A canthia lectularia 
With reference to the “ Organ of Berlese ” the writer would like to 
point out that it would be a matter of great difficulty, if not utter 
impossibility, for the male bug to insert his penis in the external opening 
to this organ, as the authors say is done. The opening is found on the 
right side of the ventral region of the abdomen of the female. The 
penis lies in a shallow pocket on the left, so that it points to the left 
and forwards. 
When copulating the position is that the male mounts the back of 
the female and puts his long axis to that of the female in the relative 
position that a line drawn on a clock face from 10 to 4 (male) bears to 
one drawn from 12 to 6 (female) (Fig. 38). The writer fails to see how 
an organ so placed and surrounded by hard chitin as is the penis, can 
reach over to the right side of the bug and forwards to the opening 
of the “ Organ of Berlese,” as Messrs Patton and Cragg affirm it does, 
for they say: “ From the position of the male it is impossible for his 
penis to reach the genital opening of the female, whereas he is placed 
precisely as one would expect if his intention were to introduce it into 
the opening of Berlese’s organ, for he is invariably on the right side of 
the female and just sufficiently far forwards to bring his posterior seg¬ 
ments on a level with the opening.” “ The operation is carried out so 
quickly that it is not possible to obtain final proof by killing the pair 
in cop., but repeated observations on many separate occasions have 
left no doubt in the minds of the writers that the male organ is actually 
introduced into the opening of Berlese’s organ ” (pp. 521-522). 
The position of the male rotundatus in copulation would seem, as 
described by Messrs Patton and Cragg, to be much further forward 
than with lectularius, but in spite of this the writer hesitates to accept 
the idea that, with insects so closely allied, a different organ would be 
brought into play in the process. 
The description of the scent glands in the “ Textbook ” is practically 
that of Landois, so the same criticisms hold. In their description on 
p. 523 they say that the exit is under the metasternum, while on p. 481 
they speak of “ the ducts opening by means of an orifice on each side 
of the metasternum.” 
They do not touch on the Respiratory, Nervous, or Circulatory 
systems. 
