March 1965] SCIENTIFIC NOTES
set of diagrams shown in Figs. 1-4. It consists of 2 ends
of an ordinary, 14-in.-diameter gas tank, with a band of
sheet metal, 4j/ia in. wide and of the same thickness as the
ends, welded between them to provide appropriate lateral
dimensions. The subspherical, sheet-metal tank thus
formed was welded to heavy metal footings. Horizontally,
through the center of this tank, was placed a 2-in. (inside
diam.) tube, open at both ends, which was welded at each
end to the hemispheric ends of the tank. A 5-in. section
of the upper half of this tube was cut out at its midpoint
(Fig. 1). To this cut-out area was welded an inverted,
somewhat flattened cone. At the apical end of the cone
was welded a 1-in. (inside diam.) tube (Fig. 1). This 1-
in. tube was designed to penetrate the surface of the
device somewhat to one side of the top, and its emerging
end was welded to the surface of the device. Thus, ex-
cept for the horizontal 2-in. tube with its attached cone
and 1-in. tubular attachment, the device at this stage was
an enclosed, empty tank. A heavy weight-lifting ring
("handle") was welded to the top side for mechanical
handling in shipping (Fig. 1), and back of this handle a
2-in. hole was drilled into the hollow area. Through this
hole molten lead (approximately 850 lb) was poured until
the empty space within the device was completely filled.
A. 2-in. (outside diam.) "servicing shaft," 25 in. long
(Fig. 2), was designed which fitted exactly into the 2-in.
(inside diam.) horizontal tube running through the device.
The clearance between this shaft and the tube into which
it fitted was machined to approximately 0.005 in. The
servicing shaft, too, was then completely filled with lead,
except for a 5-in. empty space 15 in. from the left end
(Fig. 2). Removal of the top half of the tube surrounding
this empty space left a shallow, empty trough, 5 in. long
and 1 in. dee]), into which insects or other objects could
be placed for irradiation. A flat screw-cap, J4 i'i. larger
than the shaft, was fitted to each of its ends, and a "pull"
handle was welded to the screw-cap at the short (right)
end of the shaft. The shaft was so designed that, when
shoved into the "closed" position, the empty, troughlike
part of the servicing shaft was exactly under the large
end of the previously mentioned cone.
A "source holder" for holding the radioactive material
was made from a piece of 1-in. (outside diam.) tubing
with an enlarged outer end (Fig. 3). This was filled with
lead, except for y2 in. of its inner end. To this inner end
the suppliers of the source material attached a doubly
sealed capsule of cobalt-60 (Fig. 3). This source holder
fitted into the open end of the 1-in. tube previously de-
cribed. A hinged cap with a device for padlocking was
welded above the source holder. When closed, this an-
chored the source holder in place (Figs. 1, 4), so that it
FIG. 5.—Irradiator-shield device with servicing shaft in
"open" position.
247
could not be removed by accident or as a result of curios-
ity. Anyone who removed the source holder with the
source material would immediately be exposed to exces-
sive radiation.
After the device was constructed by the local machine
shop, it was shipped by motor freight to an isotopes dealer
in Chicago. This dealer applied the encapsulated cobalt-
60 to the source holder, inserted the latter in its proper
place, and padlocked the anchoring device. A check
showed that radiation leakage was well within allowable
limits. The device was then returned by motor freight to
our laboratories, where it is now in use. It is housed in
a masonry-constructed vault whose walls provide added
protection from any possible leakage from the source
material.
The design of this device makes it obvious that it may
be used with complete safety when the servicing shaft is
in place. At all times, whether "open" or "closed," there
is a plug of lead between the source material and the out-
side. It can, therefore, be used repeatedly without danger
of overexposure to the operator.
By inserting a small, electrostatic-ionization-chamber
type of dosimeter into the empty, troughlike space in the
servicing shaft, and calibrating the emission rate of the
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isotope, a rate of roentgens-per-second value is established.
Then, it is a matter of timing the exposure of the insects
or other objects to give them the desired dosage in roent-
gen units.
REFERENCES CITED
Andrews, H. L. 1961. Radiation Biophysics. Engle-
wood Cliffs, N. J. Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Atomic Energy Commission Regulations. 1963. Part
20. Title 10.
Bacq, Z. M., and P. Alexander. 1961. Fundamentals
of Radiobiology. New York. Pergammon Press, Inc.
Comar, C. L. 1955. Radioisotopes in Biology and Ag-
riculture. New York. McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Glasstone, S. 1958. Sourcebook on Atomic Energy. 2d
ed. Princeton, N. J. D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc.
Defense Mechanisms of Arthropods. XVI.
Para-Benzoquinones in the Secretion of
Spirostreptoid Millipedes1
T. EISNER, J. J. HURST, W. T. KEETON, AND
Y. MEINWALD
Department of Entomology and Department of Chemistry,
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.
In previous papers of this series, we reported the identi-
fication of active principles in the defensive secretions of
several spiroboloid, polydesmoid, and chordeumoid milli-
pedes (H. E. Eisner et al. 1963, T. Eisner et al. 1963a,
1963b, Monro et al. 1962, Wheeler et al. 1964). This
note deals with the secretions of 6 species belonging to
yet another order, the Spirostreptida:
Family: Cambalidae
Cambala hubrichti Hoffman (Highlands, N. C.)
Family: Spirostreptidae
Ortlwporus flavior Chamberlin and Mulaik (Dryden,
Texas)
1
Supported in part by Grant AT-02908 from the National
Institutes of Health, and Grant GB701 from the National Science
Foundation. We are indebted to Mr. Julian Shepherd and Dr.
Ralph Ghent for the shipment of the Costa Rican and African
species, respectively. Grants from the Sigma-Xi RESA Research
Fund and the Bache Fund of the National Academy of Sciences
helped finance some of the field trips made to collect these and
other arthropods. We are indebted also to the authorities of the
Highlands Biological Station, Highlands, N. C., and of the South-
western Research Station of the American Museum of Natural
History, Portal, Arizona, where some of the work was carried
out. Accepted for publication October 1, 1964.
248 ANNALS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Orthoporus punctilliger Chamberlin (McAllen, Texas
and Portal, Arizona; secretion from each population
of millipedes tested separately)
Orthoporus conifer (Attems) (Turrialba, Costa
Rica)
FIGS. 1-3.—Lateral view of midbody segments of (from
top to bottom) Orthoporus flavior, Cambala hubrichti,
and Abacion magnum. Arrows point to gland openings,
which in Figs. 2 and 3 have been outlined in ink.
[Vol. 58, No. 2
Doratogonus annulipcs Carl (Basutoland)
Family: Harpagophoridae
Single 9- of an unidentifiable species (Roma, Basuto-
land)
The secretions were collected from the live millipedes
by the method described earlier (Monro et al. 1962) and
infrared spectra were taken of their solutions in methylene
chloride and carbon disulfide. In all species, the methy-
lene chloride solutions showed characteristic quinonoid
absorption at 6.0S and 6.24M. Additional absorption bands
in carbon disulfide at 11.1M (characteristic of 2-methyl-
1:4-quinone) and 11.9M (characteristic of 3-methoxy-2-
methyl-1:4-quinone) were apparent in all cases except in
O. conifer. In this species, only the peak at 11.9M was
present, indicating that it differs from the others in that
it produces only the latter of the 2 quinones.
Two other orders of millipedes are known to secrete
quinones, the Spirobolida and the Julida (see table in
Casnati et al. 1963). The production of quinones by all
6 Spirostreptida agrees with the taxonomists' view that
this order is related to the other 2.
It may seem surprising that 0. conifer lacks one of
the quinones found in the other Spirostreptida we ex- \
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amined. However, the variability within the order is al-
ready known to be more extensive. Spirostrcptus cas-
tctneus Attems is said to produce />-benzoquinone, while
its congener, 6\ virgator Silvestri, secretes 2-methyl-l :4-
quinone (Barbier and Lederer 1957). Departures from
an apparent norm are known to occur also in the Spiro-
bolida. Several species of this order secrete a mixture of
2-methyl-l: 4-quinone and 3-methoxy-2-methyl - 1 : 4-qui-
none (Monro et al. 1962). Yet in one species the latter
quinone is missing, being replaced by an entirely different
type of compound (?ra»j-2-dodecenal; Wheeler et al.
1964). It is evidently premature to attempt to draw broad
phylogenetic conclusions from the meager body of evi-
dence available to date.
There is, however, a point of interest concerning the
phyletic affinities of Cambala. This millipede, by virtue
of its highly sculptured cuticle (Fig. 2), differs con-
spicuously from many other members of the Spirostrep-
tida, including Orthoporus (Fig. 1), which have a smooth
cylindrical body. Cambala bears close superficial re-
semblance to Abacion (Fig. 3), which taxonomists have
put in the order Chordeumida. The fact that Cambala
produces quinones like other Spirostreptida, whereas
Abacion secretes a phenol (Eisner et al. 1963b), supports
the view that the similar sculpturing arose by con-
vergence.
REFERENCES CITED
Barbier, M., and E. Lederer. 1957. Sur les benzoqui-
nones du venin de trois especes de myriapodes. Bio-
chimia 22: 236-40.
Casnati, G., G. Nencini, A. Quilico, M. Pavan, A. Ricca,
and T. Salvatori. 1963. The secretion of the myria-
pod Polydcsmus collaris collaris (Koch). Experientia
19: 1-7.
Eisner, H. E., T. Eisner, and J. J. Hurst. 1963. Hydro-
gen cyanide and benzaldehyde produced by milli-
pedes. Chem. and Ind., London, p. 124-5.
Eisner, T., H. E. Eisner, J. J. Hurst, F. C. Kafatos, and J.
Meinwald. 1963a. Cyanogenic glandular apparatus
of a millipede. Science 139: 1218-20.
Eisner, T., J. J. Hurst, and J. Meinwald. 1963b. Defense
mechanisms of arthropods. XL The structure, func-
tion, and phenolic secretions of the glands of a chor-
deumoid millipede and a carabid beetle. Psyche 70:
94-116.
Monro, A., M. Chadha, J. Meinwald, and T. Eisner. 1962.
Defense mechanisms of arthropods. VI. Para-benzo-
quinones in the secretion of five species of millipedes.
Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 55: 261-2.
Wheeler, J. W., J. Meinwald, J. J. Hurst, and T. Eisner.
1964. fra;i.r-2-Dodecenal and 2-methyl-l,4-quinone
produced by a millipede. Science 144: 540-1.