466 
The Larva of Sarcophaga, a Parasite of Cistudo 
Carolina, and the Histology of its Respiratory 
Apparatus: WM. A. KEPNER, University of 
Virginia. 
This Sarcophaga has only been observed three 
times. Packard discovered it first. He took it to 
be an Gstrid larva. Wheeler later succeeded in 
raising imagines from the larve and found that 
the flies belonged to the genus Sarcophaga. A 
careful study of the larve taken from a Cistudo 
Carolina in Virginia also revealed that these were 
larve of a Sarcophaga and not those of an Mstrid. 
‘The anterior stigmata are laterally compressed fan- 
shaped processes. Each stigma represents for the 
most part a proliferated mass of the two-layered 
cuticle of the general surface. At its wide free 
end the anterior stigma bears 16 to 18 finger-like 
papille. At the tip of each papilla there is a pore 
which opens into a branch of the lumen of the 
stigma. The lumen of this anterior stigma is 
filled with a finely reticulated plug of chitin. 
Just as the tenidia of the main trachea are given 
off by the inner, denser cuticular lining of the 
trachea so the reticulated plug is given off by the 
inner, denser layer of the cuticular substance of 
the anterior stigma. The larve spend three or 
four days in emerging from the skin of the host. 
It is inferred that during this time the anterior 
stigma are functional, and that the reticulated 
plugs act as bacterial screens for the two main 
tracheal trunks. 
The complete paper will be published in the 
Biological Bulletin. 
The Intra-uterine Embryo of the Bonnet-head 
Shark, Sphyrna tiburo: E. W. GupeeEr, State 
Normal College, Greensboro, N. C. 
This shark is viviparous, but viviparity is not 
attained by a villous uterus secreting a ‘‘milk’’ 
as in Dasyatis say and Pteroplatea maclura, two 
rays common on our Atlantic coast. The inner 
mucous lining of the uterus is separated from the 
outer muscular coat by a fibrous spongy material, 
hence considerable growth of the embryos may 
take place before any distension of the outer wall 
is necessary. The embryos in the fish captured 
measure 50 mm, in length. They lie nested in the 
cavity of the uterus, each in a separate spindle- 
shaped compartment or depression in the mucous 
The embryos have a large number of ex- 
ternal gill-filaments 15-18 mm. long protruding 
from the gill-slits. The umbilical cord is about 
50 mm. long and is closely beset with what Alcock 
lining. 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 899 
has called ‘‘appendicula,’’ large clear villi-like 
structures, sometimes single, sometimes forked. 
The yolk-sae is large and flat. Hach egg with its 
embryo is contained within a very thin but tough 
and elastic membrane, highly iridescent in ap- 
pearance. The ends of this shell are curiously 
plaited and folded and when unfolded the shell 
becomes of great length. The purpose of this 
seems to be to accommodate the growing embryo, 
since Alcock found the 18-inch young of Zygena 
blochwi, the Indian Hammer-head, still enclosed in 
the shell. The same authority reports that the 
emptied yolk-sac becomes adherent to the wall of 
the uterus and thus becomes a functional placenta. 
The embryos under consideration are too young to 
show anything of this kind. The function of the 
“‘appendicula’’ is not known. The data given are 
from a shark studied at the Beaufort, North Caro- 
lina, Laboratory of the United States Bureau of 
Fisheries. 
This abstract represents a part of a paper on 
‘¢Viviparity in Beaufort, N. C., Sharks and Rays,’’ 
which will probably be published in the Bulletin 
of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 
Amitosis in Testes of Tenia Serrata: R. T. YouNG, 
University of North Dakota. 
Occasional evidence of amitosis is found in early 
stages of these organs, consisting in (1) cells 
which show distinct incisions of the cytoplasm, 
(2) cells with straight or nearly straight edges 
separated by narrow spaces, as though recently 
broken apart, and (3) bi-nucleate cells constricted 
between the nuclei. 
Epithelium of Plathelminths: R. T. Youne, Uni- 
versity of North Dakota. 
To be published in the Journal of Morphology. 
Some Uses of Celluloid in the Biological Labora- 
tory: J. S. Kinesiey, Tufts College. 
Small skeletons like those of the frog and Nec- 
turus, bleached tests of sea-urchins, etc., are sure 
to be quickly destroyed by students unless pro- 
tected in some way. For some years I have used 
boxes of glass, fastened together with paper or 
tape, for this purpose, but recently, acting on a 
hint from Dr. Gast, of the Naples Zoological 
Station, I have made the boxes of transparent 
sheet celluloid, sometimes with one side of glass. 
The celluloid is such as is employed for automobile 
wind-shields and comes in sheets measuring 20 by 
36 inches. The thickness is accurately gauged and 
is in multiples of 5/1000 of an inch. I have 
mostly employed 10/1000 and 15/1000, the cost of 
the former being 75 cents, the latter $1.00 a sheet. 
