Miscellaneous. 473 



leads us to place them below the Dicyemida. The subkingdom 

 Vermes will therefore include the following classes : — 



1. Orthonectida. 3. Trematoda. 



2. Dicyemida. 4. Cestoda. 



5. Turbellaria (Planarians and Nemerteans). 



Of the animals formerly classed with the preceding, some (Bryo- 

 zoa, Annelida, and associated groups) aro intimately allied to the true 

 Mollusca, with which I unite them to form the subkin^dom Gymno- 

 toca ; the others constitute a whole which may be called Nematd- 

 mia, including the Nematoida, Echinorhyncha, Desmoscolecida, 

 Gastrotricha, &c. The Tunicata must be placed at the foot of the 

 subkingdom Vertebrata. 



The Orthonectida are Gastrseada brought by parasitism to the 

 state of planula. Their importance from the point of view of the 

 Gastrcea-theory is much greater than that of the Physemaria. 

 These latter, in fact, only lead to the Coelenterate branch, which 

 terminates in a cul-de-sac ; while the Orthonectida represent a stem 

 of the Vermes, and consequently belong to the main trunk of the 

 genealogical tree of the Aletazoa. — Comjytes Bendas, September 22, 

 1879, p. 545. 



Remarks on Orgyia. 



Prof. Leidy remarked that Orgyia leucostigma, which now 

 seriously infests the shade trees of Philadelphia, especially the horse- 

 chestnuts and silver maples, had recently passed into the moth 

 stage. The trunks of the trees and the surrounding railing of the 

 square opposite to the Academy exhibit a profusion of cocoons. 

 In seeking for specimens of the male moth, he had collected only 

 three, in a walk along one side of the square, from the railing, 

 where hundreds of the wingless females were to be obtained as 

 they rested with their foamy white masses of eggs on their cocoons. 

 From the fewness of the males he was led to suspect that the 

 females might perhaps, in many instances, deposit the eggs in an 

 unfecundated condition. To ascertain if this were so, he collected 

 several dozen cocoons with pup* of females, distinguished by their 

 comparatively robust character, and placed them in a covered box 

 in his study in the third story of a back building, separated from 

 the nearest place where there were other cocoons by the front 

 building and tho width of the street in front of his house. As the 

 females came out of the cocoons, distended with eggs, these, with 

 the exception of a few which appeared to be accidentally dropped, 

 in several individuals were retained. After some days, as none of 

 the females laid their eggs, the box was uncovered ; and on the 

 second morning subsequently several individuals had deposited 

 masses of eggs, though no males were present in the box. How- 

 ever, on examining the vicinity, four male moths were detected on 

 the outside of the curtain of the window in which the box had been 

 placed, from which it was supposed that the females had been 

 visited by males attracted during tho night from the neighbour- 

 hood. 



Ann. &Mag. X. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol. iv. 34 



