin, Jahrgang 1889. P- 97 ) 



While collecting specimens of our native 

 PolydesniHs (^Fontarin) virginicnsis. a myri- 

 opod not uncommon in some parts of Wis- 

 consin and probably in many of the middlfe 

 states, I observed that when roughly 

 handled they emitted an odor like bruised 

 peach-leaves or cyanide of potassium. Sus- 

 pecting the presence of a secretion like that 

 of the Moluccan species, I requested a profes- 

 sional chemist, Mr. Davenport Fisher of 

 Milwaukee, to test the myriopods for free 

 hydrocyanic acid. Mr. Fisher succeeded in 

 establishing the presence of a small quantity 

 of the highly poisonous substance. Subse- 

 quently I ("ound it easy to make the test for 

 myself. A few of the polydesmi were ground 

 up in a mortar with a stnall quantity of water 

 A few drops of potassium hydrate and ferrous 

 sulphate were then added to the solution 

 obtained by filtering the mass. On the 

 application of gentle heat and the further ad- 

 dition of a little ferric chloride with sufficient 

 hydrocliloric acid to dissolve the precipitated 

 ferrous and ferric hydrates, the faint but dis- 

 tinct tinge of Prussian blue attested the 

 presentee t)f free hydrocyanic acid. 



W. M. Wheeler. 



