50 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Shipley's paper ; * and it is pointed out that in the latter the true 

 ganglion is not described, but the external sensory regarded as the 

 central nervous organ. 



Arthropoda. 



a. Insecta. 



Appendages of the Jaw of Mandibulate Insects. f — J. Chatin dis- 

 cusses the maxillary palp and lobes of mandibulate insects; he points 

 out that the palp is not only associated with certain sensory acts, but 

 also takes part in the prehension and mastication of food ; these two 

 efforts may be equally realized, or one is predominant. After illustra- 

 ting how it, and the two parts of the lobes may be modified, he states 

 that three kinds of appended setae may be distinguished. They are 

 non-tactile setae, tactile hairs, or soft cones. The tactile hairs are 

 best developed on the maxillary palp, which is not, however, as highly 

 sensitive as the labial palp. The soft cones are likewise found on the 

 palp, where they are short, terminated by a convex edge, and invested 

 in a delicate and almost transparent envelope ; at their base there is 

 a nerve-cell which is generally bipolar, and which on the one side is 

 continued into the protoplasm of the cone, and on the other into a 

 nerve-filament. These are probably organs of great importance in 

 the tactile sensibility of Arthropods, though from their fragility and 

 small size they have escaped the attention of most observers. 



Copulatory Apparatus of Male Bombus.J — 0. Eadoszkowski, 

 after reminding the student that the copulatory apparatus of the males 

 of the genus Bombus consists of a penis, two sagittae, two hamuli, and 

 an " operculum genitalis," describes the typical arrangement of these 

 parts and their constituents, and then enters upon an account of the 

 difierences which obtain in various species ; these are grouped under 

 the heads of B. pratorum, B. lapidarius, B. tvurjicini, B. dcrhamellus, 

 B. canus, B. sylvarmn, B. tristis, B.fervidus, B. dumoncheli, B. terrestris, 

 B. sorocensis. The differences in form are shown by figures. The 

 chief objects of this communication are to show that many authors 

 have erred in uniting species which are clearly distinct, and to give 

 better descriptions and figures of the organs in question than have yet 

 appeared. 



Luminosity of the Glowworm.§ — W. Kaiser having captured a 

 particularly fine female specimen, 13 mm. long, of Lampyris splen- 

 didula Linn., prepared the luminous organ by cutting out the lumini- 

 ferous papillae, together with the chitinous substratum and a portion 

 of the ventral chain. The organ had previously shown no luminosity ; 

 but when spread out upon a slide furnished with a caoutchouc ring, 

 and brought somewhat into the shade, first one, then a second, and 

 lastly, the third and fourth luminiferous papillae shone with a green 



♦ S e this Journal, iv. (1884) p. 215. 

 t Coraptes Eendus, xcix. (1884) pp. 939-42. 

 X Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, 1884, pp. 51-92 (4 pis.). 

 § Anzeig. K. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 1884, p. 133. See Ann. and Mag. Nat. 

 Hist., xiv. (1884) p. 372. 



