88 J. MURRAY 



The number of points on the branched claws has been used to distinguish species. 

 Some examples have all these claws alike, and three-branched. In others they vary on 

 the different legs. I find the commonest form to have fewer points on the front legs 

 and more on the last. Thus, they will have only one point or two on the front legs ; 

 two or three on the second and third legs, and three on the fourth legs. 



The colour in old animals is a very warm brown. The eggs are laid in the skin, 

 and are often pretty numerous. 



Macrobiotus. In this genus the characters which lend themselves for descriptive 

 purposes are : the organs of the mouth (teeth, gullet, and pharynx) ; the claws ; the 

 skin ; the eyes ; the fat-cells ; and the egg. The teeth are slender or thick, more or 

 less curved or bent abruptly, and have a larger or smaller furea where the bearer 

 is attached, the bearer itself, though often mentioned in descriptions, having no 

 specific importance. The gullet is slender or wide, and at the end in the pharynx 

 may have merely a slightly enlarged run, or may be bent out into a flange- 

 more or less wide. The pharynx may be nearly round, or somewhat elongated, 

 The hard rods or nuts which surround the tube may be two, three, or four in each 

 row. The last one in the row is often small and obscure, and is called from its 

 shape the comma. There is often no comma. The more important rods (or nuts 

 when they are so short that the name " rod " would be inappropriate) are never more 

 than three in number. When there are three they are generally nearly equal in 

 length : when there are only two, that nearer the gullet is longer, and often 

 shows obvious traces of the two rods by the joining of which it may be supposed to 

 have originated. Besides the rods there are apophyses attached to the end of the 

 gullet. These are not in line with the rods, but alternate with them. When they 

 are large, however, they may readily be mistaken for rods, and even recent 

 descriptions have not always clearly distinguished the two structures. 



The claivs vary chiefly in their relative sizes, and in the degree of union of the 

 pairs. They are always united in pairs, if only at the bases. Several types have 

 been recognised, but they are connected by intermediate forms which are difficult to 

 classify. The hufelandi type is commonest. The claws of each pair are united for 

 some way above the base, usually for half their length or more. There is much 

 variation within this type. Usually the claws of a pair are unequal, and the larger 

 one has one or two supplementary points. Sometimes they are equal and placed side 

 by side, but only one has the extra points. In some species they are very thick, and 

 the supplementary point is very strong, and the whole thing makes a distinct 

 approach to the branched claw of Milnesium. 



The dispar type (or macronyx type) has the claws of each pair very unequal, the 

 larger claw strongly curved and bearing a supplementary point, the smaller claw like 

 a little barb from the base of the larger one. The two pairs are similar, and on the 

 last legs the lesser claw is relatively larger. 



The Diphascon type (found throughout the genus Diwhascon, and in M. 



