842 The Ameriean Naturalist. [October, 
Without such a preparation satisfactory observation is very difficult if 
not impossible in Polyzonium, for all the parts, especially the bases of 
the legs, are crowded together, I pars Sxepineg in anon Anir, 
gnathus, Platydesmus, Pseud 
without finding any indications that the condition described is not pre- 
sent in all, though a final demonstration would in most cases not be 
easy without dissection. 
Probably correlated with the comparatively slight degree of special- 
ization which appears in the copulatory legs of the Colobognatha is the 
fact that in young males of Siphonotus the copulatory legs are several- 
jointed before maturity. Such a condition seems to be unknown in the 
other helminthomorphous groups. 
In the previous discussion there has been no intention to a that 
the orders Oniscomorpha and Limacomorpha are not valid ; the conten- 
tion is merely that the position of the modified legs does not of itself 
justify holding them as divisions of greater weight than other natural 
groups of Diplopoda, some of which have been designated by ordinal 
names. Itis to be expected that future study may result in a natural 
arrangement of the groups now designated as orders, but until their 
affinities are demonstrated nothing is to be gained by attempting to 
retain under one ordinal name and description animals which may 
prove to be widely divergent in their development history. Thus it is 
by no means impossible that the Colobognatha are really a group far- 
ther removed from the other Helminthomorpha than are some of these 
latter from the Oniscomorpha. Many of the peculiar characters of the 
Oniscomorpha are evidently the result of their power to roll themselves 
into a sphere, and are not to be assigned great weight in estimating 
affinities. 
Systematic Note.—The genus Siphonotus has not until very re- 
cently been reported since its establishment by Brandt in 1836. 
Within the last year or two Mr. Pocock has described species from St. 
Vincent (West Indies), Java and Celebes. To me it seems doubtful 
whether any of these species are congeneric with Brandt’s type S. bra- 
siliensis. Provisionally, however, the species of which drawings are 
presented may be described under Siphonotus, no doubt being possible 
that its affinities are here rather than with any other genus yet estab- 
lished. 
Siphonotus africanus sp. n. 
Body slender, the sides parallel to near the ends, or very slightly 
converging ce 
