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ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETO. 
the same cell some of the chromosomes may be split longitudinally, some 
transversely. 
Anal Glands of Brachininae.* * * § — Dr. L. Bordas shows how the struc- 
ture of these organs is adapted to expel the fluid which these little 
beetles ( Brachinus explodens, &c.) use for defensive purposes. He also 
points out that the presence of a chitinous intima, lining the internal 
cavities of the receptacle and of the terminal excretory duct, proves the 
origin of these two parts from integumentary invaginations. 
y. MCyriopoda. 
Histogenesis of Poison-gland in Scolopendra.f — 0. Duboscq has 
an interesting note on this point, in regard to which he shows that the 
poison is formed in the nuclei of the secretory cells at the expense of 
the chromatin. He points out that this is in harmony with the fact 
that certain active substances in poisons are nucleo-albumins. 
5. Arachnida. 
Habits, History, and Species of Poecilotheria.J — Mr. R. T. Pocock 
discusses this genus, representative of that great and almost cosmopolitan 
group of spiders which was formerly included under the comprehensive 
title Nygale — a term which is still to be found in many recent text-books 
of zoology. They may kill small or young birds, but there is no war- 
rant for the widespread and sensational belief that these form the spider’s 
staple article of food, for they feed almost entirely upon insects. Some 
of these large spielers live in burrows lined with silk, or beneath stones, 
but the species of Pcecilotheria are arboreal. The colouring is very 
varied, and while that of the upper surface is apparently protective, 
that of the under surface, which is startlingly different, has probably 
a warning significance. Eight species are described from Ceylon and 
Southern India ; of these four are new. 
Tick-Fever in Cattle.§ —Mr. C. J. Pound claims to have worked out 
protective inoculation for tick-fever. “ Up to the present time some 
thousands of head of cattle have been inoculated, and the results have 
proved highly satisfactory ; for when such cattle are subjected to gross 
tick infection, or injected with virulent blood, they remain perfectly 
immune, while the “ controls,” or unprotected animals, subjected to the 
same conditions, are readily attacked with severe and acute fever, which 
often ends fatally. So successful have our experiments been that numbers 
of stock-owners, whose cattle are threatened with an invasion of tick, 
have lost no time in systematically inoculating the whole of their herds.” 
We should have liked, however, if Mr. Pound had given a summary of 
the statistical results of his experiments. 
Mites of Mummification. || — P. Megnin has studied a somewhat 
ghastly subject, the corpse of a murdered person that lay eighteen 
* Zool. Anzeig., xxii. (1899) pp. 73-6 (2 tigs.). 
t Arch. Zool. Exper., vii. (1898) Notes et Revue, pp. xlix.-li. 
j Ann. Nat. Hist., iii. (1899) pp. 82-96 (1 pi.). 
§ Journ. Quekett Micr. Club, vii. (1898) pp. 118-9. 
|| Arch. Parasitol., i. (1898) pp. 39-43. See Zool. Centralbl , v. (1898) pp. 830-1. 
