Myr. 1 
MYRIOPODA. 
BY 
T. D. Gibson- Carmichael, M.A., F.L.S. 
The General Subject. 
1. Balbiani, E. G. Sur Porigine des cellules du follicule et du noyau 
vitellin de l’oeuf chez les Geophiles. Zool. Anz. vi. pp. 658-662 & 
676-680. 
A description, with illustrations, of certain remarkable peculiarities of 
structure in the ovum of Geophilus longicornis and G. carpophagus . 
The cells of the follicle and the yelk-nucleus seem to Balbiani to be 
derived from the germinal vesicle and the germinal spot. 
2. Balfour, F. M. Existence of a Blastopore and Origin of the Meso- 
blast in Peripatus. P. R. Soc. xxxiv. pp. 390-393 ; abstract in J. R. 
Micr. Soc. (2) iii. pp. 52 & 53. 
A preliminary note on Balfour’s discoveries as to the embryology of 
Peripatus capensis was communicated to the Royal Society. In the dis- 
cussion following the communication, Professor Ray Lankester said that 
the view that the blastopore represents an ancestral mouth must be given 
up ; it is probably an aperture produced in the formation of the hypo- 
blast by invagination, and never has any special function. 
3. , Moseley, H. N., & Sedgwick, A. The Anatomy and Develop- 
ment of Peripatus capensis. Q. J. Micr. Sci. (n. s.) xxiii. pp. 213-259, 
pis. xiii.-xx. ; abstracts in J. R. Micr. Soc. (2) iii. pp. 366 & 367, and 
in Am. Nat. xvii. pp. 882-884. 
A full description is given of the anatomy of the species. Five stages 
in the development of the embryo are described and figured. The more 
important results of the early development are thus summarized : — * 
1. The greater part of the meso blast is developed from the walls of the 
archenteron. 2. The embryonic mouth and anus are derived from the 
respective ends of the blastopore, ithe middle part of the blastopore 
closing up. 3. The embryonic mouth almost certainly becomes the adult 
mouth, i.e. , the aperture leading from the buccal cavity into the pharynx, 
the two being in the same position. The embryonic anus is in front of the 
position of the adult anus, but in all probability shifts back and persists 
as the adult anus. 4. The anterior pair of mesoblastic somites gives rise 
to the swellings of the prseoral lobes, and to the mesoblast of the head. 
4. Berlese, A. Acari, Miriapodi, e Scorpioni italiani, Padova : 
1882-83 (plates). Abstract in Bull. Ent. Ital. xv. p. 193. 
A new species of Lysiopetalum, L. sicanum , is described. 
