Miscellaneous . 155 



the material contained within the organic cells intermediate to the 

 cell-wall and the nucleus. 



The cell-wall and nucleus are the agents in connection with the 

 organic force which produce or elaborate the contained matter. And, 

 indeed, this is the ultimate fact of all organization ; for all the innu- 

 merable objects of living nature, with such variety of form, composi- 

 tion, and colour, from the simplest to the most complex ; from the 

 vibrionic filament to the noble oak, from the Bodo, or Monas, up to 

 man, are the result of a force in connection with an amorphous vesi- 

 cle, the organic cell-wall, with the contained nucleus. Wonderful, 

 indeed, is it that the human mind at length has been enabled to 

 penetrate so deeply into the mysteries of nature as to discover the 

 starting-point of life, the stile at which an invisible intangible cause 

 operates in the production of all those beings we call organized. 

 From this digression I return once more to the consideration of the 

 odoriferous glands. In many of the higher animals, the structure 

 of these has been carefully investigated, but not to the same extent 

 in the lower animals. 



In Hemipterous insects these bodies are situated within the pos- 

 terior part of the metathorax or anterior part of the abdomen, and 

 consist of one or two, more or less long and convoluted caeca, which 

 open exteriorly usually between the coxae of the middle and posterior 

 legs. 



In the carnivorous Coleoptera they are situated in the posterior 

 part of the abdomen, on each side of the rectum, and usually open 

 exteriorly upon the membrane, connecting the inferior and superior 

 plate of the last abdominal segment on each side of the anal aperture. 

 They generally consist of a number of follicles, which converge to 

 one or more ducts, which join the neck of a reservoir for containing 

 the secreted fluid. A number of these are figured by Dufour in the 

 'Annales des Sciences Naturelles ' for 1826. 



In the genus of Myriapoda, Julus, the odoriferous glands are 

 placed upon each side of the body, every segment which has a double 

 pair of legs possessing a pair of the glands, commencing anteriorly 

 with the sixth segment, excepting the head, and terminating pos- 

 teriorly with the penultimate segment. As the number of segments 

 of the animal varies with its age, so will also the number of the 

 odoriferous glands. The adult Julus marginatus has usually fifty 

 pairs ; the Julus maximus, from New Grenada, S. A., has fifty-eight 

 pairs, &c. 



The orifices of these glands opening exteriorly, correspond to a row 

 of minute black dots on each side of the body, situated about midway 

 between the superior and inferior median line. 



The glands of Julus consist of a globular body or sac, with an elon- 

 gated conical neck, and resemble in form a Florence flask with the 

 mouth drawn to a point. In Julus marginatus they measure 1^ line 

 long, the body being f of a line in diameter. In structure they con- 

 sist of an amorphous transparent basement membrane covered upon 

 the interior surface with a single layer of secreting cells. The cells 

 are polygonal, from mutual pressure, measure 1-16 12th inch in dia- 



