ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
37 
in the fifth set occurring on Scolopendra. As to the homologies of these 
glands with one another, or with those of insects, the author is too 
cautious to come to any conclusions until developmental data are forth- 
coming. A chapter is devoted to the coxal organ of Scutigera— a 
structure by itself — which perhaps favours the rupture of the limbs. 
After a detailed account of the vascular system in various types of 
Chilopoda, Herbst gives the following general sketch. In the mid- 
dorsal line lies the heart, surrounded by annular muscles and generally 
inclosed in a distinct cavity, on the walls of which the alary muscles 
are inserted. In each segment the heart gives off a pair of lateral 
branches, which ramify, and, in Scolopendra at least, give rise to a rich 
plexus in the peritoneum. Anteriorly the heart always passes into the 
cephalic aorta, also with lateral branches ; posteriorly the arrangements 
are diverse. From the pericardial cavity the blood passes into the heart 
by ostia of diverse structure. In all forms examined, a nerve-strand 
was detected on the mid dorsal line of the heart. In the segment with 
the poison-claw’s, the dorsal vessel gives off a pair of large lateral 
branches, which open ventrally in a supra-neural vessel extending 
posteriorly above the nerve-cord and giving off at each ganglion lateral 
branches, which enter the corresponding pair of limbs. From the 
arteries of the limbs the coxal or pleural glands are supplied. In the 
last chapter of his memoir, Herbst describes the visceral nervous system, 
of which almost nothing has hitherto been known. That of Scutigera 
strikingly resembles that of Peripatus, and may be taken as primitive. 
When the head is compressed, as in Scolopendra , there is no distinct 
frontal ganglion, as there is in Scutigeridse in which the head is high 
and roomy. 
y. Frototracheata. 
Oviparity of Peripatus Leuckarti.* — Dr. A. Dendy brings forward 
evidence to show that this species of Peripatus is oviparous. He 
describes the deposited egg as being very large, oval in shape, with a 
very tough thick membrane, inclosing a quantity of thick milky fluid 
full of yolk-granules. The outer membrane is exquisitely sculptured 
and embossed in a regular design, consisting of little crumpled papillae, 
with much finer meandering ridges occupying the spaces between them. 
The eggs appear to be laid in or about July, and the young are hatched 
at the end of October. As eggs have been found in specimens killed in 
December it is possible that this species is double-brooded. 
5. Arachnida. 
Development of Scorpio fulvipes.t— Mr. M. Laurie has investigated 
the development of this Arachnid, the history of which differs consider- 
ably from that of Euscorpius. The difference is due to the absence 
of yolk in Scorpio. In consequence of this everything is sacrificed to 
the rapid development of the organs necessary for nutrition — chelicerae, 
stomodseum and gut — while the other appendages and the mesoblast and 
nervous system ard formed at leisure after nutrition has been provided 
for. The developmental period extends over more than six months. 
* Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, 1891, pp. 31-4. 
t Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., xxxii. (1891) pp. 587-97 (1 pi.). 
