524 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Warmth in the Wasp’s Nest.* * * § — M. Ch. Janet has an interesting 
note on the egg-laying of Vespa crabro, and on the gradual growth of 
the nest from the first to the fortieth day. He shows that the eggs 
absolutely require for their development a high temperature, and that 
the chief use of the gradually elaborated nest is to retain the heat. 
Tibio-tarsal Comb of Ants.f — M. Ch. Janet, who, it is interesting 
to observe, signs himself an engineer, gives a most careful description of 
the tibio-tarsal comb by means of which Myrmica rubra and other ants 
clean various parts of their body, especially the antennas. By means of 
the buccal organs they also remove debris from the comb. The ingeni- 
ous experiments which the author has made in dusting or otherwise 
affecting the comb, and the precision of his descriptions deserve special 
notice. 
Odorific Apparatus of Heteropterous Hemiptera.J — M. J. Kiinckel 
d’Herculais has investigated the odorific apparatus of a large number of 
species of this group of Insects, and finds that the glands as well as their 
canals and orifices may be of considerable assistance in determining 
natural affinities of the species. Thus the young of the Capsidse have 
only a single gland on the third segment. The Pentatomidas and the 
ScutelleridsB have two on the fourth and fifth segments. Others have 
three on the third, fourth, and fifth, and others again have three tergo- 
abdominal glands. The fact that these glandular organs may appear in- 
differently on any segment in the larvae and the nymphs, while they are 
placed on the metathoracic segment in each adult, leads to the conclusion 
that the glands are remnants of a pair of organs which primitively 
belonged to each one of the segments respectively. 
Myriopoda. 
Structure and Relationships of Diplopoda.§ — Dr. C. Verhoeff con- 
cludes his notes on the structure and habits of Diplopoda. He has paid 
special attention to the intricate genital apparatus, and applies his 
results to a readjustment of the systematic relations of the group. 
y. Protracheata. 
Reproductive Organs of Peripatus oviparus.|] — Prof. A. Dendy has 
a preliminary note on the results of his anatomical investigation of 
these organs in the egg-laying species of this interesting genus. The 
adult female has, in place of the usual genital papilla, a very conspicu- 
ous organ, which might be termed an ovipositor. It is capable of great 
extension, its surface is uniformly ornamented with minute spine-bearing 
papillae, and at its apex it bears a large slit placed parallel to the long 
axis of the body of the animal. The oviducts are long and convoluted, 
and each is divided into three parts. The egg-envelope really consists 
of three membranes ; (1) very thin and transparent, immediately sur- 
* Comptes Rendus, cxx. (1895) pp. 384-6. 
t Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fiance, lxiii. (1894) pp. 691-704 (7 figs.), 
j Comptes Rendus, cxx. (1895) pp. 1002-4. 
§ Zool. Anzeig., xviii. (1895) pp. 2] 3-26 (3 figs.), pp. 237-44. 
|| Tom. cit., pp. 2*54-6. 
