Moulting of Oniscus asellus Linne. 285 
transparent, but not sufficiently so to be able to see clearly 
what was going on beneath. The posterior portion of the 
body, i.e., the last nine segments, had a very fresh look, having 
recently shed its portion of the old skin; that portion of the 
fore part which was visible, viz., the fifth, fourth and a little 
of the third segments, were much shrunken, giving a very 
curious appearance to the woodlouse. It would appear that 
the process of moulting is anticipated by a shrinking of the 
body within, which, thus contracted, leaves the old skin loosely 
about it and facilitates casting. Every few seconds the animal 
visibly contracted the frontal segments by muscular action, 
and in so doing pulled itself slightly out of the old skin, these 
periods of activity being alternated by longer periods of qui- 
escence. This continued for about fifteen minutes, when the 
old skin was completely shed. The position of the woodlouse 
on an inclined plane caused the cast skin to drop on to the 
ground some inches away, therefore I had not the opportunity 
of ascertaining whether the animal would have regarded it in any 
way. 
The dorsal plates of the fifth to the second segments of the 
discarded skin were intact, and on the underside still attached 
to the plates, were the ‘ shells’ of the four pairs of legs. I 
could find no trace of the ventral plates, but the head clearly 
showed the several appendages attached thereto in the living 
animal—maxille, mandibles, antennae, etc. 
That portion of the woodlouse just moulted was not colour- 
less, but was of a brown hue, varying little in this respect 
from the hinder portion previously moulted, except that, as 
already mentioned, whilst the latter portion was bright and 
glossy, the former was dull, with a decided ‘ bloom’ upon it. 
The dorsal plates of the ‘new’ portion, 1.e., as far as the fifth 
segment, were narrower than the remainder, and were rather 
more convex, being curved somewhat down the sides of the 
body. The first four pairs of legs were very short, quite invisible 
from above, and obviously as yet not available for walking, 
as the animal pushed itself along by means of the three hinder 
pairs already hardened and serviceable. 
At this stage I placed the woodlouse in confinement, hoping 
thus to have opportunity of noting its development during the 
succeeding days; but apparently its new quarters were not 
congenial, and it died. 
——: 0 :—— 
In an article on “‘ Coal Smoke and Stone Work,’’ which appears in 
The Quarry for August, it is estimated that in one year 66 millions tons 
of coal were carbonised in the retorts of our gas works. 
In The Lancashive and Cheshive Naturalist for July, Mr. H. W. Robin- 
son draws attention to many inaccuracies in the bird list published in 
the “ Victoria Country History of Lancashire’; and Mr. W. H. Western 
figures some Galls on Hievacium boreale. 
1915 Sept. 1. 
