1896.] Recent Literature. 653 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
The Structure of Solpugids.—That indefatigable student of 
the Arachnida Mr. Henry M. Bernard has presented us with a valu- 
able account’ of the general structure of these little known forms. And 
yet while we can praise the statement of facts, as a whole, we would 
point out that the paper contains a number of theoretical points, which 
have, in our estimation, no sufficient basis. 
The Galeodidx, of which over 50 species have been described, are 
confined to the warm portions of both hemispheres, and though abund- 
ant in certain regions, they are comparatively rare in collections; poss 
sibly from the fact that they are, by popular consent, accorded most 
poisonous qualities. They, alone of all the Archnida, show a distinct 
“head ” while they also have a “ thorax” divided into three segments, 
and these points have led many authors to look upon them as forming 
a transition between the .Archnida and the Hexapods. They also 
possess stigmata in the thoracic region, a condition only paralleled in 
the Arachnida in certain of the mites. 
In his paper Bernard takes up first the external anatomy and the 
interesting features here are: the interpretation of the cephalic lobes as 
the lateral regions of the first segment which have been changed in 
position with the transfer of the cheliceræ ; and he further tries to find 
them in the cephalic lobes of embryos of other Arachnids, a view with 
very little in morphology to supportit. The beak is interpreted as fused 
labium labrum, neither of these, as the name of the first ; might b Ee 
being appendicularin nature. The ocular tuk 
remnant of the original dorsal surface of the head, the rest having been 
displaced by the upward and backward movement of the cephalic lobes ; 
and, from this, the median eyes are regarded as the more primitive, the 
lateral as secondarily acquired. The descriptions of the limbs, as well 
as of the apodematous skeleton affords little to abstract, except that the 
author suggests that since specialized poison organs are absent the 
poison may come from setal-pores on the chelicere ; and that, at any 
rate, the idea of their poisonous nature should not be set aside without 
further experiment. As little need be said of the account of the 
hypodermis or of tne muscular systems. 
The account ef the nervous system is disappointing. Although sec- 
tions were cut (ef., p. 345) no use of them appears to have been made 
1 Trans. Linn, Socy. London, Zool. Vol. vi, pt. 4, 1896, 
