64 



Lubricating Glands of Penis and Ovijwsitor 



Cyphophthalmi we have examined three representatives with regard to this point, and in 

 the females of those two forms of which the specimens were in the best state of preserva- 

 tion, Purcelha and Parasiro corsicus, we found a pair of very peculiar organs which we 

 believe to be the glands in question. They are shown in PI. IV., fig. 1 t, g, which repre- 

 sents ovipositor with its sheath of Purcelliu. It is a pair of oblong bodies, which lie close 

 to the sheath along the distal quarter of its length. The gland has no general excretory 

 duct, but after the removal of one half of one of these glands we noticed a great number, 

 probably more than one hundred, exceedingly fine tubes which penetrated the walls of the 

 sheath, and entered deeply into the substance of the gland without subdivision. We 

 conclude that each glandular cell has its own excretory duct ; but we cannot pi'onounce a 

 very decided opinion on this question, as the condition of our specimens was not so good 

 as could have been wished for histological examination. In the males we have not found 

 any such glands, but we do not feel justified on that account in denying their existence, 

 particularly as they may possibly be of a different aspect in the male from what we found 

 in the females, as is the case in Maracandus. 



13. The External Sexual Characters, particularly in Cyphophthalmi. 



It has long been known that in the majority of Palpatores — in fact in all except 

 Troguloidaj — the sexes may be readily distinguished by external marks, which, however, are 

 of so diversified a nature that no general account can be given of them. The same is the 

 case in most Laniatores. Within the same genus the characters by which the sexes may 

 be distinguished are generall}' the same, but species of different genera often differ con- 

 siderably in this respect. At the same time there are genera amongst Laniatores in which 

 the sexual difference is but little pronounced externally. We would therefore draw attention 

 to the fact that operculum genitale offers characters by which it is always possible to 

 distinguish the sexes in both these sub-orders, provided of course that both sexes are repre- 

 sented amongst the specimens at one's disposal. The sexual differences observable in 



dinetis Holmb. we have also found a pair of glands (PI. VI., 

 fig. 28, fl) of about the same length as penis. In the female 

 of PachyloiiUs uncinatiis Sorenseu found one gland of the 

 same shape as that found in the male, only somewhat 

 smaller ; we have not found any such in the specimens 

 which we have examined, but most likely a pair of glands are 

 present. In the female of Maracimdus reticulatus a pair of 

 very long and slender glands are found, resembling nothing 

 more nearly than a tree with long slender branches, which in 

 their turn ramify. As in the other Laniatores, a rather 

 wide common duct extends longitudinally through the whole 

 gland, into which numerous fine tubes open. In the male of 

 the same species we have found the basal portions of the 

 same two glands in the same place as in the female, but 

 besides these we found on the dorsal side of the sheath, close 

 behind the anterior margin, a transverse belt formed by a 

 very large number, probably many more than a hundred, 

 rather short and, as it seems, not ramified, extremely thin 

 tubes, which open into the sheath. The glandular cells to 

 these tubes are much smaller than those of the other glands. 

 The lubricating glands in PhalangioidiE are the well-known 



pair of large glands which the earliest writers, Treviranus, 

 Tulk and Leydig, erroneously interpreted as testes in the 

 males, but of which the glandular nature was discovered by 

 Lubbock and afterwards by Krohn (a). They are much 

 smaller in the females than in the males, but are otherwise 

 alike in both sexes. The most detailed account of these 

 glands in this family is given by de Graaf, to whose paper 

 we therefore refer. They open dorsally in the sheath, 

 close to each other, whilst in Laniatores they open quite 

 laterally, close behind the anterior margin of the sheath. 

 They are divided into many lobes ; a common duct passes 

 through the middle of each of them and their lobes ; no fine 

 tubes, however, oj^en into this duct as is the case in Lania- 

 tores, but the glandular cells form in Phalangioidae an 

 epithelium round the duct. These glands in Phalangioidffi 

 are ramified tubular glands, whilst in Laniatores they are 

 racemous glands. As it did not appear to us that the nature 

 of these glands offered any features of much systematic 

 interest, we have not considered it of sufficient importance 

 to investigate them in Ischyropsalidoidse, Nemastomatoidse 

 and Troguloidffi. 



