74 Miscellaneous, 



slliensis. The following are its principal characters : — Middle an- 

 tennae short, subulate ; lateral antennse stout, shorter, composed of 

 two joints — the basal thick, the terminal very small; the two supe- 

 rior tentacles long, reaching as far as the eighth segment, the two 

 inferior shorter, but exceeding the antennte ; jaws strong, curved, 

 presenting twelve teeth ; no denticles ; feet like those of Nereis hi- 

 lineata. The body, which is 4-5 centimetres in length, has from 

 sixty to seventy segments of a greenish -brown colour, marked with 

 numerous vinose spots irregularly arranged. 



This species occurs pretty frequently on the shore at Marseilles, 

 among Ulva, It inhabits a membranous tube, constructed in a fold 

 of the fronds of that plant, and is herbivorous. Of eleven individuals 

 that I dissected, nine contained, pell-mell in the cavity of the body, 

 spermatozoids and ova in different stages of development. The 

 mature ova observed in the general cavity are yellowish, and 0*37 

 millim. in diameter. The free spermatozoids floating in the visceral 

 fluid are composed of a bacilliform anterior part (head) O'Ol milUm. 

 in length by 0-0017 millim. in breadth, and of an excessively thin 

 tail, 0-45 millim. in length. The tail is very different, both in its 

 length and the nature of its movements, from the vibratile cilia of 

 the cavity of the body. 



The two individuals in which I did not detect hermaphroditism 

 were females, and had the body filled with a great quantity of ova, 

 all arrived at maturity. — ConvptesRendus, April 12, 1869, tome Ixviii. 

 pp. 869, 870. 



The Poison-glands of Callophis intestinalis and C. bivirgatus. 



By A. Bernhaed-Meyer. 



The author has detected poison-glands in the above-mentioned 



snakes. He found them first in Callophis intestinalis, Laur. (Elaps 



furcatus, Schneid.), whilst engaged in an investigation of the position 



of the heart in serpents. He found the heart in this species thrown 



far back towards the tail, in consequence of the presence of two 



extended, brown organs above the heart, which proved to be the 



poison-glands. They are distinguished from those of other serpents 



by their length and by their situation just below the ribs in the 



ventral cavity. With their excretory ducts they occupy one-third 



or even more of the total length of the snake. 



The true gland is entirely enveloped by a striated muscle, within 

 which the smooth, white tendinous surface is concealed. It is 

 formed of parallel tubes, among which the parenchyma of the gland 

 occurs divided into little portions. In the middle the number of 

 tubes is fifteen or more. They unite upon a large excretory duct 

 in each gland. The excretory duets run side by side to the head, 

 where they are applied against the outer surfaces of the quadrate 

 and maxillary bones ; here a large salivary gland opens into each. 



The author has detected the same glands in Callophis bivirgatus, 

 Boie ; but they do not exist in C. calligaster, which, however, does 

 not belong to Callophis, or in the Elapid snakes of Australia ( Ver- 

 micella, Gray), Africa {Poecilophis, Gthr.), or America. — Comptes 

 Rendus, April 12, 1869, tome Ixviii. p. 860. 



