snake in the popular creed is " a varmint with no right to 
On the 22d of March a fine male specimen of the giant bug, 
Belostoma grandis, was also caught in Keyport. The quid 
mines of the town were greatly exercised over the " huge cock- 
roach !" One man, however, who "knew it all," said he had 
" lots of them roaches, only not nigh so big, in their kitchen." 
In my experience, this is a very untimely occurence of this 
fine insect, and the specimen was in excellent condition. The 
bug is bred in the water, issuing thence in the imago state 
generally in the Summer, and flying in the night. I have re- 
ceived a number of specimens from Asbury Park, and Trenton, 
which had been killed by dashing against the electric lamps. 
— Saimiel Lockwood. 
The Poisonous Arachnida of Russia.— At a recent 
meeting of the Dorpat Naturalists' Society, Professor Robert 
spoke of the reputedly poisonous spiders of Russia. Accord- 
ing to the observations of Dr. Walter, of Jena, Galeodes aran- 
eotdes is not poisonous, and does not even possess poison- 
glands. Trophosa singoriensis , the Russian Tarantula, is not 
poisonous to warm blooded animals, although it is to lower 
animals. In the case of Latrodectes \i-giittatus not only the 
poison-glands but all parts of the body contain an unformed 
protoplasmic poisonous ferment, which has much the same 
physiological efifect when injected into the circulation as cyanic 
acid and strychnine. 
New Organs in the Cockroach.— Mr. Edward A. Min- 
chin describes {Quar. Jour. Micros. Sci., December, 1888) an 
ectodermal organ in the cockroach, which may possibly be a 
stink-gland. It consists of a pair of involutions of the cut- 
icle on the dorsal surface of the abdomen, between the fifth 
and sixth segments, and opening by means of two slits near 
the median line, which are usually covered by the posterior 
margin of the fifth segment. Internally each pouch is lined 
by a chiterious cuticle, bearing numerous branched hairs, and 
beneath them glandular epithelial cells. 
Zoological News— Mollusca.— J. I. Peck (7. H. U. 
Circ, No. 70) describes the anatomy of the Pteropod Cymbu- 
lopsis calceola, which he studied by means of serial sections. 
In the same place, Mr. S. Watase records a remarkable phe- 
nomenon in the segmentation of the egg of Loligo pealii. He 
