ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 389 



Perineural Blood-lacuna of Scorpions.* — M. P. Houssay describes the 

 so-called spinal artery, or perineural blood-lacuna of scorpions, and a 

 glandular organ annexed thereto. He finds that the structure in question 

 is really a lacuna and not a proper artery ; the so-called annular artery and 

 appendicular artery are dilatations of the lacuna of the cephalothoracic mass ; 

 an injection into the lacuna of the nerve chain is largely found on the dorsal 

 surface of the chain, in the midst of the connective tissue without differential 

 walls, but a little makes its way into the abdominal portion of the chain, and 

 enters another longitudinal lacuna which lies on the ventral surface. 

 Along the nerve chain, and not unlike the spinal artery, there is a white 

 glandular organ, which in the fresh state is spongy ; the blood forms a rich 

 and irregular plexus in it. The close connections between it and the blood 

 system, together with its abundant circulation, lead to the suggestion that 

 it is a depuratory organ. Against this, however, must be set the fact that 

 no crystals or concretions have yet been observed in it. 



Structure of Pseudoscorpions.f — Herr A. Croneberg has a preliminary 

 notice of the results of his work on the anatomy of Pseudoscorpions, based 

 chiefly on a study of Chernes Hahnii ; the anterior part of the rostrum 

 consists of an almost transparent chitinous membrane, which projects in 

 the form of an elongated oval upper lip. The edges of this lamella are 

 fused in the anterior middle line, and are finely denticulated further back, 

 where they are separated from one another. In the space between them 

 there is a compressed lamella, the edges of which are also finely toothed. 

 Posteriorly the two lamellae pass into the short pharynx; the strongly 

 chitinized wall of this part is produced into four wing-like ridges, which 

 narrow the lumen. Numerous muscles serve as dilatators, while the con- 

 traction of the pharynx is effected by the elasticity of its walls. 



The central mass of the nervous system is almost exactly like that of 

 certain Acari {Eylais, Trombidium). The true stomach is a small enlarge- 

 ment, and, like the intestine, is invested by a clear small-celled epithelium ; 

 the chief mass of the viscera is formed by three large hepatic saccules, the 

 two lateral of which break up into eight secondary lobes ; the parts are 

 connected by a vesicular connective tissue, which is especially developed 

 in the more distal sections. The hinder half of the heart possesses a 

 musculature arranged in numerous transverse segments, and the fissure-like 

 orifices are in four pairs and confined to this hinder part. The gonads 

 open by an unpaired orifice at the base of the abdomen between two trans- 

 verse chitinous plates; the ovary has the form of a long unpaired tube 

 beset on either side by a number of ovarian follicles ; these appear to persist 

 for some time after the ova have left them ; the short vagina is surroimded 

 by a close aggregation of unicellular glands, and receives also two long, 

 much coiled, tubular glands ; these correspond to the two thick packets of 

 unicellular glands which are found in the male. The author has not been 

 able to detect the spinning tubules reported by Menge to be present in this 

 region; what appears to be a spinning organ lies in the cephalothorax, 

 and consists of paired cylindrical tubules, four or five in number, which 

 are grouped around a central canal ; they open in the basal joint of the 

 cheliceree. 



Anatomy and Classification of Phytopti.f — Dr. A. Nalepa states that 

 the cephalothorax of the gall-mites is unusually reduced, and besides 

 the organs of the mouth carries only two distinctly quinquearticulate pairs 



* Comptes Eendus, civ. (1887) pp. 520-2. f Zool. Anzeig., x. (1887) pp. 147-51. 

 X Anzeig. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 1886, p. 220. Cf. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xix. 

 (1887) pp. 165-6. .. 



