ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
619 
Masticatory Armature of the Gizzard in Blattidae and Gryllidse.* 
— M. Bordas has made a study of the variations which are to be found 
in this organ in different genera in these two families. The modifica- 
tions, which are often very considerable, are always related to the mode 
of life of the animal. Moreover, the arrangement of the numerous spines 
or teeth which compose its internal chitinous armature is so well 
marked as to serve as an excellent specific character. The author gives 
a number of details as to the modifications which are found in various 
forms. 
Scatoconehs.f — M. A. Lecaillon has lately applied the terra scato- 
conch to the elaborate shell formed for their larvae by certain insects 
from their excrement. Ovular scatoconchs protect the egg, larval 
scatoconchs protect the larvae. The presence of the former, at any rate, 
is connected with the existence in the female of complicated organs, 
which do not exist in the male, and which serve for the construction of 
the test. Gene, who was the first to observe the production of these 
curious coverings, remarked that the oviposition lasted from five to six 
hours, and that during this time the insects ate several times. He 
ascribes this to the necessity of procuring faecal matter to surround the 
eggs. The present writer fiuds, however, that twelve minutes is suffi- 
cient to make an ovular scatoconcli, and that several eggs may be laid 
in succession without the insect taking any food. Moreover, the rectum 
of females which have laid naked eggs always contains some excretory 
remains. There are connected with the rectum special organs consist- 
ing of chitin, muscles, and glands. Around the anal orifice there is a 
small chitinous apparatus which consists essentially of two kinds of half 
rings ; muscles attached to the chitinous pieces regulate the form of the 
excretory matter deposited on the egg, and cause them to be arranged in 
a mosaic pattern. In addition to this and other chitinous pieces, there 
is a double, well-developed, glandular mass which empties its deposits 
into the rectum ; the liquid agglutinates the excretory matters which are 
destined to enter into the constitution of the scatoconch. 
jS. Myriopoda. 
Blood-Vessels of Scolopendrid^.J — M. 0. Duboscq has a preliminary 
notice of his investigation of the termination of the blood-vessels and 
the corpuscles of Kowalevsky in the Scolopendridse. The new term of 
corpuscles of Kowalevsky is applied to the bodies discovered by that 
author in the fatty tissue of Scolopendridas, and called by him lymphatic 
glands. The results of the author, which appear to be new, were 
obtained by the method of self-injections. He used commercial china 
ink diluted with an equal quantity of water, and he killed the animal 
within five hours after the injection. The circulatory system of Scolo- 
pendridm consists essentially of a dorsal and of a ventral vessel united 
by an aortic ring. The branches of these vessels are described, and the 
conclusion is come to that, in Scolopendridee, the dorsal vessel irrigates 
all the parts that are innervated by the brain and the sympathetic 
nervous system, while the ventral vessel irrigates all that is innervated 
* Comptes Rendus, cxxiii. (1896) pp. 271-3. f Tom. cit., pp. 258-60. 
X Zool. Anzeig., xix. (1896) pp. 391-7 (5 figs.). 
