380 Prof. J. Wood-Mason on the Organs of 



filiform processes amongst the discharged ova of Argonaut, at 

 lirst, indeed, mistaking them for parasites ; and in two speci- 

 mens oi A. hians, and in another species, we have taken the 

 hectocotylus from the mantle-sac, in which they lay crossways, 

 overhung by the imperfect septum of that cavity. Sepiola, 

 Sejyia, and Loligo, discharging their ova enveloped in albu- 

 minous matter, moulded into different forms, have large albu- 

 miniparous glands, answering to those of Gastropods, though 

 more externally situated. The Argonaut has two genital out- 

 lets in the female and also in a supposed male specimen, whilst 

 Octopus in the male, and the Decapoda in both sexes, have 

 only one. 



In the separation of the male gland from its corresponding 

 external organ in some Gasti'opods to distant parts or extremi- 

 ties of the body (the latter being frequently connected with the 

 right tentacle), in the connexion between the two by means 

 of an internal vas deferens or by an external groove, so often 

 seen, and in the foimation of the spermatophore [Helix), we 

 are led to conclude that the curious hectocotylus is not quite 

 so isolated and unique a phenomenon as at first appears, but 

 that a synthetical comparison might be made, with more or 

 less success, in this particular, as in others in the Mollusca 

 generally — a comparison which we have endeavoured to make, 

 and such as may be ti'aced, taking other vital organs and 

 functions for comparison (the digestive system for instance, 

 already well described by Cuvier), through the whole of the 

 Invertebrata, and indeed through all animals — enough to show 

 us that no animal has been produced having no relations to 

 the others, or, in other words, upon a different plan to that of 

 its fellows. 



XXXVI. — On the Final Stage in the Development of the 

 Organs of Flight in the Uomomorphic Insecta. By Prof. 

 J. Wood-]\Iasox, Deputy Superintendent of the Imperial 

 Museum, Calcutta. 



•' La demiere mue developpe subitement les organes du vol dans toute 

 leur etendue par une transforruation vraiment merveilleuse et encore 

 inexpliquee, car en ne comprend pas comment des organes aussi 

 Tolumineux peuvent etre renfermes dans les petites gaines ou ils se 

 forment pendant la periode de nymplie." — H. de Saussuee, Mission 

 scientijique au Mexiqve et ^dans V Amerique Cetifrale, Recherches zoolo- 

 yiques, vi^ partie, 1*^ sect., Etudes sur les OrtJiopteres, 1872, p. 224. 



When an insect quits the eg^ it has no wings, nor the 

 slightest rudiments of such, these making their first appear- 



