Article beginning on page 545.
Psyche 6:545-546, 1891.

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AFRICAN MOTHS, ( Holland,)
(XEOIFCRD :NI;ARLY ONE-HALF.)




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AFRICAN NOGTUIDS. ( Holland, )
(NATURAL SIZE.)




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PSYCHE.
THE PRIMITIVE NUMBER OF MALPIGHIAN VESSELS IN INSECTS. - VI.
. .
BY WILLIAM MORTON WHEELER, PH.D.9 CHICAGO, ILL. HYMENOPTERA. According to Schind-
ler the number of Malpighian * ves-
sels in the imagines of Hymenoptera
varies from I 2 to upwards of 150. The
number 12 was observed in Myrmica,
the greater number in Apis.? In cer-
tain ants according to Adlerz $ a very
small number is observed, the neuter
of Tomognathus having only 6 vessels.
Embryology shows concIusively that
none of these numbers (excepting per-
haps that of Tomognathus) are to be
regarded as primitive. Biitschlis found
only 4 vessels in the embryo of the
honey-bee (Ai>is mellifica) and
Carri6rell gives the same number for
* 1. c. p. 635 et seq.
?The numbers given by Schindler run as follows Form ici'dae.
Myrmica 12.
Formica putes.cens 25-30.
Formica rzifa 16.
(Adlerz gives 20 for F. ruja and Camponotus.) Ichneumonidae. .
Microgaster 15 (Dufour).
Chelonus, more than 20 (Dufour).
Oflion merdarius, about 40.
Some other Ichneumonids more than 40.
Cynifidae, at most 20-25.
Chrysididae, about loo.
Cmb~onid~e, 1
Vespidae , more than 100.
Apidae,
+ Myrmecologiska studier. 2. Svenska myror och deras lefnadsf~rhhanden. Bih. svenska. vet. akad. handl. bd. 11, no. 18, 1887.
$ I. c.
1 Die entwicklung der rnanrbiene (Chalicodorna muraria, Fabr.) im ei. Arch. f. mikr. anat. bd, 35, heft 2, 1890.
the wall-bee ( Chalicodoma maria).
This number is retained during larval
life, as has long been known (see
Leuc kart's figure
in Lang's Verglei-
chende anatomic, p. 476). According
to Carrikre the Malpighian vessels of
Chalicodoma arise as two pairs of in-
vaginations on the caudal plate (which
is an extension of the ectoderm behind
the eleventh abdominal segment). In
his first account they are said to arise "ehe die einsenkung des hinterdarmes
beginnt; ihre rnundung wachst mit
dem boden bez. dem rande des hinter-
darmes nach dem hinterende des mit-
teldarmes zu."
Adlerz* claims that the larvae of
ants have 4 Malpighian vessels. It is
more than probable that this is the
number formed in the embryo.
It appears that we have no cases
among Hymenoptera with 6 Malpighian
vessels in the embryo and only 4 in the
larva. On the supposition that 6 is the
original number we must therefore con-
clude that a pair of tubules has been sup- pressed in the ancestral Hymenoptera.
It must, however, be borne in -mind
that we have no observations on the
embryonic development of the excretory
* I. c.




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546 PSYCHE. [November 1893.
organs of the Tenthredinidae, a family
which promises to throw considerable
light on the ancestral peculiarities of
the order.
DIPTERA. In these very highly
modified insects the number of Mal-
pighian vessels shows a constancy that
contrasts strikingly with the variations occurring in the Hvmenoptera ; with
very few exceptions the Diptera have
in all their stages only 4 urinary tubules. Still there seems to be considerable
variation in the manner of their opening into the intestine. Schindler* claims
that in Aphaniptera, Pupipara, * Tip-
ulidae, Asilus, Haematopota, Eris-
tails, each of the vessels has a separate opening. In Hippobosca, Musca,
Sarcopl~aga, Anthrax, Conops, Oestrus
and Syrphus, the vessels are united in
piiirs and open by means of two ducts,
a condition which reminds one of the
Gryllidae. In Tipula and Ctenophoi-a
the terminal ends of the vessels are fused in pairs.
There is, I believe, some evidence in
favor of the view that 4 is not the
primitive number of vessels in the Dip-
tera, and that there has taken place
throughout the group a reduction
similar to what was observed in Melo-
lontha. I base this conclusion on an
observation first made by Voeltzkowf
and more recently confirmed by
Graber. $ Voeltzkow describes and fig-
* 1. c. p. 642 et seq.
t Entwickelung im ei von Musca vomitoria. Arb. zool. zoot, inst. Wiirzb. bd. 9, heft. I, 1889, p. p. 1 Vergleichende studien iiber die embryologic der insecten u. insb. d. Musciden. Denkschr. math. wiss. classe k. akad. wiss. Wien. bd. 56, 1889, p. 37-38. ures 3 pairs of tubular diverticula to
the proctodaeum of Musca. Two of
these pairs he designates as Malpighian
vessels, to the third pair he refers as
"neuauftretende gange." Graber's fig.
76, taf. vii, shows that one of the "gange" arises between the two Malpighian ves-
sels on either side.
Why may not this
median pair of diverticula, which are
apparently purely embryonic structures,
represent a third pair of Malpighian
vessels ?
There is also another fact which
vaguely points to a primitively hexa-
nephric condition in the Diptera. I
allude to Culex and Psychoda, forms
which, according to Dufour* Raschkef
and Schindler$ have five Malpighian
vessels. Tins number, which, to my
knowledge, has been observed in no
other insects, may have originated from
the hexanephric condition either by the
suppression of a single tubule or by the fusion of a pair of tubules into one.
That the latter is probably not the case follows from Schindler's statement :
"Dass das 5 gefass nicht etwa das
product der concrescenz zweier gefasse
ist, scheint inir zur genuge daraus
hervorzugehen, dass ich bei kleinen und
kleinsten larven, bei der puppe und den1 imago von Culex $/$/ens und C. a m -
lutus immer 5, in ihren langs- und
breite-dimensionen einander vollstandig
* Memoire sur les vaisseaux biliaires ou le foie des insectes.
Ann. sci. nat. zOs&r. torn. xix, 1843, p. 166. t Die larve von Culex nemorosus. Ein beitrag zur kenntniss der insecten-anatomie u. histologie. Arch.
naturg. 53 jahrg. 1887.
$ 1. c. p. 642.




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November 1893.1 PsYcEL!?. 54$7
gleiche harngefiisse vorfand ." It is
perhaps worthy of note that this pen-
tanephric condition obtains in Diptera
which are by common consent among the
most ancient and primitive of the order. The foregoing remarks may be sum-
marized as follows :-
I. It is very probable that the so-
called Malpighian vessels of Crustacea
and Arachnids are not the homologues
of the vasa ~V[aZ/ighi of the Eutracheata (Insects and Myriopods) .
2. The Malpighian vessels of the
Eutracheata arise as paired diverticula
of the hind-gut and are, therefore,
ectodermal.
3. In no insect embryo are more than
6 vessels known to occur; although
frequently only 4 are developed.
4. The number 6 occurs either dun-
ing embryonic or post-embryonic life in
members of the following groups : Ap-
teqgota, Orthoptera, Corrodentia, Neu-
roptera, Panorpata, Trichoptera, Cole-
optera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera.
5. The number 4 seems to be typical
for the Corroclentia, Thysanoptera,
Aphaniptera, Rhynchota, Diptera and
Hymenoptera.
6. The embryonic number in Derm-
aptera, Ephemerides, Plecoptera and
Odonata has not been ascertained, but
will probably be found to be either 4 or 6. 7. There is evidence that in at least
one case (Melolontha) the tetranephric
is ontogenetically derived from the
hexanephric condition by the suppres-
sion of one pair of tubules.
8. It is probable that the insects
which never develop more than 4 Mal-
pighian vessels have lost a pair during
their phylogeny.
9. The post-embryonic increase in the
number of Malpighian vessels in some
orders (Orthoptera, Odonata, Hyinen-
optera) is secondary and has apparently
arisen to supply a demand for greater
excreting surface.* '
There is a curious analogy between the excretory organs of these insects and the mesonephros of some vertebrates, where a second, third, etc., generation of tubules is added to the primitive metameric series. When the embryonic number of Malpighian vessels. persists in insects, the demand for greater excreting- surface is supplied by a lengthening of the individual vessels.
NOTE ON A SCUTELLERID ON NATIVE TOBACCO IN ARIZONA. BY C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND, KINGSTON, JAMAICA. At Cedar Ranch, Arizona, which is
and is on the edge of the somewhat
the half-way station on the stage route
mountainous country which lies to the
from
Flagstaff to the Grand Canon, I
south of it, a more or less level plateau found on July 6, 1892, a scutellerid in
extending to the north between it and
numbers on a species of native tobacco,
the caiion. The native tobacco upon
Mcotiana sp. probably attenuata. which the insects were found grew in This locality is also called Hull Spring, patches about the spring, which is



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