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SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
are found are sublingual in position, and unicellular in structure. 
The lingual glands are in front of the mentum, and with them there are 
found connected paraglossal glands. In some more than others the 
maxillary glands are very distinct. These glands the author associates 
with definite segments of the head, the first of which, we notice, he calls 
an ophthalmic gland. The excretory canals of the racemose glands are 
provided with internal spiral threads arranged in planes perpendicular or 
oblique to the axis of the tube. A study of the digestive canal shows 
that it may be divided into six parts. The Malpighian tubes are, in 
larval Hymenoptera, four in number. These larval tubes disappear 
from before backwards, during the nymph stage, but persist during the 
stage which is known as the pseudo-nymph. As the number of these 
glands is the same in nymphs as in adults the various changes which 
ensue consist solely in a progressive elongation. The number of the 
organs is in general in converse relation to their length, and the more 
numerous they are the more delicate are they. The Hymenoptera pos- 
sess a larger number of urinary vessels than any other Insect, and this 
number, which may be sometimes more than 100, does not only vary 
according to the families, but even with the genera. The fourth part of 
the author’s work deals with the poison glands, and has already been 
noticed.* 
Intermediate Forms among Ants.j — Dr. F. v. Wagner in an ex- 
pository review of Weismann’s “Romanes Lecture,” quotes a letter from 
Forel which is of interest in relation to the question whether the inter- 
mediate forms between fertile females and workers represent the direct 
results of modified nutrition (Spencer, Hertwig, &c.), or are the outcome 
of germinal variation (Weismann). At Munchen, Forel found a nest 
similar to that which he had previously described from Uetliberg, with 
numerous transitional forms, some hardly larger than the smallest 
workers. But in neither case did the adjacent nests show a similar 
condition. The facts, according to Forel, are clearly in favour of 
W eismann’s interpretation. 
A Supposed Semi-aquatic Phasmid.J — Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse has 
some notes on the Phasmid to which the late Prof. Wood- Mason gave 
the name of Cotylosoma dipneusticum, and which he suggested might be 
modified for an aquatic life, as it was provided with tracheal gills. 
Mr. Waterhouse points out that nothing seems to be known as to the 
habits of the species ; it may or may not be aquatic. The specimen on 
which Wood-Mason’s description was founded is dried, and it is impos- 
sible to say definitely that the lateral plates are tracheal gills. A 
characteristic figure is given. 
Life-history of Pericoma canescens.§ — Prof. L. C. Miall and 
Mr. N. Walker make a contribution to the life-history of the Psyihodidae, 
of which little seems to be known. What we do know is due chiefly to 
the observations of Fritz Muller on Brazilian species. The authors 
have found larvae and pupae of one species of this family in considerable 
numbers in a paved channel which receives overflow water from the 
* See this Journal, 1894, p. 445. t Biol. Centralbl., xv. (1895) pp. 81-91. 
X Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xv. (1895) pp. 498 and 9 (1 fig.). 
§ Trans. Ent. Soc., 1895, pp. 141-53 (2 pis.). 
