424 



bles. The general analogy in the form of the anterior portion of 

 the nervous cord to the Arachnidan, by no means proves satisfac- 

 torily to my mind that the Limulus and Merostomata generally 

 are Arachnida, as some authors insist, for, besides the remarkable 

 difference in the form and position of the supraoesophageal gan- 

 glion above mentioned, there are other differences of much impor- 

 tance, which separate the Merostomata from both the Arachnida 

 on the one hand, and the Crustacea on the other. 



It will now be a matter of interest to study the development of 

 the nervous cord in the Arachnida, at the stage where the cephalo- 

 thoracic ganglia are separate and compare them with the same 

 stage in Limulus. 



The result may possibly show that the appendages of the an- 

 terior region of Limulus are in fact cephalic appendages or man- 

 dibles and maxilla? or maxillipeds, and in part truly thoracic ; as 

 in the spiders and scorpions the nerves to the maxilhe and legs 

 are distributed from a common cephalothoracic mass of concen- 

 trated ganglia. —A. S. Packard, Jr. 



The Pine Snake. — As having some relation to the animosity 

 which this reptile is supposed by the old residents of the Pines to 

 bear towards the rattlesnake, I find an important observation 

 which I have made, not mentioned in the article of the January 

 number of the Naturalist. As there noted, the Pine Snake, 

 when alarmed or enraged, slowly inflates itself with air, thus 

 nearly doubling its normal size along its entire length, except the 

 tail. It then slowly expels the air with its own peculiar sound. 

 While thus blowing in anger, the tail is made to perform a singu- 

 lar part in this manifestation of rage. The horny tip, or four- 

 sided spike, is slightly elevated, and caused to vibrate with such 

 rapidity as to produce a little fan of light, about an inch in length. 

 Were this quadrangular spike a little flattened and constricted at 

 intervals, and raised a little higher when set in vibration, we should 

 have, with its buttons and functions, the true organ of the dreaded 

 rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus). The sight of this in motion is 

 certainly suggestive of the tail of a Crotalus in rudiment. If the 

 tradition of the Pine Snake's enmity to the rattlesnake be true, 

 it would not be the first instance of disagreement between 



In this connection may be mentioned our reading a slip from a 



