280 QUARTERLY CHRONICLE. 
ENGLAND.—Space compels us to curtail the chronicle 
very greatly this quarter. We shall notice the French and 
English journals in January, as also some papers read at 
Dundee, in addition to the one here abstracted. 
British Association‘ The Anatomy of the Thysanura,” by 
Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S. He remarked that the Thysanura, 
though extremely numerous, and in many cases very pretty 
litle creatures, had attracted but little attention, owing, per- 
haps, to their great delicacy and the consequent difficulty of 
preserving them in a satisfactory condition. Under any 
decaying log of wood, under damp leaves, in long grass—in 
short, in almost any damp situation, the Thysanura form no 
small proportion of the population. Like other insects, they 
have six legs, but they never acquire wings. ‘The tail is 
provided with two long appendages which are bent forward 
under the body, and thus form a spring, by means of which 
the animal is enabled to jump with great activity. A Smyn- 
thurus, for instance, measuring one tenth of an inch in 
diameter, will casily jump up twelve inches in the air. This, 
however, is due mainly, not to muscular power, but to the 
elasticity of the spring. The muscles draw the spring forward 
and bring it under a small latch or catch. Directly this is 
relaxed the elasticity of the body jerks the spring back, and 
throws the creature upwards and forwards. ‘The author 
described in detail the muscles by which the spring is moved. 
Another remarkable peculiarity in the Thysanura is the pre- 
sence, on the first abdominal ring, of a process which acts as 
a sucker in the Poduride, and in Smynthurus gives rise to 
two long filaments which serve the same purpose. The 
author described the arrangement of the muscles by which 
this curious apparatus is moved. He then described the 
digestive and respiratory organs, and pointed out that Smyn- 
thurus and Papirius, though very nearly allied in external 
character, differ entirely in their method of respiration, the 
latter genus being almost or entirely deficient in trachee. 
