22 I)i. & tlu- Eev. S. Graliam Biado-Biiks— 



as the liliu dries. 'J'lit; experimental ostini:itir)ii of liriirlitnrss 

 lias already been e.\i)hiined. 



W'v. I'avc made no examitiatiou of the pliosphorcscence of 

 these aiiimals with tlie spectroscope. 



'i he Clicinicul Considcratiuns. 



When we conic to consider the elieniical possil)ilitics of 

 tlie question, our path is fraught witli many diiliculties ; one 

 of the most important of these is the drawback due to tlie 

 small amount of material available for chemical analysis. 



At the outset it is necessarv to consider as carefullv as 

 possil)Ie tlie substances with which we arc dealing:, and so in 

 the lir>t i)lace let us examine the products of the glands of 

 the sternite and its associated scleritcs. 



Wo have already described the discharge of the contents 

 of the '' white glands" into the grooves behind the sternite 

 in the case of the electrical stimulation of G. c(a'jjuj>/iii(/us. 

 ]n one instance a specimen of this species was electrically 

 siimulated in a jjartial illumination under the niicroscope. 

 The luminescence of the centipede was not very marked, hut 

 there was noticed flowing over the sternal plate and esj)cei:illy' 

 over its posterior region a quantity of a viscous excretion, 

 with a suggestion that it arose from the pore-field and from 

 thence spread over the sternite. There can be little or no 

 doubt that such an excretion contains mucin. 



AVe experimented w ith a specimen of Gcophihis inscrtlptits 

 taken in a Darwen garden 27. vii. 1919. No " white glands " 

 weie observed and the animal was not luminous on electrical 

 stimulation, but mucin was seen to How through the jiore- 

 field of the sternite and form a film bv canillarv attraction 

 between the sternal plate and the glass of the holder. The 

 mucin obtained was odourless. In a similar instance of a 

 specimen of G. insci///)tus collected in the same garden the 

 next day, the film of mucin obtained was found u] on diying 

 to contain crystalline needles when examined under the 

 niicroscope, a fact already referred to in dealing with 

 erystalli7-ati(jn earlier in the present study. 



It must be added that in the case oi Stu/inalnydstcr snh- 

 lerraiiens (Shaw)* non-luminous mucin has been seen to 

 flood the grooves around the sternite and the cpistcrnal 

 plates, 2/3 and 2 7, on the electrical stimulation of the 

 animal. 



» 

 ♦ Ol'ton fit(ri))iilt!cl to Loncli ; .<//«. 1780, Svulopendra auhlcrruytea 

 iSiuiw, Tnuit*. Linn. Sot-, ii. ]i. 7. 



