Notes on Mfjriapoda. 9 



passafjes made by these animals tlirouj;h tlic soil in which 

 they lived, some very little systems of network formed of 

 cobweb-like filaments and arran^^ed at a distance from one 

 another. At the centre of each was hnng a spherical 

 ^lobnle. white, of the size of a small pin-head. This <i;lobule 

 was nothing else but a spermatophore. For a month and a 

 lialf spermatophores are deposited by the males in the same 

 way. What i)ecomes of these spermatophores? How do 

 tliey effect fertilization ? Fahre tells us the 'complete absence 

 of copulatory organs, the protective sperm-capsule, the 

 spermatic nets, all make me believe that the male deposits 

 tl)e spermatophores furtively on nets stretched in the sub- 

 terranean passages and that- it is there that tlie female, 

 guided by her instinct and urged on by her burden, comes 

 to seek the element complementary to her ovules.' 



"There is no coif us : that is pretty certain if the infor- 

 mation given by Fabre be taken for granted. But in the 

 question which interests us, this fact, in spite of its great 

 import, is only of secondary significance. Whether there is 

 or is not coitus is of no importance to us ; but what does 

 concern us is the date of the deposition of the spermatophore, 

 which is very probal)ly the date of fertilization too, since in 

 the ordinary air the spermatophores, being very delicate 

 microscopic corpuscles, are condemned to almost certain 

 destruction in a very short time. Excessive humidity cracks 

 them, drying shrivels and hardens them, arachnids to whom 

 they are a great delicacy devour them very quickly. 



" Now the date of the deposition of the spermatophores 

 coincides exactly with that of the appearance of luminosity 

 in phosphorescent Geophilidne. 



" Fabre, as a matter of fact, has proved that the de- 

 position of the s[)ermatophoies of Geophi/ns convoivens 

 (which is not a phosphorescent S})ecies) goes on from the 

 end of September to the 12th of November, and the obser- 

 vations which we have cited concerning the capture of 

 ])hotogenic Geophilidae record as extreme dates 25 September 

 (G. Newport) and 11- Novemher (Maille). 



"The proof afiorded by this last coincidence establishes a 

 conviction, and within the limits of j)res(nt observations 

 I believe I have the right to conchule that amony phos- 

 phorescent Euro/iean Geophilidee the appearance of luminusily 

 is not only iutiinutcly connected with ytnitnl activity ^ but seems 

 to corres/)07id exactly with tite date of tlie deposition of the 

 spennatojihorcs {eery probably also with fertilization) — that is 

 to say, from the end of September to tlie jirst fortnight of 

 November.'' 



