Miscellaneous. 437 



In M. ioaterhousu the ears are longer than the head, the 

 front margin of the nose-leaf is thickened and raised above 

 the muzzle, and the extremity of the terminal nose-leaf 

 obtuse : the last caudal vertebra is alone free ; and its joint is 

 completely enveloped in the interfemoral membrane. 



Both M. califormcus, Baird, and M. mexicanus, Saussure 

 (evidently synonyms of M. waterhousii) ^ are described as 

 having the last caudal vertebra alone free ; and in Mr. Allen's 

 description * of M. californicus the length of the free portion of 

 the tail is given as 0'2 inch. I have examined many spe- 

 cimens of M. ivaterhousii of different ages ; and in all I have 

 found the last caudal vertebra alone free. 



Although the specimens in the Paris Museum are not full- 

 grown, as the extremities of the finger-bones show, yet the 

 metacarpal and phalangeal bones are as long as those of per- 

 fectly adult specimens of M. xoaterhousii. It follows, there- 

 fore, that this species is larger than M. waterhousii. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Researches on the Phenomena of Digestion and on the Structure of 

 the Digestive Apparatus in the Belgian Myriojpods. By F^lix 

 Plateau. (Abstract by the Author.) 



This work is the natural sequence of my " Eecherches sur les 

 phenomeues de la Digestion chez les Insectes "f. Like this, it con- 

 tains a large number of experiments ; only, the digestive tube of 

 the Myriopods being very imperfectly known, I have been obliged, 

 beside the physiological part, to give considerable space to purely 

 anatomical observations. 



The group which has offered most new anatomical facts is the 

 genus Crgptops. These animals are distinguished by an extremely 

 ample buccal intestine, playing the part of the crop of the carni- 

 vorous Coleoptera, and by a very remarkable valvular apparatus 

 (gizzard) previously unknown in the Myriopods. It is a spherical 

 or ellipsoidal enlargement, very muscular, furnished within with 

 numerous setae and even sometimes with spiny points, all directed 

 towards the oesophagus. 



On carefully studying the terminal intestine, we find that, as 

 M. Gervais had already shown in some genera, the species of Olo- 

 meris are far from being the only Myriopods in which this portion 

 of the alimentary canal presents convolutions. A simple curvature, 

 or one or several loops exist in the terminal intestine of Iidiis, 

 Geojjhilus, Himantarium , and Cryptops. 



My memoir also contains a detailed examination of the anterior 



* Bats of North America, p. 4 (18G4). 



t Ann. k Mag. Nat. Hist. 1875, vol. xvi. p. 152. 



