560 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
carotine, and by injection into small mammals to Lave no physiological 
action. 
Origin of the “Nasutus” (Soldier) of Eutermes.* — Mr. H. McE. 
Knower has had the opportunity of examining the snouted form of a 
Jamaican species of Eutermes; in this species there are two kinds of 
wingless individuals — workers and soldiers; the latter have a much 
smaller abdomen than the former, and are, consequently, able to move 
much more actively ; in their head there is a large vesicle with walls 
formed of a single layer of high, columnar, glandular cells ; comparison 
with various workers showed that the “ nasutus ” is, like the more ordi- 
nary forms of soldiers, merely a more specialized worker. These 
“ nasuti ” are undoubtedly soldiers, though they lack the powerful jaws 
found in soldiers of other species; they perform all the functions of 
soldiers, when advancing with a column, and so on. The author has 
not been able to determine whether the secretion of the glandular vesicle 
is poisonous to enemies, but there is reason for supposing that it has 
proved a better weapon of defence than jaws, and has been continually 
improved, while the jaws have decreased in size and importance. 
Alimentary Canal of Orthoptera.j — Dr. F. Werner has compared 
the relative length of the intestine in vegetarian and insectivorous 
Orthoptera. The result was unexpected. The plant-eating Acridiidas 
have a short, almost straight gut, rarely longer than the body ; while 
the Locustidae have a longer gut, usually spirally coiled, especially in 
Barbitistes and Phaneroptera. Werner believes that the length and coil- 
ing of the intestine have nothing to do with the diet, but are correlated 
with the shape of the body and with the habits of life. 
Oviposition in Acrididse.!! — 'M. J. Kiinckel d’Herculais describes 
the means by which these Orthoptera bury their abdomen in the ground ; 
there is no perforation of the ground, the hinder part of the body is 
merely forced into it ; as the Arabs say, the females “ piantent.” On 
dissecting females whose abdomen had reached the maximum of disten- 
sion, the author was surprised to find that the abdomen was filled with 
air ; on the air being withdrawn the abdomen was reduced from 8 to 
5 cm. in length. When the position is firmly taken up the females of 
the migratory Locust maintain the part's of their genital armature as 
widely separated as possible, and secrete a viscous material, which 
agglutinates the grains of sand, or the particles of earth at the bottom 
of the cavity, and they then begin to lay their eggs. These and the 
viscous material are emitted simultaneously, but the latter is peripheral, 
and so consolidates the walls of the cavity, which has the curved form 
of the abdomen. When the eggs are laid the viscous material continues 
to be shed, and, on drying, forms a stopper which protects the cavity. 
Diptera Parasitic on Acrididse.§ — M. J. Kiinckel d’Herculais finds 
that the oviparous Muscidae with oophagous larva, that destroy the 
eggs deposited in the ground by Acrididae, belong to the Anthomyinae 
and the Muscinas. The latter, owing to the rapidity of their successive 
generations, destroy great quantities of the eggs of the migratory Locust. 
* Johns Hopkins Univ. Circ., xiii. (1894) pp. 58-9 (3 figs.). 
f Biol. Centralbl., xiv. (1894) pp. 116-9. 
% Comptes Rendus, cxix. (1894) pp. 244-7. 
§ Op. cit., cxviii. (1894) pp. 1359-61. 
