Miscellaneous. 183 



It can be then provoked in workers in captivity to the extent 

 of obtaining one third fertile, whilst the workers of the same nest 

 in the company of the queen remain sterile. A nest of Vespa 

 vulgaris, in which the laying of eggs by the queen had been com- 

 pletely interrupted, yielded more than one half fertile workers, 

 whilst other normal nests, taken at the same time, yielded only 

 sterile workers. 



It is evident that in these different cases the fecundity of the 

 workers can only be provoked by the absence of the young brood in 

 the nest and by the upsetting of the equilibrium of nutrition in 

 favour of the adults which results from it. 



The production of fertile workers is independent of the bringing 

 up of the queens, contrary to the state of things which, according to 

 Huber, exists among bees. Their fecundity depends upon the 

 nutrition of the imago, and has so much the more chance to develop 

 itself because the worker is hatched after a shorter lapse of time 

 and is nourished in a manner much more intense. 



The fecundity of the workers can only establish itself in a nest 

 when the food-collecting section of the community greatly exceeds 

 the larval, or, in other words, when the nutritive condition of the 

 colony reaches its climax, that is to say, in normal nests in the 

 month of August. — Comptes Rendus, t. exxi. pp. 731-731. 



Researches on the Structure, Organization, and Classification of the 

 Fossil Reptilia. — Part X. On the complete Skeleton of an Anomo- 

 dont Reptile (Aristodesmus Riitimeyeri, Wiedersheim), from the 

 Bunter Sandstone of Reihen, near Basel, giving new Evidence of 

 the Relation of the Anomodontia to the Monotremata. By H. G. 

 Seelet, F.R.S. 



With the co-operation of the Trustees of the University Museum 

 of Basel and Professor Riitimeyer the author has examined ttie 

 fossil described by Dr. Robert Wiedershiem in 1878 as Lahgrin- 

 thodon Riitimeyeri. The bones are differently interpreted : — 



The reputed humerus is the interclavicle. 



The reputed scapula is the humerus. 



The reputed supra-scapula is the left coracoid. 



The reputed supra-scapula is the right scapula. 



The reputed right and left coracoids are the pre-coracoid and 



coracoid of the right side. 

 The reputed clavicles are the ribs. 



Five digits are identified in place of four in 1878. 



These osteological identifications are inconsistent with reference 

 of the type to the Labyrinthodontia. The author also examines the 

 relation of the Labyrinthodont type to existing Amphibia, and 

 regards the Labyrinthodont osteology as demonstrating closer rela- 

 tionship with Ichthyosauria and Anomodontia. The group is there- 

 fore regarded as reptilian, forming a branchiate division of the class. 



