36 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1332 



NOTE ON DISTRIBUTION AND SPERMATO- 

 GENESIS OF MYRIAPODA 



During tlie spring of 1913, while working 

 on the Myriapoda of Kansas at the Univer- 

 sity of Kansas, the writer had occasion to ex- 

 amine* a bottle containing several specimens 

 of Scolopendra, each of which had been dis- 

 sected and had had the gonads removed. As 

 there was no label with them, the matter was 

 called to the attention of Dr. C. E. McClung, 

 who stated they were some of the specimens 

 used by Dr. Maulsby W. Blackman in his 

 work on the spermatogenesis of the Myria- 

 poda, which he started at the above-named in- 

 stitution and later continued at Harvard Uni- 

 versity. As a result of his observations, the 

 writer is convinced a mistake was made by 

 Blackman in the identification of the form 

 used. 



Blackman's first paper^ on the subject states 

 that the specimens used were collected in 

 June, 1900, in Eussell county, Kansas, by Mr. 

 W. S. Sutton and are " the large reddish- 

 brown Scolopendra, found abundantly in the 

 southwest. It is a large centipede, about four 

 inches long and four lines across." In his 

 second paper,^ he identifies the specimens he 

 was working on as S. heros, but in regard to 

 the location where his material was collected, 

 simply states that this paper is in the nature 

 of a by-product of " a detailed study of the 

 spermatocyte changes in Scolopendra heros, 

 now practically ready for publication." This 

 second paper was published from the Uni- 

 versity of Kansas, so evidently he used the 

 same material that he did in his first and 

 third papers on the subject. In his third 

 paper' of the series, he identifies his speci- 



1 Blackman, M. W., ' ' Spermatogenesis of the 

 Myriapoda. I. Notes on the Spermatocytes and 

 Spermatids of Scolopendra," Kans. Univ. Quart., 

 10 : 61-76, pis. 5-7, 1901. 



2 Blackman, W. M., ' ' Sjjermatogenesis of the 

 Myriapods. II. On the Chromatin in the Sperma- 

 tocytes of Scolopendra heros, ' ' Biol. Bull., 5 : 187- 

 217, 22 figs., 1903. 



3 Blackman, W. M., ' ' Spermatogenesis of the 

 Myriopods. III. The Spermatogenesis of Scolo- 

 pendra heros," Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, 

 48: 1-138, pla. 1-9, 1905. 



mens as S. heros, and says that most of the 

 work was done on forms collected in Russell 

 county, Kansas, but " later a number of speci- 

 mens of the same variety of S. heros were 

 received from Beulah, Colorado, through Mr. 

 R. E. Scammon." The last paper* in the 

 series referring to this particular species of 

 centipede was based on the same material 

 " which served as a basis of several previous 

 papers (Blackman :01, :03, :05), the majority 

 of the slides having been mounted nine 

 years." 



The specimens seen by the present writer, 

 and which formed part of Blackman's mate- 

 rial, were Scolopendra polymorpha and not 

 8. heros, as he designated them. A mistake 

 in the identification of these two forms could 

 easily occur, as each species is very variable 

 not only in color but also in anatomical de- 

 tails, and they have been considered as synon- 

 ymous by some writers, for example Bollman,* 

 whose writings were undoubtedly followed in 

 making the original identification. However, 

 they have been considered as distinct species 

 for some time," the main difference between 

 the two being that 8. heros has two fine longi- 

 tudinal lines or furrows on the cephalic plate 

 which diverge cephalad, while 8. polymorpha 

 is without these lines. 



The geographical distribution of the two 

 forms also confirms the fact that Blackman 

 was mistaken, as there is no record of 8. heros 

 having ever been taken north of the southern 

 tier of counties in Kansas, while 8. poly- 

 morpha, is known to occur throughout the 

 state.' Russell county, where Blackman's 



* Blackman, M. W., ' ' Spermatogenesis of the 

 Myriapods. VI. An Analysis of the Chromosome 

 Group of Scolopendra heros, ' ' Biol. Bull., 19 : 138- 

 159, pis. 1-2, 1910. 



5 Bollman, Charles Harvey, ' ' The Myriapoda of 

 North America," Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus., No. 46, 

 1893. (See pg. 175.) 



« KraepeUn, Earl, "Kevision der Scolopend- 

 riden, " Jahrb. Hanib. Wiss. Anat., 20: 1-276, 

 1903. 



T Gunthorp, Horace, ' ' Annotated List of the 

 Diplopoda and Chilopoda, with a Key to the 

 Myriapoda of Kansas," Kans. Univ. Sci. Bull., 7: 

 161-182, pi. 20, 1913. 



