ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 437 



by a constriction, presumably regulating the flow of the secretion. 

 The structure of the gland is described in detail. 



E. Bean-shaped Organ. — On all the legs of both male and female, 

 Dr. Gaflfron has found a small, hitherto overlooked, bean-shaped 

 organ. It is situated on the upper side of the legs near the apex, 

 just before the stalk of the claw, sunk in a smooth fold of the 

 epidermis. Muscle-fibres and nerves are fixed, like an umbilical 

 cord, to the concave side. The organ is surrounded by a cuticle of 

 modified epidermis cells, has no external opening, and though the 

 cells have a glandular appearance, is more probably of a sensoiy 

 nature. 



5. Araclinida. 



Coxal Glands of Arachnida.* — Prof. P. Bertkau reports that in 

 a specimen of Atypus he has been able to find a distinct eflerent 

 duct for the coxal gland ; it is surrounded by the same fibrous plexus 

 as the gland itself; in six other specimens the duct was not to bo 

 found, though the orifice was seen. This rare phenomenon may either 

 be explained by supposing that there was an abnormal retention of 

 an organ which is in other cases absorbed, or it may be suggested 

 that in adult examples the efferent duct is regenerated from time to 

 time ; in which case the coxal gland would not be a rudimentary 

 organ, but one that is intermittently functional ; the constant presence 

 of the orifice is an argument in favour of the latter hypothesis. It is 

 important to note that the orifice appears on two segments, for this 

 indicates a repetition of the glandular organ, and is pro tanto a 

 support to the view of Eay Lankester that the coxal glands of Arach- 

 nids and of Limulus are the homologues of the segmental organs of 

 Peripatus. The author suggests that the gland at the sides of the 

 prothorax of Anisomorphus huprestoides, and those found by Scudder in 

 the Phasmidfe, are possibly representatives of the same gland. In 

 Mantis religiosa there is a coiled gland at the hinder side of the fore-leg. 



Classification of Spiders.f — Prof. T. Thorell discusses the classi- 

 fication of the Araneae proposed by Dr. Bertkau. While recognizing 

 the value of his services to this perplexing subject, Thorell looks on 

 the chief group Tetrasticta and Tristicta, and some of the subsidiary 

 divisions as artificial rather than natural units, and he thinks that too 

 much importance has been attributed to some of the internal parts of 

 spiders, and especially to their tracheae. Thorell regards the order 

 Aranese as divisible into the two sub-orders of Tetrapneumones and 

 Dipneumones ; the former contains the tribe Territelarige ; the latter 

 the Tubitelariae, divisible into Cribellatae and Ecribellatae ; the Eeti- 

 telarise ; the Orbitelariae, divisible agam into Cribellatfe and Ecri- 

 bellatae ; the Laterigradae ; Citigradae ; and Saltigradae. 



Mites.J — Dr. G. Haller has notes on Cytoleiclms sarcoptoides in 

 which he has particularly been able to study the gnathites; on 



* SB. Niederrliein. Gesellsch., 18S5, pp. 1.3-6. 



t Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xvii. (188G) pp. 301-26. 



X Zool. Anzeig., ix. (1886) pp. 52-.5, 



