‘*Omnes res create sunt divine sapientie et potenti testes, divitie felicitatis

humane :—ex harum usu bonitas Creatoris; ex pulchritudine sapientia Domini;

ex ceconomia in conservatione, proportione, renovatione, potentia majestatis elucet.

Earum itaque indagatio ab hominibus sibi relictis semper estimata; a veré eruditis

et sapientibus semper exculta; malé doctis et barbaris semper inimica fuit.”—

LINN2ZUS.

‘* Quelque soit le principe de la vie animale, il ne faut qu’ouvrir les yeux pour voir

qu’elle est le chef-d’ceuvre de la Toute-puissance, et le but auquel se rapportent

toutes ses opérations.””—-BRUCKNER, Théorie du Systeme Animal,-Leyden, 1767.

oe 0 ae cee ileie avis ee re

Obey our summons; from their deepest dells

The Dryads come, and throw their garlands wild

And odorous branches at our feet ; the Nymphs

That press with nimble step the mountain thyme

And purple heath-flower come not empty-handed,

But scatter round ten thousand forms minute

Of velvet moss or lichen, torn from rock

Or rifted oak or cavern deep: the Naiads too

Quit their loved native stream, from whose smooth face

They crop the lily, and each sedge and rush

That drinks the rippling tide: the frozen poles,

Where peril waits the bold adventurer’s tread,

The burning sands of Borneo and Cayenne,

All, all to us unlock their secret stores

And pay their cheerful tribute.

J. Taytor, Norwich, 1818.

ALERE ‘ FLAMMAMs

CONTENTS OF VOL, XVII.

[SECOND SERIES.]

NUMBER XCVII.

I. On the Conjugation of Cocconeis, Cymbella and Amphora;

together with some Remarks on Amphiphora alata (?), Kg. By H.

J. Carrer, Esq., Assistant-Surgeon H.C.S., Bombay. (With a

Fage

Plate.) ...... Andes Vib SuaetataeNensehensahacesberssoccarcetocersrstcactaccenssrsnces 1

II. Description of a new species of Clausilia from the neighbour-

hood of Cheltenham. By A. SCHMIDT &........ssseeeees Redken tkdeesaceee 10

III. Memoir on the Indian species of Shrews. By Epwarp Buiytu,

Esq. With Notes by RoBert F. ToMus, Esq. ...ceceecesseesescseeeee 1]

IV. On the Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration and on the Struc-

ture of the Organs of Breathing in Invertebrate Animals. By Tuomas

MPIRREAMS OOD), Lond: Cvestih & OR: ) ccc sjscsecdcedeccsccesnopesocnss 28

V. On the Origin of the Geographical Distribution of Crustacea.

DO RG e SAMIR, BARA oRiikis écbonksssesesUaebern's cacy sansosorsecensiegs oe’ 42

VI. On Anthracosia, a Fossil Genus of the Family Unionide. By

WiutraM Kring, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in Queen’s

College, Galway. (With a Plate.) ..,.... SPS ERROR REE ST Oe suacacs eee 51

VII. On the Genus ASsiminia ...cccccccccceccecees Deh pda chee ee eek aaané 57

New Books :—Recherches sur les Crinoides du Terrain Carbonifére de

la Belgique, par L. de Koninck et H. le Hon.—A Lecture on the

Geological History of Newbury, Berks, by T. Rupert Jones,

BRN Pel cui ean taebe ree Oan soi vcs Vabine cones SaGardeccescctecsscoserss 58—61

Proceedings of the Zoological Society; Botanical Society of Edin-

burgh ..... Std] REV RMPURU ROMP ALNGNES ST <ospessssoseanss cheetceceacerceys 62—74

Observations on the Blistermg Beetles of the neighbourhood of

Montevideo, by M. A. Courbon ; Unusual Dearth of Alge in 1855,

- by John Cocks; Observations on Echini perforating the Granite

1V CONTENTS.

of Brittany, by M. Valenciennes; New Species of Mammals and

Birds ; Description of a New Bird from Guatemala, forming the

type of a new genus, by John Gould, F.R.S. &e.; The late

Page

Mr. Newport ; Meteorological Observations and Table......... 75—80

NUMBER XCVIII.

VIII. Notes on the Paleozoic Bivalved Entomostraca. No. III.

Some Species of Leperditia. By T. Rupert Jones, F.G.S. (With

two PIRGOG.) = 0 cesF. ie dearshacteceeuphdlensupuaneneene Ses evietIERENERS « eee

IX. Further Observations on the Development of Gonidia (?) from

the Cell-contents of the Characee, and on the Circulation of the

Mucus-substance of the Cell. By H. J. Carrer, Esq., Assistant

Surgeon H.C.S., Bombay. (With two Plates.) ........secsccssesereceeere

X. Amended Description of the Genus Scaphula, Benson, a fresh-

water form of the Arcacea; with characters of a new species from

Tenasserim. By W. H. Benson, Esq. ....... seobenacsadeebansssetcupasese

XI. Description of Tanystoma tubiferum, a Burmese form related

to the Genus Anostoma of Lamarck. By W. H. Benson, Esq.

XII. On Pleurodictyum problematicum. By W1Lu1AM Kine, Pro-

fessor of Mineralogy and Geology in Queen’s College, Galway ; Corre-

sponding Member of the Natural History and Medical Society of

Dresden, &c...\.( With.:a. Plates) o jsaeda sabi di. ta cnaaubin si bia shaphalonlias

XIII. On the Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration and on the Struc-

ture of the Organs of Breathing in Invertebrate Animals. By THomAs

Wiu.iams, M.D..Lond,; (CWith a-Plates) 57. dics hii swdeascedoiceiectas

XIV. On the Marine Testacea of the Piedmontese Coast. By

J. Gwyn JErFrreys, Esq., F.R.S. (With a Plate.) ..........seeseesseee

XV. Notes on the Review of G. R. Gray’s “‘ Catalogue of the Genera

and Subgenera of Birds” in the December Number of the ‘ Annals.’

By: G. R. Gray, PLS, Se, cc usaniecnnasConeganiespnaiies ntagne es suatics sere

New Books :—A Popular History of Palms and their Allies, by Berthold

Seemann, Ph.D. &c.— Museum of Economie Botany, or a Popular

Guide to the Museum of the Royal Gardens of Kew, by Sir W.

J. Hooker, Director.—A Handbook to the Marine Aquarium, by

P. H. Gosse.—Popular Geography of Plants, or a Botanical

Excursion round the World, by E. M. C. Edited by C. Daubeny,

M.D. &c.—The Flowering Plants and Ferns of Great Britain: an

attempt to classify them according to their Geognostic relations,

81.

10]

127

. 229

131

142

155

189

by. J. G. Baker sissigscessenyonvcres svt niesbabhstbwcraadls seeeee 194199

Proceedings of the Zoological Society ; Botanical Society of Edin-

ily. Seer Tee Pee porterty presale ey aires rch fire yt a 200—206

CONTENTS. v

Page

Memorandum on the Animal of Seissurella crispata, by Lucas Barrett,

F.G.S.; Notes on the Marine Fauna of Weymouth, by William

Thompson ; Meteorological Observations and Table ...... 206—208

NUMBER XCIX.

XVI. On the House Ant of Madeira. By Professor O. Hrrr, of

Zurich. Translated from the original by R. T. Lowe, M.A. (With

RMN): cu vpdn tin OU) dapepp ea laripWekdsed dadeindd onennodedses onviensasnartategacsyss'nas 209

XVII. Characters of seventeen new forms of the Cyclostomacea

from the British Provinces of Burmah, collected by W. Theobald, jun.,

BGs By W «3A. BRAngon, Mats: siren cess civics jis covpvegeecerecsesovecece ves 225

XVIII. Descriptions of three newly discovered species of Araneidea.

By JOMM BEACH WAL, FTL. S esse cissiavicarcbinsssssvanqhs cso sccndsrccersesopes 233

XIX. On some species of Epilobium. By CHARLES C. BABINGTON,

MA, BRS. Shes. ines nssaei sca veseevs Lede Maa RdsiRwrn nondendinr anid uetenee ce 236

XX. On the Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration and on the Struc-

ture of the Organs of Breathing in Invertebrate Animals. By THomas

Wixuiams, M.D. Lond. ....... Medes GDd sud wipanade pavebabtan eiSETR REEL ov 247

XXI. Notes on Permian Fossils :—Palliobranchiata. By WILLIAM

Kine, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in Queen’s University,

Ireland (Q. C. Galway); Corresponding Member of the Natural History

and Medical Society of Dresden, &c. (With a Plate.) ......sceseseeeeee 258

XXII. On Scissurella crispata. By Wiuutiam CuaRrK, Esq. ... 269

XXIII. Further Notices of Piedmontese Mollusca. By J. Gwyn

PUT Gy FN, Ci abckds. scsi Mivocnsousiisesadcecveredslvedaccsnssbabesscossses 271

New Books :—The Natural History of the Tineina, by H. T. Stainton,

assisted by Prof. Zeller and J. W. Douglas.—Sylloge Generum

Specierumque Cryptogamicarum quas in variis operibus descriptas

iconibusque illustratas, nunc ad diagnosim redactas, nonnullasque

novas interjectas ordine systematico disposuit C. Montagne,

BOIRy MDs. inc dunia vdaberdzes oosdes vides Ra rubida inks cide anetcannenbes 272—279

Proceedings of the Zoological Society ; Botanical Society of Edin-

DOPED cies see cces cance deepesssvandevcncccavvesesedeaeneves sone 279—285

On the Earliest Stages in the Development of Pelagia noctiluca, by

Dr. A. Krohn; Description of a new species of Swift ; Meteoro-

logical Observations and Table ......sssssecssseseesseeeseternes 285—288

vi CONTENTS.

Page

NUMBER C.

XXIV. On the Theory of the Fecundation of the Ovum. By

E,, CEAPAREDE 1.05.0... sastecccoorscsoneaergivedeveadsahoscanpee ns Pictesteens3s 289

XXV. On some species of Epilobium. By Cuaruss C. BABINGTON,

1 Ply 8 4 Says ieee yee Pete ee usa ebay Ary sy | RAO 311

XXVI. Note on the Genus Scissurella. By J. Gwyn JErrreys,

Fong... Fe. tr isp ecancesheaedes soabereis A oyay Vint tte ee AEN Merete Sr EY

XXVII. On the House Ant of Madeira. By Prof. O. Heer, of

Zurich. Translated from the original by R. T. Lown, M.A. ......... 322

XXVIII. Notes on Permian Fossils : — Palliobranchiata. By

Wixu1aM Kina, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in- Queen’s

University, Ireland (Q. C. Galway); Corresponding Member of the

Natural History and Medical Society of Dresden, &c. .........000eeee0 333

XXIX. Remarks on the Genera Tanystoma, Nematura, and Anaulus.

By "W.-H. BEnson; Hag. scenes uth. cavespaecacseweesetee vases aeaereuetieoe) 342

XXX. New Researches in Vegetable iinkryoseky: By M. Tuuasne. 343

XXXI. On the Tracheal System of Insects. By Tomas WILLIAMS,

jE UDR Bs Aaa acy Pubisppesed eglarscunos Disagune setaareanccag vLl beaseren 347

New Books :—Insecta Maderensia; being an Account of the Insects

of the Islands of the Madeiran Group, by T. Vernon Nfs corhie

Mi Boos Wp ldstls > sec cemssnckes bnee ges evens cal hdo\nnevasteoahryseeralscpesaceeh 348

Proceedings of the Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Society ; Zoological

Society eeeeeeeeteee SOS eee EEO eee EEE HEHEHE H EEE HED eee HEE EEE eeD 356—365

On the Mode in which the Tachine escape from their Pupa-cases, by

Dr. Reissig ; On the apparent Absence of a Nervous System in

Nemoptera lusitanica, by M. Léon Dufour; Meteorological Ob-

servations and ‘Table.s-waisui- cesiwectaiiecs cm coneap sabi taiceee 365—368

NUMBER CI.

XXXII. On the British species of Arctium. By Cuaruzs C. _

BaBINGTON, M.A., F.R.S, 8&. ...eecccoeee cok stwaned saath s iiiie ceucta Bk AX. 369

XXXIII. List of the Mollusea observed between Drontheim and

the North Cape. By R. M‘AnpReEw, Esgq., F.L.S., and L. Barrer,

*Kaq., LGB irnccaalstepaigtueciadh ieee tans i Be eh « Cae 378

XXXIV. Some Account of an Infant “ a ite ae ” By ALFRED .

R. "WALLACE; Bsqe iii ecisiiesariviss eee evetdetvee tena teeieay stes 6 B86

CONTENTS. vil

Page

XXXV. On the Theory of the Feeundation of the Ovum. By

E. CLAPAREDE ...... Cysuyevtd MERE ey peep erae Otte OP ORT ty Perey EL PePy LT! 390

XXXVI. Another Note on Scissurella. By S. P. Woopwarp,

MRR ie dete neter eas dedess davea dacs t tadageckesenetesens Machen eeaeniserig iis tes en's 401

XXXVII. On the Occurrence of the Fossil Genus Conoteuthis,

D’Orb., in England. By 8. P. Woopwarp, F.G.S. ...... Sesdi esse das 402

XXXVIII. On the Development of the Freshwater Sponges. By

N. LABBBRKUBN, siiiiaside.acicdsansee doth odibe ddiudsilghde osanwisadtussvuabidl 403

XXXIX. On the Development of the Chitons. By Prof. S. Lovin. 413

XL. On Cell-development in Plants. By Prof. ARTHUR HENFREY,

et aac vihd bes AWEY sata spearinaranttle son agncnara saddes das «op slggiend 417

New Books jini Monograph of the British Hieracia, by James Back-

house, Jun.—List of British Coleoptera, by J. F. Dawson, LL.B.,

and Hamlet Clark, 'M. As eivciivscveiis i teas iedgaveunes beds tai 418, 419

Proceedings of the Royal Society; Zoological Society; Linnzan

MOCIOLY 3 CHOOMIRICAE OCICLY © ce cccc ca. .eeseccsccccvecacsevstesces 420—441

The British Museum—its Catalogues and accessions in Zoology; On

the Development of the Lampreys, by M. Schultze; Note on

- Clausilia Mortilleti, by Charles Prentice; On a supposed new

species of the genus Equus, by M. I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire ;

Meteorological Observations and Table ........sesessseseeseees 441—448

NUMBER CII.

XLI. On the British Diastylide. By C. Spence Bats, F.L.S.

CWith: Shiee Fisteis bk. s exdccisl i. ceed. ieadss wan Paap abbey oncetisbagess 449

XLII. Description of a new species of Spherium found near Lon-

Oe. ey De a, eee GRAY, PICS. PTR. Ac0. os eiessossessscevecceses. 465

XLII. Descriptions of eight new species of Birds from South

America. By Puitie Lututey Scuater, M.A., F.Z.8. &e. ......... 466

XLIV. On Scissurella and Schismope. By J. Gwyn Jurrreys,

FAG:, PiBcBe vases BSCAcCLMARUDBANSONIE0i «0 50006 1G aWUs Ls codenbenceabiacues 470

XLV. On the Orang-Utan or Mias of Borneo. By ALFRED

R. WALLACE ......... 0.000 debecs owddieas ede’ MMI, iad heen 471

“XLVI. On Prof. Huxley’s attempted Refutation of Cuvier’s Laws

of Correlation, in the Reconstruction of extinct Vertebrate Forms.

By. H. Fatconer, M.D., F.R.S. &. ...ccccccceececcecveecnnes Sait swith acu 476

vill CONTENTS.

Page

XLVII. Descriptions of three new species of Paludomus from —

Burmah, and of some forms of Stenothyra (Nematura) from Penang,

Mergui, &c. By W. H. BENSON, Esq. ....ccccceseccseesnsenseeresseeecees 494

XLVIII. On the Minute Structure of certain Brachiopod Shells ;

and on Vegetable Cell-Formation. By Winui1am B. CARPENTER,

DED: BICS., F.GiS. oo .ocveosdeesanseansaweckaperanecale eananiines dns bennsine 502

New Books :—General Outline of the Organization of the Animal

Kingdom, and Manual of Comparative Anatomy, by Thomas

Rymer Jones, F.R.S. 2nd edition «..........+++ at. ak aed 507

Proceedings of the Zoological Society ; Botanical Society of Edin-

barge hi eesss hie iaioe souks is bo Vas beeanededesvebabnolee gebbebes#tasiray 510—520

On the Influence of the Soil on the Distribution of Plants, by M. Stur ;

Note on the Freshwater Dolphins of South America, by M. Paul

Gervais ; Meteorological Observations and Table ............ 520—523

PLATES IN VOL. XVII.

Pate I. Conjugation of the Diatomacez.

II. Marine Testacea of the Piedmontese Coast.

III. House Ant of Madeira.

TV. Species of Anthracosia.

V. Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration in Invertebrate Animals.

a } Paleozoic Bivalved Entomostraca.

IX. Characeze.

X. Pleurodictyum problematicum.

XI. Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration in Invertebrate Animals.

XII. New Permian Fossils.

XIII.

XIV. } New British species of Diastylide.

mV 3

VIII. te Ona of Gonidia from the Cell-contents of the

THE ANNALS

MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY.

[SECOND SERIES.]

WT ceaopens tabaseiane per litora spargite muscum,

Naiades, et circm vitreos considite fontes :

Pollice virgineo teneros hic carpite flores :

Floribus et pictum, dive, replete canistrum.

At vos, o Nymphz Craterides, ite sub undas ;

Ite, recurvato variata corallia trunco

Vellite muscosis e rupibus, et mihi conchas

Ferte, Dez pelagi, et pingui conchylia succo.”

N. Parthenii Giannettasii FEc\.1.

No. 97. JANUARY 1856.

I.—On the Conjugation of Cocconeis, Cymbella and Amphora ;

together with some Remarks on Amphiphora alata (?), Kg. By

H. J. Carrer, Esq., Assistant Surgeon H.C.S., Bombay.

[With a Plate. |

THE discovery of the mode of reproduction in the Diatomex

through spores, though inferred by Kiitzing, is really due to |

‘Mr. Thwaites. The former, seeing some of the cells in Meloseira

dilated like those of Gidogonium, considered it sufficient to declare

that this was one way in which the Diatomez were propagated * ;

but Mr. Thwaites recognized the process fully in Hunotia turgida

in May 1847+, and then first described and figured it most

satisfactorily. He afterwards detected it in Fragilaria pectinalis,

Gomphonema minutissimum, G.n.s.?, Cocconema lanceolatum and

Cistula, and in Epithemia gibbat; and subsequently in Melo-

seira varians and Borreri, Aulacoseira crenulata, Cyclotella?

Kiitzingiana, Orthoseira Dickie, Schizonema eximium, subco-

* Ap. Meneghini ‘‘On the Animal Nature of Diatomee,” &c., 1845.

Eng. Trans. by C. Johnson, p. 369. Ray Society’s Publications, 1853.

+ Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. p. 9. pl. 4.

{ Idem, p. 343. pl. 22.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvi. ]

2 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Conjugation of

herens, vulgare and neglectum ; and lastly in Dickieia Danseii *.

Since that, no one seems to have added any more instances of

this process of reproduction in the Diatomez, until Dr. J. W.

Griffith noticed it in a species of “ Naviculat ;’ and lately I

have seen it in Cocconeis Pediculus (Kg.), Cymbella Pediculus

(Kg.), and Amphora ovalis (Kg.), mihi, under such circumstances

as to enable me to offer the following descriptions and figures

of it respectively, in each of these genera.

Cocconeis Pediculus (Kg.). On the 4th of September, I per-

ceived a brown incrustation extending over the sides of a basin

in which Nitella, infested with Fragilaria and Cocconeis, had

been kept for upwards of three months; and on examination

with the microscope, it proved to be the latter, of different sizes,

undergoing conjugation and deduplication.

The spore is formed by two of the smaller frustules, one of

which is less in size than the other (PI. I. fig. 1). These, after

having become approximated, secrete a mucus which holds

them together, while the liming mucus-membranes or primordial

utricles respectively burst open the valves of their frustules

(fig. 2), and approaching each other unite to form the spore

(fig. 3); the latter then assumes a spherical form and the endo-

chromes become mixed (fig. 4), after which the spherical form

becomes elongated and finally elliptical (fig. 6) ; when, the endo-

chrome also becoming scattered im more or less detached por-

tions over the circumference, a single line appears, dividing the

spore longitudinally into two somewhat unequal parts (fig. 7) ;

two other lines then present themselves, one on each side the

first (fig. 8) ; and the latter, passing into a groove, soon effects

a deduplication of the spore, which then becomes divided into

two sporangial frustules and thus the process is completed

(fig. 9). Very soon after the spore has become spherical, the

valves of the small conjugating frustule are thrown off, so that

it is only now and then that they are seen; while the valves of

the large one remain attached to it until deduplication com-

mences. The large conjugating frustule bears to the sporangial

frustule (fig. 11) the proportion of >,, to s+5 of an inch; at

least these are their respective measurements.

Cymbella Pediculus (Kg.).. On the 17th of August, after

having had a matted portion of Cladophora, Spirogyra and Oscil-

latoria together in a basin fora few days, a number of Cymbelle

of different sizes left the filaments and came to the sides of the

vessel, where they conjugated.

* Ann. and Mag, Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 161. pls. 11 & 12, 1848.

+ Idem, vol. xvi. p. 92. August 1856.

Cocconeis, Cymbella, Amphora and Amphiphora. 3

The spore is formed by two of the smaller frustules, one of

which is less in size than the other (fig. 13). These, after having

become approximated, first secrete around themselves a mucus

in which they are thus imbedded. The commencement of the

sporangial frustules is then indicated by two elliptical masses of

endochrome appearing in the midst of this, parallel to and be-

tween the conjugating frustules (fig. 14); at least this is the

earliest part of the process which I have observed. The spo-

rangial frustules in which the endochromes are enclosed re-

spectively, then become elongated (fig. 15) ; the transverse lines

appear, the endochromes become scattered over their new habi-

tations (fig. 17), and at length the frustules are formed (figs. 18,

19). By this time the mucus-investment and the valves of the

conjugating frustules, which separate during the process, are

thrown off, and the new frustules are thus liberated. The large

conjugating frustule bears to the sporangial frustule (fig. 20) the

proportion of ~4, to 4, of an inch; at least, these are their re-

spective measurements.

Amphora ovalis (Kg.), mihi. On the 31st of July, after a mass

of that interesting form of Spirogyra, whose cells after division

conjugate with each other, had spored and sunk to the bottom

of the basin, with an Oscillatoria which was also present, several

species of Diatomeze multiplied upon the sides of the basin,

among which were many frustules of Amphora of different sizes

undergoing deduplication and conjugation.

The spore is formed by two of the smaller frustules, one of

which is less in size than the other (fig. 21). These, after ap-

proximation (fig. 22), become invested in mucus, and, presently,

exhibit their endochromes in two globular masses between them

(fig. 23) ; elongation of the sporangial frustules which enclose

these respectively takes place, transversely to the long diameter

of the conjugating frustules (fig. 24) ; the former then assume a

bent form towards each other, and the endochromes becoming

irregularly scattered through them, they attain their utmost de-

velopment (figs. 24-27). Meanwhile the valves of the conju-

gating frustules become separated, and two remain at the ends

of the sporangial frustules, while the other two appear about their

middle, one on each side (fig. 27). The mucus then becoming

dissolved, the valves of the conjugating frustules are thrown off,

and the sporangial frustules are thus set free. The large con-

jugating frustule bears to the sporangial frustule (fig. 28) the

proportion of +71,5 to 4, of an inch; at least, these are their

respective measurements.

Observations.—Nothing can be more obvious in these pro-

cesses,*than that one point gained by the conjugating of the

4 Mr. H.J. Carter on the Conjugation of

small frustules is the restoration of the largest size of the spe-

cies ; but perhaps not the most important point. In what way

the small frustules are produced I am ignorant. Braun states

that the effect of cell-division in the Diatomez is to reduce the

size of the frustules*. This is evident enough in the cells of

the Spirogyre; and Meneghini has pointed out how it must be

the case from the conico-truncate form of Cocconeis, where the

plane of division is parallel to the base of the frustule +. But

Braun deduces his opinion from what occurs in Glwocapsa, where

“the size of the cells diminishes with the increasing magnitude

of the family stock ( phytodont),” that is to say, that the last ge-

nerations of cells are smallest.

That quantity should be required for restoring the size of the

species, would appear from what takes place in the form of Spr-

rogyra already noticed, where the original cell, after having

been divided into four equal parts, ends in reuniting the con-

tents of each contiguous two of these to form two new spores.

Still more striking is the conjugation of two filaments of another

species, where the cells of one happen to be divided into only

two, and those of the other into four parts each. Here, although

the conjugation is commenced as usual by active tubulation, the

latter proves abortive; for the protoplasm of the large cells

soon withdraws itself from the tube, and wraps its contents up

into an elliptical spore of the normal size of the species ; while

the contents of every other small cell in the opposite filament

(the intervening ones not sporing at all) also wrap themselves

up into small globular spores respectively, but not without a

strong attempt at first to mix with those of their opposite neigh-

bour ;—inasmuch as, in one instance, the tubulation of the

small cell with the large one appeared to have been entirely

formed by the former, whose contents had even passed a little

way into the latter, but finding the spore formed in the large

cell, were about to return to their own, or to remain where they

were when I saw them in this position.

The rationale of this would at first appear to be, that the con-

tents of the large cell found themselves sufficient in quantity to

form the proper-sized spore,—which is the normal process in

Zygnema mirabile (Hass.) §, while those of the small cell in the

other filament found themselves in the opposite condition, and

after making an attempt to mix with their opposite neighbour

withdrew themselves, from finding no response, into their own

* “ Rejuvenescence in Nature.” Eng. Trans., by A. Henfrey : Botan. and

Phys. Memoirs, published by the Ray Society, 1853. Foot-note, p. 132.

Loc. cit. p. 406. { Loc. cit. Foot-note, p. 131.

§ Hassall’s British Freshwater Alge, p. 156. pl. 25.

Coeconeis, Cymbella, Amphora and Amphiphora. 5

cell, and there wrapped themselves up into a small globular

form*,

Again, in the conjugations above described, one frustule is

always smaller than the other, as if only a certain quantity of

cell-contents were required to make up the portion necessary for

the reproduction of the new sporangia; and this is commonly

the case also in the conjugation of Spirogyra, viz. that one cell

is smaller than the other; while in Cladophora, the whole of the

contents of a cell move towards one end of it, where they are

condensed into the elliptical form of spore proper to this genus,

without any cell-division or conjugation of separate compart-

ments. .

Hence it becomes questionable, whether the division of the

cell has anything to do with the formation of the spore ; while

again it cannot be determined that the formation of the spore is

the process ordained for the perpetuation of the species, until it

be known in what this process essentially consists, or whether

sporing is the only means of reproduction.

On comparing the spore- formations above mentioned with those

described by Mr. Thwaites in the Diatomez, it will be observed,

that Cocconeis agrees chiefly with Fragilaria pectinalis, whose

single sporangium, developed from two small frustules, “is at

first cylindrical, soon assumes a flattened, somewhat quadran-

gular form, and in many, but not in all cases, undergoes fissi-

parous division before it has put on the exact appearance of a

frustule of the Fragilaria +.”

The processes again in Cymbella Pediculus and Amphora ovalis

respectively, agree with those of Cocconema lanceolatum { and

Eunotia turgida§. In the latter, the way in which the process

commences is detailed by Mr. Thwaites, but nothing is said

about it in the former ; and although it is easy to conceive how

the sporangial frustules in Amphora ovalis should be formed like

those of Hunotia turgida, yet it is not so easy to conceive how

the processes commence in Cocconema and Cymbella, where the

sporangial frustules lie parallel with instead of across the con-

jugating ones ; unless we assume that another act takes place,

in which either the conjugating or the sporangial frustules turn

round to obtain this position.

* Should these small spores develope a filament, the latter would pro-

bably be below the normal size of the species; though the original size

might be gained by the whole of the contents of a single cell of this deve-

lopment, with or without those of the cell of another filament, passing into

one new spore. In this way among the Zygnemacex, as well as among the

Diatomez, species may be added to this family and subclass respectively

which after all are mere varieties.

+ Loe. cit. vol. xx. p. 334.

{ Loe. cit. vol. xx. pl. 22 C. fig. 3, &e. § Idem, pl. 4. {

6 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Conjugation of

Now it so happens that in one of the earliest states that was

presented to me of the conjugation of Amphora, the endochromes

were joined together in the form of the figure 8 (fig. 32), and I

could not help coming to the conclusion that the endochromes

of both frustules passed into one sporangium at first, stead

of directly into two, as in Eunotia, and then became divided

afterwards ; or, that this was an accidental occurrence. If this

is the normal process in both Cocconema and Amphora, then it 1s

easy to conceive how the sporangial frustules become opposite

each other in both instances, viz. by the division of the united

endochromes taking place either parallel or transversely to the

longitudinal axes of the conjugating frustules. We have some-

thing analogous to this in Meloseira and Aulacoseira, where the

axis of elongation of the sporangium is parallel with the filament

in the former, and at right angles-to it in the latter ; with the

line of division of course the reverse in each *, that is, with the

filament in Aulacoseira, and across it in Meloseira ; correspond-

ing in the former to Amphora and in the latter to Cymbella.

Facts however are wanting to prove this conjecture.

I need hardly call attention to the difference in the size and

forms of the conjugating and sporangial frustules which are

represented in the Plate, or again remind the reader of what

Mr. Thwaites has stated, viz. that the sporangial frustules, though

very different from the conjugating ones at first, eventually assume

a form very similar to them ; this is effected by fissiparation, and

equally applies to the endochrome as to the frustule. It is well

seen in figs. 23-31. The relative size of the forms represented

in the Plate has been preserved as much as possible, and each

figure is taken from nature, with the exception of No. 2, which

to supply a deficient link has been constructed upon No. 3 and

other observations. %

Amphiphora alata (?), Kg. Pl. I. fig. 33.

There are at least two species of this genus abounding in the

back-waters of the island of Bombay, and as they do not appear

to have been studied much in their living state, and have-con-

stantly come under my observation, I propose offering the fol-

lowing remarks on that one, which, if not identical with, is very

nearly allied to the A. alata of Kiitzing ft.

Frustule.-—Oblong, truncate ; primary surfaces closely approx-

imated, lateral surfaces produced laterally and so compressed as

to form a thin edge, which, being constricted in the centre,

* Thwaites, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 161. pl. 11. A 2, B 2.

+ A ai Algarum, p. 93. I regret that I have not his figures to deter-

mine this satisfactorily.

Cocconeis, Cymbella, Amphora and Amphiphora. 7

represents two alate, hyaline appendages on each side, thus

giving the frustule the form of an hour-glass flattened. Valves

forming the primary surfaces thick, oblong, truncate, sometimes

striated (plicated?) longitudinally, closely approximated through-

out, suddenly compressed and narrowed at each end, supporting

on their sides the alate appendages mentioned. Endochrome :

flat, double lozenge-shaped, connected ; consisting of a single (?)

layer, continuous, presenting a transparent area in the centre in

which is the nucleus, and from which a few delicate branched

threads radiate towards the sides of the frustule ; chiefly confined

to the central valves, but occasionally extending for a short

distance into the hyaline appendages.

Movements.—Like those of Diatomez in general, but with a

peculiar contortion, which brings one half of the frustule into

right angles with the other.. Deduplication, through the broad

or primary surfaces. Size +55 to z+, of an inch long.

Hab. The brackish water in that part of the main drain of

Bombay which.mixes with the sea at every tide; abounding in

silty clots of Oscillatoria which float on the surface.

Observations.—A. clot containing several hundred specimens

of this species was placed in a small wide-mouthed bottle in the

middle of December, where they continued to deduplicate up to

the middle of the following June, by the vessel having been re-

plenished from time to time with fresh water. Long before the

last of these frustules were seen the whole of the other organisms

had perished, and the remaining contents of the bottle, which

might have been supposed to contain a number of them empty,

on being examined, were found to contain none; hence it may

be inferred that the frustules are not siliceous or coherent. The

most striking feature about this species is its contortion (fig. 34),

which from the thinness and flexibility of the alate expansions

is effected to such a degree, that the narrow lateral edges, re-

spectively, in one half, are bronght almost into right angles with

the primary or broad surface of the other; a phase which this

Diatomean is continually assuming, and which, at first, is very

difficult to understand. For some time I mistook it for an Am-

phora with one half of the frustule split open, and the edges

turned back. The central valves are frequently marked with

longitudinal lines (folds?), and fine lines may occasionally be

seen cutting each other at acute angles across them; while a

linear appearance also presents itself sometimes im the alate

appendages parallel to their borders Fig. 37 shows all this;

and sometimes their hyaline transparency is interrupted by

white specks,

This species differs from the navicular forms in the general

and greater flatness of its frustule, in the greater expansion of

8 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Conjugation of

its alate appendages, and in the form of the endochrome, which,

instead of being separated into two portions united through the

intervention of the nucleus and its capsule, as in the navicular

forms, and in Navicule generally, appears to consist of a single,

continuous, thin layer like that of Cocconeis Pediculus. The

lateral surfaces are not lanceolate (‘ anguste lanceolata’’), as

Kiitzing’s description would seem to imply, and as they appear

to be; for when it is remembered that they are mere margins

formed in the way mentioned, it is evident that this cannot be

the case ; but that it is the margins of the central valves which

present the lanceolate figure (fig. 85), more particularly in the

navicular forms ; while in the species under description they are

suddenly compressed at the extremities, and laterally present the

form of a bottle at each end (fig. 36). Hence I am inclined to

doubt the identity of this with Kiitzing’s Amphiphora alata.

Besides the two bright-looking tubercles (holes *) at each ex-

tremity of the frustule which mark the union of the lateral

edges with the corners of the central valves, there are two other

tubercles or holes, one on each side in the angle of constriction

(fig. 86), and therefore corresponding in position to the hole or

mark in the centre of the lateral surfaces of the Naviculet.

Deduplication takes place through the centre of the flat

surfaces, and the new individuals, besides remaining together

until they are fully formed, sometimes separate before this takes

place, and then present the wing-like appendages on one side

only. In fig. 88, where deduplication is nearly completed, the

central valves respectively will as a matter of course be found to

be much narrower than the one represented in fig. 82, where

deduplication has not yet commenced.

EXPLANATION OF PLATET. —

N.B. The black shade in all the figures is intended to represent the

endochrome.

Fig. 1. Cocconeis Pediculus (Kg.). The two conjugating frustules rela-

tively magnified. The largest ;755 of an inch long.

Fig. 2. Opening of the frustules and approximation of the primordial

utricles with their contained endochromes. (Conjectural figure.)

Fig. 3. Union of the two utricles to form the sporangium.

Fig. 4. Spherical form of the sporangium.

Fig. 5. Elongation of ditto, and disappearance of the valves of the small

frustule.

Fig. 6. Elliptical form of ditto, with the thin valve of the large frustule in

front.

Fig. 7. Ditto, with the line of deduplication and the valves of both frus-

tules still adherent.

* Kiitzing and Meneghini. + Meneghini, /. c. p. 422.

Ann.& May Nat. Hist..S2.Vol.17. 20.1.

J. D.C. Sowerby se

Cocconeis, Cymbella, Amphora and Amphiphora. 9

Fig. 8. The line of deduplication becoming sulcated and two other lines

appearing one on each side.

Fig. 9. Deduplication effected.

Fig.

“Fig.

Fig.

. Lateral view of sporangial frustule.

11.

12.

Inferior view of sporangial frustule without endochrome, ;45 of

an inch long.

Oblique view of sporangial frustule after second or third dedupli-

cation. Lower individual.

. Cymbella Pediculus (Kg. ). _Conjugating frustules relatively mag-

nified. The largest > of an inch long.

. Union of ditto in secreted mucus ; endochromes elliptical, parallel

with frustules.

. First appearance of sporangial frustules.

. Transverse section showing the relative position of conjugating

and sporangial frustules at this period.

. More advanced stage.

. Ditto, where the valves of the conjugating frustules have become

divided. In this, as well as in figs. 15 & 17, one sporangial frus-

tule is hid behind the other, as explained by fig. 16.

. Fully-formed sporangial frustules.

; Sporangial frustule after liberation from the sporangial mucus, &c.,

sez of an inch long.

. Amphora ovalis (Kg.), mihi. Conjugating frustules relatively mag-

nified. The larger ;’;5 of an inch long.

. Conjugating frustules approximated.

. Ditto disunited, but held together by mucus, in which is seen

their endochrome divided into two spherical masses.

. Sporangial frustules appearing, and elongating transy ersely to

the conjugating frustules.

. Ditto im a more advanced state, valves of conjugating frustules

separating.

. Ditto with ditto, more separated.

. Sporangial frustules formed ; two valves of the conjugating frus-

tules remaining in the centre, and one at each end.

. Sporangial frustule liberated, 545 of an inch long.

. Ditto undergoing deduplication.

. Ditto after having undergone one or two deduplications, and again

about to deduplicate.

. Conjugating frustule about to deduplicate; here imserted for

comparison with fig. 30.

. Supposed preliminary state to fig. 28; endochrome fissiparating.

. Amphiphora alata (?) (Kg.): shows the broad side of the frustule,

the form of the central cavity, and the shape of the endochrome,

with terminal and lateral foramina.

. Ditto under contortion.

. Oblique view without the endochrome, showing the two compo-

nent parts of the frustule.

. Lateral view without endochrome, showing lateral aperture.

. Different forms of lineolation occasionally seen on the surface.

. Deduplication; complete separation of the individuals not

effected.

10 M. A. Schmidt on a new species of Clausilia.

II1.—Deseription of a new Species of Clausilia from the neigh-

bourhood of Cheltenham. By A. Scumipt.

To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History.

GENTLEMEN, 23 Chesham Place, Dec. 12, 1855.

Tue following translation of a notice which I have just received

in Latin from the well-known German malacologist, Dr. Schmidt

of Aschersleben, the collaborateur of Pfeiffer, Rossmiassler, and

Menke, will, I think, not be unacceptable to the readers of your

Journal. At all events, it may direct the attention of British

conchologists to an interesting subject of inquiry, and enable

us to decide whether the species in question is henceforth to be

considered as British or not.

I am, Gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

Wa. J. Hamiiton.

Amongst the shells which I have received from the neigh-

bourhood of the town of Cheltenham, I have found Clausilia

Mortilleti, Dumont. As this shell was published by the author

only about two years ago (Bulletin de la Société d’ Histoire

Naturelle de Savoie, 1853, p. 78, according to Charpentier), I

do not know whether it has yet been noticed by English mala-

cologists. The author’s specimens, found in the district of Valen-

ciennes (Quénoy near Valenciennes, Département du Nord), at

Lyons, at Lowenburg near Bonn, at Schieder near Pyrmont, and -

at Wolfelsfall in Silesia, have been forwarded to me, as well as

the unique specimen from Cheltenham. It is not therefore

probable that this species is on the whole confined to a narrow

district, or that it should live in the single locality alone which

we have mentioned in England. In order that we may as soon

as possible know more about its distribution, I offer the follow-

ing description of it to the notice of English naturalists.

Clausilia Mortilleti, Dumont.

T. subrimata, ventroso-fusiformis, confertim costulato-striata, corneo-

fusca, sericea; anfr. 10-11, convexiusculi, ultimus basi distincte

carinatus ; apertura rhomboideo-pyriformis ; lamella infera pro-

funda, seepe antice ramosa, supera producta cum spirali juncta ;

lunella arcuata ; plica palatalis 1 supera, subcolumellaris vix emersa ;

spatium interlamellare plerumque plicatulum ; peristoma conti-

nuum, breviter solutum.

Long. 14, diam. 4 millim. Apert. 34 long., 21 lata.

This species is easily distinguished from all those forms which

Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews. 1i

are so closely allied both to Cl. ventricosa, Drap., and Cl. lineo-

lata, Heldr., and Cl. plicatula, Drap., by the circumstance that

the striz at the back of the throat (cervix) are rather more

distant from each other than the striz of the penultimate whorl.

It is distinguished from Cl. ventricosa both by its smaller size

and the interlamellar plaits (for the true Cl. ventricosa never has

them) ; from C/. lineolata, Heldr. (basiliensis, Fitzinger), and the

other forms allied to Cl. plicatula, both by a distictly marked

keel bounded on each side by grooves, and by the absence of

the palatal callosity. Nor does it ever possess the rudiment of

a lower palatal fold so peculiar to Cl. lineolata. We shall enter

more fully into this subject in the iconographic monograph

which we have undertaken to write on the Clausilie allied to

ventricosa, plicatula, rugosa, and parvula.

Apvour Scumipt.

Aschersleben, Oct. 1855.

Il].—Memoir on the Indian species of Shrews. By Epwarp

Biytu, Esq.* With Notes by Rosert F. Tomas, Esq.

As an incentive to the investigation of some of the most imper-

fectly known of Indian Mammalia, and not the most inviting of

groups to amateur students, we shall here endeavour to bring

together, and to reduce or digest into intelligible form and

order, the scattered materials available for a monograph on the

Indian Shrews.

It may lead to the discovery of additional real species, and

probably to the diminution of the number of present supposed

species ; besides conducing to the further elucidation of those at

present known and recognized, and especially to a better know-

ledge of the extent of their geographical distribution.

In general the Shrews of tropical and subtropical countries are

distinguished by their comparatively large size, and slaty hue of

every shade from pale grey to black, with rufous tips to the fur

more or less developed, though in some scarcely noticeable + ;

the ear-conch is conspicuously visible above the fur; the tail

thick, tapering, and furnished with scattered long hairs, which

certain species also exhibit on the body; and the teeth are

wholly white {, and of the following type of structure.

The superior front teeth or quasi-incisors (vide J. A. S. xx. 164)

* From the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

+ In at least some species, the rufous tips appear to increase with age ;

and, to a considerable extent, the colour of these animals is darker accord-

ing to the increase of altitude inhabited by a species.

t While preparing this memoir, we discovered a remarkable exception in

the instance of Sorex melanodon, n. s.

12 Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews.

are large and strongly hooked, and much longer than their pos-

terior spur ; while the inferior have rarely so much as a trace of

a serrated upper edge: of four upper premolars anterior to the

carnassier, the first is large, the second and third are much

smaller, the fourth is diminutive, and the third exceeds the

second. This group of Shrews is familiarly exemplified by the

common large Musk Shrews of Asia and Africa, and constitutes

the restricted Sorex, L. (v. Pachyura, De Selys Longchamps*).

The Indian species are as follows :—

1. S. caruiescens, Shaw; S. pilorides, Shaw; S. giganteus,

Is. Geoffroy ; S. murinus, L., apud Gray : figured in Hardwicke’s

Ill. Ind. Zool. as S. myosurus, Pallas ; whence probably S. myo-

surus, apud Walker, in Cale. Journ. Nat. Hist. i. 255. The

common Musk Shrew, or (vulgo) ‘Musk Rat,’ of Bengal, &c.

(but different from the ‘Musk Rat’ or Muskquash—FipeEr z1-

BETuicus of North America, which is a rodent nearly affined to

the Voles—ARVICOLA). |

This animal is described by Mr. Hodgson in the Ann, & Mag.

Nat. Hist. xv. 269 (1845) ; but the length of the tail (as given),

33 in., is possibly a misprint for 33 or 37 in., or more than half

the length of the head and body, which is given as 6in. Num-

ber of caudal vertebree 24. Total length of skull of adult male,

with front teeth in situbus, somewhat exceeding 14 in. ; of female,

somewhat under greatest breadth of skull of former, 44 in. ; of

latter in. Colour uniform pale grey, slightly tinged with fer-

ruginous, and more conspicuously on the lower parts ; the naked

parts flesh-coloured. |

This is the common large Musk Shrew of Bengal, Nepal, and

we believe the valley of Asim; becoming rare in Sylhet, and

wholly disappearing in Arakan. In Nepal Mr. Hodgson styles

* Certain small species of temperate climates were detached by Wagler

from the ordinary Shrews of those climates (with piceous-tipped teeth, &c.)

by the name of Crocipura (v. Suncus, Ehrenberg, apud Gray), e. g.

S. ARANEUS, 8. LEUCODON, S. ETRUSCUS, &c.; but we are not aware that

these are separable from the above, and certainly the various Pigmy

Shrews of India are typical SoricEs, except that some only of them want

the odoriferous glands on the sides of the body.

N.B. Inthe ‘ Report on the Quadrupeds of Massachusetts,’ published by

the Government Commissioners of the Zoological and Botanical Survey of

the State (1840), the extraordinary statement is made by Mr. E. Emmons,

that “ In the specimens of Sorex which have fallen under my observation,

I have not been able to discover, even with the microscope, any nostrils,

the termination (or extremity) of the nose being apparently an imperforate

membrane.” Upon reading this we examined several species (large and

small) preserved in spirit, and easily detected a lateral valvular orifice,

which, on pressure of the snout above, was shown to be perforate, by the

fluid oozing through. Could Mr. Emmons have tried so simple an expe-

riment ?

Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews. 13

it ‘the common House Shrew of the plains, and also of the hills

up at least to 6000 feet.” We have seen specimens from the

neighbourhood of Agra; but whether it be the common Musk

Shrew of South India is doubtful on present evidence, though

Dr. Kelaart’s description of the Cingalese animal corresponds.

It certainly does not appear to inhabit the eastern coast of the

Bay of Bengal, from Arakan to the Straits of Malacca. Dr.

Horsfield gives as its habitat “ India generally, and the eastern

islands ;”’ and he notes a specimen from Butan presented to the

India-House collection by Major Pemberton. We suspect that

its reputed existence in the Malay countries needs confirma-

tion.

In addition to the names above cited, Dr. Gray in his Cata-

logue of the specimens of Mammalia in the British Museum

(1843) refers the following name and synonyms to this species :

S. murinus, L.; S. myosurus, Pallas; S. indicus et S. capensis,

Geoffroy; S. Sonnerati, Is. Geoffroy; S. crassicaudatus, Lich-

tenstein; S. nipalensis, Hodgson, and S. moschatus, Robinson.

The last two are merely MS. names ; and indeed the zoological

appellations in Mr. W. Robinson’s ‘ Descriptive Account of

Asam’ are given pretty much at random, and would establish a

most extraordinary community of species among the Mammalia

of that country and of Europe! He gives, “Genus Myeate.

Sorex moschatus, Cuvier. ‘The common Musk Rat.” Now Sorex

moschatus, Li. (nec Cuvier), is the type of the genus Myearz of

Cuvier ; altered to Myocarza, Fischer (Myogale apud Riippell),

because pre-occupied by Linneeus for a well-known genus of

spiders; and Myocaiea Moscuara is a Russian animal, gene-

rically differing from Mr. Robinson’s Musk Shrew. Nevertheless

his adoption of the term moschatus would seem to indicate the

rankly-smelling 8S. caruLescens rather than S. mMuRINUvs (v.

myosurus), which is the only Shrew mentioned in Prof. Walker’s

list of the Mammalia of the same province.

S. Inpicus, Geoffroy, v. S. Sonneratii, Is. Geoffroy, is accepted

as a distinct species from 8. caruLEescens in Dr. Horsfield’s

Catalogue of the specimens of Mammalia in the India-House

Museum (1851) ; and a specimen is noted from the Dukhun,

presented by Col. Sykes, and the following habitat given for the

species—“ Continent and islands of India.” Col. Sykes terms

it the Chuchouder of the Mahrattas ; being the same name which

is applied to S. caruLescens in Bengal, spelt Choochundr by

Dr. Cantor (J. A. S. xv. 191) ; and the latter author gives “ Chin-

chorot of the Malays of the Peninsula,” as the name of the very

distinct species referred by him and others to S. MuriNus, L. ;

which latter was originally described from Java. According

14 Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews.

to Col. Sykes these troublesome and disagreeable animals are

very numerous in Dukhun, but much more so in Bombay. The

sebaceous glands in an old male were observed to be very large,

and the odour of musk from them almost insupportable ; while

in an adult female the glands were scarcely discernible, and the

scent of musk very faint. [It is tolerably strong in the female

of S. carutescens ; though more or less so, perhaps, with re-

ference to sexual condition.| “The Sorex 1npicus and S. e1-

GANTEUS,” it is added, “are regarded by Col. Sykes as speci-

fically identical, he having killed them in the same room, and

seen them frequently together.” (P. Z. 8. 1831, p. 99.) Prof.

Schinz accordingly assigns S. cieantEvs, Geoff., Ann. du Mus.

xv. pl. 4. f. 3, as a synonym of S. 1npicus; but the reference is

erroneous, the ‘ Mémoires du Muséum,’ tom. xv. (to which we

have not access) being probably intended. S. e1eanrtevs, Is.

Geoff., Voy. de Bélanger, refers to S. cerulescens of Bengal.

According to M. Isidore Geoffroy, the S. rnptcus (his S. Sonne-

ratit) is a smaller animal than 8S. caruLescens (his S. giganteus),

with tail forming always a quarter of the entire length. Length

of head and body of adult a little under 4 m. (Fr.). Fur ashy,

washed with russet-brown, and pale ashy below. Inhabits the

Coromandel coast and also the Mauritius. If truly a distinct

species from S. CH#RULESCENS, its natural habitat is probably

W. India; but we have vainly sought for information of such an

animal.

In Dr. Riippell’s printed Catalogue of the specimens of Mam-

malia in the Frankfort Museum (1842), examples referred to

S. rvpicus, L. (Fr. Cuv. Mamm. u. t. 28), are noted from Java,

and also from Massoua and from Suez; and a supposed variety,

termed by him 8. rnpicvs, var. cinereo-enea, from Schoa; and

he elsewhere suggests that these animals have probably been

introduced by the shipping from S8.H. Asia and its islands, and

so found their way even to Schoa, where a different climate had

effected the colouring of the fur. On ship-board they could of

course subsist on Blatte; but their presence (certainly that

of the foetid S. caerulescens of Bengal) would scarcely escape

remark, the more especially as that of a single individual might

seriously damage a whole cargo ; besides the obvious necessity of

both sexes bemg required to continue the race, a condition most

likely to be fulfilled by the conveyal of a pregnant female with

her future litter of some five or six. §S. CRASsICAUDUS (nec

crassicaudatus), Lichtenstein, refers to a Musk Shrew inhabiting

Egypt, and stated to be common about Suez, which may there-

fore be presumed identical with Dr. Ruppell’s 8. 1npicus from

Suez; and the description certainly seems to approximate that

Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews. 15

of S. caru.escens (length 54 in. ; tail 23 in.) : and S. Capensts,

Geoffroy, is termed 8. rrancinus by Prof. Schinz, who gives

Mauritius as its habitat (length 3” 8; tail 1” 9"). The most

notable identification is that of Dr. Riippell’s specimens from

EK. Africa and from Java, presuming the latter to be really from

that island.

2. S. murinus, L.; S. myosurus, Pallas ; S. caerulescens, var.,

Raffles; S. Griffithii (?), Horsfield ; the common Malayan spe-

cies originally described from Java, and by Dr. Cantor in J. A.

S. xv. 191, and thus denominated by him after Prof. Schinz

(Synopsis Mammalium)}, who states it to inhabit Java, Sumatra,

Borneo, Celebes, Amboyna, Japan, Bengal, Abyssinia, and the

Cape of Good Hope.

We have italicized the habitats which probably need veri-

fication: and the Society possesses specimens from the Arakan

and Khasya Hills, which accord with Dr. Cantor’s description,

l.c.; but less so with M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire’s figure in the

Annales du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, tom. xvi. pl. 3. f. 2,

which may nevertheless be intended to represent the same spe-

cies. As compared with a mature female from Arakan, taken

out of spirit, the ears in M. Geoffroy’s figure are represented

too small, and neither the snout nor tail is sufficiently elon-

gated. Length of this Arakan female—head and. body 5 in.,

and tail 3 in. ; hind-foot (with claws) 4 in. Unfortunately we

have no Malayan specimen for actual comparison ; but there is

every reason to suspect that this species replaces 8S. caRv-

LESCENS along the whole eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal,

and thence through the hilly country northward to that skirting

the valley of Asam. Dr. Horsfield mentions a Nepalese speci-

men presented to the India House by Mr. Hodgson; but this

‘species is unnoticed in the latter gentleman’s Catalogue of

Nepalese animals, and especially in his descriptive notices of the

Nepalese Shrews, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xv. 269.

With the exception of the small 8. tenuis, 8. Miller, from

Timor, it appears to be the only well-established species of

Shrew throughout the great Oriental archipelago. In the Tenas-

serim provinces, the Rev. J. Mason states—“ We have at least

two species of Musk Shrew, both of which emit an offensive

odour.” (Qu. S. murinus and S. serpenTaRIus?) In §. mv-

RINUS, according to Dr. Cantor, “the smell of musk emitted by

the adult animal, and which in the young is barely perceptible,

is much less intense than in the Bengal Musk Shrew.” S. szr-

PENTARIUS, according to Dr. Kelaart, has a powerfully offensive

musky odour. S. murinus has longer ears than S. c#RULEs-

16 Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews.

cens; and Dr. Cantor describes it as—-“ Dark brownish-grey

above, beneath light brownish-grey. Feet and tail flesh-coloured

in the living animal, changing to cinereous after death. In the

young the colour is more of a bluish-grey, slightly mixed with

brown on the back.” A stuffed specimen from the Khasya Hills

has the fur longer and less dense than in 8. caruLEscENs, the

piles somewhat curly, and colour dark ashy at base, with rifous-

brown tips, which give the prevailing hue. A most obviously

distinct species from 8. CHRULESCENS. ~

We suspect that S. Griffith, Horsfield, of that naturalist’s

Catalogue of the specimens of Mammalia in the Honourable Com-

pany’s Museum, is no other than our presumed muRiNus from

the Arakan and Khasya Hills, although described from Afghan-

istan, because we saw a fine skin from Cherra Punji in the

possession of the late Mr. Griffith, which was forwarded to the

India House by Mr. M‘Clelland; and we have previously had

occasion to remark, that specimens of reptiles procured by Mr.

Griffith in Afghanistan and in the Khasya Hills, had manifestly

become mixed and confounded ; whence certain important mis-

takes concerning habitats*. 8. Griffithit is described to be

affined to S. murinus ; “ but differing essentially by the uniform

deep blackish-brown tint, and the shortness, delicacy and soft-

ness of the fur. Colour deep blackish-brown throughout, with

a slight rufous reflection in a certain light. Length of head and

body, 5% ; tail, 23 in.”—Horsfield’s Catalogue.

[From a careful examination of the specimens of S. caru-

LESCENS and S. indicus mentioned by Dr. Horsfield in his

Catalogue of the Mammalia in the Museum of the East India

Company, I am quite persuaded that they are identical, the

latter differing from the former in having the fur of the back

somewhat more tinged with rufous, and the animal in its mounted

state being rather smaller, but the head, teeth and feet are of

similar dimensions. With respect to the comparative length of

the tail, no safe conclusion can be formed from specimens from

which the bone has been extracted, and the form reproduced

according to the fancy of the stuffer.

The specimen of 8. Murinus above alluded to by Mr. Blyth

differs only from the above-mentioned species in having the fur

much longer, being nearly twice the length, amounting to 4",

whilst the fur of S. c#RULESCENS scarcely exceeds 2" in length.

The colour also is somewhat darker and browner.

The dimensions of the three specimens in Dr. Horsfield’s

Catalogue are as follow :—

* Vide J. A. S. xxi. 413.

Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews. 17

S. caerulescens. S. indicus. 8S. murinus.

“Mt 4 tt “4 tt

cl NE OSS SIS | ae ial i lan Sie alee

bits ae ee ean 74-4 | OR A r 8 x7 1 7%

Da iA a 2 10 2 2 26

Fore-aPm —sccscecccceeees PD IO bes SA OR

Foref00t i ses vesposecnies 5% 1 a re

Tarsus and toes ......00. 9 94 9

S. Grirrrruti is a perfectly distinct and well-marked species,

remarkable for the large size of its teeth, which exceed those of

every example of thé great 8. caruxuscens I have yet seen. I[

cannot concur with Dr. Horsfield in considering the fur as either

short, close or soft, but describe the species thus—Fur of me-

dium length, deep blackish-grey, glossy and rather coarse ; ears

smaller and more hidden than in 8. carutescens. Front teeth

very large. Head and body about 5” 9!'.» Head 1” 7" or 8.

Tail 2” 5!", Fore-arm 9", Fore-foot 64!". Tibia 11”. Hind-

foot 103". Length of lower incisors 3}!".—R. F. T.]

3. 8S. serpentarivs, Is. Geoffroy; S. kandianus, Kelaart.

Described in J. A. S. xxi. 850, from a skin sent by Dr. Kelaart,

as “the large godown Shrew of Kandy,” though scarcely corre-

sponding with his indications, J. A. S. xx. 164,185. A second

skin of precisely the same species, and also an adolescent spe-

cimen entire in spirit, were subsequently forwarded from Mergui

by Capt. Berdmore, as noticed in xxii. 412. In both adults the

tail (vertebre) measures 24 in.; and the head and body (allow-

ing for some extension of the skin) about 44 in. “ The Kan-

dyan specimen is more rufescent than the others; but we can

perceive no further difference whatever ; indeed, to judge from

the two Mergui examples, it would seem that this animal becomes

more rufescent with age.” Dr. Kelaart states that its odour is

as offensive as that of the large Musk Shrew of Ceylon. The

Coromandel coast and the Mauritius are given as its habitats.

Colour duskyish grey, with dark rufous-brown tips to the fur,

more or less developed according to age, and the under parts

somewhat paler.

4, §. soccatus, Hodgson, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xv.270. A

Sikim specimen which we refer to this species bears considerable

resemblance to the last, but is a good deal darker, with well-clad

feet and tail, and the head and limbs are proportionally larger.

Entire length of skull with front teeth im situbus 1,% in. ;

breadth 5% in. (nearly) ; entire range of upper teeth 3 in. ; ditto

of 8: srerrentarivus barely exceeding } in. Tail (vertebrae)

2,5, in.; compressed towards tip, which is furnished with a

pencil-tuft of stiffish hairs. Mr. Hodgson thus describes his

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvi. 2

18 Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews.

animal— Size and proportions of 8S. nemorivacus, H. (nearly),

but distinguished’ by its feet being clad with fur down to the

nails, and by its depressed head and tumid bulging cheeks

(mystaceal region). ars large and exposed. Colour a uniform

sordid or brownish slaty-blue, extending to the clad extremities.

Snout to rump 83 in.; tail 25 in.; planta+3 im. This animal

was caught in a wood plentifully watered, but not near the

water. It had no musky smell when brought to me dead.”

Hab. Nepal and Sikim.

[For further remarks on the synonymy of this species, see a

note appended to the account of Soriculus nigrescens.—R. ¥F. T.]

5. S. npmorivacus, Hodgson, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xv.269.

Differs from the ordinary type “ by a stouter make, by ears

smaller, and legs entirely nude, and by a longer and more tetra-

gonal tail. Colour sooty-black, with a vague reddish smear;

the nude parts fleshy-grey. Snout to rump 33 in.; tail 2 in.;

planta +4, in. Found only in woods and coppices.” Nepal.

According to Dr. Gray, an example presented to the British

Museum by Mr. Hodgson, as of this species, “is probably only

a half-grown specimen of S. MURINUS ” (¢. e. CHRULESCENS) ! *

The foregoing description should indicate a very different: ani-

mal, but which might be mistaken for the young of S. MuRtNUS

(verus), and such probably is the supposed S. murrnus from

Nepal of Dr. Horsfield’s Catalogue.

[See the note on this last-mentioned species.—R. F. T.]

6. S. HeTERODON, nobis, n.s. Very similar to S. soccarus

in general appearance, but less dark-coloured, with shorter fur,

and pale instead of blackish feet and tail underneath ; the feet,

too, are broader, especially the hind-feet, and they have a hairy

patch below the heel. The skull, of the same Jength as in

S. soccatus, and with equally large teeth, is much more narrow,

and the upper quasi-incisors are conspicuously less strongly

hooked than in that and other typical Sortczes. From Cherra

Punji in the Khasya Hills. |

7. S. niger, Elhot; described in Dr. Horsfield’s Catalogue

(1851). “Length of the head and body 33 in. ; of tail 22 in.

Tail equal in length to the entire animal, exclusive of the head,

gradually tapering to a point. Snout greatly attenuated. Colour

* We made a description of the identical specimen before it was taken

by Mr. Hodgson to England, viz.—‘ Of a shining rufescent-brown colour,

merely weaker on the under parts. Length 34 in.; of tail 1% in. ; fore-feet

and claws }in.; the claws alone } in., and of a yellow colour, perhaps

whitish in the fresh animal ; hind-feet and claws $ in.”

Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews. 19

blackish-brown, with a rufescent shade to the upper parts;

abdomen greyish. From Madras.” (Qu. Madras Presidency ?)

[S. niger, Elliot, appears like a miniature 8. Grirrituit, but

with a long and slender tail. To the description given by

Dr. Horsfield, I may add, that the tail, although long and

slender (thus differmg from the larger examples of this section),

has the scattered stiff hairs observable in the species with stout

tails, such as 8. caruLescens and S. Grirrirai. Fur deep

blackish-grey, tipped with glossy-brown, as in the latter-men-

tioned species, in which, as in S. nigER, the fur has somewhat

of the same glistening appearance so remarkable in some of

the aquatic species of Australian mammals, such as the Orni-

thorhynchus and Hydromys, and also the Myogalea of Europe ;

but at the roots the fur is not so dense as in these aquatic ani-

mals. Head and body 3” 8”, about; tail 2” 6"; fore-foot 6!" ;

planta 9. This note has been taken by the kind permission of

Dr. Horsfield from the specimen described in his Catalogue of

the Mammalia in the Museum of the East India Company.—

R. F. Tomzs. |

8. 8. rerrvucinevs, Kelaart, J. A. S. xx. 185; S. montanus,

apud nos (misled by a label), tbid. 168, vide xxi. 350, note.

Hab. Ceylon.

N.B. The dimensions of the specimen. described in J. A. S.

xx. 163, accord with those assigned by Dr. Kelaart to the next

species; and he states that the two are nearly of the same size,

and that the smell of the present species is very powerful.

9. S. montaNus, Kelaart (nec apud nos, J. A. 8. xx. 163),

“Length of head and body 3% in.; of tail 24 in.; of hind-

foot 3 in. Fur, above sooty-black, without any ferruginous

smear; beneath lighter coloured; whiskers long, silvery-grey ;

-lower part of legs and feet greyish, clothed with appressed hairs.

Claws short, whitish. Ears large, round, naked; the outer

margin lying on a level with the fur of the head and neck, and

being thus concealed posteriorly.” Mountains of Ceylon (“the

blackest Shrew of the highest parts of the island.” Kelaart).

N.B. Dr. Kelaart has lately forwarded an entire specimen in

spirit of a young female Shrew found at Galle{!), though with the

three pairs of inguinal teats well developed, which may prove to

be the young of 8S. monranvus, but is perhaps distinet and new.

If so, S. Kenaartt, nobis. Colour uniform blackish, above and

below, slightly grizzled and glistening ; the fur short and close,

with scattered fine long hairs throughout (as described of S.

MONTANUS). Length of head and body 2% in.; of tail 14 in.;

and of hind-foot with claws 3 in. eos

20 Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews.

10, S. premaus, Hodgson, Ann. & Mag. N. H. xv. 269; nec

S. pygmaeus, Pallas; if the small European species referred by

Schinz, Riippell, and others to the latter be correctly identified.

S. pyemaus, Pallas, apud Schinz, is placed by the latter zoologist

among the species with brown-tipped teeth, and in the division

of them which corresponds to Corsira, Gray; and the descrip-

tion—cauda basi constricta; auriculis brevissimis—will certainly

not apply either to Mr. Hodgson’s animal, or to various other

minute Indian Shrews hitherto undistinguished from it; and

therefore Mr. Hodgson’s name for the present species may

stand, as he states the structure of the animal to be typical*.

The following is his description:—Snout to vent, less 2 in.;

tail 1,3, in.; head +4m.; palmajin.; plantaZin. Structure

typical, save that no odorous glands were detected, nor had the

animal any musky smell. Colour sooty-brown, paler below.

Naked parts of a dusky fleshy hue. Hab. Nepal, where it

“dwells in coppices and fields, and is rarely found in houses.”

Of numerous species of minute Sorices from various localities,

the only one which approaches to the above description is a

species which we have just procured in Calcutta, curiously

enough, while engaged in the investigation of this particular

group. It may be termed

11. S. mELANODON, nobis, n.s.: from the remarkable colour-

ing of its teeth, which are piceous and white-tipped; exhibiting

thus the reverse coloration of those of Corstra, &c. Length

of adult female 17 in.; tail 1), in.; hind-foot and claws ;% in.

Colour uniform fuscous, without any rufous tinge; scarcely

paler below; the feet and tail subnude, save the usual scattered

fine long hairs upon the latter, and with the ears and snout of a

livid colour, paler below ; claws white, and distinctly visible.

Procured by one of our Museum assistants in his own house,

where he states that he has observed and can probably obtain

others. |

12. S. mroronyx, nobis, n.s. Length of head and body

1 in.; tail somewhat exceeding 1} in.; hind-foot and claws 33

in.; skull}in. Teethwhite. Claws with fine hairs impending

them, and so minute as to be scarcely discernible without a

lens. Fur of a paler and more chestnut-brown than any other

of these minute species examined, and also more silvery below.

* Since writing the above, we have seen the figure of SorEX PyYGM&US,

Pallas and Laxman (S. minutus, L., S. exilis, Gmelin, and S. minimus,

Geoff.), in the Act. Acad. Leop. vol. xiii. pt. 2. t. 25 (1827), and the

species is widely different from all the pigmy Shrews here described, and

is evidently a CorsrRa.

Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews. 21

Feet and tail subnude, or thinly furred, showing the colour of

the skin through; browner above, whitish (or perhaps flesh-

coloured) below. Of two specimens in our Museum, one in spirit,

the other now dried, the latter was obtained by the late Major

Wroughton in Keméon, the former by L. C. Stewart, Esq., of

H.M. 61st Foot, at Landour, where, he informs us that he

picked up many of them dead, on the surface of the snow, during

the severe winter of 1850-51.

13. S. Perroterit, Duvernoy, Guérin’s Mag. de Zool. 1842,

livr. 8. We can only refer to Prof. Schinz’s description of this

species, which is as follows:—‘“ S. noteo saturate fusco-nigri-

cante, gastreo canescente, artubus pedibusque pilosis, auriculis

magnis, conspicuis. Long. corporis 1" 4!", caude 11"? From

the Nilgiris. We have a Darjiling female which approximates

this description, and may prove to be of the same species,

Head and body 14 in.; tail 1 im.; hind-foot and claws 33 in.

Skull somewhat exceeding 3 in. Teeth white. Colour uniform

brown, with a slight tinge of chestnut, and scarcely paler below.

Feet and tail distinctly furred, besides the usual scattered long

hairs on the latter. Claws whitish and conspicuous. Tail

brown above, pale and perhaps flesh-coloured beneath; more

probably, however, of a livid hue, and tapering evenly through-

out. If new, S. Hopesont, nobis.

14. 8. nuprpzs, nobis,n. s. Remarkable for its naked feet

and very large ears; also for the odoriferous glands on the sides

being strongly developed, whereas we can detect them in no

other of these minute species. Length of female 14 in.; tail

1,4, in.; hind-foot $1 in. Ears conspicuously larger than in the

others ; tail almost nude, save of the long scattered hairs; and

the fore-feet and toes of the hind-feet are conspicuously naked,

and apparently flesh-coloured. Fur uniform brown above (like

the back of Corsrra vuLGaRis), a little grizzled and glistening;

the lower parts with a silvery gloss. Tail brown above, pale

(probably flesh-coloured) below ; somewhat thick and uniformly

tapering. Specimen procured at Amhurst (Tenasserim pro-

vinces).

{Mr. Blyth has since received two from Pegu.—R. F. T.]

15. 8. arratus, nobis, n.s. Of this we have only a headless

specimen, which was found, impaled upon a thorn by some

Shrike*, at Cherra Punji, in the Khasya Hills; but the species

* The same fact we have observed in England of Lanius collurio

and Corsira vulgaris, these diminutive Shrews falling an easy prey to

the “‘ Butcher-birds ;” while the larger members of the same genus are

22 Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews.

is evidently distinct from all the preceding. It is remarkable

for its very dark colour, extending over the feet and tail, which

is even blackish underneath. Length of tail | in., and of hind-

foot $3 in. Fur blackish-brown above, a little tinged rufescent,

and with dark greyish underneath; the feet and tail conspicu-

ously furred, besides the seattered long hairs upon the latter.

Here may be noticed, that the Society formerly possessed a

specimen of one of these minute Shrews, which was found in a

cellar in Madras, and was presented by Walter Elliot, Esq.,

Madras Civil Service. We formerly considered it identical with

S. MIcRonyx, so that it could scarcely be so with S. MELANODON

of Bengal; it was, however, darker than S. micronyx; and

more probably S. Perrorertii (verus), if not distinct from the

whole of the foregoing. It is even probable that several more

Indian species of these most diminutive of all Mammalia remain

to be discriminated. Upon minute comparison of five speci-

mens in our Museum, taken out of spirit and carefully dried for

the occasion, we immediately detected four well-marked species,

and presently afterwards obtained the S. mELANoDON fresh. It

may be further remarked, that we once found the nearly digested

remains of an adult small white-toothed Sorex, rather larger

than a common mouse, in the stomach of an Elanus which was

shot on the banks of the Hugli, about fifty miles above Calcutta ;

but we have since in vain sought to procure the species.

[Since the publication of Mr. Blyth’s memoir, he writes me

word that he has procured another typical Sorex, of which the

following is a description :—

S. FuLIGiINosus, Blyth, n.s. Length of an adult female

taken from spirits, 54 in.; tail 2} in.; foot plus 3 in.; skull

1 in., and 5% in. in greatest diameter. Length of series of

upper teeth ,4 in.; breadth of palate $ in. Soles bare to

the heel ; tail with seventeen vertebre, and perhaps a minute

eighteenth at the tip. The scattered long hairs on the tail

small and fine. Fur dense, porrect, and somewhat velvety ;

dark slaty at base, the rest fuliginous-brown, with inconspicuous

dull hoary tips; beneath scarcely (if at all) paler. A second

specimen differs merely in being a trifle smaller. Hab. Schwe

Gyen, Pegu.

Besides the foregoing species thus enumerated by Mr. Blyth,

are two others, named 8S. saturatior and S. Leucors by Mr.

Hodgson; they have been described by Dr. Horsfield in the

ferociously predatory upon any hapless birdlet they may chance to seize,—

as is likewise the case with Moles, and doubtless other Soricip. of ade-

quate size and strength.

Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews. 23

Number of the Annals for August of the present year. Both

are from Nepal.

I shall now proceed to give a description of a Shrew from

Mr. Cuming’s collection, received by him from Ceylon, where

it was captured by Mr. Thwaites.

Forms, those of a typical Sorex: teeth white, the lower ones

rather less curved at their points than usual. Odoriferous glands

considerably developed; ears rather large; tail nearly as long

as the head and body, tapering uniformly throughout, appearing

naked and finely annulated, but, on being examined with a lens,

is seen to be furnished with extremely fine short hairs, besides

the usual long ones, which in this species are very fine and thinly

set, and not extending for more than one-third the length of the

tail. Upper surface of the feet furnished with very small thinly

set hairs, appearing almost naked without the assistance of a

lens; soles of the feet perfectly naked. Fur rather long, being

as much as 2! which is nearly equal to that of the large S. cazv-

LESCENS ; dark, close to the skin, but for the greater part of its

length of a grizzled brown, of about the same hue as in Corsira

vuLeARis of Europe; beneath decidedly paler, with a yellowish

cast and with a slight silvery gloss. All the naked parts dirty

yellowish-brown; upper surface of the tail browner. Upper

incisors (projecting from the gum) barely 1!"; lower ones 11!",

Length of head and body 2" 4"; head 104”; tail1"11"; fore-

foot and claws 31"; hind-foot and claws 6”. The above was

taken from a male, evidently adult; and a female having the

mamme considerably developed, but with the teeth exhibiting

some signs of youth, does not differ except in having the tail

a little more slender, slightly quadrangular, and rather more

hairy. Colour of the upper parts darker, and of a slaty hue,

very slightly tinged with brown ; below, grey with a silvery cast,

without any tinge of yellow or rufous. Several others, obviously

immature, resembled this female in colour, but were somewhat

smaller. The only other species from Ceylon, in Mr. Cuming’s

collection, is the 8. montanus of Kelaart.

As the species here described appears to differ very con-

siderably from the other small species found in India, I shall

propose calling it Sorex Horsrie.pii, as a just tribute to that

well-known naturalist.—R. F. T.]

Another form of white-toothed Shrew, with thick and tapering

tail having scattered long hairs upon it, is exemplified by

Frrocuuuvs, Kelaart. Teeth small; the upper quasi-incisors

shorter and less strongly hooked than in restricted SorEx, with

the posterior spur large; the lower. quasi-incisors serrated,

showing two depressions, and therefore a row of three coronal

24 Mr. E., Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews.

points ; four small upper premolars preceding the carnasster,

the two medial being of equal size, the first rather large, and

the fourth small. Feet remarkably large. The ear-conch

searcely visible above the fur.

16. F. macrorus. Sorex feroculus, Kelaart; S. macropus,

nobis, J. A. S. xx. 163. Length about 64 in., of which the tail

is 24 in; hind-foot with claws nearly % in.; the fore-foot { in.

broad, with long and but slightly curved claws, that of the

middle digit + m. in length, Fur somewhat long and very

soft, uniform blackish, very faintly tinged rufescent ; the ex-

treme tip of the tail naked and of a flesh-colour. Inhabits

Ceylon. .

Another white-toothed Indian Shrew exists in the Crossopus

Hima.ayicus, Gray, to be noticed presently. We feel much

doubt of its being correctly referred to Crossopus*.

The greater number of small Shrews inhabiting the temperate

regions of Europe, Asia, and North America, have the teeth

always tipped with ferruginous or pitch-colour, a slender mouse-

like tail with no scattered long hairs upon it, and (save in Ort-

SOREX) the ear-conch concealed amid the fur. There are two

distinct types of dentition.

In one, the upper quasi-incisors are much longer than their

posterior spur (as in restricted Sorex), and the lower have but a

single posterior spur more or less rudimental ; the lateral small

teeth which follow in the upper jaw are four in number (as in

restricted Sorrx), the first two being equal, the third somewhat

smaller, and the last (as usual in all Shrews) minute. With this

type of dentition we distinguish

1. Soricuuvus, nobis, With the hind-feet of ordinary form

and proportions, unadapted for aquatic habits; and the tail

tapering and a little compressed at the extremity.

17. 8. Nieruscens; Corsira nigrescens, Gray, Ann. & Mag.

Nat. Hist. x. 261 (1842) ; Sorex sikimensis, Hodgson, Horsfield’s

Catalogue (1851). Length of head and body 384 in.; of tail 14

in.; hind-feet and claws in. Number of caudal vertebrae 15

(besides the extreme tip). Colour throughout blackish, a little

tinged with rufous ; the feet and claws pale. Very common in

Sikim, and was formerly sent by Mr. Hodgson to the Society’s

Museum, and also to the British Museum, from Nepal.

* Myosorex, Gray, is founded on a Cape species, the SoREX VARIUS,

Smuts, with ear-conch concealed amid the fur, and a slender tail (without

scattered long hairs?); the teeth white, and the dentition slightly modified

upon that of restricted Sorex; lower quasi-incisors “ with an entire sharp

upper edge.” |

Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews. 25

[In a report printed in the J. A. S., bearing the date of Sept.

1854, Mr. Blyth gives a note on this species, which explains

more fully the synonymy than does the present memoir, although

it bears date more recently than the note alluded to. Mr. Blyth

confirms Dr. Gray in referring S. soccatus, Hodgs., and S. ater-

rimus, Blyth, to this species; but he goes on to observe, that

Mr. Hodgson has since described another, and perfectly distinct

species, under the name of S. soccatus, which | presume is the

S. soccatus of the present memoir, a typical Sorex, whilst the

former so-called species is the sole example of the genus Sort-

cuuvus, Blyth.

After explaining its synonymy, and alluding to the species

since described by Mr. Hodgson as 8S. soccatus, Mr. Blyth says :

“The dentition [2. e. of S. nigrescens] is that of Crossopvus, and

not of Corsrra (to which group Dr. Gray assigns the species) ;

but this common little Sikim Shrew does not exhibit the modi-

fications for aquatic habits which are characteristic of CRossopvs,

Wagler.” The following appears, therefore, to be the synonymy

of this species :—

Corsira nigrescens, Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. x. 261.

1842.

Sorex Sikimensis, Hodgs. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. New Ser.

i. 203. 3

soccatus, Hodgs. Cale. J. N. H. iv. 288 (not de-

scribed); (?) Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xv. 1845, 270.

aterrimus, Blyth, J. A. S.B,1843,128? (not described).

Soriculus nigrescens of the present memoir.—R. F. T.]

2. Crossopus, Wagler (v. Hydrosorex, N. Duvernoy, and

Pinalia, Gray). With the hind-feet large and ciliated, and the

tail also compressed and ciliated beneath towards its extremity—

in adaptation to aquatic habits.

N.B. 8. roprens (v. hydrophilus), Pallas, and other Water

Shrews of Europe and N. America constitute the types of this

division ; and Dr. Gray refers to it a Himalayan species, which,

having white teeth, we very much suspect will prove to differ in

other and more important particulars, even though it may

exhibit the adaptive characters of an enlarged and ciliated

hind-foot and compressed and ciliated tail-tip. It is thus de-

scribed :—

18. Cr. Himarayicus, Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. x. 261

(1842). “Length of head and body 5} in.; tail 3 in.; hind-

foot % (nearly). Slate-coloured black, with scattered long

hairs, which are longer and white-tipped on the sides and rump ;

lower part of the throat and middle of the belly rusty-brown ;

26 Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews.

tail elongate, scaly, with appressed dark brown hairs above and

elongate rigid whitish hairs beneath, and brown elongated rigid

hairs near the tip; feet rather naked; whiskers numerous,

elongate, brown. Teeth white.” Probably from the neighbour-

hood of Simla or Masuri.

[The excellent description given by Dr. Gray of this species

renders it somewhat unnecessary that I should give a detailed

description taken from the same specimen by myself ; but having

sent one to Mr. Blyth, at his request, it becomes desirable that

it should appear here, as any future allusion to it might tend to

confuse instead of elucidate. General forms as in the C. roprENns

of Europe :—LEars hidden in the fur, very small and hairy. Tail

very long and slender, thickly clothed with hair of a stiff nature,

from a distance of about half-an-inch from its root to the tip,

which has a brush or pencil of hairs about a quarter of an inch

long. Nails very short; both fore and hind feet distinctly cili-

ated. Fur rather long, dusky at base, tipped with shining dark

brown on all the upper parts; below the same, but with the tips

paler, especially about the throat, which is stained with rufous ;

above and around the root of the tail are a number of long pale

hairs, projecting through the fur for a length of about a quarter

of aninch. Head and body about 6"; tail about 3” 6”; hind-

foot and claws 11"; fore-foot and claws 62!" The teeth of this

example are those of a restricted Sorex, and I feel no hesitation

in saying, after a careful examination, that they have been intro.

duced by the stuffer; also, in the process of preservation, the

tail appears to have been slit up on the under side, thus render-

ing it difficult to decide whether it was ciliated like the feet;

but, from the appearance of the hair on that part, I think that

it resembled that of C. roprens. It is obviously a true Cros-

sopus.— R. F. T.]

In the other type of dentition, the lower quasi-incisors are

distinctly serrated, with three or four coronal points; and the

anterior point of the upper quasi-incisors is not prolonged

beyond a level with its posterior spur; the lateral small teeth

which follow in the upper jaw are five in number, and diminish

gradually in size from the first backward. Tail cylindrical, not

tapering, and furnished with a stiffish brush at the extremity.

Such is the common British Land Shrew, S. vuiearis, L. (for-

merly confounded by British writers with 8. anaNngEvs, Schreber),

and which is the type of Corsrra, Gray (v. Amphisorex, No. 1,

Duvernoy, apud Gray). There are many other species*. We

refer to it doubtfully.

* Buiartia, Gray (v. Blarina, Lesson), is founded on S. TALPOIDES,

Gapper, Zool. Journ. v. 28, referred by Blainville to 8. BREvicAUDATUS,

Mr. EK. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews. 27

19. Cr. (?) caupatra; Sorex caudatus, Hodgson, Horsfield’s

Catalogue (1851) ; for the description seems to indicate a species

closely affined to the European S. ALpinus, Schinz, a skull-less

example of which, from Mt. St. Gothard, is in our Museum ; and

S. ALpinus is ranged among the species having the Corsira type

of dentition by Prof. Schinz in his ‘ Synopsis Mammalium ;” its

tail, however, is naked, and compressed at the tip. “ Length of

the head and body 2} in.; of the tail the same, slender, nearly

naked, and very slightly attenuated. Colour saturate blackish-

brown, very slightly rufescent in certain aspects. Snout mo-

derately elongated, furnished at the sides with long delicate

hairs.”

[After a very careful comparison of two specimens in the

Museum at the India House with a specimen of the C. ALprnus

of Europe, which I had taken there for that purpose, I con-

cluded that C. caupatus and C. Atpinus were very closely

affined, if not perfectly identical. The naked compressed tip of

the tail in the last-mentioned species, as remarked by Mr.

Blyth, also occurs in one of the examples of C. caupatus;

indeed, were this specimen to be placed along with the European

species, it would be almost impossible to distinguish them.

It is probable that many Himalayan species may be found to

be identical with European ones; certainly among the Cheiro-

ptera, the Plecotus and Barbastellus of Mr. Hodgson are iden-

tical with the European representatives of those genera, as I

have ascertained by actual comparison; and the VEsSPERTILIO

Darsevineensis of that naturalist differs only from our V.

MYSTACINUs in having the tips of the fur of the back brighter.

—R. F. T.]

We now conclude this effort at a Conspectus of the Indian

Soricinz by soliciting aid from all (probably not many persons

in India) who take any interest in the subject. It will suffice.

if specimens could be sent in spirit to the Museum of the

Society (if disembowelled, and the abdominal cavity cleaned of

blood, so much the better for our present purpose, except with

regard to the very diminutive specics, examples of which are

particularly acceptable), such being far preferable to badly pre-

pared skins for being afterwards set up as stuffed specimens,

besides permitting of much more satisfactory examination of

their differential characters; and it is further desirable that

Say, a N. American species, which, we believe, only differs from Corstra

in the large size of its fore-feet and in its very short tail :—-and OrtsorEx,

DeKay, is founded on two minute N. American species, which do not ap-

pear to differ from CorsiRa except in having the ear-conch large and

conspicuously visible above the fur.

28 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

three or four adults of each kind should be thus transmitted, to

supply our collection with skeleton and stuffed specimens, in

addition to at least one to be retained entire in spirit. The

micro-mammalia, as they have been designated (as Bats, Shrews,

Mice, &c.), require to be thus amply represented in museums,

for their specific distinctions to be rightly understood in many

cases ; and the chaos of Indian Muripa, in particular, will be

never reduced to systematic order, with the synonyms correctly

adjusted, until such a tolerably complete collection of them from

all quarters has been brought together.

[The notes appended to the present memoir were most of

them taken from specimens in the British and India-House

Museums, at the request of Mr. Blyth, and kindly permitted by

Dr. Gray and Dr. Horsfield; but having reached Calcutta too

late for insertion, Mr. Blyth has requested me to add them to

his memoir, and have the whole republished in the ‘ Annals and

Magazine of Natural History.’ I have acted in accordance with

his wishes, and also added references to two species described

by Dr. Horsfield, and given the description of what appears to

be hitherto an undescribed species, in order to render it as com-

plete a monograph of the Indian species as circumstances would

permit.—R. F. T.]

IV.—On the Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration and on the

Structure of the Oryans of Breathing in Invertebrate Animals.

By Tuomas Wiuu1ams, M.D. Lond., F.L.S., Physician to the

Swansea Infirmary.

[With a Plate. |

(Continued from vol. xvi. p. 421.]

Pectinibranchiata.

Tuts order comprehends a considerable number of families and

genera. It is the largest and most important group of the

Gasteropod Mollusks. In this summary it will be impossible

to present a correct analysis, derived from personal observation,

of the respiratory organs of every genus. If that were possible

indeed to a single observer, an acquisition of great value would

accrue to science. The author is deeply persuaded that even in

such minute constituents of the organism as a single leaflet

from the branchial apparatus, the microscope may reveal the

presence of differences of shape, size, structure, &c., which may

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 29

serve to establish the distinctness of species quite as clearly and

convincingly as the grosser characters of the outward append-

ages. The branchial plates of two separate species, in general

position, in form and size, &c., may to the casual eye of

the descriptive naturalist, appear absolutely identical. Guided

by the microscope, the minute anatomist, however, detects

organic dissimilarities which enable him at once to assign the

objects under view to two distinct animals. A thousand illus-

trations of this kind may be readily adduced to prove the im-

portance of minute investigations of structure. False analogies

suggested by general external resemblances of organs can be

authoritatively corrected only by an appeal to the facts of ulti-

mate structure. How utterly confused, how deeply deficient are

the views of the comparative physiologists even of these advanced

times, as to the history of the renal and urimary systems of the

Invertebrate animals! How difficult, in any given instance of

doubt, to state whether an organ is a kidney or not! The ulti-

mate elements, those last factors which constitute the essence

of the organ, are utterly unknown. For it is not even now

determined what is and what is not essential to the kidney of an

Invertebrate animal. This opprobrium applied but a short time

since to the fluid systems and to the respiratory organs. How

great are the honours yet in store in this field of research for

the clear thinker and fruitful observer !

The general affinities of the Pectinibranchiate order of Mol-

lusks are familiar to all. In all the genera, a spacious branchial

chamber exists (Pl. V. figs. 1 & 2). It is a recess over-vaulted by

the anterior termination of the mantle. It occupies the last turn

of the spire. Itis openin front. This arrangement will be after-

wards contrasted with the closed character which it exhibits in the

Pulmonifera. The Pectinibranchs admit of division into two sub-

orders—the Holostomata and the Siphonostomata. In the former,

the margin of the shell and mantle is entire; in the latter, it is

either notched or produced into a canal or siphon (f). Through

this prolongation of the mantle the water enters the chamber.

In the Holostomata it penetrates at the same point in the

fissure between the dorsum of the animal and the edge of the

mantle. The machinery by which the ingress and egress of the

water are effected resides in the branchial hood of the mantle. It

performs regular respiratory movements. These movements,

however, are aided by the invisible agency of cilia. The Pectini-

branchs are prosobranchiate. The heart in all affects a position

immediately behind the branchial organ. The aérated blood

returning from the latter is received directly by the auricle of

the former.

What is designated the branchial vault in the Pectinibranchs

30 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

is not exclusively a respiratory chamber. It serves to lodge

other organs. It contains the heart, the termination of the in-

testine, the excretory ducts of the reproductive system, and

several varieties of glands (Pl. V. figs. 1 & 2). It is therefore

by no means an unimportant part of the body of the mollusk.

Between the position of the rectum and that of the branchiz

there obtains in this, as in the Pulmonifera, a constant relation-

ship: one reason for this relationship is a mechanical necessity.

The egressing current from the gills is thus adapted collaterally

to convey away from the body the fecal excreta. This current

connects itself also with the functions of the generative system.

It forms a vehicle for the mucus supplied hy the glands of this

chamber. By its aid the latter is enabled to invest the ova as

they escape from the body—constituting thus a cocoon in which

they are temporarily cradled. It is by skilfully subordinating

the office of one organ to that of another, that Nature’s contri-

vance surpasses man’s. In her machinery a force is nowhere

allowed to transpire unutilized. It is always deflected to a pur-

pose ; though sometimes to one whose significance may prove

illegible to her observers. |

As the details to which the reader’s attention is now solicited

are novel, and now for the first time published, it is desirable

that a clear and concise method of presenting them should be

adopted. The author proposes in the first place to describe the

branchiz in those genera especially of this order in which he has

subjected these organs to a special examination. He will then

return to a consideration of the glandular apparatus of this im-

portant cavity, and finally deduce such inferences with respect

to their purpose and function, as their chemistry and the facts

of their minute structure may appear to warrant.

The branchiz of the Pectinibranchs (PI. V. figs. ] & 2 a! a’) are

almost always fixed to the roof of the cavity in which they are

lodged. They occupy an intermediate position between the

“ gland of the mucosity” (fig. 1 5) and the colour-gland (fig. 1 a,

fig. 2 6), which lies invariably to the extreme left. In some

genera the gill is placed at the extreme left of the chamber—at

a point, that is, which is the direct opposite of that of the rec-

tum (fig. 1c). This position is significant of the care with

which Nature locates the breathing organ in order that it may

receive the most direct influence of the aérating current as the

latter enters the cavity. In the following account few differences

in the relative anatomy of this organ will demand attention.

The most striking diversities will be found to affect the figure or

outline-form and ultimate structure of the individual lamine or

pectinations of the gill. These objects are entirely and exclu-

sively microscopic (Pl. V. figs. 3, 4, 9, 18, 14): they are re-

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 31

moved in structure far beyond the sphere of naked vision. Since

however the individual parts of a pectinibranchiate gill con-

stitute under all circumstances sheets whose opposite faces are

more or less smooth, or more or less corrugated and folded, a

little manipulative skill will be required to enable the student to

put to the test of personal observation the particulars comprised

in. the following description.

The language commonly used by malacologists in describing

the gills of this order of Mollusks is calculated to lead to many

very false conceptions. They are first said to be “plumes.” A

‘plume’ or feather is 52-pectinate, that is, it consists of a stem

bearing ‘ barbs’ on either side. Such a word, therefore, conveys

to the mind an untrue image of the real object. The word

“ nectinate ”’ is nearer, but still very erroneous, and very inade-

quate as an illustrative analogue. A leaf of the gill of a pec-

tinibranchiate mollusk resembles in figure much more nearly a

‘fan’ than the tooth of acomb. A gill would be a series of

fans laid side by side. It should accordingly be defined rather

as flabelliform (fig. 4) than pecten-iform. The laminz of this

gill are comparable to a ‘fan’ moreover in this remarkable

particular—they are capable of being closed and opened under

the action of muscles. In fact, in other respects they constitute

an apparatus immeasurably more beautiful and complex than

it has hitherto entered into the dreams of naturalists to con-

ceive.

The branchia (fig. 1 a, a) of every genus of this order is seated

on a fixed base which forms a part of the roof of the respiratory

chamber (e, e). In this respect it differs from the breathing

organ of the Tectinibranchs, and resembles that of the Cyclo-

branchs. But the pectinibranchiate gill is distinguished from

that of every branchiferous Gasteropod, and is brought near to

that of a Lamellibranch by a curious incident of structural

mechanism. Lach and every leaf of the gill is stiffened and

strengthened at one of its free borders by the insertion into its

substance of a whalebone-like process of rigid cartilage (fig. 4a, a,

& fig. 7). The presence of this process imparts to this edge of

the organule a thick straight appearance which stands in obvious

opposition to the floating and flexible character of the other

margin (fig. 40). As this process of cartilage is concealed in

the substance of the dorsal border of the leaf, and embraced by

a dense ciliated membrane, it can only be detected by tearing

up the whole leaf into pieces by means of needles. Viewed on

its flat surface the lamina presents a triangular outline (a, d, c, d).

This is more or less the figure of the branchial lamin through-

out the entire Pectinibranchiate group. The terminology. ap-

plicable in one genus will serve to designate the homologous

32 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

parts in all others. That border which lodges the cartilage may

be called the dorsal or cartilaginous (fig. 4 a-f); that which

stretches from the distal point of the cartilage to the extreme

end of the base, the free or flexible border (a, 6, g) formed of the

vascular loops; and thirdly, that may be called the fixed side

(c, c) which is attached to the vault of the cavity throughout its

entire extent, and is the mathematical base of the triangle. In

some genera a portion of the gill is described as pendent and

floating in the cavity. The power to exsert the gill is enjoyed

by Valvata. It is, however, so exceptional a character, that the

branchia in nearly every Pectinibranch may be stated to be

sessile on a fixed base. But in describing the gills of this order,

systematic naturalists without exception commit another error.

In the Siphonostomata, embracing the carnivorous Gasteropods,

the “ branchial plumes are stated to be double, or to be two in

number.” In the Holostomata they are said on the contrary to

be “single,” that is, that there is but one branchial plume. — If

this error did not originate with, it certainly has been perpetuated

by Dr. Sharpey. In his article “ Cilia,” in the ‘ Cyclopedia of

Anatomy and Physiology,’ he states that in reflecting the roof

of the branchial chamber in Buccinum, two sets of gills are seen,

one of which consists of two rows of lamine (fig. 2 5), the other

of one row (a, a). That structure which Dr. Sharpey describes

as a “gill with two rows of lamine,” which is attached to the

extreme left of the vault, is a gland (fig. 20; fig. 1 d). The de-

tails of this point will be given on another occasion. In external

characters it looks like a gill. No one but the microscopieé

anatomist could note a difference. A deep difference however

does exist. Here again is exemplified the service which minute

special anatomy may render to the cause of general physi-

ology.

iis researches enable the author to affirm with confidence,

that in all the Pectimibranchiata the gill is a single organ. Though

in some of the Cyclobranchiata the organ is double, and may

exhibit a bilateral symmetry, in the Pectinibranchs it is single.

To this rule there is no exception. Since the constituent parts

of every pectinibranchiate gill consist of triangular or fan-

shaped leaves, strengthened at the dorsal border by a comb’s

tooth-like process of cartilage, the terms for the construction of

an accurate and consistent general definition of the branchis in

this family of Mollusks are established. A subdivision of these

organs into two leading classes becomes essential, however, with

a view to a more accurate description of structural minutie. In

the genera Buccinum and Littorina the extreme representatives

of these two classes occur. The branchial leaf of the former

(fig. 4) is distinguished by smooth sides—that is, it is an unpli-

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 33

cated lamina having the same minute structure in every part of

its extent. In the latter (fig. 8) complex plications (c, c—d, bd)

occur which multiply to a considerable degree the area of the

active surface. This is so remarkable a character, that if the

plicee were a little more prominent, each leaf of the gill of the

Periwinkle might be correctly described as a bipinnate structure

(fig. 3B). The plice are however mere folds of the smooth sur-

face of the lamina, as will be afterwards explained. These parts

are so minute, that the malacologist, using merely the unassisted

eye, would pronounce the gill-leaf of Buccinum and that of

Littorina to be one and the same thing,—to be identically or-

ganized. But how essentially unlike! The evidence furnished

by the ultimate anatomy of the dranchia would require that the

family of the Littorinide should be placed in juxtaposition with

the Tectinibranchiata.

The pectinibranchiate gill (fig. 1 a, a; fig. 2.a, a) may be de-

fined then as a series of parallel blood-vessels-bearing leaflets,

decreasing in size from the centre of the series to either end,

projecting at right angles and vertically depending from the

walls of the containing chamber. The long axis of the entire

organ is paraliel with the line of the rectum and that of the

glands peculiar to this cavity (fig. 1 d, 5). Though only two

main varieties of anatomical structure occur among the branchiz

of this order, the diversities observable in the size and shape of

the lamine in intermediate examples are as numerous not only

as the genera but really as the species. In the genus Trochus

(figs. 13 & 14) they are more or less similar in all the species.

In every species, however, some peculiarity is distinguishable in

the contour of the lamine, which suffices to establish specific

independence. ‘Those of Trochus magus (fig. 13) are triangular,

the dorsal border (a, d) being shghtly convex, the free or flexible

border (4) being gently concave, while the distal apex is rounded

(a). The base (c) of the longest lamina, which occupies always a

position in the centre of the gill, measures about ;4,th of an inch

in full-grown specimens.

In Trochus cinerarius (fig. 14), a closely allied species, the

distal angle (a) is elongated into an acute apex, the free border

(0) is at first convex and then sweeps into a very prolonged base

(e, c), giving to the attached border twice as great a length as in

that of the former species. Other varieties of figure occur in

the gill-leaves of Trochus umbilicatus, and 7. tumidus*. The

* Tn arriving at a knowledge of the exact figure of the branchial lamine,

I have invariably adopted one method of examination. It has consisted in

eutting out a few leaves or a small portion of the centre of the gill; the

section being coincident with the plane of the laminz, and at right angles

with the long axis of the entire organ. This portion is then carefully

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser.2. Vol. xvii.

84 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

cartilage which occupies the dorsal edge is curved at its point

in some species (fig. 12), so that it acquires, its root being the

fulcral point, all the resilient qualities of a bow. In others it is

blade-shaped (fig. 7). It tends always to straighten itself. This

tendency is expended upon the flat surface and the free margin

of the lamine, which are thus maintained in a tightened state,

like outstretched or expanded sheets. This is undoubtedly the

true purpose which this peculiar cartilage is intended to fulfil in

the gills of this order of Mollusks. Its existence has never yet

been suspected by anatomists. From the mechanical, lever-like

character of its office, it is evident that upon its duly regulated

action must depend the function of the entire leaflet. Without

it, a sheet of such surpassing delicacy as an individual branchial

lamina could not sustain the required vertical position. Without

some such contrivance the leaflets would be driven, crushed and

folded confusedly by every current and pressure. An elastic

apparatus, of inconceivable beauty and perfection, is realized in

these hyaline invisible and hidden parts. They hold, with a force

of immeasurable gentleness, the respiratory lamime at such a

degree of tenseness as best favours the transit of the water

between them, and of the blood throughout the extent of their

plane superficies. No crumpling or folding or confusion of any

kind can happen even in the relative position of structures of

such extreme tenuity and slenderness. And yet it has never

occurred to the curiosity of any one of the thousand observers

by whom these organs have been witnessed, to catechise Nature

as to the mechanism by which such wonders, though minute, are

accomplished! In organic workmanship, minuteness and_per-

fection are often twin qualities of the same machinery! These

cartilages are peculiar to the gills of the Pectinibranchiata, and

as the unfolding of details proceeds, it will be seen that they

undergo variations of size and shape, but never of relative posi-

tion, according to the differences of families, genera, and even of

species. Into the branchial system of this large and important

order they are special importations, fulfilling purposes of .a

special nature. |

But the office of the border-cartilages is not restricted to the

end which has just been defined. They conduct and protect

the larger afferent and efferent blood-channels of the laminz

(fig.3e). It is by thus transmitting a primary column of blood

laced on the glass slip, floated in salt water if the specimen be marine in

abits, in fresh water if from a freshwater habitat, and then lightly

covered with a plate of thin glass. A few lamin at the same time are

detached by means of needles and torn up, in order that the objects may

be examined under different points of view. Various reagents are used in

the examination of the vessels, cartilages, muscles and fibres, &c. of the

organ.

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. | 835

from the fixed border to the apex of the leaflet, that every single

spot of the flat surface of the latter is rendered available in the

active operation of breathing.

When a single lamina is detached and placed singly, floating

in salt water, under the microscope, and viewed as a transparent

object, it may be supposed that the spectacle must be one of ex-

treme definedness, every one of whose constituent elements may

be readily singled out and read by the eye. This is an d-priory,

and therefore as usual an erroneous fancy. Nothing is so diffi-

cult to the unpractised observer as to read clearly and accurately

the spectacle under view. It demands an exercised eye even to

distinguish an epithelial particle from a blood-corpuscle, a

blood-channel from the crease or fold of the lamina, a near ob-

ject from one placed at a greater focal distance. Practice and

perseverance will however enable the student to interpret with

confidence and accuracy all the subtle elements of this incon-

ceivably beautiful structure.

A little experience in the art of viewing the branchial organs

of the Gasteropod Mollusks will suffice to assure the least inter-

ested observer, that the blood-channels traverse the plane extent

of the laminz in parallel vessels, of uniform diameter, separated

from each other by appreciable intervals, and bounded by indi-

vidual and independent walls (fig. 4d,d). In Trochus they

appear to run (fig. 13 e) from the dorsal edge (a) to the free

border (4) along one face of the leaf, and back again along the

other surface, looping round the edge. On both surfaces they

are invested in a similar manner by ciliated epithelium, the cilia

being large at the edges and small over the flat face of the

lamina.

Although the preceding account conveys an exact illustrative

image of the type which prevails throughout the branchial system

of this multitudinous order, yet as this occasion is the first on

which these particulars have been published, it is desirable to

enter into an examination of some few other examples of the

pectinibranchiate gill.

In Phasianella the branchia is said to be partially detached

and free in its cavity, but in other relations it imitates the type

of the Trochidan organ.

The Paludinide are prosobranchiate gasteropod mollusks

which inhabit fresh water. It is curious to observe, that this

marked contrariety of habitat should occasion no variation of

place or structure in the organ of breathing. The branchia of

this family, like those of all other Pectinibranchs, affects a

position on the vault of the thoracic chamber, having the

rectum and generative ducts parallel to it on the right side,

and the mucous glands on the other. A siphon exists on the

3%*

36 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

left of the breathing cavity, while on the right the rectum, as in

Lymneade, is prolonged in form of a tube beyond the edge of

the mantle on the right. In a large specimen of Paludina vivi-

para, it is easy to extract the animal out of its shell by cracking

the latter at different pomts. The position of the organs con-

tained in the branchial vault may be now seen through the

mantle. The whole cavity, as in all Pectinibranchs, is ciliated.

On the exterior it is also ciliated to a short distance beyond

the edge of the mantle. It lies obliquely in the cavity extending

from the posterior left corner to the right anterior end. The

gill is constructed in exact conformity with the pectinibranchiate

model. The leaves of which it is composed are triangular in

shape, the base of the triangle being the free border. They

rest on a fixed base, and carry a rigid process of cartilage in

the substance of the dorsal margin. The blood-channels and

the vibratile cilia exhibit the same disposition as those of Buc-

cinum, which will be presently explained at length. The heart

is situated at the extreme posterior boundary of the cavity near

the poimt at which the rectum joins the branchia. The ovary,

filled with young, is seen on the right side of the rectam. The

specimen from which the preceding account has been drawn

had been for some time preserved in spirit ; but the author be-

lieves that near the dorsal edge of each branchial lamina in

Paludina, slight traces of secondary pinne, or plications, will be

discovered, such as those, far more prominently developed, which

are now to be figured and described im the Littorinide. If this

feature of structure should, on a further examination of fresh

examples, be proved to exist, a new point of relationship between

the genera Paludina and Littorina will have been established.

In describing their respiratory system, it was once intended. to

place the Littorinide apart as a separate group, in order that

contrast of position might attract towards them immediately the

attention of malacologists. The author, however, thinks that,

for the present—that is, until, by further search, other examples

of the same formation shall have been collected,—it is better to

place the Littorinide here, between the Paludinide and Turri-

tellide (British Mollusca), rather than dislocate the arrangement

of systematists, even at the mconvenience of returning after-

wards to the description of the smooth or unplicated variety of

branchie. A singular abnormity occurs in the gills of the

genus Valvata. It is protruded for a considerable distance

beyond the shell, at the left side of the body of the animal. It

consists of a long straight axis, from the opposite sides of which

filiform pinnee or secondary processes project. These again

bear minuter pinnule, which are the ultimate processes. This

gill may be regarded as a transitional variety between the plain,

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 37

or smooth, type of the lamina in the Paludinidz and the plicated

form of the organ which prevails probably throughout the Litto-

rinidan family. An opportunity of examining minutely a recent

specimen of Valvata has not yet occurred to the author.

In the genus Littorina, the last turn of the shell is very large

relatively to the second and the third. By this criterion, the

capacity of the respiratory chamber may be estimated. It pre-

sents a considerable size in these mollusks compared with the

bulk of the entire body. The augmented dimensions of the

cavity are due to the increased volume of the contained organs

(fig. 1). The branchia (fig. 1 a, a) is highly developed, and

occupies a large share of the cavity. It extends from the hind-

most boundary to the root of the siphon. It lies obliquely from

left to right along the roof of the chamber. Viewed as a whole,

it will be observed to consist of two halves (fig. 2 a, a), which

are divided by a clearly marked line extending from one extreme

of the organ to the other. One of these halves (fig. 3 a, a) corre-

sponds with the dorsal or cartilaginous borders of the leaves,

and consists of a series of parallel unbending rigid lines or fila-

ments; the other half (fig.3 9), more wavy, flocculent, soft and

flexible, comecides with the membranous portion of the lamine.

To the left of the gill is situated a peculiar gland (fig. 1 d)

having a bipectinate appearance, less developed in this mollusk

than in Buccinum, and which Dr. Sharpey, and after him all

systematic malacologists, has described as a double, though rudi-

mentary gill. It will be shown that it is a true gland. To the

left of the branchia there lies a large glandular mass, which is

always enveloped in viscid mucus, and which exhibits a leafy

or laminose structure. On the reflected roof (as shown in

fig. 1), still further to the left, is observed another glandular

mass (e), which some anatomists have described as the renal

organ ; and, lastly, a duct which belongs to the reproductive

system (j). The structure of these glands will be discussed

on another occasion: the branchia only will be at present

described. Powdered Lycopodium strewn lightly over the fresh

organ will move in one definite direction; namely from the

right, or cartilaginous border, to the left, or membranous

(arrows, fig. 1 a, a). This current, examined more closely,

will be found to be subdivided into as many rivulets as there

are spaces between the leaves of the entire organ. Of course

these superficially indicated currents are but the edges of ver-

tical sheets of water which are in the act of traversing the

spaces between the laminz. These currents are impelled by two

forces, one of which is due to the action of the numerous minute

muscles fixed to the cartilaginous margins of the lamine (fig. 14

¢, d), whose office it is to furl and unfurl, approximate and

separate the individual leaves. By this contrivance a mechanical

38 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

power is capable of being exerted on the strata of water inter-

posed between the leaves, under which it is driven forwards at a

speed regulated by the necessities of the breathing function.

The second force is the ciliary. The large cilia which occupy

the edges, and which are arranged in rows (fig. 3 a, a), are

eapable of raising a sensible current. The minute cilia which

are distributed over the flat surfaces of the laminz drive along

only microscopic streams.

By means of a thin sharp sealpel, a section may be easily

made through the gill, parallel with the plane of the lamina,

and through the substance of the vault. If this section be made

about the middle of the gill, one of the largest laminz may be

readily detached and placed as an individual object under the

microscope. Such an object is represented in Pl. V. fig. 3.

The dorsal margin curves like a reaping-hook (a, a). It is

stiffened by a large sickle-shaped cartilage (a, e) which extends

from the root to the apex: it supports the whole organ zn situ.

Within this border, running along the side of the cartilage,

are also concealed two large vessels, with which many of the

ultimate blood-channels of the lamina are connected. Along this

dorsal edge are disposed two rows of large cilia, which propel

currents in two opposite directions, downwards along one side,

and upwards along the other. Every part of the leaf beyond

this cartilaginous border consists of a soft membranous sub-

stance (h), thickly vascular, composed, in fact, of little more

than vessels. The next feature to be noticed in the structure

of this branchial lamina is a series of duplicatures (c, ¢ and 0, 6)

of this surface, and is singularly distinctive of the branchial

organ of this family of Mollusks. At first they look like acci-

dental folds of a delicate membrane; but as they occur in every

single leaf throughout the organ, it follows that they are organie

formations. If the leaflet is laid carefully on the glass slip,

floating in water, and gently covered, without pressure, the true

character of these parts may be most clearly determined.

They consist undoubtedly of a bifid fold (B) of only one half

of the lamina, for a similar fold exists on the opposite surface.

Each fold is made up of two parts, which are united gradually

at either end, and separated by an interval in the middle. The

long axis of each fold is at right angles with the line of the

dorsal margin ; but the row is parallel with the latter. Slightly

beyond this row of plicee, and nearer to the centre of the leaflet,

is to be observed a second and smaller system (c, c). The folds

are formed in the latter case precisely as in the former. These

two systems of plications are separated from each other by a

narrow space of smooth membrane. All that portion of the.

lamina which intervenes between the second row of folds and

the extreme apex (j) of the lamina is a plain unplicated surface,

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 89

sustaining a double series of parallel blood-channels. The ana-

tomy of the folded portion of the leaf may be better understood

on a tranverse section (such section is represented at fig. B).

It will be seen that the duplications of the surface are the same

on both sides (f,/), and that the opposite folds are formed upon

the same transverse axis.

The next problem to be solved in the analysis of this most

beautiful mechanism relates to the disposition of the blood-

vessels (A, ). This question could never be determined by in-

jections, however fine or successful. The practised eye, reading

the same structure throughout an extended series of varieties

and modifications, may infallibly decipher the blood-system

even of these subtle and delicate lamin. The leaf tapers away

into a slender point at the extreme membranous end (7). If

the same blood-channel, or the same drop of blood, travelled

from the dorsal border (a, a) across the entire length of the

laminze, as far as the tapering point (7), it is evident that such

a portion of blood would undergo an excessive degree of aération,

while that which traversed the space at either apex (7, 4) would

fall short of the required amount of oxygenation. This incon-

venience is obviated by giving to the vessels a generally oblique

direction across the plane of the lamina (d, 4). The vessels as

they traverse the folds (¢, c and 4, 6) maintain the same character

and direction as they exhibit on the smooth portions. This

fact proves that these folds are really none other than duplica-

tions of the surface. They serve, notwithstanding, to multiply

the active superficies of the little organ, and the vessels which

they carry, although unaltered in direction, are smaller in

diameter and more closely arranged. ‘The ciliary action over

these portions is also more active and vigorous than on other

parts. The vessels are most distinct in outline and disposition

about the central region of the leaf (h, h, fig. 4d). That the

channels are conduits, distinct and individualized, separately

walled, running side by side, and seldom imosculating, may be

unquestionably proved by the steady examination of this part.

That the channels loop around the free edge (figs. 5 & 6) to gain

the other side, along which they return, the observer may con-

vince himself by focusing the microscope at this border. The ap-

pearance is then such as is shown in fig. 5, and fig. 9 6. The

cilia of the flat surface are seated on a pavement epithelium, those

of the borders stand out like filaments from a larger description

of cell (fig. 8).

The author has proved, that in all the species of the genus

Littorina discoverable on the coast around Swansea, the branchial

lamine are constructed on the model (fig. 3) of that just de-

scribed. The duplications are not of the same precise size and

character in all; but in all they exist. He would propose this

40 Dr. T. Williams on the. Mechanism of Aquatic

incident of structural type as a criterion of relationship between

the several genera of the family of the Littorinide. He has

. not examined the branchie of Lacuna, Assiminia, Jeffreysia and

Skenea ; but those of the genus Rissoa discover a marked ten-

dency towards this peculiarity of formation.

Several families must now be passed over as hitherto unex-

amined. The branchiz of the Muricide may probably, however,

be considered as typically representative of those groups which

intervene between them and the Littorinide.

The whole of this extensive family is said by systematic authors

to be characterized by the possession of two gills; one described

as doubly pectinated, and the other as singly pectmated. As

formerly stated, Dr. Sharpey has adopted this definition in his

article ‘ Cilia,” in the ‘ Cyclopzedia of Anatomy and Physiology.’

The branchial chamber in this family (fig. 2) is constructed on

the same principle as that of other Pectinibranchs. It is a

capacious vault, open in front from one side to the other by a

fissure. On the left side the edge of the mantle is prolonged

into an extended recurved siphon. The glands (c, 6) of the

cavity, as will be explained afterwards, are highly developed ;

one of them so much so as to have led to the idea that it was a

second branchia. The true gill (a, a), which is a single organ,

stands between this supposed supplementary gill and the large

mucous gland (c), to the left of which is observed the rectum (e).

In the Muricide, the third gland (fig. 1g), called by some

authors the renal gland, is not visible within the boundary of this

cavity. The whole of the interior of the chamber is actively

ciliated ; the exterior is not so. The epithelium here is smooth.

Little peculiarity exists in the branchial system of this family

(fig. 4). The organ is large (fig. 2 a, a); it has the shape of

two cones laid base to base. The broadest laminze are therefore

in the middle, the smallest at either end. It is so situated as

to receive directly the column of water as it enters by the siphon

(f).. The course of this water, as indicated by the arrows (fig. 1),

is from left to right; it thus passes first, and in the most pure

state, over the branchie, then over the mucous gland, and lastly

over the rectum. The planes of the branchial lamine (fig. 4)

are coincident in direction with the main water-current in pass-

ing from the left to the right side of the branchial cavity.

Nothing is so easy as to determine the figure of the gill-leaves

in any of the larger genera of this family. Buccimum is a familiar

example.

The gill of Buccinum undatum is composed of many hundreds

of leaves. These leaves, towards the centre of the organ, are

regularly triangular in figure (fig. 4a, a). At the extremities,

each lamina loses more rapidly in vertical depth than in length, so

that at last they become scarcely visible creases of the pallial mem-

Respiration in Invertebrate Aninals. 41

brane. The membranous border is drawn out to a considerable

length (g) beyond that part of the gill which is apparent to the

naked eye. By this extension of the active branchial surface, the

action of the aérating current on the blood is prolonged. In no

single instance of the pectinibranchiate gill are the cartilages of

the laminz so developed as in this family. It is here that the

true structure and office of these singular elements of the bran-

chial mechanism may be most advantageously studied. In the

branchia of Buccinum they are straight, sword-shaped blades

(fig. 7); they are skilfully fitted into the dorsal or thick edge of

the lamina (fig. 4 a, f); they act the part of beams, or arms,

whereon is hung the sheet of the leaflet (a, g). Without them,

the latter could not by any means be held in situ; that is, could

not be maintained at that degree of expansion essential to the

proper and adequate contact of the blood with the water. To

the bases of these cartilaginous beams, muscles (fig. 14 c, d)

are attached, which are capable of influencing the entire leaf.

Under their action it may be either stretched lightly or folded

together like a closed fan. The flat surface of the branchial

lamina in Buccinum is always unplicated.

In the fresh specimen it may be seen, with perfect clearness,

that it is traversed by waving parallel blood-channels (fig. 4 d, d).

In no instance among the Pectinibranchs is it more easy to con-

vince oneself that these vessels loop at the free flexible margin

(ec) of the leaf than in Buccinum (fig. 5). The lamine are con-

siderable in superficial area (a, g), exhibiting a surface equalling

a tenth of a square inch. The vessels (d) are prominent, being

readily traced by } an inch power. The walls display a granu-

lated character (fig. 5 g, g), in consequence of the contents of

the epithelium. This circumstance individualizes each blood-

channel most clearly. The flat surface of the leaf is also covered

by a flat, scaly, polygonal epithelium (fig.6), the cells of which are

filled with minute granules, and armed with short cilia. Along

the base or fixed border of each leaf run two large vessels

(fig. 4c, e), one of which is afferent, the other is efferent. Thus,

in brief, is written the anatomical history of this remarkable

organ. It is at once evident that the key-stone of this structure

is the beam of cartilage, which imparts strength and rigidity to

the dorsal margin of the slender sheet; and, further, constitutes

a point of attachment to a system of muscles, by which, as by a

lever, the entire apparatus may be extraordinarily furled and

unfurled, and otherwise variously controlled.

» Another example of the Muricidan gill may be described,

im order to show, that in two closely allied species of the same

genus a striking difference of structure may occur in one and

the, same organ.

Phe apices of the lamme in the gill m Purpura lapillus are

42 Mr. J. D. Dana on the Origin of the

curved sharply (fig. 9 a). In Buccinum, as just stated, the

dorsal border terminates in a straight point. Although this

trait is only a microscopic incident of formation, it is quite

enough to constitute the distinctness of the species. In every

other respect the lamine discover the same structure as that just

explained in Buccinum. The gill-leaves of Murex and Nassa

exhibit also slight variations of shape, compared with the

standard figure of those of Buccinum. From such examples the

naturalist may well exclaim, how marvellous and unaccountable,

that in establishing the independence of species, Nature should

change the very fabric of the minutest parts of the body!

In the Conide and Cypreade, the author has every reason:

to believe that the branchiz conform with exactness to the type

of those of Buccinum. They may vary in the special outline of

the lamin, but not in essential structure. They lie in the

branchial. chamber in the same oblique position, and exhibit

the same relation to the glands of the cavity.

Although the transition may be strange and abrupt, it is con-

venient at this point to pass to the consideration of the pulmo-

niferous Gasteropods ; not because there is much in common

between their breathing system and that of the branchiferous

orders, but because the glands contained in the thoracic cavity

of the Pulmonata correspond in structure and dependencies most

intimately with those which are contained in the branchial

ehamber of the Pectinibranchs last described. According to

this distribution of subject, the “glands” of the respiratory

cavity of both the branchiferous and pulmoniferous orders will

come to be considered under one head.

[To be continued. |

V.— On the Origin of the Geographical Distribution of Crustacea.

By Mr. Jamzs D. Dana.

[The present paper is the conclusion of Mr. Dana’s Report on the

Geographical Distribution of the Crustacea. As the opinions here

put forward appear to be of great importance in the study of the

geographical distribution of animals, we have thought it advisable to

transfer this portion of Mr. Dana’s work to our pages; but the tables

of facts on which they are founded would occupy too much space ;

they will be found in Silliman’s Journal, vols. xvi. xviii. xix. & xx.

—Eps. |

Tue origin of the existing distribution of species in this depart-

ment of zoology deserves attentive consideration. Two great

causes are admitted by all, and the important question is, how

far the influence of each has extended. The first is, oraginal

local creations ;. the second, migration.

Under the first head, we may refer much that we have already

Geographical Distribution of Crustacea. 43

said on the influence of temperature, and the restriction of

species to particular temperature regions. It is not doubted

that the species have been created in regions for which they are

especially fitted ; that their fitness for these regions involves an

adaptation of structure thereto, and upon this adaptation, their

characteristics as species depend. These characteristics are of

no climatal origin. They are the impress of the Creator’s hand,

when the species had their first existence in those regions calcu-

lated to respond to their necessities.

The following questions come under this general head :—

1. Have there been local centres of creation, from which

groups of species have gone forth by migration ?

2. Have genera only and not species, or have species, been

repeated by creation in distinct and distant regions ?

3. How closely may we recognize in climatal and other phy-

sical conditions, the predisposing cause of the existence of specific

genera or species ?

With regard to the second head, migration, we should re-

member, that Crustacea are almost wholly maritime or marie ;

that marine waters are continuous the globe around; and that

no sea-shore species in zoology are better fitted than crabs for

migration. They may cling to any floating log and range the

seas wherever the currents drift the rude craft, while the fish of

the sea-shores will only wander over their accustomed haunts.

Hence it is, that among the Pacific Islands the fishes of each

group of islands are mostly peculiar to the group, while the Crus-

tacea are much more generally diffused.

A direction and also a limit to this migration exist, (1) in the

currents of the ocean, and (2) in the temperature of its different

regions. Through the torrid zone, the currents flow mainly

from the east towards the west ; yet they are reversed in some

parts during a certain portion of the year. But this reversed

current in the Pacific never reaches the American continent, and

hence it could never promote migration to its shores. Again,

beyond 30° or 35° of north or south latitude, the general course

of the waters is from the west, and the currents are nearly uni-

form and constant. Here is a means of eastward migration in

the middle and higher temperate regions. But the temperate

regions in these latitudes are more numerous than in the tropics,

and species might readily be wafted to uncongenial climates,

which would be their destruction ; in fact they could hardly

escape this, Moreover, such seas are more boisterous than those

nearer the equator. Again, these waters are almost entirely bare

for very long distances, and not dotted closely with islands like

the equatorial Pacific.

In the northern hemisphere, on the eastern coasts especially,

A Mr. J. D. Dana on the Origin of the

there are warm currents from the south and cold currents from

the north. The former overlie the latter to a great extent in the

summer, and may aid southern species in northward migrations.

Cape Hatteras is nearly the termination of the summer line of

70° (see Maury’s Chart), a temperature which belongs to the

subtorrid region in winter. On the China coast, at Macao, there

is a temperature of 83° in July, and in the Yellow Sea, of 78°

to 80°. But such northward migrations as are thus favoured, are

only for the season; the cold currents of the winter months de-

stroy all such adventurers, except the individuals of some hardier

species that belong to the seas or have a wide range in distribu-

tion. Sea-shore Crustacea are not in themselves migratory, and

are thus unlike many species of fish. Even the swimming Por-

tunide are not known voluntarily to change their latitudes with

the season.

The following is a brief recapitulation of the more prominent

facts bearing on these points :—

1. The distribution of individuals of many species through

twelve thousand miles in the torrid zone of the Oriental seas.

2. The very sparing distribution of Oriental species in Occi-

dental seas.

3. The almost total absence of Oriental species from the west

coast of America.

4. The world-wide distribution within certain latitudes of the

species we have called cosmopolites.

5. The occurrence of closely allied genera at the Hawaiian

Islands and in the Japan seas.

6. The occurrence of the same subtorrid species at the Ha-

waiian Islands and at Port Natal, South Africa, and not in the

torrid zone intermediate, as Kraussia rugulosa and Galene na-

talensis.

7. The occurrence of identical species in the Japan seas and

at Port Natal.

8. The occurrence of the same species (Plagusia tomentosa) .

in South Africa, New Zealand, and Valparaiso ; and the occur-

rence of a second species (Cancer Edwardsit (?)) at New Zealand

and Valparaiso.

9. The occurrence of closely allied species (as species of Am-

phoroidea and Ozius) in New South Wales and Chili.

10. The occurrence of the same species in the Japan seas and

the Mediterranean, and of several identical genera.

11. The occurrence of a large number of identical species in

the British seas and the Mediterranean ; and also in these seas

and about the Canary Islands.

12. The occurrence of closely allied, if not identical, species

(as of Palemon) in New Zealand and the British seas ; and also

Geographical Distribution of Crustacea. AS

of certain genera that are elsewhere peculiarly British, or com-

mon only to Britain and America.

13. An identity in certain species of Eastern and Western

America.

The following are the conclusions to which we are led by the

facts :—

I. The migration of species from island to island through the

tropical Pacific and East Indies may be a possibility ; and the

same species may thus reach even to Port Natal in South Africa.

The currents of the oceans favour it, the temperature of the

waters is congenial through all this range, and the habits of

many Crustacea, although they are not voluntarily migratory,

seem to admit of it. The species which actually have so wide a

range are not Maioids (which are to a considerable extent deep-

water species), but those of the shores ; and some, as Thalamita

admete, are swimming species.

II. The fact, that very few of the Oriental species occur in

the Occidental seas, may be explained on the same ground, by

the barrier which the cold waters of Cape Horn and the South

Atlantic present to the passage of tropical species around the

Cape westward, or to their migration along the coasts.

Moreover, the diffusion of Pacific tropical species to the Western

American coast is prevented, as already observed, by the west-

ward direction of the tropical currents, and the cold waters that

bathe the greater part of this coast.

III. When we compare the seas of Southern Japan and Port

Natal, and find species common to the two that are not now

existing in the Indian Ocean or East Indies, we hesitate as to

migration being a sufficient cause of the distribution. It may

however be said, that driftings of such species westward through

the Indian Ocean may have occasionally taken place, but that

only those individuals that were carried during the season quite

through to the subtorrid region of the South Indian Ocean (Port

Natal, &c.), survived and reproduced ; the others, if continuing

to live, soon running out under the excessive heat of the inter-

mediate equatorial regions. That they would thus run out in

many instances is beyond question; but whether this view will

actually account for the resemblance in species pointed out, is

open to doubt.

IV. When, further, we find an identity of species between the

Hawaiian Islands and Port Natal—half the circumference of the

globe, or twelve thousand miles, apart—and the species, as Ga-

lene natalensis, not a species found in any part of the torrid re-

gion, and represented by another species only in Japan, we may

well “question whether we can meet the difficulty by appealing

to migration. It may however be said, that we are not as yet

46 Mr. J.D. Dana on the Origin of the

thoroughly acquainted with the species of the tropics, and that

facts may hereafter be discovered that will favour this view.

The identical species are of so peculiar a character that we deem

this improbable.

V. The existence of the Plagusia tomentosa at the southern

extremity of Africa, in New Zealand, and on the Chilian coasts,

may perhaps be due to migration, and especially as it is a

southern species, and each of these localities is within the sub-

temperate region. We are not ready however to assert, that

such journeys as this range of migration implies are possible.

The oceanic currents of this region are in the right direction to

carry the species eastward, except that there is no passage into

this western current from Cape Horn, through the Lagulhas

current, which flows the other way. It appears to be rather a

violent assumption, that an individual or more of this species

could reach the western current from the coast on which it might

have lived; or could have survived the boisterous passage, and

finally have had a safe landing on the foreign shore. The di-

stance from New Zealand to South America is five thousand miles,

and there is at present not an island between.

VI. Part of the difficulty in the way of a transfer of species

between distant meridians might be overcome, if we could as-

sume that the intermediate seas had been occupied by land or

islands during any part of the recent epoch. In the case just

alluded to, it is possible that such a chain of interrupted com-

munication once existed; and this bare possibility weakens

the force of the argument used above against migration. Yet

as it is wholly an assumption, we cannot rely upon it for evi-

dence that migration has actually taken place.

VII. The existence of the same species on the east and west

coasts of America affords another problem, which migration

cannot meet, without sinking the Isthmus of Darien or Central

America, to afford a passage across. We know of no evidence

whatever that this portion of the continent has been beneath

the ocean during the recent epoch. An argument against such

a supposition might be drawn from the very small number of

species that are identical on the two sides, and the character of

these species. Libinia spinosa occurs at Brazil and Chili, and

has not been found in the West Indies. Leptopodia sagittaria,

another Maioid, occurs at Valparaiso, the West Indies, and the

Canaries.

- VIII. The large number of similar species common to the

Mediterranean and British seas may be due to migration, as

there is a continuous line of coast and no intermediate tempera-

ture rendering such a transfer impossible; and the passage

farther south to the Canaries of several of the species is not

Geographical Distribution of Crustacea. 4.7

beyond what. this cause might accomplish. Still, it cannot be

asserted that in all instances the distribution here is owing to

migration; nor will it be admitted unless other facts throw the

weight of probability on that side.

IX, But when we find the same temperate zone species oc-

curring in distant provinces, these provinces having between

them no. water-communication except through the torrid or

frigid zone, and offering no ground for the supposition that such

a communication has existed during the recent epoch, we are led

to deny the agency of voluntary or involuntary migration in

producing this dissemination. An example of this, beyond all

dispute, is that of the Mediterranean Sea and Japan. No water-

communication for the passage of species can be imagined. An

opening into the Red Sea is the only possible point of intercom-

munication between the two kingdoms ; but this opens into the

torrid zone, in no part of which are the species found. The

two regions have their peculiarities and their striking resem-

blances ; and we are forced to attribute them. to original creation,

and not intercommunication.

X. The resemblances found are not merely in the existence

of a few identical species. There are genera common to the

two seas that occur nowhere else in the Oriental kingdom, as

Latreilia, Ephyra, Sicyonia, &c. ; and species where not iden-

tical having an exceedingly close resemblance.

Now this resemblance in genera and species (without. exact

identity in the latter) is not explained by supposing a_ possible

intercommunication. But we may reasonably account for it on

the ground of a similarity in the temperature and other physical

conditions of the seas; and the well-known principle of “like

eauses, like effects,” forces itself upon the mind as fully meeting

the case. Mere intercommunication could not produce the re-

semblance ; for just this similarity of physical condition would

still be necessary.. And where such a similarity exists, creative

power may multiply analogous species ; we should almost. say,

must ; for, as species are made for the circumstances in which

they are to live, identical circumstances will necessarily imply

identity of genera in a given class, and even of specific structure

or of subgenera.

If then the similarity in the characters of these regions is the

occasion of the identity of genera, and of the very close likeness

in certain species (so close that an identity is sometimes strongly

suspected where not admitted), we must conclude that there is a

possibility of actual identity of species, through original creation.

This, in fact, becomes the only admissible view, and the actually

identical species between Japan and the Mediterranean are ex-

amples.

48 Mr. J. D. Dana on the Origin of the

XI. When we find a like resemblance of genera and species

between temperate-zone provinces in opposite hemispheres that

are almost exact antipodes, as in the case of Great Britain and

New Zealand, we have no choice of hypotheses left. We must

appeal directly to creative agency for the peopling of the New

Zealand seas as well as the British, and see, in both, like wis-

dom, and a like adaptedness of life to physical nature. The

Palemon affinis of the New Zealand seas is hardly distinguish-

able from the common P. squilla of Kurope, and is one example

of this resemblance. It may not be an identity; and on this

account it is a still better proof of our principle, becauset here is

no occasion to suspect migration or any other kind of transfer.

It is a creation of species in these distant provinces, which are

almost identical, owing to the physical resemblances of the seas ;

and it shows at least, that a very close approximation to identity

may be consistent with Divine Wisdom.

The resemblance of the New Zealand and British seas has

been remarked upon as extending also to the occurrence in both

of the genera Portunus and Cancer. It is certainly a wonderful

fact that New Zealand should have a closer resemblance in its

Crustacea to Great Britain, its antipode, than to any other part

of the world—a resemblance running parallel, as we cannot fail

to observe, with its geographical form, its insular position, and

its situation among the temperate regions of the ocean. Under

such circumstances, there must be many other more intimate

resemblances, among which we may yet distinguish the special

cause which led to the planting of peculiar British genera in this

antipodal land.

The close resemblance in species and genera from Britain and

New Zealand, and from Japan and the Mediterranean, and the

actual identity in some species among the latter, prove there-

fore that, as regards the species of two distant regions, identity as

well as resemblance may be attributable to independent creations,

these resemblances being in direct accordance with the physical

resemblancesof the regions. As this conclusion cannot be avoided,

we are compelled in all cases to try the hypothesis of migra-

tion by considering something beside the mere possibility of its

having taken place under certain assumed conditions. The pos-

sibility of independent creations is as important a consideration.

After all the means of communication between distant provinces

have been devised or suggested, the principle still arises, that

it is in accordance with Divine Wisdom to create similar and

identical species in different regions where the physical cireum-

stances are alike ; and we must determine by special and thorough

investigation, whether one or the other cause was the actual

origin of the distribution in each particular case. Thus it must

Geographical Distribution of Crustacea. AQ

be with reference to the wide distribution of species in the

Oriental tropics, as well as in the European temperate regions,

and the temperate zone of the South Pacific and Indian

Oceans.

XII. With respect to the creation of identical species in di-

stant regions, we would again point to its direct dependence on

- anear identity of physical condition. Although we cannot admit

that cireumstances or physical forces have ever created a species

(as like can only beget like, and physical force must result sim-

ply in physical force), and while we see in all nature the free act

of the Divine Being, we may still believe the connexion between

the calling into existence of a species and the physical circum-

stances surrounding it, to be as intimate nearly as cause and effect.

The Creator has, in infinite skill, adapted each species to its place,

and the whole into a system of admirable harmony and perfection.

In His wisdom, any difference of physical condition and kind of

food at hand, is sufficient to require some modification of the

intimate structure of species, and this difference is expressed in

the form of the body or members, so as to produce an exactness

of adaptation, which we are far from fully perceiving or compre-

hending with our present knowledge of the relations of species

to their habitats.

When therefore we find the same species in regions of unlike

physical character, as, for example, in the seas of the Canaries

and Great Britain—regions physically so unlike—we have strong

reason for attributing the diffusion of the species to migration.

The difference between the Mediterranean and Great Britain

may require the same conclusion for the species common to these

seas. ‘They are so far different, that we doubt whether species

created independently in the two could have been identical, or

even have had that resemblance that exists between varieties ;

for this resemblance is usually of the most trivial kind, and affects

only the least essential of the parts of a species.

The continental species of Crustacea from the interior of dif-

ferent continents are not in any case known to be identical ; and

it is well understood that the zoological provinces and distri iets of

the land are of far more limited extent than those of the ocean.

The physical differences of the former are far more striking than

those of the latter. As we have observed elsewhere, the varie-

ties of climate are greater ; the elevation above the sea may vary

widely ; ; and numberless are the diversities of soil and its condi-

tions, and the circumstances above and within it. Hence, as the

creation of each species has had reference most intimately to each

and all of these conditions, as well as to other prospective ends,

an identity between distant continental regions is seldom to be

found, and the characteristic — of genera are very wiialy

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser.2. Vol. xvn. 4,

50 On the Geographical Distribution of Crustacea.

diverse. Comparatively few genera of Insects have as wide a

range as those of Crustacea; and species, with rare exceptions,

have very narrow limits. Where the range of a species im this

class is great, we should in general look to migration ‘as the

cause, rather than original creation; but the considerations

bearing on both should be attentively studied, before either- is

admitted as the true explanation.

Throughout the warmer tropical oceans, a resemblance in the

physical conditions of distant provinces is far more common and

more exact than in the temperate zone; and hence. it, would

seem that we cannot safely appeal to actual differences: as. an

argument against the creation of a species in more than one place

in the tropics. The species spread over the Oriental torrid zone

may hence be supposed to owe their distribution to independent

creations of the same species in different places, as well as to mi-

gration. Yet we may in this underrate the exactness of physical

identity required in regions for independent creations of the same

species. We know that for some chemical compounds, the condi-

tion of physical forces for their formation is exceedingly delicate ;

and much more should we infer that, when the creation of a living

germ was concerned, a close exactness in the conditions would be

required in order that the creation should be repeated in another

place. Infinite power, it is true, may create in any place; but.

the creation will have reference to the forces of matter, the ma-

terial employed in the creation. The few species common to

the Oriental and Occidental torrid seas seem to be evidence’ on

this point. The fact that the Oriental species have so rarely

been repeated in the Occidental seas, when the conditions seem

to be the same, favours the view that migration has been the

main source of the diffusion in the Oriental tropics.

As we descend in the order of Invertebrates, the species are

less detailed in structure, with fewer specific parts and greater

simplicity of functions, and they therefore admit of a wider

range of physical condition; the same argument against multi-

plication by independent creations in regions for the most part

different, does not, therefore, so strongly hold. As we pass, on

the contrary, to the highest groups in Zoology, the argument

receives far greater weight ; and at the same time there are capa-

bilities of migration increasing generally in direct ratio as we

ascend, which are calculated to promote the diffusion of species,

and remove the necessity of independent creations.

Migration cannot therefore be set aside. It is an actual fact

in nature, interfering much with the simplicity which zoological

hfe in its diffusion would otherwise present to us. Where it

ends, and where independent creations have taken place, is the

great problem for our study. This question has its bearings on

all departments of Zoology ; but in few has-migration hadthe

Prof. W. King on the Fossil genus Anthracosia. 51

same extended influence as in that of Crustacea, Mollusks, if

we except oceanic species, are no travellers, and keep mostly to

narrow limits.

XIII. There is evidence, in the exceedingly small number of

torrid-zone species identical in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans,

that‘there has been no water-communication across from one to

the other in the torrid zone, during the period since existing

species of Crustacea were first on the globe.

XIV. As to zoological centres of diffusion for groups of spe-

cles, we can point out none. Hach species of Crustacea may

have had its place of origin and single centre of diffusion in

many and perhaps the majority of cases. But we have no reason

to say that certain regions were without life, and were peopled

by migration from specific centres specially selected for this

end. If such centres had an existence, there is at present no

means by which they may be ascertained. The particular tem-

perature region in which a species originated may be ascertained

by observing which is most favourable to its development: we

should thus conclude that the Ranina dentata, for example, was

created in the subtorrid region, and not the torrid, as it attains its

largest size in the latter. By pursuing this course with reference

to each species, we may find some that are especially fitted for

almost every different locality. Hence we might show, as far

as reason and observation can do it, that all regions: have had

their own special creations.

The world, throughout all its epochs in past history, has Hea

furnished with life in accordance with the times and seasons;

each species being adapted to its age, its place; and its dita

species of life. »

VI.—On Anthracosia, a Fossil Genus of the Family Unionide.

By Wrt11am Kine, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology

in Queen’s College, Galway, Corresponding Member of the

Natural History and Medical Society of Dresden, &c.

[With a Plate. ]

Tue lakes, rivers and estuaries of the Carboniferous period were

inhabited by two groups of Bivalves; the generic characters of

neither have as yet been fully described. One group includes

forms having much of the external aspect of ordinary species of

Unio ; while the other comprises members possessing the out-

ward | appearance of certain aviculoid forms of Modiola.

But as external resemblances are not always to be depended

on in determining the genus of a fossil shell, some palonto-

logists'have gone no further, in the present) case, than: merely

to refer the bivalves in question to the genera named, while

52: Prof. W. King on the Fossil genus Anthracosia.

others have placed the Unioniform shells in the totally distinct

genus Cardinia, and the Modioliform species in that of Myalina.

As it is possible that I may have to notice the last-named

genus on a future occasion, I purpose confining myself, in the

present paper, to the Unioniform group.

Some years back, when residing in Newcastle-on-Tyne, I

occasionally obtained some good casts and testiferous specimens

of the so-called fossil Unios from Jarrow pit and some others in

that district ; also from a clay-ironstone band near Whitley.

On examining these specimens, I ascertained that they pos-

sessed certain characters sufficiently distinctive, and were deficient

in a very important one, to warrant their removal from the genus

in which they were usually placed. ‘This led me to propose, in

the Annals for November 1844**, a new genus for the fossils in

question, under the name Anthracosia, on the occasion of my

nominating and describing some other fossil genera,—intending

to publish the diagnosis of it shortly afterwards. I need not

enter into any explanation of the causes which have prevented

this intention being carried out; suffice it to say, that, as several

parties have adopted the name I proposed, and as no one, that

I am aware of, has yet published any generic description of these

fossils, I feel myself bound to take up the subject, even after the

lapse of so many years.

The character which Anthracosia is deficient in, exists in all

the known genera of Unionide. It consists of a largish scar in

each valve, situated immediately behind the impression of the

anterior adductor muscle, and which is evidently supplementary

to the usual number of retractor muscles belonging to the foot

of other Dimyarian shells, and inserted within or near their um-

bonal cavities. To distinguish the scars left by the supplementary

muscles from those produced by the ordinary anterior foot-retrac-

tors, they have sometimes been termed “supplementary pedal

muscular scars.”

Reverting to the Unioniform fossils, several fine casts have

passed under my notice ; but in none have I observed the

“supplementary scars,”—only those usually situated, as in

ordinary bivalves, within or near the umbonal cavities. The

remarkably fine cast, represented in Pl. IV. fig. 5, is exceedingly

instructive in this respect.

The absence of these scars appears to have given rise to the

opinion, that the fossils under consideration, though admitted

to be freshwater species, belong to a marine genus, or, at least,

to one (Cardinia) emeenly formed for some well-characterized

marine shells.

* “On a new Genus of Paleozoic Shells.””—Annals and Magazine of

Natural History, vol. xiv. 1844,

Prof. W. King on the Fossil genus Anthracosia. 53

But, notwithstanding the absence in Anthracosia of the sup-

plementary scars peculiar to the Unionide, there can be little

doubt, from the presence of another essential feature, of the genus

belonging to the family just named.

In most Dimyarians, the ligament extends from the corselet

(where it covers the cartilage, when this last part is external) to

a little in front of the umbones; but the umbonal portion is

seldom well developed, except in certain species—notably in Cy-

prina Islandica, in each valve of which it occupies a rounded cavity,

excavated in the hinge-plate immediately beneath the umbone,

and in front of the cartilage. In the Unionide, however, the

umbonal portion is as much developed as the corselet division ;

and that part of the hinge-plate, on which it is situated, is never

separated from the teeth by so marked a line of demarcation as

prevails in marine shells. These peculiarities may be distinctly

observed in our British Unios: they are also to be seen in Unio

littoralis, and more or less in all the American species. In these,

as well as marine shells, the corselet ligament is more compact

than the umbonal portion,—the latter being composed of imper-

fectly conjoined lamine, which, in Unionide, produce a number

of parallel curving linear impressions, commencing from above

the cardinal teeth, and descending behind them, nearly to the

inner or free margin of the hinge-plate. When the umbonal

portion of the ligament is removed, impressions of its constituent

laminz are quite obvious on the hinge-plate.

The fossil genus Anthracosia has evidently possessed the liga-

mental peculiarities of the Unionide in an eminent degree, as

that part of the hinge-plate on which the umbonal ligament was

implanted is comparatively large and deeply excavated ;—indeed,

in the typical species it is much larger and deeper than in any

existing forms that have passed under my notice.

I repeat then, there can be little doubt that its ligamental

characters prove the genus Anthracosia to be a member of the

family Unionide; but as its mollusk was not furnished with the

usual supplementary pedal muscles, it may be considered as

representing an abnormal section.

Family UNIoNID&.

Genus ANTHRACOSIA*, nobis.

Syn. Unio, Sowerby and others.

Pachyodon, Brown (not Stutchbury).

Cardinia (in part), Morris and others.

Diagnosis.—Kquivalved: ineguilateral. Teeth—one in each

* From dv@pa€ = carbon, in allusion to the carbonaceous aren in

which the genus is usually found.

54 Prof. W. King on the Fossil genus Anthracosia.

valve below the umbone, rather low and massive: crown of tooth

of right valve excavated anteriorly and ridged posteriorly: crown

of tooth of left valve ridged anteriorly and sloped posteriorly.

Umbonal ligamental fulcra, each a furrow excavated in the

hinge-plate, between the umbone and tooth. Scars of the ante-

rior set of pedal muscles situated above the anterior adductor

muscular impressions.

Typical species, Unio Beaniana*.

The dental system of Anthracosia is much simpler than that

of most Unionide; and it differs so much from what usually pre-

vails in the family as to appear formed on a totally different plan.

The dental formula is merely— Cardinals +; and the interlocking

of the teeth is simply thus—the excavation of the right-valved

tooth receives the ridge of the left-valved one; and the ridge of

the former fits on to the slope of the latter, as is exhibited in the

diagram section represented under fig. 3, Pl. IV. In other den-

tiferous Unionide, however much the cardinal teeth may vary in

form and direction, they all appear to be formed on one plan ;

and their formula is thus :— Cardinals Right | with or without

Laterals, the left-valved two clasping the right-valved one (vide

Pl. 1V. fig. 4). Hence in the latter shells the teeth interlock each

other completely, and much more securely than in Anthracosia.

In the latter genus, however, this defect was undoubtedly com-

pensated by the unusual size of the umbonal portion of the liga-

ment. None of the testiferous specimens which | have examined,

of the type of Anthracosia, exhibit the least appearance of pos-

terior teeth ; nor docasts of some other species before me afford

any indication of their presence in the genus. It will thus be

obvious that the genus Cardinia, which possesses well-developed

posterior teeth, and which is furnished with some other differ.

ential characters, is not the proper group, as some appear to

think, for the shells under consideration.

The fulcra of the umbonal ligament of Anthracosia, although

simply an enlargement of a peculiar feature of the Unionidae,

nevertheless form a well-marked character in the diagnosis of the

genus. In the typical species they are widish furrows, broadest

and deepest on the inner or free margin of the hinge-plate: that

of the left valve is more deeply excavated than the right-valved

one. ‘The linear impressions of the lamine forming the um-

bonal ligament are rather prommently marked on both fulcra,

and they curve suddenly down (forming a deep sinus) to the

inner margin of the hinge-plate (vide Pl. IV. fig. 2).

Judging from the species represented under fig. 6, Pl. IV., the

cartilage appears to have been of the usual size. Several speci-

* Vide Supplementary Note.

Prof. W. King on the Fossil genus Authracosia. 55

‘mens have occurred to me in, which this structure is equally well

pasnerver ; and I perceive that Captain Brown represents it in

is Pachyodon (Anthracosia) rugosus*,

The impressions of both adductor muscles are usually well

displayed on casts. The anterior one, which is by far the most

distinct, is strongly jagged in most species. ‘The pallial line,

exhibiting the simple character prevailing generally in the family,

is also often very well marked, The scars produced by the an-

_ terior pedal muscles are limited to the umbonal cavity and the

edge of the hinge-plate, as in Dimyarians generally (vide Pl. LV.

fig. 5). I have searched repeatedly and carefully on casts of

various species for the supplementary scars, without however

observing any that I could safely conclude were such, Occa-

sionally I have seen marks on or near the part where they usually

occur; but I feel perfectly satistied that they can only be con-

sidered as accidental, having never seen them on good sharp casts.

It is necessary to mention this, as some persons might look upon

such marks as having been produced by the supplementary re-

tractors of the foot.

Probably the absence in <Anthracosia of a character hitherto

never found to be absent in the Unionidae, might give rise to the

opinion that the genus ought to be placed in another family.

Further discoveries may render such a step necessary. I feel

persuaded, however, that whatever may hereafter be discovered,

the relationship between Anthracosia and the Unionide, contended

for in this paper, will not be in the least weakened. At present

I am only disposed to go the length of regarding it as the type

of an abnornal section of the family.

_. Anthracosia appears to be confined to deposits of the Carboni-

ferous system; for all the Untonide hitherto described as occurring

in secondary and tertiary deposits are normal forms of the family.

The Eocene Unio Solandri, anda small Neocomian species before

me, exhibit the supplementary scars. Mantell detected them in

his Unio Valdensis; and they are well displayed on a Jurassic

species found in the Gristhorp plant-beds, and described some

years ago by my friend Mr. Bean, under the name of Unio dis-

tortus. This specimen appeared to me so interesting as regards

_the character under consideration, that Mr. Bean kindly allowed

me to make the sketch which is given in Pl. IV. fig. 7.

Although none of the Carboniferous species that I have seen

_display the supplementary scars, it must not be considered that

I have no belief in the existence of normal Unionide during the

_primary period. The highly teresting form named Anodon

* “Description of some new species of the genus Pachyodon.”—Ann.

& Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. xii. p.391, Pl. 15. figs. 6 & 7 (1843).

56 Prof. W. King on the Fossil genus Anthracosia.

Jukesii by Forbes, and occurring in the Knocktopher plant-beds,

is calculated to settle this point ; for should it possess the scars

im question, the conclusion must arise that normal species of the

family existed in the Devonian epoch,—also contemporaneously

with Anthracosia.

Supplementary Note.

Not being able to identify the type of Anthracosia with any

published species, I am under the necessity of publishing it as

new, naming it after my friend Mr. Bean. 3

Anthracosia Beaniana, King.

Diagnosis.—Oval : very inequilateral. Umbones small. Valves

thin, rather tumid, and marked with nearly obsolete wrinkles.

This species has some resemblance to Brown’s Pachyodon

bipennis ; but it differs from the latter notably in the anterior

end being much shorter. The valves throughout their length

are evenly rounded, giving no marked prominence to the um-

bones. It does not appear to have much exceeded an inch or so

in length.

It occurred to me in the coal-measures near Newcastle-on-

Tyne*.

Belmont, near Galway,

December 12, 1855.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV.

Fig. 1. Anthracosia Beaniana, King. a, Left valve (which is restored

behind the black line); b, Right valve.

Fig. 2. Dental system of the same species; enlarged. a+, posterior slope,

b+, anterior ridge of cardinal tooth of left valve, a; a, posterior

ridge (fitting on posterior slope (a+) of tooth of opposite valve),

b, anterior excavation (receiving anterior ridge (b+) of tooth of

opposite valve) of right valve, b ; 0, o, ligamental fulcra on hinge- —

plate.

Fig. 3. Diagram exhibiting vertical section of cardinal teeth of the same

* A few days ago (Dec. 22) I received from Professor Sedgwick for the

Library of Queen’s College, Galway, the Third Fasciculus of his “Synopsis ~~

of the Classification of the British Paleozoic Rocks,” in which I perceive

that Professor M‘Coy has published a genus under the name Carbonicola.

My friend evidently thinks it synonymous with Anthracosia, which he ad-

mits being aware that I intended describing! However, 7f the genus Car-

bonicola possess the characters diagnosed by Professor M‘Coy, it is clearly

not the same as my Anthracosia, which does not possess any lateral teeth,

There are certain errors in the remarks under the genus Carbonicola which

it must be obvious to any one that I am not called on to correct; but it is

otherwise with several interspersed throughout the work. Some of those now

alluded to, I purpose correcting im future Numbers of the ‘ Annals,’ and

the remainder I hope to put right, should I have an opportunity of bring-

ing out a new edition of my Monograph.—Dee. 27, 1885.

Se A a ee ee

Ann. Mig Mat Hist. 8. 2.No\.11. PL TW.

NET ACE

ae EN

Mr. W. Clark on the Genus Assiminia. 57

species. A, anterior end; B, posterior end; a, posterior ridge ;

b, anterior excavation of cardinal tooth of right valve, b; a+, pos-

terior slope; 5+, anterior ridge of cardinal tooth of left valve, a;

c, umbonal ligament.

Fig. 4. Diagram exhibiting vertical section of the cardinal teeth of Unio

littoralis. a, single tooth of right valve, b, clasped by the two

teeth, b, of left valve, a. The remaining letters have the same

references as in fig. 3. :

Fig. 5. Anthracosia acuta, Sowerby. Cast, exhibiting adductor muscular

impressions, a, a—scars of the anterior set of foot-retractors, 5—

and pallial line, c.

Fig. 6. Anthracosia Smithu? Brown. Testiferous specimen, exhibiting

the cartilage, a.

Fig. 7. Unio distortus, Bean. Jurassic. Cast in Mr. Bean’s Museum, ex-

hibiting anterior adductor muscular impression, a—scars of the

anterior set of foot-retractors, b—supplementary scar, c—and a

portion of pallial line, d.

VII.--On the Genus Assiminia.

[We have received a further communication on this subject from

Mr. Clark, in reply to the observations of Dr. Gray in our last

Number, which we must decline publishing, the question having

been sufficiently discussed in our pages to enable the reader to form

his own opinion on the matter in dispute. We cannot however,

in fairness to our correspondent, refuse insertion to the two fol-

lowing paragraphs, which we trust will terminate the correspondence

on this subject.—Eps.1

“‘ With respect to the generic maxims propounded by Dr. Gray,”’

Mr. Clark observes—‘“I dissent from them,—and disagree with

Dr. Gray’s restriction of the number of the species of a genus, except

under more stringent conditigns than he has stated. Dr. Gray’s

comparison of Assiminia and Truncatella is decidedly incorrect, and

I maintain the position that the so-called Assiminia Grayana is

malacologically a well-marked Truncatedla.

**T would also draw attention to the unfair manner in which

Dr. Gray has commented on some of my statements: there is a

studied reticence in his observations on important points, the corre-

lative incidents of which are passed over without that notice which

would have supplied corrections and explanations. To give an in-

stance: in these ‘ Annals’ for October I observed that I was ‘not sur-

prised that my logic should not find favour with one who considers

that a genus must be restricted in the number of its species, however

similar these may be in every essential character.’ Dr. Gray quietly

suppresses every allusion to the words which I have marked in

italics, probably from a fixed idea that essential characters are of no

importance in the establishment of genera. If I am correct in this

supposition, I must still decline to entertain the belief that such

views are held by modern zoologists, notwithstanding Dr. Gray’s

repeated assertion that such is the case.”’

58 Bibliographical Notices.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

Recherches sur les Crinoides du Terrain Carbonifere de la Belgique.

Par L. pe Konincx et H. pe Hon. Bruxelles. 1854.

Tus volume, which has been reprinted from the Memoirs of the

Royal Academy of Belgium, embodies the researches of the authors

on the crinoidal remains which have been found in the carboniferous

limestone of that country. One of the authors, Prof. de Koninck,

has long been known as an acute and zealous paleeontologist, and his

work, published in 1842, ‘On the Fossils of the Mountain Limestone

of Belgium,’ was an important addition to geological science, afford-

ing us another term of comparison with the British species, as well

as the affinities and distribution of these upper paleeozoic forms.

At the time of publication of the former work, although containing

descriptions of 500 species from this deposit, only fifteen species of

Crinoids were then recognized. Since that period, by more active

researches, and under very favourable circumstances, a large number

of specimens have been obtained, from which the authors have elimi-

nated, described, and fully illustrated in this work no less than fifty-

three species from Belgium alone. The conditions under which some

portion of the carboniferous series of Belgium occurs, either as decom-

posed limestone or of an argillaceous character, have permitted the

extraction of many specimens in a perfect state of preservation. By

this means the authors have been enabled to study with more preci-

sion and detail than is usual in limestone fossils, the structure of cer-

tain little-known species of Crinoids, and have further been enabled

to confirm or modify the previously received opinions, as well as sug-

gest others, respecting the organization and probable habits of these

singular and interesting animals. The fifty-three species belong to

eleven genera, of which four are new, viz. Mespilocrinus, Graphio-

crinus, Forbesiocrinus and Lageniocrinus. According to the opinion

of Prof. de Koninck, the carboniferous limestone series of Belgium is

divided into an upper and lower; the former, that of ‘Tournay, being

characterized by the Spirifer Sowerbyi, Fischer; the latter, that of

Visé, by the presence of Productus giganteus, Mart., P. striatus,

Fisch., and. Spirifer striatus and S. bisuleatus. This distribution

of species does not, however, accord with the notions of some geolo-

gists. Taking however the facts as stated by Prof. de Koninck with

regard to the distribution of the species of Crinoids, nine belong ex-

clusively to the lower or Productus giganteus horizon; these are—

and we quote them for the purpose of further investigation in. this

country— Cyathocrinus mammillaris, Poteriocrinus calyx, P. M‘Coy-

anus, P, Phillipsianus, P. conoideus, Rhodocrinus uniarticulatus,

Mespilocrinus granifer, Aectinocrinus tricuspidatus, Lageniocrinus

seminulum. The first three species have also been found in England.

The remaining forty-four species belong to the superior horizon of

Spirifer Sowerbyi, and are characteristic of this stage in Belgium.

Twenty-four of these latter are also found in the British deposits.

The prefatory matter contains an historical introduction on the

Bibliographical Notices. 59

Crinoidea, in which the authors give a general review of the phases

in the history of this family, and a summary of the various opinions

as to their affinities and classification which have been suggested by

the principal writers on the subject. A valuable list is also given,

arranged in chronological order, of the works, memoirs and papers

of the naturalists who have alluded to the Crinoidea, from the ‘ De

Natura Fossilium’ of Agricola in 1558 to the present time, and which

includes no less a number of publications than 346! One would

have little thought that this almost paleeozoic dynasty should have

met with so many complimentary inquiries ; fortunately for them,

their “‘ histoire’ has been protected by better conservators than those

in one of our public departments, where, it has been stated, some

valuable historical documents have been carelessly disposed of by

those who had them in charge!

If however the Crinoidea have had a copious literature, they have

not been so fortunate in their generic names, as is evidenced by the

ase of such words as Gilbertsocrinus, Hallocrinus, and Woodocrinus,

‘» system commenced by Phillips, adopted by D’Orbigny, and fol-

owed by De Koninck. Surely those naturalists who have studied

and deciphered the organic structure of these remains, and been thus

ed to regard these forms as distinct from the cognate genera,

might have suggested generic names more consistent with, and

xpressive of, their true characters, than many of the mongrel

words that have been assigned to members of this family. No

wonder the classical scholar repudiates the natural-history nomen-

slaturist or modern wordmonger for fossil genera and species. Fol-

jowing out the idea as above noticed, we should not be surprised to

hear of some new American Crinoid with the happy cognomen of

Unclesambocrinus.

In other departments of paleeozoology it would not more excite

our astonishment to hear of such names as Grayoconcha, Gouldornis,

or Owenotherium, terms which, if unappropriated at present, are

quite at the service of the incipient paleeontologist who despairs of

finding explicative terms for generic groups. Nor is the species-

maker blameless. To say nothing of the goodnatured intent of

those who name species and varieties after great men and their

friends—and indeed we wonder we have not yet heard of a Trilobites

lbertianus,—we think it a proper subject for animadversion, that

the species already rejoicing in good personal appellations should, on

account of their less worthy relations, have their patronymic degraded

by the prefix “sud,” as we see in the Terebratula sub-Bentleyi,

Ammonites sub-Bakeria, &e.

Tn the chapter on the general Sosidiaticinn of the Crinoidea, the

authors have given some details respecting the classification, struc-

ture and organization of these bodies, and have discussed the prin-

ciples of nomenclature as applied to the different parts, as well as

suggested a more easy and consistent notation for the different pieces

forming the calyx or terminal part.

Appended to the memoir is a description of a new genus of Cri-

60 Bibliographical Notices.

noids, recently obtained by a zealous collector, Mr. Wood, from the

mountain limestone near Richmond in Yorkshire, and which, from

the perfection of the specimens obtained, leaves little to desire respect-

ing its illustration. This genus, Woodocrinus, is allied to Cyatho-

crinus and Forbesiocrinus, differing from the latter in possessing sub-

radial pieces, and from the former in having five of these plates

instead of four. Another peculiarity is found ia the stem, which,

unlike most of the Crinoids, is very slender at the commencement

and gradually increases in diameter with its length.

Prof. de Koninck is at present engaged on a general treatise of the

Crinoidea, and has recently visited this country for the purpose of

obtaining specimens and examining the collections in order to perfect

his work ; therefore any assistance connected with this subject would

not be rendered in vain; for although two valuable works are in

progress, those of Mr. Austin and M. d’Orbigny, there is still room

for further researches on these singular lilyform creatures, which

swarmed so abundantly in the earlier seas, and whose almost entire

absence in the present ocean is probably compensated for, or at

least represented by, the higher members of the same family of

Echinoderms. ,

A Lecture on the Geological History of Newbury, Berks.

By T. Rupert Jones, F.G.S.

This pamphlet, containing the substance of a lecture delivered

before the members of a scientific institute, has however more than

a local interest. In treating of the physical history of a limited

district, the author has brought forward certain geological truths in

a clear and intelligible manner. Popular lectures are not always

satisfactory, partly from the ad captandum style, sometimes from a

discursive array of undigested facts, and frequently from the lecturer

speaking at and not ¢o the audience.

The value of elementary instruction depends upon the correctness

of the facts stated, and the clearness and methodical manner with

which they are enunciated. In this respect Mr. Jones has been suc-

cessful, by arranging the leading principles of geological science in a

concise and common-sense manner. Geology is treated as a history,

the records of which are to be sought for beneath the surface, in the

constitution of the soils and subsoils of the district, in the beds of

earth and stone, which compose the frame-work of hill and valley,

and constitute, as it were, the many-leaved stony volume of the

earth’s primeeval history. Cuvier long ago remarked, that the geo-

logist was an antiquary of a new order. Just as the antiquary finds

materials for history in the many buildings of towns and cities,

whether perfect or in ruins, which have been erected for ecclesiastical,

military or civil purposes, at different periods, in distinct styles, of

various materials, and often rich with sculpture and inscriptions,—

so the geologist examines the many different rocks and soils of which

Bibliographical Notices. 61

the crust of the earth consists, notes the relative position of the

several layers, studies their minerals, and compares their fossils.

In the deeper valleys around Newbury, the different members of

the cretaceous formation crop out; and these are covered nearer the

town by some of the members of the middle and lower tertiary series,

which in their turn are overlaid by deposits of gravel, the adjacent

valleys of the Kennett and Lambourne being partially occupied by

peat-accumulations. As the different deposits here exhibited are but

continuous portions of strata spread over more extensive areas, any

remarks concerning the origin of local phenomena necessitate an

inquiry into the successive changes which have obtained over larger

regions of the earth’s surface.

It is thus that local geology, when well explained, embraces larger

views, embodies general principles, and points to their practical

bearings. In this spirit the lecture is conceived. By examining the

nature of the deposits, it is shown how these have been accumulated

by the action of seas and rivers during a long period of time, under

various conditions of climate, and with many changes in the relative

position of land and sea. The order of the succession of these

changes, and the description of their results, together with notices of

the animals and plants that tenanted the lands and waters during this

long period, are also treated of in this lecture.

Nor are the higher inducements to the study of natural science

overlooked. There are a large class, even at present, to whom the

nature and tendencies of geological science are a sealed book, and

whose personal respect for its teachings, if it has dawned, has cer-

tainly not passed the miocene period. With some notions that the

round beneath us yields certain treasures, they have but little know-

ledge that it exhibits an order and arrangement consistent with the

dictates of Infinite Wisdom. These persons, well-meaning though

they may be, belong to a class not entirely extinct, who regard any

allusion to the Volume of Nature as a book replete with lessons of

divine truth, with feelings somewhat approaching to horror, forget-

ting that there is no true piety in depreciating the evidences to be

derived from the study of the works of Nature.

The Appendix contains tables of the geological formations; dia-

grams illustrative of the geological structure of parts of Hampshire

and Berkshire ; detailed sections of the strata at some of the locali-

ties near Newbury which yield fossils, as well as an account of the

peat-beds of the Kennet Valley, and also notices and illustrations of

some of the characteristic fossils of the formations; so that this little

treatise forms not only a useful guide to the physical structure of the

district, but is also explanatory of the characters of the tertiary de-

posits in the western area of the London basin, while it may be equally

consulted with advantage by the general reader, for the concise man-

ner with which the leading points are enunciated.

62 Zoological Society :—

PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES.

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

November 28, 1854.—Dr. Gray, Vice-President, in the Chair.

On two New Species or Dacnis, AND ON THE GENERAL

ARRANGEMENT OF THE GENUS.

By Puiuie Luriey Sciatrer, M.A.

1. Dacnis HARTLAUBI, Sclater. D. turcoso-cerulea ; gula loris

et fascia per oculos lata cum cervice laterali et dorso superiore

velutino-nigris ; alis caudaque minus splendide nigris ; secon-

dariorum marginibus externis ceruleis; rostro et pedibus nigris.

Long. tota 4°5; alee 2°6; caudee 1°8 poll. Angl.

Hab. In Nova Grenada.

Obs. Similis D. angelica, sed major, gula nigra, ventre crissoque

ceeruleis concoloribus neque albis.

I have as yet seen only one example of this Dacnis, which is in

the fine collection of birds in the Bremen Museum. In its upper

colouring it resembles D. angelica, but wants the broad black front

of that species. The lower plumage comes nearer that of D. cayana,

but the black does not reach so far down the throat. It slightly

exceeds the latter species in size. The bill and legs are black.

2. Dacnis EGReEGIA, Sclater. D. turcoso-cerulea; fronte gula

loris et fascia per oculos lata cum cervice laterali, dorso supe-

riore, alis caudaque nigris; tectricibus alarum minoribus et

secondariorum marginibus externe caruleis; tectricibus sub-

alaribus et ventre medio crissoque cum tibis flavis.

Hab. In Nova Grenada. | .

Obs. Species D. angelice forma crassitie et coloribus fere eequalis,

sed ventre crissoque et tectricibus subalaribus flavis nec albis.

I am indebted to Mr. G. R. Gray for allowing me to name this

retty Dacnis, of which one specimen was lately acquired by the

ritish Museum from M, Parzudaki of Paris. In its plumage above

it resembles D. angelica. A glance, however, at its lower surface,

where a bright yellow takes the place of the pure white belly and

underwing-coverts of the other species, is sufficient to show its di-

stinctness. :

Since I wrote some papers on the genus Dacnis in Sir William

Jardine’s ‘Contributions to Ornithology,’ Professor Reichenbach of

Dresden has treated of this family in his ‘ Handbuch der Speciellen

Ornithologie,’ part iv. Professor Reichenbach is unpleasantly sur-

prised, he there says, to find that I have described a Daenis cayana,

which is by no means cayana, but no other than his third species,

D. cyanomelas. Now, I admit that my D. cayana is nothing

more than Prof. Reichenbach’s third species, which he calls cyano-

melas; but I maintain that this very bird is no other than the

Mr. P. L, Sclater on new species of Birds. 63

true cayana of Linnzeus. There is no such bird in existence as that

characterized by Prof. Reichenbach as cayana. Brisson’s descrip-

tion, it is true, is bad, and Buffon’s figure worse, but they can be

respectively intended for no other bird than the common black and

blue species which is called by Prof. Reichenbach D. eyanomelas.

I am in my turn unpleasantly surprised to find that Prof. Reichen-

bach has removed my Daenis cerebicolor into his genus Arbelorhina,

with which it has nothing to do; that he has made Dacnis flaviven-

tris of D’Orbigny’s Voyage a Conirostrum, which it certainly is not,

and has unnaturally placed the hook-billed Diglosse in the middle of

the typical Dacnidine.

The atricapilla of my former synopsis, Prof. Reichenbach has

with some reason made the type of his new genus Chlorophanes.

Descriptions or S1tx New Species or Brrps or tHE Sup-

FAMILY ForRMICARIN&. By Putuie Lutnury Scuater, M.A.

1. MyrmecizA LEUCASPIS, Sclater.

Supra cinnamomea, subtus alba; vitta laterali utrinque ab angulo

oris ad ventrem descendente nigro; lateribus corporis cum

ventre imo crissoque olivascenti-cinnamomeis ; rostro nigro, man-

dibula inferiore, nisi basi, alba; pedibus pallidis; orbitis nudis.

Long. tota 5°5; alee 2°8; caude 1°8.

Hab. In Peruvia, Chamicurros; in Nova Grenada; et Rio Negro,

Cobati.

The first specimen of this bird that came into my possession seems

by its make to be a Bogota skin. I have lately obtained a second

from the MM. Verreaux of Paris, marked ‘Peru.’ But a more

satisfactory locality is Chamicurros, on the Huallaga, one of the con-

fluents of the Peruvian Amazon, whence Mr. Gould has lately received

several examples, along with many other interesting birds. Mr.

Gould’s specimens were collected in the month of October, 1852.

Male and female, so labeled, are coloured alike, and noted, “ Irides

red, skin around the eyes and legs light blue.’”’” My Bogota skin,

and one in the MM. Verreaux’s collection, have the base of the

interscapularies light fawn-colour, formmg a large blotch, which,

however, as is often the case in the birds of this sub-family, is only

to be seen when the feathers are raised.

A specimen of this bird in the British Museum is from Cobati, on

the Rio Negro.

The upper plumage of the Myrmeciza leucaspis is wholly dark

cinnamon-colour, and divided from the pure white of the lower sur-

face by a black band. The wing-feathers are blackish within; the

twelve rectrices are wholly darkish cinnamon-red. The white of the

lower surface narrows as it descends, terminating in a point, and

leaving the sides of the belly and crissum dusky olivaceous cinnamon-

colour.

2. MyRMECIZA MARGARITATA, Sclater.

<$ Cinereus, subtus dilutior, ventre medio crissoque albescentibus ;

64 , Zoological Society :—

alis caudaque nigris, rectricum apicibus albis; remigibus secon-

dariis et alarum atque caude tectricibus superioribus omnibus

maculis magnis, rotundis, albis terminatis.

9 Fusco-brunnea; subtus pallide cervino-rufa; maculis alarum et

caude clare cervinis neque albis.

Long. tota 5°3; alee 2°8; caudze 1°8.

Hab. In Peruvia, Chamicurros.

My examples of this curiously marked bird were obtained from

the MM. Verreaux, and are from the same locality as the preceding

species. Mr. Gould’s collection from Chamicurros likewise contains

specimens of both sexes.

The round spots, which render this bird a very recognizable species,

are placed in the wing-coverts at the apex of each feather. In the

secondaries they occupy the end of the outer web, being in the first

six nearest the primaries rather small, in the three outer larger and

squarer in form. The upper tail-coverts are much produced, and

are conspicuously terminated with oval white spots. The tail-

feathers are ended only with spots, which are larger on the outer

rectrices.

3. HyrocNeMIs MELANOLZMA, Sclater.

Cinereus, subtus valde dilutior; interscapularibus basi niveis ;

loris et oculorum ambitu cum cervice laterali et gutture toto

nigris ; linea superciliari indistincte albida; tectricibus alarum

nigris, fascia terminali alba; remigibus et rectricibus fuscis,

externe cinereis ; rostro nigro, pedibus pallidis.

Long. tota 50; ale 2°5; caudee 1°6.

Hab. In Peruvia, Chamicurros.

This species seems nearly allied in form to the bird named Hypo-

enemis pecilonota by Dr. Cabanis (Orn. Not. in Wiegm. Archiv f.

Nat. 1847. p. 213), and I have therefore placed it temporarily in

the same genus. My specimen comes, like those of the preceding

species, from MM. Verreaux’s Peruvian collection; and Mr. Gould

has one example marked “male, irides red,’ from Chamicurros,

which agrees with mine. From the same Peruvian collection I have

also Hypocnemis poecilonota (Cab.) and H. cantator (Bodd.), the

type of the genus, or a species hardly to be distinguished there-

from.

4. HypocNEMIS MELANOSTICTA, Sclater.

3 Ex cinereo olivascens ; interscapularibus basi niveis ; tectricibus

alarum nigris, albo anguste terminatis ; loris et regione auriculari

nigris ; subtus cinereus, gutture toto et ventre medio albis ; punc-

tis paucis rotundis in summo pectore nigris ; rosiro nigro, pedibus

pallidis.

? Supra rufescenti-olivacea, alarum tectricum marginibus et abdo-

mine toto pallide ochraceis ; gutture, sicut in mari, albo ; mandi-

bula inferiore, nisi apice, alba.

Long. tota 5:0; alee 2°5; caudee 1°6.

Hab. In Peruvia, Chamicurros.

Lieut. Burgess on the Habits of sone Indian Birds. 65

The Peruvian collection of the MM. Verreaux contained several

examples of this prettily marked Ant-Thrush, and Mr. Gould has

also ¢ and ? from Chamicurros. Both sexes show the white blotch

at the base of the interscapularies. In form they nearly resemble

H. melanolema and pecilonota. Below the white throat, both in

male and female, are eight or ten round blackish spots, forming a

sort of collar, which renders this species easily recognizable.

5. ForMIcivora CAUDATA, Sclater.

$ Supra niger albo-striatus ; nucha nigra ; dorso postico ferrugineo ;

alis caudaque nigris; tectricibus alarum albo, remigibus autem

primariis et secondariis rufo limbatis; rectricum macula terminali

alba ; subtus albus, sparsius nigro-striatus ; venire crissoque clare

Serrugineis.

2 Striis corporis superioris et tectricum alarum marginibus sub-

rufescentibus ; dorso postico et ventre dilutius ferrugineis ; striis

pectoris sparsioribus, in gula fere evanescentibus.

Long. tota 5°8; alee 21; caudee 3:1.

Hab. In Nova Grenada.

A close ally of Formicivora ferruginea (Temm.) and its affines,

from all of which, however, it may be distinguished by its extremely

lengthened tail. My specimens were purchased in Paris, and are

Bogota skins.

6. Prrnys EryTHROPHRYS, Sclater.

Olivaceo-brunneus, subtus medialiter albus ; fronte loris et regione

superciliari utringue clare ferrugineis ; loris et regione auriculart

nigris ; striis quibusdam indistinctis in lateribus pectoris cinereis ;

alis caudaque nigricanti-brunneis, illius remigibus clare rufo-

brunneo limbatis et tectricibus omnibus maculis parvis terminalibus

albis.

Long. tota 4°5; ale 2°7; caude 1°7.

- Hab. In Nova Grenada.

This is not a true Pithys, I think, but I have placed it as such, as

being allied to Pithys leucophrys ex Nova Grenada. But is the

- New Grenadian bird really identical with Tschudi’s Pithys leuco-

phrys?

Nores ON THE Hasitrs oF SOME INDIAN Birps. Parr VI.

By Lieut. BurGcess.

Family FrinGituip2z. Sub-Family PyrrHuULIN&.

Genus PyRRHULAUDA.

PyYRRHULAUDA CRUCIGER (Temm.).

Buack-BELLIED Fincu Lark.

This little finch lark is common in Western India, on open plains

and grassy plots of ground. It is remarkable for its habit of

squatting close on the ground when approached, trusting most pro-

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist, Ser. 2. Vol. xvii.

66 Zoological Society :—

bably to the similarity in colour of the plumage of the wings and

back with that of the burnt grass and dusty ground to escape

notice. This little lark breeds during the months of January and

February, building its nest, which is composed of grass, threads, &e.,

in a hollow in the grassy plains which it inhabits. A nest of this

species which was brought to me at the end of January was com-

posed chiefly of grass; it contained two small eggs, of a grey

tint, speckled with brown. They have been unfortunately broken.

Dr. Jerdon says: “I was fortunate enough to obtain the nest and

eggs of this bird very lately (February). The nest is composed

of woven thread mingled with some fibres of grass and one or two.

small fragments of cloth. The sides are hardly raised at all; it

was placed in a slight hollow on the open plain near a river, and

contained two eggs, of a slight greenish-grey tint spotted with

brown, chiefly at the larger end.”

Tribe SCANSORES.

Family Psrrracip2. Sub-family MACROCERCINA.

| Genus PaLzornis.

PaLZORNIS TORQUATUS, Vigors.

The Red-ringed Parrakeet is by far the most common of its tribe

throughout Western India, as probably throughout that continent.

They associate in large flocks, doing much injury to fruit-trees and

crops of grain. As the grain-crops ripen, they frequent the trees in

the neighbourhood, whence they make descents on the fields, retiring

to them with the heads of the grain plants, to eat at their leisure.

As far as my observations go, they prefer carrying off the ears of

the plant to eating the grain in the field. On thé approach of night

they retire in large flocks to the shelter of thick mango and other

trees. This Parrakeet breeds during the month of March, in holes

in buildings and trees, laying three or four eggs, of a pure white

colour, 1,8,ths of an inch in length by 1 inch in width.

PALZORNIS ALEXANDRI. LARGE RED-RINGED PARRAKEERT.

I have never met with this large species, but I see that Dr. Jerdon

mentions having obtained four young ones from a hole in a tree, in

the month of December.

PALZORNIS BENGALENSIS. RED-HEADED or PLUM-HEADED

‘PARRAKEET.

I have had many opportunities of watching and closely obser-

ving the habits of these handsome little parrakeets, and am con-

vinced that they are one and the same bird, the red-head being the

mark of an advanced, if not mature plumage. In young birds, the

plum-colour of the head is much mixed with green, the former

colour becoming decided as the birds grow older, and this again

giving way to the red head-dress. I have met with these birds in

the woody ravines and recesses amongst the lower ranges of hills in

Lieut. Burgess on the Habits of some Indian Birds. 67

the Deccan, also in the thickly-wooded garden-land near the canton-

ments of Ahmednuggur. In this latter spot I have often watched

them in the hope of securing one of the richly-coloured red-headed

birds. They fly in flocks like Paleornis torquatus, visiting the grain-

fields, and carrying off the ears to the neighbouring trees. Their

cry is not so loud and harsh as that of their larger brethren, and

they may thus be distinguished when not seen. I scarcely ever saw

more than two or three red-headed birds amongst a flock of plum-

heads. I have not met with the nest or eggs of this species, but

from the very immature plumage of young birds which I shot in

January, I should say that they breed in November and December.

Family Cucunipa. Subfamily Cucunina.

Genus EupYNAmMys.

EvupYNAMYs MACULATUS. Brack Cuckoo or KowEEL.

Not having met with the nest and eggs of this cuckoo, I am ins

debted to Dr. Jerdon’s catalogue for the following note on the sub-

ject :—‘ The koweel (as is well known in India) lays its eggs in the

nest of the common crow (C. splendens), from which it dislodges

the crows’ eggs. It is said always to choose this crow’s nest. On |

one occasion I obtained an egg from the female koweel; it was of a |

dirty blue colour, marked with some dusky spots.”’ ,

Genus CENTROPUS.

CrenTropus pHILippensis (Cuv.). Lark-HexLtep Cuckoo.

This very common cuckoo, called by many Europeans in India

**the Malabar Pheasant,”’ is a bird remarkable for its appearance, and

peculiarly loud cry. Its bright chestnut wings and long tail render

it conspicuous, and from the length of the latter, the name of Phea-

sant has doubtless been applied to it. Like others of its kind, it is

fond of thickets and hedges, under the latter of which it may often

be observed walking about and picking up its food, which consists

of lizards, seeds and insects. Though classed in the family of the

Cuculide, this bird differs from Cuculus canorus and Eudynamys

maculatus in one marked respect, viz. that it does not deposit its eggs

in the nest of another bird. Like the yellow-billed American cuckoo,

Coccyzus americanus (Jenyns), it builds its own nest, but whether,

as Mr. Yarrell mentions, in the case of the American bird, its egg is

ever found in another bird’s nest, I cannot say: I never heard of

such a case.

The lark-heeled cuckoo breeds in the spring of the year, as early

as January and as late as April. It builds its nest in hedges and

trees ; the nest is composed of grass and small twigs. The eggs,

generally three in number, are of an opaque white, 13 inch in length

by 1 inch and 2,ths in width, The exterior of the shell is of a

peculiarly soft, chalky texture, which soon becomes scratched and

stained. a

68 Zoological Society :—

Tribe TENUIROSTRES.

Family CinnyRrIpDz&,

CINNYRIS ORIENTALIS, Frankl. Pureitr HonrysuckeEr.

As I am anxious to make these papers as complete as possible on

the nests and eggs of the birds of Western India, I have taken the

liberty of transcribing some of the observations made by Dr. Jerdon

of the Madras cavalry, in cases where I have not been able to obtain

information. With regard to the nest and eggs of this honey-sucker

he says: “Lhave lately (February) seen the nest of this pretty little

bird close to a house in Jaulnat. It was commenced on a thick

spider’s web, by attaching to it various fragments of paper, cloth,

straw, grass, and other substances, till it had secured a firm hold of

the twig to which the web adhered, and the nest suspended on this,

was then completed by adding other fragments of the same mate-

rials. The hole is at one side near the top, and has a slight pro-

jecting roof or awning over it. The female laid two eggs, of a

greenish-grey tinge, spotted with dusky. The first nest it made

was accidentally destroyed after two eggs had been laid, and the

couple immediately commenced building another in a small tree at

the other side of the door, and, as in the first instance, commenced

their operations on a fragment of a spider’s web. They reared two

young ones from the nest.” A

January 9, 1855.—Dr. Gray, Vice-President, in the Chair.

On THE GeNus CULICIVORA OF SWAINSON, AND ITS COMPO-

NENT Species. By Puinie Luritey Scuatrer, M.A., F.Z.8)° °°

The genus Culicivora (as established by Mr. Swainson in the

Zoological Journal for 1827) has the Muscicapa stenura of Temminck

for its type, but embraces also the Muscicapa cerulea of Wilson and

its affines. Now these birds belong in reality to two very different

groups; the M. stenura being a Tyrannine, while the M. cerulea

can hardly be placed within the limits of that family, but must be

arranged either with the old-world Muscicapines (as in Bonaparte’s

Conspectus) or with the Sylvians (as in Gray’s Genera of Birds).

Dr. Cabanis in his Ornithologische Notizen, in Wiegmann’s Archiv,

has rightly separated these two forms, but has unfortunately chosen

to call the M. cerulea and its allies Culicivora, and made a new name

Hapalura for the M. stenura—the true Culicivora of Swainson.

Under these circumstances Hapalura is a mere useless synonym-

of Culicivora, Sw., and a new name is required for the group con-

taining M. cerulea, and commonly known as Culicivora. I therefore

propose for it the term Polioptila, from the general grey colouring

of the plumage.

The species of this genus that Iam at present acquainted with are

the following :—

1. PotiopriLta CH&RULEA (Linn.).

Motacilla cerulea, Linn. Muscicapa cerulea, Wils. Am. Orn. ii.

p. 164. pl. 18. fig. 5; Audub. pl. 84 ¢ & 9.

Mr. P. L. Selater on the genus Culicivora of Swainson. 69

3 Ceruleo-cinerea, fronte et supereiliis nigris: subtus cerules-

centi-alba, rectricibus extimis albis.

2 Mari similis, sed linea superciliari et frontali nulla.

Hab. United States, Texas, and Mexico.

I cannot discover how the Culicivora mexicana, Bp. Consp. p. 316

(ot which I have examined the type in the Berlin Museum), differs

frori this species. It appears to me to be merely a female of the

present bird.

2. PonioptTiLa DuUMICOLA (Vieill.).

El Contra-maestre azuladillo, Azara, no. 158, unde Sylvia dumi-

cola, Vieill, C. dumicola, @ Orb, Voy. Ois. p. 331. C. boliviana,

Sclater, in Proce. Zool. Soc. 1852, p. 34. pl. 47.

6 Supra plumbea: fronte et genis nigris: subtus plumbescenti-

alba, ventre et rectricibus utrinque extimis albis.

2 Fronte et regione auriculart plumbeis concoloribus.

Hab. Paraguay (Azara); Corrientes and Buenos Ayres in the

Argentine Republic, and Chiquitos and Moxos in Bolivia (d’Orb.).

D’Orbigny and Lafresnaye in their Synopsis in the Magasin de

Zoologie, Hartlaub in his Index to Azara, and Bonaparte in his Con-

spectus, have all more or less confounded the synonyms of this species

with those of the next ; indeed the latter author has united all the

synonyms under one head, and I was thus led into the error of de-

scribing the present bird as new. It is without doubt however the

Azuladillo of Azara, and consequently must bear the specific name

‘dumicola’ of Vieillot. Lichtenstein’s name ‘4ivitiata’ belongs to the

next species, though the above-mentioned authors have quoted it as

synonymous with this.

3. PoLIoPpTILA LEUCOGASTRA (Max.).

Pl. Enl. 704. fig. 1, unde Motacilla cerulea, var. 6. Gm. Sylvia

leucogastra, Max. Beit. iii. 710. S. divittata, Licht. in Mus. Berol.

C, atricapilla, Sw. Zool. Tl. n.s. pl..57.. C. leucogastra, Gray’s

Gen. ? C. dumicola, Bp. Consp. p. 316.

6 Cinerea, pileo nigro: subtus alba, rectricibus utrinque extimis

albis.

9. Pileo concolore cinereo.

Hab. Brazil; Bahia (Pr. Max.); Monte Video (Mus. Berol.) ;

Cayenne (Buffon): New Grenada. .

This species is described by Prince C. L. Bonaparte in his Con-

spectus as C. dumicola, from which it may be easily distinguished by

its black head. :

_4, PoLiopriLa BILINEATA (Licht.).

Sylvia bilineata, Licht. in Mus. Berol. Culicivora bilineata, Bp.

Consp. p. 631.

3 Supra plumbea, pileo nigro: loris superciliis et corpore subtus

_ albis: primariis anguste cinereo, secondariis latius albo mar-

ginatis : rectricibus extimis apice albis.

70 | Zoological Society :—

9 Pileo concolore plumbeo: superciliis albis.

Hab. Cartagena (Mus. Berol.).

The type-specimens in the Berlin Museum are the only examples

I have seen of this species ; which may be at once distinguished from

all.the preceding by its white superciliary stripe.

REMARKS ON THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE JACAMARS (GAL-

BULID#), WITH DescrIPTIONS OF SOME New SPECIEs.

By Purure Lutiuey Scuater, M.A., F.Z.8.

Since I wrote some articles on the Galbulide, which appeared in

Sir William Jardine’s Contributions to Ornithology, and the little

Synopsis of the family afterwards printed apart, I have lost no op-

portunity of examining specimens of these birds in several museums

which I have visited. In so doing I have acquired some additional

information concerning them, which I now purpose bringing before

the Society, together with characters of what I believe to be three

hitherto unrecognized species.

’ Genus 1. GALBULA.

1. viridis, Lath. Synopsis of the Galbulide, p. 2. sp. 1.

Dr. Cabanis, in his article upon these birds in Ersch and Gruber’s

Encyclopidie, calls the Amazon specimens true ‘viridis,’ and sepa-

rates the Cayenne and Guiana bird from them, under Swainson’s title

‘viridicauda. 1 cannot myself discover much difference between

them. Prince C. L. Bonaparte quotes as a species ‘qguadricolor,’ Ver-

reaux, a MS. name for which no specific characters have been pub-

lished. A specimen so labelled in the British Museum is from hy i

but seems to me barely separable from G. viridis.

2. rufoviridis, Cab. Ene. d. W. u. K. vol. lit. sect. 1. p. 308.

G. maculicauda, Synopsis, p. 2. sp. 2.

Dr. Cabanis’ name has, I believe, a few months’ precedence in

point of date over my ‘ maculicauda,’ and must therefore be used for

this species. As additional localities, I have now: River Tocantins,

Brazil (Mr. Wallace), and Bolivia (Bridges, in Mus. Brit.).

3. melanogenia, Sclater. Synopsis, p. 3. sp. 3.

I have since seen other specimens of this species, both male and

female, all from Central America.

4. ruficauda, Cuv. Synopsis, p. 3. sp. 4.

Add, as localities: Tobago (Kirk) ; Cumana (Dyson); Cartagena

(Mus. Berol.).

These four species are, as I have already remarked (Cont. to Orn.

1852, p. 93), very closely allied to one another, but may be distin-

guished by the colouring of the rectrices. They are not, however,

placed together in Prince C. L. Bonaparte’s arrangement in his

Conspectus Zygodactylorum.

5. tombacea, Spix (cyanescens, Deville).

From the Upper Amazon and eastern provinces of Peru.

Mr. P. L. Sclater on the Arrangement of the Galbulide. 71

6. GALBULA FUSCICAPILLA, Sclater, sp. nov.

3 Lete viridis ; fronte et pileo summo fuscis: nucha paululum

eyanescente: mento albido : ventre crissoque intense castaneis :

rectricibus extimis rufis, quatuor mediis supra viridibus dorso

concoloribus. Long. tota 8°0, alee 3:0, caudee 3°5.

2 Ventre valde dilutiore.

Hab. In Nova Grenada, Bogota.

I have hitherto confounded this species with the G. tombacea, but

the examination of several examples of the latter bird in the conti-

nental museums has convinced me that they are quite distinct, the

tombacea presenting no appearance of the fuscous crown which di-

stinguishes this species. In one of my specimens, apparently the most

adult, the green descends much lower down than in others I have

seen. The two outer rectrices of this bird are, as is usual in this

genus, abnormally small. The first outer normal pair are rufous,

tipped and externally edged with green. This green is blackish

below, but above vivid as the back. The next two pair are wholly

rufous. The middle four are vivid green above, and blackish-green

below; the submedial pair having some rufous colouring inwardly

towards the base.

7. albirostris, Latham. Synopsis, p. 5. sp. 6.

8. chaleocephala, Deville. Synopsis, p. 5. sp. 7.

T have lately seen many specimens ¢ and @ of this species. The

male has a white bar on the throat, as in G. albirostris, with which

itis certainly very closely allied. In his ‘Conspectus Zygodacty-

lorum,’ Prince C. L. Bonaparte unites this species with G. leuco-

gastra, with which it has nothing to do. In the ‘Conspectus

Anisodactylorum,’ the origin of this error is attributed to an opinion

of mine that they were identical (!), which however I never either

expressed or entertained.

9. cyanicollis, Cassin. Synopsis, p. 6. sp. 8.

Specimens of this bird in the Berlin Museum,—the types of G.

eyanopogon, Cab.,—are from Cameta, which is on the south of the

Amazon, in the province of Para. The female is pale rufous below,

instead of chestnut-red.

10. leweogastra, Vieill. Synopsis, p. 6. sp. 9.

11. chaleothoraz, Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854, p. 110.

From Quixos in Eeuador.

Genus 2. UroGausa, Bp.

1. paradisea (Linn.). Synopsis, p. 8. sp. 11.

2. UroGALBA AMAZONUM, Sclater, sp. nov.

U. purpurascenti-nigra: alis caudaque et hujus tectricibus supe-

rioribus @eneis: mento nigrescente, gutture late albo: pileo

antico albescenti-fusco: rostro pedibusque nigris. .

72 dian Zoological Society —

Long. tota 13:0, alee 3°8, caudee 675.

Hab. In Brasil. Boreali, Para, et fl. Amazonum.

‘ Obs. Similis U. paradisee, sed major et pileo antico albescente

usco.

It is not without hesitation that I separate this bird from the

former. I have seen many examples of it from North Brazil, and

have always remarked that they differ from the Cayenne U. paradisea

in size and in the whiteness of the forehead. Mr. Wallace brought

specimens from the neighbourhood of Para, whence I believe came

also my type, which I purchased in Hamburg. I may remark

that there are, many other corresponding species of birds in Cayenne

and Brazil, of which the distinctness is generally admitted (such as

Pteroglossus aracari and Wiedi, Caryothraustes cayanensis and brasi-

liensis, and Piprites chlorion and chloris), which depend upon differ-

ences similar to, or perhaps less than, those between Urogalba

paradisea and U, amazonum.

Genus 3. BRAcHYGALBa, Bp.

1. inornata, Sclater, Synopsis, p. 7. sp. 10. Brachygalba albi-

ventris, Bp. Consp. Vol. Zygodact., nec Cuv.

To the localities add : Quixos in rep. Equat. (Sir W. Jardine), and

Angostura on the Orinoco (Mus. Kiliens.).

The female has the belly rufous instead of white. This species is

certainly not the albiventer of Cuvier, that name having been applied

by him to Le Vaillant’s figure, Supp. H. (cited by Cuvier, isuffi-

ciently perhaps, but not incorrectly, by the number of the page, 46),

and consequently a synouym of Vieillot’s leucogastra, as placed by

me in my Synopsis (see Cuvier’s Regn. An. (1829) i. p. 448). I

had supposed G. albigularis of Spix, and not this species, to be the

type of Brachygalba, Bp., because it stood first in the list. When

the creator of a genus gives neither generic characters nor type, the

only rule to go by is to take the first species given as the type species.

2. BRACHYGALBA MELANOSTERNA, Sclater, sp. nov.

Supra nigricanti-fusca ; subtus nigra ; mento albido: ventre medio

albo: alis caudaque enescentibus : rostro albo.

Hab. Goyaz in imp. Brasiliensi (Behn); Guarayos in Bolivia

(d’Orb.)?

I observed a specimen of this species in the collection of Professor

Behn, at Kiel. It closely resembles the preceding, but has the

breast quite black and the bill white. It was brought by the owner

from the province of Goyaz, in the interior of Brazil. _D’Orbigny’s

specimen, mentioned in my Synopsis, page 7, probably also belongs

to this species.

I have nothing further to say concerning Jacamaralcyon and Jaca-

merops. The Galbuloides Boersi is probably a fictitious bird. Spe-

cimens of Galbaleyrhynchus in the Paris Museum were brought by

MM. Castelnau and Deville from Pebas, on the Upper Amazon ; and

one of these birds, in the collection of Herr Kalckmann of Ham-

burg, was procured in the neighbourhood of Pernambuco in Brazil.

Mr. P. L. Sclater on the Arrangement of the Galbulide. 73

Excluding therefore the Ga/buloides, we have at present no less

than twenty species of the family Galbulide, all inhabiting the tro-

pical. portions of South America, One only of these birds is found

outside the Isthmus of Panama, and none occur on the western side

of the Andean range. Azara includes none among the birds of

Paraguay, and two only range so far south as the Brazilian provinces

of Rio and S. Paolo. The true home of these birds seems to be the

hot, low forests of Guiana and the Amazons, where the number of

species attains its greatest development.

GALBULIDARUM TABULA GEOGRAPHICA.

, 3 oe

3 (o) fo) —

3 Sto / Sh ofS iethas

Si js) |BiSlsisisiaisi\s

ale irc|o! ici aia) Els].

ae S/sislsiziziy |S \Rlals

—_ a i ° >

vo} Oe oOo}; S O lem |. Q, co Ss . ai)

FIZ SF (0 | iia me iain |e

GALBULA.

1. VITIMS..05 00.5 eeoreeteerer eooleee eoricecs * * eerleeeleee *? ee eeeleoe| eee

po rufoviridis eee erene Peeeleee[ tt SPH seelsee ees eee see tee Coe vee * 1% *

7 3. melanogenia @eteeeeee k Pee aewleeelacee | tee SOC eee Cee ttt POF ceslees eee

} 4, ruficauda ener erteneteoer eeoltee * * * lees eeoeleee sesl\eee seolsesieen| 8ee

S. tombacea eeeteereoeres see te Pl eeeleeelsaesni ees eerieooe * * etelees

6. Suscicapilla #eteenees eee * See leer iceslieee S88 eee C88 C82 Geelcesieosieer

ie albirostris eeorerreesee ewolseeleeeises * eee * eeclecelecelees| secleeeieee

8. chalcocephala eeereetes Peeleecelsceei seri ceviseelteeiseei see * eee e

9. cyanicollis eeeeeeseeres r@oleeel eee eeelaas * @eeleee (ten terisee so eeel*ee

10. leucogastra eeoreeerees eeoleeriecee| 200 * eee * Pee cee Persie asicne easier?

je & chalcothorax eeeOOBees | ttt P reer Pet ces eeeisen K leevisesicve

URoGALBA.

12. paradisea ereeeeesenes Peeleeer eee eer * ee 2Oeleeei eee ee ee eer eee

13. amazonum eoetetece @ealtet|eeeleseieerieone K lees Sewleeeeeeicecl eee ecoeieee

BracHYGALBA.

14. inornata @eeererererseone seel|eeeisee * @eelseeices * eel @eerleseieesicosicns

15. melanosterna eeeeeseee eeeleer eeeleeelicone | 8 SOG ses see tee * eeelvee *

JACAMARALCYON.

16. tridactyla eeeee Seesees SCOe Eee eee eel ese see TOeioes See Fee ceslene * eee

17. lugubris eee eeeeeeeetens seeleeelecelees| KK leevlece eee coolter eee ceelisesiess

JACAMEROPS.

18. grandis eeove @r00e0e8808 eee eteleesisee K lees * coe! & * eeeleesieeeieces

19. Isidori Cote eretesettenes fee cool eesiecee|eerieee|eee| eee ces * serleeeicee| eee

GALBALCYRHYNCHUS.

20. leucotis eeevete OPC eerees el * eeeleee eee ter La * * eee e888 *? eerleee

74 Botanical Society of Edinburgh.

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH.

November 8, 1855.—Professor Balfour, President, in the Chair.

The following papers were read :—

1. “On the Batrachian Ranunculi of Britain,” by C. C. Babing-

ton, M.A., F.R.S.. (See Annals, vol. xvi. p. 385.)

2. “Note on Linaria sepium, Allman,’’ by C. C. Babington, M.A,,

F.R.S. (See Annals, vol. xvi. p. 449.)

Professor Allman remarked that he found some difficulty in allow-

ing the plant to be a hybrid, as represented by Mr. Babington, but

that, from a recent examination of specimens at Bandon, he believed

it to be only a variety of LZ. repens.

3. “On the Influence of Last Winter on Trees and Shrubs at

Aberdeen,” by G. Dickie, M.D., Professor of Natural History,

Queen’s College, Belfast.

4. “Notice of the Flowering of the Victoria regia in the Royal

Botanic Garden, Glasgow,” by Mr. Peter Clarke, Curator of the

Garden.

5. “On the Structure of Victoria regia, Lindl.,’’ by Mr. George

Lawson.

The lower surface of the Victoria leaf is somewhat peculiar. It

exhibits no stomata, but is thickly clothed with flexuous hairs, con-

sisting of cylindrical cells, and arising each from a small round basal

cell, very distinct both from the other cells of the hair and those of

the epidermis, which latter are filled with diffused colouring matter,

mostly red, but some blue, and a few without colour. These hairs

average about the th part of an inch in length, by the 7},5th of an

inch in breadth. There are seen scattered over the surface, in ad-

dition to the hairs, numerous round cells, precisely similar to those

which form the bases of the hairs; these apparently indicate non-

developed hairs. The arrangement of these cells (taking together

those which form the bases of hairs and those whose hairs are abor-

tive) is so strikingly similar to the arrangement of the stomata on

the opposite surface of the leaf, as to suggest the question whether

these cells are not homologous with the stomata—are, in fact, the cells

from which stomata would be evolved if they were produced. This

idea is strengthened by the fact that a trace of chlorophyll is seen in

these cells, while it is entirely absent in the ordinary epidermal cells,

but present in well-defined globules in the cells of the true stomata.

Whatever be the homological relationship between the hairs and the

stomata, there can be no doubt that the cells to which I have alluded

represent undeveloped hairs.

6. “‘ Notice of some of the Contents of the Museum of CZconomic

Botany in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden,” by Professor Balfour.

Miscellaneous. 75 .

MISCELLANEOUS.

Observations on the Blistering Beetles of the Neighbourhood of

Montevideo. By M. A. Courpon.

Tue author states that three species of blistering Cantharides are

found in the neighbourhood of Montevideo,—namely the Epicauta

adspersa, Dej. (Lytta adspersa, Klug), the Epicauta cavernosa,

Reiche, and the Causima vidua, De}. (Lytta vidua, Klug).

Of these, the first, the Hpicauta adspersa, is superior even to the

ordinary Cantharides (Cantharis vesicatoria) in its vesicating power,

and possesses the additional advantage that its application produces

no irritating action on the urinary organs, such as is usually caused

by the common Cantharides. The author discovered this when

treating a patient for acute hepatitis, by applying blisters upon the

seat of pain; the Lpicauta adspersa caused no inconvenience to the

patient ; but on one or two occasions, when blisters of the Cantharis

vesicatoria were used, they produced the customary irritation of the

urinary organs.

This species is exceedingly abundant in the immediate neighbour-

hood of Montevideo in the months of December, January, February

and March, but especially in January and February. Its length is

13-16 millimeters (63-8 lines); it is covered with minute grey scales,

in the midst of which appear numerous small black points. The

antenne are black, and the feet yellow or reddish. It lives on the

common Beet (Beta vulgaris, var. Cicla), and may be very easily col-

lected, especially in the morning and evening, by taking a large sack

with a few beet-leaves at the bottom of it to the places where this

plant grows in abundance, cutting off the stems of the plants close

to the root and shaking them into the sack. The insects may then be

killed by exposing them to the vapour of vinegar, or by packing them

closely in a glass vessel, closing them up hermetically, and exposing

them to the heat of the sun.

The second species, the Hpicauta cavernosa, is about the size of

the preceding species, but is of a yellow colour, with three small

black lines on the head, numerous small black points on the thorax,

and large impressed black dots on the elytra. The legs are reddish.

It is a rare species and occurs only on the Eryngium paniculatum,

an umbelliferous plant which is very abundant on the Cerro de Monte-

video. Its vesicating power is about equal to that of the common

Cantharis.

The Causima vidua is a much larger species, measuring 22-27

millimeters (Zin. to 1,4, in.), and is entirely black, except an indi-

stinct white border which sometimes occurs at the extremity of the

elytra. It is found on two leguminous plants, ddesmia pendula and

A. punctata, especially on the former; it devours the flowers. It

occurs m the months of November, December and January. It

is less abundant than the Lpicauta adspersa, but may be collected in

the same manner, and its vesicating power isa‘ least equal to that of

the officinal species. ‘The author did not ascertain whether it acted

upon the urinary organs.

76 Miscellaneous.

The author adds that the vesicating power of these insects resides

in all the soft internal parts, and not, as stated by M. Farines of the

common Cantharides, only in the soft parts of thethorax and abdomen.

He found that the internal parts of the head and thighs employed by

themselves were as efficacious as those of the body, but the hard parts

as usual were destitute of any action. He states that this applies also

to the officinal species.—Comptes Rendus, Dec. 3, 1855, p. 1003.

UNUSUAL DEARTH OF ALG IN 1855.

Devonport, 19th October 1855.

My prEAR Si1r,—The present year has been marked by an unusual

dearth of Algee on all the Devonshire coasts, and this I have not

only had evidence of myself, but it has also been noticed by all my

correspondents, who are rather numerous.

A great many species, which for several successive years I have

been in the habit of finding whenever I sought for them, with as:

much certainty as I should in going into my own garden to cut a

cabbage, have altogether disappeared, that is, those plants growing

between the extremes of high and low water marks. This unusual,

occurrence from the ordinary course, after careful consideration, I

am inclined to assign to atmospheric influence.

The early months of the present year, not including those which

we usually assign to winter, such as March, April and May, were

exeeedingly cold, and frosty nights were not unfrequent even in the

latter end of May. Our lowest tides here occur at the advent of the

new and full moon from about twelve to one o’clock. Plants begin-:

ning to grow between the tidal limits were thus exposed to a very:

low temperature during the night ; but a very different result followed

at the next low water, occurring at noon, twelve hours after. Here,

those plants were subjected to the influence of a vertical sun, and

these alternate changes from a high to an extreme low temperature,

being followed up during many successive nights and days, had the

effect of destroymg them altogether. I am the more convinced that

my views on this subject are correct, inasmuch as I found all the

missing plants by dredging in deep water, and where they could not

be affected by changes in the atmosphere. )

Believe me, dear Sir, very faithfully yours,

Dr. J. EB. Gray. JOHN Cocks.

Observations on Echini Perforating the Granite of Brittany.

By M. VALENCIENNES.

The attention of naturalists has always been awakened by the

curious habit of many Mollusca and Zoophyta, of excavating cavities

for their habitation in rocks often of great hardness and of very dif- —

ferent natures. It was at first supposed that these perforating animals _

only attacked the calcareous rocks, which led several people to think

that the erosion required to form the hole was assisted by the action

of some acid. It has been admitted of necessity, however, that in

particular cases the animals only employed mechanical means, ‘as

the Teredos and the Pholades and even the Sipunculi were found to

Miscellaneous. 77

pierce wood. Of late years naturalists have observed felspathic

rocks burrowed by Mollusca. M. Caillaud of Nantes sent to the

Academy specimens of granite from Pouliguen in the Bay of

Croisic, perforated by Pholades. The stric traced. in the holes,

corresponding with the spiny ribs of the shell of these mollusks,

furnished an evident proof that the rock had been abraded by the

movement communicated by the animal tothe shell. Granite altered

by sea-water is more readily attacked.

More recently M. Eugéne Robert exhibited to the Academy a

block of old red sandstone, obtained from the shore of the great

Bay of Dowarnenez, which was perforated with numerous holes evi-

dently formed by the Echini which were lodged in them. Each

rounded cavity is in exact proportion, both as to size and form, with

the body of the Echinoderm.

M. Lory, Professor at Grenoble, and well known for his numerous

and excellent works on geology, has begged me to exhibit several

specimens of perforating Echini, which have taken up their abode

in the granite of the Bay of Croisic, not far from Piriac. It is the

same granite as that from the Pouliguen, and in the same state of

alteration. This primitive rock is there perforated by Mollusca

and. Echinodermata for an extent of several kilometers. Those

which M. Lory has just discovered are certainly of the same species

as the Echini which burrow in the old red sandstone of the Bay of

Douarnenez. They closely resemble the Mediterranean Lchinus,

mentioned by Lamarck under the name of Hechinus lividus. It is

one of the most abundant Echini on the coast, and in the market of

Marseilles, whence Lamarck obtained his specimens. I have never

heard that these individuals possessed perforating habits, and pro-

bably a careful examination of living specimens of the Echinus from

the coast of Brittany may show that it belongs to a distinct species,

notwithstanding its apparent identity with that of the Mediterra-

nean. In this case it might be called Echinus terebrans.— Comptes

Rendus, Noy. 5, 1855, p. 755.

NEW SPECIES OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS.

The well-known naturalist Eversmann has recently published a very

interesting paper *, containing an account of some of the most recent

additions to the Mammalogy and Ornithology of the Russian Empire.

The species described are—

1. VespERUGO KRASCHENINIKOVII, 0. sp.

V.. dentes primores superiores duo interni bifidi, externi simplices

minuti: auricule capite breviores, latee, rotundato-subtriangulares,

trago reniformi, dimidiam aurem non attingente: vellus nigrum,

pilorum apicibus canis.

A new species of Bat, belonging to the section of the genus Ves-

perugo with 34 teeth—5 molars in both jaws on each side ;—it is

_* Noch ein kleiner Beitrag zur Mammalogie und Ornithologie des Rus-

sischen Reiches, von Dr. Eduard Eversmann ; Bull. de la Société Impériale

des Naturalistes de Moscou, 1853, no. iy. p. 487.

78 Miscellaneous.

found on the Ural, and is not uncommon in Orenburg, ; it may

therefore be included in the fauna of Europe.

2. VesperuGo Nixsont, Keys. et Blas. Wirbelth. Eur. no. 88.

p. xiv.

3. VESPERTILIO DASYCNEMUS, Keys, et Blas. Wirbelth. Eur.

no. 98. p. Xvi.

Both these Bats also occur on the Ural and Southern Wolga.

4, VANELLUS ARALENSIS, 0. sp.

V. fusco-cinerascens, abdomine, cauda remigibusque secondariis

candidis ; primariis nigris: alarum tectricibus nigro alboque mar-

ginatis: pedibus flavis.

A new Plover, only half the size of V. gregarius, Pall. (7. e.

Chettusia gregaria), to which at first sight it shows some resemblance,

especially in respect of its grey colour. It is from the south Kirges-

steppes, which form the northern shores of the Sea of Aral.

5. LANIUS MOLLIS, n. sp.

ZI. superne cinereo-vinaceus, subtus albidus (fuscescenti-undulatus)

crisso hypochondriisque vinaceis: fascia oculari nigra; remigibus

nigris; 4°*-9-"* basi albis; rectricibus nigris apice albis.

Dr. Eversmann gives a further accurate account of this, as of the

other mammals and birds mentioned in his paper, This Lanius is

described as being larger than L. excubitor ; it was received from the

South Altai, not far from the Chinese boundary on the Tschwa. It

appears to be different. from all the species of Lanius described by

Prince Bonaparte. in his excellent review of that genus in the ‘ Revue

et Magasin de Zoologie’ for 1853.

Dr. Eversmann’s paper also contains some interesting remarks

about the supposed varieties of Dipusjaculus met with on the southern

steppes, which he considers form two distinct species, different from

the yaculus,—D. decumanus, Licht., and D. vewillarius, Eversm.; also

upon the distinctions between Lanius phenicurus, Pallas, and the

common Lanius collurio.—Puitie LuTtey SCLATER.

Description of a New Bird from Guatemala, forming the type of a

New Genus. By Joun Govutp, F.R.S. etc. .

Genus Maxacocicuia, Gould.

Gen. Char. Bill straight, shorter than the head ; culmen keeled,

and slightly descending from the middle to the point ; tomie nearly

straight ; upper mandible slightly notched at the tip; nostrils

placed in a deep depression on each side of the base of the bill ;

rictus destitute of vibrissee ; wings semiconcave, moderately long and

slightly rounded ; first quill very short, the fourth the longest ; tarsi

somewhat lengthened and with slight or delicate scutellations ; middle

and hind toes very long; tail moderately long, somewhat concave,

and soft to the touch.

This form is closely allied to Grallaria and Chameza, and would

appear to unite the members of those genera to those of Turdus.

It is very elegant, all the parts being admirably proportioned ; and

the colours harmoniously arranged.

Meteorological Observations. 79

Matacocicata Dryas.

Head, cheeks and ear-coverts jet-black, the feathers of the crown

somewhat lengthened ; back, wings and tail dark greenish-olive ;

centre of the throat and under surface pale buffy-yellow, blending

into the olive of the upper surface on the flanks ; the feathers of the

breast and upper part of the abdomen tipped with olive ; bill and

eyelash orange-red ; legs and feet orange- yellow.

Total length 7 inches ; bill 2; wing 32; tail 22 ; tarsi 14; middle

toe and nail 1,/,; hind-toe and nail 3

Hab. Guatemala.

Remark.-——In size this bird is rather smaller than the European

Redwing, Turdus Iliacus.—From the Zoological Proceedings, Nov.

28, 1854.

Tar LATE Mr. Newport.

A plain but handsome monument, of Aberdeen granite, has recently

been placed in the cemetery of Kensal Green, to ‘the memory of the

late George Newport, the eminent naturalist and physiologist. The

inscription on the stone, which we give below, implies strongly, if it

does not formally express, the merits of the deceased. The fact of

having a public monument raised to him by those who knew him

best, his friends and fellow-workers, is an eulogy of a kind which can

never be called in question, though his own scientific writings con-

stitute his best and most enduring epitaph.

INSCRIPTION.

Sacred to the Memory of George Newport, F.R.S., F.L.S.,

F.R.C.S. &c. &c. He was born in Canterbury on the 4th day of

July, 1803, and died in London on the 7th day of April, 1854.

This monument was erected by Fellows of the Royal and Linnean

Societies to commemorate their regret for the loss of a much-esteemed

colleague, and to testify their sense of the great services rendered by

him to Science.

| METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR NOVEMBER 1855. *

Chiswick.—November 1. Cloudy: frosty at night. 2. Overcast and cold : heavy

rain. 3. Showery. 4. Fine. 5. Clear: dense fog: very fine: rain. 6. Fine,

7. Cloudy. 8. Constant heavyrain. 9. Slight fog: fine. 10. Foggy: very fine:

foggy at night. 11. Very fine: cloudy. 12. Hazy. 13. Overcast. 14. Fine:

frosty at night. 15. Frosty and foggy : very fine: dense fog at night. 16. Dense

fog. 17. Fine: cloudy: rain. 18. Hazy: cloudy: rain. 19. Rain. 20, Drizzly:

fine. 21. Overcast: rain. 22. Drizzly: overcast: fine. 23. Cloudy. 24. Cloudy

and cold: showery. 25. Cloudy: clear: sharp frost at night. 26. Very fine.

27. Overcast: slightrain. 28. Overcast: cloudy: lunar rainbow at 10 p.m. 29.

Overcast: cloudy. 30. Overcast: very fine.

Mean temperature of the month ...........c..ceeeceeeee 2 eae 40°84

Mean temperature of Nov. 1854 ........ccceecececesseesecesewies 39 *35

Mean temperature of Nov. for the last twenty-nine years ... 42 *95

Average amount of rain in NOV. ......ccsscsscercevosseesens esses =: 2347 inches,

Boston.—Nov. 1. Fine. 2. Fine: rainp.m. 3. Cloudy : rain P.M. 4. Fine:

rain A.M. 5. Cloudy: raine.m. 6. Rain a.m. 7. Cloudy. 8. Cloudy: rain

A.M.andp.M, 9. Fine, 10. Cloudy. 11, Fine. 12—15; Cloudy. 16, 17; Fine.

18, 19. Cloudy: rainr.m. 20. Cloudy. 21. Cloudy: rain p.m. 22, 23. Cloudy:

rain A.M, and p.m. 24. Cloudy: rainp.m. 25. Cloudy. 26. Fine. 27. Cloudy:

rain P.M. 28. Cloudy: rain a.M.andv.m. 29. Cloudy: rainp.M. 30. Cloudy,

* The observations by the Rev. C. Clouston of Sandwich Manse, Orkney,

have not been received.

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PRB IRI OCI LI AS LIBS LIFELESS

THE ANNALS

MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY.

[SECOND SERIES. ]}

No. 98. FEBRUARY 1856.

VIIL.— Notes on the Paleozoic Bivalved Entomostraca. No. III.

Some Species of Leperditia. By T. Rurerr Jonss, F.G.S.

[With two Plates. ]

[Continued from vol. xvi. p. 176.]

- In Notes I. and II. (‘ Annals,’ August and September 1855) I

have described the little Beyrichie of the Upper and Lower

~ Silurian rocks, especially of Sweden and Britain ; in this paper

I propose to describe other small Bivalved Entomostracan Crus-

taceans, larger than the former, and characteristically distinct.

These are from the Silurian rocks of Scandinavia, Russia, Arctic

America, and England ; except one which is from the Devonian

rocks of Normandy *.

Two little fossil bivalves + from the paleozoic rocks of Goth-

land were figured and described more than twenty years ago by

Hisinger t, who recognized their general dissimilarity to the

Conchifera, and referred them to the Entomostracan genus

Cythere, which was the only marine bivalved form of the Sub-

class of the Crustacea at that time known to naturalists§.

-.. ~ * T have also. seen lately a typical Leperditia from the Carboniferous

~ Limestone of Tournay, Belgium. ce

+ Cytherina Balthica and C. phaseolus. It is only of the former that I

can here speak,—as I have not yet obtained any specimen referable to the

~- latter. Kloden’s Cytherina phaseolus (Verst. Mark Brandenburg, p. 102.

pl.-l. fig. 10) appears to be a distinct form, of great interest. M‘Coy has

referred to C. phaseolus some Irish Silurian specimens; but Mr. Salter

assures me that they do not correspond.

t In his ‘ Anteckningar i Physik och Geognosi under resor uti Sverige

~~ och Norige ;* and also in his ‘ Lethzea Suecica.’

§ O. F. Miiller’s Notes in the ‘ Philos. Trans.’ 1771, and his elaborate

_ ~ work on the “ Entomostraca,”’ published in 1785, and again in 1792, were

still the chief sources of information on this subject.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 6

82 Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia.

Later researches, however, have greatly extended the list of

the Entomostraca; and there are several well-known existing

forms which possess a bivalved carapace or shell ; such as Cypris,

Cythere, Cypridina, Limnadia, Daphnia, and Nebalia. In these

the carapace is vertical, and its two lateral halves or valves are

either distinct in themselves and united by a more or less elabo-

rate dorsal hingement,—or form one entire shell, doubled

along the back with a flexible fold. Other Entomostraca have

the carapace horizontal and flattened, or nearly so, and marked

by a mesial ridge or line along its greater axis ;—as Apus and

Limulus. Of the above-mentioned genera, nearly all have been

presented in geologic times in forms more or less closely related

to the existing species.

In the case of the fossil Entomostraca, the soft parts, inclu-

ding the maxillary, branchial, and locomotive organs, on which

the generic and sometimes the specific distinctions of the recent

forms are mainly established, have quite disappeared ; and the

hard carapace-valves alone remain to guide us in the recognition

of genera and species. It is fortunate, however, that the families;

and most of the genera even, of the existing Bivalved Entomos-

tracans * have carapaces sufficiently characteristic to enable us

to co-ordinate the fossil forms by the analogies presented in the

form and structure of the valves.

For the most part, the Entomostracan bivalves, both from

their minute size and in their general aspect, are strikingly dif-

ferent from the Conchifera. Some, however, as for instance the

Estheria donaciformis +, may readily be mistaken for ordinary

bivalve shells.

One of the two little Gothland fossils above mentioned,

although it resembles the Conchifera in being bivalved and in

its bean-shaped form, differs from Molluscan bivalves { in

general appearance, and in the combination of the following

characters ;—the great length of the hinge-margin,—the absence

of umbos,—the extreme overlapping of one valve over the other

on the ventral margin,—the uniform smoothness of the surface,

* When we refer to minute distinctions of form, hingement, and orna-

mentation, we find that among the recent Bivalved Entomostraca some

families and even genera have carapaces peculiar to them (Cypridina, Ne-

balia, Limnadia); whilst in other families a nearly similar carapace belongs

to two genera (Cypris and Candona,— Daphnia and Lynceus); and on the

contrary even two characteristically different carapaces occur among the

species of one genus (Cythere and its subgenus Bairdia).

t+ Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1849, vol. ii. p. 86. Pl. Annulos. 11.

{ With respect to the characters in which there is an approach in form,

viz. a straight hinge-line and an overlapping of one valve over the other, I

have been favoured with the following note by my friend Mr. Pickering :—

“On looking over the recent Conchifera, or bivalve Mollusca, I do not

Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia. 83

—the relative thickness and the horny aspect of the valves, which

are marked moreover by a small tubercle, and by a central spot,

formed by a local variation in the tissue of the test.

With these characters, it is readily recognized as a Crustacean ;

but with regard to the place of the Gothland fossil amongst its

congeners, although the several characters above enumerated are

individually represented by other Bivalved Entomostraca, yet

there is no genus, either existing, or yet described from the

tertiary or secondary rocks, to which this fossil can be referred.

The genus Beyrichia, of the Silurian rocks, presents some special

characters in common with the fossil in question ; but the two

forms are unmistakeably distinct *.

In the description of some fossils from the Devonian schist

and limestone of Ille et Vilaine (Brittany), M. Rouault} in 1851

recognized two new Entomostracan bivalves—a Beyrichia (B.

Hardouinianat, Rouault), and a form on which he founded the

genus Leperditia. The generic characters of this Bretagne spe-

cies (L. Britannica, Rouault) are clearly described, and are closely

applicable to the Gothland fossil above referred to.

Through the kindness of Mr. J. Morris, I have had the op-

portunity of studying some very fine specimens of the Gothland

form, as well as two valves from Néhou, which are referable

find, and indeed do not know of, any genus bearing the same characters

united as in your Crustacean, namely a straight hinge-line and an over-

lapping ventral margin.

“The following genera show more or less one or other of these cha-

racters ;—

Solemya, q

Lithodomus,

Modiola,

Mycetopus,

Iridina,

Area,

Meleagrina,

Perna, J .

Avicula, inequivalve, with straight hinge-line.

<a. | ;

a straight hinge-line.

afr an overlapping ventral margin.

Thracia,

“ The dorsal margin of Solemya, with the ventral margin of Potamomya,

would, I think, produce the form required, but such a form is unknown to

me.”

* Vide antea, vol. xvi. pp. 91 & 174.

+ Bullet. Soc. Géol. France, 2 sér. vol. viii. p. 377.

t This species was inadvertently overlooked when I was preparing the

Table of the Beyrichie, antea, vol. xvi. p.175.

I take this opportunity of correcting an erratum in the Table here referred

to:—B. Wilckensiana, and its variety plicata, should be placed under the

heading Corrugate, instead of under Simplices, es

84 Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia.

perhaps to M. Rouault’s species. The British Museum and the

Geological Society’s Museum contain some highly interesting

specimens from Gothland. Mr. Salter has submitted for my

examination numerous specimens of Leperditia from the Silurian

limestones of the Arctic Regions and elsewhere ; and Mr. Wood-

ward and other friends have favoured me with several others.

These materials have enabled me to prepare a notice of a few

principal forms of the genus, which, though closely related, have

sufficient peculiarities of the carapace to render them specifically

distinct.

Class CRUSTACEA.

Subclass EntoMostRACA.

Order Phyllopoda 2

Family Lerrrpitipaz.

Genus LeperpitiA, Rouault, 1851. Bullet. Soc. Géol. France,

2de série, tome vill. p. 377.

Generic characters.—Animal enclosed in a vertical bivalved

carapace. Carapace inequivalved ; somewhat resembling a tam-

arind-stone and other leguminaceous seeds. Carapace-valves

smooth, convex, horny in appearance, nearly oblong, longer

than broad*, bean-shaped, inequilateral, posterior half broadest ;

dorsal border straight ; ventral border nearly semicircular ; an-

terior and posterior borders oblique above, rounded below, the

valve-margin passing from each end of the hinge-line in an

oblique direction downwards and outwards to about half the

breadth of the valve, where it meets the curved ends of the

ventral border, and so forms the more or less angular extremities

of the valve, the former of which is narrower and sharper than

the latter.

Valves united along their upper (dorsal) borders by a simple

linear hinge ; the two extremities of the hinge- border form angles

with the anterior and posterior borders m each valve.

The right valve larger than the left, being broader, and over-

lapping completely the ventral border of the opposite valve, and

to some extent its anterior and posterior borders. The overlap-

ping ventral border of the right valve forms a thick blunt keel

to the closed carapace.

Each valve is somewhat depressed towards the dorsal border ;

this border in the left valve is thicker than that of the right, and

sometimes slightly overrides it. The ventral margin of the left

valve is turned suddenly inwards, forming a thin plate project-

* The length is measured in the direction of the hinge-line,—the breadth

(or height) in that from the dorsal to the ventral margin.

Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia. 85

ing into the cavity of the carapace. The line of junction of the

inverted border, or ventral plate, and the outer surface of the

valve is angular, and bearsa slight sulcus and moulding, against

which the overlapping edge of the right valve abuts. The dorsal

or the ventral profile of the closed valves is elongate acute oval ;

the end view of the closed valves is more or less ovate.

Rather above and in front of the centre of each valve, and on

its most convex portion, nearly all the species of the genus pre-

sent a slightly raised, circular or suboval swelling, having a dia-

meter of from 3th to ith of the breadth of the valve’s surface.

This swelling is distinguishable by a local change of colour or

of surface-condition, and marks the place of a corresponding

rounded pit, excavated on the interior surface of the valve so

deeply as to render the tissue of the valve at the swelling some-

what diaphanous. The cast of this pit on an inner cast of the

valve is strongly marked, having a greater relative height than

the external swelling. The swelling has usually a reticulated

appearance resulting from vascular impressions on the test : and

from a slight sulcus at the margin of the pit a set of delicate

canals*, tortuous and inosculating, excavated on the interior

of the valve, radiate forwards, downwards, and backwards, gra-

dally becoming fainter towards the edges of the valves.

Anterior to the central tubercle, or “ lucid spot,” and nearer

to the dorsal margin, is a smaller, but prominent, tubercle on

each valve, with a corresponding internal pit. This little tubercle

(the “ anterior tubercle”) is usually seated on or at the edge of

a slightly raised area of irregular outline ; and behind it a short

shallow vertical sulcus, commencing at the dorsal margin, is

usually apparent.

1. Leperditia Balthica, Hisinger, sp. Pl. VI. figs. 1-5.

Cytherina Balthica, Hisinger, Anteckningar i Phys. o. Geol.

part 5. pl. 8. fig. 2; Lethza Suecica, p. 10, 118. pl. 1. fig. 2 a, d,

pl. 30. fig. 1.

Dimensions of closed or of separate valves of five individuals :—

Length. Breadth. Thickness.

(inch) (inch) ° (inch)

13 ... Right (broad) valve.

24 2%

rE! 41 ... Cast of left (narrow) valve.

os at ... Left valve.

as: x 7; Perfect carapace.

re at ... Cast of left valve.

* These are noticed also by Count Keyserling in a species from

Petschora-Land.

86 Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia.

Valves most convex at the middle and somewhat posteriorly ;

the posterior half of the valve broadest and boldly rounded

backwards and downwards. Old individuals less tapering ante-

riorly, and more oblong, than younger valves. Anterior and

posterior angles of the dorsal edge prominent in well-preserved

specimens, the extremities of the hinge-margin being truncate,

and the anterior and posterior margins of the valves obliquely

rounded off from beneath them. |

Ventral margin of the right valve overlapping that of the left

to the extent of about +th the breadth of the carapace.

Dorsal margin of the left valve slightly thicker than that of -

the right, which latter is somewhat thickened only at its anterior

third; ventral margin inverted suddenly, and marked with

transverse strive within and without.

Surface of each valve slightly depressed along a narrow area

just within the margin, which forms a gently raised convex

border, narrow on the dorsal edge, broader on the ventral.

Central spot and radiating canals well defined; the latter are

seen, in the cast represented at fig. 4 a, to spring from a circular

vascular impression, or sinus, surrounding the central spot or

tubercle. The radiating canals have left only obscure traces on

the cast* of the small specimen, fig. 5 a; which, however, shows

the reticulated or warty appearance of the central tubercle very

elearly. Anterior tubercle prominent, on an ill-defined slight

elevation, which is bounded behind by a faint sulcus extending

from the dorsal edge to the central tubercle.

The smaller cast, fig. 5 a, which I regard as representing a

younger individual of this species, presents a broadish depressed

margin on the anterior and ventral borders,—a feature that

becomes almost obsolete in the adult specimens. It also bears

a gently curved crenulated ridge, of slight elevation, crossing

obliquely the postero-dorsal region of the valve ;—this ridge is

not traceable in the. older specimen, fig. 4 a.

Surface smooth, shining; colour usually dark brown; two

large, somewhat worn, odd valves in Mr. Morris’s collection are

light brown in colour ; and in the largest the anterior tubercle is

whitish, with a central black spot (fig. 1 a,c). In these two old |

individuals the surface exhibits traces of a fine punctation.

This species occurs in the Upper Silurian limestone of Goth-

land+, where it appears to be not uncommon. Hisinger gives

the localities thus :—“ In the Transition limestone of Gothland

at Lanna, near Slitehamn ; also in detritus on the sea-shore:

in brownish limestone in the Island Bjork6, near Holmestrand,

* The surface of the cast is covered by very fine but obscure pittings, as

if the inside of the valve had been marked by an ill-defined reticulation.

+ For a notice of the geology and fossils of Gothland, see Quart. Journ.

Geol. Soe. vol. iii. pp. 18, 30, &e.

Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia. 87

Norway.” Count Keyserling* states that this Gothland species

occurs in the Silurian dolomitic limestone on the Waschkina,

Petschora-Land, in company with another species (Leperditia

marginata, Keyserl. sp.).

2. Leperditia Arctica, Jones. Pl. VII. figs. 1-5.

Leperditia Balthica, var. Arctica, Jones. Salter’s Appendix

to Sutherland’s Journal of a Voyage in Baffin’s Bay, &c., 1852,

vol. ii. p. cexxi. pl. 5. fig. 13; and Quart. Journ. Geol. Soe. vol. ix.

p. 314.

Dimensions of closed or of separate valves of four individuals :—

Length. Breadth. Thickness.

(inch) (inch) (inch)

2 d Right valve.

2g by eee

24 az 2, Perfect carapace.

25 ot ... Right-valve.

ot Pe ..» Left valve.

Valves most convex near the centre, depressed near the mar-

gins; antero- and postero-dorsal angles strongly marked ; the

anterior extremity acute. Central portion of the ventral border

of right valve projecting downwards with an almost angular

outline (giving the carapace a subtriangular shape), and over-

lapping the left valve to the extent of ith of the breadth of the

carapace. :

Dorsal edge of left valve much thicker than that of the right ;

the thickness greatest posteriorly.

Anterior and central tubercles well developed ; the radiating

vascular impressions form a delicate reticulation over nearly all

the inner surface of the valves, and arise from a large groove or

sinus surrounding the central tubercle. This circular sinus is

connected by a still broader sinus with the raised area of the

dorsal border of the valve. There is also another sinus em-

bracing the under side of the anterior tubercle, and passing for-

ward along the raised area in front of the tubercle to disappear

at the antero-dorsal angle. From the lower side of this sinus

fine vascular impressions originate, which freely inosculate with

the others. On one specimen (fig. 1 a) the anterior tubercle is

surrounded by a slightly raised, oval, crenulated border ; and the

surface of the valve immediately beneath the central tubercle

distinctly exhibits by faint raised lines the course of the larger

radiating canals.

Surface smooth and polished ; colour light brown.

* « Wissenschaftliche Beobachtungen auf einer Reise in das Petschora-

Land.” 4to, 1846, p. 289.

88 Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia.

L. Arctica occurs abundantly in the Upper Silurian limestone

at Cape Hotham in Assistance Bay, and Seal Island in Baring

Bay ; also in Griffiths and Cornwallis Islands. Specimens were

brought to England by Dr. P. C. Sutherland.

This species (which at first, when Mr. Salter showed it to me

in 1852, I was scarcely disposed to separate from the Gothland

species) differs from L. Balthica in several points,—in its smaller

size,—greater angularity of outline,—the greater convexity of

the valves, and depression of their dorsal region,—the thickness

of the dorsal edge of the left valve,—the great overlap of the

right valve,—-the greater delicacy and extent of the radiating

canals,—and the lighter colour.

3. Leperditia alta, Conrad, sp.(?) Pl. VII. figs. 6 & 7.

Cytherina alta, Conrad, Report Geol. New York; Vanuxem,

Geology of New York, 1842, p. 112. fig. 23, 6; Hall, Paleon-

tology of New York, 1852, vol. 11. p. 338. pl. 78. fig. 2a, 6, ¢.

A specimen of hard, dark Upper Silurian limestone, containing

numerous specimens of Leperditia, chiefly on a weathered plane

of bedding, was brought to England from the shores of Wel-

lington Channel * by Dr. P. C. Sutherland, and is now in the

Museum of Practical Geology. The fossils are single valves,

with their convex surfaces more or less exposed on the weathered

surface, which also presents numbers of minute bodies, probably

crustacean likewise. The valves are roughened by the irregular

dissolution of their substance, and each has the most prominent

spot of its convexity irregularly enamelled, as it were, by a local

mineralogical condition of the altered calcareous matter of the

fossil. The limestone affords a few specimens by fracture ; these

have smooth surfaces. The characters are as follow :—

Dimensions of separate valves of five individuals :—

Length. Breadth.

(inch) (inch)

5 3

24 24

i 4 jen valves.

10 6

24 24

25 aan

7" : dL Right valves.

24 2%

Carapace-valves strongly convex, smooth, dark olive-brown in

colour, more or less oblong, somewhat variable in outline, straight

above, rounded below; extremities obliquely rounded; the

dorsal angles in some much more definite than in others; pos-

terior half broader and rounder than the anterior. Anterior

* Cape Riley or Beechey Island.

Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia. 89

tubercle distinct, especially in the casts; central tubercle not

distinct.

The anterior and posterior borders of the right valve present a

slight marginal rim, especially in the younger specimens. A

distinct but very narrow marginal rim is seen on the anterior,

ventral, and posterior borders of some young left valves. The

ventral margin of the right valve is thick and incurved, over-

lapping that of the opposite valve, which has its mner edge in-

verted at a somewhat acute angle; this inverted ventral plate is

smooth. |

Prof. Hall’s figures, which he refers with doubt to “ C. alta,”

agree in general contour with the form under notice; but the

unworn surface of the latter is not papillose like the Schoharie

specimens. Mr. Vanuxem’s figures are wretched; but as Prof.

Hall appears, after having examined specimens of the fossil

indicated by Conrad and Vanuxem, to be disinclined to separate

the two, it is quite possible that all may be referred to one

species. Mr. Conrad * and Mr. Vanuxem quote the species as

occurring in the Tentaculite limestone of the Waterlime group ;

Prof. Hall’s specimens came from the Coralline limestone of

Schoharie.

The Arctic specimens which I have here referred to Leperditia

alta, although they differ in form less from L. Balthica than from

L. Arctica, still do not present the characteristic obliquely-sub-

oval outline of the former, but, the larger individuals at least,

have a subglobose shape. Their marginal rim, though slight,

is also a good distinctive character. In size they occasionally

equal LZ. Arctica, but do not approach the magnitude of the

Gothland specimens.

4 Leperditia Britannica, Rouault (?). Pl. VI. figs. 6 & 7.

Rouault, Bullet. Soc. Géol. France, deux. sér. 1851, vol. vi.

p. 877, woodcut figs. 1, 2, 3.

Dimensions :—

Length. Breadth.

(inch) (inch)

41 2% (about). Bretagne specimen.

1 2; Normandy specimen: right valve.

oy 2; Normandy specimen : right valve.

An odd dextral valve, apparently referable to the species in-

dicated above, affords the following characters.

* Under the name of “‘ Cytherina fabulites,’’ Mr. Conrad has described

(Philad. Acad. Nat. Se. Proceed. vol. i. p. 332) a bivalve Entomostracan

from the Trenton limestone of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, which from the

description of its shape and size is probably a Leperditia.

90 Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia.

Right valve nearly oblong, broadest and roundest behind ;

tapering and angular in front; most convex in the middle;

depressed towards the margins, which are for the most part

slightly raised; ventral border overlapping the opposite valve

to the extent of ith of the breadth of the carapace; anterior

tubercle distinct ; central spot not defined. Surface smooth, not

polished ; black.

Another, but smaller, right valve (younger individual) is simi-

Jar in general form, but relatively shorter and broader.

These two specimens occur on a small fragment of dark,

shelly, Devonian limestone from Néhou in Normandy, which

has been kindly lent me by Mr. Morris.

It appears to me probable that they belong to M. Rouault’s

' species (which is from the Devonian rocks of Brittany), although

the latter form appears to differ in the degree of convexity, and

to be shorter and broader in proportion, but unfortunately

neither M. Rouault’s specific description nor figures supply me

with all the necessary terms of comparison.

The Normandy specimen, Pl. VI. fig. 6, differs from the right

valve of L. Balthica in its narrower and more angular outline ;

in the greater depression of the surface towards the margins of

the valve, or more rapid slope from the centre towards the peri-

phery ; and in the greater overlap of the ventral margin.

The vertical transverse section of the closed valves of L. Bri-

tannica, fig. 7, is copied from M. Rouault’s memoir for the sake

of comparison. The ventral overlap of the larger valve is con-

siderable, as in fig.6.a; but the convexity of that valve differs in

the two individuals. The inverted plate of the ventral border of

the smaller valve, as shown in fig. 7, may be remarked as being

of very small extent, compared with that of L. Balthica, and of

some of the species hereafter described. In M. Rouault’s fig. 1,

the small valve is seen to have a dorsal protuberance, like that

in L. gibbera (Pl. VII. fig. 9 a) ; hence, if I am right in assign-

ing the Normandy specimens to the Bretagne species, their left

valve would have the dorsal hump,—another characteristic fea-

ture distinguishing them from L. Balthica.

5. Leperditia gibbera, nov. sp. PI. VII. figs. 8-10.

Dimensions of the separate valves of four individuals :—

rite ey Breadth.

)

(ine (inch)

25 gy Left valve.

2x at Right valve.

t 4. Right and left valves.

Valves strongly convex ; almost oblong, broadest at the pos-

Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia. 91

terior third; extremities obliquely rounded; ventral margin

gently curved ; convexity greatest on the median line.

Extremities of right valve depressed and margined with a nar-

row flattened rim; ventral margin incurved, and but slightly

overlapping the opposite valve.

Left valve thickened along the dorsal border, especially pos-

teriorly, where it presents a smooth, oval, ridge-like protu-

berance, short and depressed in young specimens, but prominent

and occupying even more than the middle third of the dorsal

edge in old individuals. The protuberance is separated from

the anterior tubercle by an oblique furrow. This dorsal protu-

berance is not present in the right valve at any age. The ex-

cessive thickening of the postero-dorsal portion of the left valve

is also present in M. Rouault’s Bretagne species *; and a ten-

dency to this condition is indicated in L. Arctica, and very

slightly in L. Balthica. i

The rest of the border of the left valve is suddenly depressed

into a narrow, flat, and trenchant marginal rim; the inverted

ventral edge is narrow. |

Anterior tubercle well marked; central tubercle indistinct.

Surface of valves smooth, shining, finely pitted, and of a rich

brown colour.

L. gibbera occurs in numbers in the Upper Silurian lime-

stone of Beechey Island, in company with numbers of small

bivalved Entomostraca, probably Beyrichie, among which are

two varieties of B. Kledeni. Specimens of the limestone have

been brought to England by Capt. Sir E. Belcher, and are now

in the Museum of Practical Geology.

6. Leperditia marginata, Keyserling, sp. Pl. VII. figs. 11-14

& 15.

Cypridina marginata, Keyserling, Wissenschaftliche Beobach-

tungen auf einer Reise in das Petschora-Land (Geognostische

Beobachtungen), 1846, p. 288. pl. 11. fig. 16.

Cypridina Balthica, Kichwald (non Cytherina Balthica, Hisin-

ger), Bullet. Imp. Soc. Nat. Moscou, 1854, No. 1. p. 99. pl. 2.

fig. 6.

A specimen of whitish (dolomitic) Upper Silurian limestone,

containing numerous specimens of a small Leperditia (chiefly

on a divisional plane of the rock), from the village of Saretche,

in the Government of St. Petersburgh, has been kindly presented

to me by Mr. T. Davidson, who received it from Prof. Kutorga

of St. Petersburgh. It was labelled “ Cypridina marginata, Key-

* Bullet. Soc. Géol. France, 2 sér. vol. viii. p. 377. fig. 1.

92 Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia.

serl.” The carapaces have mostly disappeared; but some re-

main in an altered crystalline state, or as a pulverulent, white,

calcareous substance. The casts of the interior, and sometimes

of the exterior, of the valves are very distinct ; but the saccharoid

crystalline character of the matrix has been ill adapted to receive

the impression of any fine vascular or other markings, if such

existed in the originals. |

Casts of a right and a left valve are figured in Pl. VII. figs. 11,

12; and, having been able, in some instances, to observe portions

of the carapace in place, as well as good casts of the outside, I

am satisfied that the exteriors of the valves presented almost, if

not quite, as strong a marginal rim as is seen in the casts. This I

especially mention, because M. Kichwald, in describing * speci-

mens of a similar form (possibly identical), from Esthland and

Livonia, states that-the outsides of the valve have no marginal

sulcus and rim, and that the casts alone exhibit this character.

The St. Petersburgh specimens present the following cha-

racters :—

(inch) (inch)

Dimensions :—Length 4 to

Breadth 4 to >

Carapace-valves almost equivalve, nearly oblong (subject to

slight variation in outline), broadest at the posterior third,

straight at the back, obliquely curved on the ventral margin, and

obliquely rounded at the extremities; the convexity of the sur-

face is nearly central. The central portion of the ventral edge

of each valve is somewhat incurved ; that of the right valve ap-

parently overlapping that of the left.

The right valve is margined, except on the dorsal edge, by a

well-marked sulcus, running along at a short distance from the

edge, and separating off a narrow, flattened, or slightly convex

border. On the left valve there is a similar marginal rim,

but it dies out on the central incurved portion of the ventral

margin, fig. 12 d.

The anterior tubercle is distinct; the central tubercle can

also be easily discerned on the casts ; the radiating vascular mark-

ings, however, are not apparent.

Of M. Keyserling’s figures of Leperditia marginata (op. cit.),

fig. 16 d (the smallest figure) alone corresponds exactly with the

form under notice ; in fig. 166 (op. cit.), and apparently in fig. 16a,

the marginal rim (of right valve) is mdicated as passing round

* Moscow Bulletin, 1854.

Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia, 93

the ventral margin as a projecting edge*, keeping the vertical

direction of the valve, instead of being a mere moulding accom-

panying an incurvation of the ventral border. Further, in

fig. 16 ¢ (op. cit.), there is represented an inverted edge to the

right} valve (as in the /eft valve of L. Balthica) ; and Count

Keyserling remarks, that, whilst the ventral plate in L. Balthica

is marked with transverse strie, in this species it is smooth.

The Petschora specimens vary from about ,% to 33 inch, and

even reach nearly 14 inch, in length.

The anterior and the central tubercle are both referred to by

M. Keyserling as being well marked in L. marginata, and the

east of the inside of the central tubercle is described as being

beset with crowded unequal wart-like markings, and accompanied

by ill-defined, tortuous, fine vein-markings, radiating backwards.

The sulcus defining the marginal ledge is stated to be “slight

on the surface of the valves, and deepened on the cast.”

M. Eichwaldt describes and figures a form under the deno-

mination of “ Cypridina Balthica,” and at the same time recog-

nizes in the casts, at least, the “ margins” seen in Keyserling’s

species, and apparently allows the latter species to be well

established on that character. The individuals of M. Eichwald’s

species vary in length from 4 to % inch (according to his figures) ;

and in the text he gives “3 inch” as the size. They possess the

anterior and central tubercles, with the muscular impression and

radiating vascular markings. Excepting that the outside, ac-

cording to the author, exhibits no marginal sulcus and rim,

though the internal cast does, M. Eichwald’s figures present no

material differences from the smaller form of M. Keyserling’s

species. Neither the figures, however, nor the description,

afford all the necessary details for satisfactory comparison with

known species.

The specimens here referred to are from “ the upper beds of

the greywacke limestone ” of Esthland and Livonia ; and, accord-

ing to M. EKichwald (op. cit.), another similar form, but with a row

of punctiform pits on the border of the valve [query, on a de-

pressed marginal border ?], and without any apparent central

spot and radiating vessels, occurs in the dolomitic limestone

near Gatschina, on the river Oredesch §.

* Tt is described as “ more or less clearly running along all the oval out-

line of the valve and ending at the hinge-angles.”’

+ As this inversion on the right valve is contrary to what obtains in

an species of the genus, perhaps this figure has been reversed on the

ate.

{ Bulletin Imp. Soe. Nat. Moscou, 1854, part 1. p. 99. pl. 2. figs. 7 & 8.

§ M. Eichwald also figures and describes a narrower and slightly arched

form (“ Cypridina minuta,” loc. cit. fig. 6), from the Brandschiefer of Erras

and the vicinity of Talkhof.

94 Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia.

In Plate VII. fig. 14, I have figured a very interesting spe-

cimen, which apparently is referable to the larger form of Count

Keyserling’s species (loc. cit. fig.6 a toc). It is in a white

(dolomitic) Silurian limestone, brought by Sir John Richardson

from Pine Island Lake* on the English or Great River, a few

miles north of Cumberland House (about lat. 54°, long. 104°),

and is now in the British Museum.

The fossil represents in relief the interior of a single left cara-

pace-valve, and appears to have been a cast which, subsequently

to the removal of the valve itself, has been smoothly recoated to

a certain extent with a thin covering, similar in colour to the

matrix, but less crystalline. In some aspects, the edge of the

cast being partially non-continuous with the matrix, the fossil

has an appearance of representing the valve itself,—which is not

the case.

It is 3 inch in length and 34 inch in breadth ; similar to some

specimens of L. Balthica im its obliquely suboval outline and

well-defined dorsal angles ; the surface is strongly convex, sloping

gradually posteriorly, but suddenly depressed on the anterior and

ventral margins to meet a well-defined flat marginal rim, which

ends at the extremities of the dorsal border.

Anterior tubercle very distinct, surrounded by an irregular

depression ; central tubercle large, but not elevated ; radiating

vascular markings not apparent; an oblique shallow furrow,

passing from the depression behind the anterior and above the

central tubercle to the most projecting portion of the posterior

portion of the valve, cuts off a somewhat raised area along the

postero-dorsal region. ;

If there be any inverted plate within the ventral border (like

that represented in Keyserling’s fig. 16 c, op. cit.), it is concealed

by the matrix.

I follow M. Keyserling in placing two such apparently dis-

similar forms as figs. 11-14 under one specific appellation,

because my own materials for observation are very limited, and

it is possible that the Petschora-Land specimens have afforded

the necessary links for connecting the two by specimens of

different stages of growth.

If the smaller form (figs. 11, 12) be the young of the larger

one, we have a carapace with a merely moulded and incurved

ventral edge in its young form developing a strongly bordered

margin with an inverted ventral plate (according to Keyserling,

op. cit.) inits older state! If, on the contrary, as I am inclined to

suspect, the smaller form be an adult, it is necessarily distinct,

* Journal of a Boat-Voyage through Rupert’s Land, &c. 2 vols. 8vo.

London, 1851 (vol. i. p. 75).

Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia. 95

and does not come within the typical group of Leperditia, and

should be removed to a subgenus at least.

It should be remarked that LZ. marginata, as represented by

figs. 11-14 (and M. Keyserling’s figures), differs from Z. Bal-

thica, and the other species above mentioned, in having the

greatest convexity on the anterior and inferior region of the

valve, rather than on the central portion.

Fig. 15 represents a cast in sandstone (x 2 diam.), from the

Tilestones (Downton sandstone) of Kington in Herefordshire,

of a Leperditia apparently belonging to the species under notice.

It is associated with casts of small Lingule. Another specimen,

consisting of a cast of the left valve, in the same sandstone, ex-

hibits similar characters.

These individuals measure 77; inch in length, and 3 inch in

breadth ; they are rather more angular anteriorly than figs. 11 &

12; they present only obscure traces of a marginal rim; and

their dorsal edge is not quite straight, but very slightly raised at

the centre. Otherwise the general form is similar in the English

and Russian specimens.

_ The anterior and central tubercles in the Kington specimens

are distinctly seen, and have the same relative position and pro-

portions as in the St. Petersburgh specimens.

With all the slight differences observable, considering the in-

different state of the casts, I do not think that the Kington spe-

cimens can be referred to any other than the Russian species.

This is the first noticed occurrence of Leperditia in British

rocks*, The specimens are in the Museum of Practical Geology ;

and I am indebted to Mr. Salter for having kindly drawn my

attention to them.

7. Leperditia Solvensis, nov. sp. Pl. VII. fig. 16.

Length } inch; breadth 54, inch.

The impression of the outside of a small valve (an artificial

cast of which is represented, magnified 2 diameters, by fig. 16)

on a fragment of Lower Silurian schist from South Wales has

been kindly communicated to me by Mr. Salter. It is from the

Llandeilo flags (lowest portion) of Upper Solva, Solva Harbour,

St. David’s; and is now in the Museum of Practical Geology.

The valve was slightly convex}, narrow oblong in shape, nar-

* Count Keyserling, in his remarks on the L. marginata of Petschora-

Land, expressed his astonishment that the Upper Silurian rocks of England

had not yet yielded this species; as it has at last made its appearance, we

may hope that it will soon be represented by numerous specimens in the

cabinets of the indefatigable collectors in Siluria.

+ The degree of convexity of the valve cannot be exactly ascertained, as

96 Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia.

rower at one end than at the other, straight at the back, rounded

at the ends, gently curved below. Excepting at the dorsal edge,

there is a well-defined, flattened, marginal rim. The tubercles

are not apparent.

This fossil approaches very nearly in outline to L. gibbera, and

in some of its characters to L. marginata; but its small size,

slight convexity, narrowness of shape, and large proportion of

marginal rim separate it from these species.

Observations on the Genus.

I must first observe that Prof. Quekett, having microscopically _

examined portions of the carapace-valves of Leperditia Arctica,

informs me that they exhibit most distinctly characteristic crus-

tacean structure.

In seeking for the family alliances of this paleeozoic genus, we

find some of the characters of its carapace among the existing

bivalved Entomostraca, both of the Phyllopod and Lophyropod

groups; but others of its peculiarities are not yet traced. It is

not well represented by any known recent form, but partakes of

the characters of several.

Shape.—The carapaces and carapace-valves figured in Plates

VI. & VII. present a general uniformity of shape, in the sub-

oval outline on three of their edges and the straightness of their

upper or dorsal border. They all possess the antero-dorsal

tubercle, and most of them show some evidence of the central

spot or tubercle. The ventral edge of the left valve is suddenly

inflected to a greater or less extent in all excepting those referred

to L. marginata and L. Solvensis. In the smaller form of the

one (Pl. VII, fig. 12) there is a decided modification of the in-

flection alluded to;—in the latter, and in our large form of

L. marginata, the evidence on this point is imperfect.

The mode in which the two valves close one on the other, by

a strong overlap and an inflected flange, is peculiar to the typical

Leperditia. |

With respect to the form of the valves among other bivalved

Entomostraca, fossil and recent, an approach to the outline-

shape of Leperditia is not uncommon; but, except among the

Beyrichia, few species are definitely characterized by this exact

shape, with its dorsal angles and ventral curvature *. Those

that approach most nearly in this outline of the carapace-valve

are the Limnadide+ and (with the exception of being notched)

some of the Cypridinine. ;

its convex portion has been somewhat crumpled by pressure; in other

respects the original form appears to be well preserved.

* Cypridina Isabella is one of the few examples of this shape (here

modified by an infero-anterior notch) in other genera.

+ Especially in the young state.

Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia. 97

Central spot.—There is another point of resemblance between

Leperditia and the Limnadide, namely the great central spot

with its vascular markings (Pl. VI. fig. le; Pl. VII. fig. 4 d).

In Leperditia there appears to be only one circular canal; in

Isaura ( Estheria) cycladoides there are three (Joly*), as there are

also in Lymnetis, as shown by Grube+. These concentric vas-

cular impressions on the inside of the carapace are present also

in other Entomostraca, as for instance, on the lateral halves of

the carapace in Apust and Lepidurus§.

The reticulated centre of this spot (which leaves the low warty

tubercle on the casts of the fossil valves) is the place of attach-

ment for the great adductor muscle of the animal || (Joly, Grube).

The radiating canals, originating at the central tubercle, are

found in Lymnetis (Grube, loc. cit.) as well as in Leperditia.

The concentric, radiating, and reticulate markings are pro-

bably referable to the course of blood-vessels and sinuses. The

carapace of many of these little Crustaceans appears to be ex-

tremely sanguiferous, and an important adjunct to the usual

respiratory organs.

The central spot of Leperditia and the Limnadide is repre-

sented in the Cypridinine, Cyprine, and Cytherine by a group

of variously arranged minute lucid spots, occupying an analogous

position on the valve ; and, in the first-named family at least, I

believe the lucid spots certainly to mark the place of muscular

attachment.

Eye-spot.—The anterior tubercle may with probability be re-

garded as indicating the place of the eye4],—or possibly even as

the external part of that organ; but, excepting some allied

paleozoic forms, there are no other bivalved Entomostracans

having the eye indicated by a tubercle on the carapace, and few

have the eye placed so high up in the antero-dorsal region.

In the Cyprine and Cytherine the eye is single (coalesced),

and close up to the anterior hinge. Some at least of the Cypri-

dining, in which group the eyes are separate and transversely

distant one from another, have the eyes lower down in the an-

* Annal. Se. Nat. 1842, nouv. sér. vol. xvii. p. 293 &c. pl. 7-9.

+ Bemerkungen iiber die Phyllopoden, &c., von Dr. A. EK. Grube;

Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte, 1853, p. 109. pl. 7. fig. 22.

t Baird’s Natural History of the British Entomostraca (Ray Soc.), 1850.

§ Baird, Zool. Soe. Illust. Proceed. 1850. Annulosa, pl. 17.

|| This central tubercle in the fossil Entomostraca has been often mis-

taken by paleontologists for an eye-spot. Eichwald (oc. cit. supra) sup-

poses it in Leperditia to be the seat of the ovary, and the associated radia-

tions to be ovarian vessels: this is quite untenable; the eggs are found in

the postero-dorsal region of the recent bivalved Entomostraca.

{ Count Keyserling (loc. cit. supra) describes this tubercle in L. mar-

ginata and L. Balthica as the “ eye-tubercle.”

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 7

98 Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia.

tero-dorsal region,—just above and in front of the muscle and

central spot*. This last is the position of the eye-tubercles in

Leperditia.

In the Limnadide the eyes are quite differently situated.

They are closely approximate, and are placed (as in the Daphni-

de) low down on the beaked head (or cephalic rostral buckler)

of the animal; and hence they are sometimes even protruded

from between the anterior margins of the valves in Estheria.

The eye-spots or anterior tubercles of Leperditia, being near

the dorsal edges of its carapace, have an analogous position to

that of the eyes on either side of the mesial line of the horizontal

carapace in the Apodide,—or rather, bemg somewhat further

apart (measuring across the hinge-line of the valves), those of

Coryceus and Caligus.

Conclusion.—The points of resemblance between the carapace

of members of the recent families of Entomostraca and that of

Leperditia may be indicated as follows :—

Limnadide. Cypridinine. Apodide.

Resemblance in—

Onithme isi Si est

Central spot for muscular

attachment —.--sseeeeses

Vascular markings (sinuses)

Vascular markings Lt

Giating) i. ssccescsccceseus

Situation of the eyes ...... + wine

Eye-tubercles — ........seeeeee - = +

* —

++4+

The above remarks may be of use not only in showing the

difficulty that exists in co-ordinating this fossil genus (so far as

the remains of the carapace will help us) with its known allies,

but also to some extent in illustrating another example “ of the

combination in extinct animals of characters separately mani- |

fested in existing species.”

In concluding this notice of the relations of Leperditia, I

would observe that the successive changes in the developmental

growth of individuals remind us of the gradations of structure

observable among allied species; and, as among the Limnadide,

young individuals + present not a bivalved, but an horizontal

carapace, like that of Apus, so the carapace of an Apodoid ideally

folded in two along its mesial line, with its two halves drawn

together by a transverse muscle, would well represent in most of

its important characters the carapace of a Leperditia; for the

eye-spots would be nearly in the relative position required, and

the central muscle-spot would be associated with vascular mark-

* For instance, Cypridina Zealandica.

+ Estheria and Lymnetis, less than a week old: (Joly, Grube).

C.C. Sowerby dd. GWest lith

Palaozxic

7. RS

Entemostraca. LEPERDITIA.

Ann & Mag. Nat Hist. S2NAA7. PUY

Ford & West Imp.

Mr. T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia. 99

ings. Nor would the valves, thus ideally constructed, be without

considerable resemblance in outline to the Leperditia valves.

Moreover, the vertical dorsal sulcus, which is scarcely apparent

in the typical Leperditia, though strongly marked in another

section of the group, and present also in Beyrichie, would find

its homologue in the nuchal furrow of the folded Apodoid.

Burmeister*, in his review of the classification of the fossil

Entomostraca, observed that Hisinger’s two Gothland species

(together with Kléden’s C. phaseolus) should be regarded as be-

longing to a group distinct from the Cytheres. He proposed to

retain the generic term Cytherina + for them, and to found on

them a distinct family (Cytherinide) of the Phyllopoda ; referring

to Estheria as a closely allied genus. Keyserling and Kichwald

quote L. Balthica as a “ Cypridina.”

There can be little doubt that Leperditia and its allies are suf-

ficiently distinct from the known Entomostracan groups to con-

stitute a separate family, as Burmeister recommended. The

Leperditide (as I propose to term this group), comprising Leper-

ditia, Beyrichia, and some other forms not yet described, may be

regarded as most probably coming within the pale of the Phyl-

lopoda.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES VI. anp VII.

PLATE VI.

[The figures (excepting fig. 1 c) represent the specimens magnified two

diameters. |

Fig. 1. Leperditia Balthica: a, right valve; b, the same, anterior extremity ;

ce, the same, central spot and anterior tubercle, highly magnified.

| —From Mr. Morris’s Cabinet.

Fig. 2. Leperditia Balthica: a, left valve; b, the same, anterior extremity.

[This specimen being somewhat worn, does not well show the

sharp angle of the ventral edge. |—From Mr. Morris’s Cabinet.

Fig. 3. Leperditia Balthica: a, perfect carapace, showing the right valve ;

b, the same, showing the left valve; c, the same, showing the

dorsal aspect; d, the same, showing the ventral aspect ; e, the

same, showing the anterior extremity.—Mr. Morris’s Cabinet.

Fig. 4. Leperditia Balthica: a, cast of the interior of a left valve, showing

the anterior and central tubercles, and the radiating vascular

markings; 6, the same, ventral aspect ; c, the same, showing the

anterior extremity. The dotted lines represent an ideal section

of the carapace.— Museum of the Geological Society.

Fig. 5. Leperditia Balthica: a, cast of the interior of a left valve of a

* Organiz. d. Trilob. pp. 57 & 63. (Ray edit. pp. 49 & 55.)

+ The name “ Cytherina” was substituted by Lamarck for Miiller’s

Cythere, and has been used by numerous writers in the same sense.

Although “Cythere” has been restored to its original use, and the word

“ Cytherina”’ is adrift, still, from the frequent misuse of the latter term, it

is not eligible as a generic appellation. Dana has lately used the term

“* Cytherine ”’ to represent a subfamily. se

100 =Mr.T. R. Jones on some species of Leperditia.

smaller individual; anterior and central tubercles distinct, but

radiating vessels only apparent towards the ventral border; 6, the

same, ventral aspect, with a part of the inverted edge remainin

attached ; c, the same, dorsal aspect.—Museum of the Geologica

Society.

Fig. 6. Leperditia Britannica? : a, right valve ; b, the same, ventral aspect ;

c, the same, anterior aspect. The dotted line indicates the

supposed outline of the opposite valve.—Mr. Morris’s Cabinet.

Fig. 7. Leperditia Britannica, transverse vertical section of the carapace,

after Rouault (Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. 2 sér. vol. viii. p. 378. fig. 3).

Puate VII.

[The figures represent the specimens magnified two diameters, excepting

figs. 4 d and 5, which are more highly magnified. |

Fig. 1a. Leperditia Arctica, right valve ; central and anterior tubercles well

developed, the latter ornamented with an oval crenulated border.

— Museum of Practical Geology.

Fig. 1b. Leperditia Arctica, right valve, anterior extremity —Museum of

Practical Geology.

Fig. 2. Leperditia Arctica: a, left valve; b, the same, anterior extremity.

—Museum of Practical Geology.

Fig. 3. Leperditia Arctica: a, perfect carapace, showing the right valve ;

b, the same, showing the left valve ; where the carapace is broken,

the radiating vessel-markings are seen; c, the same, dorsal

aspect; d, the same, ventral aspect ; e, the same, anterior aspect.

—Museum of Practical Geology.

Fig. 4. Leperditia Arctica: a, cast of the interior of a left valve; 6, the

same, ventral aspect; c, the same, anterior aspect; the dotted

line indicates the outline of the opposite valve in section; d, en-

larged view of the cast of the central tubercle; e, fragment of

the same left valve, showing the inner aspect of the “ central

tubercle,” or “lucid spot,’ and the vascular markings, together

with a portion of the inverted edge of the same valve ; the lower

fragment is a portion of the overlapping edge of the right valve.

—Museum of Practical Geology.

Fig. 5. Leperditia Arctica: diagram showing the relations of the over-

lapping and overlapped ventral edges of the valves.

Fig. 6. Leperditia alta? : a, right valve, with weather-worn surface ; b, the

same, ventral aspect; c, the same, anterior aspect.—Museum of

Practical Geology. -

Fig. 7. Leperditia alta? : a, left valve (young), with weather-worn surface ;

b, the same, ventral aspect; c, the same, anterior aspect.—

Museum of Practical Geology. :

Fig. 8. Leperditia gibbera: a, right valve, shell nearly all worn (or rather

dissolved) away; 6, the same, ventral aspect; c, the same, an-

terior aspect.—Geological Society’s Museum.

Fig. 9. Leperditia gibbera: a, left valve, surface well preserved; 0b, the

same, ventral aspect; c, the same, anterior aspect.—Museum of

Practical Geology.

Fig. 10. Leperditia gibbera, outline profile of the anterior aspect of the

carapace. _

Fig. 11. Leperditia marginata? (young ?): a, cast of right valve; b, the

same, ventral aspect ; c, the same, anterior aspect.

Fig. 12. Leperditia marginata? (young?) : a, east of left valve; 5, the same,

ventral aspect ; c, the same, anterior aspect.

Jan

Ann. & Mag Nat. Hist. S.2.Nol 17.2, Vi.

Paleoxte Fntomostraca LEPERDITTA.

Mr. H. J. Carter on the Cell-contents of the Characeze. 101.

Fig. 13. Leperditia marginata? (young?), outline of the anterior aspect

of the two valves united.

Fig. 14. Leperditia marginata? (adult): a, cast of left valve; b, the same,

dorsal aspect ; c, the same, ventral aspect; d, anterior aspect.—

British Museum.

Fig. 15. Leperditia marginata?, cast of right valve.—Museum of Practical

Geology.

Fig. 16. Leperditia Solvensis, artificial cast of impression of right valve.—

Museum of Practical Geology.

IX.—Further Observations on the Development of Gonidia (?)

from the Cell-contents of the Characez, and on the Circuiation

of the Mucus-substance of the Cell. By H. J. Carrrr, Esq.,

Assistant Surgeon H.C.S., Bombay.

[With two Plates. ]

Since my first “‘ Observations on the Development of Gonidia (?)

from the Cell-contents of the Characez,” &c.* were arranged,

and which I then stated were not so “ extended and complete ”

as they would have been had more leisure been at my disposal,

I have obtained much more precise information on the subject.

The inquiry was then new to me, and the only author to my

knowledge who had engaged in it was Professor Pringsheim,

who met with a similar formation in Spirogyra, &c.+, and had

assumed, as the simplest way of accounting for it, that the

ciliated bodies produced in this way were “ propagative cells of

the Spirogyre capable of development.” In the “ Postscript ”’.to

my “ Observations,” however, I expressed a different opinion,

having at first, with Professor Pringsheim, been under the im-

pression that a development of such “cells” under such circum-

stances could only belong to the plant in which it took place, —

and therefore I called them “ gonidia.” But subsequent obser-

vations favoured the view that they did not belong to Nitedla,

and therefore that they should have been called ‘“ monads ;”

viewing “monads” in the same relation to Infusorial that

* gonidia”’ bear to future Algoid developments. That there is a

great resemblance between gonidia and monads, and that there

may be instances where their subsequent forms alone can deter-

mine which appellation should be used for them, in the sense

mentioned, may be easily conceived, and the present is one to

the beginner ; but whether or not it should be so to the expe-

rienced observer, I will not now stop to discuss.

Like all unfinished investigations, my first communication

* Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xvi. No. 91. p. 1, 1855.

+ Id. vol. xi. No. 64. p. 294, 1853.

102 Mr. H.J. Carter on the Development of Gonidia

will remain uninteresting until its subject is made more compre-

hensive, and it is on this account that I offer the followmg

additional observations, which, together with figures of all that

requires illustration in this, as well as in my former paper, will

furnish a key to what I have already described, and enable the

reader to correct for himself any false inferences which my

remarks may have caused from my imperfect knowledge of a

development, which at first appears more likely to be vegetable

than animal, and though subsequently proved to be the con-

trary, is after all situated in that part of the scale of living beings

with which we are least acquainted, and where many of the

organisms so much resemble the lower orders of both vegetable

and animal kingdoms, that on one day they are on this side the

line of separation and another day on that, as discovery turns

their balance in favour of one or the other of these great divisions

of organic life.

With such introductory remarks let us proceed then to the

different parts of the subject which require further elucidation.

Tt will be seen (at p.6, Obs. cit.*), that the “ gonidia,” which

we shall henceforth call “‘ monads,” lost their cilium respectively

and passed into polymorphic, reptant cells, each of which con-

tained a contracting vesicle ; in fact, into Rhizopoda ; and here we

must leave them for the present, considermg them as Amoeba,

which might or might not have had an ulterior development.

Now we find by what Pringsheim has stated, that he not only

observed a similar development in the cells of Spirogyra, but

also in Cidogonium, Cladophora fracta, and in the young plants

of Nitella syncarpa; to which I may here add the extent of my

own experience in this matter, viz. that such developments are

common in Chara and Nitella, Cladophora and Spirogyra; occa-

sionally in Hydrodictyon ; in Closterium acerosum and Cosmarium

among the Desmidiz, but never in the Diatomacez +; common

in Euglena and in the dead bodies of Furcularian Rotifera. The

same or similar developments probably take place throughout

the whole of the freshwater Algze and in many of the Infusoria,

but I have only noticed them up to the present time in the

organisms mentioned. Again, wherever I have seen them, they

have appeared to me to have arisen from germs implanted in

the Algz or Infusoria in which they have occurred; and the

organisms which have come from them have been Ameba, Asta-

si@, or colourless flexible Oscillatorie (?). Iam not certain that

* After this, the page alone of these “ Observations” will be men-

tioned.

+ The Asteridia of the Rev. W. Smith however appear to belong here,

and that naturalist has seen» them “ occasionally in the Diatomacez.”

(Quart. Journ. Microscop. Sc. vol. i. p. 69.)

from the Cell-contents of the Characez. 1038

Pleotia should not be added to these, but until further obser-

vation proves this, I must leave it under doubt. May not the

“ spirozoids ” also or “ spermatospheres ” of Itzigsohn belong

to these developments? Their being developed in Spirogyra,

from globules of endochrome which become pale, lose their

colour, and end in becoming “ greyish-white,” at least, gives

them a strong resemblance. How the germs which produce

these developments exist in the cells of Algze without apparently

affecting their vitality, or causing a suspension of their functions,

is difficult to conceive; but that they do so, is proved by the

presence at least of one kind generally, if not always, in the

plants of Characez after they have attained a certain size, and

to that we must now chiefly direct our attention.

My first observations on this development were made on the

internodes of a very small species of Nitedla, but latterly they

have been made on the internodes of a very large one ; some of

the oldest of which average six inches in length by one twenty-

fourth of an inch in breadth. Hence they were well adapted

generally for experiments on this Alga *.

Let us now direct our attention to what takes place when one

of these, about three or four inches in length, is so suspended,

that about an inch of the free end may rest upon a slide of glass,

in a little water, while a portion of the latter also is cut off with

a lancet, and the rest covered with another piece of glass for

observation.

Ist. The azial fluid rushes forth and renders the cel/-wall

more or less flaccid.

2nd. The mucus-layer in part comes forth, and with it also

portions of the green layer.

3rd. After a short time the expelled mucus, which is appa-

rently separated into masses, but is nevertheless more or less

* There are two species of Nitella in the island of Bombay, the smallest

of which I have already described, and the following is a description of the

large one, or one in question :—

Plant long and straggling, of a deep green colour, with short branches,

crowded towards the top. Oldest internodes 5-6 inches long, some fluted

(from collapse?) where the endochrome has disappeared and left them of

brown colour; terminal internodes shortened and crowded, compara-

tively. Verticils consisting of five short branches, each composed of 2-3

long cells applied end to end, the last terminated by a spine, five minute

spines round each joint, and 10-12 or more round the base of each ver-

ticil; long branches rising between the short branches of the verticil.

Organs of fructification cast together in the axil of the verticil or singly at

the joints of the short branches. Globule spherical, of a brownish-green

colour ; nucule conical, at first white, then black. General characters :—

Great length, dark-green colour, large organs of fructification and large

size of plant generally. Grows in the tank of Nagaum in the island of

Bombay.

104 Mr. H.J. Carter on the Development of Gonidia

connected by minute threads of its own material, is drawn back

into the internode almost as quickly as it was ejected.

4th. By now moistening that part of the internode which is

suspended, the mucus is again made to rush forth, and this

backward-and-forward movement may be kept up for some time

by alternately moistening and allowing the internode to get dry ;

or, by keeping the internode constantly moist, the whole of the

mucus-contents may at once be discharged.

Here there is evidently a rapid endosmosis, and it would ap-

pear that the mucus-contents, which are within the green layer,

are not expelled so much by the contraction of the latter, as I

had inferred (p. 18), but depend for their exit upon the passage

of water through both the cell-wall and the green layer; while

the “spasmodic” retraction of the mucus mentioned in the same

paragraph must be chiefly attributed to the dryimg up of the

cell-wall, and consequent imbibition through the truncated en

of the internode. Y

Green layer.—The structure of this has already been described,

and the “green disk”? was stated to consist of a transparent

capsule or cell, within which is a green, flat disk or nucleus, of

nearly equal diameter, presenting three or more granules in its

composition. It is to the latter now that I chiefly wish to call

attention. In these granules I had only been able to obtain a

faint trace of starch by iodine, and therefore I left the question

of their composition open, although I might have inferred from

analogy that they were starch-grains. Subsequent observation

has now proved to me that they are the rudiments of starch-

grains, and that in some instances where the starch has been fully

formed, they have increased to such an extent as to occupy the

whole of the transparent capsule (Pl. VIII. fig.5). Thus packed

together of different sizes, they assume the rounded, subangular

shapes of all similar bodies developed in a circumscribed space ;

at the same time they appear to have been formed at the expense

of the green disk, whose substance is much wasted or has entirely

disappeared.

Hence they are generated in the protoplasm of the cell ; for if

the green disk be exposed to the action of zther when the gra-

nules are very small, the colour of the nucleus disappears, but its

form remains; while at a still earlier period it also appears to

contain a nucleolus or cytoblast. Under what circumstances the

granules come into existence I am ignorant ; but that they have

nothing to do with the cytoblast may be inferred from their ap-

pearance in the Diatomacez (Navicula fulva, &e.) outside the cell

of the cytoblast or nucleus, and in the cavity or body of the

frustule, which, up to the time of their appearance together with

that of the oil-globules, is perfectly transparent.

from the Cell-contents of the Characez. 105

Mucus-layer.—It has been already stated that when this

rushes out it is found to be composed of a granuliferous mucus,

globular vesicles, circular disks, and irregularly shaped opake,

yellowish bodies. The disks, which are circular in the small

Nitella, are elliptical and elongate in the large one; and the

irregularly shaped bodies, which have no particular figure in the

small Nitella, are, for the most part, agariciform and patulous in

the larger species. The same differences obtain also in Chara

verticillata (Pl. VIII. figs. 7-16).

Although many of the globular vesicles present no nucleus,

and many appear to be altogether void of granular contents,

yet most present either a single nucleus or a plurality of such

nuclei; and some which are very large contain a number of

smaller nucleated vesicles like themselves ; but the typical form

of the globular vesicle consists of a transparent cell-wall filled

with a granuliferous mucus, the grosser parts of which are more

or less collected round the nucleus, which is fixed to or imbedded

in its cell-wall (fig. 14) ; the nucleus being, in fact, equivalent

to the “circular disk” (fig. 8); and where we see a plurality of

them in a globular vesicle (fig. 16), it may be inferred that they

are developed there, and that the subsequent bursting of the

vesicle thus allows them to become free and scattered in such

abundance as they are observed to be throughout the mucus-layer.

Another remarkable character of this delicate vesicle is, that it

is endowed with the power of motion, inasmuch as many may be

seen on their first issuing to rotate upon their axes, and to un-

dulate or prolong their cell-wall in different directions, while the

granules of the mucus internally are in constant vibratory or

molecular movement, like those of Spirogyra (produced perhaps

by the irritability of the mucus); while the mucus itself en

masse is continually moving to this side or that, and drawing

all the granules which are imbedded in the moving portion in

the same direction. Hence, with the exception of the contract-

ing vesicle and a far more delicate texture, we have a cell corre-

sponding in every respect to that of Ame@ba and Spongilla.

It will be remembered also, that in my description of Spon-

gilla * it is stated, that the intercellular mucus which binds the

cells together has a polymorphic power, like that of the cells

themselves ; and this appears to be the case, but in a much more

limited degree, with the granuliferous mucus of Ni¢ella, which,

at the time of its issuing from the internode, in masses, under-

goes a slow but appreciable change of form; and either throws

out threads which adhere to the glass, or exhibits in these

threads a distinct retractile movement when the latter separate

* Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. iv. p. 36, 1849.

106 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Development of Gonidia

from their points of attachment. It is perhaps more to the

breaking of these than to the “ bursting of the vesicles”? men-

tioned (p. 19), that the “jerking” movements seen every now

and then in this mucus are to be attributed ; at the same time,

the severation of these threads thus uniting the masses of mucus

may still be a vital act.

The “ irregularly shaped bodies” (fig. 11), which are agari-

ciform in the mucus of the large Nitella and Chara verticillata

(figs. 12, 13), next claim our attention. They are of an opake,

yellowish colour, and bear a strong resemblance to starch as well

as to fixed oil. It is stated (p. 4) that iodine only turns them

of a “deep brown amber colour ;” but since that, I have fre-

quently found it produce in some a deep claret, almost amount-

ing to purple tint, with portions here and there which were

quite blue. When pressed however, under these circumstances,

between two pieces of glass, part of their substance has, in ad-

dition, assumed a fatty consistence, of a brown amber colour.

What are these bodies then ; and whether do they belong to the

globular vesicles or to the mucus of Nitella, or are they deve-

loped in both ; and what is their origin? These are questions

for our consideration which we shall now pursue. From the

apparently promiscuous formation of starch and fixed oil in the

nucule of Nitella, and from the formation of starch-grains, and,

probably as often, fixed oil-globules in the protoplasm of the

“‘ oreen disk,” it does not appear unreasonable to conceive that

similar formations may take place in the mucus-layer (which is

also the protoplasm) of the internode. But I have lately found

that starch is plentifully developed in Spongilla towards the end

of the season, when it is about to be left uncovered by the water,

and that not only are large starch-grains to be observed, appa-

rently in nothing but the intercellular substance, but that many

of the cells also exhibit traces of starch among their greenish

granular contents ; and some spherical cells appear to contain

nothing else but a translucent amyliferous fluid; while there is

no trace of starch to be found in any part of the capsule or its

contents, nor in the newly developed Spongilla. With organisms

then thus far alike in their products as Nitella and Spongilla,

and the presence of an organism so much like Spongilla in

the internode of the former, how to decide which produces

these partly amyloid, partly fatty, agariciform bodies that

abound in the mucus of Nétedla, is a question which had better

be postponed until we come to the development of the latter,

In the meanwhile, with reference to their origination, I can

state no more than I have done with respect to the origin of the

starch-grains in the green disks, and the starch-grains and oil-

globules which occur together promiscuously in the Diatomaceze

from the Cell-contents of the Characez. 107

and in other vegetable cells, viz. that they first make their

appearance in the cavity and substance of the protoplasm ; which

latter is Cruger’s view*.

_ In the small species of Nitella, these irregular bodies were

almost as frequently found appended to, or in the walls of, a

globular vesicle, in the manner of the circular disk or nucleus

itself (fig. 15); frequently seen in plurality as well as singly

within large globular vesicles in both species of Nitella, im-

bedded in their internal mucus; and it often, though by no

means always, appeared to me, that the circular disk or nucleus

passed into the irregular body. This seems a not unlikely

origin for them, and would explain their situation when ap-

pended to a vesicle, loose in the granular mucus, or in plurality

in the large vesicles; more particularly, as has before been

stated, from these being the only positions in which the circular

or elliptical disks (nuclei) do appear. At the same time, many

may have had their origin in the mucus itself, just as the

starch-grains of the green disk, perhaps in germs, and this would

account for the minute ones; but whatever may be their origin,

or whether they be a development of Mitella on the globular

vesicles, they form part of the contents of the internode, and

disappear in the course of the passage of the cell-contents into

the so-called “ gonidial cells,” and the subsequent development

of the monads.

With vesicles so nearly allied to Ameba and Spongilla, it

also seems not improbable that they should take in substances

of nutrition after a similar manner ; that is, apparently through

their cell-wall ; and although in some cases the irregular bodies

may be developed in the nuclei of daughter-vesicles which have

not left the parent, yet in others they may have been taken in

by vesicles in the way to which I have alluded, viz. for the sake

of food. Hence we frequently see one imbedded in the internal

granuliferous mucus of a vesicle, and not unfrequently under-

going, to a certain extent, that rotatory motion which is pre-

sented by portions of food just introduced into the abdominal

mucus of Vorticella, Paramecium aurelia, &c. But perhaps the

most remarkable instance of this occurs with the green disks,

more or less of which become displaced and insulated when the

end of the internode is truncated, and thus appear to be caught

up by the globular vesicles immediately the two come into

contact (fig. 17). Donné first called attention to this, terming

the globular vesicles “grosses gouttes huileuses ou albumi-

neuses,”’ and his observation was confirmed by Dutrochet+. The

* Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xv. p. 317. See also Mohl’s papers

translated by Henfrey, with observations by the latter, idem, pp. 321-416.

+ Ann. des Se. Nat. Bot. vol. x. p. 348, 1838.

108 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Development of Gonidia

circulation of the mucus-layer itself is hardly more remarkable

than the rapidity with which the green disks are whirled round

upon their short axis horizontally or vertically, when they get

into the abdominal mucus of one of these vesicles. If this

explanation of it meet with disbelief, I can only repeat in its

support, that the irregular bodies are similarly affected when

they get into this position, though not to such a degree of

rapidity, probably from their greater weight and ragged form

(fig. 18), and that neither these nor the green disks exhibit this

phenomenon when lying outside the vesicles ; while the rotation

of food, when it gets into the abdominal mucus, is a common

occurrence in many of the Infusoria, especially in Vorticella,

Paramecium, &e.

We now come to an important point of elucidation ; viz. if the

globular vesicle can enclose the green disks so rapidly when a

few only of the latter are displaced, they should be able to enclose

a far greater number when the whole of the green layer is broken

up (figs. 19, 20). Hence it becomes much more likely that

this should take place when the so-called “ gonidial cells” are

formed in the internode (fig. 21), than that portions of the

loose mucus, as I had before supposed (p. 7), should wrap up

certain numbers of the green disks respectively in their substance,

and then pass into closed, transparent sacs or cell-walls. Led

on from fact to fact, then, to this conclusion, we now see that

the so-called “ gonidial sac” is not a new formation, but a pre-

existing “ globular vesicle,” which, when filled with green disks,

is in an efficient state, as regards nourishment, to multiply itself

by segmentation (fig. 22). That segmentation is the way in

which the litter of monads is produced, would appear, first, from

the cell-wall losing all power of motion, and apparently life

(fig. 20) ; then the formation sometimes (probably always) of a

secondary more delicate cell or coat within (fig. 21) ; afterwards

a separation en masse of the granules and mucus from the brown

or nutritive matter, now become effete (fig. 23) ; and, lastly, by

the division of this into the litter of monads (figs. 24, 25),

Whereas, in the propagation by ovules in the Amcebous cells, all

foreign matter appears to be thrown off, and the ovules fully

formed and separate previous to encystment and incubation.

After the monads, formerly called ‘ gonidia,” have been deve-

loped, the inner cell disappears, and the outer one giving way

from decay (?), they escape into the water (figs. 26, 27).

It is not always that this process can be so distinctly seen,

because the brown matter seems sometimes to be so mixed up

with the granules and mucus, that the monads appear to come

directly out of the former, without a previous separation of the

latter.

from the Cell-contents of the Characez. 109

The production of the young Water-net, or Hydrodictyon, is

not unlike this. Here a single gonidium grows into a long

tubular cell, during which its internal surface becomes lined

with a mucus-layer charged with chlorophyll-granules and

starch-grains; this layer, when fully developed, divides up into

gonidia, which, by mere change of position (Braun), force them-

selves into a new Water-net, or separate altogether, and pass out

through a rent in the parent gonidium, now become a long

cylindrical cell; at this moment also the existence of another

more delicate cell, between the outer one and the mucus-layer,

is demonstrated, in which the passage of the gonidia is mo-

mentarily arrested. Here, then, the chief apparent difference

between this process of development or multiplication and that

of the globular cell of the mucus-layer of Nétella is the intro-

duction of foreign material for the support of the mass during

the time it is undergoing division in the latter, and the prepara-

tion of it in the cell itself for this process in the former. Here

also the cell-wall of the gonidium passes into the cell-wall of the

mother-cell in Hydrodictyon, which corresponds to the so-called

“ gonidial cell” of Nitella, and is not a new secretion ; while

the internal delicate membrane which holds the gonidia in

Hydrodictyon corresponds to the delicate cell-membrane which

immediately surrounds the monads in Nitella; and the monads,

as well as the gonidia of Hydrodictyon, appear to gain their

proper covering from the contents of the secondary cysts, which

coverings in time become respectively the mother-sacs of future

litters. We shall also see by and by, that the same thing takes

place in the segmentation of Paramecia.

The passage of the green disks im situ into monads or poly-

morphic cells, mentioned p. 8, is now easily understood ; since,

if the germ producing the first globular vesicle can get through

the cell-wall of the internode without causing a suspension of its

functions, a germ from it might easily get from the mucus-layer

into the green disk of the green layer; and there, living upon |

the protein nucleus and green chlorophyll, take the place of the

latter in the transparent cell, which, finally decaying, would

allow the monad or monads thus produced to get into the cavity

of the internode.

Viewing, then, the globular vesicles as an infusorial develop-

ment, all difficulty in accounting for the changes which they

occasion in the cells of the Characee disappears, and all changes

which take place in these vesicles themselves become easily

understood.

But we have yet to discover whether these vesicles existed ab

origine in the mucus of the internode, and, if not, how and under

what form they were introduced.

110 Mr. H.J. Carter on the Development of Gonidia

Probably the best way of pursuing this part of the subject is

to commence with the development of the new plant from the

nucule, by which we shall see under what form the mucus first

appears.

The nucule of Chara verticillata (fig. 35 a), which is more or

less ovate, consists of three coats, viz. an external or cellular, a

middle or laminar, and an internal or delicate one, within which

is enclosed a quantity of starch and oil, together with a little

mucus.

The external coat (d,b) is composed of five long cells, twisted

twice round the middle coat, side by side, so as to form a

spiral plane, ending at the apex in a group of ten cells, the last

of which are pointed; this group has been called the coronet.

They all, and in every respect, answer in structure, &c. to the

description given of the internode of Nitella in my first paper.

The middle coat (e, e), which represents in relief and depres-

sion the spiral limes impressed upon it by the cellular one,

consists of several very thin laminz, structureless, homogeneous

in composition, and of a dark brown colour by transmitted, but

black by reflected light.

The internal coat (d, d) is a fine delicate colourless membrane,

which frequently adheres very strongly to the middle coat, and

so much resembles the lamine in the latter, that the whole

together present a structure similar to that of the thickened

cells in old filaments of Conferva glomerata. When treated

with iodine alone, this, as well as the middle coat; assumes a

reddish-brown colour; but when sulphuric acid is added, the

internal coat (as well as the next layer to it, which ought per-

haps to be considered a part of it) turns blue, while the middle

coat remains unaltered.

The starch and oil are in pellicled smooth grains, of a sub-

round, subangular, elliptical or compressed form. These grains

are larger in the centre than at the circumference, where they

become almost molecular, and are mixed up with a layer of

mucus, which supports the whole in an ovoid form.

This external mucus may be the preserved protoplasm, and

there may be a cytoblast also ready to assist in the formation of

the first cell; as in Spirogyra, where both protoplasm and cyto-

blast appear immediately the contents of the resting-spore burst

forth to form the new cell.

Such is the composition of the nucule, in the contents of

which I have never seen anything like the “ globular vesicles ”

of the mucus-layer; not even where the germinating matter

has perished, and the nucule has remained for several weeks

afterwards exposed to the decomposing action of the water.

Neither have I even seen anything like the globular vesicle, or

from the Cell-contents of the Characez. 111

monad developed from it, in the cells of the filaments producing

the antherozoids of the globule.

We have now to examine the development of the first few cells

of the new plant successively, in order that we may trace the

development of the mucus-layer.

In the Characez, as in Cladophora, but not as in Spirogyra,

the coat immediately covering the grumous contents of the spore

in one case and the nucule in the other, appear to be prolonged

into the cell-wall of the new plant. TI infer this from the cell-

wall of the first internode being so firmly attached to the inner

coat of the nucule that it cannot be separated from it without

rupture, since the black colour of the middle coat prevents our

seeing how the continuation is effected after the manner of

Cladophora, where the old cell and the spore-capsule are equally

transparent. By a prolongation of the internal coat into the

new cell-wall, I mean that the former becomes soldered to the

latter, as the latter is secreted or formed by the protoplasm of

the nucule.

Having come to this conclusion, we will now follow the ex-

tension of the new plant to the sixth cell, exclusive of the

cavity of the nucule. At this period we shall find it about

one-fiftieth of an inch in length, and the circulation or full

development of the mucus-layer only established in the cell next

the nucule, which we shall designate the first, and so on to the

terminal one, which will be the sixth.

Beginning then from the sixth, or youngest cell, and tracing

the development backwards, or towards the nucule, we shall find

the following appearances :—

In the terminal or sixth cell, which is not fully formed,

nothing is seen within the cell-wall but a mass of small spherical

hyaline vesicles of different sizes, and the barely perceptible

rudiments of the green disks (fig. 36). In the fifth the number

of vesicles are diminished, by some being larger than the rest,

especially two in the centre, and the rudiments of the green

disks more distinct. In the fourth the two large vesicles

(spaces?) have united into one, and many of the smaller ones

have broken down into, or have been replaced by mucus; the

rudiments of the green disks are more evident. In the third

the same changes are seen, but still more advanced; while in

the second the central space is much larger, though irregular in

form ; the mucus increased in quantity, apparently at the ex-

pense of the hyaline vesicles, which are now very few; and the

whole beginning to move gradually round the cell. In the first

the circulation is established ; no hyaline vesicles are seen in the

mucus, though already it presents some of the “irregularly

shaped bodies,” and the green disks are found.

112 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Development of Gonidia

Thus we see that the mucus-layer appears originally to be

formed by cells of extreme tenuity, and that even the first cell

which presents a circulation may have the irregular, agariciform

bodies in it. | )

Now the same thing takes place in the roots (fig. 37), which

are given off in a circlet from the first internode or junction of

the first cell with the cavity of the nucule (fig. 35 e), and at this

period far exceed the plant in length and amount of development.

They however present these exceptions, viz. that they are as trans-

parent as glass, from having no green disks, and for some time

bear a large cytoblast in their extremity (f), which however, as

the root elongates, adheres to one side (g), and there appears to

undergo fissiparation and throw out a new circlet of roots (A),

while the old root ends some distance beyond this in a cul de sac

without further development.

Thus we have the green cells of the plant at first, as well as

the roots, so transparent, that the delicate hyaline vesicles which

precede the formation of the mucus-layer can be distinctly seen

through them; while afterwards, when the mucus is fully formed

and in circulation in both, and an equal degree of transparency

still remains in either, no vesicles whatever can be seen, nor

anything like the nuclei belonging to the “globular vesicles ;”

though, as before stated, a variable number of the irregular

bodies may already be present.

Hence we may fairly infer two things, viz. first, that the

globular vesicles at least do not exist ab origine in the mucus-

layer; and, secondly, that the irregular-shaped or agariciform

bodies may be formed in it independently of the presence of the

globular vesicles.

As to the external source of the globular vesicles, it does not

seem improbable, now that we know them to be so like Rhizo-

poda in almost every respect, and to produce monads which pass

into small amcebous cells, that they should originally come from

germs of their family ; particularly as all the freshwater species

dwell upon the freshwater Algz, are chiefly dependent on the

mucus of their cells for food, and are always found in greater or

lesser numbers creeping over their tender shoots, or present at

the formation of the resting-spores, when the cell-membrane is

so soft that it can be most easily penetrated.

If we saw an Arcella or Difflugia developed from one of these

monads which pass into an amcebous form, we should have no

doubt about the matter ; nor ought we to have much, I think, if

we can find one Alga developing itself in another under similar

circumstances. 7

For instance, we will take Gidogonium germinating in the midst

of the living cells of a filament of Oscillatoria (princeps, Kg.).

from the Cell-contents of the Characee. 113

Happening one day to be examining the spores of Cladophora,

with which Conferva, Gidogonium, and this Oscillatoria had been

mixed and kept in a glass for eight or ten months, for the sake

of observing the development of. the former, I noticed that in

several of the filaments of the Oscillatoria there were green cells

developing themselves, so much so as to thrust aside the cells of

the Oscillatoria, and break through the thickened sheath of the

old filament, after which they passed into a filament like that of

‘Gdogonium; but not being sure of the family of the Alga, I

waited for the determination of this, until chance favoured me

with the view of a filament not only extending along the sheath

of one of the Oscillatorie mentioned, but also bearing in addition

the peculiar spore of Gidogonium. Although in many of these

instances the cells of the Oscillatoria were dead, yet in several

the cells of Gidogonium were growing in the midst of the living

cells, and bursting through the sheath where the latter, from its

transparency and general appearance, bore no signs of previous

injury (Pl. [X. fig. 15).

Now here, neither the spore of Gidogonium nor its sporule

or gonidium can be supposed to have entered the sheath of the

Oscillatoria, as they, from their size, would probably have caused

such an injury of the sheath as would have led to the death or

rupture of the filament at this part. Hence we may infer, that

these cells arose from germs of extreme minuteness, which never-

theless had the power of penetrating the Oscillarian sheath.

May not the “ globular vesicles” of the mucus-layer of Niétella

have been derived from germs of Rhizopoda equally small, but

endowed with a similar power? Many small species of Cdo-

gonia, like Rhizopoda, have a great tendency to dwell on the

outside of the filamentous Algz; old filaments of Cladophora

are frequently covered with Gidogonium, and it seems not im-

probable that the minute germs of both Rhizopoda and Cédo-

gonium may have a like parasitic tendency, as well as power to

penetrate into their interior.

Lastly, we have to consider how the germ, when so small, can

possess such power of penetration ; a proposition which is easily

solved when we remember that almost every observation we

make on structural alteration in vitalized parts presents us with

an instance of bodies travelling from one part to another, or, in

other words, effecting change of position by a solution of the

material which obstructs their progress.

As, however, it is desirable to support this by a case in point,

or one as nearly allied as possible, I will cite a development

belonging to the class under consideration, which takes place in

the cells and resting-spores of Spirogyra.

Just after the conjugation of Spirogyra, a number of spherical

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii.

114 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Development of Gonidia

cells filled with minute refractive granules frequently make their

appearance within the mucus-layer of the cell, and when the

former shrinks from the sides of the latter, these spherical cells

become wrapped up in it (fig. 9a). In this position, if their

granular contents, which the sequel will show to be germs, were

to be liberated into the cell of Spirogyra through the bursting

of their parent-cells, they would in all probability perish, for the

parent-cells have apparently already subsisted, and brought their

progeny to the state of germs, on the nutrient contents of the

cell of Spirogyra in which they have become developed. But to

provide for this, these spherical cells have each the power, not

only of developing a blind tube, which by the process of solution

to which I have adverted can pass through the cell-wall of the

Spirogyra for the exterior liberation of their germs, but also to

tubulate with each other if necessary, when the contents of all

the cells together may be thus liberated by one or more tubes

only, as the case may require (fig. 9 b) ; and often they will send

one through the septum of the cell into the resting-spore of the

next cell, which being full of nutritious matter, immediately

furnishes food for the whole brood (fig. 10 e). Hence if a blind

tube of a small cell of this kind can make its way through these

comparatively hard membranes by simple solution, for it can

hardly be supposed that it does so by any mechanical power,

the smallest germ may be able to enter the cell or sheath of a

filamentous Alga after the same manner. That the granules of

these spherical cells, which are of different sizes, and, motionless

at first, become locomotive, swarm about the cell, and then pass

out of the tubular prolongations, has been proved to me by ocular

demonstration (fig. 9 /).

Thus I think sufficient evidence has been brought forward to

show, that the globular vesicle of the mucus-layer or proto-

plasm in the cells of the Characez is a parasite, probably of a

rhizopodous nature, apparently introduced after the development

of the young plant, and not impossibly under the form of a

germ, and after the manner of the instances last mentioned.

I have yet however to add a few observations on developments

of a similar kind in the cells, not only of Spirogyra, but in the

body of an infusorium, viz. in Euglena.

During conjugation, the Spirogyre are particularly infested

with these parasites, if such they may be termed, and the rapidity

with which they make their appearance at this period would lead

to the conclusion that the germs from which they originate

must have pre-existed in the cells in which they appear, as in the

Characez ; that is to say, without interfering with their func-

tions. Be this as it may, the peculiar tubulating cell just men-

tioned is very commonly seen in Spirogyra at this time (figs.

from the Cell-contents of the Characez. 115

9, 10); and not only in Spirogyra, but also in the dead bodies of

some of the Furcularian Rotifera (fig. 16). To what infusorium

this cell belongs I am ignorant ; but from having seen it associ-

ated with Astasie under circumstances indicative of one being the

product of the other, and more particularly from finding young

Astasie developed in the cells of Spirogyra to a great extent

where the tubulating cell-development was equally prevalent

(fig. 9), with no mother-cells present in the cell of Spirogyra

containing the young Astasie to thus account for their origin

(fig. 9 d), I have supposed that they might have come from the

germs contained in the tubulating cells, which germs have been

conveyed into the cells of Spirogyra in the way above described

(fig. 10). However, whether the tubulating cells are connected

with Astasia or not, young Astasia are also developed within

the cells of Spirogyra to a great extent (fig. 9d); and although

they at first have almost as much polymorphism as an Amoeba,

still they retain their cilium, and after a while assume the form

and movements peculiar to Astasia (fig.9d'). I might here

mention, that on one occasion I saw a large Ameba with a long

cilium, at one time assuming the form of As¢asia, and at another

that of Ameba, which thus gives us the link between these two

infusoria. The cilium however had not the power of the filament

of Astasia, though it occasionally became terminal.

Besides these developments in the cells of Spirogyra, there is

the one described by Professor Pringsheim*, and frequently a

development of long, slender, colourless filaments, which have a

writhing movement like that of an injured’earth-worm. Some

of these filaments present numerous granules in their sheath,

and a faint appearance of cell-division; and I think that I have

seen such filaments coiled up in mother-cells within the Spirogyra-

cell. The same kind of filaments occasionally appear in Clos-

terium acerosum, when its contents are passing into dissolution ;

but long before the chlorophyll has changed colour, or putre-

faction has commenced. To enumerate all the developments of

this kind, however, which take place in the filamentous Algze

is not my present object, and the only other development of the

kind that I need allude to here is that which frequently occurs

in Euglena. 4

This is also of a Rhizopodous character, and at first I thought

it might be merely another form of Huglena, as Acineta is but

another form of Vorticella; but subsequent observations con-

vinced me that this was not the case. I was led to notice this

development by an apparent metamorphosis of the cell-contents of

* Ann. & Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. xi. p. 210, 1853.

116 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Development of Gonidia

some fixed and capsuled Huglene (which I had had under observa-

tion) into granuliferous Amebe of a pinkish colour within the

old cell of Huglena itself (fig. 14); and the presence of several

such Amebe creeping about the watch-glass, while many of the

cells of the Huglene (viridis?) were empty, or only contained a

little red effete matter, left no doubt in my mind as to the origin

of both colour and infusorium.

It was also observed in some instances, where the contents of

the EHuglena had passed into an Amcebous mass, that the latter

underwent a kind of segmentation, so that several (perhaps

eight) small Amebe were developed instead of one large one.

All this became confirmed on another occasion, when watching

some large Huglene of a purse-like or ovate form (Crumenula,

Dujar.?), wherein the peculiar embryonic cells of the species

(fig. 11 a, 6) (for each species has its peculiar-shaped cell of this

kind, and they are all composed like those of Spongilla, viz. of

a transparent compressed capsule, and a faint yellowish trans-

lucent nucleus of nearly equal size) had been developed. Ex-

pecting daily while under observation to see the embryonic cells

liberated by the rupture of the parent-cell, I noticed on one

occasion that several of the latter had become surrounded re-

spectively by a delicate granuliferous Ameba, and from that

moment I knew that all further progress of the embryonic cells

must cease, for the Amebe appear to destroy every living or-

ganism which they enclose. However, in a few days the dmebe

had left the Euglene, but the rich green colour of the latter had

faded ; indeed there was hardly any colour at all left, and the

embryonic cells, with which they were originally filled, began to

diminish in number, and give place, at the same time, to a uni-

form granular matter, which soon segmented itself into another

development of six or eight globular masses, much larger than

the embryonic cells (fig. 12). Such a process at first seemed to

be proper to the Euglene, as the contents of one and all suc-

cessively became thus affected ; but presently the spiral coats of

the Euglene respectively gave way, and the globular masses being

liberated, began to creep about under the form of Actinophrys

(fig. 13 a, 6). It then seemed evident that the germs of an

Ameba had been introduced, and that they had become deve-

loped in the cell of the Euglena at the expense of its embryonic

cells ; but whether or not they had been introduced while enve-

loped in the Amebe mentioned, there are no facts to decide.

This apparent metamorphosis of the cell-contents of Euglena

into Rhizopoda is not only mentioned for the purpose of in-

stancing another of the developments under consideration, but

also for preventing others from being misled, as I was myself at

from the Cell-contents of the Characez. 117

first, into considering this as an alternating form of Euglena. I

have since almost satisfied myself that Huglena conjugates, and

that the cells which I have termed embryonic pass into Euglene.

But had these cells not been present, there would still have been

room for doubt, inasmuch as a development of the same kind

takes place in some Amebe, apparently in connexion with the

nucleus alone, with which Euglena also is provided (fig. 11) ; at

the same time that we know the Amebe to produce embryonic

cells like Spongilla, which cells again are like those of Euglena.

Some Amebe at least then, propagating by germs or gemma,

according as the granules are set free singly or in masses, as

well as by embryonic cells, it might be questioned whether

Euglena does not also possess these two processes. Again, when

we know from Stein, as before mentioned, that Vorticelle pass

into Acinete, and Acinete produce full-formed Vorticelle—and

I have seen some Amebe also produce full-formed Vorticella—

it becomes necessary to ascertain among these changes, what are

parasitic or foreign developments, and what are merely alternating

forms of the same species,—inquiries which are extremely

intricate and perplexing, but which must be prosecuted tho-

roughly before we shall be able to adjust these matters, or

arrive at a true history of the vital ceconomy of both Infusoria

and Alege. |

With reference to the development of the “ciliated sacs”

mentioned at p. 14, I have since ascertained, that the variety of

forms which they assumed depended upon their having been

forced from their cysts before they were fully developed; for I

have since not only had an opportunity of examining them when

just liberated from the latter in the natural way, but of watching

for a long time two individuals of large size and full develop-

ment, which I found free among some filaments of Cladophora.

Having thus called attention to this. development, I will describe

the infusorium which appears to be the source of it. Itisa

Paramecium closely allied to Nassula, and, from the likeness of

the oral orifice to the human ear, I propose for it the name of

* Otostoma.”

Orostoma, H. J. C. (new species) (Pl. IX. figs. 6, 7, 8).

Body ovoid, of a light brown colour, covered with longitudinal

lines of cilia (figs. 7,8). Mouth ear-shaped, in a depression situ-

ated about the junction of the anterior with the middle third of the

infusorium (fig. 7 a); buccal cavity broad, short, curved down-

wards, and a little upon itself outwards, plicated longitudinally

in parallel lines (fig. 6 a). Anus terminal; gland or nucleus

long, fusiform (fig. 7 ¢), situated between the buccal cavity and

the contracting vesicles (fig. 7 d,d), which are double, and

118 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Circulation of the

connected with a set of vessels something like those of Para-

mecium aurelia*. |

The individuals which become encysted in the internode of

Nitella I have never been able to see clearly, on account of their

rapid movements and gorged state with the green disks (fig. 1) ;

but the depression indicating the position of the mouth can be

seen, and two contracting vesicles. After the segmentation,

which stops at 2, 4, or 8, and full development of the new brood

has taken place, the green matter, now become brown, is thrown

off as effete (figs. 3, 5), like that of the “ globular vesicles ”

after the monads appear, and the cysts giving way, the new in-

fusoria come forth, presenting the arrangement of cilia, form of

nucleus, and colour of Otostoma (fig. 5); but there is only one

contracting vesicle at this time, and the mouth is not so rigidly

fixed or defined as in Otostoma, probably from the tender age of

the new animalcule.

During the process of segmentation, the external and internal

cysts at first appear to be newly secreted, and the old ciliated

integument to be divided up into coats for the new litter; but

this does not correspond with what has been before stated,

where the old coat seems to be metamorphosed into a cyst-

covering for the new litter, and another delicate cyst secreted

within this (figs. 2, 3); while the internal substance then di-

vides itself up into 2, 4, or 8 sacs, as the case may be, and each

division developes a new ciliated coat for itself (figs. 3, 4).

The presence of a few monads, which probably formed part of

the contents of the internode before they were gorged by the

infusorium, and retained their life by getting between the cysts

(fig. 3 b, b), favours the view that the external cyst was the

originally ciliated coat of the parent infusorium.

Lastly, I have to give an explanation of the locomotive power

afforded to the fragments of the spiral bands of “ Zygnema”

mentioned at p. 16, which I now feel convinced did not derive this

power from their own mucus, but from having been enclosed

within the bodies of delicate Amabe, which afterwards crept

about under the radiated form of Actinophrys.

Circulation.

It has been shown above, that rhizopodous cells abound in

the mucus-layer of the old internode of Nitella, but at a very

early period do not appear in the internodes or roots of the

young plant. Hence it becomes necessary to adduce further

* In a future communication, I propose describing this “system of

vessels,” which are excretory at the contracting vesicle ; when I shall also

recur to the description of Otostoma more particularly.

Mucus-substance of the Cell in the Characez. 119

proofs of the mucus-layer, minus the rhizopodous cells, pos-

sessing the “ inherent power of mobility ” mentioned at p. 18,

which was then assigned to it, chiefly upon the inference that

the mucus of the mucus-layer furnished the cell-wall of the so-

called “ gonidial cells,” and that the polymorphic and locomotive

power of the latter at the commencement was indicative of the

Same power existing in the mucus im its amorphous, plasmic

state. That such a deduction would be inadmissible if the

development was to be considered infusorial, I stated in my

“ Postscript” (p. 22); and now that the so-called “ gonidial

cells”? have been shown to be the globular vesicles of the mucus-

layer, and of a rhizopodous nature, the fallacy of such an infer-

ence is much more evident. But I also observed, that there

were still “ sufficient reasons left” for my considering the rota-

tory motion of the mucus-layer due to an independent con-

tractility.

I have now to give further proof of this; but, unfortunately,

in doing so I must confine myself to what the mucus-layer

exhibits while within the internodes and roots of the young

plant, supported by what it may be inferred to possess from

analogous motions exhibited by the mucus-layer of other allied

organisms; for the cells and the roots of the young plant, at

that time when alone we have the power of determining that

there are no rhizopodous cells in them, furnish too small a

quantity of mucus for our watching it in the manner so easily

effected when issuing from the large internode.

To pursue this inquiry, then, we have first to satisfy our-

selves that the motions in Nitella and its allied organisms are

in homologous structures, and then to see how many kinds of

motion this structure presents.

Of their being in homologous structures there can be no

doubt, because the mucus-layer in all is the protoplasm of the

cell; and they are of two kinds, viz. one of general irritability,

and the other of polymorphic and locomotive power.

The first kind, or that of general irritability, is manifested by

the trembling movement of the granules which are imbedded in

the mucus-layer itself, more than by that of the moving agent

or mucus, which can hardly be seen, from its transparency.

This motion of the granules, which is similar to that termed

molecular,” is observed in the mucus-layer of the spine-cells

of Nitella in which no circulation has ever existed, and in that of

the internodes when the circulation is temporarily arrested. It

is also seen in Cladophora, and particularly in Spirogyra; in the

Desmidiz (Closterium, &c.) ; in the Diatomaceze (Navicula, &c.),

and in the mucus of the cell of Spongilla, &c.

The second kind, or that of polymorphism and locomotion,

120 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Circulation of the

includes the rotatory movement seen in the cells of many aquatic

plants besides the Characeze, in which the whole of the mucus-

layer changes place. In Serpicula verticillata (Roxb.), the green

disks are imbedded in the mucus-layer promiscuously, and are

carried round the cell with it; and in Tradescantia the cytoblast

also goes round with the mucus-layer. To this perhaps might

be added the polymorphism of the granular mucus occasionally

witnessed on the septa between the cells of Spirogyra (p. 19),

unless this also be owing to the presence of a rhizopodous

organism. : ;

There is yet however another kind of motion, which has been

observed in Closterium Lunula, and some other Desmidiz; and

this, according to the Rev. 8. G. Osborne’s observations, con-

firmed by Mr. Jabez Hogg*, is owing to cilia situated on the

surface of the mucus-layer. By their action, which appears to

be very irregular, and is certainly very perplexing, the brown

corpuscles are urged backwards and forwards, or circulated

more or less round the frond. The same kind of motion is

witnessed in similar corpuscles in Spirogyra, which, coming

next to Closterium in point of organization, may be found to be

provided with similar organs. There is no analogy, however,

between the circulation of these corpuscles and the rotatory

movement of the mucus-layer of Nitella, nor between it and the

circulation of the axial fluid of the latter and its particles. To

assume that the mucus-layer of the internode of Nitella is urged

on by cilia, would be to assume that the cilia are not on the

surface of the mucus-layer, as in Closterium, but on the inner

surface of the green layer; and then, in the roots, that they are

on the inner surface of the cell-wall, for there is no green layer

there,—which would be absurd. Again, we can see that the

particles contained in the axial fluid are impelled by the irre-

gular surface of the mucus-layer, and this seems quite enough

to account for this circulation.

As regards the general irritability of the mucus-layer, this by

itself is of course no proof of locomotive power, but occurring

in homologous structures, it allies them in point of property as

well as structure, and therefore affords additional reason for

admitting the phenomena observed in one as confirmative or

explanatory of those which are observed in another organism of

the same or similar nature. Hence, if we have evidence of a

locomotive power in the mucus-layer of the cells of Spirogyra,

and the object to be gained by it, as well as evidence of the same

power in the mucus-layer of the internode of Nitedla, though

the object be not manifest, our conclusion, that the latter is

* Quart. Journ. Microscop. Soc. vol. xi. p. 234, 1854.

Mucus-substance of the Cell in the Characez. 121

owing to an innate contractility, and not to any foreign organism

or any other moving power, is much more satisfactory than if

it were unsupported by the movement of the mucus-layer in

Spirogyra, where its nature is obvious from the object gained

by it.

‘ allude to the movements which take place in Spirogyra

during conjugation, when the mucus-layer, retracting from the

cell-wall of one filament, carries its contents through the tube of

intercommunication, across to the cell of the opposite filament.

To refresh the memory of the reader, I might here briefly sum

up what takes place on this occasion. ‘The first step on the

part of the mucus or protoplasmic layer is to soften a small por-

tion of the cell-wall; it then presses upon this so as to force it

forwards into a tubular prolongation to meet a similar one from

the opposite filament ; the two mucus-layers dissolve the par-

tition which interrupts their union ; the mucus-layer of one cell

then retracts from its cell-wall, gathers up the spiral bands and

cytoblast, and mingling with its fellow at the junction of the

tubular prolongations, passes over into the opposite cell with the

return of the latter, and there amalgamating with it thoroughly,

becomes capsuled and passes into a spherical or elliptical spore,

as the case may be. Now here there is no addition of material

to cause the mucus-layer to grow and protrude from its cell like

a bud or young shoot,—it is an act performed by the mucus-layer

alone, and that too almost faster than the hour-hand travels

round the dial of a watch ; indeed, it is performed so quickly in

Closterium Ehrenbergii, where a similar process takes place, that

according to the Rev. W. Smith, who has watched it, the dis-

charge of the endochrome and formation of the sporangia are

accomplished with such rapidity, that this may be seen to take

place in the field of the microscope, “the whole operation not

occupying more than a few minutes *.”

Again, in Cidogonium flavescens (Kg.), I was lately fortunate

enough to see the contents of one of the cells wrapped up in

their protoplasmic sac, actually leave the cell, form into a spore,

and whirl off in the manner of zoospores generally. The cell-

‘wall bore no appearance of spore-dilatation, though the density

of the gonimic contents indicated that it would sooner or later

have done so ; it was a terminal one, and the septum of the free

end had probably been broken when the other part of the fila-

ment had been torn from it in preparing the mass for microsco-

- pical examination. As the last part of the cell-contents left their

old cavity distinct locomotion was seen in the mass, and when

the whole had become extricated, several twitchings of the pro-

* Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 8, 1850.

122 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Circulation of the

toplasm, apparently of adjustment, took place. It then assumed

a globular and afterwards an ovoid shape, when the small end

becoming transparent and throwing out a wreath of active cilia,

it bounded off and was soon undistinguishable from other spores

of the same kind which were present in equally active motion.

At the moment of its exit I observed a delicate membrane at

some distance around it which disappeared (by bursting ?) im-

mediately the cilia began to play.

Having thus brought forward incontestable proof of loco-

motive power in structures homologous with the mucus-layer of

the cell in the Characez, I shall now only add another instance

of the kind mentioned (p. 19), where a partial movement of

the mucus-layer, again in Chara verticillata, afforded direct evi-

dence of its possessing the independent power of contractility

in question. This occurred in a very young plant where the

roots were nearly an inch long, though not more than the 500th

of an inch broad, and, as before stated, as transparent as glass.

While tracing one of these, in which the circulation appeared to

have ceased, | came to a part where there was a slight move-

ment of tle mucus-layer, which increased up to a certain point,

and then as gradually subsided again. It was a thickened

portion, but apparently composed of nothing more than trans-

parent mucus. charged with a number of granules. It was

moving towards the extremity of the root, and was seen to pass

through that part of the latter which was kept in the field of the

microscope for the purpose, leaving all the mucus as still behind

it as that which was beyond the moving portion. ‘To conceive

after this that the mucus-layer of the Characez is endowed with

a locomotive power, seems not difficult, if we cannot conclude

that by this power also it moves round the internode.

Since the above was written, I have read the following pas-

sages in Cohn’s ‘ Natural History of Protococeus pluvialis’

(1850), translated by Busk for the Ray Society (doc. cit. p. 582,

1853), and they so accord with my own conclusions on the sub-

ject, that 1 cannot do better than insert them here, as a termi-

nation to an argument in favour of the moving power of the

mucus-layer or protoplasmic cell of the Characeze, instituted for

the purpose of conveying a similar impression :—

“ From these considerations it would therefore appear, as cer-

tain as it can be made by an empirical deduction from the pre-

mises in such a subject, that the protoplasm of botanists and the

contractile substance and sarcode of zoologists, if not identical,

are at all events in the highest degree analogous formations.

“ Whence, the distinctions between animals and plants viewed

in the above light must be thus understood: that in the latter

the contractile substance, as the primordial utricle, is enclosed

Mucus-substance of the Cell in the Characez. 123

within a rigid ligneous membrane, which permits only an in-

ternal motion, evidenced in the phenomena of circulation and

rotation ; while in the former it is not thus enclosed. The pro-

toplasm in the form of the primordial sac is, as it were, the ani-

mal element in the plant in which it is confined, beg free only

in the animal kingdom.”

Casual Notes on the Characeze.

Circulation.—I have repeated the experiments of Amici, Du-

trochet and others by ligaturing the internode of the large Nitella

at several places with similar results. The circulation has hardly

been arrested ; but to succeed well in this, an old internode must

be taken. On one occasion an inch of one of these long inter-

nodes was cut out of the centre with a blunt pair of scissors and

placed on a glass slide in a little water, and under a piece of

glass about the same width ; the water therefore but just covered

its extremities; in this portion the circulation continued in op-

posite directions (for fortunately one of the white lines or “ lines

of repose” was uppermost) for ten minutes by the watch; the

larger bodies ceasing to circulate first, and lastly the molecules.

Tenacity of life-—The internodes which I ligatured perished

after a few days; indeed this is the common fate of the Cha-

racez ; but the nodes retain their vitality, and the small inter-

nodes also. Single, isolated cells and small internodes, which

can hardly be seen with the naked eye, frequently retain their

green colour, and keep up a continued rotation of their mucus-

layer for eight and ten months after they have been separated

from every part, dead and living, belonging to the parent plant ;

but they do not appear to increase in size in the least. Those

little shoots which spring from the cells of the nodes (the bulbels

probably of Montagne*) would probably grow into new plants

if favourably situated for nourishment, as the nodes commonly

throw out roots as well as shoots, when the other parts of ‘the

plant are threatened with destruction.

Endosmosis.—The rapidity with which water passes through

the cell-wall of the internode, as shown by the experiment de-

tailed at the commencement of this paper, indicates the amount

of fluid that might pass from one internode to another through

contact even of their extremities ; and hence how the nutritious

fluid formed in the roots might also find its way from the roots

to the extremities of the plant.

Germination.—The nucules of Chara verticillata which were

placed in water on the 21st of March germinated at the end of

* Ann. des Se. Nat. Bot. 3 sér. t. xviii. p. 65.

124 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Development of Gonidia

twenty-six days; those placed in water on the 2nd of May after

‘ sixteen days: of fifty nucules placed in water on the 1st of Sep-

tember none have germinated up to the present time (Novem-

ber 15th). At first the young plants appeared in the form of

Nitella, but not having grown beyond three-quarters of an inch

in length, they did not pass into that of Chara. Thus, Chara

begins in the lower form of Nitella; and the oldest internodes

of the large Nitella, where the endochrome has disappeared, are

fluted like the stem of Chara, but not celled like it. Out of the

first set of nucules (viz. thirteen) four only germinated, and one

of these threw out two plants, but both did not grow with equal

rapidity, one remaining abortive or stationary.

_ Bombay, 15th November 1855.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES VIII. ann IX.

Piate VII.

Fig. 1. Portion of an internode of Nitella, showing the arrangement of the

‘green disks ” in the “ green layer ;” also (a) one of the white

lines or “ lines of repose”’ *. ;

Fig. 2. Transverse section of ditto, showing (a) the “ green layer;” (b, 5) ine

ternal border of “ mucus-layer ;” (c, ¢) “ lines of repose.”

Fig. 3. Portion of the green layer showing its structure; also the chloro-

phyll-mucus of the “ green disk ”’ and its transparent cell.

Fig. 4. Cavity = “ green disk” divided into compartments with a granule

in each.

Fig. 5. Ditto nearly filled with starch-grains, the chlorophyll having almost

disappeared.

Fig. 6. Starch-grains of ditto, separate.

Fig. 7. Portion of the “mucus-layer” as it issues from the internode,

containing the “ globular vesicles,” “ circular disks,” irregular

bodies and granules.

Fig. 8. “ Circular disk ” of small Nitella, with molecular-formed nucleus

contracted into an oval shape. 9. Ditto from mucus-layer of

Chara verticillata. 10, Ditto from mucus-layer of large Nitedla.

Fig. 11. Irregular body from mucus-layer of small Nitella. 12. Ditto

agariciform, Kis Chara verticillata and large Nitella, inferior

view. 13. Ditto ditto, superior view.

Fig. 14. “Globular vesicle’ with circular disk or nucleus in situ, sur-

rounded by granuliferous mucus._

Fig. 15. Ditto with an “irregular body” in the position of the circular

disk or nucleus.

Fig. 16. Globular vesicle containing a plurality of circular disks.

Fig. 17. “ Globular vesicle ” of large Nitella with disk or nucleus in situ,

surrounded by granuliferous mucus, in which are imbedded two

* All these figures should be viewed as diagrams delineated after nature

as far as circumstances would permit ; and should any discrepancy be found

between them and the text, the reader is requested to be guided by the

latter.

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from the Cell-contents of the Characee. 125

*oveen disks ;”” as they are situated when seen to undergo rota-

tory motion.

** Globular vesicle” of large Nitella, containing agariciform “ ir-

regular body.”’ 18’. Ditto of small Nitella, containing in addition

to its nucleus an irregular body imbedded in its granuliferous

mucus; as it is situated when seen to undergo partial rotatory

motion.

Portion of internode of Nitella, showing the breaking up of the

green layer preparatory to grouping of the green disks.

Ditto, with green disks grouped or enclosed im the “ globular

vesicles.”

Groups which have assumed a spherical form : (a) globular vesicle

or so-called “ gonidial cell”’ stiffened and clarified, yet capable of

projecting ambulatory processes (see fig. 23 a); (b) secondary

coat circumscribing granuliferous mucus, green disk, &c.

** Globular vesicle ”’ showing internal granuliferous mucus circum-

scribed by secondary coat, mass of green disks, and “ circular

disk.”

This form is often seen without the mucus in a perished, half-

developed state, when the “ circular disk” is always particularly

evident ; thus with the other elements of the cell at once indicating

its identity with the “ globular vesicle” and rhizopodous nature.

** Globular vesicle’ showing secondary coat, granuliferous mucus,

and mass of green disks all now separated ; (a, a) stiffened ambu-

latory processes.

Ditto, with granuliferous mucus presenting a mulberry form of

segmentation. Cell about 1-300th of an inch in diameter.

Ditto, lateral view.

Ditto, after separation of the segments into monads, and disap-

pearance of the secondary coat.

Ditto, bursting and giving exit to the monads, green disks, &c.,

and other effete matter contracted into a small brown nucleus.

Small “ globular vesicle”? with “irregular body” in the position

of the nucleus, developing one monad only. Cell or vesicle

1-2150th of an inch; monad 1-—4300th of an inch in diameter.

Figs. 29, 30, 31. Monads of the globular vesicles or cells assuming dif-

ferent forms. All about 1-4800th of an inch in diameter when

lobular. ;

Figs. 32, 53, 34. The same after a few days’ growth; now about 1-2150th

of an inch in diameter, assuming the forms of Ameba and Actin-

ophrys ; with contracting vesicle.

Fig. 35. Vertical section of a young plant of Chara verticillata, with nucule

still attached. (a) nucule : (0) external cellular coat ; (c) middle

or laminated black coat; (d) internal delicate coat; (e) circlet of

roots springing from cells of first node; (f) second position of

cytoblast, viz. at the termination of the granuliferous mucus which

fills the extremity of the root; (g) third position of the cytoblast,

viz. when attached to the side of the root at some distance from

the granuliferous mucus of the extremity; (4) circlet of roots

arising from the cytoblast so situated. The small figures, 1 to 6,

indicate cells of the stem in successive stages of development ;

showing that the formation of the “ mucus-layer”’ is preceded by

the presence of a mass of hyaline, spherical vesicles of different

sizes, which at first fill the young cell.

Fig. 36. Last three cells (viz. 4, 5, 6) of fig. 35, more magnified.

Fig. 37. One of the new root-buds of (4), fig. 35, magnified, to show that

126 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Cell-contents of the Characee.

Fig.

the mucus-layer of the root also is preceded by the presence of

hyaline vesicles, as well as that of the cell of the stem ; shows also

first position of the cytoblast, viz. at the free end of the root-bud,

| Puate IX.

1. Dark green spherical cyst appearing in the internodes of Nitella at

the commencement of decomposition (see p. 14, Joc. cit.), of

different sizes, but the largest about 100th of an inch in diameter;

the green colour arising from distension with the green disks and

other contents of the internode.

. 2. Ditto after the formation of a secondary cyst circumscribing these

contents.

. 3. Ditto, with the contents of the secondary cyst divided into four

ciliated sacs: (a) effete matter or green disks thrown off;

(6, 5) monads between the two cysts.

4. Ditto, with the contents of the secondary cyst divided into two sacs

10.

11.

12.

13.

only, which are ciliated, and contain respectively a portion of the

green disks in their interior.

. 5. Ciliated sac fully developed, now assuming the form of Otostoma.

. 6. Otostoma (H. J. C.) about 100th of an inch long: (a) lateral view

of plicated buccal cavity; (b) spherical vesicles of different sizes,

which together with mucus fill up the abdominal cavity ; (b) one

of these vesicles magnified, containimg five smaller ones situated

on one side and filled with a brown yellow fluid.

. 7. Ditto: (a) oral orifice, ear-shaped; (c) fusiform organ; (d, d) con-

tracting vesicles ; (e) pellets of green food, which, when present,

with the mucus and spherical vesicles mentioned in fig. 6, fill the

abdominal cavity ; (f) anal orifice.

. 8. Ditto, showing arrangement of cilia over the surface.

. 9. Portion of a filament of Spirogyra just after conjugation, showing

(a) a cell containing a development of spherical cells filled with

yellowish refractive granules ; (6) a cell containing a development

of tubulating cells also filled with yellowish refractive germs or

granules; (6') exit of the latter; (c) a spore destroyed by the

same development; (d) a cell in which a litter of monads has

been developed, having in addition to polymorphism a single

cilium attached to them respectively, and hence frequently

assuming the form of young Astasie; (d') the same monads

after having left the cell. Monads about 1-2150th of an inch in

diameter.

Two cells of.a filament of Spirogyra, showing (8) a spore de-

stroyed by the tubulating cell; (c) one of the tubes leading

through the septum of the cell to insert itself into the sound

spore of the next cell.

Euglena (Crumenula, Dujar.(?)) filled with embryonic cells (2),

also showing the nucleus and its cell, and the “red spot” or body

attached to its proper cell: (a) vertical view of embryonic cell;

(b) lateral view of ditto.

Ditto, with embryonic cells and general contents much deranged ;

also presenting faint traces of segmentation of another deve-

lopment.

Ditto, with a few only of the embryonic cells left; the green

colouring matter gone, and the whole contents of the Huglena

yielding to the development of eight or ten spherical cells filled

with minute granules of equal size ; (a, 6) the same spherical cells

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Mr. W. H. Benson on the genus Scaphula. 127

after exit, assuming respectively the forms of Ameba and Actin-

ophrys.

Fig. 14. Old cell of Euglena viridis presenting one large granuliferous

Ameba instead of several small ones; a portion of effete matter

left in the cell, and the Ameba throwing its processes through its

crevices.

Fig. 15. Portion of a filament of Oscillatoria (princeps, Kg.(?)), in which a

development of some germs of (dogonium having taken place

in the midst of the eells of the Oscillatoria, they are bursting

through its sheath.

Fig. 16. Furcularian rotiferous animalcule in which the tubulating cell has

become developed : (a) dilated round form assumed by the extre-

mity of the tube before bursting.

X.—Amended Description of the Genus Scaphula, Benson, a

freshwater form of the Arcacea; with characters of a new

_ species from Tenasserim. By W.H. Benson, Esq.

Since the year 1825, when the little bivalve Arcaceous shell,

Scaphula Celox, described in the ‘ Journal of the Calcutta Asiatic

Society’ for 1836, occurred to me in the rejectamenta of the

River Jumna in Bundelkhund, no species has been added to the

genus. In the past year a rich collection of land and fresh-

water shells, containing many new species, was made in the

British provinces of Burmah, from the frontier above Prome

on the Irawadi to Mergui, by Mr. W. Theobald, jun., who has

obligingly submitted them to my examination. Among them I

find a very distinct species of Scaphula, with the epidermis

strongly developed, and the hinges joined by the ligament, as

was the case with one of my specimens of S. Celox, which ex-

hibited vestiges of a light epidermis. A conjecture has been

hazarded by an English naturalist, probably from the view of

the specimens presented to the Zoological Society in 1834, that

the shell was a subfossil extinct form. The present discovery

must set that opinion completely at rest. Besides the specimens

of S. Celox from the Jumna, some were subsequently procured

from the bed of its tributary, the River Cane, at Banda, and in

1835 I observed the species in a collection of shells made in the

vicinity of the Khassya Hills to the east of Bengal.

The new form was found in some abundance in the Tenasserim

River, and we may now hope that other species will yet be

found in Burmah, and in the countries extending to Cochin

China, as they become gradually open to the naturalist.

Scaphula was first made known in the ‘ Zoological Journal’

for 1834. In 1840 Swainson applied the same name to a form

of the Olivacea, having overlooked the previous employment of

the term as a generic designation. The more perfect state of

128 Mr. W. H. Benson on the genus Scaphula.

the Tenasserim species, and the variation of characters, will

permit of a more correct diagnosis of the genus than was possible

from the typical species, specimens of which are exceedingly

rare. No conchologist has collected in Bundelkhund since the

period of my residence in that province, and a search which I

made for specimens of the shell, during a hurried visit to Banda

in 1844, proved fruitless.

Scaphula, Benson. Zool. Journ. 1834, vol. v. p. 464-5.

Testa sequivalvis, valde insequilateralis, subtrapeziformis, carina valida

ab umbonibus distantibus usque ad marginem posteriorem et

basalem extendente ; cardo rectilinearis, medio tenuis, ad extre-

mitates sulcidentatas latior, dentibus anterioribus 4, crenulatis,

minutis obliquis, posterioribus lamellatis, parallelibus, intus ob-

lique descendentibus, 4 ad 6, primo obliquis, demum transversis,

raro bifurcatis, munita; ligamentum exterius, rhombiforme, inter

umbones situm; epidermis tenuis vel crasse lamelloso-rugosa ;

musculi adductoris impressio antica unica, posteriores due sub-

distantes quorum inferior oblongo-quadrata; pallii impressio

integra.

The genus is at once distinguished from its nearest allies,

Arca and Cucullea, by the hinge being linear and edentate in

the middle and for the greatest part of its length, and by the

form and position of the teeth at the extremities; the laminar

posterior ones, which are sometimes ramose, running obsoletely

and obliquely into the interior of the shell. The two distinct

adductor muscular impressions, and the squareness of the lower

one on the posterior side in both species, are peculiar features

supporting the claims of the type to generic distinction.

Scaphula Pinna, u.s.

Testa elongato-triangulari, subtrapeziformi, extus sub epidermide

albida, intus ceerulescente, antice angusta, extremitate subacute an-

gulata, arcuatim descendente, postice subalata, expansa, extremitate

superne arcuata, infra rectangulari; carina acuta, compressa; pagina

postica majori subremote, antica confertim concentrice sulcata,

utrinque radiatim striatula ; epidermide fusco-nigra, crasse rugoso-

lamellata, marginem nigrescentem excedente; musculi anterioris

impressione ovato-rotundata, posterioribus duabus, superiori sub-

cardinali elongata, angusta, inferiori elongato-quadrata.

Long. 11, alt. 5, crass. 6 mill.

Habitat in flumine Tenasserim.

The River Tenasserim has a course through ngarly three

degrees of latitude, between the coast ranges anl the high

interior chain which forms the British boundary towards Siam,

before it turns suddenly towards its embouchure at Mergui.

The appearance of a slight iridescence on the bluish enamel

Mr. W. H. Benson on Tanystoma tubiferum. 129

of the interior in this species, is due, when visible, solely to

weathering, and is evidently not the normal state of the surface.

At first sight the shell might be taken for a species of Modiola,

and by its discoverer was supposed to be a species of Dreissena.

It was not until the hinge had been submitted to the lens that

its true characters were ascertained.

A description of the typical species may here be subjoined in

an amended form.

Scaphula Celox, Benson. Journ. As. Soc. Cale. vol. v. p. 750

Testa elongato-trapeziformi, albida, marginibus (superiori et inferiori)

parallelibus, antice rotundata, postice oblique truncata; carina vix

compressa ; pagina antica, multo majori, costulis exiguis radiatis

munita, postica levi; epidermide tenui cornea induta; musculi

anterioris impressione ovata, posterioris inferiori elongato-qua-

drata.

Long. 12, alt. 5, crass. 8 mill. .

Hairtat in fluminibus Jumna et Cane, necnon in rivo quodam Ben-

galize citra Gangem.

In one specimen, from the River Cane, the keel has a dis-

position to be double, with an intervening furrow. This is ap-

parently only an accidental variation.

Cheltenham, 10th January 1856.

XI. — Description of Tanystoma tubiferum, a Burmese form

related to the Genus Anostoma of Lamarck. By W. H. Brn-

son, Esq.

Tue only Eastern shell hitherto made known which bears any

relation to the Brazilian genus Anostoma, is the little species dis-

covered by the late Capt. Boys in Rajpootana, designated by me

as A. Boysii. It was separated by Pfeiffer under the generic

name of Boysia, and soon after by Albers as Hypostoma. A

singular Anostomatous shell, still more minute than Boysia, was

found by Mr. W. Theobald on the banks of the Irawadi. Its

open umbilicus, differing from the closed rimate volution of the

known types, and especially the curious solute and protracted

last whori and trumpet-mouthed aperture (which is dentate, as

in the ancient genus Anostoma), render it desirable to charac-

terize the shell as a new type of form, under the name of Tany-

stoma, which may be considered as generic or sectional according

to the views of systematists, some of whom do not admit the

claim of Boysia to generic separation.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser.2. Vol. xvii. 9

130 Mr. W.H. Benson on Tanystoma tubiferum.

Tanystoma, nobis.

Testa convoluta, conoidea; umbilicus apertus; anfractus ultimus

solutus, protractus, sursum tortus, aperturam dentatam alte tollens;

peristoma horizontale, expansum.

T. tubiferum, nobis.

Testa depresso-conoidea, radiato-striata, cornea, sutura excavata,

spira breviter conoidea, apice obtusiusculo ; anfractibus 3, convexis,

ultimo tubam protractam, sursum tortam, altiorem quam apice,

efformante, ad periphzriam valide et obtuse carinato, superne

baltea tumida, a peripheeria sulco profundo separata, munito,

subtus convexo, margine umbilici aperti perspectivi angulato,

angulo usque ad aperturam extendente; apertura horizontali,

sursum spectante, 6-7-dentata, dentibus lamelliformibus duabus

parietalibus, supera validiori duplicata, inferiori minore profunda,

1 columellari mediocri, 4 palatalibus, quarum superiori duplicata

tertiaque majoribus; peristomate libero, valde expanso, reflexi-

usculo.

Diam. major 4, min. 3, axis 2 mill.

Habitat ad Thyet-Mio prope ripas fluminis Irawadi Burmanici, saxis

calcareis adhzerens.

This interesting shell was found by Mr. Theobald to be very

local, but not uncommon at the spot indicated—about six miles

south of the frontier station. It was not met with lower down

the river at Prome, nor elsewhere.

Cyclophorus fulguratus, Pfr., was found from Thyet-Mio to

Rangoon; and a gigantic Megalomastoma, of the type of ©.

Chrysalis, Pfeiffer, resembling in size and figure Pupina grandis

of Forbes, near Moulmein, verifying the opinion communicated

to Dr. Pfeiffer, that the true habitat of those two species was

probably Ava, and not Arva, a river in Columbia, as conjectured

by that author from the illiterate orthography of the name fur-

nished to him.

Five new species of Gray’s genus Alyceus occurred, two of

which are related to the Himalayan A. strangulatus, H., and -

A. gibbus of Cochin China. There are also two new forms of

Pterocyclos, two of Pupina, besides a third from Sylhet, a new

Leptopoma, an Otopoma (?), and two or three new Cyclophori.

Two new minute Hydrocene, closely allied to my Khassya Cycl.

sarritum, with the operculum, enable me to fix the place of that

species, as well as of C. ¢ersum, mihi, and probably of C. Milium,

both of which Pfeiffer, in a letter dated some months ago, con-

jectured to belong to Hydrocena. Cyclotus and Diplommatina,

which are Indian forms, are not represented in the collection.

In new Helices the collection is very rich: one form in par-

Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum. 131

ticular is curious, from its resemblance to the North American

H. hirsuta, Say.

Mr. Theobald’s personal researches in the Punjab and Sikkim

have also added new forms from the Salt Range and Darjiling.

Cheltenham, 12th January 1856.

XII.— On Pleurodictyum problematicum. By Wittram Kine,

Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in Queen’s College,

Galway, Corresponding Member of the Natural History and

Medical Society of Dresden, &c. |

[With a Plate.]

A ¥FEw weeks since I selected, from the extensive sale collection of

Dr. Krantz of Bonn, several fine specimens of the Pleurodictyum

problematicum of Goldfuss, from the Upper Devonian sandstone

of Daun in the Eifel. Previously, I had not examined any

examples of this singular fossil: all the information I then pos-

sessed respecting it was derived from some published figures and

descriptions by Goldfuss, Phillips, and Lyell; and I had an im-

pression that the vermiform appendage, occurring within it, was

generally considered to be a foreign body.

Pleurodictyum problematicum, as it usually occurs, may in

general terms be described as an oval or nearly circular discoid

body, having one surface free and the other firmly adhering toa

portion of the matrix in which it occurs. If observed ‘attentively,

it will be seen to consist of a number of closely packed, more or

less inclined subpolygonal cones, with their apex or small end

corresponding to the free surface, and their base attached to the

matrix: the cones are at a slight distance from one another,

but connected by means of a number of short thread-like pro-

cesses crossing the vacant interspaces. Within the central area

of the free surface a sigmoid or S-shaped vermiform appendage

is seen lying among the interspaces, and having both termi-

nations passing down to the opposite or adhering surface.

Sir Charles Lyell has given a tolerably correct view, natural

size, of the free surface of this fossil in his excellent Manual,

p- 429, 5th edit. The same surface is represented, twice the

natural size, in Pl. X. fig. 1, so as to exhibit the different parts

more obviously.

The fossil, as just described, is a cast ; it will therefore be evi-

dent, that the cones are casts of subpolygonal cells,—the vacant

interspaces, their walls,—and the short thread-like processes

crossing the same, casts of tubular openings or foramina in the

cell-walls. It will also be obvious, that the free surface exhibits

» Ox ‘

132 Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum.

the aggregated bases of the cells; and it necessarily follows, that

the opposite or adhering surface is that to which the cell-aper-

tures are turned. It will now be understood why Pleurodictyum

problematicum is usually considered a coral.

Respecting the vermiform appendage, Lyell, Milne-Edwards

and Haime consider it to be the remains of a Serpula, or a ser-

puliform body, and that our fossil is attached to it: on the con-

trary, Phillips describes the appendage in question as “ a vermi-

cular cast in the tubule of some mollusk (?) which has perforated

the coral*,”

The “coral” itself struck Phillips as having considerable

resemblance to his Favosites megastoma and F. tenuiseptat, spe-

cies which De Koninck places in his genus Michelinia. Milne-

Edwards and Haime include it in Poritide, a family of their

division Zoantharia perforatat. But Dr. Roemer of Breslau ob-

jects to this coJlocation, and appears to have no doubt whatever

of its close relation to Michelinia, particularly the species M.

favosa§.

Notwithstanding there may be different shades of opinion

among paleontologists respecting the nature of Pleurodictyum,

they all seem to agree in regarding it as a coral, and in.con-

sidering the vermiform appendage as having no organic con-

nexion with it. At this stage of the present paper I feel it

necessary to announce, that I totally dissent from the views just

given: I cannot think that the fossil itself is a coral, properly

so called; nor can I reconcile myself to any other opinion than

that the vermiform appendage is a structure constituting an

integral portion of its organization.

Before stating my views, however, I purpose giving a some-

what detailed description of our fossil ; and in doing so I think

it best to describe its different parts in their original state, and

not as casts.

Pleurodictyum problematicum is externally a nearly circular

concavo-convex discoid body, the under surface or base being

concave. It seldom exceeds an inch and a quarter in diameter

and about three-eighths of an inch in thickness. Its upper sur-

face slopes off regularly to the margin, which is thin. These

* Vide “ Figures and Descriptions of the Paleozoic Fossils of Cornwall,

Devon, and West Somersetshire,”’ p. 209.

+ Paleozoic Fossils, p. 20.

+ Vide reference to these authors in a subsequent part of this paper.

§ Dr. Roemer’s views are advanced in the last edition of Bronn’s

‘Lethea Geognostica.’? I have not been able to consult the details of my

friend’s views, as given in this work; but he gave me an outline of them

during a joyous day we had together last September among the Stringoce-

phaluses, Megalodons, &c. at Paffrath. I hope he may be induced to give

an English dress to his views on Pleurodictyum in the ‘ Annals.’

Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum. 133

characters give a vertical section of it a somewhat crescentic

shape, as may be seen by a reference to Plate X. fig. 2.

_ Internally it consists of a number of short, rather wide, sub-

polygonal cells, with generally four sides, subradially and alter-

nately arranged, and arising from a thin, nearly circular basal

plate thickest in the centre and slightly wrinkled concentrically.

According to Edwards and Haime this part is covered with epi-

theca. By means of the basal plate, a Pleurodictyum attached itself

to some foreign body,—at Daun, generally to the convex valve of

a Chonetes; but in process of growth it spread beyond the

margins of the shell. Impressions of this part often exhibit

subradial and anastumosing lines, which are nothing more than

marks of the cell-walls arising from its thinness. An impression

of the basal plate with its subradial and anastomosing lines, and

a cast of the Chonetes valve to which it was attached, are repre-

sented in Pl. X. fig. 3.

The cells, of which there appear to be between sixty and

seventy in a full-sized specimen, are nearly upright in the central

portion, exterior to which they become more and more inclined

towards the margin, where they are horizontal or nearly so (vide

Pl. X. figs. 2 & 8). This modification gives rise to a pecu-

liarity of form requiring to be noticed: the central cells * stand

on a true base; but those situated outside of them lose it gra-

dually by one of their side walls (the outermost) becoming insen-

sibly converted into a base ;—-the marginal cells, in short, repose

completely on one of their side walls (vide Pl. X. fig. 2). All

the cells, except those in the centre, have their mouth directed

towards the margin.

The cell-bases are usually somewhat rhombic or oval, with

the longitudinal axis directed from the centre to the margin of

the fossil (vide Pl. X. fig. 1); and they are generally 4th of an

inch in length, and ;%ths in width.

All, except the marginal cells, have the inner surface of their

base marked with a central prominence, which becomes converted

into a median ridge in the submarginal cells. The prominences

and ridges have produced those large depressions seen on casts

of the cell-bases (vide Pl. X. figs. 1 & 4).

‘The cells are marked interiorly with a number of fine longi-

tudinal costules (generally five or six on each of the four walls),

which are spinulose on and near the base, and plain on the sides,

where their linear arrangement is most decided. On the base

the costules are nearly obsolete ; but their spinules are strongly

~ * Tt will simplify my description by designating the cells confined within

the area occupied by the vermiform appendage —central cells,—those on

the margin—marginal cells,—and those between both of the latter—sub-

marginal cells.

134 Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum.

developed, particularly on each side of the prominence or me-

dian ridge. The plain costules are most prominent near the

margins of the cells, giving the latter a suleated character.

Although, from their being nearly obsolete on the base of the

cells, it is difficult to trace the costules on this part, yet there

are sufficient indications to show that they radiate from the

central prominence or median ridge and pass up the walls.

The intervening furrows are plain, except at the inferior half of

the cells and the marginal portion of the base, where they are

punctured: on casts they appear like granulated lines. The

spinules have produced those pricked holes exhibited on casts of

the cell-bases (vide Pl. X. figs. 1 & 4). |

The walls of the cells vary from 51th to ith of an inch in

thickness, the thickest portion being at the base. Besides the

character last described, they are perforated completely through

or foraminated, usually at intervals of about ;,th of an imch. In

general the perforations or foramina, which are arranged some-

what longitudinally (vide Pl. X. figs. 5 & 6), pass direct through

the substance of the eell-walls, except at or near their base,

where they are long, curved, and sometimes anastomosed (vide

Pl. X. figs. 4 &c.). In their foraminated character the cell-

walls offer a striking resemblance to those of Favosites and

Michelinia. | :

Interpolated or young cells are occasionally seen ‘springing

from all points of the outermost walls of old submarginal cells:

when not in contact with the basal plate they are of a conical

form, and their pointed base terminates usually in two foramina

which diverge and pass into the adjoining cell or cells (vide

Pl. X. figs. 2 & 7).

All the cells, except those in the centre, grew out horizontally —

for awhile ; but as soon as new cells external to them were de-

veloped, their aperture became turned up, giving a geniculated

form to their outward outline, as represented in Pl. X. figs. 2 & 8.

This peculiarity of growth occasionally gave rise to a consi-

derable interspace between the mouths of old adjacent cells. It

is in this interspace that their interpolated or young submarginal

cells, noticed in the last paragraph, originated. The develop-

ment of the latter did not cause the fossil to increase in height,

as might be supposed; for in no instance have I observed them

to rise above the old cells. The increase of Pleurodictyum was

by horizontal growth, mainly due to young cells originating on

its margin : in their earliest stage, even when scarcely 4th of an

inch in length, these young marginal cells are foraminately con-

nected with older ones, and their pointed or inferior end is also.

often seen terminating in two diverging foramina, as obtains in

their submarginal analogues.

Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum. 135

Within the central area, there winds tortuously through the

substance of the cell-walls the vermiform appendage. already

noticed. In thickness it sometimes equals the width of the

cell-bases. The best way of examining this structure is on

a cast of the under surface of the fossil, similar to that repre-

sented in Pl. X. fig. 1, where it may be seen in the centre fol-

lowing a course resembling the letter S through the mterspaces

separating the casts of the cells. Neither of its terminations is

seen on the surface under consideration, as both are continued

with a slight outward curve down to the opposite or adherent

surface, completing as it were the form of the letter, but having

the tails bent on one and the same side of its plane. Another

mode of describing this appendage may be adopted by restoring

the fossil in imagination, and placing its upper surface before

the eye. Commencing at one of its terminations, which is situated

about midway between the margin and the centre, it may be

traced passing down among the cells with a sinuous curve to the

basal plate, across the central part of which it makes a sigmoid

flexure ; it next passes with another sinuous curve to the surface,

reappearing at about the middle of the side opposite to where it

entered. The course of the appendage is often difficult to trace ;

but I have no doubt that the one just described, allowing for

some slight deviations, will be found to be approximately correct.

I cannot positively state that I have made out the form of its

terminations, though one of them, in a specimen before me, has

some appearance of being constricted just immediately before it

appears at the surface: with this exception, the thickness of the

appendage, throughout its entire length, appears to be remark-

ably uniform. I also observe that its thickness bears a compa-

rative proportion to the size of the fossil, the largest specimens

having the thickest appendage. |

A remarkable circumstance respecting the course of this struc-

ture remains to be noticed. In half the number of specimens

before me, it is folded, where in contact with the basal plate, in

the written form of an s; but in the other half, the letter, as it

were, is exactly reversed. In the specimens represented under

Pl. X. figs. 1 & 4, it may be said to be normally folded; whereas

in Lyell’s figure referred to it is inversely folded.

Connected with the statement that the appendage passes

through the substance of the cell-walls, I may add, that it never

passes through the cells themselves: those adjacent are short-

ened and variously altered in shape to suit its form, as may be

seen represented in Pl. X. figs. 2 & 9. This is also the case

with the foramina; for their thread-like casts, when adjacent

to the appendage, never appear as if passing into it, except in

what are obviously accidental cases ; they are always to be seen

136. Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum.

curving over, by, or below it. Both modifications are exhibited

in Pl. X. figs. 1, 2,4 & 9. |

With respect to the cell-apertures, as exhibited on the upper

or convex surface, I have endeavoured by grinding down a

few casts, from their basal or concave surface, to exhibit them.

The specimens at my service for this purpose are, however, so

few, that I have been compelled to represent a gutta-percha im-

pression taken from a very indifferent one (vide Pl. X. fig. 10).

The apertures it will be seen are somewhat circular and sub-

polygonal; and the central portion contains the apertures of

several small cells, the size of which is attributable to the ver-

miform appendage lying beneath them, thereby preventing their

full development. 1 failed in discovering the terminations of the

appendage in this specimen; but judging from others, | am

disposed to place them near the marks * *,

Pleurodictyum having been generally considered a coral, it

may be expected that I should examine the grounds on which

this opinion is founded; but I contend, that it is quite unne-

cessary for me to enter on such a step: all I have to perform is

to prove that the vermiform appendage is integral to the fossil.

It may also be observed, that even before the generally received

view can be discussed, the appendage must first be proved to be

a foreign body. Were it not for the vermiform appendage, I

should at once subscribe to the opinion that our fossil was a

coral ;—the only question with me would be, as to what division

of the class Corallaria it belonged.

I am quite willing, however, to institute a comparison between

Pleurodictyum and those corals with which it has been associated,

a step which may be of some service in working out the question

shortly to be discussed.

The family Poritide, in which MM. Edwards and Haime

place our fossil, is composed of genera, having, with a few

tertiary and jurassic exceptions*, all its representatives living in

our present seas. The agreement between it and the genera

alluded to consists in the foraminated character of the cell-walls

and the absence of horizontal plates: but there is an important

difference prevailing; as in the group named a well-developed

septal apparatus (consisting of vertical plates) exists, which is

absent in the fossilf.

* Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime, since the Introduction to their

Monograph of British Fossil Corals was written, have added a new

genus to the family Poritide under the name Protarea. It is typified

with Hall’s Silurian Porites vetusta. This species and another (Protarea

Verneuili) occur in the Silurian beds of North America.

+ Mr. Rupert Jones has kindly supplied me with a copy of Edwards and

“Haime’s diagnosis of Plewrodictyum since much of this paper was written.

As I differ from these able Invertebratologists respecting the homology of

Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum. 187

As regards Michelinia (a genus of the family Favositide), with

which Roemer has collocated Pleurodictyum, all its species have

long tubular corallites, which, although agreeing with our fossil

in being foraminated and longitudinally lineated at their margin,

are filled up, except at top, with numerous transverse irregular

curving plates, giving them quite a vesicular structure*. There

is not the least trace of any transverse plates in Pleurodictyum.

Thus admitting for a moment that our fossil is a coral, it

could not be placed either in Poritide+} or Favositide, as defined

by Edwards and Haime ; nor could it, strictly speaking, be placed

in either of the more comprehensive groups named Zoantharia

perforata and Zoantharia tabulata, to which these families re-

spectively belong; it could only be considered as an aberrant

form of either one or the other.

The resemblances just made out are, however, of considerable

value ; for they strongly manifest the side which certain affinities

of Pleurodictyum lean to. These affinities in my opinion belong

to parts subordinate to others only occurring in animals higher

than the Zoanthairs; I am therefore led to consider them as

merely of secondary importance. Hence I may be allowed to

certain parts of this fossil, I have thought it necessary to give a copy of

their description :—“ Polypier subdiscoide, soit libre, soit fixe sur un corps

serpuliforme ou sur une coquille, 4 plateau inférieur recouvert d’une épi-

théque forte et présentant quelques plis concentriques ; polypiérites courts,

prismatiques, irradiant en un court faisceau et se terminant sur une sur-

face légérement convexe ; calices polygonaux, un peu inégaux; trous de la

muraille petits et irréguliers, assez peu nombreux; les murailles un peu

larges. Be 20 a@ 28 cloisons formées par des poutrelles gréles qui avancent

jusqu au centre de la chambre des polypiérites ; largeur des calices de 3 4 5

millimétres. Ces polypiers n’ont ordinairement que 3 ou 4 centimétres de

diamétre total.”’—Vide “ Monographie des Polypiers fossiles des terrains

paléozoiques,” inserted in the Archives du Muséum, tom. v. p. 210, 1851.

The passage I have italicized evidently refers to the fine longitudinal

costules (spinulose and pla) mtervening between the furrows (punctured

and plain) previously described in the text (p. 133). But, with all due

deference to the opinion of MM. Edwards and Haime, I am strongly dis-

posed to consider the so-called “ cloisons ”’ as simply homologous with the

granulations, spinules and echinated costules seen on the septa of many

Zoanthairs. .

* Tam much indebted to my friend George Tate, Esq., of Alnwick, for

placing in my hands his specimens of Michelinia to enable me to make

myself acquainted with the character of this teresting genus.

+ MM. Edwards and Haime place Pleurodictyum next to Protarea in

Poritide. In their “ Monographie des Poritides,”’ published in the Annales

des Sciences Naturelles, 3 sér. t. xvi. p. 48, referring to their earlier Mono-

graph in the ‘ Archives,’ they state—“ et nous nous bornerons A répéter

ici qu’elle différe seulement des Litharea par une épithéque plus déve-

loppée, des murailles plus épaisses et des cloisons plus poutrellaires.”

Litharea, another genus of the family Poritide, is typified with the Astrea

Websteri of Bowerbank,—an eocene fossil described and represented in

their Monograph of the British Fossil Corals, p. 38. pl. 7. fig. 1.

138 Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum.

state, that our fossil possesses strong collateral affinities with

the order Zoantharia.

The question now comes on for discussion, as to what position

Pleurodictyum occupied in the Invertebrate division of the animal

kingdom ? As intimated in the early part of this paper, I dissent

entirely from the opinion which regards it as a member of the

class Corallaria. My own opinion is entirely based on the

presence of the vermiform appendage, which I consider a true

organic constituent of the fossil; it therefore behoves me to

establish its claims to be considered in this light.

According to Lyell and Milne-Edwards, Pleurodictyum attached

itself to the vermiform appendage, z.e. the “ Serpula” of the

former, and the “ serpuliform body” of the latter ; but this opi-

nion is totally inadmissible from the appendage being always in-

ternal, Recurring to Phillips’s view, that it is ‘a vermicular

cast in the tubule of some mollusk (?) which had perforated the

coral,” it may be observed, in the first place, that as I have not

seen specimens from every known locality*, it would be improper

of me to assert that Pleurodictyum never occurs without the

appendage ; but this I am prepared to state, that, with a few

exceptions, every specimen I have examined from Daun possesses

it :—in making this assertion I speak advisedly, because possibly

some parties may dispute it. I perceive the appendage in the

smallest as well as the largest specimens; and in some of the

exceptional cases noted, I can see the vacant space which it ori-

ginally occupied. I am therefore led to conclude, that whenever

the appendage is absent it has either fallen out, or been removed

by some accident.

The vermiform appendage in all the specimens that have

passed under my notice is always folded, as before described,

somewhat like the letter 8, having its central portion resting on

the basal plate, and its extremities passing up to opposite sides, -

between the margin and centre, of the upper surface. This con-

stancy of form and position it is impossible to conceive could

have prevailed had the appendage been a perforating bodyt.

Again, this structure is never seen otherwise than passing

* It is of extensive geographical range, occurring at West Ogwell and

Torquay in Devonshire, Néhou in France, Coblentz and other places on

the Rhine, Daun in the Eifel, Aleje in Spain, Goslar in the Hartz, and

Jefferson County in the State of Indiana, North America. In all these

localities, Pleurodictyum occurs in the Devonian system ; but, according to

Sir R. Murchison, M. Richter has lately described a new species under the

name P. Lonsdalei from the Silurian beds of Saalfeld (vide Quart. Journ.

of the Geol. Soc. vol. ix. p. 413). Perhaps Milne-Edwards’s Spongarium

may be the basal plate of a fossil having some relation to Pleurodictyum ?

+ The two specimens represented under figures ] & 4. Pl. X. are almos

a fac-simile of each other as regards both form and position.

Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum, 189

through the substance of the cell-walls: in no case can I perceive

any appearance as if it had passed through the cells themselves ;

nor have I ever seen anything to show that it cut, as it were,

any of the foramina*: on the contrary, the cells have been built

around, or adjacent to, the appendage; and the foramina have

been carried over or under it.

These facts I regard as completely proving that the original

of the vermiform appendage was an ab initio structure—a true

integral organ of Pleurodictyum. ;

From the absence of all evidence to the contrary, it cannot be

concluded that the appendage was enclosed in a sheath, like that

of some shell-bearing borers +: it must be the cast of a fleshy

tube included in, and protected only by, the substance of the

cell-walls.

The reader will now be prepared for the statement, that I

consider the vermiform appendage as the cast of a tubular

chamber which enclosed the intestinal canal of Pleurodictyum.

But an intestinal canal necessitates the existence of a mouth —

and an anus. No coral, however, possesses more than one orifice

to its digestive cavity. Pleurodictywm therefore cannot belong

to any division of the class Corallaria: it must be assumed as

belonging to a higher type in the scale of animal organization.

Considering certain primary groups of the Invertebrata pos-

sessing an oral and an anal orifice—for example, Tunicata, Mol-

lusca and Bryozoaria—if all their existing and extinct represen-

tatives be examined, we shall fail in observing any to be strictly

available for Pleurodictyum. This being the case, our only alter-

native is to have recourse to its collateral affinities, which, as

already seen, lean to Zoantharia. Reflecting on this order, it

may be asked—of the classes named, having two orifices, which

one has the closest relation to it? Obviously Bryozoariat. But

in no cell-bearing forms of this class, such as Lepralia, Eschara,

&c., is there one to be found consisting of large cells with a ver-

miform appendage : all of them have their solid parts consisting

* The vermiform appendage having increased in size as the fossil became

enlarged, thereby encroaching on the adjacent cells, it must not be sup-

posed that cases exhibiting the foramina broken through do not occur. It

may be observed, however, that although I have seen thread-like casts of the

foramina almost, if not completely, touching the appendage, I have never

perceived any appearance as if they had been cut by a boring animal.

+ The cases of close proximity alluded to in the above note completely

dispel the idea that the appendage originally possessed a shelly sheath, as

some have conjectured.

_ { It may be readily imagined that the class Tunicata occurred to me as

a group to which Pleurodictyum might belong; but as its collateral affi-

nities ten rather to Mollusca than to the Zoanthic corals, I felt myself

compelled to abandon the idea.

140 Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum.

of innumerable minute cells, each being inhabited by a single

Bryozoon. If it were possible for the intestinal canal of every

animal in a Lepralia to be preserved, a vermiform appendage

ought to occur in every cell.

We have now arrived at the great difficulty which besets us

in considering our fossil to belong to the class Bryozoaria; for

as there is only one appendage to all its cells, it is evident that

each one cannot have been tenanted by a single Bryozoon. But

let us again consider the Zoanthic affinities of Pleurodictyum.

Why may it not have been inhabited by a Bryozoic form orga-

nized after the Zoanthic type? In short, why may not its occu-

pant have been a Zoanthoid Bryozoon? According to this view,

Pleurodictyum, although consisting of a number of cells, be-

longed to a simple individual ; and it necessarily follows that its

cells, instead of being aggregated corallites, were merely cham-

bers corresponding with the interseptal spaces or Joculi charac-

teristic of the lamelliferous corals, particularly those in which

these parts are formed by confluent plates, as in most species of

Stephanophyllia. The cells were probably receptacles for the

generative organs ; and they possibly indicate the existence of a

number of concentric circles of tentacles similar to those sur-

rounding the orifice of an ordinary Actinia.

In Pleurodictyum, the varying number of cells or chambers,

which is altogether dependent on its size, is not opposed to the

suggestion just made; since the tentacles in Actinia and some

allied genera are well known to increase in number as the polyp

increases in size.

It would be unwise to specialize too much in an hypothetical

restoration, of the animal that belonged to our fossil; but I can-

not refrain from hazarding the conjecture that the chambers

were surmounted by the stomach. It is highly improbable that

the vermiform appendage comprised both the stomach and in-

testine, like the alimentary apparatus in Echinide, m which, it

must be understood, the large visceral cavity allows full room for

the necessary dilatation of the gastric portion; because in the

fossil the whole appendage was so hemmed in by the substance

of the cell-walls as to render impossible an increase of any por-

tion of it by repletion, supposing any such portion served as a

stomach. I am therefore led to consider the vermiform append-

age as being the cast of a tubular chamber which enclosed only

the intestinal canal, a view which, it will be observed, is in exact

accordance with my conjecture as to the cells being inferior in

position to the stomach. Perhaps the constriction I noticed at

one of the terminations of the appendage indicates the com-

mencement of the rectum.

In conclusion, it remains for me to observe, that if the view

Ann, b Wag. Net Hit.8.2.Noi 0. PAX.

T De. C. Stwerty ih. Wadley Pranter 3 Medingire S* Strand WH. Fan? del.

Prof. W. King on Pleurodictyum problematicum. 141

herein taken of the position of Pleurodictyum in the animal

kingdom be correct, this fossil will necessarily represent a type,

which, although not known as living, is one that there is no

difficulty in conceiving to have existed ; since it forms exactly

the link that seems to be wanted to connect the true Corals with

the class Bryozoaria.

Belmont near Galway, Jan. 9, 1856.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE X.

PLEURODICTYUM PROBLEMATICUM.

Fig. 1. View of basal or under surface of a cast, twice the natural size,

having the basal plate and nearly one-half of the cells removed

(the latter from the lower portion of figure). One of the extre-

mities or tails of the vermiform appendage is consequently ex-

posed, curving down among the cells to the opposite (upper or

adhering) surface: the other extremity also passes down to the

same surface, but becomes concealed among the cells.

Fig. 2. Longitudinal section through the centre, partly restored, showing

casts of central (upright), submarginal (inclined) and marginal

(horizontal) cells; also young cells with their pointed base

attached to the outer side of old ones. The appendage (of which

a cross section is exposed) is seen beneath one of the cells, which

is modified (shortened) to make room for it. The base of the

central cells exhibits the furrow or depression resulting from the

central prominence or median ridge thereon. The dark portion

at bottom exhibits the space originally occupied by the basal

plate. .

Fig. 3. Impression of the basal plate, twice the natural size, exhibiting

marks of the cell-bases, and the shell-valve (cast of Chonetes) to

which it adhered. The anastomosing lines are rather too strongly

marked.

Fig. 4. Representation, thrice the natural size, of a portion of central area

of basal surface, exhibiting the appendage with one of its extre-

mities (the left) passing gradually down among the cells (or

rather up) to the opposite (upper) surface. This specimen, which

is different from that under fig. |, exhibits casts of the foramina

at the cell-bases, where they are “long, curved, and sometimes

anastomosed ;” but always avoiding the appendage: it also ex-

hibits the depressions (produced by the central prominence or

median ridge), and the pricked holes (produced by the spinules

belonging to the adjoining obsolete costules) on casts of the cell-

bases (central and submarginal).

Fig. 5. Cast of a marginal cell showing its (outer) sides and rhombic base,

with their punctured furrows and plain marginal sulcations (or

intervening costules).

N.B. This figure ought to have been three times its size to

exhibit clearly all the characters belonging to the interior of the

cells. The spinulose costules (not present on this cell) are only

| seen on the base of the central and submarginal cells.

Fig. 6. Cast of a submarginal cell showing its inner sides marked with

casts of foramina linearly arranged.

Fig. 7. Casts of submarginal cells exhibiting young interpolated ditto

142 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

with their pointed base terminating in “two foramina, which

diverge and pass into the adjoining cell or cells.”

Fig. 8. Side view of casts of marginal cells. This figure exhibits two

young cells originating on the outer side of an old one, causing

its aperture to be turned up, thereby giving its outward outline a

geniculated form. The small cell to the right reposes completely

on one of its sides.

Fig. 9. Side view of two cells, modified owing to the propinquity of the

appendage, of which a cross section is represented.

Fig. 10. Gutta-percha impression, twice the natural size, of the upper sur-

face, showing the somewhat circular and subpolygonal form of

the cell-apertures. The marks * * indicate the probable situation

of the terminations of the vermiform appendage.

XILI.—On the Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration and on the

Structure of the Oryans of Breathing in Invertebrate Animals.

By Tuomas Wituiams, M.D. Lond., F.L.S., Physician to the

Swansea Infirmary.

[With a Plate.]

[Continued from p. 42.]

Pulmonifera.

TuE leaf-like appendages of Phyllodoce lamelligera, which expose

to the action of the aérating medium a true chylaqueous fluid,

differ very little in intimate structure from the branchial laminze

of the Crab, the purpose of which is to distribute for respiration

a current of blood, properly so called. But the trachez of Insects

have no parallel amongst the respiratory systems of the Inver.

tebrata. Compared with the respiratory organs of the water-

breathing Articulata, these trachee constitute, in a complete

sense, an apparatus invented de novo. Insects, with reference to

the relations of this system, cannot therefore be said to be to

the water-breathing Annulose and Articulated animals what the

Pulmoniferous Gasteropods are to the water-breathing Mollusca.

In the latter cases nevertheless, the aquatic and atmospheric

systems are strikingly diverse.

In the instance of the air-respirig Crustaceans no change of

structure whatever occurs in the respiratory system. The bran-

chi of the terrestrial Isopoda are precisely the same in every

detail of minute structure as those of the aquatic genera. The

inference arises at once: these Crustaceans are merely modified

water-breathers! But when an animal is to be formed whose

medium of life shall permanently be the atmosphere, a design

in the construction of the breathing system is adopted in-

volving express provisions, which stand at marked variance

from every variety of the water-breathing machinery. It is

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 143

accordingly observed that the contrast between ‘the lung’ of

Pulmoniferous, and the branchia of the Branchiferous Gaste-

ropods is almost as striking and irreconcileable as that which

separates the trachea of the Insect from the breathing plume

of the Annelid or the gill of the Crab. In the midst of the

aquatic Articulata, the air-breathing Insect arises on the scene ;

in the midst of the aquatic Mollusca, the pulmonated Gas-

teropods are formed. ‘The object being one and the same,

namely to produce an air-breathing animal, the artificer being

still within the limits of the Invertebrate subkingdom, the ques-

tion is most natural, Are the means in the two cases also the

same by which the one and the same end is sought to be attained ?

—No! they are most wonderfully and extraordinarily dissimilar.

The trachez of the Insect pervade the entire substance of the

body of the animal. The ‘lung’ of the Snail is a mere bag, in-

flated as if by some rude and fallible artist, under the skin of

the back. The former charms the eye as it discovers the mingling

of the infinitely perfect with the infinitely minute. The latter

shocks the mind with disappointment as it views the characters

of a contrivance at once coarse, clumsy, and inadequate. But is it

so in reality, or is 1t so only because imperfectly understood, and

because it is measured by a wrong and unfair standard? Is

not such an apparatus, simple as it is, quite enough to sustain

the sluggish vitality of these slow-moving and sleepy animals ?

And is not the end in view accomplished quite as perfectly as it

is in the case of Insects, though by a machinery of incomparably

greater apparent intricacy? These questions will well prepare

the mind for the investigation of the actual details.

All the terrestrial and the majority of*the freshwater Gaste-

ropod Mollusks breathe air. They are provided with a pul-

monary cavity or sac, whose walls are networked with vessels by

which the blood is exposed to the aérating element. No form

of branchiz exists. The animals which present this organization

are all provided with distinct heads and furnished with tentacula

and organs of sight. They walk by the aid of a well-developed

ereeping disc. One large division of the land snails is supplied -

with an operculated shell; the rest are inoperculate and some-

times shell-less. The Pulmonifera are closely related to the

plant-eating sea snails (Holostomata) through the Cyclomata,

and to the Nudibranchs by Onchidium. As a group, the land

snails are inferior to the sea snails, on account of the compara-

tive imperfection of their senses, and the union of the functions

of both sexes in each individual.

The typical inoperculate Pulmonifera vary in appearance

and habits, but agree essentially in structure. The respiratory

orifice is small and valve-like, to prevent too rapid desiccation

144 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

in the land species, and to guard against the injurious entry of

water in the aquatic tribes*. Hence they have been called

Adelo-pneumona (or concealed-lunged) by Dr. Gray ; the Opercu-

lata, by antithesis, being named the Phanero-pneumona or open-

lunged.

The Onchidiade are sea slugs, breathing by means of a pul-

monary cavity, but living immediately in contact with marine

conditions. According to the dissections of Mr. Hancock, the

“lung is placed in this group at the posterior extremity of the

body, and has consequently the heart in front of it.”

Respiration in the Limacide is accomplished by means of a

cavity seated on the back near the neck, and covered by the dise

(Pl. XI. fig. 1). It opens on the right by a valvular sphincterie

orifice, which is endowed with an active power of widely dilating

and of closely contracting (e). In this family the rectum does not

traverse the respiratory chamber ; it lies external to, and below

its right boundary. The anal orifice therefore is separate from

that of the respiratory ; it is seen immediately below the latter.

This is a fact of structural disparity between the Limacide and

the Helicide. In tlie latter the intestine is a prominent object

in the breathing-chamber, and the vent is confounded with the

pulmonary orifice. The position of the generative outlet is

variable.

The following description is founded upon numerous dissec-

tions of the common Slugs. The breathing-sac presents in all

the species the same anatomical characters. It is best studied

by fixing the animal with two strong pins, transfixing the body

in front near the head and behind near the tail ina cork-bottom

dissecting dish. One blade of a strong, blunt-pointed sharp

scissors should be inserted into the pulmonary orifice. The

point should now be carried round the boundaries of the chamber,

the disc being cut as the instrument travels round. Such a

section (fig. 1) will enable the lid of the cavity or the respiratory

disc (b) to be so perfectly raised as to leave the entire space

underneath quite uninjured. A part corresponding with the

‘pericardium (c) will however be found to be adherent to this

roof; it should be snipped with the scissors. The roof, in the

substance of which is lodged the rudimentary shell, should now

be reflected and pinned down (as shown in figs. 1 & 2). From

the central space of the cavity a second membrane (fig. 1 ¢) will

require to be raised. This is much more vascular than the

former integumentary covering (4), and constitutes really a part

of the respiratory surface. This structure serves also as peri-

* See the excellent Manual on Recent and Fossil Shells, by 8. P. Wood-

ward.

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 145

cardium. It overcovers the heart, and embraces the large curved

gland, in the centre of the area bounded by which the heart

(Pl. XI. fig. 1d) is situated. A perfect view of this pulsatile

body is thus obtained. It beats slowly, about 30 or 35 times

in a minute ; less frequently probably in an unmutilated animal.

It consists of an auricle which is situated under or below the

ventricle. The ventricle is not a linear continuation of the

auricle, separated only by a constriction as it is in the Helicide,

but a separate organ receiving the auricle by a laterally placed

auriculo-ventricular orifice. It will be seen that the large blood-

channels (fig. 1 g) which are distributed over the floor of the

cavity, and which in nature are of an opake white colour, con-

verge upon the auricle, and that the aorta (/) rising boldly up

from the ventricle as a vigorous vessel of considerable calibre,

pierces the base of the chamber and disappears, travelling back-

wards among the viscera.

Now of the Limacide it cannot with truth be said that they

are either Proso-branchiate or Opistho-branchiate. The heart

here is certainly not placed either before or behind the respi-

ratory organ, but in ts true centre. The ovoid space circum-

scribed by the gland (c’, c’), and roofed down by the pericardium,

has only one opening through which the air can effect its ingress

and egress. This opening corresponds to the point at which

the line of the gland isimterrupted. In some species it is placed

at a point on the left side remote from the external orifice (e), in

others behind ; in others again it has an anterior position. That

portion of the cavity which is without the gland, and between it

and the outer boundary of the disc (f, f), forms a circle, so that the

air may course around the cavity from right to left or reversely,

according to the tendency of the muscular action by which it is

impelled. The movements of breathing are far less manifest in the

slug than in the snail. In the slug the pulmonary orifice slowly

opens, and the bag is emptied by the slow expulsion of the air.

The act of inhalation is performed in a similarly slow manner.

The orifice-now firmly closes, and remains closed until the next

act of expiration, which may occur irregularly in ten minutes or

a quarter of an hour. .

Two points in the history of the respiratory cavity of the

Limacide demand special attention. First, the structure and

distribution of the vessels, and secondly, the character of the

membrane or covering by which the cavity is lined. As a rule,

it may be stated that the pulmonary vessels are distributed in

the Limacide over the floor of the chamber, in the Helicide

over the roof. In the former the mucous gland is considerably

larger than in the latter. The heart of Limaz lies, like the pul-

monary network, on ‘the bottom of the cavity; that of Heliz,

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii.

146 Dr. T. Willams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

like its pulmonary rete, is located in the roof. These are features

of striking dissimilarity.

The pulmonary vessels (a) of Limawx are not, as in Heliz,

gathered into one large trunk, debouching in the auricle. They

consist of several trunks, the cylinders of which are so super-

ficially situated as to stand in prominent relief above the main

plane of the cavity. This peculiar appearance results from the

rigid caleareous walls of the vessels. It seems, according to the

author’s dissections, as if two or three veins in Limaz opened

into the auricle, but it is not easy to determine their exact num-

ber. The peculiar tenacious mucus secreted by the gland (¢, ¢’)

which surrounds the heart (d) is poured out into the respiratory

cavity. But although this is the case, it does not interfere with

the function of the surface over which it is diffused. It does

not become adherent to the latter. This mucus is capable of

enclosing globules of air, and of becoming frothy. In this state

it is frequently extruded from the pulmonary orifice. The study

of these glands and their structure is for the present postponed,

since they share in no way in the process of respiration.

Cuvier and the older anatomists supposed, when they observed

the white colour of the vessels in the Limacide, that the pheeno-

menon was due to the milky character of the blood by which

they were filled. This is an error. The white colour results

from the mixture of fat and chalk which abounds in the sub-

stance of the walls of the vessels, imparting to them a peculiar

character and extraordinary thickness ; such thickness as renders

it extremely difficult to understand how they are not thereby

disqualified for the office which they are designed to discharge.

The larger vessels (fig. 1 g) stand upon a more superficial plane

than the smaller ones. This disposition gives a cellulated ap-

pearance to the surface (fig. 2), like that of the inside of the

frog’s lung. It is an arrangement which, more completely than

a smooth surface, detains the air in contact with the blood.

But though a tendency to the cellular form is displayed by the

pulmonary membrane, it must be understood that it is not

organized after that fashion, as is the case with the lung of the

frog.

The pulmonary vessels in the Pulmonated Gasteropods form

but one sheet, that is, the blood traverses the area of aérating

surface only once. The blood-currents converge upon the respi-

ratory chamber from all parts of the body. Large trunks (fig. 2)

may be seen at the sides of the cavity before, behind, and at the

sides. ‘These trunks are individually walled vessels ; they are

true pulmonary arteries. They subdivide into smaller vessels,

and these break again into a network constituting the real lung

of the animal. Near the position of the heart, they begin to

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 147

reunite, large trunks becoming visible, which end in the auricle.

The larger trunks are visible to the naked eye; the smallest

require all the skill of the microscopist for their examination.

The coats of the more visible white trunks are rendered colour-

less under the joint agency of dilute muriatic acid and ether:

neither reagent alone will remove the white colour. The acid

will dissolve the lime and leave the fat: the ether will remove

the fat and leave the lime. The fat and the lime are contained

in cells, and intimately mixed. The lime exists in the form of

amorphous granules ; it does not crystallize even in the rudi-

mentary shell contained in the roof, but from the conical masses

which adhere into groups in some places, it is evident that a

tendency to crystallize is manifested.

It seemed to the author a point of extreme interest to deter-

mine whether the lime and fat which render the outline of these

vessels, especially in the common Black Slug, so conspicuous,

were incorporated in the substance of the vascular walls, and in

what manner, or whether they were lodged in a tissué occupying

the intervals between the vessels. These questions immediately

arose. It appeared so utterly without precedent that vessels,

destined to aérate the blood, the smallest, the most subdivided,

the most thin-walled, the most naked of all the vessels of the

body, m every other animal, vertebrate and invertebrate, should

in the instance of the Limacide be encumbered with such thick,

even inorganic, rigid parietes !

The physiologist is embarrassed in attributing to a machinery,

by comparison so coarse and clumsy, a function so subtle and

refined as that of breathing. But is it not presumptuous to

pronounce a verdict of imperfection upon any of the works of

Nature? Is it not possible that faultless skill and matchless

adaptation of instrument to purpose, may yet reveal itself beneath

the apparent characters of an organ which at present may appear

rude and ill-contrived? It is more probable that Nature should

be perfect than that her critic should be so.

A transverse section of one of the larger vessels will render it

at once evident that each trunk is lined internally by a smooth

non-calcified membrane, and that the lime-particles are deposited.

only in the substance of the external coats. 'The presence of this

inorganic substance destroys the power of the vessels to contract

upon their contents. The blood 1s circulated therefore through

the pulmonary membrane by some other force than that usually

due to the elasticity of the vessels. Although the fact is of dif-

ficult proof by direct demonstration, it is almost certain that the

exterior of each vessel is also lined by a non-calcified membrane.

It must be so, because active vibratile cilia unquestionably exist

10*

148 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

in various parts of the pulmonary cavity in every species of

Limaz*,

If the internal and external coats of the vessels assume thus

the characters of two concentric non-calcified cylinders, it follows

that the mineralized layer must occupy the intervening space,

representing the middle coat. This is probably the truth, But

whether the external membrane and the lining of the cavity be

separate structures or not, it is indisputable that the vessels are

enveloped in a thick calcareous sheath. It is obvious, therefore,

that the respiratory gases respectively leaving and entering the

blood must traverse this dense septum,—a peculiarity quite with-

out a parallel in the whole history of the organs of respiration.

In the higher animals the pulmonary vessels in all classes are

brought so near the aérating surface, that anatomists of eminence

are not wanting who assert that such vessels are not covered by

any kind of epithelium whatever. If then all structures inter-

posed between the blood and the air are thus studiously reduced

to the utmost extreme of tenuity in the higher animals, how is

it that in these highly organized Gasteropods the respiratory

vessels should not only be encumbered by thick coats, but by

‘those of an inorganic nature ? : |

Hither in these animals respiration is reduced to a minimum, or

these calcareous coats not only do not interfere with, but literally

facilitate the interdiffusion of the gases. Although this idea

presupposes a mechanism quite unique in the history of the

breathing organs of animals, it involves nothing which contra-

dicts the laws of endosmosis. The mineral which is deposited

in the coats of the vessels is the carbonate of lime. It is im-

possible that such a substance could exert any chemical affinity

either for oxygen or carbonic acid. The lime-particles are so

loosely strewn together that they are separated by spacious in-

terstices. Such a septum would present no obstacle to the diffu-

sion of gases. In fact the endosmotic conditions of the beautiful

experiment devised by Prof. Graham, in which he coated a coarse

sheet of brown paper with a thin film of collodion, are precisely

imitated in the vessels of the Slug. Prof. Graham found that

the organic film so placed did not in the least degree diminish

the rate of diffusion at which gases pass through a sheet of brown

aper.

ri it is quite certain then that the vessels of the lung-sacs of the

Limacide are encircled by the calcareous coats. The lime is not

* | invite especial attention to this point, because hitherto all anatomists

have denied the existence of ciliated epithelium in the interior of the pul-

monary chamber of air-breathing Gasteropoda. I have proved the fact of

its presence beyond doubt, and by repeated observations.

- Respiration in Invertebrate Annals. 149

deposited in lines, as the cilia are disposed along the branchial

leaves of the Lamellibranchiate Mollusks, leaving a non-ciliated

interval to which the active process of respiration is chiefly

limited. The gases must consequently traverse the entire sub-

stance of the calcareous and membranous coats. The inter-

stices between the calcareous particles might on this view be

considered as each representing a cel, in which a small volume

of air is held stationarily in intimate contact with the blood,

and beyond the disturbing control of the ever-moving and vary-

ing parietes of the general cavity; and in which, as in the air-

cells of Mammals, the interchange of the gases is a continuous,

not an interrupted, process. But these permeable calcareous

coats, while they divide the oxygen into myriads of infinitesimal

portions, bringing it thus in a state of extreme subdivision into

contact with the blood, act also like other porous bodies upon

gases, by condensing their volumes. The power thus exerted

increases the diffusiveness of the gases, and consequently aug-

ments the measure in a given time of the function of the part,

because it virtually accelerates the interchange of the gases.

The ultimate vessels of the abdominal organs are furnished with

soft non-calcareous coats. The lime in these parts of the body

is present only on the larger trunks. This substance is sup-

pressed, therefore, in those organs in which its presence would

interfere with the nutritive and secernent office of the minute

vessels. Being present on those of the lung, the inference is

unavoidable, that in this situation at least it does not obstruct the

function of the organ. It seems on the clearest grounds that the

mechanical subdivision of the air in a respiratory organ may be

made to supersede the necessity for the subdivision of the blood

by the formation of a rete mirabile. To this end in the Lima-

cide a contrivance of singular simplicity is adopted: the air

is made to rush in steady but infinitely divided currents in the

direction of the blood. This is enough to secure the intended

result. The blood accordingly flows in channels of compara-

tively large diameters. Coarse trunks separated by wide inter-

vals, they contrast most strikingly with the elaborately formed

parallel capillaries of the gills of all the branchiferous orders of

Gasteropods, in which the blood-stream is reduced to the utmost

minuteness.

On no other interpretation of the anatomical facts by which

the pulmonary sac of the air-breathing Gasteropods is distin-

guished, is the reproach of rudeness and coarseness of con-

struction to be removed. On this interpretation the rudeness

is turned into subtlety and the coarseness into refinement, and

the physiologist may cite indeed an organ which at first only

shocked the short-seeing mind with a sense of disappointment,

150 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

as only another illustration of the illimitable fertility of resource

by which every part of every living mechanism is distinguished.

It is only by such a contrivance that the necessary surface for the

aérating process can be realized; for compare the area of this

lung-sac with the extraordinarily multiplied superficies secured

by the laminose arrangement of the gills in the branchiferous

orders, and how considerably the latter will be found to ex-

ceed the former! In comparing a gill with a lung, even in

the same class of animals, and organized on the same type, it is

necessary to remember that in the former case the oxygen, dis-

solved in water, is brought up to the blood under certain opposing

circumstances, and that a compensation is offered in the divided

state of the blood, while in the latter a similar amount of work

may be done with large vessels and coarse streams, in conse-

quence of the unmixed and direct manner in which the active

element is applied to the vital fluid.

The pulmonary chamber of the Helicide is distinguished by

several anatomical particulars from that of the Limacide. In

the Snail (fig. 3) the rectum (a) enters the precincts of the

chamber, and the heart (b), mucus-gland (g), and pulmonary

vessels (d) are seated on the roof (h) of the cavity. In the Slug,

as already detailedly explained, the rectum is external to the

chamber, and the heart, gland, and pulmonary rete are placed at

the bottom of the cavity.

Helz aspersa (figs. 3, 4 & 5) is the best, because the most

familiar, example of the family of the Helicide. In it, as com-

pared with Limaz, a marked deviation is observed in the posi-

tion of the mucus-gland. That of Helix presents the appearance

of a soft oval mass (fig. 3 g) situated to the right of the heart

when zn si¢u ; it is considerably less developed than it is in Limaz.

This proximity of place to the heart has probably some meaning

which is not yet understood. But in structure the gland is the

same im the two families. The auricle (c) and ventricle (5) of

the heart in Helix are placed on the same axis ; they are separated

only by a slight constriction. In Limax the divisions of the

centre of the circulation are placed on different axes, and more

individualized. In this latter genus it is planted in the centre

of the respiratory plexus, and also in that of the cavity. In

Heliz it is situated at the posterior boundary of the chamber.

The roof in this shelled genus is a flexible membrane (fig. 3 3,

and figs. 4 & 5c). It is fixed posteriorly to a sort of diaphragm

(fig.3 7) which imperfectly divides the thorax from the abdomen (J).

In the substance of the roof is lodged a stratum of muscles which

contract and relax synchronously with the expiratory collapsing

and inspiratory expanding of the cavity. These respiratory move-

ments are very markedly defined in the animal of Helix removed

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 151

carefully from its shell (figs. 4&6). The fixed position afforded

by the I caeeait which ties the body to the columella, yields im-

portant service in the mechanical acts of respiration.

The soft abdominal segment (fig. 37) of the body is covered

by a continuation of the mantle. In this situation the mem-

brane is thinner, smoother and more delicate. Jt is quite adherent

everywhere to the subjacent organs. There are no vacuoles either

between it and the invested viscera, or between the viscera them-

selves. During retraction the foot may be concealed completely

in the cavity of the thoracic moiety of the animal. This ex-

plains why it is that the viscera (brain, cesophagus, portions of

reproductive and chylopoietic viscera, &c.) are so loosely packed

in this region, and why it is that large spaces filled with fluid

he intermediately. Such vacuoles are more spacious in the Heli-

cidee than in the Limacide, because in the former the head and

foot are more retractile than in the latter. The anterior surface

or front of the operculum is perforated on the right side by a

large, valvular, irritable sphincteric orifice (figs. 4 & 5 a, a). In

the edge of the mantle directly above this orifice is observed a

deep notch (fig. 4 e), which, when the animal is tightly coiled

up into itself, fits over the orifice. By this simple contrivance,

under all circumstances, the patency of the communication

between the breathing-chamber and the external air is secured.

So important is this point, that, both during hybernation and

when the animal remains long attached to a dry calcareous stone

in arid seasons, the membranous epiphragm which is then formed

from the mucus supplied by the mucus-gland, is valvularly

perforated at a point corresponding to the respiratory orifice.

Respiration therefore, though sometimes greatly reduced in

amount, at no time during the life of the animal completely

ceases.

The pulmonary plexus, which in Hela is restricted to the roof

of the cavity (fig. 3h), presents a much more regular and sym-

metrical arrangement of the vessels than that of Limaz. In

Heliz a main vessel (d, d) runs obliquely from left to right along

the vault of the cavity; it terminates by dilating into the auricle

converge upon it with great regularity of course. The lateral

trunks are similarly regular. In some places the ultimate vessels

can be traced with the naked eye: they are best viewed as

opake objects, by cutting off the entire roof and placing it,

vessels uppermost, between two slips of glass, and then examining

with a two-inch or an inch object-glass. It will be observed that

the primary or large trunks (fig. 6 a,.a, a) run, on the whole, in

parallel directions, enclosing interspaces of pretty uniform dia-

meters ; and that the secondary branches (0, 6) proceed from the

152 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

primary also in a determinate manner, separated by tolerably

uniform distances, and running in tolerably orderly directions,

so that they leave between them spaces which manifest a ten-

dency to symmetry of outline and regularity of are.

The ultimate vessels (fig. 6 ¢, c) undoubtedly obey a similar

method of distribution. If a spot be taken for inspection in

which they are densely present, the vessels will be found to lie in

parallel columns (as represented in Pl. XI. fig. 6, which has been

drawn with great care from the actual object). In other places,

especially towards the circumferences of the roof, they exhibit a

more sparse and less regular distribution. If such portions of

this vascular membrane were folded in the “ ridge and gutter”

fashion, taking care that the secondary vessels coincided with

the borders of the folds, a branchia would be formed whose

structure would conform with the daminose principle. It may

conversely be said, that the lung of the air-breathing Gasteropod

is nothing but the branchia of the water-breathing Gasteropod,

having the lamine of the gill so unfolded as to form a straight

sheet. This comparison is really not too far-sought. In both

instances the ultimate vessels present a uniform cylindrical cha-

racter, seldom intercommunicating: such a comparison, how-

ever, is quite untenable in the case of Limaw (fig.2). Here

the plexus is arboriform and irregular, circumscribing arez of

various sizes and figures. Like that of Limaz, the lining of this

cavity in Helix is undoubtedly ciliated at various parts. It is

only possible to detect the presence of cilia along the lines of the

larger vessels, and here and there in creases in their vicinities.

From the author’s observations, it is probable that the spaces

between the larger vessels, and coinciding with the capillary

arex, are devoid of ciliated epithelium. Nor is it easy to sepa-

rate the layer of epithelium by which these parts are covered,

from the elements of which the coats of the vessels themselves

are composed.

In Heliz the coats of the pulmonary vessels (fig. 3 /) are con-

siderably less calcified, less white in appearance, and more flexible

than those of imax. They afford, therefore, a more favourable

opportunity for determining their minute structure.

The same surprise may be expressed with respect to this lung-

sac as with respect to that of Limaz, viz. that so limited a

vascular area presenting vessels so coarsely subdivided, should

suffice, in so bulky an animal, to supply the demands of the respi-

ratory function. While all other animals, even those inferior

to these Mollusks in serial standard, are furnished with organs

which involve prodigious superficies for action, how is it, it may

again be asked, that in these superiorly endowed Gasteropods so

rudely constructed an apparatus, so carelessly formed an organ

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 153

should be enabled adequately to discharge a function so im-

perious ?

Can there be any peculiarity in the structure of the vessels ?

As the calcareous layer is less developed here than in Limaz, it

is obvious that the presence of this layer is not an indispensable

constituent of the organ. The pulmonary vessels in the Snail

exhibit a structure which cannot well be proved to exist in the

Slug. Their coats bulge out im a cellular-like manner. This

occurs all round the circumference of each vessel, most di-

stinctly in the smallest. It is impossible to determine whether

the convexities on the exterior correspond with concavities on

the interior of the vessels. But, by inference from the character

of the outside, it seems almost certain that such an arrange-

ment does really exist. If it does, it is not difficult to under-

stand how considerably it is calculated to augment the surface

_ of contact between the blood and the air. Though such cellu-

lated parietes might mechanically slacken the speed of the cur-

rent, the function of the part cannot fail to be considerably raised

in amount.

Lymneade.—“ These freshwater pulmoniferous snails consti-

tute a very natural family, the animals of all bearing a great simi-

larity to each other, and being similarly organized. All have

short, broad snouts, and two tentacula of considerable size, either

triangular or subulate in shape, with eyes placed at their imner

bases.” (Forbes and Hanley.) Little has been done by anato-

mists to elucidate the structure of this interesting family. In

several features they approximate closely to the Helicide. The

most striking character is the siphon-like tube into which the

respiratory orifice is prolonged. This siphon (fig. 7 a) is capable

of being considerably extended beyond the edge of the mantle (6).

When the animal is floating reversely near the surface of the

water, it may be seen from time to time to be slowly pushed above

the surface into the air. At this moment, and through it, the effete

contents of the respiratory cavity are emitted, and a supply of

oxygen is drawn in. So wonderfully sensitive and discriminative

is this little organ, that it opens only when it peeps into the

atmosphere. Water never enters into the pulmonary chamber

of Lymneus. The same observation applies to Planorbis.

But in these water-snails the breathing-chamber (fig. 7 c)

is more actively ciliated than in the terrestrial families. Not

because they breathe at any time on the aquatic principle, but

probably because the whole tissues in these water-inhabiting

genera are less calcified, and therefore more favourable to the

development of cilia. It must, however, be supposed from these

statements that the breathing-chamber is lined with a continuous

154 On the Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration.

layer of ciliated epithelium. It is detectible only on certain

parts which chiefly correspond with the lines of the large trunks.

The Limneids differ from the Helicide in being furnished with

a richly ciliated epithehum on the exterior of the respiratory

cavity. In young specimens vibratile cilia may be detected over

the entire abdominal. portion of the body. In the old, how-

ever, it disappears from this region, and is replaced by a non-

ciliated variety.

In Planorbis the distribution of cilia is more limited. It is

detectible on the siphon and margins of the thoracic cavity.

With care it is possible to lay open or to remove the roof of this

cavity in a large specimen of Lymneus, fixed by pins whilst

floating in water. The roof delicately cut away is placed between

two slips of glass and examined as an opake object. The larger

vessels present a general arrangement analogous to that for-

merly described in Heliz. A large central trunk runs obliquely

from the left anterior to the right posterior angle of the cavity

(fig. 7 d). It is the main venous channel which terminates in

the auricle (e). The lateral or secondary trunks converge upon

the line of this vessel from all sides. It is scarcely possible, in

consequence of the absence of lime from the coats of the vessels,

to trace the distribution of the ultimate channels. From glimpses

obtained here and there, it is however most probable that they

observe a parallel mode of division such as that already repre-

sented in the Helicide. The heart differs from that of Helix.

The ventricle stands at an angle on the auricle. The axes of

these two divisions meeting at the auriculo-ventricular orifice

would form nearly a right angle. The gland (f) occupies a

position to the left of the heart ; it resembles that of Heliz ;

it is an oval flocculent mass. To the right of the heart, the

rectal intestine (g) enters within the precincts of the respiratory

cavity ; it traverses the chamber along its floor, and terminates

in the siphon (a).

The breathing-chamber in the Lymneade exceeds that of all

other air-breathing Gasteropods in size relatively to that of the

body. The surface for the outlaying of the pulmonary plexus

exhibits a greater relative area. The pulmonary sac of Planorbis

is probably organized after the model of that of Lymneus. It is

formed however on too small a scale to admit of a direct and

satisfactory examination. The siphon is extensile like that of

Lymneus, and like that of the latter genus, the cavity communi-

cates externally by means of the siphon alone.

(To be continued. |

Ann & Mag Nat Hist. 5. 2N@L17. Pl

On the Marine Testacea of the Piedmontese Coast. 155

XIV.—On the Marine Testacea of the Piedmontese Coast.

| By J. Gwyn Jerrreys, Esq., F.R.S.

[With a Plate. ]

Tue conchology of the British islands: having been nearly ex-

hausted by the excellent work of the late Professor Edward

Forbes and Mr. Hanley, I had no wish to glean the small hand-

ful that remained in that field; and I therefore determined to

spend part of my “long vacation” in exploring another district,

im which my former labours and experience might prove useful

to me. My original intention was to visit Sardinia, the fauna

of which island is but little known, although its scenery and

antiquities, as well as the habits of its people, have been so

well described, and invested with so much interest, by the book

of my friend Mr. Tyndale; but this mtention was frustrated

by a regulation which I was informed on my arrival in Italy

had been recently made for putting all sea-borne travellers from

the mainland in quarantine for five days, by reason of the pre-

valence of cholera at Genoa and Leghorn. This would have

effectually marred the prosecution of my design; and I there-

fore, but with reluctance, gave it up. Another plan which I

had formed as an alternative before leaving England, was to

explore that part of the Riviera which lies between Genoa and

Portofino on the east. This I subsequently carried out, and

extended by excursions in the same direction to Sestri di Levante

and Spezia, thus including about sixty miles of sea-coast ; and

ultimately, through the assistance of the Chevalier Verany (the

well-known author of one of the most finished livres de luxe

which ever emanated from ‘a scientific pen—his work on the

Mediterranean Cuttles), I made myself acquainted with the tes-

taceous mollusca or shell-fish of the whole of the Piedmontese

sea-board, extending from 43° 40! to 44° 25! of north latitude

between Nice and Genoa, and from 7° 10! to 10° of east longi-

tude between Nice and Lerici. It is, with the exception of the

Gulf of Venice, the most northerly section of the Mediter-

ranean, and is situate in nearly the same parallel of latitude as

the lower part of the Bay of Biscay.

I believe I was the first who ever “ dredged” this part of the

Mediterranean ; and as a short account of the adventure may

be useful or interesting to other naturalists, I trust I may be

excused in prefixing it to the more scientific portion of this

communication.

To transport dredges, sieves, and other conchological appa-

ratus across the continent, and afterwards to work in a small

felucea, with the aid of Italian boatmen who never saw a dredge

156 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

or a conchologist before, and whose patois it was very difficult

to understand, is quite a different affair from having, like my

friend Mr. M‘Andrew, a well-found yacht with a crew of trained

and semi-conchological seamen ; to say nothing of the heat, dirt,

and insects which render an autumnal lodging in any town on

the Mediterranean coast anything but comfortable. Although

I do not possess one-half of the qualities which Mr. Kingsley

attributes to a model field or out-door naturalist, I was often

obliged to “rough it.” The first difficulty I had to surmount

was in “clearing” my dredges and sieves at the custom-house

on my arrival in Paris. The ordinary searchers could make

nothing out of these outlandish articles, and referred to the

superintendent, who, after further investigation and inquiry,

decided that they were “machines,” and therefore liable to duty.

After some further explanation, however, I succeeded in inducing

him to reconsider and alter his decision, and I escaped any pay-

ment. Still greater, and more frequent trouble awaited me on

my journey homewards, in getting my cargo of shells passed by

the douaniers on the Lago Maggiore, and in Switzerland and

France ; but I had no reason to complain of our own custom-

house officers.

I started from London on the 1st of August, 1855, and went

to Genoa, vid Paris, Lyons, Chambéry and Turin ; this being the

most direct and expeditious, as well as the cheapest, route. At

Genoa I succeeded in getting a boat with two men for six francs

a day, exclusive of the hire of ropes, for which I had to pay a

like sum; and this made my dredging there expensive, besides

not being able to do much work, in consequence of having to

get out of the port and offing on each occasion. The best

ground I met with there was off Foci (two or three miles east

of Genoa), in about forty fathoms water. After staying at Genoa

three or four days, I took the steamer to Spezia, where I arrived

after a boisterous voyage of sixteen hours, the distance run

being not much more than sixty miles. I there put up ata

tolerable inn, called the Hotel de Univers, where I made the

usual preliminary bargain, and got a good-sized bedroom, with

café au lait, bread and butter for breakfast, the table d’héte din-

ner, and café noir in the evening, for five lire di moneta regia

(or four shillings) per day, besides wax-lights and attendance.

The former I bought at a shop; and I paid a lire per day alto-

gether for attendance. The table d’héte was, during the first

week of my stay at the inn, tolerably well filled, ten or a dozen

guests being the average number; but the company afterwards

dwindled away to such an extent, that an officer in the Pied-

montese army (Captain Chiavarini, whose civility I shall not

easily forget) and myself were the only guests; and on one

of the Piedmontese Coast. 157

occasion I formed the whole of the company, and had a solitary

dinner. Immediately on my arrival at Spezia I engaged a boat-

man, and was so well pleased with him that I continued to

employ him during the whole of my stay there. His name was

Giovanni Solese, and I can safely recommend him to any brother

naturalist who may be inclined to follow in my footsteps. He

was a middle-aged and short but active man, with fine dark

eyes, and a most intelligent and benevolent countenance. His

“ moglie” kept a small shop, and let lodgings; and in the

winter he worked at his other trade of a blacksmith. Solese’s mate

or fellow-boatman was, at first, his brother, a taller man, who wore

large ear-rings, and was rather taciturn ; but he was succeeded by

an ancient mariner, who told me he recollected “ Napoleone 1

grande” coming to Spezia, where it is well known he intended

to form a magnificent harbour for his Mediterranean fleet. I had

not much difficulty in arranging terms with the boatman; and

I was well satisfied at having to pay only five francs per day for

the boat, men, and 100 fathoms of rope, being less than half of

what I paid at Genoa. My knowledge of the Italian language

being very rudimentary, I had-of course at first some trouble in

explaining to the men the use of a dredge and the mode of

working it, and this I did chiefly by means of signs; but, after

a day or two, my “ cacchiate,” “basta,” and “ tirate” were un-

derstood perfectly well; and the men dredged and sifted the

soil without me on the alternate days, when I was obliged to

stay indoors to examine the produce of the preceding day, as

well as to clean and arrange the specimens. It was, I can

assure my readers, very hard work, from seven or eight in the.

morning until five in the evening while dredging, and some-

times till near midnight indoors. My usual practice on dredg-

ing-days was, after working with and directing the men until

noon, to land on some part of the coast, bathe off the rocks,

and then walk back to the little town, conchologizing along the

shore on my way; the men in the meanwhile continuing to

dredge some previously explored part of the Gulf in accordance

with my directions. The modes of collecting which I adopted

were three:—Ist, by the dredge. Of these I took two with

me. The larger one was of iron, and twenty-two inches wide

at the mouth or opening, with an outer net or bag of rope-yarn

fastened to the mouth of the dredge by strips of raw hide, and

an inner and close-meshed net of twine. This dredge had a safety-

chain attached to it, to assist in disengaging the dredge in case

of its getting foul of a submarine rock. The other, or smaller

dredge, was only about a foot wide, and was made of galvanized

iron, with a flexible chain of the same material instead of the

usual arms riveted by bolts and nuts. It was made for me,

158 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

under the superintendence of Professor Robert Ball of Dublin,

and answered pretty well for experimental or deep-sea dredging,

but in my opinion it is not sufficiently capacious or heavy for

ordinary work. The net for this dredge was single, and of close-

woven twine. All the nets had been tanned, to prevent rotting.

In such distant expeditions it is of course advisable to have a

second dredge, in case of losing one. My sieves, which I took

in a case, under lock and key, were six im number, and lined

with brass wire of different degrees of fineness. The largest

measured about twelve inches in diameter. They are, I need

scarcely say, indispensable in the collection of the smaller shells.

While dredging, I always had a large tub in the boat to wash

the soil, as the sea was never sufficiently calm for that purpose,

and it obviated any risk of losing the sieves overboard. 2ndly,

from sea-weed. By this mode I obtained a great number and

variety of the littoral shells, such as Rissoa, Skenea, and Scissu-

rella, which inhabit and feed on the sea-plants and conferve

that so abundantly clothe the rocks, and are submerged at low

water, or while the sea breeze blows inshore. The plan I

adopted was, to collect in a bag or pocket-handkerchief a quantity

of the sea-weed and coralline with their roots (and while bathing

I had especial opportunities) from different depths; and on re-

turning to my room I steeped the whole in my sieves for some

time in a tub of fresh water, by which means the animals ap-

peared to be instantaneously killed, and dropped into the sieves.

These were then shaken over sheets of paper, and the contents

were exposed to the sun and dried, and afterwards carefully

sifted and separated from the stalks of sea-weed and larger

shells. The examination of the residuum, which almost entirely

consisted of minute shells, as well as the sorting and arrange-

ment of the specimens, took up a great deal of my time, but

amply rewarded me for the trouble. The 3rd, being the ordi-

nary mode used by collectors, was by picking up shells on the

sea-shore. The tides in the Mediterranean being so feeble and

irregular, there was not at Spezia a line of “spolia marina,”

such as we see on the sandy shores of Great Britain; but by

wading a little, and examining the under side of loose stones, I

found a great many live shells which I never met with in my

own country, such as the Conus Mediterraneus, and several

species of Zrochus, Patella, Columbella, Vermetus, and Pollia.

Twice I made excursions to the Island of Palmaria, at the

entrance of the Gulf. I also went to Lerici (near which, on

the beach, stands the house formerly occupied by Lord Byron

and Shelley), and San Bartolomeo on the eastern, and Porto

Venere on the western shore. The Gulf or Bay of Spezia is

about seven miles in length, and varies from three to five miles

of the Piedmontese Coast. 159

in breadth. The tide recedes (for the Mediterranean, consider-

ably) from its head or upper end, laying bare a large tract of

sand. Farther seawards is a fringe or belt of Zostera marina

(or Sea Riband), which appears to be a favourite haunt of the

Murex Brandaris and trunculus, as well as of our common sand-

eel (or anguille of the Italians), the Murena marina of ichthyo-

logists. Beyond this, to a depth of twelve fathoms, is a variety

of ground; a great part being covered with Zostera and other

kinds of sea-weed, another part being gravelly with occasional

patches of shell-sand, another bemg rocky, and the rest stony

and favourable for the growth of sponges and corals. The

sponge and coral of commerce are not, however, found on that

part of the coast. One day’s dredging I devoted to the exa-

mination of a remarkable sprig of fresh water which rises

about fifty yards from the western shore of the Gulf, and is of

such an extraordinary depth and volume as to be visible at a

considerable distance, and even dangerous to small boats. It

resembles in petto the Corrievreckan on the Scotch coast. I

made two or three hauls in the vortex and round the edges of

the spring, but got nothing except dead shells of littoral species,

which must have been washed off the shore by the tide and

waves and absorbed into the whirlpool. It is said that Napo-

leon the First had an idea of using the water of this spring for

his projected harbour. On my dredging-days I always had a

plunge into the bright and deep blue sea, either from the boat,

or from a rock after I landed; but the difference of temperature

between the atmosphere and water was too slight to make it a

refreshing or invigorating process, there being no reaction after

bathing. On one occasion this amusement had more of fright

than refreshment in it. I had swum out from the rocks at

Palmaria, leaving the men to moor their boat, and was return-

ing, when I heard loud cries of “ Guarda, guarda, signore!” I

fully expected that a white shark (which Admiral Smyth de-

scribes in his list of Mediterranean fishes as “ the most

voracious of human food of all fishes”) wished to make my

acquaintance, or see whether the flesh of a Welshman was as

good-eating as that of an Italian; and having somewhere read

or heard that they were cowardly as well as greedy, I splashed

about in the water as much as I could until I reached land, and

then I understood what the boatmen meant by their caution.

It was to look where I trod when I touched ground, because (as

I then perceived) the rocks were stuck all over with a large sea-.

egg (Echinus esculentus), which might have lamed me if the

sharp and stout spines with which they are armed had pene-

trated the sole of my foot. The men were at the time busy in

collecting a quantity of this delicacy for home consumption.

160 Mr. J.G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

I had not before tasted sea-eggs, although this large and edible

kind is not uncommon on the Devonshire coast ; but, on being

persuaded by the men to do so, I certainly did not disapprove

of their taste. The only part which is eaten are the lobes at

the side. The flavour is peculiar and indescribable ; and I can

only compare it to something between an oyster and guava jelly.

The substance is pulpy, and appears to melt in the mouth. The

fishermen are very fond of all kinds of shell-fish, cuttles, and

crustacea, the first of which they call ‘ frutti di mare.”

Outside the Gulf is deep water ; but I was disappointed in my

dredging there. For several leagues seaward, in from fifteen to

fifty fathoms, I met with nothing but tenacious mud (which

my boatmen called “fango”), with Turritella communis and a

curious variety of Calyptrea sinensis, which moulded itself and

adhered to the last whorl of the Turritella.

I found the heat much greater indoors than on the water, as

might have been expected. On the land it was seldom less than

78° Fahr. in the shade. The boat was furnished with the usual

awning, which extended over about two-thirds of it; but this I

generally had taken down on reaching the dredging-ground to

facilitate operations, and the only inconvenience I felt was from

the perpendicular rays of the sun at noonday, which my “ wide-

awake ” scarcely warded off. But in my room it was often very

uncomfortable, because I could not follow the usual custom of

closing the shutters and excluding all the sunlight, inasmuch as

1 should not in that case have had sufficient light to examine

the smaller and almost microscopic specimens; but I was always

obliged to strip myself of my coat and waistcoat. This, with

the aid of the narrow streets and tall houses, gave me some

little relief.

At Palmaria, the fishermen eke out their precarious livelihood

by extracting the “ dati di mare” (Lithodomus dactylus) from the

limestone rocks which engird that island. This is done by

means of a crowbar ; and the fisherman is often several hours in

the water, up to his middle, breaking the rock in search of the

shell-fish, which he collects in a bag tied round his waist. This

molluscous luxury fetches on the spot no less than four francs

per hundred, and is sent by the steamers to Genoa and Leghorn.

At Porto Venere, which is situate on a promontory at the

western entrance of the Gulf, I observed a great many dealers in

this article ; the shell-fish being kept in pans of sea-water in

dark cupboards. It appears to be the only foreign trade pos-

sessed by that ancient Roman town, which is so full of archways

and picturesque ruins. It must not be imagined that a natu-

ralist only uses his eyes for his own proper objects. His soul,

“steeped in beauty” by the continual contemplation of the

of the Piedmontese Coast. 16]

graceful and varied forms of Nature, is not insensible to artistic

objects, although the angular works of his fellow-man cannot for

one moment be put into competition with the “teres atque

rotundus” which is the character of natural forms.

While I was at Spezia, the land breeze or “‘ vento di terra”

regularly set in from about 2 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the sea breeze

or “ vento di mare” blew inshore during the rest of the twenty-

four hours. The first enabled mine and all the other boats and

vessels to leave the little port and get a good offing, while the

other cooled and refreshed the parched land and its inhabitants.

Sometimes a sudden squall, caused by a wind called the

“borasco,” would arise, especially under high land, and made

my short voyages not quite free from danger.

Although I am not a botanist, I could not help being struck

with the prodigality of Flora in throwing her charms around this

beautiful country. The coast was fringed with myrtle; and the

olive-groves, being unpruned, had a much less stiff appearance

than in the South of France. The grape-crop had again failed,

but the vines, still faithful to their ancient husbands, spread

their festoons and garlands as of old.

Through the kindness of my table-d’héte companion (for I

knew no one else, and did not meet with one of my countrymen

during my stay at Spezia), 1 had an opportunity of joming some

fishing-parties ; and, as it is indirectly connected with my sub-

ject, I will endeavour to describe one of them. My dredging

boat and crew (which were among the best in the place) were

selected for the occasion, and at 9 p.m. the party met on the

pier and embarked, having either a small lanthorn suspended

inside the awning, or the moon when she was up and propitious.

Our party consisted of half-a-dozen ladies and gentlemen. The

boatmen rowed slowly to the fishing-ground while the ladies

sung, and on reaching a cork buoy to which the lines were

attached (which sometimes it took a long time and a consider-

able circuit to do, owing to the small size of the object and the

difficulty of finding it), the sport commenced. There were about

150 hooks attached to lines about two feet in length, which were

fastened at intervals of about a fathom to the main line. This

was attached at each end to the buoy. The lines had been set

in the previous morning, the bait consisting of strips of fish and

small blennies. While the lines were being taken up by one of

the boatmen, the other holding water or rowing in the direction

of the main line, there was of course no little excitement, mingled

with disappointment when sometimes at every other haul a shell-

fish (Murex Brandaris or M. trunculus) was taken. These are,

like our Buccinum undatum, to which they appear to form ana-

logues, carnivorous and frequently take the fishermen’s bait.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvi. 1]

162 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

The Murex trunculus yields a rich purple dye, and being common

in the Mediterranean (although not known in higher latitudes),

is probably the kind which the ancients made use of for that

purpose, as well as for the table. The fish caught were grey

mullet and sand-eels, some of the latter weighing two or three

pounds. Supper was then prepared; and with the aid of a

brazier of charcoal, frying-pan, oil and salt, our fish were soon

cooked. A flask or two of native wine and some bread completed

the repast, and we returned to shore about midnight.

I staid at Spezia three weeks, and had intended to return by

the “ Ferugio” steamer to Genoa, and try my luck again im deep

water; but a seat in a return-carriage having been offered me

by a vetturino, I gladly availed myself of it, and enjoyed the

journey across the Apennines and along the Riviera di Levante.

The route is beautiful and more varied than by the Cornice. My

only compagnon de voyage was a Lombardese gentleman. We

passed the night at Sestri di Levante, about halfway between

Spezia and Genoa ; and, while taking a stroll on the beach after

dinner, I was so charmed with the place as well as satisfied with

the prospect of its dredging capabilities, that 1 made a bargain

at the inn and with a boatman, and determined to return thither

from Genoa, where I expected to receive letters. To give some

idea of Italian conscience, I may mention that one boatman

asked me twenty francs per day for the use of his boat with

ropes and two men, which I afterwards got for five francs, being

the same rate as I paid at Spezia! The imn (Hotel de l’Kurope)

was very superior to the one I lodged at in Spezia, and I was

“trés-content ” with the accommodation during my subsequent

stay of ten days. I was, however, disappointed with the dredg-

ing; for, although the water was deep, and the shells that were

thrown upon the beach gave great promise, the sea-bottom for

leagues, as far as Portofino to the west and the Golfo de la

Riva to the east, consisted of the same tenacious mud which I

found outside of the Gulf of Spezia, and contained scarcely any

other shell than the Turritella communis. I therefore again set

to work in washing sea-weeds and examining the sifted produce ;

and as the inn was a large one, and I was for several days the

only guest in it, 1 was enabled to work in comparative luxury by

changing my room when the sun came round, and using a vine-

clad balcony (having acircular marble table im the centre) which

faced the east and commanded a view of the Apennines. The ~

inn being built on the beach, [ had thus the sea breeze, shade,

and lovely scenery on both sides. It is certainly the most pic-

turesque spot I ever visited. The fan-shaped Padinia Pavonia

displayed its iridescent hues in the rocky pools; the tall aloé-

flower caused incessant surprise ; and the humble sand-convol-

of the Piedmontese Coast. 163

vulus made my heart throb with recollections of home and its

familiar shores.

At Spezia I had experienced great difficulty in cleaning the

larger whelks and Mediterranean Cone, in consequence of the

strength and size of the muscles which connect the soft parts of

the animal with the shell in the zoophagous Mollusks ; and, in

spite of the chloride of lime which I was obliged to use pretty

freely, my room was certainly not odoriferous in the sense I

could have wished,—to say nothing of a large and strange sort of

fly which was attracted by the decaying animal matter and bred

abundantly in the drawers of my wardrobe, which I had turned

into an extempore cabinet. But at Sestri I met with an ally

which relieved me from this nuisance: it was a small red ant,

that came in swarms from some secret hiding-place, and effectu-

ally cleaned out the shells in an incredibly short space of time.

It appeared to be a species of Atta, probably A. structor; field-

ants being known occasionally to become domestic. Their

_ tenacity of life was surprising. I wished to bring home a couple

of specimens for an entomological friend, and put them in

boiling-water for several minutes; but some time afterwards the

specimens (which [ had dried and kept in a small box with a

glass lid) were as lively as ever, and seemed not to be at all the

worse for being parboiled.

The excessive saltness of the Mediterranean appeared to me

evidenced at Sestri by the thick crust of salt-crystals which was

formed on the rocks by evaporation from the sea-spray. I never

noticed this on any part of the British coast. Lieutenant Maury,

in his ‘ Physical Geography of the Sea,’ states positively (¢ 252)

that the Mediterranean sea is not salting up; but the analysis

of Dr. Wollaston would seem to lead to an opposite conclusion.

While engaged in my work of sifting sea-weeds and picking

out the shells, I could not help reflecting on the immense loss

of animal life which is (perhaps innocuously as well as unthink-

ingly) caused by naturalists. I found on my return to England

that 1 had brought home with me upwards of 18,000 specimens

of marine Testacea, and several thousands of land and freshwater —

shells, besides sponges and zoophytes! Of a species of Rissoa,

which I have now described and figured for the first time under

the name of contorta (an analogue of our Rissoa striata), | took

between 1100 and 1200 specimens! These numbers are of

course exclusive of multitudes which were thrown away, as I

neither cared nor had time for collecting more. This wholesale

destruction of life is on first consideration startling ; but I con-

soled myself with thinking that if I had not taken and destroyed

these animals for scientific purposes, some of their natural

enemies would have made another use of them, and that if even

11*

164 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

one-half of them had been allowed to die of old age or natrual

infirmities, the “balance of power” might have been deranged,

and results which we cannot foresee might have ensued from

the redundancy of particular species. Whether the handiwork

of modern naturalists and collectors has any effect in altering

the relative proportion of species is another question. “O Lord,

how glorious are thy works: Thy thoughts are very deep !”

At Sestri I had the good fortune to meet with a fellow-coun-

tryman and brother lawyer (Mr. Thomas Smythe of the Chan-

cery Bar), whose taste for science and art made his company

very agreeable.

From Sestri I returned to Genoa and proceeded to Nice, having

received a kind invitation from the Chevalier Verany to see him.

I there went through and made notes of his collection of shells

from that and the Genoese coast. It does not appear certain

that Philippi, Risso, Payraudeau, or any other naturalist who

has written on the Mediterranean fauna, ever used a dredge

or sieve ; the mode which they probably adopted being to search

the shores and drift-sand, or to procure the shells from fisher-

men and coral-divers. These methods, and especially the last,

are obviously not well adapted to ensure the correctness of

habitats and localities. M. Verany was, I have reason to believe,

frequently deceived in the same way as our Colonel Montagu by

the credulity or ignorance of others, and in investigating the

question of geographical distribution, such errors frequently

cause wrong conclusions.

From Nice I crossed the Col di Tenda to the Lago Maggiore,

and paid a visit to a friend who had avilla on the borders of the

Lake at Suna. I was much pleased with finding, in consider-

able plenty, the curious little snail, Helix (Drepanostoma) Nauti-

liformis, and a white variety of it, on the hills in different parts

of that district, as well as in the Val d’Anzasca. It has not

been yet discovered on this side of the Alps. The animal is a

true snail, and has two pairs of horns, with eyes, or their analo-

gous organ, on the tips of the upper or longer pair. On the

shores and in the shallows of the Lake, I found a species of

Limneus or pond-snail, which appears to be the Gulnaria lacus-

tris of Leach, in company with L. auricularius, and this mduces

me to believe that they are different species. Several kinds of

Pupa and other land-shells, which had been previously noticed

only on the hills which environ the neighbouring Lakes of Como

and Lugano, also occurred to me. Collecting in these woods

was not unattended with some risk, for they swarmed with dif-

ferent kinds of snakes. I more than once found, in searching

the dead leaves and moss, that my hand was within an uncom-

fortable distance of a viper. In the Canero woods I one day

of the Piedmontese Coast. 165

met with a large serpent, which lay stretched out at full length

on a bed of fallen leaves. I at first thought it was dead, and

raised it up by the middle with my stick; but the creature was

only basking, and glided away. The peasants said this kind

was “molto cattivo;” but I believe it was only the common

snake of an extraordinary size. They also spoke of a small, but

very venomous adder, not much thicker or larger than a man’s

finger, which would dart at, and kill, a dog. In a ravine behind

Genoa, where I had been searching for Paludine in a brook, I

saw an animal in the water under a large stone, which I at first

took for an eel; but while I was speculating on the singularity

of finding an eel in that country, and poking the creature with

my stick, it climbed up a rock and escaped into a deep pool,

hissing violently and showing a blunt and villainous head. Dr.

Gray tells me it must have been a species of Tropidonotus, and

that none of the freshwater snakes are poisonous. However, I

never got bitten ; and I generally took with me a small vial of

sal-ammoniae as a remedy against such a contingency. I also

met several times with the disgusting, but harmless, striped

salamanders.

I here received intelligence of the death of my lamented and

venerable friend, Monsieur de Charpentier, whose loss (although

in the fulness of his years and honours) science has so sensibly

felt. I had hoped to pass a few days with him before I returned

to England.

From the Lago Maggiore I crossed the Alps by the St. Gothard

Pass, and returned home through Lucerne, Basle, Strasbourg,

and Paris. Londinum “ longz finis charteeque vizequet.”

I will now proceed with the more scientific part of my memoir.

The extent of the geographical distribution of marine animals,

as well as the laws which regulate that distribution, seem to be

at present involved in such obscurity, that, although I may not

be able to throw much light on the subject, any additional facts

which I can adduce will, I am confident, be useful in assisting

others in time to solve this difficult and interesting problem.

In considering this subject it is necessary, in the first place,

to say a few words as to the definition and limits of what natu-

ralists call ‘ species.”

The question whether a species exists in the scale of nature,

or not, has been much discussed. Most naturalists maintain

the affirmative. In the earlier stage of natural history it seems

indeed almost absurd or supererogatory to doubt the existence

of species ; the number of objects presented for examination and

comparison being few, and easily distinguishable by certain defi-

nite characters. As science however advances, the number of

166 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

objects increases, and greater difficulty consequently arises in

separating and distinguishing them from each other; the line

of demarcation becomes more and more faint, and the naturalist

is tempted, not only to distrust the distinctiveness of certain

characters which he had before regarded as sheet-anchors, but even

to doubt the possibility of establishing any characters at all. This

phase is ultimately succeeded by more or less critical views,

dependent on the idiosyncrasy of the naturalist, as the sphere of

his observation is extended ; and he is then, by a sort of innate

facility, able to discriminate species from varieties, and to assign

to each its proper and relative position. He finds that the

characters of distinctiveness vary in the different groups or

genera and species; that differences of a more or less important

nature, such as form, size, colour, and appendages, arise from

locality, food; and other causes, and only constitute varieties ;

and that there is an inherent tendency of all species to adapt

themselves to certain changes of condition, and to undergo

transformations of frequently the most Protean kind. The dis-

crimination of species and varieties is one of the most important

duties of the naturalist, because, without it, the study of nature

would lead to no result, and there would be no precise data from

which any conclusions could be safely drawn. The facility or

habit of such discrimination depends on both synthesis and

analysis, and is only attainable by practice and a large sphere of

observation. Hence, local naturalists do not in general possess

this quality ; the usual form of their error being to split species,

and attach too much importance to minute differences. The

necessity of rigorous discrimination of species and varieties

cannot, indeed, be too much or too frequently insisted on.

Messrs. Hooker and Thompson, in the introductory essay to their

recent and valuable work entitled ‘Flora Indica,’ which abounds

in philosophical views and remarks as to species and varieties

of plants, say with justice that “the discovery of a form uniting

two others previously thought distinct, is much more important

than that of a totally new species, inasmuch as the correction

of an error is a greater boon to science than a step in advance.”

It is unquestionable that the soft and hard parts of the

Mollusca are of relative and nearly equal value; the former

for generic, and the latter for specific distinction. Both must

be studied in relation to each other; and it seems to me most

illiberal in the malacologist or conchologist to ignore or depreciate

the labours of his brother-naturalist. Philippi, in the second

volume of his ‘ Fauna Molluscorum utriusque Siciliz,’ after

statimg that Bivona had seen the animals of several species of

Rissoa, and that he had himself figured the animals of other

species, concludes with this remark, “‘ He species omnes simii-

of the Piedmontese Coast. 167

timis animalibus incoluntur.” The same remark will apply to

the “animals” or soft parts of the genus Helz and many others.

Yet the “shells” or hard parts of the Mollusca are as readily

distinguishable from each other, and form as good criteria of

specific distinction, as the shell of a tortoise, a crab, or an insect,

without reference to the other parts of the animal. Were it not

for this test, fossil shells could no longer be regarded by the

geologist as “medals of creation,’ and the important deduc-

tions which have been founded on them would be nugatory and

valueless. :

With respect to the separation and discrimination of “ va-

rieties,” by which term naturalists understand a modification of

the size, colour, and appendages of species, and sometimes even

of their form, I have generally observed that when a difference

of form exists between individuals evidently belonging to the

same genus, in the same locality, and having the same food and

other conditions of habitability, it is probable that such indivi-

duals belong to different species; but that when such difference

exists between individuals belonging to the same genus, which

inhabit distinct and separate localities, they ought to be regarded

only as varieties. 'This is by no means however a certain rule,

and it depends on the habits of the animal, the relative value of

characters which distinguish each genus, and many other cir-

cumstances.

Now, putting aside the doubts which may be entertained by

naturalists as to the distinction of certain species, we have

positive data for ascertaining to some extent the distribution of

British and Mediterranean Testacea, in the work of Philippi on

the Mollusca of Naples and Sicily, and that of Forbes and

Hanley on the Mollusca of Great Britain and Ireland. The

descriptions and figures in each of these works are most accu-

rate ; and, whether all or many of the objects which have been

so described and figured are true species or merely varieties, the

same result is obtained, namely a comparison of the Testacea in

,each of these districts.

‘My first impression on examining the Testacea of the Gulf of

Genoa was, that the fauna of the Mediterranean was mixed, and

not peculiar to that sea. I found in it a large proportion of

species which were familiar to me as British, and others having a

more southern and even tropical habitat. This led me to quire

whether the division into certain definite areas, which the late

Professor Forbes distinguished by the names of Boreal, Celtic,

Lusitanian, and Mediterranean, was well founded ; and the con-

clusion I have arrived at is, that such a division is arbitrary and

irreconcilable with facts.

In Professor Forbes’s Report (in 1850) to the British Asso-

168 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

ciation for the Advancement of Science, on British Marine

Zoology, as well as in his introduction to the ‘ British Mollusea,’

he has enumerated certain species which he called “ peculiarly

Northern ” or “ Boreal;”’ others which, according to his account,

show the more powerful influence of the Scandinavian element

in our fauna, and which he assigned to a “Celtic” type; some

which he designated as “ peculiarly British,” and again others

that he found to occur in our seas only in a few isolated patches

which he regarded as “Glacial” outliers. Now, of the first-

mentioned or “ Boreal ” species, I found several in the Medi-

terranean (viz. Chiton Hanleyi, Mangelia brachystoma, and Neera

costellata), another (Mangelia Leufroyi or Boothii) has been

described and figured by Philippi as a recent Sicilian species,

and a fifth (Scissurella crispata) I believe to be identical with the

Scissurella decussata of D’Orbigny. Of the second division or

“ Celtic ” species, I met with Tapes pullastra (of which the Venus |

geographica of continental authors is a variety), Acmea virginea,

Lucina borealis or radula, and Lucina flexuosa; and Philippi

has given Trochus millegranus and Eulimella Macandrei (his

Melania Scille) as Sicilian species. Of the third division, or

“peculiarly British ” species, several (as Jeffreysia diaphana,

and the so-called Skene, besides Argiope cistellula of Searles

Wood, which I think cannot be distinguished from the Orthis

Neapolitana of Scacchi) also occurred to me in the Mediterra-

nean ; and of the last division or “ Glacial ” species I detected

three species (namely Nucula decussata, Neera cuspidata, and

Cardium Suecicum or minimum), and Philippi has given another

(Arca raridentata or Pectunculoides) as Sicilian. 1 have more-

over good reason to believe, judging from the very small extent

of ground which has been as yet examined, that these exceptional

species may be considerably added to when the wide extent of

the Mediterranean Sea and its coasts has been more explored. I

have myself been enabled to add to the Mediterranean fauna, in

the short space of time which I devoted to this research, more

than thirty species which had been hitherto considered as

restricted to the British seas. It is obvious that negative evi-

dence of the occurrence of any species (and especially of those

which inhabit deep water) in any given area of sea is inadmis-

sible ; and naturalists do not differ from logicians or lawyers in

rejecting such evidence. :

It may indeed be argued in favour of the division into special

or limited areas, that the species I have named, have, in the

course of time, migrated or been diffused from the birthplace of

their primeval ancestors, or from what is now called the centre

or focus of their creation, and that this migration or diffusion

has been facilitated by causes now in operation, and especially

of the Piedmontese Coast. 169

by oceanic currents. But it must be borne in mind that the

great Gulf-stream, which is the only current that could be

effectual for such a purpose, sets from south to north, and

that the indraught current from the Atlantic into the Mediterra-

nean, through the Straits of Gibraltar, sets from west to east.

Major Rennell was indeed of opinion (according to Admiral

Smyth, whose excellent and elaborate work on the Mediterra-

nean I have had frequent occasion to consult), that there is a

general tendency of the Atlantic waters between 30° and 45° of

north latitude, and from 100 to 180 leagues off the land, to

move towards the Strait of Gibraltar, at a rate of not less than

from fourteen to seventeen miles in twenty-four hours ; although

this opinion, the Admiral says, ought to be received cum grano

salis, especially if depth be admitted as a condition of these

400,000 square miles. However, granting that this may to

some (I am not prepared to say to what, or any) extent account

for the migration or diffusion of species from the Lusitanian

coast to the British or Mediterranean seas, it cannot be con-

sidered to operate in the opposite direction; and I therefore do

not see how any species which we may for the present call, with

Prof. Forbes, “ peculiarly Northern ” or “ Boreal” (such as Chi-

ton Hanleyi), or “ Celtic” (as Lucina flexuosa), or “ peculiarly Bri-

tish” (as Jeffreysia diaphana),or “Glacial” (as Cardium Suecicum),

can find their way into the Mediterranean, while the Gulf-stream

continues its present course. We will even assume that there is

a counter-current (although our present hydrographical know-

ledge does not warrant the assumption) from the north to the

south,—I would ask, how is it possible that species, which, like

Chiton Hanley, inhabit the coralline zone, can be transported

across the Atlantic to such a distance? The stationary habits

of the adult animal, which passes its life adhering to stones

and shells, forbid the idea of its voluntary migration. In its

embryo state this Chiton is doubtless (as Mr. Clark has

shown in the ‘ Annals’ for December 1855 with respect to its

congener, Chiton cinereus), like many other Mollusca, free, and

capable of swimming about with considerable activity ; but this

stage of growth only lasts three or four days, when the meta-

morphosis or final development takes place, and the creature,

having “ sown its wild oats,” settles down for the rest of its

life, and only crawls about for a short distance in search of’ food.

The same remark occurs to me with respect to the littoral

species, such as Skenea planorbis (a well-known inhabitant. of

Great Britain, and now for the first time noticed by me as

Mediterranean), which would appear to be physically incapable

of crossing the stream of the English Channel in order to diffuse

itself along the western coasts of Europe and gain ingress into

170 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

the Mediterranean. How can this, or any other Uittoral species,

many of which are common to the British and Mediterranean

seas, find its way from one to the other? Voluntary locomotion,

it is tolerably clear to all who know the proverbial slowness of

pace at which a snail, whether land or marine, can travel, would

require an immense time to complete the journey, even if the

animal knew or could find its way. Bivalves, being destitute of

a head or eyes, would of course labour under a greater disadvan-

tage; and besides, their motion is never progressive, but is

effected by eccentric and irregular leaps. The only other modes,

therefore, in which this great change of position could be

accounted for, are, either that the shell-fish may be torn from

their submarine abodes, and carried perforce by the current, or

that they may be in their embryonic state wafted to the place of

destination. The former mode would require it to be taken for

granted that there exist no rocks or other obstacles in the course

of their passage, that the current reaches the sea-bottom (which

is more than doubtful), and that the shell-fish in question live

within the range of the current. The other supposition can

only apply to the Bivalves, Brachiopods and Chitons, whose

embryo or fry are free and tolerably active swimmers, under-

going during that period of their existence a singular metamor-

phosis, as I have myself witnessed in the case of the common

oyster. But as the fry are developed and attain their normal

state within afew days at the furthest after being excluded from

their parent, and then become fixtures for life, or nearly so in the

case of the Chitons, it is hardly possible that the time allotted

to the first stage of their existence would enable them to traverse

such a vast distance. If we reject Forbes’s proposition that the

species I have before mentioned are Boreal, Celtic, British, or

Glacial, and consider them as Mediterranean, the same difficulty

arises ; and we shall not find the mode of transit from the

Mediterranean to the British seas more easy or probable when

we reflect that the only ingress into or egress out of the Medi-

terranean is through the Straits of Gibraltar, and especially

if the only current which flows through that passage is an

indraught, and sets from, instead of ¢o, the Atlantic. The

popular idea of a counter- or under-current from the Mediter-

ranean outwards is (to say the least) not proved; and I do not

think Lieutenant Maury, in his recent and excellent treatise on

the physical geography of the sea, has made out a strong case

in its support, in opposition to the opinions of Admiral Smyth

and Sir Charles Lyell. If there is such an outer- or under-current

from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, shell-fish might, it is

true, be transported from the former to the latter; but they

would in that case be, metaphorically as well as literally, “ at

of the Piedmontese Coast. 171

sea,” because, according to Maury’s charts and account of the

Gulf-stream, the course northward of that great current lies far

beyond the range of the Mediterranean outlet into the Atlantic.

If there is no such outer current, shell-fish leaving the British

shores would, after crossing the English or Irish Channel, have

to traverse, by a circuitous route, the western coasts of Europe

by means of the great Arctic current, which is supposed to pass

under the Gulf-stream, before they could reach and enter the

Strait of Gibraltar. Hither of these suppositions therefore, except

perhaps with respect to pelagic or floating shell-fish (such as the

Pteropods and Janthina communis), does not appear to me well

founded, and still less probable in the case of shell-fish which

permanently adhere to rocks, or their fry, for the reasons I have

before given. I therefore cannot help thinking that the migra-

tion or diffusion, beyond a limited range, of marine shell-fish by

means of oceanic currents now in operation is physically impro-

bable, and that it is unnecessary thus to account for the present

distribution of these animals. :

For the same reasons, I am not disposed to admit the theory

which has been propounded and maintained by so many natu-

ralists, that certain areas now exist, containing species peculiar to

each, and having each its own separate nucleus or centre from

which these species have radiated.

In the last edition of Lyell’s ‘ Principles of Geology’ is a map

showing the extent of land in Europe which can be proved to

have been covered by the sea during the earlier part of the ter-

tiary, or the eocene, period; and a wide opening from the Bay

of Biscay to the Gulf of Lyons, in the upper part of the Me-

diterranean, appears to have formerly connected that sea with

the North Atlantic. It has been also proved by Brocchi, Phi-

lippi, and Searles Wood, that a large proportion of shells now

living in the Mediterranean are identical with fossil species from

the tertiary strata, both in Italy and Great Britain, and vice

versd; and it is not too much to assume, that in former zeras

marine currents existed by which animals might have been trans-

ported from one to the other of those districts, or rather that

they were then diffused throughout a larger area than at pre-

sent. Whether the original birthplace or nucleus of these shell-

fish was in that part of the ocean which is now called the North

Atlantic, or in the Mediterranean, is immaterial ;—all I contend

is, that the areas of geographical distribution, as proposed by

the late Professor Forbes and others, are too much restricted to

existing circumstances, and that they ought rather to be referred

to a prior state of things. As yet, we want infinitely more in-

formation and data as regards the distribution of recent and

fossil shells, as well as a more accurate discrimination of species

172 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

and varieties, and a knowledge of the conditions which influence

the transition of one to the other, before any satisfactory theory

can be established. Whether the term “species” used by na-

turalists to denote distinct assemblages of animals and plants

which have certain characters in common, has indeed any

foundation in nature, is another question; but it is extremely

difficult, if not impossible, to say, with any degree of certainty,

what modification of form (to an extent which we should now

consider amounts to specific distinction) may have taken place

in any race of animals, and particularly in the Invertebrata,

during the lapse of so many thousands or myriads of years as

have been assigned to the tertiary period. We know the great

change which is continually occurrmg in the form of recent

species caused by a difference of station or habitat, food, and

many other conditions, and to which we give the name of

“variety.” How far then is it right to pronounce, without

doubt or hesitation, that any of the tertiary species differ from

living analogues; taking into account not only the gradual mo-

dification of form which I have before adverted to as probable,

but also the absence of numerous links both in fossil and recent

species? Jam however satisfied that the proposed distribution .

of the European Mollusca into any definite provinces or regions

is not warranted by a mature consideration of those geological

and conchological data which we at present possess.

It is by no means certain that any definite provinces or re-

gions originally had any existence. We know that some species

of shell-fish are what is termed “ cosmopolite,” and are found

in every part of the world at various depths of the sea. The

most familiar instance that occurs to me is Saxicava rugosa,

which, according to Sir Charles Lyell (Principles of Geology,

p. 650), “is spread over all the North Polar seas, and ranges

in one direction through Europe to Senegal, occurring on both

sides of the Atlantic; while in another it finds its way into the

North Pacific, and thence to the Indian Ocean. Nor do its

migrations cease till it reaches the Australian seas.” This

species of shell-fish is found in the sublittoral and laminarian

zones (between low-water mark and fifteen fathoms, or there-

abouts), but never in deep water, on the coast, perforating sub-

marine limestone rocks. Now, although the fry of the Saxicava

is undoubtedly free during the short period of its first stage,

before the shell is developed and its boring powers brought into

action, and it can therefore be wafted some distance, I am not

aware that any marine current or stream sets from one side of

the Atlantic to the other, nor that there exists any intermediate

station, fitted for the reception and habitat of the animal, where

it could settle and propagate a succession of emigrants to con-

of the Piedmontese Coast. 173

tinue the route. Even at the greatest rate assigned by Sir

Charles Lyell to oceanic currents (three miles per hour), it would

take thirty or forty days for the fry of a Saxicava to traverse

the Atlantic; and it is not reasonable to suppose that the de-

velopment of the animal would be postponed for such an extra-

ordinary period, or its vitality suspended, for the purpose of its

migration,—to say nothing of the innumerable obstacles that

would occur in its passage, from cross currents, being snapped

up by other animals for food, or a subsidence into some deeper

part of the sea or abyss from which it could not extricate itself.

It seems to me more probable that the species in question was

at its first creation diffused over the whole of the ocean, and

that the area of its habitability was afterwards limited by some

accidental circumstance, such as a deposit of mud, which choked

and exterminated the animal in the intermediate districts.

Something like this I have noticed on the coast of South Wales,

in the case of a once extensive colony of Pholas dactylus having

become extinct within the memory of living man, in consequence

of the bed of peat which they had inhabited having silted up

and been covered with sand and mud by the action of the tides.

Changes of climate, and many other conditions on which the

habitability of such animals depends, may have contributed to

confine the original area for other species within narrower limits ;

and it is therefore not necessary to resort to the theory of mi-

gration, or diffusion of species from one province to another, in

order to account for their present distribution.

Mr. Searles Wood, in his account of a British Crag shell

(Pyrula reticulata), which he considers to be identical with a

species now inhabiting the Indian Ocean, is of opinion that

certain shell-fish which formerly lived together, but are now

found to inhabit. different climates, have since retired or mi-

grated into those parts of the world, the one north and the

other south, where the temperature of both is very different

from that which must have been favourable to their existence at

the period anterior to the formation of the Coralline Crag, and

that they have therefore in some degree changed their nature

in assimilating such extremes to their present existence ; and he

assumes that their dispersion was effected by oceanic currents

in opposite directions. He, in fact, attributes the changes

which have taken place in geographical distribution, not to any

alteration in the temperature, but to an alteration in the habits

of the animals themselves, caused by gradual migration. But

I cannot help recalling to my mind the apophthegm of the old

poet, which appears applicable as well to the nature of inferior

animals as to that of mankind: “ Coelum, non animum, mutant

qui trans mare currunt.” I consider it to be far more likely

174 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

that a uniform temperature once prevailed, accompanied by a

general diffusion of all animals over the whole world; and that

owing to successive changes of temperature, induced by the

formation or elevation of land in some parts and its submersion

under the sea or depression in others, certain species became

extinct, or survived, as the climates became colder or warmer

in different parts of the globe. Many species (as Dentalium

dentalis) occur in the tertiary strata of Great Britain, which,

apparently, have ceased to live in our seas, although they

still inhabit the Mediterranean; and others (as Mya trun-

cata) are recorded by Philippi as occurring in the same form-

ation in Sicily, which in like manner have apparently ceased

to exist in the Mediterranean, although they still inhabit the

British and North Atlantic seas. In each of these cases, the

species are conspicuous and abundant in their respective locali-

ties. The upper and lower tertiary formations, both in Great

Britain and Sicily, as well as in the Subapennine district, con-

tain also many species which now inhabit only arctic or tropical

climates; and they are found associated with other species

which now live in the British and Mediterranean seas. Besides

the vast extent of coast and ground in these seas, which has

never yet been explored by naturalists, as well as of the tertiary

strata in Italy and the North of Europe (where a few scratch-

ings here and there, rather than a systematic examination of

their contents, are all that appears to have been hitherto at-

tempted), it must not be forgotten that the whole of the North

Atlantic and Mediterranean seas, together with the area of dry

land in which the tertiary formations in Europe have been

traced, form after all but a small portion of our globe.

The above remarks must be understood to apply rather to

the extent and mode of geographical distribution than to the

existence of special faunas. I do not deny that certain species

may, and probably do, occur only in limited areas. The ques-

tion as to the distribution of land animals and plants seems to

me to involve other considerations than those which refer to

marine animals, namely the influence of climate and winds, as

well as (in the case of plants) the dormant vitality of seeds.

Too much care cannot be taken in the formation of materials

for extending our knowledge of geographical distribution. The

most accurate discrimination of species and varieties is indis-

pensable; as well as the collection of specimens ab ovo, and

from as many localities as possible. The young of the acepha-

lous Mollusks, or Bivalves, always exhibit, after undergoing their

metamorphosis, the peculiar character of the species to which

they belong; but in the Gasteropoda, or Univalves, the case is

often different, owing to the first whorls of their shell being

of the Piedmontese Coast. 175

(as in the Cowries) covered by the mantle of the animal, and the

consequent deposition of shelly matter, so as to conceal the

spire, the truncation or decollation of those whorls (as in Caecum),

or the altered position of the branchial opening and subsequent

loss of the spire, as in Mssurella.

The present distribution and existence of the same species of

marine Testacea, in many and widely separated parts of the

globe, may be in some measure accounted for by the equable

temperature which is usually maintained in the sea, independent

of climate, and by the want of solar influence beyond a limited

depth ; water being, as is well known, one of the worst con-

ductors of heat. Admiral Smyth states that there is a sensible

diminution between the surface-temperature and that obtained

at great depths in the Mediterranean, and which he roundly

estimates at 1° for every twenty fathoms in depth, except where

the agency of submarine currents may be at work, but that

below 180 fathoms to the greatest depths which he had ex-

plored, the temperature varied but little from 42° or 48° of the

Fahrenheit scale ; and he adds, that a comparison of his eight-

fathom observations on the mean temperature of that sea, led

him to consider that the Mediterranean waters average about

3° 5! of Fahrenheit more heat than that of the western part of

the Atlantic Ocean.

The greatest specific variation between the British Testacea

and those of the Mediterranean occurs, as might have been

expected from the difference of latitude and temperature, in

the denizens of the littoral and laminarian zones ; particularly

in the genera Mytilus, Chiton, Patella, Trochus, Buccinum,

Fusus, and Murex. In each of those zones certain species

seem to be represented by their analogues; as Mytilus edulis, .

Chiton cinereus, Patella vulgata, Trochus lineatus, Buccinum’’

undatum and Fusus Islandicus of our own coasts are respectively

replaced in the Mediterranean by Mytilus minimus, Chiton Sicu-

lus, Patella scutellaris, Trochus fragarioides, Murex trunculus and

Fusus corneus.

It is remarkable that examples of the same species from the

Mediterranean are smaller than those found in the British seas.

Tellina balaustina, Jeffreysia diaphana and Rissoa pulcherrima

are instances of this.

A much greater range of variation is found to exist in land

than in marine animals, owing to the more uniform temperature

of the sea and its coasts. According to Mr. MacAndrew, each

of the islands which form the groups of the Canaries, Madeiras,

and Azores, possesses some species peculiar to itself; and ever

British conchologist is aware of the very limited habitat which

some land and freshwater shells, as Helix Pisana, Assiminia

176 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

Grayana, Limneus involutus, and others, have in our own coun-

try, and how local and apparently capricious appears to be the

distribution of many species.

The speculation as to the successive and recent creation of

species appears to me very questionable, and more abstruse than

that of geographical distribution ; because we do not know the

extent of modification to which species originally created have

been subject, nor whether all existing species, or the remains of

former species, have been either discovered or destroyed. Hum-

boldt has characterized this subject as one of the mysteries

which natural science cannot reach.

Although considerable pains have of late years been taken to

reconcile the labours of British and Continental naturalists,

much yet remains to be done. The former want of intercourse

between naturalists of our own and other countries, arising

from continual warfare, national jealousies, and the difficulties

of travelling and communication, has unfortunately caused

great confusion in the nomenclature of science ; and no pains

ought to be spared in removing it as much as possible, giving

due credit to authors of every nation according to the priority

of publication. To give some idea of the multiplicity of names

which have been given by different authors to the same species

of Testacea, I may mention that for our common cockle (the

Cardium edule of Linneeus) and its varieties, no less than sixteen,

and for our oyster fourteen different names have been assigned

by British, French, Italian, and German conchologists ; and for

another shell (Bullea scabra of Miiller), six generic and seven

specific names have been given by British, Danish, Norwegian,

Italian, and American writers !

_ The opportunities which have thus occurred to me of a care-

ful examination and comparison of an extensive series of Medi-

terranean species, and especially those of the more difficult

genera (such as Rissoa and Odostomia), have led me to form

what I believe to be more just conclusions with respect to the

same species in Great Britain; and the result will be shown in

the subjoined list. That list contains all the species which I

found on the Piedmontese coast, as well as some which I ob-

served in M. Verany’s collection from Nice and Genoa. I have

added a few remarks as to some of these, and the descriptions

of ten new species. ‘The names of recorded species are those

of Philippi and the authors of the ‘ British Mollusca,’ except in

a very few cases where it appeared to me necessary to adopt or

notice those given by earlier discoverers. Those species which

were not found by myself, but were communicated by M. Verany,

or noticed by me in his collection, are distinguished by italics.

I had no means at the time of making out the synonymy

of the Piedmontese Coast. 177

for the latter species, and I therefore give the names chiefly

on his authority. _I have adopted the arrangement of the

‘British Mollusca,’ as preferable to that of Philippi, who used

Lamarck’s system._ The accompanying plate contains figures,

from Mr. James de Carle Sowerby’s well-known and accurate

pencil, of my new species, and of Bulla ovulata, which was

indifferently figured by Brocchi. I have not thought it neces-

sary to particularize the localities, except in a few instances of

rare or peculiar species.

Any attempt to tabulate, with precision, the per-centage or

proportion of Mediterranean species, in comparison with those

of Great Britain, would be unsatisfactory, as it must necessarily

fluctuate with the continual discovery of new species. The

general (although confessedly imperfect) result at which I have

arrived from my own investigation and reference to other lists

is, that out of about 500 species of British marine Testacea,

one half are identical with those of the Mediterranean, and that

we possess consequently about 250 species which have not yet

been described or indicated as Mediterranean. The species of

Mediterranean Testacea probably number 850, out of which

about 600 have not yet been described or noticed as British.

The works which I have consulted in the preparation of this

memoir, and especially with regard to the question of geogra-

phical distribution, are,—Brocchi’s ‘ Conchiologia Fossile Sub-

apennina, Philippi’s ‘Fauna Molluscorum utriusque Siciliz,’

Forbes and Hanley’s ‘British Mollusca,’ Smith’s ‘Mediterranean,’

Searles Wood’s ‘Crag Mollusca’ in the Palzontographical So-

ciety’s publications, Lyell’s ‘Principles of Geology’ (ninth

edition), Maury’s ‘ Physical Geography of the Sea,’ Hooker and

Thompson’s ‘ Flora Indica,’ Risso’s ‘ Fauna of Southern Europe,’

Payraudeau’s ‘ Mollusca of Corsica,’ D’Orbigny’s Contribu-

tion to Barker-Webb and Berthelot’s ‘ Natural History of the

Canaries,’ Professor Edward Forbes’s Reports to the British

Association, and Mr. MacAndrew’s Pamphlet on the Geogra-

phical Distribution of the Testaceous Mollusca in the North

Atlantic and neighbouring seas (1854), besides many other

scattered contributions to natural history.

Acephala Lamellibranchiata, or Bivalves.

Septaria Mediterranea, Lam. Nice.

Teredina personata, Lam. Nice ! :

Teredo navalis, in ships’ bottoms. Nice.

Saxicava Arctica, Phil. & Brit. Moll.

Venerupis Irus, Ph. & B. M.

Corbula nucleus, Ph. § B. M.—C. rosea (Brown, 1827), B. M.

(C. Mediterranea, Costa, 1829, Ph.). Besides the localities indicated

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 12

178 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

on my authority in the ‘ British Mollusca,’ I have taken this species

on the west coast of Scotland in an immature state; and the Me-

diterranean specimens confirm my idea of its distinctness, and identity

with Costa’s species

Spheenia Binghami, B. M.

Neeera costellata, B. M. (non Corbula costellata, Ph.).—N. cus-

pidata, B. M. (Corbula cuspidata, Ph.).

Pandora obtusa, Ph. §& B. M.

Thracia phaseolina, Ph. §& B. M.

Solen siliqua, Ph. §& B. M.

Solenomya Mediterranea, Ph.

Solecurtus strigilatus, Ph.—S. candidus, Ph. &§ B. M.—S. coare-

tatus, B. M. (Solen coarctatus, Ph.).

Diodonta fragilis, B. M. (Tellina fragilis, Ph., Petricola ochro-

leuca, Lam.). :

Tellina balaustina, Ph. & B. M.—T. pulchella, Ph.—T. donacina

and varieties, Ph. & B. M.—T. serrata, Ph.—T. incarnata, B. M.

(T. planata, Ph.).—T. Coste, Ph.—T. fabula, Ph. & B. M.—T’.

tenuis, Ph. & B. M.

Syndosmya alba, B. M. (Erycina Renieri, PA.) ; var. (Er. similis,

Ph.).—S. prismatica, B. M. (Er. angulosa, Ph.).

Scrobicularia piperata, Ph. & B. M.—S. Cottardi, Ph.

Donax anatinus, B. M. (D. semistriatus, Ph.).—D. trunculus,

Ph. §& B. M.

Mesodesma Donacilla, Ph.

Mactra inflata, Ph.—M. stultorum and var. cinerea, Ph. & B. M.

—M. subtruncata, B. M. (M. triangula, Ph.).

Tapes aurea, B. M. (Venus aurea, Ph.).—T. leeta (Venus leeta,

Ph.) and variety.—T. decussata, B. M. (V. decussata, Ph.).—T.

pullastra, B. M., and var. (Venus geographica, Ph.).—T. virginea,

B. M. (V. Beudanti, Ph.).

Cytherea Chione, Ph. & B. M.—C. Venetiana, Ph.

Venus casina, Ph. & B. M.—’V. ovata, B.{M. (V. radiata, Ph.).—

V. striatula, B. M.; and variety (V. gallina, Ph.).—V. verrucosa,

Ph. & B. M.

Artemis exoleta, B. M. (Cyth. exoleta, Ph.).—A. lincta, B. M.

(C. lincta, Ph.).

Lucinopsis undata, B. M. (Venus undata, Ph.).

Circe minima, B. M. (Cyth. apicalis, Ph.).

Astarte triangularis, B. M. (A. levigata, PA.).

Isocardia Cor, Ph. & B. M.

Cardium aculeatum, Ph. & B. M.; young (C. ciliare, Ph.).—C.

echinatum, Ph. & B. M.; young (C. Deshayesii, Ph.).—C. erina-

ceum, Ph.—C. tuberculatum, Ph.—C. edule, B. M., var. (C. rus-

ticum, Ph.).—C. pygmeeum, B. M. (C. exiguum, Ph.). Although

there can be no doubt of the identity of these two species, it is rather

singular that Philippi does not notice the interstitial punctures, but

merely says, “ interstitia leviter transversim striata.’”’—C. minimum,

Ph. (C. Suecicum, B. M.). Philippi’s name has the decided priority

and is more appropriate than the local name of Lovén.-—C. papil-

of the Piedmontese Coast. 3 179

losum, (Poli) Ph. (C. nodosum, (Turton) B.M.). Poli’s name has

much the priority of Turton’s. The Mediterranean specimens are

coloured, but appear to differ in no other respect from our own.—

C. punctatum; (and variety (C.scabrum), PA.).—C. fasciatum, B.M.

(C. parvum, Ph.).—C. Norvegicum, B. M. (C. suleatum, Ph.).

Cardita sulcata, Ph.—C. aculeata, Ph.—C. trapezia, Ph.—C. ca-

lyculata, Ph.

Lucina Pecten, Ph.—L. radula, Ph. (L. Borealis, B. M.).—L.

flexuosa, B. M. (Ptychina biplicata, PA.).—L. leucoma, B. M. (L.

lactea, Ph.).—L. spinifera, Ph. & B. M.

Montacuta bidentata, B. M.

Turtonia minuta, B. M.

Kellia suborbicularis, B. M. (Bornia inflata, Ph.).—K. nitida,

B. M.—K. rubra, B. M. (B. seminulum, PA.).

Galeomma Turtoni, Ph. & B. M.

Chama Gryphoides, Ph.

Mytilus Gallo-provincialis, Ph. Nice: on ships’ bottoms only.—

M. minimus, PA.

Modiola barbata, Ph. §& B. M.—M. tulipa, Ph. & B. M.—M.

lithophaga, Ph. (Lithodomus lithophagus, Lam.).

Crenella marmorata, B. M. (Mod. discrepans, Ph.).—C. discors,

B. M.—C. costulata, B. M. (Mod. costulata, Ph.).

Nucula nucleus, B. M. (N. margaritacea, Ph.).—N. nitida, B. M.

—N. radiata, B. M. Nice.—N. decussata, B. M. (N. Polii et sul-

cata, Ph.).

Leda (Nucula) emarginata, Ph.—L. (Nucula) minuta, Ph.

Pectunculus pilosus, Ph. & B. M., and varieties.—P. violascens,

Ph.

Arca Now, Ph.—d. tetragona, B. M. (A. navicularis, Ph.).—A.

barbata, Ph. § B. M.—A. diluvii, Ph.—A. lactea, Ph. & B. M.

Avicula Tarentina, Ph. & B. M.

Pinna pectinata, Ph. & B. M., and variety (P. ingens, auct.).—

P. muricata, Ph.

Lima inflata, Ph.—L. squamosa, Ph.

Pecten varius, Ph. §& B. M.—P. pusio, Ph. § B. M.—P. Teste,

Ph.—P. polymorphus, Ph.— P. Danicus, B. M. (P. adspersus, Ph.).

—P. hyalinus, Ph., and variety.—P. maximus, Ph. & B. M.—P.

Jacobzeus, Ph.—P. opercularis, Ph. & B. M.—P. sulcatus, Ph.

Spondylus Geederopus, PA.

Ostrea plicatula, Ph.—O. cristata, Ph. Whether this is a variety

of O. edulis, it is rather difficult to say, as the latter species is subject

to great variation. I certainly never met with the common form of

our oyster (whether “ native,” ‘‘ Welsh,” or ‘‘ rock’’) in the Medi-

terranean, nor is it mentioned by Philippi or Payraudeau as a recent

species. Tie kinds now found in that sea are solitary, and not gre-

garious. It is well known that the Romans got their principal supply

from Britain, although the Circeian oyster ranked as a delicacy with

sea-eges from Misenum and with broad scallops, the boast of

luxurious Tarentum.

Anomia Ephippium, Ph. & B. M., and varieties (A. polymorpha

12%

180 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

and margaritacea, Ph.).—A. Patelliformis, B. M. (A. scabrella and

elegans, Ph.).

Acephala Palliobranchiata, or Brachiopods.

Terebratula caput-serpentis. Villa Franca.

Argiope (Orthis) truncata, Ph.—A. (Orthis) Neapolitana, Seaechi

(Orthis seminulum, PA., Megathyris cistellula, Searles Wood). A

careful comparison of Mediterranean specimens with those from

Zetland of this variable species, confirms my former opinion of its

identity with the Argiope (Megathyris) cistellula of the ‘ British

Mollusca.’ It would be desirable if Philippi’s name of seminulum

could be retained, instead of the prior but less appropriate name

given by Scacchi.

Pteropoda.

Hyaleea vaginella, Ph.

Spirialis Australis, Eydoux & Souleyet.—S. Trochiformis, Eyd. &

Soul. (S. Flemingii, B. M.).—S. rostralis, Eyd. & Soul. (S. Mac-

andrei, B. M.).—S. Jeffreysii,.B. M. Spezia, where only a single

specimen, however, occurred to me.

Heteropoda.

Carinaria Mediterranea. Nice.

Gasteropoda Prosobranchiata.

Chiton fascicularis, Ph. § B. M.—C. Siculus, Ph.—C. Cajetanus,

_ Ph.—C. variegatus, Ph.—C. Hanleyi, B. M.—C. Polii, Ph.

Patella scutellaris, Ph.—P. fragilis, Ph.—P. Tarentina, PA. (P.

athletica, B. M.).—P. Lusitanica, Ph. I did not meet with any of

the usual forms of P. vulgata; and Philippi only mentions it doubt-

fully as fossil. It is however a very variable species, and may be

identical with P. ceerulea of Lamarck (not of Linneeus), or some other

of the allied species which are described by Philippi.

. Acmeea virginea, B. M. (Patella Gussonii, Ph.).

Dentalium dentalis, Ph.; and var. semicostata.—D. novemcos-

tatum, Payr. (D. dentalis, var. 3, Ph.). Specimens of the last, which

I took at Spezia, have ten ribs and no intermediate smaller ones, but

numerous fine longitudinal strie. The extremity or apex in my

largest specimen is truncated, but apparently not by an accidental

fracture. Colour the same as in D. dentalis, but the size is larger.

Pileopsis Hungaricus, B. M. (P. ungarica, Ph.).

Gadinia Garnoti, Ph.

Calyptreea Sinensis, B. M. (C. vulgaris, Ph.) ; var. gibba; and

var. fulva.

Crepidula unguiformis, Ph.

Fissurella Greeca, Ph. Not the F. Greeca of most British authors,

which is F. reticulata of B. M.—F. costaria, Ph.—F. gibba, Ph.

Emarginula elongata, Ph.—E. cancellata, Ph.

of the Piedmoniese Coast. 18]

Scissurella. I cannot help thinking the position assigned to this

genus by its founder, D’Orbigny, is correct, and not between Adeorbis

and Ianthina as proposed by the authors of the ‘ British Mollusca.’

S. elegans, D’ Ord. (S. striatula, Ph.) and var. This species is very

variable in form and sculpture, the longitudinal ribs being more or

less distinct and partial, and the apex more or less flattened or

convex ; but the fine transverse striee are always observable under a

lens magnifying four or five diameters. It has not an operculum ;

but I unfortunately had no microscope with me to examine the

animal. I found it plentifully alive in sea-weed at Spezia and

Lerici.

Scissurella cancellata, n.s. Pl. II. f. 1.

Testa orbiculato-depressa, alba, nitidiuscula ; anfractibus 3, rotundis,

ultimo costis curvis circa 20 elevatis longitudinalibus, carina fissu-

rali interruptis, costellisque totidem transversis decussato ; vertice

planato, carina lata acuta subincrassata canaliculata circumdato,

costis radiatim cincto ; canali transversim et arcuatim striato ;

apertura suborbiculari; umbilico angusto ; latitudine =, longitu-

dine ;)5 unciee.

Although I only found a single specimen (at Sestri di Levante),

it is so different from any of the species hitherto described, that I

cannot help noticing it. Philippi has described and figured three

species; but the only one this approaches in form (his S. plicata,

which is the S. costata of D’Orbigny) he says has no transverse

strie, ‘“‘striis transversis nullis.”’ It agrees with S. Bertheloti of

D’Orbigny (Webb and Berthelot) in the sharp keel which projects

considerably beyond the last whorl ; but the ribs in that species are

much more numerous, and it also wants the transverse striz. It

differs from S. striatula of Philippi in the stronger, fewer and more

distant ribs, both longitudinal and transverse, as well as in the

flattened spire and strong keel. This is also twice the size of either

of Philippi’s species.

Haliotis lamellosa, Lam. Palmaria I.—H. tuberculata, Ph.& B. M.

Trochus granulatus, Ph. & B. M.—T. zizyphinus, B. M.—T.

conulus, Ph. & B. M.; and var. (3. dilatata of Philippi, who refers it

to T. ziziphinus. This last resembles closely the smooth variety of

our species ; and the difference of colour (on which the authors of

the ‘ British Mollusca’ lay stress), as well as the smaller size of the

Mediterranean specimens, scarcely, I think, warrant a specific distinc-

tion; var. (T. violaceus, Risso).—T. dubius, Ph. (T. conulus,

var. ’).—T. exiguus, B. M. (T. crenulatus, Ph.); and var. T. striatus,

Ph. § B. M.—T. fragarioides, Ph.—T’. articulatus, Ph. (T. fraga-

rioides, var.?).—T. Laugieri, Ph.—T. divaricatus, Ph.; var. leevis ;

and var. minor.—7’, sanguineus, Ph.—T. Adansonii, Ph.—T. magus,

Ph. §& B. M.—T. canaliculatus, Ph. Nice—T. varius, Ph.—T.

Richardi, Ph.—T. umbilicaris, Ph.—T. leucopheus, Ph.; var. ; and

monstr.—T. tumidus, B. M. (T. Racketti, P/.). ‘

182 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

Trochus zonatus, n. s. Pl. II. f. 2, 3.

Testa orbicularis, compresso-conoidea, tenuis, viridescenti-alba, zonis

nigris strigisque obliquis rubris ad suturam anfractuum maculatis

pulchre notata; anfractibus 4, convexiusculis, nitidis, sulcis spi-

ralibus latis (in ultimo anfractu utrinque 6, in penultimo 3) exca-

vatis et interstitiis confertim concentrice striolatis; sutura distincta;

apertura rotundo-rhomboidea, ad marginem exteriorem vix angu-

lata ; umbilico profundo, aperto; long. 4, lat. 4, uncie.

Sestri di Levante and Spezia, at the roots of sea-weed in the littoral

zone ; not common.

Although this pretty little shell has relations with Trochus umbi-

licaris in its young state, it may be readily distinguished by the

greater convexity of the whorls and the almost total want of any

angularity or keel on the last volution. The young of this species

closely resembles a Skenea, and it appears to form a passage to this

genus.

Monodonta corallina, Ph.—M. Vieilloti, Ph.—M. glomus, Ph.—

M. Jussieui, Ph.

Turbo rugosus, Ph.

Phasianella pullus, Ph. & B. M.—P. intermedia, Ph. I found the

last species in greater plenty than P. pullus, but in the same locality.

The spire is longer and the suture deeper, and the markings are

very peculiar and unmistakeable, as Philippi also remarked. The

fry resembles a Lacuna in form, and has the last whorl and umbilical

rea spirally striated.—P. speciosa, Ph.; and var.

Adeorbis subcarinata, B. M. (Natica? subcarinata, Ph.). Nice.

Ianthina communis, B. M. (I. bicolor, Ph.).—I. pallida, B. M.

(1. patula, Ph.).

Littorina Neritoides, B. M. (Turbo Neritoides, Ph.).

Rissoa lactea, Ph. & B. M.—R. labiata, Ph., allied to, if not iden-

tical with, R. striatula, B. M.—R. crenulata, Ph. §& B. M.; and var.

minor.—R. cimex, Linn. (R.calathiscus, PA.); and var. alba.—R. cala-

thus, B. M. (R. cimex, Ph.).—R. Montagui, Ph. ; var. lineolata ; and

var. minor.—R. scabra, Ph. An analogue of R. punctura, B. M.,

which it somewhat resembles. In fresh specimens the spiral cingula

are of a fulvous colour, as in R. Montagui, var. lineolata.—R. Beanii,

B. M. It seems surprising that this common and widely diffused

species should not have been known to Philippi, although I suspect

his R. textilis is the younger state of it before the outer lip and rib

are formed.

Rissoa Philippiana, n.s. PI. II. f. 4, 5,

Testa clavata, turrita, fusca, solidula; anfractibus 6 planatis, in medio

subcarinatis, costellis longitudinalibus (in ultimo anfractu 12) cin-

gulisque transversis (in ultimo anfractu 5) instructis, cingulis

duobus superioribus tuberculos efformantibus; sutura profunda ;

apertura subrotunda, marginata, subeffusa, tertiam spiree partem

eequante ; umbilico nullo ; long. ;4, lat. 34 uncie.

This may possibly be the variety of R. dictyophora, which Philippi

of the Piedmontese Coast. 183

referred to in these words, “‘ variat cingulis transversis in carinas

acutas elevatis ;’’ but it does not correspond with his description and

figure of the typical species. In the last and penultimate whorls

there are two rows, and in the preceding whorl one row of tubercles.

Foci, near Genoa, on sea-weed in the littoral zone ; not common.

Nice, Verany.

Rissoa costata, B. M. (R. exigua, Ph.).

Rissoa contorta, n.s. Pl. II. f. 6, 7.

Testa brevi-cylindrica, ad apicem obtusa, lutea aut alba, solidula ;

anfractibus 4, ventricosis, sensim crescentibus, leevibus, nitidis,

zonis duabus fulvis cinctis; sutura profunda; apertura subrotunda,

subeffusa, tertiam spiree partem superante, margine connexo,

soluto ; umbilico angusto ; long. 34, lat. = uncie.

Genoa, Foci, Sestri di Levante and Spezia, on sea-weed in the

littoral zone; common. Nice, Verany.

This elegant species appears to be the representative of our Rissoa

striata ; but it has a different habitat, the latter being found under

stones and at the roots of Corallina officinalis in the sublittoral zone.

Rissoa glabrata, Ph.; and var. alba; (R. punctulum, Ph., Moll. Sic.

vol. i.p. 154). Not the species referred to with doubt by the authors

of the ‘ British Mollusca’ under the name of Odostomia glabrata, but

allied to R. vitrea, from which it differs in the greater solidity of the

shell, its more obtuse whorls, and more contracted aperture which is

strengthened by an outer rib. It varies considerably in size. I found

it in abundance on all the coast, and noticed it in M. Verany’s collec-

tion from Nice.—R. vitrea, B. M.—R. proxima, B. M.—R. incon-

spicua, B. M. (R. rudis, Ph.) ; var. a. albula, B. M, (R. nana, Ph.) ;

var. c, B. M. (R. radiata, Ph.) ; var. d, B. M.; var. (R. granulum,

Ph.).—R. semistriata, B. M. (R. subsuleata, Ph.).—R. pulcherrima,

B.M. Some older and more produced specimens agree better with

Philippi’s description and figures of R. soluta than the species de-

scribed under that name in the ‘ British Mollusca,’ but they want the

peculiar markings of R. pulcherrima.—R. fulgida, B. M@.—R. parva,

B.M. It is remarkable that Philippi did not notice the typical form,

and that the other and more common form (interrupta) did not occur

to me among so many thousands of Mediterranean Rissoze.—R. sim-

plex, Ph.; probably a variety of the last; var. (R. pulchella, Pd.) :

this has some analogy with R. inconspicua in respect of markings,

but differs in the form of the spire and apex.—R. violacea, Ph.—R.

ventricosa, Ph. (R. rufilabrum, B. M.).—R. oblonga, Ph. (R. costu-

lata, B. M.); var. (R. similis, Ph.) ; and var. minor.—R. variabilis,

v. Mihlfeld (R. costata, Ph.). The name of costata given to this

species by Desmarest must be relinquished, as it was long previously

used by Adams for the R. exigua of Michaud; var.: this somewhat

resembles R. labiosa in form, but the texture, colour and markings

are different.—R. labiosa, B. M. (R. elata, Ph.).—R. auriscalpium,

Ph.—R. monodonta, Ph.—R. thermalis, (Zinn.) Ph. ; var. minor (R.

184. Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

ulvee, B. M.).—R. cingillus, B. M.—R. rubra, B. M. (R. fulva, Ph.) ;

var. unifasciata.—R.? littorea, B. M. (Truncatella littorina, PA.).

Rissoina Bruguieri, D’ Ord. (Rissoa Bruguieri, Ph.), R. decussata.

Nice.—R. Chesnelii, Mich. Nice.—R. marginata, Mich. Nice.

Jeffreysia diaphana, B. M.

Jeffreysia cylindrica, n.s. Pl. II. f. 8, 9.

Testa longo-cylindrica, ad apicem obtusa, hyalina; anfractibus 4,

brevissimis, nitidis, ultimo reliquos superante ; sutura distincta ;

apertura ovata, subeffusa, 2 spiree partem sequante, margine sub-

connexo; umbilico angusto ; long. ~L, lat. -) uncie.

30 50

Of this very minute but peculiar species I took only one speci-

men, by dredging in about 12 fathoms at Spezia. It approaches

somewhat in form the Chemnitzia Gulsonze of Clark, which I think

ought to be referred to the same genus.

Skenea planorbis, B. M. The Mediterranean specimens, like those

from Guernsey, are girdled with a single row of circular reddish-

brown spots.—S. nitidissima, B. M. (Truncatella atomus, Ph.).—S.

rota, B. M. Mediterranean specimens are girdled with three bands

of reddish-brown, one on the outer edge or periphery, and the others

on the upper and under side of each whorl; which, with the strize,

render them exquisitely beautiful objects. —S. ewilissima (Delphinula

exilissima, Ph.).

Turritella communis, Ph. & B. M.—T. triplicata, Ph.

Turritella? pusilla, n.s. Pl. II. f. 10, 11.

Testa turrita, lutea vel fusca, solidula ; anfractibus 12, convexiuscu-

lis, interdum varicosis, plicis 8 longitudinalibus (quarum 3 medize

prominentiores) costellisque transversis (in ultimo anfractu 8, in

penultimo 5) decussatis, in superioribus anfractibus nodulis effor-

matis ; sutura profunda; apertura ovato-rhomboidea, subeffusa,

sextam spiree partem eequante ; long. 4, lat. 5 uncie.

In about twelve fathoms, Gulf of Spezia; not common. It has

somewhat the habit of a Cerithium, but differs in its shorter spire,

and, above all, in the form of its aperture.

Ceecum trachea, B. M. (Odontidium rugulosum, Ph.).—C.glabrum,

B. M.

Aporrhais pes-pelicani, B. M. (Chenopus pes-pelicani, Ph.).—A.

desciscens (Chen. desciscens, Ph.).

Cerithium vulgatum, PA.—C. fuscatum, Ph. ; var. minor.—C. mam-

millatum, Ph.---C. reticulatum, B. M. (C. lima, Ph.) ; var. major ;

var. (3. Ph.—C. angustissimum, Forbes (Report on Aigean Inverte-

brata, 1843).—C. adversum, B. M. (C. perversum, PA.).

Scalaria communis, Ph. § B. M.—S. Turtonis (S. tenuicosta, Ph.).

—S. pseudosgalaris, Ph.—S. pulchella, Ph.

Vermetus semisurrectus, Ph.—V. subcancellatus, Ph.—V. gigas,

Ph.— V. glomeratus, Ph.

Siliquaria anguina, Ph. Nice.

of the Piedmontese Coast. } 185

Eulima polita, PA. § B. M.—E. nitida, Ph. (E. polita, var. B. M.).

—KE. distorta, Ph. & B. M.—E. subulata, Ph. & B. M.

Chemnitzia. For the sake of more convenient arrangement (this

genus being otherwise perhaps too extensive), I have adopted the

views of my late friend Professor Forbes, in separating this genus

and Eulimeila from Odostomia; although the transition from one of

those so-called genera to either of the others is gradual and almost

imperceptible. Adult and perfect specimens have occasionally the

eolumellar tooth or fold. I have detected it even in C. elegantissima

or lactea, as well as in C. gracilis, indistincta, and fenestrata. C.

elegantissima, Ph. § B. M.; var. costis flexuosis et dente columel-

lari.—C. pusilla, Ph. §& B. M.—C. gracilis, Ph. : this species is very

distinct in form and the want of angularity in the whorls from the

preceding, with which the authors of the ‘ British Mollusca’ sup-

posed it to be identical. The difference is as great between these

species, as between either of them and C. elegantissima.—C. pallida,

Ph. (Parthenia varicosa, Forbes, dig. Inv.).—C. rufa, Ph. & B. M.—

C.scalaris, Ph. § B. M.—C. unica (Aclis unica, B. M.).—C. fenestrata,

B. M.—C. indistincta, B. M.

Odostomia clathrata, B. M. A single specimen of this distinct

species occurred to me at Spezia; and I observed another at the

British Museum, in Mr. MacAndrew’s collection from the Canaries. —

O. interstincta, B. M. (Rissoa suturalis, PA.) ; var. angustior.—O.

terebellum, Ph. The form, disposition of the ribs, and the greater

prominence of the tooth, distinguish this from the last species. It

is also a British species, having been found both by Mr. Barlee and

myself on the Scotch and Devonshire coasts ; var. angustior.

Odostomia tricincta, n.s. Pl. IT. f. 12, 13.

Testa brevi-fusiformis, lutea, zonis tribus angustis fuscis in ultimo

anfractu (2 in penultimo et antepenultimo, 1 in proximo) ornata,

solidula; anfractibus 6 (quorum 2 supremi sinistrorsum retorti)

ultimo reliquos eequante, complanatis, nitidis, costis circa 20 longi-

tudinalibus subflexuosis interdum bifidis interstitia sequantibus

obsitis; sutura distincta; apertura ovato-rhomboidea, ad basin

subeffusa, tertiam spiree partem eequante, columella prope mediam

uniplicata, labio reflexo ; long. 5}, lat. 4; uncie.

Sestri di Levante, at the roots of Corallina officinalis; not com-

mon. Nice, Verany.

I also observed specimens of this prettily marked shell in Mr.

MacAndrew’s collection from the Canaries at the British Museum.

It may possibly be the Rissoa doliolum of Philippi; but he does not

notice the coloured bands, nor the fold on the pillar lip, and the

number of ribs in his description and figure are fewer.

Odostomia excavata, B. M. (Rissoa excavata, Ph.).—O. Humboldti

(Chemnitzia Humboldti, PA.). Sestri di Levante; and Verany had

also found it at Nice.—O. conspicua, B. M. My specimens, which

were dredged in about 10 fathoms in the Gulf of Spezia, measured

186 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the Marine Testacea

three-eighths of an inch in length, and nearly one-sixth in their

extreme breadth. A half-grown specimen is in the British Museum,

among the shells collected at Lisbon by Mr. MacAndrew; and I

before noticed it in the ‘ Annals’ as an Adriatic species.—O. acuta,

B. M.—O. conoidea, Ph. §& B. M.—O. unidentata, B. M. (Eulima

monodon, Requien?).—O. Eulimoides, B. M.—O. Rissoides, B. M.—

O. plicata, B. M.; var. dente inconspicuo (Rissoa elongata, Ph.).—

O. obliqua, B. M.—O. Warrenii, B. M.—O. dolioliformis, B. M.

Eulimella clavula, B.M.—E. acicula, B. M. (Melania acicula, PA. ).

Eulimella striatula, n.s. Pl. Il. f. 14, 15.

Testa subcylindrica, aciculata, hyalina, limo partim induta; anfrac-

tibus 8-9, complanatis, ultimo tertiam spire partem subzequante,

concentrice confertim rugoso-striatis; sutura distincta, obliqua ;

apertura oblonga-rhomboidea, supra acutangulata, infra latiore,

subtruncata; columella flexuosa; long. ;4, lat. q4 uncie.

I took two live specimens of this very distinct shell by dredging in

about 10 fathoms at Spezia. It is more delicate than Eulimella aci-

cula, and has the volutions more flattened, the suture more oblique,

and the last whorl and aperture proportionably longer ; and it espe-

cially differs in having distinct undulating transverse strie. All the

species of Eulimella exhibit under a microscope similar, but very

faint, and close-set, strie. One of the characters assigned to the

genus Eulimella by its founder (Professor Edward Forbes) is “ solid,

smooth, and polished ;” so that either this character must be ex-

punged, or the genus merged in Odostomia or Chemnitzia.

Eulimella nitidissima (Aclis nitidissima, B. M.).

Truncatella truncatula, Ph. (T. Montagui, B. M.); var. costellata.

Natica olla, Ph.—N. millepunctata, Ph.—N. macilenta, Ph. ; var.

immaculata.—N. nitida, B. M. (N. Marochiensis, Ph.).—N. moni-

lifera, B. M. (N. Guillemini, P/.).

Sigaretus haliotoideus, Ph. -

Velutina leevigata, B. M.

Lamellaria perspicua, B. M. (Coriocella perspicua, Ph.).

Cerithiopsis tubercularis (C. tuberculare, B. M., Cerithium pyg

meeum, Ph.).

Tritonium cutaceum, Ph.—T’. nodiferum, Ph.

Cassis saburon, Ph.—C. undulata, Ph.

Cassidaria Tyrrhena, Ph.; var. (C. Echinophora, Lam.).

Ranella reticularis, Ph. (R. gigantea, Lam.).

Murex tetrapterus, Ph.—M. Brandaris, Ph.—M. distinctus, Ph.

—M. cristatus, Ph.; var.—M. Edwardsii, Ph.—M. corallinus, B. M.

(Fusus corallinus, Ph.).—M. rudis (F. rudis, PA.).—M. erinaceus,

Ph. & B. M.—M. trunculus, Ph.

Lachesis minima, B. M.(Buccinum minimum, Ph.); var.—L. mam-

millata (Nesea mammillata, Risso, Bucc. Folineew, Ph.). Nonne

preecedentis varietas ?

Pollia D’Orbignyi (Buccinum D’Orbignyi, P/.).—P. pusio (Buce.

pusio, Ph.).

of the Piedmontese Coast. 187

Nassa reticulata, B. M. (Buccinum reticulatum, Ph.); var. (Buce.

prismaticum, Ph.).—N. variabilis (Buce. variabile, Ph.) ; varieties 3

& e, Ph.—N. incrassata, B. M. (Buce. Ascanias, Ph.).—N. pygmea,

B. M. (Buce. asperula, var. Ph.); var. sine varicibus mediis.—N.

mutabilis (Buce. mutabile, Ph.).— N. Neritea (Bucc. Neriteum, Ph.) ;

var. minor,—N. corniculum (Buce. corniculum, PA.) ; var. minor, y.

Ph. —N. scripta (Buce. scriptum, Ph.) ; var. 3. Ph. & var. decollata.

Buccinum minus, PA.

Fusus corneus, Ph.—F. craticulatus, Ph.—F. Syracusanus, Ph.—

F. rostratus, Ph.

Fasciolaria lignaria, Ph. (F. Tarentina, Lam.).

Mangelia reticulata (Pleurotoma reticulatum, P/.).—M. scabra (P.

scabrum, Jef. in Ann. Nat. Hist. 1847). The discovery of a Medi-

terranean specimen with the last, to which it bears a closer affinity

than to M. linearis, confirms the impression I formed some years ago

that this is a distinct species. It is not, as the authors of the ‘ British

Mollusca’ supposed, the southern or purple-tipped form of M. linearis.

—M. linearis, B. M. (P. lineare, Ph.).—M. purpurea, B. M. (P. Phil-

berti, Ph.) ; var. minor.—M. gracilis, B. M. (P. gracilis, Ph.).—M.

nebula, B. M. (P. Ginannianum, Ph.).—M. brachystoma (P. brachy-

stoma, Ph.).—M. costata, B. M.(P. teeniatum, Ph.).—M. rugulosa(P.

rugulosum, PA.); var. minor.—-M. Vauquelini (P. Vauquelini, Ph.).

—M. ceerulans (P. cerulans, Ph.).—M. costulata (P. costulatum,

Ph.).—Judging from the solitary specimen which [ took of this, it

is more nearly allied to our Mangelia turricula than to the Pleurotoma

striolatum of Scacchi, to which the authors of the ‘ British Mollusca’

considered that it very closely approached.— _M. Leufroyi, B. M. (P.

Leufroyi, Ph.).—M. attenuata, B. M. (P. attenuatum, Ph.).—M.

levigata (P. levigatum, Ph.).

Columbella rustica, Ph.

Mitra ebenus, Ph.—M. lutescens (var. lactea), Ph.—M. Savignyi,

Ph.

Conus Mediterraneus, Ph.

Cypreea Europea, B. M. (C. Coccinella, Ph.).—C. pyrum, Ph.

(C. rufa, Lam.).—C. lurida, Ph.

Ovula carnea, Ph.—O. spelta, Ph.

Ringicula auriculata, Ph.

Marginella miliacea, Ph.—M. minuta, Ph. The number of folds

on the pillar lip varies from four to six.—M. clandestina, Ph.—M.

secalina, Ph. Nice.

Gasteropoda Opisthobranchiata.

Tornatella fasciata, Ph. & B. M.

Cylichna truncata, B. M. (Bulla truncata, Ph.).—C. mammillata,

B.M. (B.mammillata, Ph.); var..B. M. (truncatula, Jef.in ‘Annals’ ),

spira non exserta. ‘This still appears to me a distinct species. It is

common at Spezia in muddy ground from eight to ten fathoms.—C.

strigella, B. M. Common at Spezia with the last.—C. umbilicata,

B. M.

188 On the Marine Testucea of the Piedmontese Coast.

Cylichna fragilis, n.s. Pl. II. f. 16, 17.

Testa cylindrica, nitidissima, hyalina, ad apicem constricta et longi-

tudinaliter striatula, aliter leevissima; spira laxe involuta; vertice

parum conspicuo, oblique attenuato; apertura superne angusta,

infra dilatata, truncata ; long. =4;, lat. 35 unciz.

A solitary example of this remarkable shell occurred to me in

dredging at Spezia, in about 10 fathoms; and Mr. MacAndrew has

also taken it on the coast of Spain. It has somewhat the habit of

an Akera.

Akera bullata, B. M. Genoa.

Bulla Hydatis, Ph. & B. M.; var. minor et subglobosa; var. 6. Ph.,

minor, viridula et leevissima.—B. ovulata, Ph., Spezia; and I also

noticed a specimen in Mr. MacAndrew’s collection in the British

Museum under the name of ‘Cylichna strigella.”’ As the only

figure which has been published of this species is in a work little

known (Brocchi, Conchiologia Fossile Subapennina, 1814), and is not,

to my mind, satisfactory, I have added another figure of it (18, 19)

to Pl. If.

Scaphander lignarius, B. M. (Bulla lignaria, Ph.).

Scaphander gibbulus, n.s. Pl. II. f. 20, 21.

Testa ovata, turgida, nitidissima, hyalina, utrinque striis circiter

10 flexuosis versus extremitates approximantibus concentrice in-

sculpta, in medio levissima; vertice subtruncato, umbilicato, ad

marginem exteriorem incrassato; apertura in medio coarctata,

superne angulata patula, subtus canaliculata; columella ad basin

uniplicata; long. + fere, lat. =, uncie.

In from 10 to 12 fathoms, Bay of Spezia; not uncommon. The

animal is flesh-coloured.

Philine aperta, B. M. (Bulleea aperta, Ph.).—P. catena, B. M.

Nice.

Aplysia depilans, Ph. (A. hybrida, B. M.).—A. punctata, Ph.—

A. depressa, Cantraine, and other species which have been published

in the ‘ Journal de Conchiliologie’ for 1853.

Pleurobranchus aurantiacus, Ph.—P. stellatus, Ph., and other

species, for which reference must also be had to the last-mentioned

publication.

Umbrella Mediterranea, Ph. Nice.

Cephalopoda Dibranchiata, or Cuttles.

Argonauta Argo, Ph.

Sepia officinalis, PA. §& B. M., and other species, which have been

so admirably described and figured by Verany in his splendid work.

The total number of species named in the above lists amounts

to 375.

Mr. G. R. Gray’s Catalogue of the Genera of Birds. 189

XV.—WNotes on the Review of G. R. Gray’s “ Catalogue of the

Genera and Subgenera of Birds” in the December Number of

the ‘ Annals” By G. R. Gray, F.L.S. &e.

In a recent notice of my ‘Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera

of Birds,” published in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural

History’ for December 1855, a number of objections are stated to

some of the minor details of that work, which might lead the reader

to suppose that its author had been actuated rather by caprice than

by principle in the matters referred to, and would therefore give an

erroneous impression of the nature of the work, and of its utility to

the ornithological student. With the view of guarding the reader

from such an impression, I am desirous of putting him in possession

of my reasons for adhering to the principles which, after long and

anxious consideration, 1 had deliberately adopted, and which twenty

years’ unremitted attention to the subject has only served to strengthen

and confirm.

Let me observe, in the first place, that no edition of my work was

published in 1844, although that date is given to a previous edition

of it by the reviewer in several places. As however he mentions

this previous edition as containing ‘‘ upwards of 1100 distinct types,”’

it is probable that the original edition of 1840, in which that number

of generic types is to be found, is the one referred to. The only

other edition (the second) previous to the one now noticed, was pub-

lished in 1841.

Passing over the observations on the multiplication of generic

names by the same authors for the same generic types, and on bar-

barously compounded generic names, with which I have nothing to

do but to record them, I come to the first objection taken by the

reviewer, in regard to misspelt names. ‘There seems,’’ he says,

**to be no reason whatever why such an error should be retained in

perpetuum,” and adds, that “‘ Mr. Gray appears to hold, that right

or wrong we are bound to adopt the spelling originally given by the

proposer of the genus, and to allow of no corrections or emendations

even of faults due to typographical errors only.”’ This is a strong

charge, to which I distinctly plead ‘‘ Not Guilty.” I certainly hold

no such opinion, and I am not aware of any statement of mine by

which the charge can be supported. It is true that in a work des-

tined to give, in a concise form, the history of each division, I think

myself bound to record even the variations in spelling that may have

been used by different authors, or by the same author at different

times ; and when the reviewer asks “‘ what benefit can we derive ”’

from such a record, I answer without hesitation that, for want of

this information, naturalists frequently lose much time, and some-

times unavailingly, in their search in indexes and elsewhere for par-

ticular names, because the spelling has been varied from that with

which they are familiar. In some cases too the etymology may be

doubtful, and the proper mode of spelling not easily decided. The

introduction of these variations is consequently in my opinion a

useful addition to such a work; and it is moreover justified by the

190 Mr. G. R. Gray’s Catalogue of

example of other authors, both in this country and abroad, who

have not thought it desirable to leave them ‘unnoticed and for-

tten.”

The reviewer next expresses his “fear that confusion is likely to

be caused by the introduction of the French names which Mr. Gray

has permitted in some parts of his list.’’ If the objection had been

that these names have been introduced too rarely, it would, as it

seems to me, have heen better founded. No harm ean result from

their insertion, except the unpleasantness arising from the indication

that, in too many instances, those who have done nothing more than

apply a Latin name to a division already clearly established under a

French one, have thus cheaply obtained the credit of having esta-

blished that division for themselves. To avoid the necessity of

appealing to recent cases, let us pass for a moment from genera to

species, and call to mind the natural indignation which has been

universally felt and expressed at the wholesale appropriation by

Gmelin of hundreds of species of birds established by Latham under

English names, but which one of the most ignorant of compilers

conveyed to himself simply by converting Latham’s English into

Latin. For this reason, on the plain principle of suum cuique, it

will be my endeavour to increase rather than to curtail the citations

of such names, the Latinization of which, in many cases, requires

merely the slightest alteration in the termination to render them

much more euphonious than the Greek compounds, which it has

been proposed to substitute in their places. Thus the Picazuros* of

M. Lesson have been latinized by M. O. Des Murs under the generic

name of Picazurus; and I think no one will deny that Picazurus

gymnophthalmus would be at once a better-sounding denomination

than Crossophthalmus gymnophthalmus, and more just to the ori-

ginal author of the division.

A modern author of some note was considered to have overcharged

a branch of Ornithology “‘ with new and useless denominations,”’

because he gave Greek compounds to those divisions which had pre-

viously received French names; while I am accused of causing con-

fusion by simply recording the existence of these previous names.

The next point on which the reviewer thinks the principles which

I have adopted ‘‘do not work well,’’ has reference to the question

*‘ what edition of the ‘Systema Naturee’ we ought to begin with,’—

a question which he says “has been already discussed in a previous

review of a former edition of Mr. Gray’s book in this Magazine ;”’

and a note at the bottom of the page refers us to ‘‘ Mr. Strickland’s

article in the ‘Annals and Magazine’ for 1851.’’ The date, how-

ever, is widely incorrect, Mr. Strickland’s article having been pub-

lished in January 1842. In that paper the author, after some

mistaken remarks on Mcehring, thinks ‘‘a strong case” has been

‘‘made out for establishing a statute of limitations.” ‘‘ Let natu-

ralists,”’ he continues, ‘‘ agree once for all, to draw an absolute line

at the date of 1760, when the elaborate standard work of Brisson

* This word is wrongly printed in the Catalogue as Picazores, an error

copied by the reviewer.

the Genera and Subgenera of Birds. 191

appeared, and when the ‘binomial method’ was first dawning on

the mind of the great Linneeus, and let them admit no genera on the

authority of any prior author, nor even of the earlier works of Linnzeus

himself.” To this purely arbitrary decision I can find no reason

whatever for subscribing. In my work it is justly stated, “The

synonymy commences with the edition of Linnzeus’s ‘Systema Na-

turee’ published in 1735*,”’ that, is to say, with the first edition of

that immortal work ; and I have yet to learn in what respect this

principle does not “work well.”” The question has nothing to do

with the “binomial method,” which has reference only to species ;

and Linnzeus himself discriminates between the earlier formation of

genera, which were well circumscribed and accurately named long

before the complete circumscription and limitation of species by the

use of trivial names. For this reason, any “statute of. limitations ”’

in regard to genera that should stop short of 1735, would rest on no

intelligible principle, and could not therefore command a general

assent. I will only observe further, that were the date of 1760, as

proposed by Mr. Strickland, to be taken as the ‘absolute line” of

the “statute of limitations,”’ it would exclude the great and univer-

sally quoted edition of the ‘Systema Nature’ (the tenth) published.

in 1758, in which the binominal system was complete in regard to

Birds ; and the binominal system was not even then merely “ dawning

on the mind of the great Linneeus,”’ but had been fully carried out

through the whole vegetable kingdom in the edition of the ‘Species

Plantarum’ published in 1753.

The edition of the ‘Systema Nature’ published in 1735 being

then taken as the starting-point, from which the great author of a

uniform system proceeded in the establishment of genera, it is ob-

jected to me that I seem “to give that and the other earlier editions

an occasional preference over the subsequent and more perfect pub-

lications.’’ The fact is, that all the editions are referred to, for the

purpose of showing, in conformity with the entire plan of my work,

when the genus was first proposed and established by Linnzeus.

And here, as elsewhere, I offer to every student the means of tracing

out the facts necessary to complete the history of each division, being

quite aware of the natural divergence of minds on all questions of

opinion, and leaving it open to all to form their own opinions in

conformity with those principles which appear most satisfactory to

themselves. My aim is solely to produce a record of facts as com-

plete as possible, and I make no pretensions to the vain attempt of

producing uniformity of opinion.

The reviewer goes on to object that I take ‘it for granted that

the first species on the list of each of these editions was intended to

be the type of the genus,—a point which admits of much argument.’

It is with the view of saving ‘much argument,” which would as-

suredly be the result of any other system, that I have laid it down as a

principle for my own guidance, that where no other species is stated

* Systema Nature, sive Regna tria Nature systematice proposita per

Classes, Ordines, GENERA et Species. Lugd. Bat. 1735.

192 Mr. G. R. Gray’s Catalogue of

by the author as typical, it is the safest, best, and only certain rule,

to regard the species first enumerated as the type. This is a subject

to which I have given much thought: some rule was found to be

absolutely necessary ; it was in the highest degree desirable that the

rule should be uniform ; and the principle adopted was the only one,

which after long and careful deliberation appeared to me to fulfil the

required conditions. Others may, if they think fit, and as some

modern authors have done, take the tenth or the twentieth species in

the list as the type of a Linnean genus, and may give plausible rea-

sons for so doing; but all must admit that such a course is one

leading to interminable argument, and leaves the door open to much

individual caprice.

The reviewer proceeds to give instances in which he considers me

to be wrong. ‘‘ Chenalopex,”’ he says, “(a term always hitherto

appropriated to Anas Aigyptiaca,) is proposed to be used for the

clea impennis, as having been so applied by Mcehring in 1752.”

Now it so happens that Vieillot adopted this generic name from

Meehring in his “subsequent and more perfect publication”’ of his

** Analyse”? in 1818; while Stephens did not employ the same word

for Anas Aigyptiaca until 1824. I think the reviewer will now

admit that Chenaloper has not always been appropriated in the

manner stated by him. And let me here observe in behalf of this

unfortunate author (Mcehring), whose work (‘Genera Avium’) I

have been charged with disturbing from the “dusty shelves” on

which it had lain “ forgotten for a century,” that long before I could

have written or published a single word, his work had been consi-

dered worthy of quotation by Brisson, Illiger, Cuvier, Vieillot, Lesson

and others, through whose writings I first became acquainted with

his merits. .

Again, the reviewer says, ‘‘ The type of the genus Tanagra is

altered, because the 7’. episcopus (always hitherto considered as such)

does not stand first in Linneeus’s list.”’ Here again the reviewer is

in error. Tanagra was established by Linneus in 1766, and the

first species in his list is T. yacapa. In 1805 Desmarest considers

T. tatao (=Aglaia) as the type of Tanagra; in 1811 Illiger, taking

the first-named species in Linneeus’s list, recurs to 7. jacapa; in

1816 Vieillot gives 7. cayanensis (=Iholopha) ; in 1817 Cuvier

adopts 7’. violacea (=Euphonia) ; in 1820 'Temminck takes Lanius

leverianus (= Cissopis) ; while it is not until 1827 that Swainson

proposes 7’. episcopus as the type of the genus Tanagra. But, even

were it possible to set aside all the previously proposed types of this

genus, there still remains a fatal objection against this last-named

appropriation of the name, if ‘the stern law of priority ”’ is to have

any weight, inasmuch as M. Boie had in the previous year proposed

the name of Thraupis for a species which must be arranged along

with 7’. episcopus ; and consequently, were the views of the reviewer

to be critically carried out, the name of Tanagra would be erased

from the nomenclature of the Tanagers altogether. To this conclu-

sion I am not prepared to follow him ; any more than I can admit,

after the above recapitulation of facts, the correctness of his state-

the Genera and Subgenera of Birds. 193

ment that 7". episcopus has always hitherto been appropriated as the

type of the genus Tanagra.

If I have ‘not ventured to carry out these rules [that is to say,

the recognition of the first-named species of a group as its type, when

no other is indicated as such] throughout to their legitimate result,”

I have at least shown in the two instances especially cited, Strix and

Falco, how the matter stands in relation to them. Throughout all

the editions ef Linneus from 1735 to 1766, Strix Budo is uniformly

placed at the head of his genus Strix; while the modern innovation

of considering Strix fammea as the type was not legitimately adopted

until 1809 by Savigny ; and so much has the propriety of this deter-

mination been doubted, that no fewer than four ornithologists have

since proposed as many different names for the division of which

Strix flammea forms the type. Had I therefore “ventured” to

meddle with this, which I cannot but consider as an unfortunate ap-

propriation, I could not have been charged with an infringement of

the maxim ‘“‘quieta non movere.” So with regard to Falco, it will

be seen by the quotations in my work itself in what manner Linnzeus

altered his opinion as to the species to be placed first, as follows :—in

the editions of 1735, 1744 and 1758, Falco chrysaetos (= Aquila) ;

in those of 1748 and 1756, Vultur percnopterus (= Neophron) ;

and finally in 1766 Falco coronatus (= Spizaétus).

But I will not pursue this subject farther. In my work it will be

found that I have endeavoured to give as complete a view as possible

of the facts, by referring to these and similar changes, in order to

assist the student in the application of his own particular views to

the facts of each particular case. I feel abundantly satisfied that the

adoption of the “statute of limitations,’ as proposed, would have

led to the alteration of many more names than I have “‘ ventured”

to change, by adopting as my guide the first species of each genus,

as it stood when first established. No “ statute of limitations,’ nor

any other rule but that of mere caprice, would sanction many of the

types adopted for the older genera by modern authors, whose great

fault it has been that they have disregarded the labours of their pre-

decessors, and thus involved themselves in those numerous uncalled-

for alterations and repetitions against which the reviewer so justly:

declaims.

I pass over the remarks on the subject of names closely resem-

bling each other, as it is probable that no two persons would ever

agree on the exact degree of permissible similarity in sound or spell-

ing, and it is certain that the natives of different countries would

entertain different opinions on the subject ; and come next to the

reviewer's expression of ‘regret that Mr. Gray had not thought fit

to adopt the very simple rule given in the British Association Com-

mittee’s Report for the formation of the names of the families and

subfamilies in ide and ine.” On this point (which is quite second-

ary to my main object of ‘“‘Genera”’) I have to observe, that the

rules which I have adopted were collected, as the best that had heen

proposed by my predecessors, and those which appeared to me to

combine most completely the principles of fairness and justice towards

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvi. 13

194. Bibliographical Notices.

others, prior to the publication of the Committee’s Report. I saw

in it no inducement to change them, and I have not found that the

most competent judges have adopted the changes of nomenclature

therein recommended. For instance, I am blamed for using the

word Coraciade instead of Coraciide ; yet I perceive that the Pre-

sident of the Linnean Society, in the title of a very valuable memoir

in the last published part of the ‘“ Transactions’’ of that learned

body, does not hesitate to employ the similar term Leucosiade in

preference to Leucosiida, as directed in the Committee’s Report.

The reviewer’s suggestion of ‘‘a Catalogue of the unabbreviated

names of the authors of the different genera, and of the chief works

in which they have published them,” is one that has not escaped my

attention. I have in my possession an extensive list of authors,

accompanied with references to their works; but it is not my inten-

tion to publish it at present, although I may find occasion to do so

hereafter.

In relation to the names of genera proposed by Dr. Schiff (to

which the reviewer might have added the names of Dr. Reichenbach

and others), I held it to be my duty to give all the generic and sub-

generic names that came within my knowledge, whether accompanied

by the statement of the typical species or not. I have fortunately

been enabled in most cases (with the exception of the names of

Rafinesque) to supply this deficiency ; and I hope that I may thus

have been the means of preventing, to a certain extent, the multipli-

cation of names for the same divisions, although I do not attempt,

as it would be useless, to set limits to the subdivision of genera.

The addition of the name of the publisher, as well as of the author,

would have involved the total reconstruction of my book on a different

lan.

2 This article is longer than I had intended, but I must be permitted

to end it with the words of a well-known ornithologist :—‘‘ We have

chosen our path :—not having fallen into it by blind chance or way-

ward prejudice; but having selected it from all that lay before us,

with free and deliberate preference. And in full confidence, as far

at least as human reason and foresight can inspire us with confidence,

of having chosen the right way, we shall steadily pursue it.”’

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

A Popular History of Palms and their Allies. By Bertuoup

SEEMANN, Ph.D. &c. London: Reeve. 1856.

In introducing his subject to the reader Dr. Seemann states, that

his attention was first directed to the family of Palms through in-

quiries set on foot in his school days, in connexion with the conversion

of his pedagogue’s cane into succedanea for cigars. We cannot lay

claim to the possession of so inquiring a spirit in our youth, or at all

events it did not take that direction. The associations connected

with the name of palm-trees in our minds, and we fancy in those of

most persons, are of a more elevated and less practical nature. To

Bibliographical Notices. 195

us they have a mingled character of strangeness and a sort of classical

andeur. The frequent mention of palms in the Bible, the marked

attraction they have exerted on all travellers, and the unusual and

peculiar forms revealed in the scanty and imperfect pictures which

until of late years were alone accessible, combined to invest them

with a peculiar, and in some degree mysterious interest.

Until recently, the means which general readers had of forming

an idea of palms were scanty enough. The conventional date-palm

of oriental landscapes, repeated from copyist to copyist, and not at

the first-hand very much like the original ; the stock-group of cocoa-

nut palms in every tropical sketch,—these formed the type upon

which most readers built their conceptions of palms; and, familiar

enough to travellers, they were only superficially known to any but

professed botanists. Even botanists do not date very far back their

knowledge of this family. Humboldt remarks, in his ‘ Ansichten

der Natur,’ that only fifteen species were known at the time of

Linneeus’s death. Martius’s great work on palms; the labours of

our indefatigable Indian botanists,—that worthy band of naturalists

who have turned to such good account the rich opportunities opened

in the East India Company’s service; the travels of Humboldt and

Bonpland, and more recently of Wallace and others in America:

have wonderfully extended our knowledge of this family ; to which

public attention is continually drawn more strongly by the wonderful

variety and abundance of their ceconomic products. Cocoa-nuts, as

articles of commerce, are now rivalled by their husk, or coir: palm-

oil is not what it was twenty years ago, a salve, having a questionable

preference in the eyes of old-fashioned domestic “leeches,’’—but the

source of “enlightenment” for thousands,—not merely actually, but

figuratively, since the civilizing influence of the commerce in this

article appears to bid fair to lay the foundation of the taming of

the wild slaving nations of Africa.

It would be difficult to name any vegetable material used in the

arts, or as a staple of food, which is not furnished by one or other of

the palms. ‘Timber; fibrous substances, coarse and fine, capable of

conversion into cordage, clothing, &c. ; nuts, hard and enduring enough

to serve as vessels for liquids, or to furnish substitutes for bone or

ivory ; starch, sugar, spirit, vinegar, succulent green vegetable food,

oils of various characters, wax, sweet fruits, nuts—all these are

yielded, sometimes several even by the same tree. Hence the family

is of the highest direct importance to the natives of the tropics, to

which regions it especially belongs, while commerce renders it indi-

rectly important, by converting it into a property for them, since they

ean barter the raw products for the industrial products of civilized

nations. 7

Mr. Wallace’s interesting little work on the Palms of the Amazon

furnished a new set of ideas to the general reader, and Dr. Seemann’s

‘Popular History of Palms’ is exceedingly well calculated to satisfy

the curiosity which Mr. Wallace’s readers must have felt to know

more of these interesting plants. It is especially full in the matter of

the ceconomical products ; in fact, this is the strong point of the book,

13*

196 Bibliographical Notices.

but the descriptions are interesting and often spirited. The amount

of facts collected from various sources, and the practical acquaintance

with the plants possessed by the author, concur to render this little

volume very acceptable to the scientific botanist as well as the

general reader. ‘Twenty plates, illustrative of the most striking

forms, are given; the drawing of them is tolerable; but we must

exclaim against the abuse of the art of chromolithography exhibited

in the blue and dingy-yellow tinting. This, however, is a small

matter. We might suggest to the author, as he claims a scientific

value for the substance of his work, to add to a second edition

a systematic table of contents, and, if possible, a synopsis of the

genera.

Museum of Economie Botany, or a Popular Guide to the Museum

of the Royal Gardens of Kew. By Sir W. J. Hooxer, Director.

Longman & Co. 1855.

In most departments of human activity, practice at the outset far

outstrips Science, who, advancing cautiously, rule and measure in

hand, carefully surveys each step of ground over which she asserts

her mastery. It is long before she thus reduces under law and order

the extensive tracts discovered in the arbitrary forays of practice

into the region of the unknown; but a time comes when practice

does not find it so easy to descend into ‘‘ pastures new,” and when

increased difficulties of existence render it no longer profitable to

waste strength in tentative excursions. Then Science assumes her

native pre-eminence, and becomes the leader and law-giver.

This truth obtains in the science which deals with vegetables, or at

least is beginning to become manifest. Advice and instruction are now

sought from the botanist when new materials are required for textile

fabrics, for paper, for supplying oleaginous substances, &c.; and this

demand upon the scientific man is one that must necessarily increase.

The vegetable substances indigenous, or commonly cultivated in

the countries inhabited by civilized nations, have long formed but a

portion of those used for purposes of manufacture or as articles of

luxury. We find many products mentioned in the Greek and

Roman writers as obtained from the ‘East,’ the real nature and

sources of which were unknown, and enveloped in mysterious or

fantastic fables. In the middle ages, and more especially after the

discovery of the New World and the Cape passage, these substances

multiplied rapidly in commerce. When botanical travellers at length

began to carry scientific curiosity into distant regions, some progress

was soon made in the discovery of the sources of the gums, woods,

fibres, and similar materials, which, though well known to the dry-

salter or the cabinet-maker, were stumbling-blocks to the botanist.

The formation of museums was another important step to the regu-

larization and accumulation of knowledge thus acquired ; but it can

hardly be said that this department of the science had been the object

of a worthy systematic pursuit until of late years.

The formation of the Museum of Economic Botany in the un-

Bibliographical Notices. 197

rivalled Gardens of Kew—constituting a most valuable and charac-

teristic feature of an institution of which the British botanist has

good reason to be proud—made an epoch in the study of vegetable

products, and a glance at the pamphlet before us shows the remark-

able progress that has been made in a few years. This Museum,

founded in 1847, has already outgrown its original tenement, wherein

it gradually invaded room after room until it filled the house.

Another building, of dimensions suited to the growing importance of

the collection, is about to be erected in the Gardens. On looking

over the multifold objects at present displayed, it is not difficult to

distinguish a number of substances whose nature and origin have

been revealed through the inquiries set on foot in this Museum,—

forming as it does a centre for the reception of information of this

kind. New facts, frequently furnished from all parts of the world,

are now at once received and enrolled in the chronicles of science,

instead of being scattered, often to be lost, in books of travels and

private letters ; and new or rare products are no longer buried in

private collections of “ curiosities,” occupants of the drawing-room

in one generation, of the lumber-room and the rubbish-heap in the

next.

The objects were at first arranged in the Kew Museum according

to their structure or uses. This was found inconvenient in many

respects ; especially that of requiring repetitions, when, as is not un-

commonly the case, the same plant yields substances of very varied

uses. The objects are now arranged in cases devoted to the natural

orders of plants; a plan not only more consistent with scientific

notions, but really conveying much more knowledge to the ordinary

observer. The pamphlet which has served as the text of these

remarks is a catalogue raisonné of the objects now exhibited. It

contains a vast amount of information compressed into a small

compass, much of which is new, and founded upon letters received

with the objects from correspondents in all parts of the world ;—much

collected from works with which botanists only are acquainted, and

many of which are not easily accessible. As an authoritative index

to the useful substances furnished by the various orders of vegetables,

this little book is not merely an indispensable guide to the Museum for

which it was compiled, but it will be found a most valuable aide-

mémoire by all those who are occupied with this department of

knowledge. Further, as it indicates the boundaries of our present

acquaintance with exotic vegetable products, it is most desirable that

it should be in the hands of all travellers, and all residents abroad

whose tastes and opportunities allow of their devoting attention to

natural objects.

A Handbook to the Marine Aquarium. By P. H. Gosse.

London: Van Voorst. 1855. 12mo.

The great importance of the Aquarium as a means of extending

our knowledge of marine zoology is now so generally admitted, that

there is little need for us to dwell upon it. Since the principle of

198 Bibliographical Notices.

maintaining the balance of animal and vegetable life in a confined

space was first put forward, the Zoological Society has established a

fine collection of marine animals, which has enabled even the general

public to appreciate the beauty of these inhabitants of the deep.

Mr. Gosse very naturally concludes, that this exhibition will induce

many to attempt the formation of Aquaria in their own houses ; and

his object in publishing this little book is to furnish such persons

with the necessary directions for the construction and management

of their collections. It is, as he tells us in his preface, founded to a

great extent upon the concluding chapter of his larger work upon the

Aquarium, a work which, from its entering largely upon the natural

history of the animals which may be kept in these artificial rock-

pools, and from the expensive nature of its illustrations, is far too

costly to be generally available as a guide for beginners.

This little handbook appears to contain every information that

can be required for a commencement,—such as the different modes

of constructing and fitting up the tanks, the mode of collecting

animals and plants to stock them, and of keeping the inhabitants in

health in their confined abode. We also find Mr. Gosse’s receipt

for making artificial sea-water, which, notwithstanding Mr. Waring-

ton’s objections to it, appears to answer well, and will no doubt

enable many to preserve marine animals in inland situations where

they would be unable to procure natural sea-water. The whole

of the directions are given in a plain and intelligible style, and the

book will doubtless prove highly acceptable to those who interest

themselves in marine zoology.

Popular Geography of Plants, or a Botanical Excursion round the

World. By E. M. C. Edited by C. Dauseny, M.D. &c.

London: Reeve. 1855.

A little work of no great pretensions, and, as such, deserving of a

good word. It consists chiefly of gatherings from the narratives of

botanical travellers, loosely dovetailed together and supported on the

framework of Meyen’s Geographical Regions. We think the au-

thor has diluted a little too much, in the desire to be popular; the

mere fact of being sufficiently acquainted with plants to derive any

distinct idea from the many names cited, would almost imply an

amount of previous knowledge sufficient to form a basis for a little

more in the way of general principles. However, tolerable success

has been attained in keeping up the spirit of the narrative style

adopted,—a matter of some difficulty considering the concision re-

quired, and the frequent sudden transitions and changes of scene.

We can recommend the work for the reading of persons young or

old who have a taste for plants, especially to amateur botanists who

have not begun to study in this direction. It is also especially cal-

culated to heighten the interest which ordinary persons may derive

from visits to Kew or other botanical gardens.

The illustrations are very bad—so much so, as to act as a terrible

‘damper’ on the fire of the text. .

Bibliographical Notices. 199

The Flowering Plants and Ferns of Great Britain : an attempt to

classify them according to their Geognostic relations. By J. G.

Baxer. London. 1855.

This tract is an enlarged form of a paper communicated to the

British Association at its recent meeting at Glasgow. Its subject is

of much interest in the study of the geographical distribution of

plants, and has not received so much attention as it seems to deserve.

Hitherto botanists have endeavoured to determine the causes of the

migration, or creation, of the plants found in different districts, by

attending to the collocation of the places where they grow, rather

than from a consideration of the strata forming the crust of the

earth. Mr. Baker has therefore done good service to science by this

attempt at determining the geological causes that may be supposed

to have had an influence. It is not to be expected that this attempt

should be altogether satisfactory in its results, for many more obser-

vations than we at present possess are wanted before certain conclu-

sions can be attained.

He arranges the strata into two great groups: (1) The dysgeo-

genous, ‘which are disintegrated with difficulty, and yield only a

feeble detritus.” ‘“‘ They absorb moisture readily, and furnish

stations characterized by their comparative dryness,’ and contain a

large proportion of carbonate of lime. And (2) the eugeogenous,

“which abrade easily, and yield an abundant superficial detritus, °

which may be either of a sandy or clayey nature. They are com-

paratively impermeable, and consequently hygroscopic upon a grand

scale, furnishing damper stations” than the other group. He

then shows how these classes of strata are distributed through

Great Britain, and endeavours to arrange the native plants into either

those which are spread over the whole country, or confined to one or

the other of the groups. We think that he has been tolerably suc-

cessful, although we should not in all cases agree with him. Indeed,

it seems probable that it is rather the superficial soil that must

often be taken into account, than the underlying strata. The soil

of large districts noted as clay on geological maps, may, and actually

has, a strongly calcareous character from the presence of adjacent

rocks, such as chalk, and accordingly possesses a flora containing

many of the species usually called calcareous, or chalk plants, and

does not produce others commonly found on a clayey soil, but which

dislike the presence of lime or chalk. Mr. Baker has apparently

attended solely, or chiefly, to strata, and neglected the detritus formed

or deposited upon them.

Notwithstanding this objection, we have no doubt that the essay

will be favourably received by botanical geographers, who find that

they must consider all the causes in action, whether they be strati-

graphical, detrital, geographical, or climatal.

In the Press.

We learn that Mr. Gosse has nearly ready a new work on the

Marine Natural History of Tenby and its Vicinity.

200 Zoological Society :—

PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES.

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

February 27, 1855.—Dr. Gray, Vice-President, in the Chair.

Nores ON THE HABiITs OF SOME INDIAN Birps. Part YII.

By Lirut. BuRGEss.

Subfamily PromEROPID2.

Genus UpuPa.

Upupa Eprors. Hoopor.

In the upper portion of the Deccan the Hoopoe is a common bird,

frequenting gardens and woody spots, and is very partial to sandy

plots of ground, particularly outside the walls of villages. In such

places the sand is perforated with the conical holes of the ant-lion,

and that this is the food sought for by the Hoopoe in these spots, I

discovered on opening the gizzard of one, which was of a very soft

texture, and contained one large grub and two or three ant-lions.

The Hoopoe breeds in the months of April and May, building its

nest in holes in the mud walls which surround towns and villages in

the Deccan. I transcribe a note taken on 7th May 1850 on the

subject : —‘‘ To-day a man brought me word that about fifteen or

twenty days ago he found a pair of Hoopoes breeding in a hole in

the walls of a town; the nest contained two young birds; it was

composed of grass, hemp, and feathers. The same man tells me

that he has discovered another pair building.” The head man of

the town of Jintee brought me an egg of the Hoopoe, which has un-

fortunately been broken. It was of a very pale blue, or rather skim-

milk colour. He found a nest in a hole in a fort wall; it was made

soft with a few pieces of hemp, and contained three eggs.

Tribe FisstrROsTRES.

Family Mreropipz.

Genus Mrerops.

MERops INDICUS. COMMON INDIAN BEE-EATER.

A common bird in the Deccan, but remarkable for its brilliant

plumage, and active fly-catching habits. It chooses for its perch

the outside twig of a tree, whence it makes its forage amongst the

insect tribes that are brought out hy the morning beams. The Bee-

eater breeds during the months of April and May, laying its eggs in

holes in banks. On the 13th May 1850, I found a pair of these

birds breeding in a hole in a bank ; the hole was more than an arm’s

length in depth. At the bottom of it I found three young birds,

one very small, with scarcely any feathers on it; another somewhat

larger, and the third of considerable size and pretty well fledged.

There was no nest.

That birds of this genus migrate, I had a convincing proof when

Lieut. Burgess on the Habits of some Indian Birds. 201

returning to England in 1852. When about half way between

Bombay and Aden, on the evening of either the 8th or 9th May, a

large flock of Bee-eaters was observed fluttering about the ship,

some three or four of which were caught after dusk, when they had

settled on the ropes and shrouds. I obtained three or four for the

purpose of preserving their skins, but in the confusion occasioned by

a shower they were unfortunately thrown overboard. They were

larger than Merops indicus.

Family Hatcyonip&.

Genus Hatcyon.

HALCYON SMYRNENSIS.

This and the black and white Kingfishers are the most common of

their tribe in the Deccan, frequenting almost every stream and

nullah. The former breeds during the month of May in holes in

the banks of rivers, laying as many as seven eggs. ‘They are of a

beautiful pinky tinge, owing to the colour of the yolk showing

through the thin delicate shell. The egg is about the size of that of

the little Indian Owl (Noctua indica).

Family CAPRIMULGID.

Genus CAPRIMULGUS.

Of the eggs of these birds, of which there appear to be several

varieties in India, I merely subjoin a note made by Mr. Jerdon from

Mr. Elliott’s notes. He states, that he once found the eggs of the

common species, two in number, placed on the ground without any

nest. They were pink, spotted with brown.

Family HirunDINIDz.

Genus CyPsELvs.

CYPSELUS AFFINIS. WHITE-RUMPED SwIFT*.

- I should certainly say that this is a common bird in the Deccan,

about the city of Ahmednuggur. I have seen their nests crowded

together under the roofs of old buildings, choultries and temples,

and obtained the nest and eggs from a rock in the range of hills

about twelve miles from Ahmednuggur, on the road to Aurungabad.

This nest was obtained on 21st September 1849. It was built of

mud and lined with grass, and contained two white eggs. The eggs

are considerably elongated in form.

-CypseLus PALMARUM, Hardw. Bawasian Swirr.

This Swift, according to General Hardwicke, builds its nest on the

leaf of the palm. Dr. Jerdon says that it “is common in all the

* This Swift builds twice during the year; I obtained a nest and eggs in

September, and also found a nest with young birds in April.

202 Zoological Society :—

districts of India, except on the bare table-land.” I have, however,

never met with its nest or eggs.

Genus Hirunpo.

Hirunpo FILIFERA, Stephens.

This very handsome Swallow breeds in old temples and under

projecting stones in wells and banks of streams. On 28th January

1850, I found the nest of this species built in an old well under a large

stone, near the water; the nest was not domed, but open, and the

young ones, three in number, exposed to view. On Ist April 1851,

I took an egg out of a nest of this Swallow; the nest contained

three. The old birds began building about 15th March; the nest

was composed of mud, lined with a few fibrous roots and feathers ;

it was built under a stone in the bank of a stream. The egg is

;8;ths of an inch in length, by rather more than ;5ths in width ;

white, spotted with two shades of red-brown, the spots forming a

broken belt round the larger end.

Order RAsoreEs.

Family Pavonip&.

Genus Pavo.

PAavo CRISTATUS. COMMON PEAFOWL.

Peafowl abound in the jungles clothing the slopes of the Ghauts,

and in some wooded districts in the interior. In the Deccan, in the

wooded hilly portions of the districts of Jamkhair and Scogao they

were plentiful, and a remarkably pretty sight it was to see them

stalking about near the grain stacks, or running along the bushy

banks of the nullahs. They are wary birds, and lead the sportsman

a good chase when once they take to the low spurs of the hills, up

which they run with incredible swiftness. The best plan to secure

them is to wait for their roosting time, under the trees to which they

resort. Thick mango trees appear to be their favourite resting-places.

Peafowl breed at the end of the monsoon, in the months of September

and October, laying, I am told, from three to five eggs, of a buffy

white colour, 2 inches and nearly ;5,ths in length, by 2 inches and

nearly ;;th m width. The nest is said to be composed of grass, and

formed on the ground amongst bushes.

Genus Gauuus, Briss.

Gauuius SONNERATII, Temm.

As I have not been fortunate enough to obtain the eggs of this

jungle fowl, I have again recourse to my friend Dr. Jerdon’s notes.

He says, “I once found the eggs -of this fowl, seven in number, on

the ground in dense jungle at the foot of the Neilgherries. They

were of a light pinkish-cream colour,”’

Lieut. Burgess on the Habits of some Indian Birds. 203

Family TeTRAONIDz.

Genus TreTrAo.

Subgenus PreRoc.es.

PTEROCLES ExUsTUS. COMMON WHISTLING GROUSE.

This Grouse is common in the open plains of the Deccan, flying

in flocks, and, as Colonel Sykes has remarked, announces its approach

by its peculiar ‘and piercing cry. I believe that this Grouse breeds

during the greater part of the year. Eggs of this species (1 believe)

have been brought to me from the month of December to May.

The Common Whistling Grouse lays three eggs in a slight hollow on

the bare ground, and the colour of the eggs so much assimilates with

that of the sandy ground on which they are laid, that it is very

difficult to find them. The egg sent is, I believe, the egg of this

species. It measures 1,5ths of an inch in length, and 1 inch and

rather more than ;4,th m width, and is of a stone colour, thickly

spotted and blotched with grey and olive-brown. I have in my

collection several eggs of the Sand Grouse, which vary much in

their size and markings.

PTrEROCLES QUADRICINCTUS. PAINTED WHISTLING GROUSE.

This handsome Grouse frequents the low stony hills so common in

the Deccan. It is not nearly so common as the last mentioned. I

succeeded in getting two or three pairs, by waiting for them at a

piece of water whither they used to come at dusk to drink. This

Grouse most probably breeds at the same time and lays the same

number of eggs as P. exustus. Many eggs of birds of the sub-

genus Pterocles were brought to me by the people in the districts,

but as they are not generally very accurate observers, and call both

P. exustus and P. quadricinctus by one common name, they could

not tell me to which they belonged ; but from my own observations,

and the notes of Dr. Jerdon, I believe the egg sent with this papér

is that of P. quadricinctus. Dr. Jerdon says, “I have lately got the

eggs of this species, also very similar to the other, but rather smaller,

and with the spots fewer and larger.”’

Genus Perprix.

PERDIX PICTA.

I met with the Painted Partridge in the grassy valleys near and

amongst the Western Ghauts near Nassick, in the thickly planted

and rich gardens, and in one of the districts between the Godavery

and the Bheema rivers. In the latter district the Shikaries brought

me several pairs alive. Its very peculiar cry is heard at a consider-

able distance. When out shooting in a valley amongst the Ghauts,

I saw one calling when perched on the low stump of a tree. Dr.

Jerdon says, ‘‘ It breeds during the monsoon, lays six or seven eggs

of a smoky bluish-white colour, of an oval form, much depressed at

the thick end.” ,

204 Zoological Society.

Subgenus FRANCOLINUS.

FRANCOLINUS PONTICERIANUS. COMMON PARTRIDGE of India.

This Partridge is found amongst bushes and underwood, but is —

particularly fond of thick grassy hedges round garden plantations.

It is found either singly or in pairs. The Grey Partridge breeds

during the months of February and March, laying its eggs, seven in

number, in grassy spots, hedgerows, and amongst bushes. The egg

is of a rich stone colour, 1 inch and ;5,ths in length, by 1 inch

and =1,th in width, but they vary considerably in colour and size.

This Partridge is by no means a shy bird, but, on the contrary,

appears to prefer fields and gardens near towns and villages to less

frequented spots. By some it is called the Scavenger Partridge,

but I believe there are no grounds for such a term being applied to

it; its flesh is very fair eating. The crop of one which I shot was

full of bajocce and small seeds.

FRANCOLINUS SPADICEUS. SPUR-FOWL.

I procured a specimen of the Spur-fowl on the Ghauts at Khan-

dalla. It was flushed in a garden, and betook itself to a tree in

which I shot it. Its gizzard contained a quantity of earth, some

small stones, and small brown seeds. I was informed by a Shikarie

that they breed in the months of February and March in thick

jungles, making their nests on the ground or in thick close bushes,

and laying three white eggs.

Subgenus CoTuRNIx.

I herewith forward an egg, in itself a bad specimen, but the only

one I was able to procure, and which I believe to belong either to

C. dactylisonans, the large grey Quail, or to C. textilis (Temm.).

I believe the egg to be that of the latter, as if C. dactylisonans be

identical with the English Quail, the egg should be of a yellowish or

dull orange-coloured white, blotched or speckled with umber-brown, -

whereas the egg now sent is of uniform buff, merely spotted and

discoloured by a long exposure to wet. |

Corurnix ArGoonpadg (Sykes). Rock Quatu.

This pretty little Quail, as its name implies, is an inhabitant of

stony hills and bushy sides of streams and nullahs. It lives in

bevies, and is to be met with in company with the grey and black-

breasted Quail. The Rock Quail breeds generally during the months

of November and December, but I have had its eggs brought to me

as late as March, and have procured a young bird well fledged as

early as 20th November. It does not, I believe, lay more than four

eggs, as on three different occasions I have had that number brought

to me, and on a fourth, four young ones just fledged were brought

to me when out quail-shooting. The young were covered with

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 205

down, and had the appearance of being powdered. The egg of this

Quail is of a pale buff colour, 1 inch and {4th in length, by ,§,ths

of an inch in width.

I take this opportunity of bringing to the notice of the members

of this Society distinguishing marks between the Rock Quail and the

Grey and Black-breasted Quail, and of proposing that the former

species should not be confounded with the two last. The distinguish-

ing marks of the former, the Rock Quail, are the stoutness and depth

of the beak in proportion to its length, the much more rounded form

of the wing, the secondaries and tertials being much more equal in

size with the primaries than those of the Grey and Rain Quail; the

much more defined scaly protection of the legs and feet in the Rock

Quail, and what I believe the most distinguishing mark, the smaller

number of eggs laid by the Rock Quail. I believe that the Grey

and Rain, or Black-breasted Quail, lay eight or nine eggs, the Rock

Quail not more than four.

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH.

December 13th, 1855.—Professor Balfour, President, in the Chair.

Colonel Madden was elected President for the ensuing year.

A considerable number of foreign botanists were elected Hon.

Members.

The following papers were read :—

1. * Report on the State of the Society’s Herbarium.” By the

Curator.

2. ** Notes of a Botanical Trip to Ben Lawers and neighbouring

Mountains in August 1855.” By Prof. Balfour.

This appears to have been a very successful trip. It was stated

- that the alpine plants flowered remarkably well in the summer of

1855. Amongst the plants found may be mentioned Polypodium

alpestre and P. flexile, and Cystopteris montana. The latter grew

in a different place from that where Mr. W. Wilson originally de-

tected it. Mr. J. Backhouse has recently gathered it in Caenlochan

Glen, in Forfarshire. 3

3. * Report on Musci collected during the same trip.”” By Dr.

Greville.

4. ** Additional List of Mosses.” By Mr. W. Nichol.

5. On the rare Lichens of Ben Lawers.” By Mr. H. Mac-

millan.

6. ‘ List of Desmidee.”” By Mr. H. G. Stewart.

7. * List of Diatomaceee.” By Prof. Gregory.

8. ‘‘ Geological Notes.”” By Mr. Hector.

The above-enumerated papers, 2-7, all relate to the results of the

same trip, and argue well for the attention paid by Dr. Balfour’s

206 Miscellaneous.

party to the more obscure tribes of plants. They are little more

than lists of names, and do not admit of abstract.

9. “* Notice of some of the contents of the Museum in the Edin-

burgh Botanic Garden.” By Prof. Balfour.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Memorandum on the Animal of Scissurella crispata.

By Lucas Barrett, F.G.S.

TENTACLEs long, serrated, at the base of which are placed the eyes ;

foot furnished with two pointed lappets

and two long slender serrated cirri on

each side. Operculum very thin, ovate,

with an obscure subspiral nucleus. Gi (( wl

No part of the animal was external to (aww

the shell. The only living specimen

occurred at Hammerfest, in 40 to 80

fathoms’ water. When it was placed in

a glass of sea-water, it crawled up the

side and scraped the glass with its

tongue. After immersion in spirit it became inky-black.

OW NY,

Y Y

Notes on the Marine Fauna of Weymouth.

To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History.

Weymouth, Jan. 23, 1856.

GENTLEMEN,—I beg to record the occurrence of Squilla Des-

marestit at Weymouth as follows :—

In the autumn of 1851, a specimen was brought me that had been —

dredged in Weymouth Bay, near Portland. It measured 3} inches.

It is in my cabinet.

On the 22nd December, 1855, I picked up one alive on Melcombe

Sands. We had previously had several days of heavy gales from the

eastward. This specimen, though alive, had been so long out of the

water that it did not recover.

A third specimen was procured by my man on the Ist January,

1856. It was dredged in Weymouth Bay, in twelve fathoms’ water.

The bottom was of pebbles, and also live and dead Pecten opercularis.

In my man’s phraseology, it was a “ pebbly and squinny bottom,

with a lot of live squins.” Pecten opercularis are here called

Squins.

This specimen, I am happy to say, is now lively and well, and will

enable me to give some information as to its habits. I have as yet

only tried it with a pebbly and shingly bottom, and am therefore

not in a position to write certainly as to its burrowing habits. I

have satisfied myself as to its mode of progression, and can state that

‘ its tail is no¢ used for that purpose, but solely as a defensive weapon.

I hope shortly to complete my paper on its habits.

Meteorological Observations. 207

Gebia deltura.—On the 22nd December, 1855, I found on Wey-

mouth Sands, at the same time with Squilla Desmarestii, two living

specimens of Gebia deltura. Although living, they were too much

injured to recover, and I was thus unfortunately prevented from

studying their habits. The length of the larger one is nearly 2}

inches, and the smaller one 2 inches.

Great numbers of Harvey’s Syrinz were thrown up at the same

time, as also numerous specimens of an Actinia, which I doubtfully

refer to Actinia chrysanthellum (Peach).

I am, Gentlemen, yours obediently,

WitiiaAm THOMPSON.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR DEC. 1855.

Chiswick.—December 1. Hazy: very fine: rain. 2. Cloudy: rain. 3. Clear

and frosty. 4. Foggy: drizzly. 5. Clear: overcast. 6. Slight snow: windy. at

night. 7. Clear: fine. 8. Cloudy andcold. 9. Frosty: cloudy and cold: foggy.

10. Overcast: slight snow. 11. Uniform haze. 12. Overcast: sharp frost. 13.

Frosty : fine, with sun: clear and frosty. 14. Overcast: rain. 15. Densely over-

cast: cloudy. 16. Fine: foggy. 17. Foggy. 18. Cloudy and cold. 19. Clear,

cold and dry. 20. Frosty, with dry air. 21. Frosty throughout the day: severe

Frost at night. 22. Frosty: overcast. 23. Overcast: fine: showery. 24. Very

fine: showery at night. 25. Rain. 26. Boisterous, with rain. 27. Rain: cloudy:

fine. 28. Very fine. 29. Fine: very fine: slight rain. 30. Cloudy and fine.

31. Fine throughout.

Mean temperature of the month ..........ssscesecseserreeecvene 34°99

Mean temperature of Dec. 1854 — ........seeseeeeses erecessecons »- 39 °35

Mean temperature of Dec. for the last twenty-nine years... 39 °64

Average amount of rain in Dec. .....esecs.seeeseseeeeeeees seesee 1°492 inches.

Boston.—Dec. 1. Cloudy: rain p.m. 2. Fine. 3. Cloudy. 4. Fine. 5. Cloudy.

6. Fine: snow a.m. 7. Cloudy: snow p.m. 8, 9. Cloudy: snow a.m. and p.m.

10. Fine: snow A.M.and p.m. 11—13. Fine. 14. Cloudy: rain a.m. and p.m.

15. Cloudy. 16—21. Fine. 22. Cloudy: snow a.m. 23. cloudy : snow and rain

A.M., andrainp.M. 24. Fine. 25, 26. Cloudy: raina.M.andp.m. 27—29.

Fine. 30, 31. Cloudy.

Sandwick Manse, Orkney.—Dec. 1. Drizzle a.m.: clear p.m. 2. Damp a.m. :

damp, vapours p.m. 3. Showers a.M.: drizzly showers p.m. 4. Rain a.m.:

showers p.m. 5. Snow-showers A.M.: sleetp.M. 6. Snow-showers A.M. and P.M.

7. Sleet-showers A.M.: clear, frost p.m. 8. Cloudy a.m.: cloudy, frost p.m. 9.

Cloudy a.m.: fine, frost p.m. 10. Cloudy a.m.: showers p.m. 11, 12. Snow-

showers A.M. and p.m. 13. Cloudy a.m.: showers p.m. 14. Rain a.m.: drizzle

P.M. 15. Showers A.m.: showers, thunder and lightning p.m. 16. Hail-showers

A.M.: sleet-showers P.M. 17. Fine a.m.: fine, cloudy p.m. 18. Cloudy a.m.:

sleet-showers P.M. 19. Cloudy a.m. and p.m. 20. Bright a.m.: Cloudy p.m,

21. Bright a.m.: clear p.m. 22. Clear, frost A.M. and P.M. 23. Snow-showers

A.M.: rain, clear p.m. 24. Bright a.m.:rainp.M. 25. Bright a.m.: clear p.m.

26. Drizzle a.m.: rain p.m. 27. Rain, drizzle a.m.: fine, cloudy p.m. 28. Damp

A.M.: rain P.M. 29. Bright a.m.: cloudy p.M. 30. Bright a.m.: clear, aurora

p.M. 31. Bright a.m.: cloudy P.M..

Mean temperature of Dec. for twenty-eight previous years ... 41°03

Mean temperature of the month .......0+..6+ eoeceee Kitbeds neous 39 41

Mean temperature of Dec. 1854 — ....ce..secesseceessrececeeeerens 39 °13

Average quantity of rain in Dec. for fifteen previous years... 4°21 inches.

The following are the averages for November 1855, with which we have been

favoured by our correspondent the Rev. Ch. Clouston of Sandwick Manse, whose

usual report miscarried owing to the stormy weather which then prevailed :—

Barometer. Thermometer. Rain

A.M. P.M. A.M. P.M. in inches,

29°970 29°976. 43°53 43°46 1°37.

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THE ANNALS

MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY.

[SECOND SERIES.] .

No. 99. MARCH 1856.

XVI.—On the House Ant of Madeira. By Professor O. Herr,

of Zurich. Translated from the original* by R. T. Lows,

M.A.t+ ,

[With a Plate. |

I. Apparition and Habits.

Amoncst the richly varied insect-tribes the Ants stand foremost

probably in pomt of numbers. We meet with them everywhere,

in field and garden, meadows and forests, from spring to latest

autumn. In general the unwinged labourers alone are seen;

but in July and August the winged males and females issue from

their nests, and rise in such vast swarms into the air as to attract

occasionally general attention. This was especially the case in

August 1849. On the 7th of August immense swarms, consist-

ing of Myrmica rubra, F., Formica fuliginosa, ¥., and F. nigra,

made their appearance in Winterthur. From two o’clock till

near sunset they appeared in small clouds, glistening in the sun

and reaching up into the higher regions of the atmosphere.

The ground in the town and its environs was quite strewed over

with these little winged creatures. On the 8th of August a whole

tract in width of the Lake of the Four Cantons, between Bauen

and Fliielen, was completely covered with little black, winged

ants (doubtless Formica fuliginosa, F.), so that from forty to fifty

could be taken up out of the water at one handful. Many were

yet alive; others were dead: they had not therefore been im-

mersed collectively, but must have fallen on the spot into the

water. On the same evening great bodies of the Formica fult-

* An die Zurcherische Jugend auf das Jahr 1852, von der Naturforsch-

enden Gesellschaft, Liv. Stiick.

+ The Translator desires thus to express his special thanks to Professor

Heer for a copy of this valuable and interesting Memoir.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 14

210 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

ginosa, F., were also seen in the Lake of Zurich ; but it is related

that at Schondorf in Wurtemberg, on the same evening, swarms

like clouds (to judge from the description), of Myrmica rubra

were moving between three and four o’clock through the coun-

try ; and a like report referring to the same day was made from

Soleure, Friburg, Bubendorf and Gelterkinden in the Canton of

Basle : whence it is to be inferred that the swarms were moving

in a southerly direction. The last great swarms (of Myrmica

rubra, F.) we observed on the 11th of August, on the summit

of the Uetliberg. Similar phenomena occur however every year,

though not in these environs*. It depends in great measure on

the weather. Should this happen to be fine at the time when

the winged ants are quitting the chrysalis state, they all leave

their nests at the same moment, and thus form those ammense

great cloud-like swarms ; on the other hand, should the weather

be unfavourable at this epoch, the swarms are distributed over a

longer period, and are not therefore so striking. This is indeed

the case too with our May Chafers. Let fine May weather

all at once set in after a wet April, and all at once (in years

when they abound) great quantities of them make their ap-

pearance, and again after a short time disappear; but if May

* The following account, which appeared in most of the leading journals

at the time, is copied from the ‘ English Churchman’ of Sept. 2, 1852

(No. 505, vol. x. p. 575).—Tr.

“ Extraordinary Phenomenon.—A lover of natural history, who was in

Romney Marsh on Tuesday the 17th ult., about 5 p.M., gives the following :

—‘ I saw what appeared to be a column of smoke approaching me, about a

quarter of a mile off. Outhe column reaching me, I found it was composed

of red ant-flies. I think the column was a good quarter of a mile in length,

and about from 50 to 100 yards in circumference: it quite darkened the

sky. After it passed me it went over the river Rother, into which millions

and millions of flies fell; and when I crossed it, the water was quite

black. I watched the column for a wile and a half, and, notwithstanding

the numbers left in the river, and on the trees, hedges, &e. over which it

passed, the column appeared undiminished, and like a wreath of dark

smoke. The extraordinary thing is, that the ant-flies throughout the whole

marsh, thirty miles in length (as I hear it was so all through the marsh), should

all have taken wing at the same time, and collected together in such vast

numbers. A man who was collecting ant-eggs for me, informs me that

he found himself covered with them, runnmg up to the tops of the strands

of grass and then taking wing. After the flight he scarcely found one ant-

fly in the nests. Other persons who saw the flight, and who I do not

believe intended to exaggerate, considered the length of the column to be

amile. The wind was im the east, the temperature very sultry, and there

was every appearance of a thunder-storm. Had not my man observed the

ant-flies rise from the ground, I should have thought that they came from

the Continent. ‘The column travelled at the rate of five or six miles an

hour. Those persons fond of natural history will find an interesting

account of these flights, and the reason, in the 2nd volume of Kirby and

Spence, pp. 51, 52.’—Sussex Express.” |

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 211

proves rainy, their flights are spread over a much longer

period, and are thus less numerous. The great ant-swarms

of August 1849 lead us by no means therefore to admit, that

in that year an unusually great number of ants were produced ;

but make it only most evident to every one, how populous

the Ant-tribe must be to send out such myriads of winged

individuals, from any two of which a new colony might spring.

Nor must we at the same time overlook that these winged

ants form but by far the smaller portion of the colony, and

that an infinitely greater number of unwinged ones remain be-

hind in the nests. These creatures not only thus abound with

us in the lowlands, but are met with here and there up in the

higher Alps (up to 8000 feet above the sea), as. they are also

found in higher northern latitudes ; Lapland, for instance, even

possessing thirteen kinds. Still, in warmer countries they are

met with in much greater numbers and more varied forms than

with us. Thus they have their home all over the world, and

everywhere belong to the most numerously constituted tribes of

living creatures. The same condition existed also remarkably in

the old world. We are already made acquainted with eighty-

three kinds of Ants belonging to a former epoch, from the ter-

tiary formation only ; although but two localities (Eningen and

Radoboj) have been more closely examined in this respect.

These creatures therefore in all ages formed a very important sec-

tion in the insect world. They must consequently perform a part

of the highest importance in the ceconomy of Nature. In Nature

all is motion: unbroken continual production and destruction.

Many animals, indeed, in all classes are appointed to destroy

and carry away dead substances, and thus prepare again organic

matter for new combinations. This office has been assigned to

the ants also, They work up and destroy, with industry become

proverbial, the productions of the vegetable and animal king-

doms. Though the chief bent of their activity is destructive,

yet is it, through its operativeness in breaking up and clearing

away, besides making preparation for new forms, of the greatest

importance in Nature’s collective household. And a good deal

of the mischief, too, charged upon ants is very unjustly placed to

their account ; as when with us people maintain that they do

harm to fruit-trees, and try therefore to drive them from their

trees. Our species however only hurt the trees when they

build their nests amongst their roots ; but the trees themselves,

as in general all plants, they only ascend to collect honey from

the flowers, and to search for Aphides, whose sweet juices they

lick off.. Into our houses they seldom intrude, and the harm

they do in them is, in fact, inconsiderable. In warm countries,

on the other hand, the case is very different. There, ants are

1 4¢&

212 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

found which not only cause much harm to cultivation, but also

force their way in enormous companies into the dwellings of

man, and thus become terrible pests of the country. One of

these kinds I had opportunity last year in Madeira to become

acquainted with. At first, by the ravages which it caused in my

dwelling, it occasioned me many annoyances; but afterwards,

when I began to pay attention to its habits, it afforded me much

amusement. I communicate these observations in the hope that

they will induce some of our young friends to institute similar

ones themselves, for which the richness of our environs in insects

affords such manifold opportunity.

In the accompanying Plate (III.) is figured the small minute

Madeiran Ant. Fig. 1. represents the female, fig. 11. the male ;

figs. 111. & tv. the neuters, which present two very distinct forms.

The one (fig. 111.) has a remarkably large head ; it is larger than

all the rest of the body, and gives the little creature a most

extraordinary appearance ; in the other, the head is much smaller

and nearly circular. These small-headed ants are the working-

class of the colony, and form the mass of its population; we

shall therefore call them the labourers or workers. The large-

headed ants can scarcely amount to ;jjth of these, and serve

partly for the defence of the nest ; we shall therefore distinguish

them by the name of soldiers, from the rest. In still smaller

number appear the females, which not only are much larger than

the labourers, but are also distinguished by their transparent

glassy wings and shining brown colour. The males are not much

bigger than the labourers, and of a coal-black colour. Accord-

ingly, with these ants the family consists of four quite different-

looking individuals: of workers, soldiers, males, and females.

This ant-colony is consequently further developed than those of

our species, in which only one form of neuters (the common

wingless ants) occurs.

The house-ant lives in very numerous societies, under stones

in the ground, and also under the bark of trees, and within the

walls of houses. The stones serve them, in common with all

ants living in the ground, in place of a roof for shelter. Their

nests go down pretty deep into the earth, and are divided into a

great number of passages and chambers. They have several

entrances, which are sometimes covered over, and run like

burrows under the stones. Not unfrequently they form their

nests in flower-pots standing before the windows and on the

balconies.

They are found on the whole south side of the island of

Madeira, up to a height of about 1000 feet above the sea, in

incalculable numbers, especially in hot sunny places. In turning

over ten stones in such places, these ants are pretty sure to be

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 213

living under eight. In the city of Funchal there can scarcely be

a house which does not harbour millions of these creatures,

which mount up to the highest stones, issue forth in whole

troops out of the chinks of the walls and floor, and in orderly

regular columns traverse the room in all directions. They creep

up the table legs, along their edges, upon the tables themselves,

and even into chests of drawers, boxes, &. Bemg extremely

small, they can get in through the smallest cracks and holes.

You may kill thousands on thousands, and yet perceive no de-

erease of them; they are continually replaced by new hosts in

the rear. Only after very heavy rains, during which the water

that came down in torrents made its way between the walls of

our house, did we observe some sort of diminution, which we

thought might indicate that a large number had been drowned.

I found these ants however not only in Madeira, but also at

Seville, in the rooms of our hotel in the middle of the city.

This little creature is attached to no particular kind of food ;

in houses it attacks all sorts of provisions laid in store, especially

preferring sweet things (sugar, honey, syrup, preserved fruits) ;

but not less also fresh fleshy fruits of all kinds. If you leave

on the table a custard-apple, a lemon, or an orange, having only

the smallest opening possible through the rind, you may safely

reckon that in an hour’s time it will be full of ants, going to

and fro in whole trains. But if there be no opening in the

fruit, it is then safe. It would be indeed an easy matter for the

ants to gnaw through the leathery coats; but the essential oils,

which they plentifully contain, appear to protect them ; for all

insects are known to avoid these oils. They seem to prefer flesh

to vegetable substances. Raw and boiled meat is eagerly sought

by them ; but insects are very decidedly preferred. I had great

trouble to guard my collections of insects from them. At first

they made their way in numbers into the boxes, and my painfully

collected treasures were grievously mutilated by them, until I

found a means to make them more secure from them. They do

not however seek after dead insects only, but attack also the

living. Very droll it is to see how these tiny little creatures

seize on flies! Let a fly settle on the table-cover near an ant,

and at once the latter springs upon it, seizing it by a leg. The

fly tries instantly to get free from its enemy and escape; but the

ant has grappled on to the table-cover by its legs, and with its

pincers holds the fly fast. Other ants soon come to help the

first, and the fly is lost. This is much sooner the case when

soldier-ants are near. These spring at once like cats upon the

fly, and gnaw off first its wings and legs, so that it is then easily

carried off by the labourers. But the soldiers never make the

first seizure ; they are much more cowardly than the labourers,

214 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

and often quit the fly when it makes very active exertions to

shake off its assailants. I have never seen the labourers do so.

Sometimes they cannot, indeed, hold the fly fast, as when it is

on a smooth wall or polished table; but they do not therefore

let go their hold with their pincers, but remain clinging to the

fly’s legs when it flies away. When it again settles, the ant

tries again to hold it, and, with the help of its companions

hastening up, to master it. I often shut up flies and ants

together in glasses, in order to observe this battle of the ants and

flies ; and have frequently had opportunity to satisfy myself with

what extraordinary obstinacy* the labourers pursued the flies

buzzing about, and how so insignificant a wingless little creature

could master a winged one about a hundred times bigger.

General Hardwicke relates; that the ants in India are the worst

enemies of the Termites (the so-called White Ants); those also

of Brazil are known to clear the houses of these dangerous

guests. With what keenness our little ant attacks the Termites,

I have more than once had occasion to observe. [had procured

a great number of Termites, and had placed them, with the pieces

of wood in which they lived, in a tin box, which was closed with

a lid. The ants however managed to get into the box through

a small chink, and within two hours the box was swarming with

ants, which had destroyed nearly the whole of the Termites,

amounting to a couple of hundred. But it is still much more

extraordinary that even grasshoppers cannot withstand them. I

had in a box half-a-dozen specimens of the Cape Grasshopper

(Gryllus capensis, li.), which is abundant in Madeira, in order

to observe their habits and their mode of chirp. To my sur-

prise, I soon discovered that whole troops of ants had crept into

the box, furnished as it was with little air-holes, and had attacked

the grasshoppers. These were hopping restlessly about the box,

and had also bitten and killed whole masses of ants, so that the

bottom of the box was quite covered with their nibbled remnants;

but at last the grasshoppers were forced to yield to hostile num-

bers, and, with the exception of the horny portions, were com-

pletely devoured. How should we be astonished to see an

animal of the size of a mouse hunt elephants, and master them ;

and yet a grasshopper in proportion to our ant is bigger than an

elephant !. We can but be grateful to these ants for living in

continual warfare with the flies, and other troublesome inmates

of our houses. But they attack also useful insects. I had

* We have observed also the same obstinacy in our own ants, which

will often rather let themselves be torn in pieces than release an object into

which they have once fixed their jaws. LIonce saw an ant (Formica fusca)

that had seized by the leg a great courser-beetle (Carabus hortensis),

which, in spite of all its efforts, could not free itself.

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 215

placed in front of my room, on a balcony, a Cactus (Opuntia

Ficus indica*, 1..), with cochineal insects, in order to acquaint

myself more closely with the metamorphoses of these wonderful

little creatures. Soon however the ants made their appearance

here also, and, by degrees, ate up all the cochineals. This is a

fact very well worth noting, since our ant must do great injury

to the cochineal-breeding, which for some years past has become

of the greatest importance to the Canary Islands. At least I

saw this ant very plentiful in cochineal-gardens, where they

ought to be exterminated as much as possible.

The predaceous animals, as a rule, spare those of their own kind.

Strange to say, this is not the case with our ant. In hope of

becoming more closely acquainted with their ceconomy, I placed

- four winged females, with two soldiers and six labourers, in a

glass, which was stopped at top, but with a hole in the stopper

just large enough to let the labourers go out and in, but not the

bigger soldiers and females. These therefore were obliged to

remain in the glass, in which was placed sufficient food. The

glass was soon entered by other labourers from without, which

presently attacked the females and tore up their wings. Since

the labourers are said to tear off the females’ wings to prevent

their flying away from the nests, I thought at first the matter

might be thus explained ; but in the course of a few days the

females had their antenne and legs also torn off; and at. last

we found their heads pulled off, and the labourers busy in

tearing them completely asunder, and in carrying away the

separate pieces out of the place. Strange to say, the females

did not defend themselves in the least, which would however

have been easy for them to do, from their considerably larger

size and stronger fangs. They bore all these attacks with the

greatest, and to us incomprehensible, resignation. Nay more;

even the soldiers were attacked, and one of them killed; some

of the labourers took all sorts of pains to carry away the head,

and get it through the little hole in the stopper; but through

this it would not pass. Thus individuals of their own species

are killed and eat up when they are found in circumstances in

which they can be no longer profitable, as was the case with

these individuals shut up in the glass. Not unfrequently I saw

ants that had been hurt} carried away by labourers, to which

* Rather O. Tuna (Mill.), D.C., which is the common species in Madeira,

and that on which the Cochineal there usually exists. I do not recollect to

have ever seen the true O. Ficus indica, L., in the island, though O. vulgaris,

Mill., sometimes occurs.—R. T. Lown.

_ + But apparently healthy ants also were sometimes carried off in this way.

Rengger relates the same thing (Reise nach Paraguay, S. 250) of the Isau

ant (Uicodoma cephalotes, Latr.). “The labourers are very often seen,”

216 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

they had affixed themselves by laying hold with their fangs at

the abdominal pedicle. I imagined that they were carrymg

them to the nest to nurse them, in the same way as they treat

their young with the greatest care; but the very barbarous

habit above related would make it seem more probable that they

were carried into the nest in order to be there fed upon, as being

no more capable of work. With the ants, everything is turned

to the most careful possible advantage of the common stock ; and

this reaches so far, that one of the same species, nay, even of

the same family, is not spared, when it can no longer serve its

purpose.

With this bad propensity, it must seem very strange that any

different sorts of animals should be ever met with in their nests.

Snails, worms, caterpillars, and such like, in general are never

found under the same stone; seldom even a millepede (Julus),

which they however attack only when the nest. is disturbed,

and then all the ants of every sort fall with great fury on the

strangers, as if they considered these the cause of the misfortune

which has befallen them. The millepedes then try, with violent

contortions, to get free from the ants that cling to them. But

claiming attention as animals peculiar to ants, are a Coccus, and

a very curious little beetle (Cossyphodes Wollastoni, Westw.),

which is never found elsewhere. I found it first in an ants’-nest

in the country ; but afterwards in the balcony of our apartment,

where an ant-colony had established itself in a tub in which

grew a Diosma alba, L.* I have seen at different times more

examples of the same insect, and always at the entrance of the

nest. For what reason this very peculiar little beetle lives in

these.ant-colonies, I am not able to explain. We are acquainted

already with a great number of minute beetles which occur in the

ant-nests of our own country. Some ofthese (such as the little

club-beetles) are regularly tended by the ants; and, as I have

often satisfied myself, they are carried down into the deeper parts

of the nest with the same care and anxiety as the pup when

the nest is disturbed; but the others are probably merely

tolerated, without being adopted into the family. The Cossy-

phodes seems to belong to the former class.

says he, “travelling home laden with another of themselves. These are

not chance prisoners from another nest, but they belong to one and the

same household; for the one carried is often bigger than its bearer.

Besides, I have often observed, when two ants were returning home, that

one would lay hold of the other and carry it home. If moreover its load

be taken from one of these carriers and placed on the ground, both travel

then along the same road quietly home.” The like has been observed also

amongst our own ants. (Compare Huber, ‘ Recherches sur les Mceurs des

Fourmis,’ p. 140.)

* Diosma ericoides (Sims), Curt. Bot. Mag. t. 2332.—Tr.

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 217

In order to look more into our ants’ manner of proceeding in

their work, I placed a small wooden vessel in a tumbler of water,

and stretched a thread from the vessel through the air to a ledge

on the wall two feet off, and from this ledge a second thread to

the ground. . This thread was perpendicular, the first horizontal.

The ants soon passed along the horizontal thread to the vessel in

the water, on which I had laid a small piece of meat. No sooner

was this discovered, than the ants set to work at it. In a short

time, whole masses poured in. At first they were only labourers,

but presently a few soldiers made their appearance in the train

of the former. The soldiers cut up the meat into little pieces,

drawing up their abdomen into an almost vertical direction, like

that of their head. (Compare fig. 111.3). They presented thus a

most curious appearance, when one looked down from above, and

saw only the middle part of the body and the crown of the head.

The meat was cut up into quite small fragments with their great

hatchet-shaped pincers, being held fast at the same time by the

_ two fore-legs. The labourers took these fragments between

their pincers, and carried them away. Whole trains passed

along the horizontal thread, and each of those that formed them

had a fragment in its mouth. But the labourers alone were

engaged in this act of transport: I never saw a soldier carrying

away anything. At times, indeed, one or another went back

over the thread, but always without taking anything with him.

The ants soon discovered the perpendicular thread, and found

out that they could get easier to the floor of the room by it than by

the wall; and thenceforward the whole train always passed along

this perpendicular thread down to the ground, and from thence

to a corner of the room, where they disappeared through a little

hole in the wall. Thus, from the vessel in the water they first

passed along the horizontal thread to the wall, where they had

to run along a ledge, and then arrived at the perpendicular

thread, which reached down to the ground. The thread was

always thickly crowded with ants, some passing downwards laden

with fragments, the others empty, mounting upwards; and the

up and down passers always arranged in files, so as not to disturb

each other mutually in their way. More than once I placed ants,

which I had fetched out of another room, in the vessel in the

water. These also soon found, indeed, the thread leading to the

wall; but there they dispersed themselves on all sides; whilst

the others, without stopping, always ran to the perpendicular

thread. This gave me a ready means of ascertaining whether

ants from different nests came into my room or not. A closer in-

vestigation proved the first to be the case. It turned out that all

the ants which resorted to the vessel in the water to fetch food,

belonged to one colony, as well as all which appeared on the

218 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

table on whieh the vessel stood; and that, on the other hand,

those which were destroying the fruit on the window-seat, must

belong to another nest. From this, however, I could not quite

draw the conclusion, that one ant-colony, when it has fallen in

with a prize, excludes another from a share in it. At least I

have never seen them fighting with each other, which in such a

case would scarcely not have happened. Probably all provision

that may be discovered is considered common property, and each

party keeps as much of it as it can carry away. But if once a

nest has taken entire possession of a thing, then probably the

others keep aloof, and leave it altogether to the first. Here, too,

it is to be considered, that ants clearly have a sort of power of

communication ; for let only a single labourer discover a supply,

and without delay there appears a whole troop of ants to work at

it. We cannot otherwise explain this circumstance to ourselves,

than that the exploring labourer had gone back into the nest,

and thence procured help. It would be in consequence of this

circumstance that, as a rule, ants of the same nest are always

collected for a common work.

That ants have memory, Huber has already pointed out; and.

the following observation would also confirm it:—One of my

fellow-lodgers had arranged in his room a similar apparatus to

that which I have described above; only in this, from the middle

of the horizontal thread, which was several feet long, a second

shorter thread was carried to the nearest wall. The ants soon

chose this last road; thus going from the vessel in the water

to the middle of the horizontal thread, and thence to the wall

over the thread at right angles to it. After some time this last

was removed. At first all the ants stopped suddenly, exactly at

the place where, before, the thread that led sideways was fastened,

and ran no farther along the horizontal thread. They had there-

fore observed closely for themselves the place whence the side-

thread had branched off, though it had no sort of mark. At last,

after having run restlessly backwards and forwards for some time,

they tried to proceed further on the thread, and thus arrived at

the wall, where they collected together in a cluster, having thence

to seek the way for themselves. Perhaps too the fact here

communicated may be explained by the faculty of tracking in

ants. The dog tracks out, as is well known, the way which

his master has taken toa great distance; and so the ant, perhaps,

possesses a like fine “ scent,” which enables it to find again with

certainty the way along which it has once passed. As above

noticed, the larger pieces of meat placed in the vessel were torn

up on the spot into scraps of pretty equal size, such as a single

labourer could well transport ; in like manner were grasshoppers

and larger insects also dealt with; but dead flies, which were

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 219

placed im the vessel, were not divided, but carried off quite

entire. To ascertain the strength of these little creatures, I tied

with a thread first two, then three and four dead window-flies

together, and they dragged even this load of four flies first to the

perpendicular piece of wood to which the level thread was

fastened, aloft, then horizontally along this, and then down the

perpendicular thread till they brought it to the hole in the wall.

Here the flies were first pulled in pieces, because the hole was

too small to let them be carried through it entire. This carriage

of the flies over the thread stretched through the air, was ex-

tremely droll to see. A single fly would sometimes be dragged

away by only two ants; on the load of four flies were mostly

from six to twelve labourers employed. Most of these had laid

hold with their fangs in front, and pulled, going backwards, at

the load; the rest had fastened on the other side, and pushed,

going forwards, in a straight direction, holding on meantime by

their legs to the thread. The motion forwards was always by

short impulses ; on each jerk there followed a longer or shorter

rest. Men are well known to do the same in shoving along a

great load: when several share the work, it is always managed

by a cry (Yo ho), that all may lay hold at once, and so bring

equally to bear the force applied. A like co-operation in these

ants could not but be discerned: the hinder pushed at the same

time as the front ones pulled, and at the same time they left off

and rested for an instant together. But by what kind of means

this unanimity in their operations was attained, I was not able

to discover. The most remarkable thing moreover was, that

sometimes all let go together, and a single one held the whole

load in suspension. Here therefore again some agreement must

have taken place, for not one fly ever fell to the ground: there

was always an ant ready to hold on: but had all left loose at the

same time, the load must have naturally fallen down. The load

was altogether held by the fangs only; with their legs the ants

clung fast to the thread, wherein the peculiar curvature of the

first joint of the foot, and the remarkable claw (see fig. 1. 6 4, c)

corresponding thereto, had each essentially their share. Thus a

single, and that an unusually minute ant, was able, hanging to

a thread, to support four flies. What immense muscular power

in the fangs and legs does this display !*

Whilst the ants were transporting this burden, they were not

easily disturbed at their work; whilst otherwise they quickly

run off when they are meddled with. For example, if one lifts

up a fruit full of ants, or shakes it, they hurry out as fast as

* A house-ant (dried) weighs 4, of a milligramme; but four window-

flies (also dried) 18,8, of a milligramme. Thus this ant was able to bear

a load 376 times its own weight.

220 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

possible. They do not go back to their nest, but hide themselves

in some cranny, or else under some near object ; but as soon as

the danger is over, they come out again, and betake themselves

afresh to their work. On such occasions one may satisfy oneself

that they do not see far. On taking away from an ant the

morsel it is carrying, it seeks about for it for some time, running

hastily in zigzags up and down; but at times stopping still, and

lifting its head up in the air. When placed at the distance of some

inches, the ant does not go straight up to it, as would be the

case if it could see it, but runs round about in different direc-

tions, and only when at the distance of about an inch, springs

forward on it, as if seeming then to have first seen it. If we

examine the eye of this ant, we shall find that (as, however,

generally in all ants) it is of simple structure, as in most other

insects, and only consisting of a small number of lenses (Ocellen).

In order to see whether these ants would try to pass over water,

I several times destroyed the connexion formed by the thread

between the vessel in the water and the wall, so that the ants

which happened to be in the vessel were quite cut off. If there

was a scum formed over the water (which is always the case |

when the water has stood some time, a thin film spreading over

the water from the falling dust), then they tried to run away

over it; a few got quite safe over, when the film could bear

them; but others broke through and were drowned. But I

never saw such a number fallen into the water that a bridge was

formed by the dead bodies, as is related of other sorts of ants,

and that by this means they reach vessels of provisions placed in

water.

The work of these little creatures goes on alike day and night;

and if you look after them during the day, or in the night, or

carly in the morning, you see always the same stirring activity.

Hence they seem to observe no fixed resting-times, at least none

in connexion with the change of day and night. This is also

the case with most of our own native ants, of which Pliny already

relates that they work by moonlight. These however hyber-

nate. The ants of warm countries, and so of Madeira, on the

contrary, do not. One of our own kinds (Formica fusca, L.) is

also found there, and it too continues the whole winter in activity.

Our house-ant is found throughout the whole year in nearly

equal abundance. The males and females probably appear at

the end of summer. Of the former I found only a single example,

whilst females were found in several nests till the new year. In

most cases it might well be that I observed none, because they

keep in the deeper parts of the nest. The females lay minute

little white eggs, out of which proceed little white maggots; the

pupe are free, not enclosed in cases, as In our common ants

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 221

(Formica), which pupa-cases with us are falsely called ants’ eggs.

The soldiers are met with in the nests in proportionally greater

numbers than outside; they appear therefore to be provided

for the work within the nest and its defence, whilst the labourers

procure food and take care of the young. At least it is these

which carry away the pupz when the nest is disturbed. That

the soldiers however go out also with the labourers, and are

serviceable to them in their operations on the treasures they dis-

cover, has already been mentioned. Lacordaire (Introduction

& l’Entomologie, 1. 498) relates of the Train-ant* (Ccodoma

cephalotes, Latr.) of Bengal, that the soldiers accompany the

trains, without mixing with the mass of the army. .Stationed

at the sides of the column, they are to be seen marching for-

wards, then again turning back to an earlier occupied post,

halting a moment to see the train file past, and running hastily

up and down, especially if a stoppage anywhere occurs, and

their help be necessary. Nay, they will often, as Lacordaire

relates, climb up the plants near the train, station themselves on

the edges of the leaves, and from this elevated post inspect the

train of their troops. In our Madeiran ants the soldiers play

no such prominent part, always marching along in the same

rank and file as the labourers.

All that we have said above relates to one kind of ant only,

the Gicophthora pusilla; but in hot countries there are whole

numbers of species which have similar habits, and which come

into hostile collision with man. In Brazil this is so much the

ease, that the inhabitants there say, “The ants are the queens

of Brazil, for they have the most power in the country.” One of

the largest and most dangerous kinds, which is spread over the

whole of tropical America, continental as well as insular (e.g.

Cuba, from whence we have specimens), is the Train-ant ((co-

doma cephalotes, Latr.). The female is bigger than our hive-bee ;

the labourers about twice as big as those of our red wood-ant.

It lives in very populous colonies in the ground, into which they

dig their dwellings, sometimes nine feet deep. It marches in

great regular trains, and on its course strips bare of leaves, often

in a short time, trees and shrubs. Rengger relates of the Isau-

ant (which I do not consider different from the train-ant +), that

in one night many millions, inhabitants of a single nest, levelled

to the ground whole plantations of manioc, maize, potatoes,

melons, garden-stuff, &. Having rapidly ascended the plants

which they intend to plunder, they place themselves at the

* Visitor-ant, Angl.—Tr.

+ From specimens seen by me in Rengger’s Collection.

222 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

edges of the leaves, and with their fangs cut out ina short time a

piece of about half the size of a farthing, which they then directly

carry home. If,as very often happens, the piece falls to the ground

before they have been able to lay hold of it, they set themselves at

once afresh to work, and do not go down to look after the fallen

piece. It has been maintained, that the Isau throws this piece on

purpose to the ground to save itself and its fellow-labourers the

trouble of carrying it down. But this is by no means the case ;

for the ants approaching from the nest pay no heed to these

pieces of leaf, though the ground is often quite strewed with

them, but each for itself bites its own piece out of a leaf whilst yet

attached to the plant. This communication of the close observer

Rengger serves to correct earlier statements, that the Train-ant

bites the leaves off at the stalk, and lets them fall to the ground,

where their companions stand ready to clip up the fallen leaves

and carry them home. This stripping process is often so rapidly

effected, that sometimes in the morning trees look like besoms

which the evening before were standing in their whole beauty of

foliage ; nay, Lund relates, that he has seen a tree stripped within

half-an-hour. Dr. Delacour speaks of a similar species, which

sometimes in New Spain robs a garden of its whole crop of

plants in one night. One of his acquaintance had planted a -

very fine vineyard : at the end of three years the ants made their

appearance, and, in the space of one night, it was despoiled of

the whole of its leaves and destroyed. :

The Train-ant properly lives in the open air; but sometimes it

makes inroads in regular trains, like a great army, into houses,

where it immediately makes chase after the flies, the spiders, cock-

roaches, and all vermin generally. However useful this activity,

yet. is it so troublesome a guest, that those who live in the house

are not unfrequently obliged to leave their dwelling for some time.

When these ants swarm, the females are caught in great quan-

tities; the abdomen is cut off, fried in butter, and esteemed

a delicacy. Eaten undressed, its taste, says Rengger, is like

that of a hazel-nut; and when slightly toasted, or covered

thick with syrup, it tastes like burnt and sugared almonds.

The Train-ant does not attack people; but this is by no means

the case with certain other American species. Dr. Delacour

speaks of a little reddish-yellow kind, which, by its sharp bite

causing inflammation, is very dangerous to little children. His

own child, twenty months old, once, in the middle of the night,

awakened him by a violent shriek; on examination he found it.

covered by a crowd of ants, which had bitten it so violently,

that in the morning it was quite covered with pustules, and for

forty-eight hours lay in a violent fever. The same kind is a

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 223

great enemy to young chickens, and makes it in many places

very difficult to rear them. But still more dangerous, according

to Dr. Delacour, are some of the wood-ants. In the year 1834,

he says, a young man of respectable family, resting under a tree

on the way from Tampico to Mexico, was attacked by the ants

and completely eaten up. On the following day nothing was

found but his skeleton, with the clothes. A similar accident he

relates also to have happened in the year 1838; nay, he had once

himself nearly fallen a victim to these creatures. In a forest near

Turpan he had been Jeaning for a few minutes against the trunk of

a tree, when all at once he was so violently bitten in all parts of

the body, that he would have sunk down under the violence of

the pain had not two of his hunting companions come up,

stripped off immediately his clothes, and freed him from his

enemies. In Paraguay, also, a species (Odontomachus) 1s found,

which, when it makes its appearance, puts the inhabitants there

into fear and terror. According to Rengger (‘ Reise nach

Paraguay,’ 8. 262) it appears all at once in great companies, and

attacks men as well as beasts; crickets, spiders, grasshoppers

are immediately torn by them in pieces. I have, says Dr.

Rengger, seen mice, covered with these insects, leave their hole

in torture; young mice, which have been eaten up by them in

their nest ; lizards, and even snakes, flying before them. They

attack people in their sleep, and gnaw them till the pain awakens

them. Dr. Rengger saw a drunken mulatto whose eyebrows,

partly during his own presence, as well as eyelashes, these beasts

entirely eat off, and also gnawed the skin of his face to the quick.

Two of his patients were attacked by these creatures in their

bed, and one of them died soon after, partly in consequence of

the fright.

In tropical Africa, also, certain ants occur which prove ex-

tremely troublesome to man. The most exact information we

possess about them is that afforded by Mr. Savage concerning

the Driver-ant (Anomma arcens, Westw.), which is found on the

west coast of Africa. It is a little black ant, with very sharp

and pointed fangs; and the neuters also present two forms, one

smaller (the labourers) and another larger (the soldiers). They

have no fixed dwelling, but seek their lodging in shallow hollows

under roots of trees, overhanging rocks, and such like, where

they find shade. The direct rays of the sun being fatal to them,

they only come out on cloudy days and by night. If surprised

by the sun at their work, they build over their path a vault with

earth, which they glue together with their saliva. At other

times the soldiers form a vault over the path for the shelter of

the labourers. At the rainy season, if their places of abode are

224 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

inundated, they form themselves into a round cluster; the young,

with the weaker ones, within, the stronger on the outside, and

thus float about till they come to dry land. If they fall in with

a broad piece of water in the way, they form, by laying hold of

each other, a chain across the water, along which the rest pass

as over a bridge. The Train-ant is also said to do the same.

Madame Merian relates the process thus :—The first ant places

itself on a little bit of wood, and holds fast on to it by its fangs ;

a second lays hold of the first, a third in like manner of the

second, and so on. In this way they let themselves be

wafted over by the wind, until the last of the chain reaches the

other side, and then at once they pass over the bridge by thou-

sands. The Driver-ant often forms similar chains from the twigs

of trees to the ground. Their food consists principally of animals,

and they kill large-sized ones; even the gigantic snake (Python

natalensis) is exposed to their attacks. Their first assault is

directed on the creature’s eyes; and, when surprised by them,

their immense numbers win the day. They make their way into

houses in crowds by night, when a universal flight of rats,

mice, lizards, beetles, and other vermin, announces their arrival,

and the inmates are obliged to leave their beds and take to flight

into the open air.

Amongst the Ants of India, the Formica indefessa, Sykes, is

spoken of as destructive in houses ; and Lieut. Sykes has fur-

nished (Transact. of the Entomol. Soc. of London, p. 104) some

interesting observations, from which we shal] extract the following

in particular :—A table laid out with sweets and dishes had its

legs placed in a vessel of water, and the water covered with oil of

turpentine, making it impossible for the ants to reach the legs

of the table. The table stood however near the wall, so that

the larger ants, holding on by their hind-legs to the wall, could

reach the table with their fore-legs and thus get upon it. The

table was therefore drawn further back; but now the ants went

a foot higher up the wall than the level of the table, and jumped

down upon it from the wall, never falling between the table and

the wall to the ground, but always alighting on the table.

In New Holland there are in particular two kinds of Keiton

(EZ. gulosum and E. forficatum, Latr.) which are much dreaded,

from their appearing in great numbers, and for their violent bite.

They are distinguished by their long and straight fangs.

[To be continued. ]

Mr. W. H. Benson on new forms of Cyclostomacea. 225

XVII.--Characters of seventeen new forms of the Cyclostomacea

from the British Provinces of Burmah, collected by W. Theo-

bald, jun., Esq. By W. H. Benson, Esq.

1. Alyceus pyramidalis, n. 8.

Testa perforata, pyramidato-conica, leeviuscula, confertim oblique ar-

cuato-striatula, albido-carnea, apicem versus rubella; spira pyra-

midata, sutura valde impressa, apice obtusiusculo ; anfractibus 5}

valde convexis, ultimo postice inflato, tum constricto, deinde sub-

tumido, aperturam versus latiori, tubulo calloso, elongato, retro-

verso, suturali, pone constrictionem oriente, munito ; apertura ob-

liqua, subcirculari ; peristomate duplici, interno continuo, expan-

siusculo, externo expanso, reflexiusculo, anfractu penultimo bre-

vissime angulatim adnato, superne antice sinuato, tum arcuato, ad

' umbilicum leviter emarginato. Operculo ?

Long. 12, axis 10, lat. 10 mill.

Hab. raro ad collem Therabuin, vallis Tenasserim.

Nearly related to the Cochin-Chinese Alyceus gibbus, Fér.,

but easily to be distinguished by its more pyramidal growth,

and by the greater length of the spire in proportion to the

breadth of the last whorl, its more symmetrical proportions,

sculpture, &c. The origin of the sutural tube is aboht 4 mill-

meters from the anterior margin of the aperture. This shell

was met with at no other place in the district, and seemed

restricted to a spot of a few acres in circumference. The hill is

of limestone, steeply scarped and almost inaccessible. Three

species of Helix occurred there which were similarly deficient

elsewhere.

2. Alyceus umbonalis, n. s.

‘Testa late umbilicata, depressa, subdiscoidea, confertim acute ar-

cuatim costulata, cinereo-albida, apicem versus obtusulum, rubel-

lum vel nigrum, rubescente ; spira brevi, sutura profunda ; anfrac-

tibus 44 convexis, ultimo ad latus, spiraliter rugoso-cancellatum,

inflato, tum constricto, deinde tumidiusculo, tubulum retroversum,

elongatum suturalem pone constrictionem gerente ; apertura valde

obliqua, circulari, undata, peristomate duplici, interiori continuo,

expanso, nitidissimo, prope umbilicum sinuato, exteriori expanso,

incrassato, ad anfractum penultimum breviter interrupto ; umbilico

perspectivo. Operculo corneo-fusco, multispirato, anfractuum mar-

ginibus scabre elevatis, extus profunde concavo, intus convexiusculo,

nitidissimo, suleco marginato, umbone centrali papillari munito.

Diam. major 10, minor 8, axis 5 mill.

Hab. ad Akaouktong, prope ripas fluvii Irawadi, nec raro.

As the last-mentioned species exhibited a Cochin-Chinese

form, so does this shell represent, on a larger scale, the little

Western Himalayan species A. strangulatus, Hutton. The sca-

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 15

226 Mr. W.H. Benson on new forms of Cyclostomacea.

brous cancellation of the inflated part only of the last whorl is

an unusual feature, no trace of the spiral ruge appearing else-

where on the whorls.

The origin of the sutural tube is about 4 millimeters from the

aperture. The shell has much affinity with the Bornean Alyceus

Spiracellum, A. & R., which has a somewhat similar operculum.

Dr. Pfeiffer informs me that it is an Alyceus, and not a Ptero-

cyclos, as conjectured by him before he had an opportunity of

inspecting the shell.

3. Alyceus Amphora, n. s.

Testa anguste umbilieata, ovato-globosa, exilissime costulato-striata,

albido-carnea, versus apicem acutiusculum rubella ; spira conica,

sutura subprofunda; anfractibus 4 convexis, ultimo inflato, juxta

aperturam constricto, tubulo suturali longissimo prope peristoma

oriente ; apertura verticali ; peristomate duplici, continuo, interiori

breviter porrecto, intus pallide ‘aurantiaco, exteriori expanso, stri-

atulo, incrassato; umbilico intus spiraliter striato, margine com-

pressiusculo. Operculo ?

Long. 53, diam. obliq. 5 mill.

Hab. ad Moulmein, et in valle Tenasserim raro.

The shell occurs also of a smaller size. It approaches in form

the Sikkim A. Urnula, nobis, but has a more globose aspect.

The extreme length of the sutural tube is remarkable ; it extends

so far round the last whorl as to be visible from the front on

both sides of the shell. The aperture occupies about half the

height of the specimen.

4. Alyceus sculptilis, n. s.

Testa late umbilicata, turbinata, subtrochiformi, acute costulata ; spira

conica, sutura profunda, apice attenuato, acutiusculo ; anfractibus

5 convexis, ultimo ad latus inflato eo costulis confertissimis munito,

tum constricto, antice leeviori, tumido, tubulo suturali mediocri, —

ab apertura remoto, incumbente, circa umbilicum obtuse angulato,

intus concaviusculo; apertura obliqua, circulari ; peristomate du-

plici, interiori subporrecto, incrassato, margine superne profunde

inciso, interiori dextrali interne crenulato vel denticulato, externo

incrassato, expanso, reflexiusculo, superne incrassato prominente,

ab anfractu penultimo sinu profundo separato. Operculo ?

Diam. 3}, axis 2} mill.

Hab. raro ad Thyet-Mio prope fluvium Irawadi, non procul a finibus

provinciee Burmanice Britannice.

The specimen is much weathered, and has lost all its colour,

so that I am unable to describe that part of its character. It

presents a new form in the genus, and exhibits peculiar cha-

racters in the slit inside the aperture at its upper part, and in

Mr. W. H. Benson on new forms of Cyclostomacea. 227

the crenulation or denticulation along the callous interior of the

right lip. 'The teeth are twelve in number, and are disposed in

pairs. The incision resembles that observable in some of the

species of Pterocyclos, and there is a slight disposition towards

the formation of a wing.

5. Alyceus armillatus, n. s.

Testa umbilicata, depresso-turbinata, costulata ; spira conoidea, su-

tura impressa, apice obtuso; anfractibus 3} convexis, ultimo ad

latus inflato, confertius costulato, tum constricto, antice tumido,

leeviori, tubulo suturali brevi, ab apertura remoto, munito; aper-

tura obliqua circulari, peristomate duplici, interno valde porrecto,

continuo, margine simplici, extus striato, exteriori expanso, re-

flexiusculo ; umbilico subaperto. Operculo ?

Diam. major 2, minor 13, axis 1} mill.

Hab. ad Thyet-Mio cum preecedente.

The exterior expanded peristome, forming a conspicuous collar

round the porrect interior portion, is the most prominent cha-

racter in this very minute species. The only specimen received

is in a weathered condition, and so much bleached that the

colour of the perfect shell cannot be ascertained.

Five new forms have here been added to this curious restricted

genus, which now contains nine species, three of which are

Himalayan, one Cochin-Chinese, and one (A. Spiracellum, A. &

R.) from Borneo. The Ultra-Gangetic region must at present be

considered the head-quarters of the type.

6. Pterocyclos pullatus, n. s.

Testa aperte umbilicata, convexo-depressa, confertim radiato-stri-

atula, nigrescente-castanea, superne strigis luteo-albidis, fulguratis,

fasciaque saturata ornata; spira convexa, sutura profunda, apice

prominulo; anfractibus 4} convexis, ultimo longe descendente,

subtus convexo ; apertura vix obliqua, circulari; peristomate du-

plici, interiori breviter porrecto, superne sinu mediocri latiusculo,

interrupto, exteriori vix expansiusculo, superne alam subrevolutam

semicucullatam, antice breviter descendentem obtusam, ab anfractu

penultimo distantem efformante; umbilico mediocri, profundo,

perspectivo. Operculo intus concavo, extus concaviusculo, scabro ;

anfractuum marginibus elevatis; margine laterali lato, lamellis

acutis spiralibus munito.

Diam. major 13, minor 114, axis 6 mill.

Hab. ad Akaouktong, prope fluvium Irawadi, satis frequens.

The less depth of the interior hollow of the operculum and

the structure of the wing show a departure from the typical

species of Pterocyclos, which becomes more apparent in the

southern form next to be described.

15*

228 Mr. W.H. Benson on new forms of Cyclostomacea.

7. Pterocyclos Cetra, n. 8.

Testa late umbilicata, orbiculato-depressa, capillaceo-striatula, luteo-

cornea, strigis radiatis, subremotis, irregularibus, ornata; spira

planata, sutura impressa, apice vix prominulo ; anfractibus 5 con-

vexiusculis angustis, ultimo breviter descendente ; apertura obliqua,

circulari, peristomate duplici, interiori continuo, breviter porrecto,

superne breviter emarginato, exteriori expanso, incrassato, superne

lingua obtusa vix descendente, sinu profundo ab anfractu penul-

timo separata, munito; umbilico lato, non profundo, omnes an-

fractus exhibente, margine subangulato. Operculo i

Diam. major 13, minor 10, axis 4 mill.

Hab. ad Moulmein, et in valle Tenasserim satis frequens.

8. Cyclophorus ? scissimargo, nu. 8s.

Testa umbilicata, globoso-turbinata, sub epidermide cornea albida,

strigis distantibus angulatis picta, radiato-striata, striis exilissimis

et lineis elevatis remotis spiralibus, his quidem ciliatis, cancellata ;

spira conica, sutura profunda, apice obtusiusculo, nigrescente ;

anfractibus 5 convexis; apertura obliqua, subcirculari, superne

leviter angulari, peristomate duplici, exteriori et interiori acutis,

sulco separatis, margine columellari emarginato, parietali adnato,

superne breviter anguste inciso; umbilico profundo, anguste per-

spectivo. Operculo ?

Diam. major 7, minor 54, alt. 7 mill.

Hab. ad Phie Than vallis Tenasserim, raro occurrens.

This little species, which has some affinity to C. triliratus, Pfr.,

is singular on account of the incision which appears in the

parietal margin near its junction with the right lip, a feature

not observed in any other species of the Cyclostomacea. It is

with some hesitation therefore that, in the absence of an oper-

culum, I refer it to Cyclophorus, although the general habit of

the shell bears out the location.

” gu

9. Cyclophorus Calyx, n.s. a ppaaaloiye |

Testa late umbilicata, orbiculato-depressa, radiato-striatula, albida,

strigis castaneis radiatis superne picta; spira planata, sutura im-

pressa, apice vix prominulo ; anfractibus 4} convexiusculis, ultimo

compresso, subtus, circa umbilicum minime profundum, latum,

angulato ; apertura obliqua, circulari, peristomate duplici, continuo,

breviter adnato, externo incrassato, superne expanso, angulato.

Operculo ?

Diam. major 10, minor 8, axis 3 mill. .

Hab. ad Akaouktong, prope ripas fluminis Irawadi.

The flattened depressed form of this shell, and the angular

expansion of the outer peristome at the top of the aperture,

Mr. W. H. Benson on new forms of Cyclostomacea, 229

render it easy of recognition among the depressed and widely

umbilicate forms of Cyclophorus.

10. Leptopoma aspirans, n. s.

Testa perforata, globoso-conica, acuminata, tenui, translucente, ob-

lique et spiraliter exilissime striata, lineis elevatis 6 spiralibus,

zequidistantibus, superne munita, albido-cornea, fasciis fuscis vel

strigis angulatis castaneis ornata; spira acuminato-conica, sutura

impressa, apice acutiusculo ; anfractibus 5} convexis, ultimo ad

peripheeriam carinato, subtus leviori; apertura obliqua, subcir-

culari, peristomate tenui, horizontaliter breviter patente, marginibus

callo tenui junctis, columellari leviter emarginato. Operculo ut in

genere.

Diam. major 11, minor 9, alt. 12 mill., apert. 63 mill. longa.

Hab. in valle Tenasserim.

In form it most nearly approaches L. vitreum, Qu., but has a

more acuminate spire. Its sculpture has greater resemblance to

that of the more globose and depressed Bornean species, L. seri-

catum, Pfr. The smaller specimens have a more conical and

trochiform appearance than the larger ones.

11. Megalomastoma gravidum, nu. s.

Testa perforata, pupiformi, distorta, solida, leeviuscula, vix striatula,

fusco-albida ; spira distorto-ovata, sutura marginata, apice conoideo-

obtuso ; anfractibus 6 convexis, penultimo elongato supra aper-

turam planato, dorso gibbo, ultimo angustiori, antice subito ascen-

dente; apertura leviter sursum spectante, circulari, fauce fusca,

peristomate albido, incrassato, superne angulato, expansiusculo,

reflexiusculo, intus late sulcato, tum calloso-marginato, callo inte-

riori dextrorsum superne angulato-sinuato, sutura canalis obsoleti

ad angulum anticum raro apparente.

Long. 35 mill., diam. anfr. penult. 20 mill.

Hab. ad Moulmein.

In the obsolete channel, occasionally visible at the top of the

aperture, this shell has possibly some relation to Gould’s ©. sec-

tilabre. The indentation, invariably present in the internal callus

of the aperture, seems to have some reference to the obliterated

channel, and shows a passage to the Pupine. The form has a

great resemblance to that of the gigantic P. grandis, Forbes

(Forbesi, Pfr.), which it exceeds in size. As in that shell, the

great length of the penultimate whorl, above the aperture, con-

trasts with the shortness of the same part in the allied species

M. Chrysallis, Pfr., which does not appear in the collection.

The specimens received are weathered, and may possibly, in a

perfect state, exhibit an epidermis and more colour. The oper-

culum is, unfortunately, not forthcoming.

230 Mr. W.H. Benson on new forms of Cyclostomacea. |

12. Pupina Arula, n.s.

Testa imperforata, conoideo-ovata, longitudinaliter striatula, nitidis-

sima, fusco-rubella, apice conoideo, acuto, sutura calloso-margi-

nata; anfractibus 6, ultimo spiram subeequante, antice breviter

ascendente ; apertura circulari, angulo superiori acuto adjecto,

callo parietali superne lamella intrante munito; columella pro-

funde incisa, canalem extus apparentem, lingua lata parietali ob-

tectum, callisque duobus divergentibus marginatum, exhibente ;

peristomate obtuso, expansiusculo, extus marginato, margine dextro

supra medium arcuato ; basi foveata. Operculo ——- ?

Long. 9, diam. 5 mill.

Hab. ad Yunglaw, in valle Tenasserim, raro occurrens.

It has much affinity with P. aurea, Hinds, the superior canal

being rather simulated than actually developed, and being formed

by an angle, at the top of the otherwise circular aperture, cut off

from the lower portion, in part, by the parietal lamina.

13. Pupina artata, n. s.

Testa imperforata, pupiformi, ovato-acuminata, politissima, fusco-

cornea, translucente, vel hyalina ; spira ovato-conoidea, apice obtu-

siusculo, sutura callosa, lineari; anfractibus 54 convexiusculis,

ultimo + teste partem superante ; apertura verticali, circulari,

bicanaliculata ; peristomate obtusiusculo, margine parietali superne

linguam acutam, callo verticali elongato, cum margine dextro sub-

parallelo, marginatum, exhibente, infra cum basali canalem incisum,

ascendentem, extus calloso-marginatum, efformante. Operculo tes-

taceo pauci-spirali, concaviusculo, sutura elevata.

Long. 6, diam. 33 mill.

Hab. ad Moulmein satis frequens.

It has some affinity with the Australian species of the genus.

Although the following shell is not Burmese, yet as it is found

in the Ultra-Gangetic portions of the Bengal Provinces, which

are geographically a continuation of the same zoological tract, I

shall give it a place here.

14, Pupina imbricifera, n. s.

Testa imperforata, ventricose ovato-acuta, politissima, fuscescente,

pellucida ; spira conica, apice acutiusculo, sutura leviter impressa ;

anfractibus 63 convexiusculis, ultimo spiram eequante, ventri-

cosiori, antice subascendente ; apertura circulari, bicanaliculata,

peristomate pallide carneo, duplici, interno obtuso, breviter por-

recto, externo expanso, subreflexo, superne longe ascendente, mar-

gine parietali calloso linguam acutam, cum margine dextro con-

niventem, et callum verticalem, validum, elongatum, arcuatim

divergentem, cum processu labri exterioris canalem efformantem,

Mr. W. H. Benson on new forms of Cyclostomacea. 231

exhibente, subtus cum basali exteriore canalem incisum, margini-

bus extus callosis, ascendentem, construente. Operculo —— ?

Long. 10, diam. anfract. penult. 5 mill.

Hab. in provincia Bengalensi orientali Sylhet.

This handsome species is singular on account of the great

development of the callus, which runs up the penultimate whorl

two-thirds of its height, forming, with the prolongation of the

outer lip, a channel leading to the incision at the top of the

aperture.

No species of Pupina has hitherto been described as inha-

biting the mainland of either Cis- or Ultra-Gangetic India,

although Sowerby has assigned a species to the island of Singa-

pore, situated at the extremity of the Malayan Peninsula; these

three species are therefore an interesting addition to the genus

in a geographical point of view, the last one especially, on

account of its occurrence so far to the northward.

15. Otopoma Blennus, n. s.

Testa anguste et profunde umbilicata, conoideo-globosa, crassiuscula,

leviter striatula, sordide albida; spira conoidea, sutura submar-

ginata, apice acutiusculo; anfractibus 5 convexiusculis, ultimo

ventricosiore ; apertura obliqua, ovali, superne angulata ; peristo-

mate recto obtuso, marginibus callo brevi, tenui, junctis, colu-

mellari leviter revoluto, expanso. Operculo ?

Diam. major 18, minor 15, alt. 184, axis 133 mill. Apert. 10} mill.

longa.

Haé. raro ad Moulmein.

This species is in a worn condition, and in a fresh state may

exhibit more colour. In form it is less depressed in proportion

to the diameter than O. clathratulum, from which it differs other-

wise in sculpture.

16. Hydrocena Illex, n. s.

Testa vix perforata, ovato-acuta, minutissime striata, spiraliter con-

fertim tenuisulcata, succinea, translucente, versus spiram rubello-

fusca; spira nitida, elongato-conica, sutura profunda, apice obtu-

siusculo ; anfractibus 4 valde convexis, ultimo 4 totius teste supe-

rante; apertura obliqua, ovata, superne angulata, peristomate

tenui, non continuo, marginibus conniventibus, dextro recto, acuto,

columellari reflexiusculo. -Operculo tenui, corneo, pellucido, pauci-

spirato, nucleo basali.

Long. 22, diam. 12 mill.

Hab. ad Phie Than, vallis Tenasserim, satis frequens, saxis calcareis

adheerens.

Nearly allied to Hydrocena (Cyclostoma) sarrita, nobis, An-

nals, as viii, N.S. p. 188, but more slender in form. The

232 Mr. W. H. Benson on new forms of Cyclostomacea.

presence of an operculum in this species enables me to fix the

proper place of its ally, which inhabits a deep valley near Cherra,

m the Khassya Hills.

17. Hydrocena Pyzis, n. s.

Testa obtecte perforata, ovato-conica, spiraliter sulcata, succinea,

translucente, spiram versus rubente ; spira conica, sutura profunda,

apice obtuso ; anfractibus 4 convexis, ultimo 2 totius testee eequante;

apertura obliqua, semicirculari, peristomate tenui, acuto, non con-

tmuo, margine columellari expanso, reflexiusculo.. Operculo i

Long. 14, diam. 14 mill.

Hab. ad Thyet-Mio.

This species inhabits the northern frontier of the province of

Pegu, that previously described representing the genus Hydro-

cena of Pfeiffer in the southern provinces. The careful exami-

nation of masses of byssus and tree mosses, in which my Cherra

species, sarrita, tersa, and Milium, were detected, will probably

reveal other Burmese forms. H. Pyzis, although smaller than

H, Illex, is more coarsely sulcate, and the furrows on the lower

whorl are more distant near the suture than below.

The large variety of Cyclophorus pernobilis figured by Gould,

65 millimeters in the greater diameter, was found sparingly by

Mr. Theobald in the Tenasserim valley, associated with a smaller

shell having a more angular periphery, considered by him to be

merely a variety, and, in the decorticate state in which it has

been sent, bearing a considerable resemblance to Pfeiffer’s C. ala-

bastrinus, a shell assigned to Ceylon. The figures 4.& 5. pl. 23.

of the new edition of Chemnitz give a very imperfect idea of the

beautiful colouring of the large shell, or of its bright orange

peristome. I much doubt the propriety of Pfeiffer’s reference of

this shell to Schumacher’s C. aurantiacus. A dubious shell,

from Thyet-Mio, with closely-set flexuous spiral strize, has much

greater pretensions to be considered as that species.

C. expansus, Pfr., was not uncommon in the Tenasserim

valley.

C. fulguratus, Pfr., was found, of various sizes, from Thyet-Mio

to Rangoon, where the species has the following dimensions :—

Diam. major 39, minor 32, axis 26 mill.

The colour of the shining orange peristome is very rich. The

operculum is thin and horny, the outer volutions being separated

by a raised edge, and the inner ones ill-defined.

Megalomastoma sectilabre, Gould, is not among the shells re-

ceived, a circumstance the more to be regretted, as my Bornean

species, M. Anostoma, has been mistaken for it on the continent,

but fails to answer the peculiar character assigned to it by

Gould and Mason, viz. the occurrence of a fissure across the

Mr. J. Blackwall on newly discovered species of Araneidea. 233

peristome at the opposite side from that on which it is observable

in M. altum, Sow. Dr. Pfeiffer’s supposed specimen of M. sec-

tilabre is from Borneo, and is, unquestionably, M. Anostoma,

showing a trace of the channel on the inside of the columellar

lip, and none on the opposite side.

Pfeiffer’s Leptopoma Burmanum, collected by Dr. Theodore

Philippi at Mergui, is not to be recognized in the collection. A

bleached and worn shell, without an operculum, and inter-

mediate in size between that shell and Cyclophorus expansus, is

marked from Phie Than, and is probably only a variety of the

species last named, with a more acute keel and a less expanded

peristome. L. Burmanum was described from an immature spe-

cimen, and will probably present a different aspect from the

figure given in Chemnitz when found in its full development.

Cheltenham, 25th January, 1856.

Since the conclusion of the above paper, I have received, among

some shells collected in the Burmese territory by Mr. Oldham,

a third species of Hydrocena, intermediate between H. sarrita

and H. Illex, but larger than either. It was found at the Mya-

leit Hill, near Ava, during the stay of the late embassy at that

capital.

XVIII.— Descriptions of three newly discovered species of

Araneidea. By Joun Brackwatt, F.L.S.

Tribe Octonoculina.

Family Linypuiip2.

Genus Neriine, Blackw.

Neriéne cornigera.

Length of the male ;,th of an inch; length of the cephalo-

thorax z',; breadth z',; breadth of the abdomen 7, ; length of

an anterior leg 4; length of a leg of the third pair 4.

The cephalo-thorax is oval, convex, glossy, slightly elevated

before, where the eyes are situated, and has an indentation in

the medial line: the falces are conical, divergent at the extre-

mity, armed with teeth on the inner surface, and somewhat

inclined towards the sternum, which is broad, convex, glossy,

and heart-shaped: the maxille are inclined towards the lip,

which is semicircular and prominent at the apex: the legs are

slender and slightly hairy; the first and fourth pairs are the

longest and equal in length, and the third pair is the shortest ;

234 Mr. J. Blackwall on newly discovered species of Araneidea.

each tarsus is terminated by three claws; the two superior ones

are curved, and the inferior one is inflected near its base. These

parts are of a brownish-yellow colour, the sternum, base of the

lip, and tibiz of the first and second pairs of legs heing the

brownest. The eyes are seated on black spots ; the four inter-

mediate ones form a trapezoid, the anterior pair, which consti-

tutes its shortest side, being the smallest of the eight ; those of

each lateral pair are placed obliquely on a small tubercle and are

almost in contact. The palpi have a brownish-yellow hue, the

digital joint being the brownest ; the cubital and radial joints

are short: the latter, which is the larger, is prominent at its

extremity, in front, and has several long bristles at its base; the

digital joint is oval, with a long, conical, hornlike process at its

base, whose pointed termination extends to the extremity of the

cubital joint, and is provided with one or two long bristles ; it is

convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the

palpal organs, which are highly developed, prominent, compli-

cated in structure, with a small, black, curved, pointed spine at

the base, on the outer side, and are of a yellowish-brown colour.

The abdomen is oviform, convex above, and projects a little over

the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is thinly clothed with hairs,

and of a dark, dull brown hue, that of the spinners being pale

yellowish-brown. |

This remarkable spider was discovered among moss growing

under trees in a wood on the northern slope of Gallt y Rhyg, in

the autumn of 1854.

Neriéne montana.

Length of the male 4th of an inch ; length of the cephalo-

thorax 34, ; breadth 4; breadth of the abdomen 1; length of

a posterior leg 4 ; length of a leg of the third pair }.

The eyes are seated on black spots, the anterior pair of the

four intermediate ones forming the trapezoid, which are near to

each other, being the smallest and darkest of the eight. The

cephalo-thorax is oval, convex, glossy, with slight furrows on the

sides, which converge towards an indentation in the medial line:

the falces are powerful, conical, vertical, and armed with a few

teeth on the inner surface: the maxille are enlarged at the

extremity, and inclined towards the lip, which is semicircular

and prominent at the apex : the sternum is broad, heart-shaped,

convex and glossy: the legs, which are moderately long, are pro-

vided with hairs and a few fine spines ; the fourth pair is slightly

longer than the first, which surpasses the second, and the third

pair is the shortest ; each tarsus is terminated by three claws ;

the two superior ones are curved and pectinated, and the inferior

one is inflected near its base. These parts are of a pale yellow-

Mr. J. Blackwall on newly discovered species of Araneidea. 285

brown colour, the falces, maxillz and lip having a faint tinge of

red. The palpi resemble the legs in colour; the cubital and

radial joints are short, the latter, which is the stronger, being

somewhat produced at its extremity, in front ; the digital joint is

oval, with a small, conical process at its base, and a lobe near

the middle of the outer side ; it is convex and hairy externally,

concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are highly

developed, complicated in structure, with a prominent, curved,

scalelike process at the base, on the outer side, and are of a

brownish-red colour. The abdomen is oviform, convex above,

projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is thinly

clothed with hairs, glossy, and of a dark yellowish-brown colour,

the branchial opercula and spinners being much the palest.

This spider, which was found on Ingleborough, a mountain

in Yorkshire, m September 1855, was received from Mr. R.

H. Meade.

Genus WatcKENAERA, Blackw.

Walckenaéra vafra.

Length of the male ;,th of an inch; length of the cephalo-

thorax 51, ; breadth 24, ; breadth of the abdomen ,/, ; length of a

posterior leg 2°, ; length of a leg of the third pair ,3,.

The cephalo-thorax is oval, convex, glossy, with a strong, ver-

tical prominence before, which is somewhat compressed on the

sides and surmounted by a few hairs: the falces are small,

conical, armed with teeth on the inner surface, and inclined

towards the sternum, which is broad, glossy, and heart-shaped :

the maxille are powerful and curved towards the lip, which is

semicircular and prominent at the apex. These parts are of a

brownish-red colour, with the exception of the anterior pro-

minence of the cephalo-thorax, which has a dark brown hue

tinged with red. ‘The legs are long, slender, hairy, and have a

bright yellowish-red tint; the fourth pair is the longest, then

the first, and the third pair is the shortest ; each tarsus is termi-

nated by three claws ; the two superior ones are curved and pec-

tinated, and the inferior one is inflected near its base. The

palpi resemble the legs in colour, but the radial and digital

joints are tinged with brown ; the cubital joint is clavate; the

radial joint projects two apophyses from its extremity ; one, on

the inner side, is large, pointed, curved outwards in front of the

digital joint, and has, near its base, a minute process on the

convex side, and a large obtuse one on the opposite side; the

other apophysis, which is smaller and obtuse, is situated under-

neath ; the digital jomt is somewhat oval, convex and hairy ex-

ternally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs ; these

organs are highly developed, complicated in structure, with two

long, filiform, contiguous black spines enveloped in membrane,

236 Mr. C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium.

originating near the middle and curved in a circular form on the

outer side ; a shorter one, also originating near the middle and

enveloped in membrane, is curved obliquely downwards, and

their prevailing colour is brownish-red. The convex sides of the

digital joints are directed towards each other. The eyes are

seated on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax, two on the

summit of the vertical prominence, and the other six at its base,

in front, each lateral pair being placed obliquely. The abdomen

is oviform, convex above, and projects over the base of the

cephalo-thorax ; it is sparingly clothed with hairs, glossy, and of

a brownish-black colour, that of the branchial opercula being

pale yellowish-white.

Adult males of this species were discovered under stones in

the woods about Hendre House, near Llanrwst, in October 1855.

XIX.—On some species of Epilobium.

By Cuarzes C. Basineron, M.A., F.R.S. &c.*

Havine been led to examine the British species of Kpilobium,

and arrived at the opinion that some of them have not received

as much attention as they deserve, and have therefore been mis-

understood, it seems desirable to publish the results. My ob-

ject in so doing is to direct attention to the plants—not to place

faa botanists a conclusion satisfactorily attamed. There re-

mains much to be done before we can be said well to understand

these plants. Those upon which it is proposed to treat have

been included under the names of E. tetragonum and E. al-

pinum.

Before proceeding to the discussion of the species, it will be

well to clear the way by pointing out the characters upon which

it is believed that we may depend. This will entail a slight

sketch of the arrangement of our Epilobia. Leaving out of

consideration the group called Lysimachion by authors (although

there is a newly-discovered species of that section to be noticed

before ending this paper), we shall find that, taken in its general

sense, the form assumed by the stigmas will separate our plants

into two groups: (1) those which have that organ formed of four

spreading divisions so as to be cross-like, namely E. hirsutum,

E. parviflorum, E. montanum, and EF. lanceolatum; and (2) the

rest of our species, whose stigmas are so placed as to form a club,

either by having the four parts soldered together or by their

being adpressed to each other. In the latter case, that is, when

the stigmas are adpressed, they may sometimes be observed to

separate slightly, but never, as I believe, to become cross-like. It

is only when taken generally, that the stigma can be safely used

* Read before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 10th Jan. 1856.

Mr. C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium. 2387

as a distinctive character ; but if allowance be made for excep-

tions in the case of individual plants, it does seem to afford

valuable help in grouping the species. This is the more desi-

rable from the true biological characters which separate the

species being often not noticeable in the flowering state of the

plants. The characters referred to are the mode of extension of

the plants from year to year. The plants are either turionate,

stoloniferous, or rosulate ; the stoles are either scaly or leafy, the

scales are somewhat inflated or not so. The leaves upon these

offsets gradually increase in size from the base to the end of the

shoot, and their pairs are all separated by long joints; are all

placede lose together and forma rosette; or those at the end of

_ the stole are so placed as to form a rosette, the others being

distant. Taking these as the primary characters of the divisions,

we obtain an arrangement which differs but little from that

founded upon the stigma which has usually been employed.

The following is the arrangement proposed :—

I. Turionate; that is, producing radical suckers.

l. E. hirsutum.

II. Stoles autumnal, rosulate. Stem erect.

+ Stem mostly round. Stigma 4-cleft.

2. E. parviflorum.

3. E. montanum.

4. E. lanceolatum.

tt Stem with raised lines. Stigma entire.

5. E. roseum.

6. E. tetragonum.

III. Stoles estival, long-jointed throughout, with small leaves. Pri-

mary stem erect. Stigma usually entire.

7. EH. obscurum.

IV. Stoles estival, long-jointed, with small leaves, ending in

“sega bulbs which become detached, Base of stem cord-

ike.

8. E. palustre.

V. Stoles eestival, leafy, rosulate.

9. E. alpinum.

VI. Stoles eestival, leafy, not rosulate.

10. E. anagallidifolium.

VII. Stoles estival, scale-bearing, not rosulate.

ll. EK. alsinifolium.

238 Mr.C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium.

In addition to the characters used in this arrangement, the

following points deserve notice.

1. The stem in some of the plants rises erect directly from a

fibrous root, and usually produces lateral branches from the

axils of its lowest leaves so as to take a rather ceespitose form.

This primary stem appears always to be erect, but the lateral

stems or branches are usually procumbent at their base and fre-

quently produce roots there, although throughout the greater

part of their length they are erect or ascending. When the

plants grow in water, or in very wet places, these adventitious

roots are sometimes produced from the lower joinings of the

upright primary stem, and the procumbent part of the branches

is very long: if in this case a branch 1s carelessly pulled up, the

plant may easily be supposed to have a cordlike base, when its

real structure is very different. Towards the end of the summer,

or in the autumn, these czespitose species usually produce from

close to the base of their stem very short flowerless shoots

having their joints so much contracted that the leaves le closely

upon each other, and a rosette or rose-shaped tuft is formed.

The original plant does not survive the winter, but in the

ensuing spring the place which it occupied is more or less sur-

rounded by a cluster of new cespitose individuals resulting

from the rosettes of the preceding autumn ; each rosette pro-

ducing from its terminal bud a new primary stem, and from

some of its axils a few lateral stems.

In other plants, thick long stoles with distant leaves take the

place of the rosettes. It is only at the end of these stoles that

the least trace of the close arrangement of leaves forming the

rosettes is to be found, nor is it always seen even there. These

long stoles root and live through the winter, and their remains

when attached to the base of the stem of the succeeding year may

be taken for the chordorhizal structure if the stem fails to pro-

duce lateral stems from its lower axils. The character derived

from the chordorhizal base is not therefore wholly to be trusted,

although Fries has confidence in it.

2. Another habit is that in which there is no trace of the

cespitose mode of growth, but in its place there is a prostrate

slender stem producing many adventitious roots, and turning

upwards at the end so as to form the upright stem of the plant.

If branches are at all produced from the lower part of the stem

they are placed at some distance from each other, or in distant

pairs, for the joints are long. Most of these species throw out

from many of their lower joinings stoles furnished with long

joints and pairs of very small leaves, and end in a sort of bulb,

the scales of which are rather fleshy with their upper epidermis

loose. These bulbs become detached in the winter, by the decay

Mr. C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium. 239

of the stole, together with the stem which has flowered, and

from them spring the plants of the following year.

We may now proceed to the consideration of the species

which are usually included under the name of EL. tetragonum.

Fries appears to have been the first botanist who attempted their

separation by a reference to their development ; but that emi-

nent writer has been unfortunate in the specimens distributed

in illustration of the plants, as will be seen hereafter. Applying

those characters to our native plants, it is found that there are

at least two species included under the name of E. tetragonum.

One of these will retain that name, and another is the E. obscu-

rum of Schreber. The former has the cespitose habit, and pro-

duces sessile or subsessile rosettes after the time of flowering :

the latter is originally czespitose, its primary stem being erect

from the root and branching from its lowest axils, but these

lateral branches are prostrate and rooting to some extent ; and

in the place of the rosettes of the former it has long rooting

stoles. Specimens of this latter plant (H. obscurum) are what I

have been accustomed to call E. virgatum whilst totally im igno-

rance of the H. obscurum. I hope to be able to show that no

great error was committed in doing so. For it is my belief that

Fries himself made the same mistake, if indeed it is a mistake,

and that his #. virgatum exists as a distinct plant from E. ob-

scurum. He has called various plants by the name of E. vir-

gatum at different times. The plant first issued (Herb. Norm.

u. 46) as E. virgatum is very nearly related to E. tetragonum,

although perhaps not exactly that species; for it may be the

E. Lamyi (¥. Schultz), as Koch supposed it to be. These spe-

cimens do not accord with the description given in the ‘ Novitiz’

(ed. 2. p. 113) ; but a trust in the accuracy of Fries caused them

to be accepted as typical of his plant. The original source of

the name is the ‘ Fl. Hallandica’ (p. 66), and the description to

be found there may help us in determining what was the plant

really intended by its author. As the book is perhaps not

ntl common, the characters are extracted. They are as fol-

ows :—

“ E. virgatum; foliis lanceolatis sessilibus dentatis opacis

caule tetragono pubescentibus, stigmate indiviso.”

To this are added the following remarks :—

* Verum videtur Chamenerion obscurum, Schreb.; sed E. ob-

scurum omnium fere auctorum ad precedens [E. tetragonum|]

foliis alternis, ex. gr. Fl. Dan. t. 1267, pertinet. Radix sub-

repens. Caulis e basi tereti adscendenti erectus, 2—4-pedalis,

vage ramosus, 4-angulus, pubescens, deorsum glabratus. Folia

distantia, opposita alternave, sessilig, lanceolata, subcoriacea,

remote dentata, plus minus pubescentia, constanter opaca. La-

240 Mr.C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium.

cinie calycinz villosz. Siliqua villosa. Flos sequentis [2.

palustris).” |

These descriptions do not agree with the first specimens

(H. N. uu. 46), and differ slightly from the description given

in the ‘ Novitiz ;’ but they do agree tolerably well with the

specimens afterwards stated by Fries to be the true plant

(H. N.x.), the leaves of which are subsessile, broad, and rounded

at the base, from whence they narrow, with tolerable regularity,

to their tip, which is suddenly contracted to an obtuse angle.

They are opake, thin, and apparently flaccid, distantly denti-

culate, slightly hairy. The presence of the word “ subcoriacea”

in the ‘ Flora Hallandica’ causes some difficulty, for it is hardly

possible that the leaves of the plant sent to me im the ‘ Herb.

Normale’ (fasc. x.) can ever have been subcoriaceous. That

specimen has an upright base, thickening from a slender broken

point, and producing 4 or 5 whorls of fibrous roots,—a structure

different from what I understand by Fries’s term, ‘ chordo-

rhizum.” After a careful consideration of the plant and the

descriptions, I have arrived at the opinion that the E. virgatum

(Fries, H. N. x.) is . obscurum, and am inclined to the further

opinion, that the H. virgatum of the ‘Fl. Hall’ is the same

plant. The peculiar base of the stem in the specimen probably

results from its having grown in a very wet place.

Having thus, as it is hoped, shown the probability of EZ. vir-

gatum being a synonym of E. obscurum, we may proceed to the

consideration of the characters, &c. of that plant and its ally, E.

tetragonum. I am indebted to my valued friend Mr. Borrer for

directing my attention to these plants, and pointing out their

more important differences. Since the original sketch of this

paper was written, I have seen a valuable memoir by Dr. Grise-

bach (Bot. Zeit. 1852, p. 849), and Dr. F. Schultz has very

kindly sent to me a copy of his excellent review of it (Arch. de

Flore, ii. 41). From the study of Mr. Borrer’s manuscript

notes and his specimens, and of the writings of these two emi-

nent botanists, I have obtained a tolerably clear idea of the

subject. |

The following is the mode in which the plants may be cha-

racterized :—

E. tetragonum (Linn.) ; rosettes subsessile, stem erect, leaves strap-

shaped much denticulate-serrate, limb of the intermediate leaves

decurrent, buds erect, seeds oblong-obovate tubercular.

E. tetragonum, Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. 1. 348; Curt. Fl. Lond. i. 66

(131); Fries, Herb. Norm. viii. 41 (specimen) ; Reichend. Fl.

exsic. 357 (specimen); Gren. et Godr. Fl. de Fr.i.579; F. Schultz,

Archives de Flore, i. 51.,

E. adnatum, Griseb. in Bot. Zeit. 1852, p. 854.

Mr. C. C, Babington on some species of Epilobium. 241

Stem upright from the root, usually branched from the base,

with 2-4 raised decurrent lines from the edges of the leaves.

Rosettes usually very nearly sessile, and although they are some-

times shortly stalked when the plant is flooded, they do not even

then resemble the stoles of H. obscurum. Seeds rounded at both

ends, but with a recurved point at the base; that is, if the front

of the seed is observed, the base appears to be blunt, but if a

lateral view is taken, the small point directed backwards is seen.

The intermediate leaves appear to be always decurrent by their

limb, as are often many of the others; they do not narrow much

until near to their upper end; the little teeth are near together,

conspicuous, and often have incurved callous points. The lower

leaves are more nearly lanceolate, the lowest obovate.

Dr. Grisebach differs from all other botanists by thinking

that this is not the typical plant of Linnzus, and accordingly

changes its name to E. adnatum, and calls the HE. Lamyi (F.

Schultz) the E. tetragonum (Linn.).. Dr. Schultz thinks that

Grisebach is in error, and restores the Linnean name to the

plant that has usually been so called. In this I quite agree

with him. Nevertheless there are difficulties attending the de-

termination of the Linnean plant that call for a few remarks.

It is highly probable that Linnzus included the EZ. obscurum

under the name of E. tetragonum. In the first edition of the

‘Sp. Pl’ (i. 348) he gives the character as follows :—

** E. foliis lanceolato-linearibus denticulatis: imis oppositis, caule

tetragono.”’

In the second and later editions of the same work it is

*‘K. foliis lanceolatis denticulatis: imis oppositis, caule tetra-

gono ;”” |

and the remark is added,

«‘ Summitas, adhuc tenella, nutans.”

Our FE, tetragonum is very much better described by the former

than the latter of these definitions, and the additional observa-

tion shows that Linnzus had, when preparing the second edition

for the press, fallen into some confusion, for it need scarcely be

remarked, that neither H. tetragonum, nor EF. obscurum, nor E.

Lamy has a nodding summit. It isa curious fact, that Linnzeus

does not include E. tetragonum in his ‘ Fl. Suecica,’ although it

appears not to bea rare plant in Sweden. May we not thence

conclude that he had little acquaintance with the plant, and thus

account for his altering the character for the worse? This is

rendered more probable when it is found that the figure quoted

by him from Tabernzemontanus (Icon. p. 854) does not represent

E, tetragonum, nor agree with the Linnean description : what it

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii.

242 Mr.C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium.

does represent is a more difficult point to decide, and no attempt

is now made to do it. There is only one specimen preserved in

the Linnean Herbarium with the name and authenticating

marks of HE. tetragonum. The place where it grew is not stated,

and there is no clue to its history. It is not Z. tetragonum,

nor either of its close allies, but appears to be the plant now

universally called H. roseum. It seems probable that Linnzeus

was led by this specimen into the mistake of altering the specific

character of his plant and adding the erroneous remark. It is

scarcely necessary to observe, that these alterations are derived

from the peculiarities of E. roseum.

E. tetragonum is perhaps a less common plant in Britain than

i. obscurum. My specimens are from Glen Falloch, Perth-

shire; Congestone, Leicestershire; Cambridge; Stapleton,

near Bristol; Sussex; Sidmouth, Devon; Cork; and the

Channel Islands.

Ei. obscurum (Schreb.) ; stoles with distant leaves, stem erect, leaves

tapering from a rounded base sessile remotely denticulate faintly

decurrent, lower leaves oblong blunt, buds erect, sepals linear lan-

ceolate, seeds obovate-oblong tubercular.

‘** Chameenerium obscurum, Schreb. Spic. Fl. Lips. 147.”

Epilobium obscurum, Reichenb. Iconog. t. 199. et Fl. excurs. p. 634 ;

Roth, Fl. Germ. ii. 438. et En. Pl. ii. 152; Fries, Herb. Norm.

vill. 42 (specimen); Griseb. in Bot. Zeit. 1852, p. 853; F.

Schultz, Arch. de Flore, i. 218 et ii. 49.

E. virgatum, Gren. et Godr. Fl. de Fr. i. 578 ; Sonder, Fl. Hamb.

217.

Stem ultimately branching from the base as in E. tetragonum,

and the whole plant closely resembling that species. In wet

places the lateral stems are more or less decumbent, and rooting

in their lower part. Stoles in dry places rather short and thick ;

all their leaves in distant pairs, small, successively enlarged, but

not forming a rosette: in wet places they are long and some-

times branch; their leaves are oval, but narrowed below. It is

only in the spring, when the new stems are commencing from

the ends of the stoles, that anything resembling a rosette is

found. In plants resulting from the stoles of the preceding

year, it is the end of the stole itself that throws out roots, and

sends directly upwards a single erect stem, which, at about the

time of flowering, begins to branch from most of its axils; the

lowermost buds producing stoles, the others flowering shoots,

Individuals of this kind have therefore usually a short prostrate

base, placed often at a right angle to it, and belonging really

to the growth of the preceding year. The capsules are much

shorter than those of #. tetragonum. The seeds of similar form

with those of that species.

Mr. C. C. Babington on some species of Epilobium. 243

My British specimens of ZL. obscurum are from Wyken, War-

wickshire; Ilfracombe, Devon; Llanthony, Monmouthshire ;

and Sussex ; and I am informed by Mr. Borrer that it is found

in Herefordshire by Mr. Purchas.

There is something in the look of this plant that distinguishes

it from EH. tetragonum. Tangible characters are afforded by the

leaves. If well-grown specimens of the two plants are con-

trasted, the difference in the shape of those organs will be found

to be rather considerable. The leaf of EH. tetragonum is very

well described as strap-shaped, for its sides are nearly parallel

throughout the greater part of their length, the widest part

being placed at about their middle. In EH. obscurum the inter-

mediate leaves are sessile, but apparently not at all decurrent by

their limb (as is the case in its ally), although there is a slight

appearance of decurrence from the sides of the rudimentary

petiole ; they are broadest close to their rounded base, and taper

gradually from thence to their tip. Their teeth are much less

conspicuous and much more distant from each other than those

of EH. tetragonum, and there are sometimes a few intermediate

much smaller denticulations. The lowest leaves are usually

shortly stalked and more oval than the others; and, in rare

cases, many of the leaves possess this oval form and are slightly

stalked, only those upon the upper part of the specimen having

the true form belonging to the species. The leaves of E. tetra-

gonum are always shining, those of EL. obscurum opake, except-

ing on the stoles. The capsules of LZ. tetragonum are remarkably

longer than those of its ally, and afford, as Mr. Borrer observes,

a “striking primd-facie distinction in the living plants.” The

stoles of E. tetragonum have their leaves all closely placed so as

to form a subsessile rosette ; those of EH. obscurum have long

joints, and therefore a rosette is not formed, although the leaves

successively become larger. In very dry places, E. obscurum

forms a kind of loose rosette at the end of ashort stole. From .

the large size of the leaves at the end of the stoles of E. obscurum,

they may sometimes be carelessly mistaken for a rosette.

. obscurum is incompletely figured by Reichenbach (Iconog.

t. 199), and represented by the specimen (No. 358) of his ‘ Flora

exsiccata.’ Unfortunately that specimen had not produced its

stoles at the time when it was gathered ; and as the plant drawn

by Reichenbach was obtained from Leipzig, and Schreber’s

‘ Spicilegium FI. Lipsiz’ is the original authority for the name,

there is the more reason to deplore the fact that so imperfect an

illustration is given. In the text of the ‘ Iconographia,’ Reichen-

bach quotes the EH. virgatum (Fries, Fl. Hall. 66) as an un-

doubted synonym of E. obscurum, and the remarks already made

will show that in my opinion he is correct in qopking it; but

| 16%

244 Mr.C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium.

he seems to have afterwards suspected that he was in error, for

in the ‘ Fl. excurs.’ he leaves that synonym out, and describes

another plant as EL. virgatum, which he supposes to be markedly

distinguished from E. tetragonum and E. obscurum by having a

stigma that ultimately becomes quadrifid. Hartmann, as

quoted by Koch, expressly states of E. virgatum, “ stigma semper

integrum, nunc inordinate 2—4-fidum, nunquam vero cruciatum

vel regulariter quadrifidum.” Fries says in the ‘Fl. Hall.,’

* stigmate indiviso,” in the ‘ Novitie’ “ stigmate demum qua-

drifido,” in the ‘Summa’ ‘“‘stigmatibus in clavam coalitis.”

Petermann (Fl. Lipsiz, 280) describes H. obscurum, which re-

sembles the plant of this paper, as the Chamenerion obscurum of

Schreber, but adds, “ neque vero sec. herbar.” Reichenbach

makes a similar remark, but neither author tells us what the

plant of the Herbarium really is. The extract from Schreber’s

description given by Reichenbach (Iconog. ii. 89, and Fl. excur.

635), for I have not succeeded in obtaining access to the original

work, will apply tolerably well to the plant now called E. ob-

scurum. Roth’s works (Tentamen Fl. Germ. 11. 488, and Enum.

Plant. i. sec. 2. p. 152) contain descriptions of E. obscurum

agreeing with that of Petermann, and with the plant pointed out

to me by Mr. Borrer and already described in this paper. Roth

remarks of it, “ planta ab EH. tetragono diversissima est”’ (En.),

and “ planta per plures annosin horto .... excepta proceritate

non mutavit habitum” (F'l.).

Sonder describes a plant as E. virgatum (Fl. Hamb. 217), of

which he says “ stolonibus elongatis, caule ex ascendente basi

stricto,” and quotes to it the specimen erroneously published by

Fries (Herb. Norm. 11. 46) as EZ. virgatum, and now referred by

Grisebach to HE. Lamyi (F. Schultz). Sonder quotes E. Lamyi

as being the same as his EZ. virgatum ; but if his plant has really

the elongated stoles and is chordorhizal, as he appears to intimate

in the words quoted above, then it cannot be the HE. Lamyi of

F. Schultz, which that botanist states to have “ radice perpen-

diculare,” and also to possess “ad caulis basin foliorum rosulam

1 (rarius 2) proferente, stolonibus nullis.” I am indebted to

my valued friend and correspondent Mr. R. Lenormand of Vire

for two specimens of the EH. Lamy (I. Schultz), marked as

authentic, gathered in La Vendée. They present so much the

appearance of E. lanceolatum, that we cease to wonder that Koch

referred imperfect specimens of the plant to that species. They

do not branch in their lower half, do not creep, have no stoles

nor rosettes, have narrowly lanceolate rather strongly denticulate

leaves with a wedge-shaped base on one of the specimens, and

a broad base which is rather narrower than the middle of the

leaf on the other. The plant is apparently very scarce, and

Mr. C. C. Babington on some species of Epilobium. 245

presents much difficulty. Schultz (Arch. ii. 49) quotes Sonder’s

E. virgatum as a synonym of E. obscurum, where also he places

the E. virgatum of Godron. I am indebted to Mr. Sonder for

specimens gathered by himself near Hamburg (at one of the

places mentioned in his ‘ Flora’) in 1842, and sent to me with

the name of E. virgatum (Fries) ; but I have no doubt that they

really belong to E. obscurum.

It will be noticed that I have not quoted the £. virgatum of

Koch (Syn. Fl. Germ.). It is omitted because there can be no

doubt that that eminent botanist was unacquainted with the

true characters distinguishing these plants ; and that, as he tells

us himself, he did not know the true LE. virgatum until the

second edition of his work was nearly completed. He states

that most of the specimens called E. virgatum by him were

merely E. tetragonum, or rather perhaps his words may mean

that they were EL. obscurum, which he considered as only a slight

variety of that species. :

Dr. F. Schultz thinks that the E. virgatum of Fries’s ‘Summa’

is a hybrid between E. palustre and E. obscurum. As I have

not seen the true plant of Fries (for his published specimens are

respectively E. Lamyi probably and E. obscurum), it is out of

my power to form any certain opinion. Schultz and Grisebach

both place it in a section characterized by the plants possessing

stoles and hybernacula like those of E. palustre, whilst Fries

says that its stoles are “elongatos sparsifolios,” like those of

E. obscurum, but that its seeds equal those of FE. palustre, and

therefore are twice the size of those of H. obscurum. In another

place Schultz remarks, that the difference between EF. virgatum

and E. tetragonum derived from the form of the seeds is not

discoverable. Supposing him to mean E. obscurum under the

name of E. virgatum, as is perhaps the fact, he is quite correct ;

but if . chordorhizum (Fries) is intended, the size of the seeds

must be quite different, as we learn from Fries’s definite state-

ment on the subject. Schultz also informs us (Arch. ii. 46)

that the H. Schmidtianum (Roskov.), noticed by Koch (Syn. 266)

under E. palustre, is not a broad-leaved state of EH. palustre as

Grisebach supposes, nor a form of E. virgatum (E. obscurum) as

he formerly thought himself, but that it is a hybrid between E.

palustre and E. obscurum, to which he gives the name of E. ob-

scuro-palustre. I quite agree with Fries in believing that far too

many difficulties are attempted to be removed by supposing the

plants to be hybrids; and also, that hybrids are seldom produced

naturally except in a few genera, such as Verbascum, and that

most of the plants that are so called will prove to be extreme

states of recognized species (see Fries, Mant. iii. 97). Never-

theless it is possible that there may be natural hybrids in this

246 Mr.C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium.

genus; that the E. chordorhizum (Griseb.), E. palustri-obscurum

(Schultz), is one; and that the plant found by Mr. Baker at

Gormire is the first of the two forms of it mentioned by Dr.

Schultz (Arch. ii. 46), although the seeds of our plant have not

the long base found in E. palustre, nor more than a very slight

prolongation of the testa at their rounded summit. But I am

more inclined to place it, provisionally, with H. obscurum, in the

hope that Mr, Baker’s attention may again be directed towards

it. It agrees in most respects with the E. virgatum (Fries,

Summa), but the top of its stem, when bearing unopened buds,

is stated to nod, and its seeds are not smooth. Its stoles re-

semble those of EH. obscurum, but are more slender. In a series

of specimens I find no trace of the bulb-like hybernacula formed

by &. palustre, E. chordorhizum (Griseb.) and HE. Schmidtianum,

which last plant Schultz states to have “les stolons de lH. pa-

lustre.’ It should be added, that its seeds are twice as large as -

those of E. obscurum.

If attention is paid to the stoles, there is no probability of

E. obscurum being confounded with any of the other species,

although those of H. palustre are somewhat similar in descrip-

tion. The latter plant has very slender stoles, each terminating

in an autumnal hybernaculum which is already described, a long

rooting base to its stem, very narrow leaves with a wedge-shaped

base, nodding buds, and subfusiform seeds which are acute at

the base and narrowed at the top where there is a prolongation

of the testa into a kind of beak bearing the beard. It is never-

theless often difficult to distinguish bad or incomplete specimens

of EL. obscurum from E, palustre, for the lowest lateral branches

of the former being usually prostrate and rooting for some

distance, have, when torn off from the plant, much outward re-

semblance to the chordorhizal plants of E. palustre. Indeed it

has already been stated, that there is much reason to fear that

Fries himself has been deceived by such fragments*,

In the ‘ Cybele Britannica’ (ii. 350) Mr. Watson mentions

a plant or plants under the joint title of EL. virgatum and £.

Lamyi, and refers especially to specimens gathered by Mr. T.

Moore in Kent, which were guessed by me to be possibly

E. Lamyi, but which I now am certain are not the plant rightly

sonamed. Mr. Moore’s plant was found in company apparently

with E. palustre, of which, although it presents some difficulties,

I am inclined to the opinion that it is not a state, but think

that it may be referred to HE. obscurum. I am informed that

* My specimens of E. palustre are from the following places :—Clova,

Forfarshire; Isle of Skye; Teesdale, Durham; Keswick, Cumberland ;

Llanberis, Caernarvonshire; Llanthony, Monmouthshire; Sandwich,

Kent ; Ma’am, Galway; Ventry, Kerry.

On the Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration. 247

specimens of it were sent to Dr. Grenier, and that he called it

the E. tetragonum of the ‘ Flore de France.’ In that determina-

tion he was assuredly in error, for the plant can belong to no

other species described in that admirable work than H. palustre

or E.virgatum (the E. obscurum of this paper). In obtaining

and quoting the opinion of either of the authors of that ‘ Flora,’

it should be remembered that, although the work is a joint pro-

duction, each portion has its own individual and declared author.

Dr. Godron is the author of the account of the genus Epilobium.

In such cases as this, Dr. Grenier may know no more than the

inquirer about the subject upon which he is consulted.

[To be continued. ]

_—_—_—

XX.—On the Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration and on the

Structure of the Oryans of Breathing in Invertebrate Animals.

By Tuomas Witur1ams, M.D. Lond., F.L.S., Physician to the

Swansea Infirmary.

[Continued from p. 154.]

The Glands contained in the Respiratory Cavity of Branchiferous

and Pulmoniferous Gasteropods.

THE respiratory cavity of all Cephalophorous Mollusks, in

addition to the organs of breathing, lodges one, two or more

glandular bodies, the structure and office of which are the subject

even at the present time of dispute among comparative anato-

mists. In different genera these glands affect different relative

positions in the cavity.

In some instances they are near and parallel to the rectum,

in others they encircle the heart, in others they constitute a

mass lying only on one side of this organ. Many of the Pecti-

nibranchs are provided with two glands, in the space between

which on the roof the branchia is situated. .

By Cuvier they were called the muciparous glands. Dr.

Sharpey has supposed the one to be a supplementary branchia,

the other he has designated after Cuvier the mucous gland. By

Swammerdam, Poli, Blumenbach and the elder anatomists, they

were supposed to be concerned in the secretion of calcareous

salts. Bojanus conceived that the glands contained in the

breathing-chamber of the higher Gasteropods were homologous

with certain glandular bodies described by him in the Lamelli-

branchs, in both holding a similar relation to the branchiz. As

he had proved the latter to be kidneys, he inferred that the

former must be so also. The alleged muciparous glands of the

248 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

Gasteropods were believed by Meckel* to constitute the true

renal system of these animals. A new demonstration of their

renal character was subsequently rendered by Jacobson} by the

discovery of uric acid in the substance of these glands. His

researches comprised analyses of the glands of Helix pomatia,

Limax niger, Lymneus stagnalis and Planorbis cornea. Jacobson’s

views, however, had been anticipated by Dollinger and Holmlichf,

who had long previously indicated these glands as the real

kidneys of these animals. It is stated by Siebold and Stannius §

that in the dried kidneys of Helix pomatia and Paludina vivipara,

when treated with nitric acid and ammonia, considerable quan-

tities of murexid may be discovered. Treviranus has descended

to the minuteness of asserting that in these Gasteropods a por-

tion of the pulmonary or branchial, recently arterialized blood

passes through the kidneys in its path to the auricle. In another

place in their excellent work, Siebold and Stannius observe that

in the Pectinibranchs the kidney is replaced by a gland which is

situated behind the branchia between the heart and the liver,

and which in the marine species secretes the purple liquid. This

is the gland which Dr. Sharpey has described as a bipectinate

and supplementary gill.

Kidneys have also been described by Quoy and Gaimard,

under the several names of muciparous glands, organ of the

purple, depurating organs, &c., in Phasianella, Turbo, Bucci-

num, Mitra, Oliva, Caprea, Harpa, Dolium, Cassis, Purpura,

Fusus, Auricula||. Leydig has also given an account of the

renal siphon of Paludina Vivipara. More recently Mr. Huxley{

has expressed his belief in the correctness of the prevailing views

as to the true renal nature of the glands contained in the breath-

ing-chamber of the branchiferous and pulmoniferous Gasteropods,

and has adopted as conclusive of all doubts, the results obtained

by the lithic acid tests in the hands of Jacobson, Meckel and

Kolliker**,

The preceding outline of the literature of the question

which relates to the renal system of the Invertebrata will suf-

fice to reveal a chaos out of which it does not seem easy to

evoke aught that is orderly and consistent. It is evident that

the same names have been applied by different observers to very

* Miiller, Arch. 1846, p. 13. taf. 1.

_+ Miiller’s Arch. vi. 1846.

t Dissertatio de Helice pomatia. Hirceb. 1813, p. 23.

§ re gpa i Anatomy of the Invertebrata, transl. by Burnett, p. 253,

note o.

|| Voyage de l’Astrolabe, Zoologie, ii.; or Isis, 1834, p. 285; 1836, p. 31.

§| “On the Morphology of the Cephalous Mollusca,” Phil, Trans. 1853.

** Entwickelungsgeschichte der Cephalopoden.

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 249

different organs. No clear views as to what should and what

should not be characterized as distinctive of a renal organ in

the Invertebrate animals, have ever been defined by anatomists.

If a marked uniformity of structural type and plan runs

through the entire series of other organs in the Invertebrata,

such as the biliary, respiratory, circulatory, digestive, &c. sy-

stems, the inference is highly probable that a similar serial con-

sistency of plan presides over the renal system. If such be the

cease in the Vertebrate, why should it not be so in the Inverte-

brate series? In another place* the author has shown, that

the fluids, viewed as chemical and vital solutions, grow more

and more simple as the zoological scale is traced downwards

(or more and more complex as it is followed upwards) ; he thence

argues that the same tendency to simplification is also mani-

fested by the systems of the solid organs. This is the true

science of the comparative anatomy of organs. Their history in

this sense has never been written. If the true relation between

the solid machinery of the glands and the fluids could be esta-

blished, it would be most certainly discovered that at the point

in the descending series at which a given constituent of the

fluids, which a given gland was specially designed to withdraw,

ceased to exist, the gland would also cease to exist. The pro-

position when thus enounced assumes almost a necessary cer-

tainty. The mind feels at once assured that no other law can

explain the facts, which are indubitable. Anatomists have

always worked on the presumption that the fluids of the lowest

animal must have the same composition as that of the highest,

and that consequently the necessities of the organism in the

two instances must be the same. If the highest animal be

provided with a kidney, therefore the lowest must be endowed

with the same organ. Up to this era in physiology, such in

truth has been the fallacious reasoning by which the most

distinguished cultivators of this science have conducted their

researches. The same observation applies to the secreted pro-

ducts of the physiological actions of organs. It is supposed

that because certain ingredients are found to exist under all

circumstances in the secretions of the higher animals, conse-

quently the same principles must exist in those of the lowest.

This false logic has led astray the minds of men for an entire

century. There may be nothing in common between the bile

of the Mammal and that of the Cephalopod, yet each may be

the product of the action of a liver. The same reasoning ap-

plies to the urinary secretion and to the renal system. Urea

and lithic acid, the supposed basis and essence of this secretion

* “On the Chemistry, Physiology and Pathology of the Blood,” in the

British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review for 1853-4.

250 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

in the urine of the Vertebrated animal, are not necessarily to be

regarded as the basis and essence of the analogous secretion of

the lowest Invertebrata. If such reasoning were grounded on

truth, it would involve a ridiculous paradox to deny that the

minute anatomy of this system of glands was not precisely the

same in every grade of the series. But it may be proved im-

mediately, and most readily, that the Malpighian coils of capil-

laries, so constantly and essentially distinctive of the kidney

even of the lowest Vertebrated animal, disappear in toto from

that of the Gasteropods and the Cephalopod. Here, at the very

first step, the fundamental structural element of the higher

phase of the organ vanishes. If it be so, is it not reasonable to

infer that a correspondingly marked and essential change has

occurred in the secreted product of each organ ?

The preceding observations, general though they may be, are

abundantly sufficient to justify the assertion, that in the present

state of knowledge with reference to the comparative histology

of the renal system, and the comparative chemistry of the renal

secretion, the physiologist is not in a position to state with

certainty and confidence whether the alleged kidneys even of

the higher cephalous Mollusca are really so or not*.

As the complete history of the glandular bodies which are

lodged in the respiratory cavity of the cephalous Mollusca will

rightly fall within the compass of another series of researches,

the author on this occasion will give only a slight sketch of their

structure, and that more because they are constant attendants

on the respiratory organs in this class of animals, and occupants

of the chamber dedicated to respiration, than because they are

asserted by some anatomists to be muciparous glands, and by

others no less distinguished as true kidneys.

That gland (Pl. XI. fig. 1 c, c’, and fig. 3 g) which Cuvier

first designated “Vorgane de la mucosité,” is unquestionably

traceable as one and the same body throughout various changes

* During my recent studies among the Invertebrata, I have accumulated

a large mass of materials elucidatory of the serial anatomy of the renal

system. It would be quite irrelevant to enter further into details in this

place and upon this occasion. I trust that for such a task another oppor-

tunity will occur. I am deeply impressed with the belief that real service

will be rendered to the comparative anatomy of the Invertebrata even by

the publication of such results as have already been attained. It is certain

that the urea and uric acid tests, im determining the renal or non-renal

character of supposed kidneys in the case of the lower and lowest Inverte-

brata, lead to conclusions utterly unworthy of confidence. This point I

have abundantly proved. The presence of uric acid in the renal secretion

supposes a highly nitrogenous or proteinized composition of the blood,—in

fact, such complex conditions as do not exist in the fluids of the lower

invertebrated animal.

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 251

of form and place and size, in all the pectinibranchiate and

pulmonated Gasteropods. Under all diversities, it is identifiable

by its anatomical structure. Cuvier thus defines its office and

locality: ‘ Le rectum, et oviductus de la femelle rampent aussi

le long du cété droit de cette cavité, et entre eux et les branchies

est un organe particulier composé de cellules recélant une

humeur trés-visqueuse, servant 4 former une enveloppe com-

mune, qui renferme les ceufs et que l’animal dépose avec eux*.”

That gland which in Buccinum is situated between the rectum

on the right and the branchia on the left (when the roof is in

situ), and attached to the roof of the branchial chamber, is the

same gland with that which in Limaz niger (fig. 1 ¢, c) lies on

the floor of the pulmonary cavity, is extended in figure, and

circumscribes a space in the centre of which the heart is situated.

These two examples will serve to indicate the extremes of figure

and locality which one and the same gland may assume even in

kindred genera.

In the Littorinide (fig. 7 f) it affects the same position on

the roof between the branchia and the rectum.

In the Helicide (fig. 3 g) it appears under the form of an oval

mass, situated still on the roof of the pulmonary cavity; and,

when the parts are in situ, to the right of the heart. Thus in

the particular of locality, this gland in Helix differs remarkably

from that of Limaz, in which it is placed on the floor (fig. 1 ¢, c)

of the cavity. In the Lymneadez it is observed to occupy the

same situation as it does in the Helicide. The Planorbidz are

too small to render it practicable to examine this gland separately ;

but, as in the former family, its position is on the roof and on

the right of the heart.

That gland which by Dr. Sharpey has been called the supple-

mentary and doubly laminose gill, is a totally different organ

from the former. It does not exist under any form in the

pulmoniferous orders. It is largest and most developed in

Buccinum ; in the Periwinkle it is also very distinctly observable.

It is situated always to the left of, and parallel to, the branchia.

It is invariably tinged with a dark green colour. It terminates

anteriorly in a long excretory duct which travels under the

membrane of the vault and ends near the rectum.

By Cuvier, and all systematic naturalists, it is believed to be

the organ which secretes the “purple and other dyes”? which

these animals are capable of pouring out, and has been ac-

cordingly designated the “ colour-gland.” In relative position

and in general and minute structure, it is readily distinguishable

from the “ organe de la mucosité” of Cuvier.

* Régne Animal, vol. sur les Mollusques.

252 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

The author’s purpose at present is simply to present a sketch

of the structure of these glands. No opinion with reference to

their function can assume a stable and reliable form which is not

supported by the results of other researches into the structure

of the corresponding organs of other classes of invertebrate

animals. This more extended task is reserved for another

occasion.

Although in Limaz the so-called “ muciparous gland” differs

both in figure and situation from that of Buccinum, in minute

structure they are not only similar but identical. The folds of

which these bodies are composed were called the “ feuwillets

muqueux”’ by Cuvier. They are attached to the internal face of

a sort of a tunica propria, by which the entire gland is closely

bound down. This tunic, regarded in its length, forms a

cylinder. The axis of this cylinder is an open space. The

sides bear the glandular folds. A transverse as well as a longi-

tudinal section of the gland is required in order to display the

true disposition of the glandular lamine.

These bodies are richly ciliated both within and without.

Each fold ends in an excretory duct. The ducts emanating from

each fold are tributary to a common duct which runs along the

axes of the gland and joins the rectum at different points in

different genera. ‘This fact, which can be readily verified, is

worthy of remembrance. From this fact alone the conclusion

is beyond dispute, that if these glands be the real bodies by

which the “ mucosity’’ with which, almost at will, the respira-

tory cavity in these animals may be filled, it can only attain this

cavity by oozing through or transuding the tunica propria of the

gland,—a conclusion repugnant to reason, and at variance with .

all physiological analogy.

In Buccinum the gland is flatter and less cylindrical than in

Limaz. This occasions a slight difference in the mode in which

the lamine (fig. 8 a) are attached to the tunica propria. It is by

no means difficult to detach a single fold (a) in a perfect state

and place it under the microscope. By this simple expedient

the entire machinery of this gland is rendered at once evident.

A highly ciliated membrane, more delicate than, although the

prolongation inwards of, the tunica propria, gives its form to,

and contains the gland-substance of, this fold. The external

surface of this membrane, although within the boundary of the

tunica propria, is not the true interior of the gland. The true

interior spaces of the gland communicating with the duct are

not ciliated ; nor is the internal surface of the rectum in which it

terminates. It will be seen that the entire mass of the glandular

fold or lamina under examination consists of two elements:

first, the Florence-flask-shaped vesicles (fig. 8 5, b, and B, 5d),

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 253

which may not incorrectly be said to represent the lobuli or

acini of the glands of the vertebrated animal; and, secondly,

the intermediate stromatous and cellular structure which fills up

the spaces external to and between the vesicles. In the recent

gland these two parts are so evidently distinct, and indeed so

easily distinguishable, that they cannot be confounded. The

cells (B, 5) within the vesicles are densely crowded with semi-

fluid albumen-looking contents, of low refractive power. The

substance contained in these intravesicular cells is unques-

tionably the secretion of this gland. There it is, directly under

the eye, in its very place of production. If by micro-chemical

analysis its composition while thus isolated in cells could be

determined, the problem as to the real nature and office of this

gland might indeed very readily be solved; but the minuteness

of the quantity thus presented to the eye renders such a deter-

mination impossible.

The nucleated cells (c) which occupy the interspaces between the

cecal vesicles are much larger than those contained within these

parts; they are densely filled with oleous granules (d) of a green-

ish-yellow colour and of high refractive index. The nucleus in

these cells is filled only with an albuminous formless semifluid

substance. In this respect they will be found to contrast stri-

kingly with the similarly placed cells of the ‘ colour-gland ”

afterwards to be described. These extra-follicular cells, so densely

charged with a secreted product, perform obviously an import-

ant part in the office of these glands. They are separated from

those within the vesicles only by the walls of the follicles (B, e)

themselves. These walls consist literally of only a hyaline

membrane, structureless, answering simply and exclusively the

mechanical purpose of a limitary or circumscriptive sac. No

cell-elements are contained in its substance. It is evident there-

fore that the cells are the real factors in the act of secretion.

The large pregnant cells (B, e), which stand on the outside of

the cxcal follicles of the gland, are soaked in the circulating

fluid. It surrounds them on all sides. But the blood does not

penetrate in mass into the imterior of the vesicles. The cells

therefore by which these vesicles are filled cannot derive their

contents directly from the blood. From the relative position of

these parts—the blood, the extra-follicular or stromatous cells,

and the intra-follicular cells,—it seems highly probable that the

blood is first subjected to the agency of the externally situated

cells which cluster around the grape-shaped ends of the glands,

and that the prepared contents of these cells pass thence by

endosmose into the interior of the follicles, where they for the

second time conduce to form, and where they undergo the

254 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

elaborative reaction of, a second system of cells. These last

cells (B, f) are very unlike the former. In the gland of Helia

aspersa they are best seen. Those which are disposed around

the circumference of the space enclosed by the cecum of the

gland are the largest, and each of these cells contains a very

apparent nucleus which is charged with greenish-yellow granules.

As the eye approaches the centre of the cecum, the cells lose

their nuclei and become filled only with a mucus-like, pellucid,

semifluid substance, which eventually escapes into the excretory

channels of the gland. In the gland of Buccinum the dark

nuclei of the circumferential cells (B, 7) are much less dis-

tinct. But the mass of cells by which the cecum is filled

presents the same characters as in Helix. It is impossible here

to avoid the reflection that the cel/s are considerably larger in

size and more numerous in the glands of an Invertebrated than

in those of a Vertebrated animal. In that of the latter, a net-

work of blood-vessels accurately fits over and embraces exter-

nally the cecal extremities of the gland. In the Invertebrate

animal all glands are constructed in this respect on one general

type. The blood courses in large streams through the stromatous

substance; it never penetrates the hyaline membrane of the

follicle. Those parts of the blood which are appointed to nourish

the cells upon the agency of which the act of secretion depends,

and which cells in their turn furnish the final secreted product,

are destined therefore to pass through an external stratum of

cells and through the basement or hyaline membrane of the fol-

licle before they eventually reach the true secreting cells. This

exemplifies the important part taken by cells in the act of

secretion.

Let the physiologist now review the apparatus whose anato-

mical constitution has in part been defined. A large excretory

duct (fig. 8, B, g), discharging its contents into the rectum, is

traceable as other ducts into a constantly diminishing series of

ducts, until at length the Florence-flask-shaped terminal vesicles

(B, ce) are reached, At this point the microscope discloses a

complex system of cells and channels for the transmission of

fluid,—a machinery in fact which is little inferior im intricacy to

that of the glands of the highest animal. It may be reasonably

inferred, that such an organized arrangement in a group of

animals comparatively inferior must be designed to furnish a

product far more important than the “ mucosity” as supposed

by Cuvier. It is next to impossible that this secretion can be

any other than the urine. But this conclusion should receive

all the certainty of an unquestionable demonstration, since, in

this case, these bodies in the Gasteropods may be recognized

Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 255

as a starting-point of great value in the determination of ana-

logies and homologies in the lower members of the series. This

demonstration is reserved for another opportunity.

A second and much smaller gland exists in the respiratory

cavity of the Pectinibranchiata, which hitherto has been variously

called the “ colour-gland” and the bipectinate supplementary

gill. This body is not present in the breathing-chamber of the

Pulmonata. In Helix a fringe-like fold (fig. 3 e) of the mem-

brane of the cavity assumes almost the appearance of a gland ;

it is however nothing but a portion of the vascular respiratory

membrane.

The so-called colour-gland is best studied in Buccinum and the

Littorinide. In both it is situated on the extreme of the roof of

the cavity, being separated from the other gland by the inter-

position of the branchiz. It is considerably smaller in the

Periwinkle than in the Whelk. It has adark green colour. It

commences posteriorly in a cecal extremity. It is prolonged

anteriorly into a tube or duct which travels underneath the

mucous membrane of the vault until it approaches the termination

of the rectum, where it has its outlet by a separate orifice.

Viewed as an axis (fig. 9 a, a), this duct. may be described as

supporting the lobes or leaves (4, 6) of the gland,—as symme-

trical, bilateral, ramose diverticula. This gland presents a

general exterior resemblance to the so-called ‘ muciparous

gland” of thischamber. It admits of division into two parts—

the /obes first, which correspond with the laminz ; and, secondly,

the lobuli (c) into which the lobes (d, 5) are further subdivided.

One of the /obuli in minute structure represents the arrangement

of the whole gland. These Jobuli do not exist in the “ muci-

parous gland.” This is one distinctive fact. The next is that

the latter gland has a yellow colour, the former is of a dark

green. But distinctions more essential than the preceding

remain to be indicated. A lobule is represented by a bunch of

grapes flattened (fig. 10). The grapes or terminal follicles (a, a)

do not exhibit the same figure or shape as they do in the

“muciparous gland ;” they are more elongated and conical.

From the latter they differ also in their contents. They cir-

eumscribe cells which cannot be confounded with those of the

muciparous gland of the respiratory cavity. The stromatous

tissue (fig. 10 6) which envelopes the ceca is obviously dissimilar

from that of the latter gland. The dark green colour (c) of

both the extracecal and intracecal cells is one striking fact of

distinction. This colour is seated in the nuclei of the cells. Like

those of the “ muciparous gland,” these cell-elements are divisible

into two groups; those, first, which are external to the cecum ;

and, secondly, those which are within (d). Those which are with-

256 Dr. T. Williams on the Mechanism of Aquatic

out are of a deep dark green colour (c); this colour is concen-

trated in the nucleus. Those which are within the limitary

membrane of the cecum are less darkly tinged (d). But it is

evident that the latter cells cireumscribe contents which are the

derivative products of the former. The cells situated in the cir-

cumference of the vesicles are more dark than those placed in the

centre. This gradation of colouring is expressive of the stages

through which the secreted product passes. By this coloured

substance this gland is strikingly distinguished from that of the

“muciparous gland.” ‘The follicles differ in figure from those of

the latter, but the cells do not; they are distinguished only by

the colvur of the material by which they are filled. |

Arbitrating as mere physiologists, it would be quite impossible

to say why one of these glands should be a kidney and why the

other should not. It cannot be proved by the secreted product

of this gland that it is one really designed to furnish a ‘‘ coloured

fluid.” This inference is founded simply upon the colour of the

cell-machinery by which this product is elaborated—not upon

the colour of the finished excretion.

The author proposes for the present to leave this question in

an unsettled attitude; but he will venture to state that neither

of these glands is the source of the “mucus” or “ mucosity ”

for which the Gasteropod Mollusks are remarkable. This “mu-

cosity ” is really supplied by a totally different machinery. It is

poured forth by follicles which in all Gasteropod and Nudibran-

chiate Mollusks are more or less thickly strewn over the mucous

and cutaneous surfaces. These follicles will be more minutely

described in speaking of the respiratory organs of the Nudi-

branchiate Mollusks.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES V. anp XI.

PuaTE V.

Fig. 1. Animal of Littorina littorea, removed from its shell, having the

branchial chamber laid open,—the roof being everted in order to

show its under or internal surface. e, e, roof; d, colour-gland of

the author, “ double ”-gill of Dr. Sharpey and other naturalists ;

a, a, branchia, consisting of many hundreds of parallel leaves ;

5, a gland of the mucosity, supposed to have a renal function ;

ec, extremity of the intestinum rectum; g, a second gland whose

function is not determined; 7, duct of the generative organ ;

i, floor of the branchial chamber; h, mantle; k, abdominal por-

tion of the body.

Fig. 2. Animal of Buccinum undatum, removed from its shell, and showing

the roof of the respiratory chamber everted : f, siphon; 8, the so-

called double-gill, the colour-gland of the author ; a, a’, branchia,

consisting of many hundreds of parallel leaves; d, duct ape

from the colour-gland and terminating near the rectum, e ; c, glan

of the mucosity, supposed to have a renal function.

Ann. & Mag Nat.Hist.S. 2.NoL 17. PV

Nee

y SS tA i,

4 hy

LY hh)

SER ‘s

—~

DY)

DOS oy

J. Basire, se.

Batik sen strait

a reek

. Wo + =

{ ae | Vis

L Wilkins ad nat. del

Fig.

Coo NIH

. Respiration in Invertebrate Animals. 257

. Enlarged view of a single branchial leaflet of the Periwinkle:

@, a, cartilaginous thick or dorsal edge; 06, 6, folds or second-

ary plications of the surface of the leaflet; (B), the same in sec-

tional view, showing that the plice exist on both faces of the leaf ;

¢, c, a second set of plicee ; h, h, the blood-channels as they course

in a parallel order towards the free margin (g), at which place

they loop round as shown in fig. 5; d, d, (fig. 3) indicate the

fixed border of the lamina where the afferent and efferent trunks

are situated ; j, the extreme tapering end of the lamina.

. Four branchial leaflets from the gill of Buccinum undatum, with a

portion of the roof from which they depend: a, a, the dorsal or

cartilaginous border of the lamina; a, f, rows of cilia on the

same; e, ¢, section of roof to which they are attached; d, d, the

flat surface or face of the leaflet, traversed by wavingly parallel

blood-channels ; a, 6, g, the free border at which these channels

loop, so as to reach the opposite face ; c¢, ¢, the attached base at

which the afferent and efferent trunks are placed.

. is a small portion of the free border, 5, of the last figure, highly

magnified, showing-the mode in which the blood-channels, g,

curve round the free border in passing from one face of the

lamina to the other.

. A small portion of the epithelium from the face of the lamina.

. The hyaline cartilage which gives rigidity to and is enclosed in the

substance of the dorsal border of the lamina.

. Two epithelial ciliated scales from the free margin, 8, of fig. 4.

. 4, 4,4, a, @, a, six leaflets from the gill of Purpura Lapillus :

a', shows the hook-like manner in which the dorsal border curves

at the point—a contrivance which increases the elasticity of the

cartilage in unfurling and tightening the lamina; c, marks the

-eourse of the blood-channels across the area of the leaf; 0, is the

free or floating border; d, the base; b, the base of the cartila-

ginous border.

10. is a diagram of the entire gill in Purpura Lapillus, showing the

general form of the organ, the largest and longest lamine being

in the middle, the smallest at either end.

12. The hyaline cartilage from the dorsal border of the gill-leaf of

Purpura Lapillus.

126. One of the blood-channels from the same, traced at the free

border, showing the mode in which it loops.

13. Seven branchial lamine from the gill of Trochus magus: a, car-

tilaginous border; d, base of the same; e, face of the lamina in-

dicating the course of the blood-channels ; 2, free border ; ¢, base.

Fig. 14. Seven leaflets from the gill of Trochus cinerarius: a, d, cartila-

ginous border; 0, free border; c, denotes the directions of the

muscular fibres which are attached to the base of the hyaline car-

tilage ; e, e, base.

PLATE XI.

Fig. 1. Limaz niger, showing the roof (a) of the respiratory chamber re-

flected. On its under surface (b) is seen a plexus of vessels,

which are more distinct on the pericardium (c); ec’, c’, represent

_ the mucous gland; d, heart; g, vessels distributed over the floor

of the respiratory chamber ; e, orifice of the breathing-chamber ;

h, aorta. :

Fig. 2. A small portion of the vascular plexus from the breathing-cavity

of the preceding specimen, magnified, exhibitmg the tendency to

Ann. & Mag. N, Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii.

258 Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

a cellular or locular arrangement (a) in the plan of the vessels ;

b, a large circular trunk circumscribing a “ cell.”

Fig. 2 (6). A small portion of the same plexus from another situation.

Fig. 3. Helix aspersa, removed from its shell: a, intestinum rectum; 6,

ventricle of the heart; c, auricle; d, d', main pulmonary artery ;

k, secondary vessels of the pulmonary plexus (f); 7, diaphragm

which divides the thorax from the abdomen (j); jf, floor of

thorax, or respiratory chamber.

Figs. 4 & 5. Helia aspersa, out of its shell. Fig. 4 shows the animal in the

act of creeping on the foot (d), and with the respiratory cavity (¢)

in a state of inspiratory distension : a, orifice into the breathing-

chamber; e’, notch in edge of disk (e). Fig. 5 illustrates the same

animal, the foot being retracted, the respiratory chamber (c) col-

lapsed during expiration, and the orifice (a) being open to take in a

fresh supply of air; e, the disk.

Fig. 6. A portion of the vascular plexus from the roof of the pulmonary

chamber of Helix aspersa, showing the parallel disposition of the

secondary and ultimate vessels.

Fig. 7. Animal of Lymneus stagnalis removed from its shell: a, siphon

in the projected state; 6, c, respiratory chamber; e, heart;

g. denotes the position of the intestinum rectum; f, gland of

the mucosity ; h, flattened ciliated tentacles.

Fig. 8. A. Muciparous gland of Buccinum undatum: a, 6, b, vesicles ;

c, intervesicular stroma; d, cells from the interior of vesicles.

B. A group of vesicles, seated on a peduncle, magnified : e, a vesicle

b, the cells, containing the true secretion with which the vesicles

are filled; f, ultimate cells.

Fig. 9. Transverse section of the “colour-gland” of Buccinum undatum :

ce, lobules into which each lobe (5) is subdivided ; a, section of a

large vessel; d, axis.

Fig. 10. A lobule of the former section magnified: a, a, vesicles ; b,

intervesicular stroma composed of coloured cells; d, a small

portion further magnified; c, ultimate cells.

[To be continued. |

XXI. — Notes on Permian Fossils :—Palliobranchiata. By

Witi1am Krne, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology im

Queen’s University, Ireland (Q. C. Galway) ; Corresponding

Member of the Natural History and Medical Society of

Dresden, &c.

[With a Plate. ]

Every palzontological fact connected with the Permian system

is of the highest interest. Apart from the many philosophical

questions pertaining to them, both this geological division and

its fossils are more intimately related to one of the great in-

dustrial resources of Britain than is generally imagined. The

Permian system, in point of fact, is the key to all our covered-up

coal-measures; and its organic remains are the wards of that

key. Should any one discover a bed containing Permian fossils,

Ann. be-Mag Nat Hist. S.2No1M PLL

lL Basire Lith .

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils. 259

the probability is, that it immediately overlies a series of workable

seams of coal. Dr. Smith, “the Father of English geology,”

strongly urged on the “viewers” of Newcastle to sink through

the magnesian (Permian) limestone of an adjoining county,

being fully convinced they would come on as good coal as

occurred in Northumberland. His advice was taken, but not

without considerable mistrust ; and the result is, that Durham

has become one of the principal seats of the colliery trade in

Britain.

The North of England, with its valuable treasures of coal,

may yet find a powerful rival in the North of Ireland. A few

years since, there was much uncertainty prevailing as to the age

of a magnesian limestone occurring at Cultra, near Hollywood,

on the south shore of Belfast Lough, some referring it to the

Permian system*, others to the Carboniferous+. There is now,

however, no doubt on the point, since all its organic remains are

unmistakeably Permian ft.

But Cultra is not the only locality in the North of Ireland

where the Permian system is developed; for in September last

it was my lot to discover, in the neighbourhood of Ardtrea in

county Tyrone, another deposit of magnesian limestone precisely

similar to that occurring at Cultra, and charged with undoubted

Permian fossils§. It now only remains for the colliery engineer

to sink his boring rods through the magnesian limestone of

these localities to ascertain if they contain the usual underlying

coal-measures.

Enough has been stated to show that every particular relating

to Permian paleontology ought to be carefully noted.

Althongh the fossils of the Permian system, as developed in

Germany and England, have long been known through the

researches of Schlotheim, Sedgwick, Phillips and others, yet,

* Vide a paper “On the Magnesian Limestone of Hollywood and its

associated Rocks,” by Mr. James Bryce, in vol. i. of the Journal of the

Geol. Soc. of Dublin. Mr. M‘Adam expressed himself in favour of the

same opinion in a paper which he read at the Belfast Meeting of the

British Association.

+ Vide a paper by Dr. Griffith “On the Lower portion of the Carbo-

niferous Series of Ireland,” in the Brit. Assoc. Report for 1843, p. 45, &c.,

in which the Cultra fossils are identified by M‘Coy, according to Mr. Kelly

(vide Journ. of the Geol. Soc. of Dublin, vol. vii. p. 23), with Devonian

species.

re This fact was first announced by myself in a paper “ On the Permian

Fossils of Cultra,”’ which I read at the Belfast Meeting of the British Asso-

ciation; vide Repor tfor 1852, p. 53. ;

§ A paper of mine on this discovery was read at the December meeting

of the Dublin Geological Society. I expect it will be published in the next

Number of the ‘ Dublin Natural History Review.’ ive

260 Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

when engaged with my ‘Catalogue’ in 1847*, and my ‘ Mono-

graph’ in 1850, I was under the necessity of diagnosing about

fifty-three species, none of which had, at the date first

named, been met with out of England. The late researches of

Dr. Geinitz of Dresden and Baron von Schauroth of Coburg

have, however, brought to light about thirty-three of my new

species as equally indigenous to Germany. The twenty not yet

met with out of England seem to be balanced by about as

many species which have not been discovered anywhere except

in Germany. Those which I have determined as occurring at

Cultra and Ardtrea amount to about thirteen species, all of

which, however, are characteristic of both the English and Ger-

man Permians. The facts just noticed have mainly induced

me to publish in the ‘ Annals’ an occasional paper, which,

although nominally on Permian fossils, will enable me to dis-

cuss a few matters of somei mportance in paleontology.

Family Productide, J. EK. Gray.

Genus Propuctus, J. Sowerby.

P. Geinitzianus, De Koninck. Pl. XIL., figs. 1 & 2.

As I was unacquainted with this species except through the

figures and description in De Koninck’s ‘ Monographie’ of the

genus Productus + (vide pl. 15. fig. 3 a, b, ¢, d, p. 156 & 157,

1847) ; and as Geinitz was induced to unite it in his ‘ Ver-.

steinerungen’ (vide p. 14, 1848), though not positively, with his

previously described Orthis excavata, I was led to adopt this

identification in my Monograph ; but having recently fallen in

with a specimen by accident, mixed with some examples of Pro-

ductus herridus lately received from Dr. Krantz, I now perceive

that De Koninck was correct in regarding it as an undescribed

species.

The figures in the ‘ Monographie’ are doubtless faithful copies

of the specimens they represent; but the example before me

shows that the species is more variable than De Koninck sus-

pected. It is described as having the large valve “ divisée dans

son milieu par un sinus large et peu profond prenant naissance

& une petite distance du crochet ;” but this valve can scarcely be

said to possess a median depression in the specimen which I have

represented under figures ] & 2 in Plate XII.

* Tt is well known in Newcastle that this ‘ Catalogue,’ although pub-

lished in 1848, was ready for publication by the Tyneside Naturalists’ Field

Club in July 1847.

+ I feel it necessary to express my obligations to Dr. de Koninck for

presenting me with a beautiful copy of this valuable work.

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils. 261

Productus aculeatus, according to the figures given of it by

De Koninck, seems to be a closely related form, the principal dif-

ference being, that the small valve of the present fossil is not

radially costulated. P. granulosus appears to be another allied

form ; asis also P. scabriculus. In some of these species the spine-

bases are elongated, and extended considerably in front of the

spines, which are thereby made to appear as if directed back-

wards or towards the hinge: the same character is exhibited in

P. Geinitzianus, but it appears to have escaped the notice of

De Koninck ; or perhaps his specimens did not possess it. The

resemblance between P. Geinitzianus and Strophalosia (Orthis)

excavata clearly led Geinitz to conclude both forms to be iden-

tical; but in the latter species the spines are finer, decidedly

more numerous, and strikingly arranged in quincunx.

Perceiving no trace of teeth or of an area in the example I

have examined, which is about an inch in width, I am led to con-

clude that the species is a true Productus.

De Koninck states that it is a “ very rare species.” His spe-

cimens are from the Zechstein in the neighbourhood of Milbitz.

The specimen figured is from Répsen. It has not yet been made

known as occurring in any British formations.

Productus Schaurothianus, n. sp. Pl. XII. figs. 3,4 & 5.

Lately breaking up a few fragments of dark-coloured Zech-

stein from Répsen, I was agreeably surprised to find a few spe-

cimens of a small shell, which, at first sight, from its possessing

an irregularly impressed or truncated umbone, appeared to me

to be a species of oyster. A closer examination, however, con-

vinced me that it was a Productus, altogether unlike any I was

acquainted with. I therefore embrace the present opportunity

of describing it and of dedicating it to my friend Baron von

Schauroth, who has within the last few years contributed much

towards elucidating the paleontology of the German Permians.

Diagnosis.—General form irregularly hemispherical. Large

valve irregularly and strongly convex; having a distinct median

depression ; and marked with longitudinal costules, occasionally

dichotomous ; its umbone deeply and irregularly impressed or

truncated. Small valve flattish or slightly concave; wrinkled

parallel to its free margin; and marked with nearly obsolete

radiating costules. \ Hinge-line about (?) half the width of the

valves.

Productus Schaurothianus has much the aspect of some of the

so-called Thecidiums of the Jurassic system, such as 7. Deslong-

champsit, David., which has a somewhat similar truncation of

the umbone. With this remarkable peculiarity, it is quite an

262 Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

abnormal form of the genus; for no species that I am aware of

possesses a truncated beak. I found two or three specimens

with a fragment of stone (? clay-slate), to which they adhered,

still attached to the truncated surface of the umbone: when

chipped out it left a deep groove on the truncation. Productus

Schaurothianus thus agrees with most species of Strophalosia,—a

circumstance which might induce some to suppose that it be-

longs to the last-named genus ; but I have failed in discovering

any traces of teeth or of an area. - Being an attached shell, this

species affords another argument against the opinion that the

Producti adhered to foreign bodies by means of fibres passing

out of their anterior opening, as advocated by De Koninck.

Attached species, such as the present, evidently adhered to

foreign bodies by their umbone in the same way as oysters, &c.

I suspect that some species moored themselves by means of their

spines, like Strophalosias ; while others, such as Productus gigan-

teus, remained free, resting on their large convex valve, as is the

case with Pecten Jacobeus.

The median depression in Productus Schaurothianus is seldom

exactly in the middle, which causes the large valve to be unequally

lobed. The costules number about five in a quarter of an inch

at the anterior margin. No spines are visible on either valve.

None of the specimens that have occurred to me exceed ths of

an inch in diameter. I am not aware of its occurring in any

other locality than Ropsen.

Genus AuLostEecsEs, Helmerson.

? Aulosteges umbonillatus= Productus id.*, King. Pl. XII. fig. 6.

This singular species appears to be somewhat abundant at

Possneck, where its occurrence was first made known by

Schauroth, who has given some characteristic figures of it in his

first ‘ Beitrag +.’ I diagnosed it as being “ subtriangular mar-

ginally,” which is an error: it ought to have been described as

subquadrate, which may be seen by consulting the figures re-

ferred to in the note.

From the circumstance of this species possessing some “ ap-

pearance of an area,” I ventured to state, in my Monograph,

that eventually it might be found to belong to Helmerson’s

” a eee of the Permian Fossils of England, p. 92. pl. 11.

figs. 14-17.

A" Vide “‘ Kin Beitrag zur Fauna des Deutschen Zechsteingebirges, mit

Beriicksichtigung von King’s Monographie der Versteinerungen des per-

mischen Systems in England.” (Aus dem Junihefte des Jahrganges 1853

der Sitzungsberichte der mathem.-naturw. Classe der kais. Akad. der Wis-

senschaften [ Bd. xi. 8. 147] besonders abgedruckt.)

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils. 263

genus Aulosteges. All the German specimens I have seen assist

in lending considerable support to this conjecture ; for they show

more or less traces of a wide irregular area and a closed

fissure*. With regard to its mode of articulation, the following

expression may still be taken as correct :— I can say with safety

that it is not furnished with any teeth; it consequently cannot

be a Strophalosia” (Monograph, p. 92). The conclusion em- -

bodied in this sentence is completely confirmed by the form of

the reniform impressions, which, on referring to the figure here

given (vide Pl. XII. fig. 6), will be seen to agree completely with

those characteristic of Productus, and to be altogether different

from those peculiar to Strophalosia.

With regard to the genus Aulosteges, I possess some good

determinable specimens of the typical species from the Permian

beds of Mont Grebeni near Orenburg, obligingly presented to

me by Col. Helmerson through Sir Roderick Murchison ; Mr.

Davidson has also kindly favoured me with tracings of Col. Hel-

merson’s figures of the same species, illustrative of his original

memoir ; I am therefore in a position to speak with more con-

fidence than formerly on the genus. I have no doubt whatever

of its being distinct from Strophalosia, since it is not furnished

with any teeth—structures which are strictly diagnostic of the

last-named genus—inasmuch as species may be truly denti-

gerous, and yet have a concealed or an almost obsolete area, as

in Strophalosia subaculeata.

There is yet one point to be cleared up in connexion with

Aulosteges. Do its reniform impressions project decidedly in

front of the median plate, as in Strophalosia, or no further than

about the extremity of this plate, as in Productus?+ I have

represented the interior of the small valve of ? Aulosteges umbo-

nillatus, on which it will be seen these structures are situated as

in Productus: if it could be positively affirmed that this species

is a true Awlosteges, the reniform impressions would ally the

genus more closely with Productus than Strophalosia. 7

Genus StropHALosia, King.

Strophalosia parvat, King.

This species has not yet been noticed as occurring in Germany ;

but I have seen a specimen (cast) adhering to the inner surface

* I formerly suspected the closed fissure to be a notch in the area

caused by the cardinal process pressing against what I then termed the

*‘ flattened (area-like) space.”

+ Vide my Monograph, p. 95. and pl. 11. fig. 10, and pl. 12. figs. 5, 9, 14

& 30, where these differences are described and figured.

t Vide op. cit. p. 102. pl. 12. fig. 33.

264 Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

of a Strophalosia(?) Morrisiana from Péssneck. M‘Coy con-

siders it to be the young of Strophalosia Goldfussi*; but its

hinge-line always appeared to me to be too wide to agree with

the “attenuated posterior end” of the latter: some other dif-

ferences, which I formerly pointed out, appear to separate both

forms from each other.

Strophalosia Morrisiana+, King.

In my Monograph it is stated that “two varieties of Séro-

phalosia Morrisiana occur in the Permian rocks of Durham. One

has the large valve slightly convex, with a very small umbone,

and appears to be confined to Tunstall Hill: in the other, which

is rather common at Humbleton Quarry, the corresponding valve

is more rounded and the umbone more prominent : possibly they

are specifically distinct ; and it is this idea which causes me to

be particular in stating that the Tunstall Hill form must be con-

sidered as the type of the species.” :

As regards the Humbleton variety, I admitted that it was

closely related to Strophalosia Cancrini, De Verneuil, a Permian

species occurring in Russia; M‘Coy, however, without giving

any satisfactory reasons, states that he entertains “ little doubt ”

of both being the same speciest. I here speak of the Humbleton

variety, because it is the one which I suspect he had before him

when making the statement quoted.

My attention having been again drawn to the present species ;

and as I cannot subscribe to the opinion just stated, I have con-

sidered it necessary to reopen the question as to its identity with

S. Cancrini; more particularly as De Koninck, having examined

a specimen from Ust-Joschuga in Russia, and compared it with

a Zechstein fossil from Gera in Germany, has expressed himself

similarly to M‘Coy in his ‘ Monographie’ (p. 108). I regret not

having en myself able to examine any Russian type-specimens

of S. Cancrini ; but I think I shall be able, by means of the

descriptions which De Verneuil, De Koninck and Count Key-

serling have given of it, to substantiate in a great measure the

view which I entertain on the question at issue.

Strophalosia Morrisiana, taking the Tunstall Hill specimens

as its type, may be described as follows :—General form flatly

concavo-convex ; transversely elliptical. Large valve slightly con-

' * British Paleozoic Fossils, p. 458.

+ Monograph, pp. 100 & 101. pl. 12. figs. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25,

29, 30. Numbers 18 and 19 refer to the type-specimens ; the remaining

numbers to the Humbleton form, which I designated var. Humbletonensis,

stating at the same time that “in case it should be found to be a di-

stinct species, the varietal should stand for the specific name.”

t M‘Coy, op. cit. p. 457.

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils. 265

vex ; evenly rounded ; often with one or more contracted longi-

tudinal furrow-wrinkles on the sides, and furnished with a number

of long, rather distant, somewhat irregularly arranged, creeping

or adpressed spines directed forward: both imner and outer sur-

face marked with nearly obsolete striz radiating from the um-

bone; also with numerous well-defined incremental lines: umbone

slightly affecting the even roundness of the valve; decidedly

impressed or truncated ; and scarcely curving down to the car-

dinal edge: area a little more in length than half the width of

the valve ; rather low, but well defined, being in the form of a

very obtuse triangle, the sides of which are about equal to ths

of the length of the base ; faintly lineated transversely ; and fur-

nished with a narrow deltidium. Small valve slightly concave ;

here and there exhibiting a few nearly obsolete, slightly elon-

gated indented impressions a little raised at their anterior end,

which causes them to appear as if produced by a blunt-pointed

instrument: both inner and outer surface marked with fine

radiating striz a little more strongly marked than those on the

large valve: nucleus raised a little above the general surface of

the valve: area little more than rudimentary.

All the specimens I collected of this species are a little under an

inch in width, and about # of an inch inlength. The small valve

I am now strongly inclined to think cannot be considered as spi-

niferous : probably the nearly obsolete indented impressions may

be modified bases of abortive spines. In the Appendix to my

Monograph (p. 245) it is noticed, that this species has its small

valve furnished with spines; and a reference was made to a cast

from Whitley represented under fig. 26. pl. 12, which very

distinctly exhibits these structures; but I now regard this spe-

cimen as belonging to the species next to be noticed*.

The foregoing description may be considered as an amplifi-

cation of the diagnosis given in p. 160 of my Monograph ;—the

latter, however, is incorrect in some respects, caused by m

including in it certain characters exhibited by the Humbleton

variety.

Iam not aware that this species has yet been found anywhere

except at Tunstall Hill.

I shall next proceed to tabulate the differences between it and

Strophalosia Canerint, taking De Verneuil’s figures and descrip-

tions as my guidef.

* Vide Monograph. In plate 11. fig. 21. is represented an ideal section

of Strophalosia Morrisiana, which must be cancelled, as the spinous cha-

racter is altogether incorrect, and the large valve is too convex.

+ Geology of Russia, by Sir R. I. Murchison, De Verneuil and Count

Keyserling, pp. 273, 274. pl. 16. fig. 8, and pl. 18. fig. 7.

266

Strophalosia Morrisiana.

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

Strophalosia Cancrini.

Large valve.

Slightly convex, and evenly

rounded,

Transversely elliptical (wider

than long).

Lateral slopes gradually in-

clined, and marked with longi-

tudinal furrow-wrinkles.

Area well defined.

Umbone very slightly affect-

ing the even roundness of the

valve, decidedly impressed or

truncated, and scarcely curving

down to the cardinal edge.

Hinge-line a little more than

half the width of the valve.

Obsoletely striated.

Strongly convex, and swelled

out on the posterior half.

_ © A little longer than wide.”

Lateral slopes nearly per-

pendicular and_ transversely

wrinkled.

Area so imperceptible as not

to be noticed by De Verneuil,

Keyserling, or De Koninck.

Umbone decidedly promi-

nent, pointed, and incurved

over the cardinal edge.

Hinge-line not much shorter

than the width of the valve.

Decidedly striated.

There appear to be some other differences, as in the spines,

the nucleus of the small valve, &c. ; but those tabulated are quite

sufficient to demonstrate that both forms are specifically distinct.

The specimen of Strophalosia productoidea figured by De Ver-

neuil* has more resemblance to 8. Morrisiana than to S. Can-

crini: the Devonian species, however, is too convex ; and its area

is too wide, and not quite high enough for the Permian form.

As regards the variety Humbletonensis, I am more than ever

inclined to consider it as a distinct species, the possibility of

which I was, on a former occasion, impressed with+. At that

time I also alluded to its being more closely related to S. Can-

cerini than the typical forms of S. Morrisiana; as it appeared to

graduate the one into the other. But I am not yet either dis-

posed to admit its identity with the former, or prepared to say

positively that it is specifically distinct from the latter. The

following description may assist in drawing up a diagnosis,

should it hereafter be considered as a species.

General form rather strongly convex ; as wide as long, some-

times longer than wide, rarely the converse. Large valve rather

strongly convex and evenly rounded ; occasionally with one or

more longitudinal wrimkles on the sides; furnished with nume-

rous long somewhat irregularly arranged spines, creeping and

* Russia in Europe, vol. ii. pl. 18. fig. 4 e, f.

+ Vide Monograph of the Permian Fossils of England, p. 101.

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils. 267

directed forward on the back, erect and bent backward on the

sides and adjacent to the hinge ; both inner and (?) outer surface

marked with numerous fine strie radiating from the umbone ;

also with well-defined. incremental lines: umbone somewhat

tumid ; occasionally a little impressed, and incurving over or

below the cardinal edge: area small ; scarcely perceptible through

the incurvation of the umbone: ¢eeth well developed. Small

valve slightly concave; marked with numerous elongated in-

dented impressions, which are somewhat regularly arranged, and

deepest at their anterior end; both inner and outer surface

marked with distinct radiating striz; those on the sides near

the hinge dichotomous and arcuated or curving posteriorly ;

they pass uninterruptedly over the indented impressions *, and

are crossed by rather strong incremental lines: nucleus raised a

little above the general surface of the valve.

I have adhered closely to the order in which the various cha-

racters of S. Morrisiana are described, so that. the differences

between the two forms may be readily seen. 8S. Cancrini differs

from the present one,—notably in having the large valve still

more convex ; the umbone pointed and more swelled out behind

the hinge-line; and the lateral wrinkles transversely directed ;

also in having an imperceptible or concealed area, the width of

which, too, appears to be greater :—furthermore, it seems to be a

much smaller species, —var. Humbletonensis being the largest of

the three forms: some specimens of the latter are nearly an

inch and a half in diameter. De Koninck’s figure of his so-called

Productus Cancrini from Ust-Joschuga would lead one to sup-

pose that its small valve was furnished with spines; but I am

almost certain that such do not occur in the present fossil:

probably the singular elongated indented impressions may be

modified bases of abortive spines similar to those on the corre-

sponding valve of Productus horridus+.

It is this variety which exhibits the remarkable trivalved

character noticed elsewhere}. I am still at a loss to account for

it satisfactorily. The extra valve belongs to the small valve.

Can the mollusk of some specimens have had the mantle belong-

ing to its small valve separated into two layers or divisions, the

innermost one forming the inner valve, and the outermost the

outer valve?

I suspect all the specimens described and figured by Geinitz,

as Orthothriz lamellosus and Productus Cancrini, belong to

var. Humbletonensis. Schauroth represents a specimen from the

_ . * These striz I formerly described as broken: I was misled by the in-

dented impressions giving them an og aR RE of the kind.

t Vide Monograph, p. 90. pl. 11. figs. ‘

{ Vide Monograph, p. 101. pl. 12. figs. 21-24,

268 Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

Zechstein-dolomite of Péssneck having the spine-bases following

a decidedly linear arrangement*. A specimen before me from

Possneck exhibits very faint traces of spines; but the striz are

well displayed. Doubtless the fossil from Gera noticed by De

Koninck in his ‘ Monographie,’ p. 108, and identified with S.

Cancrini, is the same.

Strophalosia excavatat, Geinitz.

Var. Whitleyensist, King.

Allusion has already been made to the cast of a small valve

found at Whitley, clearly exhibiting that it was furnished with

spines, and which I formerly regarded as belonging to Stro-

phalosia Morrisiana; but as I now feel pretty certain that the

last form had not a spiniferous small valve, I am under the

necessity of removing the present fossil to the species now

entered on ; not, however, without a strung suspicion that it

will turn out to be specifically distinct, in which case the

varietal name here given may be made a specific one. There

is also before me a specimen of a large valve from Tunstall

Hill, which I formerly considered as a variety of the present

species: it agrees so closely with the small valve from Whitley

in marginal outline and the number of spines, as to lead me to

suspect that both belong to the same variety or species: if so,

var. Whitleyensis will stand in the same relation to S. excavata

as var. Humbletonensis does to S. Morrisiana.

Strophalosia excavata has the large valve tolerably convex ;

and its spines are crowded, and more or less regularly arranged

in quincunx ; but var. Whitleyensis is much less convex (consi-

dering the large valve found at Tunstall) ; and the spines are not

so numerous (and consequently they are more apart) ; nor have

they any marked quincuncial arrangement: further, the area

appears to be wider ; and the small valve has its nucleus elevated

above the general surface, as in S. Morrisiana and var. Humble-

tonensis,—a character only slightly seen in S. excavata. It was

the elevated nucleus that led me to regard the Whitley valve as

belonging to S. Morrisiana.

Schauroth I perceive records in his 2nd Beitrag § the occur-

rence of Strophalosia Goldfussi, S. excavata, 8S. Morrisiana, S.

lamellosa and S. Cancrini in the Permians of Germany. Is it

possible that varieties Humbletonensis and Whitleyensis have been

taken for the last two species ?

* Vide op. cit. fig. 7 a.

+ Versteinerungen, p. 14. pl. 5. fig. 37, pl. 6. fig. 20.

{ Monograph, pl. 11. fig. 26.

§ Ein Beitrag zur Palaontologie des deutschen Zechsteingebirges, 1854.

Mr. W. Clark on Scissurella crispata. 269

The family Productide, as will be seen by referring to the

table at the end, has been much better represented during the

Permian period than was suspected a few years since; in short—

of the four known genera, Productus, Aulosteges, Strophalosia

and Chonetes*—we are now acquainted with probably about

sixteen Permian species. But what is most remarkable, not a

single representative of the family has yet been found in de-

posits admitted as belonging to a system more recent than the

Permian +. We must not, however, jump to the conclusion,

that the family Productide became extinct at the expiration of

the Permian period: there are extensive geographical areas in

Asia, South America, Australia and other regions, where beds

are developed containing representatives of the family; it is

therefore advisable to wait until the exact, or at least the proxi-

mate age of the beds referred to be determined, before pro-

nouncing that no Productide lived after the setting-in of the

great secondary cycle.

[To be continued. ]

XXII.—On Scissurella crispata. By Witi1am Criark, Esq.

To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History.

GENTLEMEN, Norfolk Crescent, Bath, February 10, 1856.

THE memorandum and figure of Mr. Lucas Barrett, which have

just appeared in the ‘ Annals,’ vol. xvii. p. 206, N.S., relative to

the animal of Scissurella crispata, is a valuable contribution to

malacological science, as it furnishes data to determine with

sufficient precision the natural position of this curious species,

on which for many years the greatest contrariety of opinion has

existed, and which has not been satisfactorily settled until the

present time. And I will further remark, that this uncertainty

will always prevail when genera are constituted on shell con-

* Mr. Davidson was the first to work out the affinities of Chonetes: he

has proved by its reniform (or ovarian?) impressions, that it belongs to the

family Productide. Vide Introduction to his ‘ Monograph of British

Fossil Brachiopoda,’ 1853. The figure which Mr. Davidson has given of

the reniform impressions on the flat valve of a “ new species of Chonetes

from the Devonian beds of Néhou, in France,” proves that this genus is

more related to Productus than to Strophalosia, notwithstanding its pos-

sessing both teeth and an area. With regard to the so-called Chonetes

comoides, its reniform impressions, when discovered, will doubtless settle

the question whether it be a Chonetes or a Strophalosia.

+ The so-called Productus Leonhardi (now the type of the genus

Koninckia) from the Saliferous rocks of St. Cassian evidently does not

belong to Productide (vide Woodward’s excellent ‘ Manual of Mollusca,’

p- 231). I suspect, however, that it belongs, or comes near, to the family

Davidsonide, proposed in my Monograph (pp. 81 & 151).

270 Mr. W. Clark on Scissurella crispata.

siderations; and they can only be admitted to a provisional

position to await the rectifications that may be required by the

discovery of the animal architect. Conchological dispositions

must ever be the mere arena for surmise and doubtful classifi-

cation.

Mr. Barrett has not stated his views on the systematic place

of Scissurella. Whether this has arisen from omission, doubt,

or from the idea of this species having already been properly

deposited, does not appear. My object is to supply some in-

formation on this point.

Mr. Barrett’s figure is that of a decided Trochidan animal:

this is evident from the ciliated tentacula and lateral vibracula,

which latter organs are peculiar to the Trochide; the four

neck-lappets are composed of a lamina on each side, so deeply

indented as to cause each to appear as two distinct processes ;

these appendages are the invariable concomitants of the Trochi.

Compare these points with the rough woodcut of the animal

of Trochus serpuloides of Montagu, published in the ‘Annals,’

vol. viii. p. 45, N. S., and allowing a margin for specialty-varia-

tions, all the generic essentials of the Trochidan animal are incon-

testably apparent.

The late Professor Forbes is one of the naturalists who has, in

his and Mr. Hanley’s ‘British Mollusca,’ rightly placed this

species with the Trochide; but he acknowledges having adopted

that position from some notes of Sars; he however speaks with

doubt, and hopes the animal will be better known.

Mr. Barrett’s discovery shows that the undoubted natural

position of Scissurella is with the subdiscoidal section of the

delicate minute Trochi; its congeners are the Trochus serpu-

loides, Mont., T. Cutleriana, mihi, and T. nitens of Philippi,

all the animals of which were first discovered by me, and de-

scribed as Trochidans. The operculum of these species is cir-

cular, with a subcentral nucleus and coarse spiral strie; that of

Mr. Barrett’s Scissurella slightly differs. They are all mere

films, and require a good lenticular power to distinguish accu-

rately their form and sculpture.

The fissure in the centre of the outer margin of the shell of

the Scissurella originates in the animal specialty of a prolongation

of the points of the branchial organ to procure a more free

access of the water, and which by its presence, for a time, in-

terrupts at that particular point the testaceous exudation from

the mantle, and thus produces a short fissure, which in progress

of growth becomes obliterated in consequence of the branchial

impediments to the action of the mantle being removed to a new

portion of the shell, and in this manner a constant continuation

of the fissure is effected. But surely this scission cannot be

Mr. J. G. Jeffrey’s Notices of Piedmontese Mollusca. 271

considered of sufficient value to entitle the animal to represent

a distinct Trochidan genus, and to nullify its indisputable generic

essentials with the type, Zrochus, in which we are of opinion it

ought to be deposited, instead of burdening science with the

new genus Scissurella.

There can be no species of Scissurella without an operculum,

as its animal has now been proved to be a Trochidan, all of

which are invariably operculated. When that appendage has

escaped notice, it has probably been in consequence of the ex-

treme tenuity of the fabric of its pellicle, and the want of proper

optical power.

The ciliated lateral vibracula of the Trochidan animal vary

from two to four on each side, but are usually three. They

are frequently doubled up, and lie under the flap of the upper

lobe of the foot; and, from their slenderness and change of

position, are often difficult to detect. This remark is made to

meet the possibility of the vibracula in Mr. Barrett’s Scissurella

turning out to be three on each side.

In conclusion I beg to observe, that malacologists are under

great obligations to Mr. Barrett for having solved a long-desired

question, and it would be well if other observers would imitate

him. I will throw out a hint connected with the present inquiry

by mentioning, that it is a great desideratum to obtain notes on

the living Trochus subcarinatus of Montagu (Adeorbis, nonnull.),

which I have in vain sought for during forty years, and the ac-

quisition of. which Professor Forbes particularly recommended

to my attention.

Tt is impossible for a single naturalist, however diligent, to do

everything and be everywhere ; it is only by the many, seizing

the opportunities in their respective localities, that science can

be made acquainted with facts to elucidate the unsolved problems

in natural history.

I am, Gentlemen,

Your most obedient Servant,

Wiiiam Ciark.

XXIII.—Further Notices of Piedmontese Mollusca.

By J. Gwyn Jerrreys, Esq., F.R.S.

Scissurella.—Having, in consequence of Mr. Barrett’s description

of the animal of S. decussata, D’Orb. (crispata of British authors),

in the last number of the ‘ Annals,’ placed under a microscope some

S. elegans, containing the dried animals, I succeeded in detecting a

circular operculum in three out of 145 specimens; and I have also

examined the operculum in the Norwegian specimen dredged by

Mr. MacAndrew. It resembles the operculum of Trochus (sub-genus

272 Bibliographical Notices,

Margarita), to which this genus appears to be allied; although in

Scissurella it is not so multispiral. The slit in adult specimens ends

in a foramen, and is not continued to the edge of the shell or aperture,

as was remarked by the late Mr. G. B. Sowerby, as well as by Philippi,

although D’Orbigny (the founder of the genus) did not notice this

peculiarity. Mr. Woodward (who called my attention to the cir-

cumstance) is of opinion that the fossil genus Trochotoma bears a

close relation to Scissurella. In the Northern Seas, the species

appear to inhabit deep water; but in the Mediterranean they are

littoral.

Trochus zonatus.—It seems that this name had been preoccupied

by Mr. Wood for another species, and I therefore propose to change

my specific name to Skeneotdes.

Jeffreysia opalina.—I have found a full-grown and characteristic

example in some shell-sand sifted from seaweed which I collected at

Palmaria; thus adding another British species to my list.

58 Montagu Square, 22nd Feb. 1856.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

The Natural History of the Tineina. By H. T. Srainton,

assisted by Prof. ZELLER and J. W. Doveuas. Vol. 1. London.

Van Voorst. 8vo. 1855.

In the days of our great-grandfathers, and for many years later,

the naturalist was regarded, even by men of cultivated minds, with a

singular mixture of pity and contempt, as something very little better

than a harmless madman, ‘Thus the renowned Bickerstaff, in his

‘Tatler,’ indulges in many curious pleasantries at the expense of the

naturalists of his day—virtuosos, as he calls them; now giving a

ludicrous account of his visit to the ‘ingenious’ Don Saltero, in his

coffee-house and barber’s shop at Chelsea; now administering a sly

poke to the Royal Society ; and, lastly, furnishing us with the will

of a virtuoso, who died in consequence of his exertions in pursuit of

a rare butterfly. Forming a collection of insects seems to have been

regarded in those days as one of the most contemptible of all em-.

ployments ; and, in fact, the smaller the object studied, the greater

was the contempt entertained for the student. Nowadays, however,

although there may still be a tendency to worship size and strength

in the higher animals, the fact, that amongst the agents employed

by Nature none are more active and powerful than those little crea-

tures whose operations are carried on in secret, and whose minute-

ness often screens their very existence from the eye of the careless

observer, long since admitted by philosophical naturalists, is gradually

dawning upon the popular mind.

Nevertheless entomology appears never to have recovered entirely:

from the ill-repute in which it was formerly held; and this is per-

haps mainly to be attributed to the fact, that so many of its yotaries

Bibliographical Notices. 273

regard entomology as consisting in a handsome cabinet with glazed

drawers (if made by Standish so much the better), containing rows

of good specimens of insects, each with its appropriate label, and

feel far greater pleasure in the possession of a rare insect than in the

investigation of the most interesting points in the natural history of

their favourites. It is no great wonder, perhaps, that ordinary, plain,

common-sense people should find some difficulty in realizing the ad-

vantages to be derived from the possession of ever so many dry insects

stuck through with pins, and thus be led to consider one of the most

interesting branches of natural history as a somewhat contemptible

study. The existence of this prejudice against the study of ento-

mology may probably be one great reason why this science is so little

in repute even amongst professed naturalists; and we believe that

nine out of ten of our best zoologists know less of insects than of any

other section of the animal kingdom.

The Lepidoptera, more than any other order of Insects, are the

objects of the collector’s avidity. The beauty of their forms and

colours have rendered them the pets of the “ fancy,” and of those

so-called entomologists who deserve no better name, whose sole

happiness consists in possession. Indeed, the well-known tendency

of evil communication to corrupt good manners prevails so exten-

sively amongst the British Lepidopterists, that it 1s not easy to find

any who are not more or less imbued with what we must call the

spirit of “fancy.”

It is therefore with no small gratification that we welceme the

appearance in the field of a gentleman who is well known as an

earnest and conscientious worker, and who now seems determined to

show his brother Lepidopterists that the science of entomology is

not synonymous with the art of pinning insects. The group

selected by Mr. Stainton, for illustration in the work of which the

first volume is now before us, is the extensive tribe or family of the

Tineina, a group of Moths generally of very small size, but fre-

quently of the most elegant forms and brilliant colours, which present

more variety and interest in their ceconomy than any of the other

sections of the order. Until of late years these insects were com-

paratively little known, the number of species with which the older

naturalists were acquainted being very few ; and although many spe-

cies have been described by modern authors, our knowledge of their

natural history is still very defective.

The present volume, which is the first of a long series, contains

the natural history of twenty-four species, twenty-one belonging to

the genus Nepticula and three to Cemiostoma. In the larva state

these insects are all leaf-miners, that is to say, they feed upon the

parenchyma of the leaves without injuring the membranes of either

surface. The caterpillars of one or two species, however, live in the

bark of the twigs of broom. The egg is laid, with very few excep-

tions, on the lower side of the leaf, and almost always close to the

midrib or one of the stronger nervures; and it is remarkable that

those moths which deposit their eggs upon the twigs of broom select

the side of one of the projecting angles of the stem for its reception. —

The form of the mine formed by the larva is very oe some-

Ann, & Mag. N. Hist, Ser. 2. Vol, xvii.

274, _ Bibliographical Notices.

times it runs in every direction through the leaf; in other cases it

exhibits more regularity in its arrangement, sometimes taking a

serpentine form, sometimes running in spirals, or forming nearly con-

centric lines on the disk of the leaf, whilst the larva of one species

follows the edge of the leaf and carries its little mine into every ser-

rature. The caterpillar of one species, which Mr. Stainton calls

Nepticula viscerelila, forms a curious mine, bending upon itself at

short intervals, and thus constituting a series of short, parallel, ap-

proximated lines. In most cases the larva has a tendency to enlarge

its mine towards the extremity, and thus, when the creature is nearly

mature, its dwelling usually forms a broad chamber or blotch beneath

the surface of the leaf.

Notwithstanding the apparent convenience of this dwelling-place

for the purpose of undergoing its metamorphoses, the caterpillar

generally quits its little burrow before passing to the pupa state;

and when the time for this operation has arrived, it eats out of the

upper surface of the leaf, and spins a beautiful silky cocoon on

the footstalk, or the stem of the plant, or even amongst leaves

on the ground, where it awaits its further changes. The first-men-

tioned position is usually adopted by those species which appear in

the perfect state in the summer months, whilst those which pass the

winter in the pupa state select one of the two latter situations: and

it is remarkable that of those species of which there are two broods

in the year, the larvee of the summer brood spin their cocoons on the

footstalk of the leaf; whilst those which change to the pupa state in

autumn, and pass the winter in that condition, resort instinctively to

the protection afforded by the stem of the plant, where they usually

place themselves under a projecting bud or twig, for shelter from the

inclemency of the winter. When the moth is ready to make its ap-

pearance, the pupa pushes its head through the cocoon, and the

elegant little creature is thus enabled to spring at once into the air,

without struggling through the silky meshes of its dwelling, a pro-

ceeding which would probably do no little injury to the delicate

scales with which its wings are covered.

Such is the general history of the twenty-four Moths described by

Mr. Stainton in the present volume, and probably that of many

others, as there are still several species belonging to both these

genera with the ceconomy of which our author is not acquainted.

We must regret that Mr. Stainton has not given us something of this

kind in the introductory remarks on each genus, as he could have

done it so much better; and it would also have saved him the trouble

of repeating the greater part of these particulars in his account of

each species, a proceeding which certainly adds unnecessarily to the

extent occupied by their history. Indeed it cannot be too much in-

sisted on in these days, when we are so overwhelmed with works on

natural history that it is almost impossible to keep pace with the

progress of even a single branch of the science, that the author

who presents us with the greatest amount of information in the

smallest possible space is the one who must be regarded as doing the

best service to the cause he professes to have at heart ; and we are

therefore sorry to see that Mr. Stainton, whose earnest desire for the

Bibliographical Notices. 275

advancement of Entomology is evident in every page of this book,

has divided his history of each species into numerous sections, in

such a manner as to extend the space occupied by each to a very

unnecessary length, especially in conjunction with another feature, to

which we shall refer hereafter. Thus, for example, we have para-

graphs under the following titles:—‘‘ How noticeable,—Larva ;”

** How noticeable,—Imago ;’”’ and then ‘“ Mode of Life,” the latter

containing everything necessary to be known in the two preceding

sections, which might certainly be dispensed with, at a saving of

about a page to each species, and a corresponding advantage to the

student. Again, we cannot see that the observations placed before

the synonyms of each species are distinct, in nature from those fre-

quently placed after them, although arranged by our author in sepa-

rate sections, under the titles of ‘‘Synonymy”’ and ‘‘ Remarks on the

Synonymy ;”’ and we cannot but think therefore that it would have

been far better to have amalgamated these remarks under one head.

It will be seen that the above objections apply solely to the plan

which Mr. Stainton has seen fit to adopt in communicating his results

to the world, and have therefore nothing to do with the intrinsic ex-

cellence of his book ; nay, this very profusion of labour in the literary

department of the work may be taken as an earnest that there has

been no lack of energy and perseverance in the prosecution of the

preliminary investigations. Indeed, the copious information furnished

in Mr. Stainton’s book upon every subject connected with the history

of these Moths leaves nothing to be desired in this respect ; and the

eight admirable plates with which it is illustrated furnish capital and

most characteristic representations of the Moths, with their larvee,

the mines of the latter, and the cocoons in which the pupee pass their

period of inactivity. The first four of these plates were drawn and

lithographed by the late lamented Mr. Wing, whose name is a suffi-

cient pledge for their excellence, and some of the drawings for the

remaining plates were also done by him; these have been completed

by Mr. C. W. Wing and Mr. Ford, and are also exceedingly good,

especially those by the latter artist. Some idea of the industry

exerted in working out the natural history of the species may best be

gained from the fact, that in some cases these little caterpillars,

measuring about 2 lines in length, are taken out of the galleries to

sit for their portraits, and restored again with such care to their

natural position, that they return at once to their ordinary employ-

ment of eating, and finally make their appearance in the perfect state,

probably to figure in one of the innumerable pages of the ‘ Zoologist,’

as what Mr. Kingsley would call ‘ another thought of the divine mind

rescued from Hela.’? But we must proceed to the consideration of

another curious and important feature of this book, which certainly

exhibits an unusual boldness of design throughout.

Ever since Ehrenberg discovered that it was impossible to represent

Infusoria properly except upon elephant folio plates, it has become

more or less the fashion amongst zoologists to consider that the size

of works on natural history should be in an inverse ratio to that of

the objects treated of. Our author appears to have adopted this

principle, and although he does not attempt to rival BaeNree Pro-

276 Bibliographical Notices.

fessor of Berlin in the perpendicular dimension of his work, he cer-

tainly shows himself determined to expand most portentously in a

horizontal direction. Thus the present volume is the first of a first

series of ten; it contains, as we have already stated, the history of

only twenty-four species of these little Moths; and as, according to

his own statements, there are now known no fewer than six hundred

species of Tineina, we may presume that the work, when complete,

will extend to at least five-and-twenty volumes,—a small library in

itself.

The process by which Mr. Stainton proposes to fill this enormous

Space is the same as that adopted by Prof. Ehrenberg for the same

purpose, but he has improved upon the original notion. Ehrenberg

wrote his book in three languages, German, French and Latin, pro-

bably neglecting the English as unworthy of his notice; but Mr.

Stainton, writing for the world in general, but for Englishmen in par-

ticular, has naturally added English to his list of languages, and his

book appears as though intended for the original builders of Babel

before they had had time to learn each other’s dialects. We are

aware that there are such things as Polyglot Bibles, and doubtless

theological students may find them advantageous in giving dif-

ferent readings of the same passage; but no such benefit would

attend the publication of Biblia Nature on the same principle, and

considering the stature to which they might attain in one language,

we have no wish to see them published in half a dozen.

In Ehrenberg’s case there was indeed some excuse for the adoption

of this plan, as he was putting forth new and startling views, of the

truth of which, false as they have since been proved, he probably

entertained no doubt, and he might therefore be forgiven, if, with

the view of removing every chance of ignorance of facts which he

justly thought would change the face of science, he rendered his

work more voluminous than it might otherwise have been. But in

the present work we can see no such pressing necessity for a polyglot

text, whilst, on the other hand, its disadvantages are sufficiently

obvious. The bulk of the work is increased to more than four times

what is necessary, and we feel convinced that by this expenditure

of labour Mr, Stainton will not add greatly to the number of his

readers. In the present case any continental entomologist, who,

to apply the popular classification of gentlemen, zs an entomologist,

ought certainly to possess sufficient English to enable him to read

this book ; and as for those who are in the opposite predicament, we

suspect it will not be easy to make them believe that there can come

any good thing out of England.

It may be thought that these remarks are somewhat ungracious,

inasmuch as Mr. Stainton tells us in his preface that this multiplica-

tion of the work adds nothing to its price, which merely represents

the cost of the plates, and that the book would not have cost a

farthing less, if not only the foreign text, but the whole of the letter-

press had been suppressed ; and truly entomologists have to thank

Mr. Stainton for this liberality ; but our object in the above observa-

tions has been to put it fairly before the author, whether, if he designs

making a present to the entomological world, it might not be possible

Bibliographical Notices. 277

to find one of a more practical character. Nay, we are not sure that

the very means adopted by Mr. Stainton to provide for the greater

diffusion of his work, may not be found in reality to impede its pro-

gress, for many a one seeing a book advertised as in four languages,

and ignorant of the peculiar circumstances under which it was pub-

lished, would be inclined to say to himself,—‘ I should like it well

enough in English, but I don’t want a parcel of stuff I can’t read.”’

If, however, Mr. Stainton is resolved, for the sake of uniformity

or otherwise, to persist in the adoption of the tetraglot plan, we

should certainly recommend him to print his books in four parts cor-

responding with the four different languages. The present columnar

arrangement of the book renders it rather disagreeable to read, as the

matter referring to each species, instead of being condensed into two

or three pages, is spread out over eight or twelve; and the only ad-

vantage we can see in this arrangement is the same as that of the

polyglot bibles already alluded to, namely that of furnishing different

readings of the same passage. We must confess that we have found

this conducive to a more correct understanding of our author’s

meaning in one or two cases ; but nevertheless it is hardly a reason

that a writer would urge on his own behalf, and is certainly to be

deprecated for the sake of science.

We trust that Mr. Stainton will take the remarks which we have

felt called upon to offer, in good part. They have been made entirely

from a feeling that energy and perseverance employed in what we

consider the unnecessary expansion of a book are to a great extent

thrown away, and in the hope that, being made in no unfriendly

spirit, they may induce him to take the matter again into considera-

tion before the publication of the next volume of his valuable and

interesting work.

Sylloge Generum Specierumque Cryptogamicarum quas in variis

operibus descriptas iconibusque illustratas, nune ad diagnosim

redactas, nonnullasque novas interjectas ordine systematico dis-

posuit C. Monracng, D.M. &c. Paris, 1855. 8vo, pp. xxiv & 498.

It is now some five-and-twenty years since Dr. Montagne retired

from his labours as Chirurgeon Majeur, and settled at Paris, which

was, we believe, the place of his nativity. On his return he found

that cryptogamic botany was almost entirely neglected in France, and

that the collections made by expeditions sent out into various parts

of the world by the government were forwarded to foreign botanists for

determination. He had been long attached to botany, and had made

considerable collections of pheenogamic plants, and he at once formed

a resolution that this reproach should no longer be chargeable against

his countrymen, and he therefore applied himself diligently to crypto-

gamic botany. The time was well chosen in many respects, and

fortunate in the great improvements which had lately been made in

the microscope. There was ample room therefore before him for

discovery, and in his own country he found abundant new matter for

investigation. With active habits he combined considerable know-

ledge of various kinds ; and his talent as a neat and accurate draughts-

man came greatly in aid of his other acquirements. His paper on

278 Bibliographical Notices.

the novelties in the Cryptogamic flora of France was justly admired,

and he soon became known as the great medium of correspondence at

Paris on every subject connected with that branch of botany to which

he had determined to consecrate his labours. Materials rapidly in-

creased upon his hands, the consequence of which was, that month

after month there was a constant flow of new and interesting intel-

ligence from his pen. This, from the very nature of the case, is

scattered up and down through a multitude of works of various de-

scriptions, many of them exceedingly voluminous and costly, and they

are therefore inaccessible to a great portion of those who wish to

consult them. By the advice of Professor Fries, he has therefore

determined to collect diagnoses of all the new species which he has pub-

lished, and they are now united ina handsome volume, accompanied

by copious indices, and enriched here and there with interesting notes.

The following extract relative to the motion of Diatomacee is an

example of the sort of matter with which the technical characters are

here and there interspersed. In describing a new species of Navicula,

which forms a part of the organic matter which occurs in the waters of

Vichy, he takes occasion to give an extract from a letter of M. Petit :—

“The motion of these Navicule is well worth attention. It is

more or less decided according to the degree of their development.

In their more or less rapid progress across the field of view, they

appear to have a certain degree of consciousness, so as to avoid any

obstacles with which they meet. They advance for the purpose of

investigation ; they try them with one of their extremities ; but they

appear to do this with a certain degree of precaution. It seems as

though they smell at these obstacles, that they examine them, and

try means of avoiding them.

**T may add, in reply to one of your observations, that I am quite

certain that the movements of these little creatures do not depend on

currents arising from the evaporation of the fluid on the stage, or

from any other physical cause, of which it is easy, with a little atten-

tion, to convince oneself. These movements are certainly self-depend-

ent; for the creatures wander in different, and frequently opposite

directions; and they consist not simply in an agitation without

object, but seem to be directed by a sort of instinct. On carefully

watching them, we see them turn round obstacles, when they cannot

pass above or below them. Sometimes, when they are entangled in

a mass of dead organic matter, they put it in motion by their struggles

to extricate themselves. You may therefore consider as certain all

that I tell you about the spontaneous motions of our Navicula, which

I scarcely regard as a vegetable.

“This morning I have shown the motions of the Ulothrix and

Navicula to Dr. Seguin, who is used to the microscope, and was much

struck with them. . He has verified all the information which I have

sent you.

“] said in my first letter, that we meet sometimes with large

quantities of little Navicule not yet, as it appears to me, completely

developed, and which have not at that time the lanceolate extremities.

In this state or stage of growth they possess no motion, which they

acquire in proportion as they increase in size, and do not possess

- Zoological Society. 279

their full activity till they have arrived at maturity. What sur-

prises me is, that in spring I find a much larger number than I find

now (September). I see none, for instance, in a state of infancy.

I may add, that in spring it is principally in a kind of reddish scum,

‘hich accompanies the green matter, that I meet with the greatest

number of Navicule, and that now I find less of this seum, which

perhaps depends upon the fact that the water in the basin is more

agitated in summer,—a time when the water is incessantly pumped

up for invalids.

** As regards the marginal strize, I offer the following remarks :-—

M. Quatrefages, who has been at Vichy for his health, examined the

Algee with me, and has endeavoured to discover if the Navicule really

possess these strive. By the help of oblique illumination, we have

clearly established their existence, at least in some individuals. We

are not certain that they are present in all, for on some we have seen

them distinctly on one side only and not on the other, while in other

individuals we have not been able to discover them on either. I

cannot doubt then, that at least a certain number of Navicule do

not present strive, though they are perceptible sometimes on either

margin, sometimes on one only. M. Quatrefages, equally with

myself, has observed the movements which I have described. Finally,

the endochrome in the living organism is not green but yellow, ex-

actly, in fact, as you see it in the dead specimens.”

Hoping that the worthy author will be indemnified for the con-

siderable outlay which the publication must have cost him, we com-

mend this work to the attention of our botanical friends.

PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES.

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

March 13, 1855.—Dr. Gray, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

An ARRANGEMENT OF THE FAMILIES OF ECHINIDA, WITH

DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME New GENERA AND SPECIES.

By Dr. Joun Epvwarp Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., P.B.S. erc.

MM. Agassiz and Desor have given the generic characters and a

list of the species of Hchinida, but do not divide the genera of the

normal division into families. I propose to divide them into the

following groups.

The Hehinida acrocystos, or those which have a vertical dorsal

vent, a regular globular body, with an inferior central circular mouth,

armed with conical jaws, furnished with five elongate acute teeth, and

with the ambulacra forming continuous vertical bands from the mouth

to the vent. They may be divided into the following families.

I. Tubercles of spines perforated ; spines elongate ; body circular.

Fam. 1. CrpaARID&.

| Ambulacra narrow, formed of double pores; interambulacral

plates few, with a single large tubercle ; spines thick, solid.

280 Zoological Society :—

1. Cidaris. . Tessera even-topped. |

2. Goniocidaris. Tessera bevelled on the edge.—G. pistillaris.

Fam. 2. DriADEMAD&.

Ambulacra narrow, of one series of double pores ; interambulacral

plates numerous, with two or more rows of tubercles; spines slender,

often tubular.

1. Astropyga. Body depressed ; ambulacral area with very small

crowded tubercles, bearing very thin spines, much smaller than the

interambulacral spines and tubercles; interambulacral area with

smooth bands.

2. Garelia. Body depressed; ambulacral area narrow, with two

or four series of small tubercles, and thin spines; interambulacral

area with oblique series of large tubercles and spines, but without

any smooth band; spines tubular.

3. Diadema. Body globular or subdepressed; ambulacral area

with the same sized tubercles and spines as the interambulacral area.

II. Tubercles imperforated.

Echinide, Gray, 1828.

Fam. 3. ARBACIADA.

Ambulacral area narrow; ambulacra narrow, with a single series

of double pores ; body circular; spines short, solid.

1. Agarites. Upper surface of the interambulacral area without

tubercles.

2. Arbacia. The upper and lower surface of the interambulacral

area covered with tubercles.

Fam. 4. Hipronoip&.

Ambulacral area as wide as the interambulacral ; ambulacra wide,

formed of three separate vertical rows of double pores. Body cir-

cular; shell thin.

1. Amblypneustes. Body high; porous zones not quite regular;

mouth small, entire.—A. ovum.

2. Boletia. Body depressed; porous zones regular, inner sepa-

rated by a vertical series of tubercles; mouth very large, with five

deep slits.—B. pileolus.

3. Hipponoé (Gray, 1841). Body swollen; two outer porous

zones regular; middle one interrupted ; mouth small, slightly cut.—

H. Sardica.

4. Holopneustes. Body swollen; two outer porous zones regular ;

middle one separate or interrupted ; mouth small, entire. —H. poris-

SiMmus.

Fam. 5. Ecuinip2&.

Ambulacral area half as wide as the interambulacral area, with

two (or three) close series of double pores, placed in threes; buccal

membrane naked ; body circular.

Dr. Gray on the Echinida. 291

A. With angular pores at the junction of the plates.

1. Mespilia. 2. Microcyphus. 3. Salmacis. 4. Temnopleurus.

B. Without any pores at the angles of the plates.

5. Echinus. 6. Psammechinus. 7. Heltocidaris.

Fam. 6. ECHINOMETRAD.

Ambulacral area only half as wide as the interambulacral area ;

ambulacral pores in groups of four or more, forming an arched series

round the ambulacral tubercles. _

A. Body circular.

1. Strongylocentrotus. Spines equal, subulate, short.

B. Body oblong.

2. Echinometra. Spines subulate, subequal.

3. Holocentronotus. Spines of back elongate, subtriangular ; of

the oral side large, spathulate.

4. Colobocentrotus. Spines of the back very short, truncated ; of

the oral side spathulate.

Dr. Gray described the following species, which he regards as new,

from the British Museum Collection.

Genus CrDARIS.

* Spines smooth or granular.

1. CrDARIS ORNATA.

Depressed. Tubercles of interambulacral area rather distant ;

spines lanceolate, subulate, depressed, white, red-ringed ; base with

series of small red spots and with regular longitudinal series of gra-

nules; each side with one, and the upper surface of the base with two

series of white angular spines; spinules white, with a central red

streak.— Hab. East Indian Seas.

** Spines verticillate-spinose.

2. CIDARIS VERTICILLATA.

Depressed. Interambulacral tubercles rather far apart ; spines of

upper surface rather elongate (about as long as the diameter of the

body), subulate, smooth; some subulate at the top, others with

scattered conical spines, others obliquely truncated, cupped, and

spinose at the tip; spines of lower surface shorter, cylindrical, trun-

cated, granular near the tip ; those of the oral surface much spotted,

truncated, comprespen and largely granular near the end.

Hab. f

3. CIDARIS ANNULATA.

Orange. Rather depressed. Interambulacral tubercles of moderate

size, far apart; spines elongate, subulate, tapering, red and white

ringed ; suprabasal ring white; with longitudinal ridges. The ridges

of the lower half of the spines spinulose and with scattered larger

282 Zoological Society.

spines ; sometimes placed in lines. The dorsal spines sometimes

truncated and slightly cupped at the tip; ambulacral spinules nar-

row, flat.

Hab. -West Indies.

4. CIDARIS SPINULOSA.

Interambulacral tubercles small, very far apart; spines elongate,

fusiform, red-brown, with close squamose longitudinal ridges and

seattered subverticillate acute and small spines; the dorsal spines

truncated, cupped and spinose at the end; ambulacral spinules

narrow.—Haod.

Genus ASTROPYGA.

5. ASTROPYGA DEPRESSA.

Shell depressed, very thin; ambulacra swollen; interambulacral

area with a very wide smooth band in the middle and on each side

of the upper part ; the lower part of the centre of each area with

three oblique series of larger tubercles; ovarian plate broad, trian-

gular.—Hab. ?

Genus GARELIA.

Ambulacra broad; the pairs of pores crowded, so as to form two,

or rarely three, series ; ambulacral area narrow, upper part with four

series of small, and lower part with two or four series of rather larger

tubercles; spines of ambulacral area bristle-like, very slender; in-

terambulacral area with several oblique series of larger tubercles,

without any smooth band on the back near the crown; ovarian

plates moderate, triangular.

* Ambulacra convex ; area linear ; spines elongate, subulate, hollow,

covered with whorls of lanceolate scales.

6. GARELIA ZQUALIS.

Ambulacra convex ; ambulacral area with two series of tubercles,

the outer series rather the largest, rather narrowed below ; upper

side of ambulacral area with 5°5 oblique series of larger tubercles ;

ovarian plate elongate trigonal; spines purple, or purple and white

ringed.

Var. a. With spines pale, white-ringed.

Var. 3. Spines purple; underside obscurely pale banded.

Var, y. Spines purple, not banded.

_ Hab. Mauritius.

** “Ambulacra flat ; area wide, with four or five series of spines,

near vertex narrow, with two series of tubercles below; spines

subulate, tapering, longitudinally striated. .

7. GARELIA CLAVATA.

Interambulacral area with four oblique series of larger tubercles ;

ambulacra slightly raised ; the upper part of the area near the crown

broad; each side with two or four or six series of small tubercles ;

the lower part narrow, with a single series of rather larger tubercles.

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 288

Genus ToREUMATICA.

* Transverse sutural grooves wide and deep; back granular.

8. Torrumatica Harpwickil.

Transverse sutural groove deep, wide; tessera of interambulacral

area high, about twice as broad as high, with one large and several

scattered unequal smaller tubercles,

Hab. ’ Presented by General Hardwicke.

** Transverse sutural grooves narrow and small; back equally

granular.

9. TOREUMATICA GRANULOSA.

Transverse sutural groove narrow and shallow; interambulacral

tessera with a subcentral row of large, and numerous nearly equally

scattered smaller tubercles. Near the circumference the secondary

tubercles become more distinct. -Base concave.

Hab. ?

*** Transverse sutural grooves indistinct ; back equally tubercular.

10. Torrumatica REeEvEsII.

Depressed, thin ; tessera of interambulacral area with a single series

of large, and several unequal-sized smaller tubercles. Under-side

rounded, concave in the middle; ambulacral area with two, inter-

ambulacral area with three rows of subequal tubercles; holes between

tessera distinct, between ambulacral tessera circular and deep.

fab. China. Presented by J. R. Reeves, Esq.

*KEK Transverse sutural grooves indistinct ; back with a smooth band,

near the suture between the interambulacral areas.

11. ToREUMATICA CONCAVA.

Depressed, thin; middle between two interambulacral areas on

the back smooth; interambulacral tessera with a few unequal tuber-

cles near the ambulacra. Under-side deeply concave, largely tuber-

cular; ambulacral area with two, interambulacral with three series of

large tubercles. Had. China.

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH.

January 10, 1856.—Colonel Madden, President, in the Chair.

The following papers were read :—

1. On some Species of Epilobium,” by Charles C. Babington,

M.A., F.R.S. &. (See page 236.)

2. “Observations on the Pollen Tube, its growth, histology, and

physiology,” by P. Martin Duncan, M.B. Lond., F.G.S. &e.

The author details experiments made on Tigridia conchifora. In

this plant the style and stigma are at least 4 inches in length, and

after the lapse of fourteen hours from the application of pollen-grains,

284. Botanical Society of Edinburgh.

hundreds of pollen-tubes may be seen in the centre of the style, many

in the axis of the ovary, and generally one in each micropyle. The

following is a summary of the results of many experiments on this

lant :—

i 1. The pollen-tube grows at the rate of an inch in four hours, and

under very favourable circumstances (as under great heat and moist-

ure) twice as rapidly.

2. The pollen-tube is not a simple tubular prolongation of the

inner membrane (intine) of the pollen-grain, except to a certain

distance. It is in reality composed of a series of cells, the first of

which is formed from the intine, the second is formed within the

papillose cells of the stigma, the third near the axis of the style, and

the others at varying distances. The last cell is usually at the spot

in the ovary where the tube perforates the cell-wall of the ovary to

enter the canal of the micropyle of the ovule. Each cell is divided

from that above and below by a more or less perfect involution of the

external cell-wall.

3. The pollen-tube passes through the stigma by a regular process

of cell-growth. Afterwards cell after cell is added to the tube by

a process of division, each cell performing its function independently.

4. No germinal vesicles exist in the embryo-sac of the Tigridia ;

the pollen-tube effuses its contents into the sac with whose granular

contents a mixture occurs, and the embryo is evolved out of this

mixture.

3. ‘ Notes on the Chaulmoogra Seeds of India,” by Charles Mur-

chison, M.D., M.R.C.P.L. .

A bland fixed oil from these seeds, furnished by the Chaulmoogra

odorata, Roxb., is used by the natives of India in various cutaneous

diseases.

4. “On the Gutta Percha plant of India,” by Dr. Cleghorn.

Records the discovery of it in several parts of Peninsular India.

5. “Notice of the Flowering of Agave americana,” by Joseph

Lister, F.R.C.S.E.

In 1855, at an age of at least fifty years, the Aloe flowered, and

afterwards a small offshoot appeared above the earth, which, instead

of being a small leafy repetition of its parent, bore no leaves, but two

flowers like those produced a few months previously by the central

stem. This offshoot consisted of a succulent underground stem,

about 10 inches long, connected with the underground part of the

main plant. It was also found that there were about a dozen other

offshoots struggling upwards through the earth, terminated by pale

green buds, which, in the case of two that I dissected, contained

rudimentary flowers. Thus the whole constitution of the Aloe appears

to have been remarkably affected with a tendency to flowering ; and

just as the part above ground shot forth a stem with a multitude of

flower-buds, so the underground portion, instead of sending out a few

sprouts terminating in leaf-buds, produced a dozen or more offshoots

ending in flower-buds and destitute of leaves.

Miscellaneous. 285 ©

6. “On the Flowering of Plants, &c., in the Isle of Wight,” by

Dr. T. Bell Salter.

7. “List of Plants in flower, in the open air, in the neighbour-

hood of Ryde, Isle of Wight, in November 1855,” by Dr. T. Bell

Salter.

MISCELLANEOUS.

On the Earliest Stages in the Development of Pelagia noctiluca.

By Dr. A. Kroun.

In the December number of Miiller’s ‘ Archiv,’ Dr. A. Krohn

has given a remarkable positive proof of the existence amongst

the Meduse of a direct reproduction, without that intervention of

polype-like gemmiparous forms which constitutes what is called

the “‘alternation of generations”? in these animals. This mode of

reproduction appears to be of exceedingly rare occurrence in the

Medusa. It has hitherto been observed only in two species besides

the Pelagia noctiluca; namely in Aginopsis mediterranea (by

Miller), and in Trachynema ciliatum (by Gegenbaur). After

repeatedly observing young Meduse, which, from their general

characters, appeared to belong to the genus Pelagia, the author, in

the winter of 1853-54, met with individuals in a more advanced

state, which proved that they were the young of the common Medi-

terranean P. noctiluca; and as in their earlier stage they agreed

perfectly with the young of Medusa aurita, which had not long

been detached from their polype-like nurses, he naturally concluded

that Pelagia noctiluca did not differ essentially in its mode of repro-

duction from the other Meduside. Subsequently, however, Dr.

Krohn met with individuals in a far lower stage of development, the

youngest of which were of such simple structure that it appeared to

him they could not be far from the embryonic state, and he therefore

considered it important to ascertain in what form the embryo quitted

the egg. With this view he examined numerous females without

success, and was therefore compelled to have recourse to artificial

impregnation. His first attempts failed, but in the month of April

he suceeeded in his object. Segmentation commenced in the ova

within a few hours after impregnation, and the first free embryo was

seen in the thirty-second hour.

The embryos exhibited an unexpected form. They were always

considerably elongated, sometimes oval or oblong, sometimes very

long, slender, and cylindrical. They measured from 3 to 1 millim.

in length; the anterior extremity is closed and rounded, whilst the

other appears more or less truncated, and exhibits an extremely small

round opening (the mouth), which leads into a well-marked roundish |

cavity (the stomach), occupying the hinder third of the body. The

embryos appear semitransparent, in consequence of a delicate whitish

coat, which covers the limpid substance of the body. This is closely

set with fine short cilia, by the action of which the little creatures

286 Miscellaneous.

swim pretty rapidly, with a constant rotation upon their longitudinal

AXIS. (

~*~ The development of the embryo takes place by a gradual widening

of the hinder part, which thus acquires a bell-like form, the stomach

becomes much larger, and the oral orifice, which was depressed in

the embryo, becomes considerably protruded. On the third day,

the hinder margin of the bell-shaped umbrella exhibits eight small

rounded lobes, at the same time that eight corresponding appendi-

cular sacs are developed from the stomach. Shortly afterwards the

marginal lobes increase considerably in length, and acquire a some-

what quadrangular form, with their margins slightly indented ; and

at these indentations the rudiments of the marginal corpuscles (oced/2)

make their appearance. At this stage the mouth has become much

larger, and makes its appearance at the extremity of a short tubular

process,—the rudimentary stalk of the four arms possessed by the

perfect animal. The motion of the young animal through the

water is slower than at first ; but it is still principally effected by the

action of cilia, although the umbrella occasionally expands and con-

tracts, producing an undulation of the marginal lobes.

The further progress of the young Medusa to the condition in

which Dr. Krohn first observed it, consists in the growth of the mar-

ginal lobes, and especially of the lappets into which they are divided

by the central indentation, the disappearance of the cilia, the ap-

pearance of crystalline bodies in the marginal corpuscles, the greater

development of the base of the oral tentacles, and the diminution

of the height of the umbrella. At this period also the whitish

coat of the embryo disappears, whilst the urticating organs are

developed.

The author followed the further development of the young Pelagia

until it had acquired the eight additional ventricular sacs characteristic

of the mature animal and the eight marginal tentacles; but he ob-

serves, that four of these had attained a length equal to the diameter

of the disk, whilst the other four were still rudimentary. The stalk

of the oral arms was longer and larger, but the arms themselves were -

but slightly developed.— W. 8. Dauuas.

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF SWIFT.

CYPsELUS GALILZENSIS, Antinori.

C. cauda brevissima, subfurcata: corpore nigro-virescente, nitore

metallico perlucido: fronte dilute albida: gula et regione supra-

caudali albis: pogonio externo primee remigis albo limbato.

The third part of last year’s ‘ Naumannia’ contains a communica-

tion from the Marchese Oratio Antinori, describing this ‘ apparently

new Swift,’’ which was discovered by him in Palestine, on the borders

of the Sea of Galilee. Two specimens were procured,—Cypselus apus

and C: melba; and Hirundo daurica, rupestris and rustica were breed-

ing abundantly near the same locality. Its similarity to a South

African species (C. leucorrhous, Steph. ex LeVaill. Ois. d’Afr.

pl. 244. fig. 2) is commented upon ; but it is hardly probable that it

Meteorological Observations. 287

should be identical with a bird from so different a country. The

Indian species that approaches it most nearly is C. leuconyx, Blyth ;

but it appears distinct from that and all other Asiatic species with

which we are acquainted. The zoology of the Holy Land—especially

Ist ornithology—is, in fact, very little known; and it is much to be

wished that, amongst the crowds of English who yearly visit that

country, some would turn their attention to this interesting but

neglected subject.—P. L. 8.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR JAN. 1856.

Chiswick.—January 1. Overcast: cloudy. 2. Foggy: exceedingly fine: slight

rain. 3. Fine: uniformly overcast: fine. 4. Cloudy and mild : overcast: rain at

night. 5. Rain: densely overcast: rain. 6. Cloudy: rain. 7. Cloudy: foggy:

cloudy. 8. Densely overcast: cloudy and cold. 9. Drizzly : rain and sleet: rain

at night. 10. Cloudy and cold: clear andfrosty. 11. Frosty: cloudy : frosty. 12.

Cloudy : sunshine occasionally: cloudy. 13. Clear and frosty: fine. 14. Dry and

frosty. 15. Sharp frost: clear: fine. 16. Fine: rain andfog: cloudy. 17. Over-

cast: cloudy: rain. 18. Slight rain: cloudy. 19. Rain: heavy clouds. 20, 21.

Densely overcast: heavy clouds: slight rain. 22. Densely clouded: rain. 23.

Low clouds: bright sun at intervals: cloudy and windy. 24. Densely clouded

and boisterous: rain: lightning at night. 25. Overcast: fine. 26. Very fine:

rain. 27. Fine: frosty. 28. Frosty: overcast: hail-shower: fine. 29. Clear

and frosty: fine: sharp frost. 30. Frosty: fine: cloudy and cold: frosty. 31.

Clear and frosty : cloudy : frosty.

Mean temperature of the month .........ccesessseeeeeens erhstpegs GRAS

Mean temperature of Jan. 1855 —... cece eeee eee ghaguansesa’ « 3d °45

Mean temperature of Jan. for the last thirty years ............ 36 °94

Average amount of rain in Jan. —....+..0...45 sisepetsostsseveansy. 27690 inch.

Boston.—January 1. Cloudy. 2. Foggy. 3. Fine. 4. Cloudy: rainp.m. 5.

Cloudy: rain a.m. 6. Fine. 7. Cloudy. 8. Cloudy: rainp.m. 9,10. Fine.

11. Fine: snow a.m. 12—16. Fine. 17,18. Cloudy: rainp.m. 19. Rain a.m.

20. Cloudy: rain r.m, 21. Rain a.m.and p.m. 22, Fine. 23. Rain a.m. 24.

Cloudy: raina.m. 25. Fine. 26. Cloudy: raina.m. 27. Fine. 28. Fine: rain

and snow P.M. 29. Fine. 30,31. Cloudy.

Sandwick Manse, Orkney.—January 1. Cloudy a.m. and p.m. 2. Damp a.m.

and p.m. 3. Cloudy a.m.: damp p.m. 4. Cloudy a.M.and p.m. 5. Damp a.m.:

rain P.M. 6, Dampa.m. and p.m. 7. Rain a.M.andp.m. 8, Sleet-showers a.m.

hail-showers p.m. 9. Snow-showers a.M.: clear, frost p.m. 10. Snowing a.m, :

snow-showers p.m. 11. Snow-showers a.m.: snow-drift p.m. 12. Bright a.m. ;

thaw, showers p.m. 13. Cloudy a.m. and p.m. 14. Cloudy a.m.: fine, cloudy

p.M. 15. Cloudy, frost a.m.: fine, cloudy p.m. 16, Cloudy a.m.: fine, cloudy

P.M. 17. Dampa.M.: rainp.mM. 18. Clear a.m.: fine, clearp.m. 19. Frost a.m. ;

rainp.M. 20. Bright a.m.: hail-showers p.m. 21. Bright, frost a.m.: clear,

frost p.m, 22. Clear, frost a.m.: clear p.m. 23. Sleet a.m.: clear, fine p.m,

24, Cloudy a.m. : cloudy, finep.m. 25, Cloudy a.m.: showers P.M. 26. Showers

A.M.: sleet-showers P.M. 27. Clear a.M.: showers P.M. 28. Showers a.m.:

snow-showers P.M. 29. Snow-showers A.M. and P.M. 30,31. Bright a.m. :

snow-showers P.M.

Mean temperature of Jan. for twenty-nine previous years ... 38°38

Mean temperature of this month ............+ pbtatnekbdeacnateksn 38 ‘00

Mean temperature of Jan. 1855 — ,..esessseeesceenesseseceveres --. 38°16

Average quantity of rain in Jan. for fifteen previous years ... 4°24 inches,

The remarkable depression of the barometer here on the 23rd, 24th and 25th is

worthy of observation, coupled with the fact, that the gale which it indicated did

not reach Orkney, or the N. of Scotland, while it was violent in England. The

first two of these days were really fine here, and marked so in the Register,

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THE ANNALS

MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY.

[SECOND SERIES.]

No. 100. APRIL 1856.

XXIV.—On the Theory of the Fecundation of the Ovum.

By E. Cuararkpe*,

Ons of the first discoveries which followed the invention of the

microscope, or at all events one of those which made the most

noise in the world, was the discovery by Ludwig von Hammen

of the spermatozoids in the seminal fluid. This was the com-

mencement of a new era in the physiology of fecundation, an

era however which must unfortunately be characterized rather

by the accumulation of fruitless theories, than by the discovery

of a great number of facts. ‘These spermatozoids, these mobile

particles of the animal semen, were at first raised to the rank of

independent beings, as spermatic animalcula, and although their

title to this place in the series of beings is nowadays pretty

generally disputed, this antiquated opinion is still far from

being completely banished from the domain of science. The

theories took their course, and Gautin did not hesitate to attri-

bute to the animalcula of the human semen, the actual figure of

Homo sapiens. Others made them penetrate into the ova and

form the embryo. Andry +, mixing poetry with matters with

which it had nothing to do, related how each spermatozoid

arrives in the ovary and penetrates into the egg, by passing

through a little door, which it pulls after it and shuts with the

assistance of its tail. He even went so far as to represent these

little creatures engaging in sanguinary combats at the door of

the ovum, and disputing each other’s right of entrance with such

~ determination that many lost their arms and legs. Hence arise

* Translated from the Bibliothéque Universelle de Genéve for August

1855, p. 284, by W. 8. Dauuas, F.L.S.

+ See Vallisneri, Istoria della Generazione dell? Uomo e degli Animali.

1721.

Ann. &§ Mag. N. Hist. Ser.2. Vol. xvii. 19

290 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

miscarriages and deformed children. Leeuwenhoeck contented

himself with conveying them into the uterus, where they changed

their skins like caterpillars and became transformed into men.

Lastly, to come to modern times, according to Prevost and

Dumas*, the nervous system of the embryo is a product of the

zoosperm, whilst the plastic and irritable organs are formed at

the expense of the ovum.

For a long period warm disputes prevailed between the ovists

and the spermatists. The principal representatives of the former

were Malpighi, Antoine Vallisneri+, Hallert and Bonnet §.

Their greatest stumbling-block was the part to be assigned to

the seminal fluid. Bonnet and Haller imagined that it might

constitute the nourishment of the embryo. It is for this reason,

according to them, that a mule has long ears, because the semen

of his father, the Ass, contains a large quantity of quintessence

of ear, &c. They did not trouble themselves with the obstacles

which this opinion might throw in the way of the theory of the

inclusion of germs. Some even refused to admit that the sper-

matozoids were of any importance; like D. Parsons ||, who de-

clared it to be ‘an extreme nonsense” to believe that those

insignificant creatures called spermatic animalcules could con-

tribute in any way to propagation. Daubenton and Needham 4

only regarded them as a product of the decomposition of the

semen ; and we owe some gratitude to Bonnet and Gleichen **

for having demonstrated by experiment that the seminal fluid of

hybrids was incapable of fecundation because it contained no

spermatozoids, which however has not prevented Sir Everard

Home +t im our own century from denying their existence.

entirely.

Nevertheless the spermatists appear to have carried the ridi-

culous still further than the ovists. As a foretaste we have

already given a sketch of Andry’s romances. He attributed the

nature of the animals to their spermatozoids ; thus those of the

sheep lived in flocks even while still in the testicle and epidi-

dymis. Santanelli regarded them as cylindrical spirits with five

points. But the first spermatist was undoubtedly Aristotlett,

* Annales des Sciences Naturelles, ii.

+ Op. cit. sup.

t Elementa Physiologiz Corporis humani. Lausanne, 1757-1766.

§ Considérations sur les corps organisés.

|| Philosophical Observations on the Analogy between the Propagation

of Animals and that of Vegetables. 1752.

{| Notes des nouvelles recherches sur les découvertes microscopiques de

YAbbé Spallanzani. Londres, 1769.

** Abhandl. iiber die Samen- und Infusionsthierchen. 1788.

tt Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, vol. v. 1828.

tt See his works [epi ris yeveoews and Ilept Cardy popiav.

Fecundation of the Ovum. 291

who declares that the actual procreant element is the male,

whilst the female element only furnishes nourishment. The

ovists, as well as many spermatists, were partisans of the theory

of the preformation or evolution of germs, a theory which soon

gave place to that of metamorphosis. Bonnet himself appears

to have had a tendency this way, for he puts forward the idea,

that the air, the water, the earth and every solid body, are

magazines containing germs. The same germs, which, passing

into plants produce buds and flowers, give birth to embryos

when they penetrate into the ovaries of animals*. In reality

this is not far from the opinion of Heraclitus, who maintained

that the germs were diffused everywhere, and that they were

developed as soon as they arrived in the proper sexual organs.

Perrault, Needham, Buffon and Treviranus merely worked out

this kind of panspermism in various directions, until Oken +

imagined that these universally diffused germs were to be found

in the Infusoria.

It must be confessed that the imagination of our forefathers

was very prolific. in the fabrication of theories of generation

which often approached pretty closely to the ridiculous, or at all

events to the comic. However, all these beautiful. edifices

crumbled one after the other by their own weight, and of late

years there appeared to be a tacit agreement between physio-

logists, by which they engaged to steer clear of this subject until

they had facts before them. But in the absence of facts, it was

necessary to rest contented with the general ignorance, which

however was soon veiled in a tinsel cloak, by having recourse to

a force, that deus ex machind which physicists, chemists, phy-

siologists and other philosophers use and abuse in accounting

for that which they cannot explain.

People accordingly admitted a dynamic action of the zoo-

sperm. This arrived at the ovum, without however penetrating

into its interior, as Andry’s little door did not exist ; and by its

simple presence, in virtue of a force belonging to its predicate

of spermatozoid, fecundation was effected, but no one knew very

well how or why. The embryologist Bischoff was one of the

principal defenders of this dynamism, which, indeed, was nothing

* The author here appears to have mistaken Bonnet’s meaning in some

unaccountable manner; his statements seein to have a directly opposite

tendency. Thus in stating his hypothesis of the universal diffusion of -

germs he says, “ they only become developed when they meet with suitable

matrices, or bodies of the same nature ;” and in a subsequent passage he

adds, “it is only the germs which contain organic wholes, of the same

kind as that into which they are introduced, that are developed there.”’—

W.S. D. =f

+ Die Zeugung. Bamberg, 1805. . ie

292 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

but a reproduction of Harvey’s* ideas, when he compared the

action of the spermatozoids upon the ovum to that of the mag-

net upon iron, or when, with Osiander and Treviranus, he called

it a contagion. |

The reign of the old theories appeared to be repudiated for

ever, and it was scarcely expected that they would soon have

raised their heads again to claim the attention of true observers,

no longer taking the title of theories, but rather that of facts,

and demanding no other judges than eyes and a sound intellect.

This is nevertheless what took place. As early as 1840, a distin-

guished English observer, Dr. Barry+, in a memoir on the em-

bryogeny of the Rabbit, devoted a chapter to the fecundation of

the ovum, and asserted that he had seen this take place under

his eyes. According to him the germinal vesicle of the ovum of

the Rabbit neither dissolves nor bursts, as was generally sup-

posed ; but at a period preceding that of fecundation it. becomes

filled with cells, which render it opake, and then proceeds in

the direction of the periphery, towards the zona pellucida (trans-

parent membrane). The latter presents an attenuation or an

orifice at the point approached by the vesicle. This, at least, is

what Barry asserts that he has seen several times in perfectly

ripe ovules, even ante coitum. The form of the orifice im

question was sometimes such as to suggest the idea of a rent or

cleft in the membrane; in other cases it appeared as though

there had been a previous attenuation of the membrane. Sub-

sequently{ Dr. Barry again described this phenomenon in

greater detail. With him the nucleolus of the germinal spot is

a peculiar substance which he calls the hyaline. In this hyaline

resides the force (the explanation again leaves nothing to be

desired!) which drives the vesicle towards the zona pellucida.

When the germinal vesicle comes in contact with the membrane

of the egg it bursts, and at the same time an opening is formed

in the latter (zona pellucida). All this is the work of this hya-

linic energy! Hewever, an opening, whether formed or not by

the action of the hyaline, was observed in 1840 by Barry in the

ovum of the Rabbit, and on one occasion he even perceived in

this aperture an object “ much resembling a spermatozoon.” All

these phenomena of course take place before the formation of

the chorion, that is to say in the ovary, or in the uppermost part

of the oviduct. Two or three years afterwards Barry § announced

positively that he had seen not only an object “‘ much resembling

a spermatozoon,” but actually true zoosperms in the ova of

* Exercit. de Generatione Anim. 1651.

+ Phil. Trans. 1840.

~ Miiller’s Archiv, 1851.

§ Phil. Trans. 1843.

Fecundation of the Ovuin. 293

the Rabbit. Important as this assertion was, it did not make

much noise in the world. Barry’s discovery passed again into

the shade and no one took it up on the Continent. Bischoff *

contented himself with mentioning it repeatedly as erroneous

and describing it as a mere product of the imagination (Geburt

der Phantasie).

For twelve years Barry’s discovery slumbered. At the end of

this time one of his countrymen, also a good observer, Dr. Nel-

son +, of Glasgow, revived the question by publishing an obser-

vation analogous to that of Barry, although relating to a very

different animal,—an intestinal worm, the Ascaris of the Cat

(Ascaris mystax). According to Nelson the ova of this worm,

at the period when fecundation takes place, are entirely destitute

of vitellme membrane, and possess no envelope of any kind.

They are, generally, triangular, or rather pyramidal in form, in

consequence of their being pressed against one another in the

oviduct. Nevertheless their margins are sufficiently well marked,

in consequence of the cohesion of the yelk: at one of the angles

alone the outline is less distinct, for which reason Nelson gives

this angle the name of the “broken edge.” After copulation,

the spermatozoids, which, m consequence of their form, the

author denominates “ spermatic cells,” penetrate into the ovi-

duct, reach the ova and insinuate themselves into the substance

of the vitellus. According to Nelson, this penetration of the

spermatozoids into the ovum takes place at any point of the sur-

face, and even at several points on the same ovum at once ; but

he remarks that the spermatozoids appear to prefer the “ broken

edge” for this purpose. As soon as they are in the egg, the

‘spermatic cells” begin to disappear, probably by dissolution,

and their place is occupied by a transparent liquid. In this

phenomenon consists the whole system of fecundation. The

ovum immediately begins to undergo modifications. The vitellus

acquires a spotted appearance, previously noticed by Reichert

in Strongylus, and considered by that anatomist as the result of

the formation of cells in the interior of the yelk ; the existence

of these cells in this Ascaris is completely denied by Nelson.

The germinal vesicle bursts, and its disappearance is immediately

followed by a modification of the granules of the vitellus, which

become transparent. After this transformation Nelson proposes

to give them the name of embryonal granules. In the interior —

of the egg, a cell with a nucleus and nucleolus is formed; these

are the blastodermic vesicle and spot. Whilst these things are

* Entwickelungsgeschichte des Kaninchencies, 1842,—des Hundeeies,

1845,—des Meerschweinchens, 1852.

+ Phil. Trans. 1852, part 2.

294 — M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

taking place, the chorion is formed, and the egg continues ad-

vancing by degrees towards the period of its segmentation and the

formation of the embryo. The action produced upon the ovum

by the spermatozoids is consequently, according to the Glasgow

physiologist, of a triple nature :—1. A preservative action, inas-

much as they prevent the destruction and disappearance of the

vitelline granules, and their indiscriminate mixture with the

elements of the germinal vesicle and spot, which, according to

him, inevitably takes place when the ova are not fecundated ;

2. A destructive solvent action, in consequence of which the

vitelline granules and germinal vesicle are gradually dissolved at

the expiration of a certain time; and 3. A transforming action

by which the vitelline granules are metamorphosed into em-

bryonic granules. 3

It was reserved for a third English philosopher to assist in the

formation of the new edifice, by the announcement of the entrance

of the spermatozoid into the ovum in a third class of animals,

namely the Reptiles. Newport* in his first memoir on the re-

production of the Batrachia, had referred to various experiments

which he had made with the view of throwing discredit upon the

opinion that the spermatozoids could penetrate into the ovum,

which he regarded as possessing but little probability. But a

year-and-a-half afterwards} he recalled his previous opinion in a

remarkable memoir, im which he stated that he had positively

seen spermatozoids, not only within the outer membranes of the

ovum of the Frog, but actually in immediate contact with the

vitelline membrane. The spermatozoids had their heads always

directed towards the centre of the ovum and their tails towards

its periphery, as though they wished to penetrate still further.

The first consequence of the fecundation thus effected, consists,

according to Newport, in the formation of a chamber between

the vitellus and the vitelline membrane at one extremity of the

egg, and the segmentation of the yelk then commences. In a

note written subsequently to the communication of his paper to

the Royal Society{, Newport announces that he had actually

observed the passage of the spermatozoids through the mem-

branes of the ovum and their arrival in the interior of the

vitellus. He remarks that the penetration does not take place

through a particular opening, but through any point of the sur-

face of the chorion. ‘‘ The spermatozoa,” he says, “do not reach

the yelk of the Frog’s egg by any special orifice or canal in the

envelopes, but pierce the substance of the envelopes at any part

with which they may happen to come into contact.”

* Phil. Trans. 1851. t+ Phil. Trans. 1853, part 2.

+ Phil. Trans. 1853, part 2. p. 271 (note).

Fecundation of the Ovum. 295

These three discoveries of the penetration of the spermatozoids

into the ovum were soon to be followed by several others. In

fact, we are arriving at the moment when this new theory, or

rather, this resurrection of antiquated ideas now founded upon

observation, was to excite general interest, and bring into the

er all the distinguished names of which physiology can

oast.

Shortly after Newport’s discovery, there appeared at Konigs-

berg a work by a M. Keber* of Intersburg,—a work which

came forth with the pretension that it would change the face of

science, and convulse with astonishment, not only KGnigsberg,

not only Germany or Europe, but the whole world. The work

was published in two languages, German and Latin, in order

that no one should have an excuse for want of knowledge of the

new doctrine, for ignorance of the truth. “I shall prove by

innumerable observations,” is the pompous announcement of

Keber in his preface, “ that no animal fecundation takes place but

when the spermatozoids penetrate into the ovum, divide in the

vitellus and form the nuclei of the cells of the new organism. ...

I feel all the weight of this bold assertion ; I know that I am

about by this means to place myself in opposition to the Cory-

phe of science, and that more than one, offended at hearing

such an absurdity, will throw this work aside contemptuously,

without reading it, or perhaps at the utmost, will grant it a

place in the series of scientific curiosities. But I have carefully

and conscientiously convinced myself of the truth of my as-

sertions, upon more than 2000 eggs,” &c. Exclaiming, with

Aristotle, that one must have more confidence in one’s own eyes

than in the opinions of others, Keber proceeds, without disturb-

ing himself about the objections which may be raised against

him, or dreaming that Aristotle spoke of the eyes of reason and

not of those of the imagination. ©

But let us pass to details, and first of all, to the phenomena

which Keber pretends to have observed in the Naiadee (Ano-

donta, Unio). According to him, the ovum in these Mollusca is

not enveloped simply in the cortical membrane (Schalenhaut of

Baer) ; but within this there are two others,—the membrane of

the albumen and the vitelline membrane, the former separating

the albumen from the cortical membrane, the second from the

vitellus. The young ova present a cecal prolongation, which

arises from the membrane of the albumen and, piercing the cor-

tical membrane, forms a projection externally. In some cases a

fine membrane is perceptible uniting this process with the ger-

* Ueber den Eintritt der Samenzellen in das Ei, ein Beitrag zur Physio-

logie der Zeugung. 1853.

296 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

minal vesicle. When the ova become larger, the extremity of

the cecum opens and a small quantity of albumen passes out

from it ; this is to serve as a bait to the spermatozoids (!!). The

ovum then exactly resembles one of those glass flasks used in

chemical laboratories, furnished with a rather short neck. The

spermatozoids arrive from all sides, allow themselves to be taken

by the bait, and penetrate into the neck of the ovum, or the

micropyle, to employ a name now received in science. In its

frolics the spermatozoid loses its tail, so that only its oval head

is found in the neck of the ovum, and this usually occupies a

transverse position. It is difficult to describe the ecstasy in which

Keber was plunged at this discovery, on the day when he was

permitted to see “that which no mortal eye had yet contem-

plated.” Overwhelmed with enthusiasin, and believing himself

initiated into the mysteries of creation, he concludes his first

chapter by exclaiming (in two languages) —“ And the evening and

the morning were the first day \”’ (Factumque est vespere et mane

dies unus! Da ward aus Morgen und Abend der erste Tag !)!!!

But this is not the whole ;—Keber follows the journey of his

spermatozoids into the eggs, where he is clever enough to recog-

nize them, sometimes by their form, sometimes by their greenish

tint, and sometimes because they begin to jump about (probably

they go into convulsions) under the influence of sulphate of

strychnine*. The spermatozoid has lost its tail, which greatly

facilitates research, seeing that if it was necessary to seek for it

in the egg, its delicacy would certainly prevent its being found.

But we may be allowed to ask how this spermatozoid is to be

distinguished from any other granules, for it is well known the

spermatozoids of the Anodonte are far from being of gigantic

stature. The idea of a blackish tint being characteristic scarcely

needs refutation. The imperfection of our best achromatic

glasses still communicates to certain objects a tinge which varies

according to the microscope, without taking into account the

phenomena of diffraction, which must occur at the edges of

a small object situated m the interior of the egg. Henlet+ indeed

speaks of a yellowish tint in the human spermatozoids ; but he

takes care to add, ‘‘in a certain illumination.’ Besides, as the

old proverb says— De coloribus non est disputandum. However,

Keber pretends to recognize the spermatozoid with certainty and

pursues the investigation of its evolution. Week by week he

describes the changes which it undergoes, until the moment

when it becomes decomposed into granules, which probably

* It is however to be observed that it is precisely this agent that is em-

ployed, as well as chloroform and oil of bitter almonds, to deprive the

spermatozoids of man and other animals of their mobility.

+ Allgemeine Anatomie, p. 949.

Fecundation of the Ovum. 297

afterwards form the nuclei of the embryonal cells. We shall not

enter upon these details, as they are rather too romantic. We

cannot in any case attach the least credence to them, as long as

Keber does not inform us how he succeeded in determining the

period at which his supposed spermatozoid entered into the

ege.

Keber’s discovery is not confined to this. Following in Barry’s

steps, he pretends to have seen the micropyle in the ova of the

Rabbit, and followed the spermatozoids which had just lodged

there. Huis drawings, however, do not agree very well with those

of the English anatomist, and it is a curious circumstance that

he states that he met with the ovules not only in the uterus and

oviduct, but also and especially in the abdominal cavity, in the

mesentery, &c. He has even found them sometimes in such

numbers in the cavity of the body, that he inquires whether it

is not probable that these so-called ova may at a later period

reach the uterus by some unknown migration (!). Astonishment

will cease when we learn that Keber never saw the ovule of the

Rabbit, as has since been proved by Bischoff *. These so-called

eggs of the Rabbit, covered with vibratile cilia on their whole

inner surface, are a species of hydatic vesicles, furnished with a

tubular peduncle, which have been described by Remak+ under

the name of vibratile vesicles (Wimperblasen). They are pretty

frequently met with on the mesogastrium and mesometrium of

the Rabbit, as well as im the lobes of the thymus gland; and also

in the Cat. They are, moreover, found before, during and after

the rutting season, and both in young and old individuals. This

last mistake is sufficient to detract remarkably from the value of

Keber’s other observations, especially as he appears to attribute

a very peculiar importance to his discovery of the micropyle in

the Rabbit, since he has the modesty to compare this discovery,

not due to chance, but supported by induction, to that of the

planet Neptune by Leverrier and Galle (!!).. And yet Keber’s

conscience was not satisfied as to his fact, for in speaking of

these vibratile vesicles, he exclaims, “ And if these were not eggs,

I should be glad to know what they were !”

Keber’s work, notwithstanding all its faults and errors, could

not but contain some truths, amongst which we may give the

first place to the prediction expressed in his preface, that this

volume would astonish many people, and would be arranged by

many amongst the curiosities of science. This is a position

which it has since attained. Nevertheless, if it had only the

* Widerlegung des von Dr. Keber bei den Najaden, und Dr. Nelson

bei den Ascariden behaupteten Eindringens der Spermatozoiden in das Ei.

Giessen, 1853.

+ Miiller’s Archiv, 1841 & 1854.

298 M. EK. Claparéde on the Theory of the

merit of having called attention to the micropyles of the ova of

the Anodonta, which are so easily found, that it is sufficient to

pass the scalpel over an ovary and place what it takes up under

the microscope in order to see them in great numbers, this would

be something ; but its greatest merit undoubtedly was its ener-

getically inducing the combat. Thus, Bischoff, although appa-

rently a protector of the quarto volume in two languages, inas-

much as it was dedicated to him, could not avoid taking up the

pen to put Keber’s inexperience into its proper place, not with-

out some brusqueness. It was not so much Keber, he said, as

Newport, and especially Nelson, that he came forward to refute ;

few would be led astray by the verbiage of the former, but the

others were philosophers of a much more serious character.

Indeed Nelson’s observations appeared to have nothing impro-

bable about them, to those who were acquainted with the works

of Siebold* and Thaer+ upon the Trematode worms, and those

of Max Schultzet and Leuckart§ upon the Turbellaria. These

authors have proved that in these hermaphrodite animals, besides

the vas deferens which leads from the testicle to the penis, there

is a second canal which passes directly to the place where the

eggs are formed at the point of union of the canals coming from

the vitellogene and the germigene || ; from which it might be con-

sidered probable that the spermatozoids passing through the

second deferent canal may be enclosed in the ovum at the

moment of its formation, so as to fecundate it at once, although

these authors did not observe anything of the kind. Bischoff

then took upon himself to refute Barry, Nelson, Newport and

Keber. The latter had no strength for the struggle and was

soon overthrown. The vibratile vesicles (Wimperblasen) which

he had taken for eggs gave him the finishing stroke.

Leuckart{ on his side had undertaken to show how the mi-

cropyle is formed in the Naiades ; he had ascertained that it was

nothing but the peduncle which attaches the young ovum to the

stroma of the ovary, and which afterwards tears away, still

retaining the form of the neck of a bottle. T. von Hessling**

* Miiller’s Archiv, 1836. + Ibid. 1850.

{ Naturgeschichte der Turbellarien. Greifswald, 1851.

§ Troschel’s Archiy, xviii.

|| Or rather from the ovary and the albumen-gland. J. Miiller has in

fact proved that the so-called germigene contains perfectly complete eggs,

so that the vitellogene must descend again to the rank of albuminogene.

Siebold himself, who gave these glands the names of vitellogene and ger-

migene, appears now to have returned to this opinion.

“| Zusatz zu Bischoff’s Widerlegung. He had moreover previously de-

scribed this formation of the micropyle—Handworterb. der Physiol. iv.

Article Zeugung.

** Zeitschrift fiir wiss. Zoologie, April 1854.

Fecundation of the Ovum. 299

took upon himself the easy task of proving to Keber that he had

never seen zoosperms in the interior of the Nazades, that he

could not consequently have followed their development for

weeks, and lastly, that the tailless spermatozoid so often seen by

Keber occupying a transverse position in the micropyle, was

nothing but the inner opening of the latter. The membrane of

the albumen and the vitelline membrane admitted by Keber,

besides the cortical membrane in the Anodonte and Unios,

having no existence in reality, the neck-like micropyle could not

be a prolongation of the former ; it belongs in fact to the cortical

membrane itself.

_ Nelson’s observations, like those of Barry and Newport, were

more difficult to refute; but we need not dilate upon the objec-

tions raised against them by Bischoff, as the latter has since

recognized his error. We may however refer to the fact, that

Bischoff asserted that the spermatozoids which Nelson had seen

penetrating into the ova of Ascaris mysta# were not sperma-

tozoids, but epithelial productions, to which he gives the name

of epithelial conules. These pseudospermatozoids, or epithelial

conules, according to him, are scattered between the papille of

the mucous membrane of the oviduct, from which they are very

easily detached ; they are wanting, however, in the lower part of

the oviduct (sphincter of Bischoff), and exist under the papille of

the uterus. The vagina presents neither papille nor epithelial

conules. '

In conclusion, Bischoff was very harsh in the tone of his refu-

tation, treating the English anatomists in a somewhat patron-

izing style, and scarcely honouring the unfortunate Keber with

a few strokes of his teeth. What was the astonishment of the

learned world, therefore, when a few months afterwards it saw

a fresh publication of the embryologist of Giessen with the title

—‘ Confirmation of the penetration of the spermatozoid into

the ovum, discovered by Newport in the Batrachia, and by

Barry in the Rabbit*.” In this work, Bischoff says, with a

rather solemn tone, ‘‘I have repeated Newport’s observations

and hasten to state that I have confirmed them in every respect,

and that there is no longer any doubt that the spermatozoids

actually penetrate into the egg of the Frog. After convincing

myself of this fact, I again took up the study of the ovules of the

Rabbit, and I do not hesitate in stating that I was wrong in

contradicting Barry, and that in this case also there remains no

doubt that spermatozoids really penetrate into the ova of these

* Bestatigung des von Newport bei den Batrachiern und Barry bei

den Kaninchen behaupteten Eindringens der Spermatozoiden in das Ei.

Giessen, 1854.

300 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

Mammalia.” And elsewhere—“ It is consequently proved that

Newport has the honour of having discovered this curious and

unexpected phenomenon of the penetration of the spermatozoid

into the ovum, as the result of its own movements. This has

nothing to do with the micropyle or anything of the kind; but

these singular organic elements possess the property, by means

of their so-called tail, of exerting so considerable a mechanical

effect as to enable them to traverse the layer of albumen and the

vitelline membrane.” Further on again—‘I assert therefore

that I was wrong in the opposition which I made to Dr. Barry,

who is certainly the first who saw a spermatozoid in the interior

of an egg in general, and of a mamnialian ovum in particular,

and to him belongs the honour of this discovery.”

Bischoff here attributes to Barry only the discovery of the

presence of zoosperms in the ova, and not that of their pene-

tration, because he still denies that this penetration takes place

in the manner described by Barry, Neison and Keber, although

he does not dispute the presence of the micropyle in the Ano-

donte. The penetration of the spermatozoa into the ova of the

Rabbit and Frog, as also the presence of the micropyle in those

of the Anodonta, when once sanctioned by Bischoff, could not be

again called in question ; for it certainly must have been a dis-

agreeable task for the celebrated embryologist to retract his opi-

nion, after having declared that the penetration of the zoosperms

into the ovum could only be maintained by the merest novices

im embryology. We owe him all the more gratitude for having

thus placed himself above the suggestions of self-esteem, and

publicly confessed his own error.

From the publication of this “ Confirmation” we may date the

epoch in which the existence of the micropyle has obtained a

definite place in our physiological knowledge. Nevertheless,

even if we suppose that Barry did not see a true micropyle, the

honour of the discovery does not pass to Keber. As we have

stated, Leuckart had mentioned the micropyle a little while

before him, and given an exact history of its formation precisely

in the Unios and Anodons, a history which he has since com-

pleted*. According to him, the ovarian vesicles of the Naiades

consist of a tolerably thick structureless membrane, on the inner

surface of which, instead of a proper epithelium, there is a layer

of fatty molecular corpuscles, united by a tenacious albuminous

mass. It is in this layer that the germinal vesicle with its cha-

racteristic spot is first formed. This vesicle, with the mass of

albumen which surrounds it, soon forms a swellimg or lump

on the inner surface of the ovarian vesicle. ‘This gradually in-

* Zusatz zu Bischoff’s Widerlegung.

Fecundation of the Ovum. 301

creases in size and acquires a granular consistence ; it afterwards

becomes the vitellus of the egg. Its surface condenses by

degrees into a membrane, the vitelline membrane (cortical mem-

brane of Baer), and this at a time when the mass of the vitellus

still adheres to the stroma of the ovary (or rather to the ovarian

vesicle) by a tolerably broad base. But this base goes on nar-

rowing more and more, whilst the vitelline membrane continues

its formation, until the ovum at last only adheres to the stroma

of the ovary by a short peduncle like a neck. A transparent

liquid is then formed between the vitellus and the membrane,

aud the peduncle is detached from the ovary. This point of

dehiscence is the micropyle of the Nazades.

Leuckart is not the only zoologist who had pointed out the

micropyle before Keber. In 1850, J. Miiller described a canal

traversing the external envelope of the ova of certain Holothuria,

particularly Thyone fusus and Holothuria tubulosa* ; in 1851 he

indicated a similar structure in the genus Ophiothriz}. In 1852

his son Max Miiller described the micropyle in the egg of Stern-

aspis thalassoides{. All these discoveries had preceded that of

Keber, but they had not led their authors to a theory of fecun-

dation, although J. Miiller says §—‘“ The comparison of this canal

with the micropyle of the ovule of the Phanerogamous plants

presents itself so naturally to the mind, that I could not avoid

mentioning it here ;”’ and Leuckart ||, in mentioning the micro-

pyle in the Natades, adds—‘‘ We might almost suppose that this

singular structure has a certain relation with the act of gene-

ration.” According to J. Muller the micropyles of the ova of the

Holothurig are in the cortical membrane (Schalenhaut), besides

which there is also a vitelline membrane. Leuckart{ positively

denies the existence of the latter, and gives the name of “ vitelline

membrane” to that which contains the micropyle. In other re-

spects he describes the formation of the micropyle here exactly

as in the Natades ;—it is the remainder of the peduncle which

attached the ovum to the stroma of the ovary. The formation

of the peduncle always depends upon that of the membrane, and

as this does not exist at the point of attachment itself, it is

clear that there always remains an opening at the place of the

peduncle. This is the micropyle.

But Lovén appears to have been the first to perceive the mi-

cropyle, for, in a work of his which dates as far back as the year

* Metamorphose der Echinodermen, 4te Abhandl. 1850.

+ Monatsbericht der Berliner Akad. 1851.

{ De Vermibus quibusdam maritimis. Diss. inaug. Berlin, 1852.

§ Ueber die Metamorphosen der Echinodermen, 4te Abhandl. p. 42.

|| Article Zeugung in Wagner’s Handworterbuch der Physiol. iv. p. 801.

{| Zusatz zu Bischoff’s Widerlegung.

302 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

1848*, I find the description of the mode in which the ova are

formed in the Modiolarie and Cardia, which agrees exactly with

that furnished by Leuckart for the Anodons. He also saw that

the ova are prolonged into peduncles at the point where they

adhere to the ovarian czca.

The completion of the “ Confirmation” of Bischoff was soon

furnished by the classical work of Meissner on the anatomy

and development of Mermis albicans+, a species of Gordius,

which when young inhabits the caterpillars of Hyponomeuta cog-

natella, and which afterwards passes into moist earth, where its

generative organs acquire their final development and repro-

duction takes place. In speaking of the formation of the ova,

Meissner incidentally mentions the micropyle. This work is

important, inasmuch as it sets forth the homology of the male

and female sexual organs, and the analogy between the semen

and the ova. The male and female generative organs of Mermis

are, in fact, perfectly similar and consist of a very long vessel, so

that it is impossible to distinguish the internal generative organs

of the male Mermis from those of the female, unless by the

microscopic examination of their contents. The upper part of

the generative tube or vessel of the male, the part designated

by Meissner as the testicle, is filled with round cells, as clear as

water, and composed of an extremely delicate enveloping mem-

brane, an enclosed liquid, and of a large pale granulated nucleus,

containing a nucleolus. These are the male germ-cells (méinn-

liche Keimzellen) as Meissner calls them. The nucleus of these

cells in the course of its development exhibits a fine line on its

surface, which soon becomes a groove and afterwards a con-

striction, until at last the nucleus divides into two. The nucleole

does not divide, but remains in one or other of the secondary

nuclei (Zochterkern). The secondary nuclei become larger and

divide in their turn, and the nuclei of the third series thus

formed follow their example, and so on, until we find germ-cells

of the size of ;4, to 4, of a line, containing as many as twelve

or sixteen nuclei, which all finally attain the size of the primary

nucleus. Each of these nuclei is soon seen to acquire a clear

border,—this is a membrane formed by a differentiation of the

central and peripheric parts of the nucleus. This membrane is

constantly removing further and further from the centre, and in

this way the secondary nuclei (Tochterkern) are converted into

secondary cells (Téchterzellen) which completely fill the primary

cell. The latter then bursts or becomes absorbed, and the

* Bidrag till Kdannedomen om utvecklingen af Mollusca acephala lamel-

libranchiata. Aftryck ur Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar for

ar 1848.

+ Zeitschrift fiir wiss. Zoologie, December 1853.

Fecundation of the Ovum. 303

secondary cells are set free. They are frequently distributed on

the surface of a sphere of albumen, as is the case in the Anne-

lida and Gasteropoda; for these cells are merely the parent-

cells (Hntwickelungszellen) of the spermatozoa. We shall not

follow the further development of the spermatozoa, as its interest

here is but secondary, and we shall pass at once to the formation

of the ova. The generative organs of the female, like those of

the male, are composed of a simple tube or vessel, in which,

starting from the cecal extremity, Meissner distinguishes differ-

ent parts under the names of germigene (Kierkeimstock), vitello-

gene (Dotterstock), albuminogene (Hiweissschlauch), oviduct and

uterus. Microscopically, the germigene is exactly similar to the

testicle, and contains perfectly diaphanous cells with nuclei and

nucleoles. These are the female germ-cells, which present no

difference from those of the male. The nucleus of each of these

cells divides into two, then into four, eight, &c., but there is no

simultaneous division of the nucleole. At this point begins the

differentiation of the male and female generative organs. At the

bottom of the germigene the nuclei approach the wall of the cell

containing them and push it before them, forming sacs into

which the contents of the cell penetrate, and which by the

gradual constriction of their base at last form secondary cells

attached by a peduncle to the primary cell. These secondary

cells are the future eggs, produced by a sort of exogenous gene-

ration of the female germ-cell. At this moment. this bunch of

cells passes into the vitellogene, the germ-cell or primary cell

being in the centre, and the ova suspended like pears at its cir-

cumference by means of hollow peduncles. The vitellogene is

perfectly passive, that is to say, it does not secrete the substance

of the vitellus. This is produced in the germ-cell itself, and

penetrates through the peduncles into the secondary cells, that

is to say, into the ova. The membrane of the secondary cells

thus becomes a vitelline membrane ; and the nucleus becomes

the germinal vesicle with its characteristic spot. The bunches

of ova are placed one behind the other in the vitellogene in such

a manner that the germ-cells always occupy the centre and the

ova the periphery. The consequence of this arrangement is the

formation of an apparent axis in the centre of the vitellogene, an

appearance which is owing to the succession of the germ-cells ;

to this Meissner gives the name of rachis or raphe. At the

moment of their entrance into the albuminogene the ova detach

- themselves from the germ-cell, and the dehiscence always takes

place at the base of the peduncle, which remains attached to the

ovum. ‘The ova then become surrounded with albumen.

Meissner did not turn his attention particularly to the fecun-

dation ; but, nevertheless,—and this renders his observations of

304 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

more value,—he remarks, incidentally, that sometimes the pe-

duncle remains widely open, and continues to project externally

even after the ovum is surrounded with albumen, so that there

remains a means of communication between the vitellus and the

external world. We may, perhaps, observes Meissner, compare

this structure of the ovum with the micropyle observed by

Leuckart, J. Miiller and Keber in the Naiades and Holothurie.

However, a few months afterwards, a new paper by Meissner*

made its appearance, in which he not only confirms the discovery

of a micropyle, but also that of the penetration of the sperma-

tozoa into the ova of very different animals. The greater part

of this work relates to the Ascaris mystax of the Cat, the same

which had formed the subject of Nelson’s observations; but

he mentions several other species of <Ascarides, a Strongylus,

some Lumbrici, and the Rabbit. Meissner describes the forma-

tion of the spermatozoa and ova in the Ascarides as exactly the

same as in Mermis albicans. The formation of the micropyle is

due to the same circumstance. Nevertheless, he does not

venture to regard this as a general type of development, for he

has himself ascertained that it has exceptions. Thus, in Stron-

gylus armatus the raphe, instead of being an apparent axis

formed by the succession of germ-cells, is a true raphe. In this

worm, the ova are a kind of diverticula of a pear-shape, sus-

pended from a single vessel or vitelligenous tube, representing

the germ-cells.

Nelson had seen the spermatozoa of Ascaris mystax penetrate

into the ovum at all parts of its surface, and especially at one

angle of this triangular ovum, to which he gives the name of

the broken edge. Meissner shows, from the mode of formation

of these ova, that they possess a vitelline membrane with a

single aperture, through which he has himself repeatedly seen

one or more spermatozoa penetrate. This opening, the micro-

pyle, coincides exactly in position with the broken edge of Nelson.

The cases in which the English anatomist thought he saw the

penetration take place at other points, are probably to be attri-

buted to errors. The spermatozoa observed by Meissner also

coincide with the spermatic cells of Nelson, which Bischoff de-

clared to be nothing but epithelial conules. Fecundation takes

place at the moment when the ova arrive in the portion of the

tube or sexual vessel which has already been denominated the

albuminogene. ‘The number of spermatozoa which penetrate

by the micropyle is very variable, for Meissner has seen as many

as ten in the interior of a single ovum. When fecundation is

* Beobachtungen tiber das Eindringen der Samenelemente in den Dotter.

Zeitschr. fiir wiss. Zoologie, vi. Sept. 1854.

Fecundation of the Ovum. 305

effected, the ovum completes its development in the manner

described by Nelson.

In the Lumbrici, which were also studied by Meissner, things

go on rather differently. In the ninth and tenth segments of

their bodies, these animals possess four vesicles, which were

formerly regarded as testicles, and the correct interpretation of

which was first given by Von Siebold*, who states them to be

seminal receptacles,—a function which also appears to be attri-

buted to them by Van Benedeny.

These vesicles open externally by means of two small apertures,

formerly mentioned by Leot. They have no communication

of any kind with the ovaries, and it is nevertheless in their in-

terior that the mature eggs are found. They probably arrive

there from the exterior during copulation, so that in fact these

organs should bear the name of common receptacles of the

ova and semen, or of sacs of fecundation. The ovarian ova

which possess a vitelline membrane and a germinal vesicle have

lost these two elements when they arrive in the common recep-

tacles, where they consequently swim completely naked. When

there, they are assailed by the spermatozoa, which penetrate in

crowds into the substance of the vitellus by a corkscrew-like

movement. The united movements of the tails of all these

spermatozoa at the surface of the ovum produce an appear-

ance of waves. The segmentation of the ova commences in the

receptacles, and they are afterwards extruded in a common

capsule.

In this memoir Meissner confirms the discoveries of Barry,

inasmuch as he also certainly saw spermatozoa in the interior of

the ovum of the Rabbit, although he could not positively con-

vince himself of the presence of the micropyle. This is a fact

of great importance. We may always suppose that there is

some error in speaking of the ova of Anodonte and Unios; we

may suppose that the spermatozoa which appear to be within

them, may be in reality above or below them. But it is im-

possible to suppose that an object seen within the zona pellucida

of the Rabbit may be situated above or below it. The object in

question in fact is much too large, and it is impossible that the

internal and external surfaces of the zona pellucida can be in focus

at the same time. The same may be said, with still better

reason, of the ova of the Frog, within which, as we have seen,

Newport discovered spermatozoa.

* Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Anatomie.

+ Report on a paper of Van Beneden’s on the Développement du Lombrie

terrestre, in Bull. de ’Acad. Roy. de Belgique, xx.

i De Structura Lumbrici terrestris. Regiomonti, 1820.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 20

306 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

_ Another memoir of Meissner’s*, which followed immediately

upon the former one, extended the results of his observations to

two new classes of animals, namely the Insects and the Crus-

tacea. The general result of the facts ascertained by him is,

that the spermatozoa which are contained in the receptaculum

seminis of the female (in Insects) after copulation, penetrate into

the vitellus at the moment when the ova descend in the vagina.

For this purpose, these spermatozoa are obliged to traverse an

opening or micropyle, which exists both in the chorion and the

vitelline membrane. He enumerates a long series of insects in

which he observed the micropyle, and sometimes also the pre-

sence of spermatozoa in the interior of the membranes. The

chorion of the eggs of Insects, and particularly of the Diptera,

is often adorned with very regular geometrical designs, and

the micropyle is very easily found, as it generally occupies the

centre of an elegant rosette situated at one of the extremities

of the egg. It is a curious circumstance, that this micropyle

of the eggs of Insects is so easily seen, that it has been described

and figured in a great many instances, although its function

was never suspected. It was regarded only as an ornament,

but not as an opening. Swammerdamm, Rdosel, De Geer,

Réaumur, Kirby and Spence, Ratzeburg, Sepp, Léon Dufour,

Herold, Hartig and others have described and figured the

peculiarities of the surface of the eggs of a great many insects,

—peculiarities which all appear to be referable to the existence

of the micropyle. Moreover the observations of Meissner alone

would be sufficient to lead us to suppose the general diffusion of

this structure of the egg in the whole class of Insects, since he

has ascertained the existence of the micropyle in Diptera (Musca,

Tipula, Culex), Coleoptera (Lampyris, Elater, Telephorus), Lepi-

doptera (Adela, Pyralis, Tortriz, Euprepia, Liparis, Pwreris),

Hymenoptera (Tenthredo, Polistes, Spathius), and Neuroptera -

(Agrion, Panorpa). Subsequently Leuckart has published a very

remarkable work} on the micropyle of Insects, of which, un-

fortunately, only the first hundred pages have as yet (June 1855)

appeared. In this he describes the micropyle in the eggs of at

least 200 species, which scarcely leaves room to doubt of the

universality of this arrangement in Insects. In a great number

of these species he has even directly observed the entrance of

the spermatozoa by the micropyle, or at least has found them in

* Beobachtungen, &c. No. ii. Zeitschr. fiir wiss. Zool., Sept. 1854.

+ Ueber die Micropyle und den feinen Bau der Schalenhaut bei den

Insecteneiern. Miiller’s Archiv, 1855. In the ‘ Handworterbuch der

Physiologie,’ article Zeugung, Leuckart had already mentioned the micro-

pyle as an attenuated part of the chorion, which might probably play some

part in fecundation.

Fecundation of the Ovum. m 307

the interior of the egg. Leuckart has even arrived at general

laws with regard to the structure of the micropyle in the different

orders. In the portion of this memoir which has now appeared,

only the Diptera, the Hemiptera and the Lepidoptera are re-

ferred to. The following is a summary of these laws :—1. In all

the true Diptera (not including the Rhipiptera) the micropylian

apparatus consists of a simple opening, situated at the anterior

pole of the egg, or at least in the neighbourhood of this pole.

2. In the Hemiptera the micropyles are almost always more

numerous, and not far from the anterior pole. 38. In the Lepi-

doptera the micropyles are always multiple, forming a variable

number (usually four or six) of canals, which rise from a common

central fossa situated at the anterior pole, and pierce through

the envelopes of the egg in a radiating direction. As regards

the Crustacea, Meissner has ascertained the existence of the

micropyle in the Gammarus pulex of our brooks. |

It is curious that Bischoff, after placing himself in the ranks

of the defenders of the penetration of the spermatozoa into the

ovum, should have again taken up the pen* with a certain

degree of asperity to confute the discoveries of Meissner, which

appear to form the most brilliant point, and in a manner the

crown of their productions. Nevertheless, this does not in any

way invalidate the theory of the penetration of the spermatozoa

into the ovum, which is now permanently received into the

science. Bischoff in fact only questions the description given by

Meissner of the formation of the ova, and more especially of the

spermatozoa in Ascaris mystax. Meissner had regarded as

spermatozoa the same corpuscles which Nelson had previously

admitted as such, whilst Bischoff persists in regarding them

only as epithelial conules. On the other hand, Meissner, in

_ describing the formation of the ova by means of diverticula of

a germ-cell, had differed from Nelson, who had seen the young

ova totally destitute of vitelline membrane. Bischoff adopts

the opinion of Nelson, and positively denies the existence of the

germ-cells and their diverticula, at all events in the Ascaris of the

Cat. But he is greatly embarrassed by his epithelial conules

when it becomes necessary to find the true spermatozoa, which,

he says, must nevertheless penetrate into the egg. Notwith-

standing all this, Meissner, in a subsequent work}, remains

faithful to his theory. The future will decide this question,

which is only accessory here, seeing the abundance of other

materials.

* Ueber Ei- und Samenbildung und Befruchtung bei Ascaris mystazx.

Zeitschr, fiir wiss. Zool., Feb. 1855.

+ Beitrage zur Anatomie und Physiologie der Gordiaceen. Zeitschr. fiir

wiss. Zoologie, May 1855. one

308 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

The numerous facts to which we have drawn attention prove

more than sufficiently that fecundation is effected by an actual

penetration of the spermatozoa into the interior of the ova, and

that very often, if not always, this penetration takes place

through a micropyle. It remains to be seen in what envelope

of the ovum this exists, and if it is always possible to explain its

formation in the manner of Lovén* and Leuckart, or in that of

Meissner. Johannes Miiller has, not long since, indicated a

_ peculiar structure in the external membrane of the ova of certain

fishes, especially our river fish,—a structure which has also been

investigated by Lereboullett. This membrane is pierced by a

multitude of little canals, passing from one surface to the other,

and dilating into a funnel-like form at each surface, so that the

membrane presents a facetted appearance. This structure is

particularly remarkable in the Perch (Perca fluviatilis), the egg

of which has a very thick external membrane; but it is equally

striking from its elegant appearance in the Ruffe (Acerina

cernua) and the Sticklebacks (Gasterosteus trachurus, lagurus,

pungitius, &c.). This structure appears to have been previously

seen by Vogt§, who describes a shagreened appearance of the

cortical membrane in the Coregonus palea; but he seems not to

have remarked that this appearance was due to the presence of

a multitude of little canals, of which the number, according to

J. Miller, amounts to more than 1,1000 in the ege of the

Perch. It is in this membrane that the micropyle is situated |].

It is remarkable that this membrane presents a great analogy in

structure with that in which the micropyle is placed in the Holo-

thuria. This latter is characterized by a sort of striation,—an

appearance which is due, according to the opinion of J. Miiller,

to a multitude of little prisms placed perpendicularly upon the

membrane. It is the membrane that Miiller regards as the

cortical membrane (Schalenhaut) J, and Leuckart as the vitelline

membrane**,

* Bidrag till kanmnedomen om utvecklingen af Mollusca acephala.

Stockholm, 1848.

+ Ueber zahlreiche Porenkanile in der Eikapsel der Fische. Monatsber.

der Berl. Akad., March 1854.

{ Ann. des Sci. Nat. 1854.

§ Embryologie des Salmoneés, in Agassiz, Hist. nat. des Poissons d’eau

douce de l’Europe centrale. 1842.

|| This micropyle, or at least the funnel at the bottom of which it opens,

is sometimes 80 large, that Bruch has found it with the naked eye in the

egg of the Trout (Fario lacustris) and the Salmon (Salmo salar). Zeitschr.

fiir wiss. Zoologie, May 1855. The funnel itself was already known to

Von Baer in Cyprinus blicca,—Entwickelungsgeschichte der Fische.

Leipzig, 1835. .

ticle die Larven und die Metamorphose der Holothurien und Asterien.

1850. ** Zusatz zu Bischoff’s Widerlegung, &c.

Fecundation of the Ovum. 809

It must not be supposed that the shagreened envelope of the

Fishes’ egg is the analogue of the chorion of the Mammalia, or

of the shell, or the shell-membrane of Birds. In fact, the chorion

and the membrane of the shell are not formed until after fecun-

dation, so that it would be useless to seek in them for a micro-

pyle; the former does not exist in the Graafian vesicles of the

Mammalia, nor the latter in the ovisacs of Birds. The shagreened

membrane of Fishes, or capsular envelope, exists in the ovarian

follicles, and consequently before fecundation, so that the sper-

matozoa must traverse it to effect that operation. It is there-

fore furnished with a micropyle, and must be compared with

the zona pellucida of the Mammalia and the vitelline membrane

of Birds. The zona pellucida of the mammalian ovum, the

vitelline membrane of Birds’ eggs, the shagreened membrane of

those of Fishes, the envelope with a crystalline structure of the

ova of the Holothuria, the cortical membrane of those of the

Naiades, the vitelline membrane of those of Mermis and Ascaris,

and the external envelope of the eggs of Insects and of Gam-

marus pulex, are therefore one and the same thing, and may be

designated the membrane of the micropyle*. It is true that the

ova of Gasterosteus and those of other fishes have an apparently

homogeneous membrane beneath the membrane of the micropyle,

and, to establish a complete analogy in the ova of other animals,

it would be necessary to ascertain the existence of this second

membrane in them. Barryy has already asserted, that he ob-

served a membrane between the zona pellucida. and the vitellus

in the Mammalia. The Insects possess a second membrane;

furnished like the first with a micropyle. Miiller{ speaks of

a membrane which immediately envelopes the vitellus in the

Holothuria, of which, however, Leuckart § denies the existence.

Keber || asserted that in the Naiades, besides the cortical mem-

brane, he recognized a vitelline membrane, and even a membrane

* Tt is true that we do not yet positively know whether the zona pellu-

cida possesses a micropyle, although Barry should have seen it, and

Meissner once ascertained the presence in it of an opening which did not

appear to be torn. There remain the Reptiles, of which the vitelline

membrane, to judge from Newport’s observations on the ova of the Frog,

must be permeated in all parts by the spermatozoa. But this does not

appear to be a general rule amongst the Reptiles, nor even amongst the

Batrachia, for, according to an unpublished discovery of Meissner’s, the

ova of the common Tree Frog (Hyla arborea) appear to possess a mi-

cropyle.

So in Embryology, Third Series. Phil. Trans. 1840. It is

his “ proper membrane of the substance by which the germinal vesicle is

surrounded.”

{ Echinodermen, 4te Abhandlung, 1850.

§ Zusatz, &e.

|| Ueber den Eintritt der Samenzellen in das Ei. 1853.

310 On the Theory.of the Fecundation of the Ovum.

of the albumen. This however appears to be of but little

importance, as it is very possible that this membrane may some-

times be present and sometimes absent. It is only necessary

to suppose, that where it occurs it is pierced by a second micro-

pyle, or that the spermatozoa can pass through its tissue. A

more important point, in our opinion, is the complicated struc-

ture presented by the membrane of the micropyle in the Fishes,

the Holothuria, the Insects*, and probably other animals; for

there are many ova in which the micropyle has not yet been

discovered, but in which the external membrane presents a

shagreened structure, resembling that of the membrane of the

micropyle in Fishes. This is the case, for example, in the ova of

the Echinorhynchi, &e. But this complicated structure is an

obstacle to the theory of Meissner upon the formation of the

ova, of much greater force than all the objections which Bischoff

was able to bring against it. Is it possible to regard a whole so

complex as this membrane as a simple cell? There can be no

doubt that we must reply in the negative. We must therefore

either reject the observations of Meissner upon the formation of

the ova of Mermis, or, as they have such an impress of truth

that it is difficult not to yield to them, admit that the ovum is

formed in very different modes in the series of created beings.

The latter opinion has nothing improbable about itt.

The penetration of the spermatozoa into the ovum is a fact

now acquired to science; but this penetration may take place in

very different manners, and we can already distinguish three

principal types :—

1. Penetration through a micropyle; a mode of fecundation

which appears to be very widely spread, as its existence has

already been ascertained in Echinodermata, Worms, Insects,

Crustacea and Fishes, and perhaps also in Reptiles (Hyla) and

Mammalia (the Rabbit).

2. Penetration by all points of the surface of the ovum;

observed by Newport in the true Frogs. It is true that we may

in this case suspect an error, and that it is possible that a micro-

pyle may some day be discovered in the Frogs; but is it not

surprising that such careful researches as those which have been

- * It is probable, however, that it is not in the external membrane of the.

eggs of Insects that we find the analogue of the membrane of the micro-

pyle in other animals. It is probably rather the inner membrane, which is

also traversed by the micropyle. Leuckart however believes he has seen

instances in which the chorion (or outer membrane) alone was traversed by

the micropyle.

+ More especially as Lovén and Leuckart have shown that the ova are

formed in a very different manner in Modiolaria, Cardium, and the Naiades.

The multiple micropyle of the eggs of the Hemiptera and Tapidognens also

indicates a very different mode of formation.

Mr. C. C. Babington on some species of Epilobium. 811

made upon the ova of the Batrachia by many authors * have not

led to the discovery of the micropyle in them ?

3. Penetration directly into the naked vitellus. It is certain,

in fact, that the mode of origin of the ova described by Meissner

in Mermis albicans, M. nigrescens, and several Ascarides, is not

general even amongst the Nematoid worms. A great many ova

only obtain an envelope at a very late period, and are probably

fecundated before they possess one, so that they do not require

the presence of a micropyle. Meissner himself has seen the

spermatozoa penetrate directly, and in crowds, into the ova of

the Earthworm, at a period when they are completely destitute

of an envelope. As regards these, Meissner supposes that they

originally possess a membrane which disappears before fecunda-

tion. This is very possible, as we know that a similar disap-

pearance takes place, although at a later period, with the vitel-

line membrane of the ova of Gasteropoda and Insects (Rathke;

Kolliker, Zaddach, Leuckart +).

[To be continued. |

XXV.—On some species of Epilobium.

By Cuarzzs C. Basineron, M.A., F.R.S. &e.

[Concluded from p. 247.]

We will now turn our attention to the species allied to E.

alpinum, which present some difficulty, from there being pro-

bably two plants which pass by that name. Of this Dr. Godron

was well aware when preparing the account of this genus for the

* Swammerdamm, Biblia Nature. Leeuwenhoeck, Arcana Nature,

Reesel, Hist. Nat. Ranarum nostratium; Niirnberg, 1758. Spallanzani,

Diss. relatives 4 Hist. Nat. des Animaux et des Végétaux, 1789. Pre-

vost and Dumas, Ann. des Sci. Nat. tome 11. Rusconi, Développement de

la Grenouille commune ; Milan, 1828 ; and Amours des Salamandres, 1821.

Baer, Lettre sur la Formation de l’Ciuf, 1829; Repertorium; Miiller’s

Archiv, 1834. Reichert, Entwickelungsleben im Wirbelthierreich ; Berlin,

1840. Vogt, Untersuchungen tiber die Entwickelungsgeschichte von der

Geburtshelferkrote ; Solothurn, 1842. Bell, British Reptiles. Newport on

the Impregnation of the Ovum in the Amphibia, Phil. Trans. 1851 and

1853.

+ We might add to these a fourth mode of fecundation, if we admitted,

with Remak (Miiller’s Archiv, 1854), that the spermatozoa are only

destined to transport a substance serving to effect fecundation (die Tréiger

einer samenihnlichen Substanz). This substance being capable of passing

through the little canals of the external membrane of the ova of Fishes, it

would not be necessary that the spermatozoid itself should penetrate into

the ovum in these animals. But we are already acquainted with the

micropyle in many fishes, and it will probably be discovered in the others,

which renders this theory very useless. . As

812 Mr.C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium.

‘Flore de France.’ He observes, “ L’E. alpinum (Fries, Nov.

Mant. ii. 20) est, sans aucun doute, une espéce distincte de celle

de France et de Suisse. Car la plante de Fries... . porte a la

base de ses tiges, au lieu de stolons filiformes, des rosettes sessiles

de feuilles fasciculées, qu’il compare aux rosettes de lL. tetra-

gonum.” (Fl. de Fr. i. 578.) It is a cause of surprise to me

that, knowing so much, he did not inquire further into the

subject, but has left the French plant in possession of the name

of E. alpinum, which belongs to that of Lapland. It was the

intention of Linnzus to include under that name the plant of the

Alps; but it is clear, from his quoting Scheuchzer’s work with

doubt, that he was not quite satisfied of their identity. In his

later writings he has removed the mark of doubt from that

reference, and added other synonyms belonging to the alpine

plant and also to EL. alsinifolium. The E. alpinum therefore of

the ‘Species Plantarum’ included three plants: namely (1) £.

alpinum of Fries, which must be accepted as the type of the Lin-

nean species; (2) EH. alsinifolium of Villars; and (3) E. ana-

gallidifolium of Lamarck, which is the EL. alpinum of Godron.

Botanists appear to be now pretty unanimous in distinguishing

Nos. 1 and 2, but seem to have known nothing concerning the

E. alpinum of France and the Alps until Godron published the

remark that has just been quoted. Had not that accurate and

observant botanist directed attention to the subject, it is pro-

bable that we might long have continued to be ignorant of the

fact that the EL. alpinum of the north differs materially from

that of the south of Europe. It will have been seen from the

quotation from the ‘ Flore de France,’ that the chief difference

between them is, according to Godron, to be found in the pre-

sence or absence of stoles or rosettes. If such a difference of

habit really exists, itis probable that botanists will not see much

reason for refusing to adopt Dr. Godron’s opinion. That this

southern plant, if distinguished, ought to bear the name given

to it by Lamarck cannot admit of question; for there seems to

be no reason for doubting that he had it in view when he pub-

lished the description and figure of his E. anagallidifolium. He

states that it is closely allied to the H. alpinum of Linneus, but

. doubts their identity *.

After stating what I believe to be the characters of the three

plants, a few observations will be made upon them.

E. anagallidifolium (Lam.); joints of the barren stems all long

with small obovate leaves, flowering stem erect from a long rooting

* In the paper already noticed, Dr. Grisebach has arrived at conclusions

concerning the allies of E. alpinum similar to those independently formed

by me, and Dr. Schultz appears to adopt them in his review of it.

Mr. C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium. 313

base, leaves oblong blunt narrowed below not acuminate stalked,

upper leaves lanceolate, buds nodding, sepals oblong blunt, seeds

obovate pointed below apiculate.

E. anagallidifolium, Lam. Dict. ii. 376. t. 278. f.3; Griseb. l. ¢. 853.

E. alpinum, Gren. et Godr. Fl. de Fr.i.577; Reichenb. Fl. exsice.1061.

Stem filiform, mostly simple, with two slightly raised lines,

usually 38-4 inches long; or prostrate, branched, densely leafy,

rooting. Leaves resembling those of EH. alpinum, glabrous or

downy. Flowers pale reddish. Capsules like those of E. al-

pinum, glabrous or downy. Seeds brown, rounded at the top, but

with a minute point formed by a slight prolongation of the testa :

there appears to be a furrow down the middle of the flat side.

It inhabits the lofty mountains of Scotland. My specimens

are from Morne and Lochnagar, Aberdeenshire ; Clova, Forfar-

shire; Ben Vorlich, Dumbartonshire. In Smith’s Herbarium

there are specimens from Ben Lomond, Stirlingshire; Craig

Chailliach and Ben Lawers, Perthshire.

E. alpinum (Linn.); barren stems short their upper leaves closely

placed, flowering stem erect from a short rooting base, leaves oval

or oblong blunt narrowed below not acuminate, upper leaves lan-

ceolate, buds nodding, sepals linear-lanceolate acute, seeds lan-

ceolate-obovate pointed below apiculate.

E. alpinum, Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. 1.348; Eng. Bot. 2001; Fries, Herb.

Norm. viii. 44.

Stem filiform, simple, with two slightly raised lines, usually

3-4 inches long. Leaves pale green. Flowers pale. Capsules

relatively smaller than those of LE. alsinifolium, but resembling

them. Seeds rather pale, bluntly rounded at the top, but with

a minute central point formed by a slight prolongation of the

testa, with a keel along the middle of the flat side; but the

keel in this plant and the furrow in £. anagallidifolium is not

ascertained.

It inhabits the lofty mountains of Scotland. All the British

specimens that I have seen belong to the smaller of the two

forms distributed by Fries; they are from Ben Wyvis, Ross-

shire; Drumouchter, Inverness-shire ; Ben na Buird, Aberdeen-

shire; Clova, Forfarshire; Ben Lawers, Perthshire.

E. alsinifolium (Vill.); stoles (yellowish) with small roundish distant

scales, stem erect from a long rooting base, leaves ovate-acuminate

repand-dentate shortly stalked, buds nodding, sepals linear-oblong,

seeds subfusiform.

E. alsinifolium, Vill. Dauph. ii. 511; Deakin’s Florig. Brit. f. 626.

E. origanifolium, Reichenb. Fl. exsice. 775.

E. alpinum, Fries, Herb. Norm, v. 41.

Stem usually simple, rather thick, with two raised lines, 3-12

314 Mr.C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium.

inches long. Leaves shining, subpellucid, glabrous. Lowest

leaves blunt. Flowers large, purplish, few. Capsules very

long, upright, long-stalked. Seeds narrowed at both ends, and

continued gradually into a great prolongation of the testa at the

top, causing the beard (pappus) to appear to be stalked.

It inhabits the lofty mountains of Scotland; the Great

Cheviot in Northumberland; Cronkley Fell, Teesdale, York-

shire; Fairfield, Westmoreland ; at and above Aber Waterfall,

Caernarvonshire.

It is not easy to describe the great. difference in appearance

that exists between E. alpinum and EF. anagallidifolium, and

therefore they will doubtless seem to the reader to be far more

alike than is really the case. I have never seen in LE. alpinum

the remarkable prostrate rooting flowerless shoots which aré

characteristic of HE. anagallidifolium, and which are as different

from the rather loose rosettes of E. alpinum as they are from the

stoles of E. palustre. The short leafy stems forming the loose

rosettes of KH. alpinum do not become creeping stems nor true

stoles. The sepals may perhaps afford a certain distinction

between them.

It must be added, that I have no acquaintance with the sup-

posed differences between EH. alpinum and E. anagallidifolium as

they appear in the living plant, and that it is often difficult to

tell accurately to which of them dried specimens ought to be

referred. Well-developed and complete specimens are so very

different, that there is little ground for hesitation in admitting

two plants as natives of the Scottish mountains which have such

markedly different modes of growth as to render it highly pro-

bable that they are distinct species. The identification of these

plants with the EH. alpinum of Scandinavia and of the Alps,

respectively, does not, I think, admit of doubt. Botanists will

do well if they direct their attention to the interesting question

of their specific distinctness. ,

Scottish botanists should look carefully for the E. lineare

(Miihl.) which is found on the mountains of Scandinavia, and

may very probably inhabit those of Scotland. It closely re-

sembles both E. alpinum and E. palustre. From the former, to

which it appears to be the most nearly allied, it may be di-

stinguished by its linear obtuse denticulate leaves ; ; its sepals,

although of the same shape, are apparently blunt; its flowers

are “white,” or “cream-coloured.” From £E. palustre it is

at once known by “‘vegetatio cespitosa ob rosulas ad basin

sessiles,” and the total want of the slender stoles of that

species.

It is hardly necessary to expend many words upon the dif-

ferences of EH. alsinifolium from the two plants above mentioned,

Mr, C. C. Babington on some species of Epilobium. 815

for its very differently shaped seeds afford a good distinction,

and the appearance of its foliage is very dissimilar. But it. is

necessary to direct attention to the singular fact, that the plate

devoted to the illustration of this species in ‘ English Botany ’

represents another plant. Mr. Borrer has kindly favoured me

with the use of authentic specimens, named E. alsinifolium by

the late Mr. Winch, and stated to have been gathered by him

on Cheviot. One of them was communicated by the late Mr.

Sowerby as the plant figured by him in ‘English Botany’

(t. 2000) ; another is stated to be Mr. Winch’s plant by the

lamented Mr. Edward Forster; and a third is similarly ticketed

by Mr. D. Turner. These three specimens all accord well with

the plate (Eng. Bot. 2000); but neither they nor it have, as I

believe, any claim to the name of E. alsinifolium. They are

probably only small states of H. montanum; indeed, the culti-

vated specimen from Mr. Turner can scarcely be called small.

Mr. Turner was well acquainted with this rather singular fact,

for in the ‘ Botanist’s Guide’ (11. 470) he states, under the

heading of E. alpinum, the name originally applied to the plant

by Winch, that he, m common with other botanists, believed the

specimens sent to him to be “only a starved state of EH. mon-

tanum.” Iam inclined to agree with Mr. Turner; but Mr.

Borrer, than whom there is no person better qualified to give an

opinion on such a subject, thinks that “the clubbed stigma and

the angles of the stem tend to a contrary conclusion. These

angles are still visible on the specimens, as lines at least, even

on the large garden fragment.” One thing is clear to both Mr.

Borrer and myself, viz. that the specimen sent to Sowerby, and

figured by him, was not E. alsinifolium. In Winch’s Herbarium

there is a “small mountain variety of E. montanum,” which has

faint decurrent lines upon its lower joints. The Cheviot plant

appears to be chordorhizal, judging from one of the specimens

preserved in that Herbarium; and the plate in ‘ English Botany”

represents an underground stole similar to those of E. alsini-

folium. If we are obliged to allow that hybrids are easily pro-

duced between Epz/obia in a wild state, then we might probably

escape from the difficulty by supposing this plant to be one;

viz. between L. alsinifohum and E. montanum, both of which

are, I believe, to be found upon the same part of that mountain.

On that supposition, the habit and the leaves would result from

the latter plant ; and the stole, the slight angles upon the stem,

and the club-shaped stigma, from the former. Nevertheless

there is great reason to think that Winch did gather the true.

E. alsimfolium.on Cheviot, for his description of the plant found

there, when in cultivation, accords well with that species. His

words are, “ In winter it is not deciduous, but forms wide-.

816 Mr. C.C, Babington on some species of Epilobium.

spreading, matted tufts of small leaves, among which the fibrous

roots shoot out, as in proliferous plants. The flower-stems are

partially decumbent, cylindrical, at first simple, afterwards much

branched, and furnished with numerous elliptical, slightly toothed,

soft leaves ; the flowers are few, and the style undivided.” (Bot.

Guide to Northumb. and Durham, ii. p.v.) One or two points

in this description, such as that which I have italicized, refer to

the plant which Winch had by some mischance mixed with the

true E. alsinifolium; but I think, for the most part, it cannot

have been taken for that plant. I also think that the Lysimachia

siliquosa glabra minor latifolia of Ray is really E. alsinifolium.

It is most unfortunate that the wrong plant should have been

figured in ‘ English Botany,’ as that error has probably tended

to encourage those who desired to disprove the specific distinct-

ness of £. alsinifolium; and it is wonderful how botanists who

have had occasion to quote figures of that species, myself amongst

the number, have continued to refer to ‘ Eng. Bot. tab. 2000’

as representing it. Dr. Deakin describes and figures the true

E. alsinifolium (Florig. Brit. 11. 549. f. 626); but part of his

remarks seems to have resulted from an inspection of ‘ English

Botany,’ for they do not accord with the description that precedes

them. The lamented Dr. G. Johnston stated (Bot. of East.

Borders, 81), that he found £. alsinifolium in the Dunsdale

Ravine on the Great Cheviot ; and as he most liberally presented

his specimens to me, I am enabled to confirm his determination

of the plant, thus proving that that species really does inhabit

those hills. The specimens more nearly resemble those which I

gathered upon Cronkley Fell in Yorkshire than the plant usually

found in Scotland, and seem to be what Fries mentions under

the name of E. anceps as a variety of this species (Mant. ii. 20).

I am inclined to refer the specimen gathered and named £. al-

pinum by Dr. Douglas (see Bot. E. Bord. 82) to a small state of

E. alsinifolium, but its imperfect state renders this determina-

tion doubtful.

In the valuable and recently published ‘Supplement to the

Flora of Yorkshire’ (p. 67), Mr. J. G. Baker notices a plant

which he found on the “ south bank of the Swale near Topcliffe,”

and describes it as having “subsessile leaves narrowing gra-

dually below .... a bisulcate stem, erect buds and dark purple

flowers,” and states his belief that it is probably the EL. purpu-

reum of Fries. If his description is correct, and I have no

reason to think it otherwise, it seems highly probable that his

determination of its name is also right. Mr. Baker kindly pre-

sented me with specimens of it, but unfortunately they are only

lateral branches of what seems to have been a much-branched

plant ; they accord well with the descriptions given by Fries

Mr. C. C. Babington on some species of Epilobium, 317

(Mant. iii, 185, and Summa, 178), Mr. Baker’s plant appears

to have had a hollow “ bisuleate”’ stem (but I do not know that

the furrows descend from the dorsal ribs of the leaves, as Fries

states to be the case in his plant), much branched and clothed

with fine scattered hairs ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, suddenly nar-

rowed below into a very short winged petiole, finely and distantly

denticulate ; lower leaves probably opposite ; floral leaves large

and more or less alternate; flowers apparently rather large,

“dark purple,” constantly erect ; sepals hairy, broad, oblong,

acute or perhaps cuspidate; capsules very long, thick, hairy

when young, rising conspicuously above the top of the stem. I

have thought it right to introduce this short notice of the

suspected HL. purpureum into the present paper from its appear-

ing to deserve the attention of botanists.

Before closing this communication, it is proper to bring more

prominently forwards than has been done by its discoverer, the

fact that the EL. rosmarinifolium (Haenke) is a native of Scot-

land. Mr. John Robertson, a very intelligent gardener and

botanist, has had a ‘ Flora of Perthshire’ in preparation for

some years, and would have published it before this time if he

had succeeded in obtaining sufficient subscribers to cover the

expense*., With the prospectus of this book he circulated in

1852 a “ few scraps from the work ” itself, and amongst them

there is the announcement of his having found this plant upon

almost “‘ inaccessible rocks that overhang the Tarf, a mountain-

stream in Glen Tilt.” He adds, that ‘it may be readily over-

looked from the frequent nibbling of sheep and other animals.

.... It has also been observed in one or two situations by the

Tay, where doubtless it has been carried . . . by the impetuosity

of the mountain torrents.” The characters for distinguishing it

from E. angustifolium are—

E. rosmarinifolium (Haenke) ; stem erect round, leaves linear not

veined, petals elliptic-oblong not clawed, style equalling the

stamens.

E. rosmarinifolium, ‘ Haenke in”’ Jacq. collect. ii. 50.

E. Dodoneei, Sturm, Deutsch. Fl. fase. 72. t. 5..

Creeping moderately. Stem often decumbent below. Leaves

shortly attenuate at both ends, entire or denticulate, with revolute

margins. Flowers rose-coloured or white.

This is a very interesting addition to the flora of Britain, for,

as far as I can learn, it had not with certainty been ascertained

to grow further north than the Cevennes. Messrs. Hooker and

* Subscribers’ names are received by Messrs. A. and C. Black, publishers,

Edinburgh. Price 10s. 6d.

318 Mr. C.C. Babington on some species of Epilobium.

Arnott seem to throw some doubts upon its having been found in

Glen Tilt, but do not state the cause of them. My inquiries

and those of Mr. Borrer lead us to believe the statement of

Mr. Robertson.

In the ‘ Botanist’s Guide’ there are two stations given for a

plant there called H. angustissimum, both of which rest upon the

high authority of the late Mr. J. W. Griffith. These places are,

“Rocks near Twll di in Cwm Idwel,” and “ Rocks of Arran

Pen Llyn.” It has been generally taken for granted that the

plants noticed by Mr. Griffith were small states of H. angusti-

folium, but no botanist has, I believe, recorded his having re-

cently met with the plant of the latter station, and we have

therefore no means of knowing what itis. In the autumn of

1855 I gathered what seems to be a small form of E. angus-

tifolium upon the rocks rising from the lake called Llyn y Cwn,

which is close to Twll di. It had not flowered, nor did it show

any buds, and grows in the narrow crevices of the rock in such

a manner that I was unable to obtain a root for cultivation. It

should be remembered that the station called ‘‘ Rocks near

Twll di in Cwm Idwel” by Griffith, is stated by him (Bot.

Guide, i. 82) to be the spot named “ Hysvae”’ by Richardson in

the 3rd edition of Ray’s ‘ Synopsis’ (310), where he found the

Lysimachia Chamenerium dicta, flore Delphini of Parkinson, and

that there is every reason to suppose that Richardson, Griffith

and myself have successively gathered the same plant in the

same or closely contiguous spots. It is curious that Smith

should have taken no notice of these mountain stations.

The true name of the plant found by Mr. Robertson is rather

difficult to determine, not from any doubt concerning the’ spe-

cies to which it belongs, but on account of some confusion

which has happened in the use of the several names of the allied

plants. The Perthshire plant is— ~

E. Dodonai, Villars (in part), Allioni, Gaudin (in part), Koch ;

_ E. rosmarinifolium, Haenke, Reichenbach, Godron ;

E. angustissimum, Wilidenow (in part), Bertoloni (not Curtis

nor Aiton), Waldstein and Kitaibel.

Bertoloni and Godron appear to be justified by the description

given by Villars (Fl. Dauph. iii. 507) in considering that he in-

cluded under the name of H. Dodonai both the small species

which are allied to EL. angustifolium, and therefore have probably

exercised a sound judgement in rejecting that name. But the

former author seems to me to have fallen into an error in

thinking that the plant now under consideration is the EZ. angus-

tissimum of Aiton (Hort. Kew. ed. 1. ii. 5), and of Curtis (Bot.

Mag. 76), for the figure given by the latter author seems to fix

that name upon the other species, to which also Reichenbach

Mr. J.G. Jeffreys on the genus Scissurella. 319

applies it. If therefore we think it proper to drop Villars’s

name, the next in antiquity is E. rosmarinifolium given by

Haenke in 1788. Mr. Borrer has pointed out to me that

Dodoens does not deserve the honour of being commemorated

in connexion with this plant, the figure of which in his work

(Pempt. 85) is only a reprint of L’Obel’s cut (Stirp. Hist. 226),

and all that he says about it is contained im a single sentence

which conveys no valuable information. It is probable that he

never saw the plant. It cannot therefore be said that we

are depriving him of any credit, justly due to him, when we

neglect a name of only partial applicability to our plant and

adopt another which belongs to it alone.

_ P.S.—The time which has elapsed since the communication

of this paper to the Botanical Society has allowed plants raised

from seeds of HL. Lamyi, taken from the specimens sent by M.

Lenormand, to develope their winter form. The seeds were

sown in a pot in the early part of the summer of 1855; they

floweréd in the autumn, and the flowering stems are now (Feb.

22, 1856) quite dead. Around the base of the old stems there

is now a dense mass of rosettes, exactly resembling in all respects

those of E. tetragonum. The plants have not been defended

from the frost, but nevertheless the rosettes are in a healthy

condition. Dr. Schultz remarks of the rosettes, that “si la

plante n’est pas garantie contre le froid dans une chambre

chauffée” (Arch. il. 53), they perish in the winter; but that if

so defended they produce plants that flower, but do not develope

any more rosettes. It remains to be seen if such will be the

ease with the plants in the Cambridge Botanic Garden.

’ Mr. Borrer informs me that “a plant of EH. Lamyi, raised

from seed sent by Schultz, is (Feb. 9, 1856) showing tufts of

leaves as strong as, and (as far as I can see) scarcely distinguish-

able from, those of H. tetragonum, at this time in a north border

in my garden, where it must have borne 24 degrees of frost

[8° Fahr.].” These facts tend to the conclusion that EZ. Lamyi

is not distinct from Z. tetragonum.

XXVI.—Note on the Genus Scissurella.

By J. Gwyn Jurrreys, Esq., F.R.S.

Ir would be a boon to science if Dr. Gray, or some other natu-

ralist who is well versed in general conchology, would enlighten

me and probably many more of your readers by assigning a

proper position and resting-place to this singular genus. I am

320 Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the genus Scissurella.

by no means satisfied with the general opinion that it belongs to

the Trochide ; although I believe it is allied to that family in

respect of both the shell and animal. Nearly half a century ago,

Colonel Montagu supposed the S. crispata of British authors to

be the fry of a Trochus; but since his time many other species

have been discovered in various parts of the world, all of which

exhibit the peculiar structure of Scissurella; and the recent de-

scription by Mr. Barrett of the external organs, as well as my

own observation of the operculum in another (although pro-

bably not a congeneric) species, have afforded additional data for

ascertaining the true relations of the genus. With respect to

the presence or absence of an operculum, I may remark that

even in the same genus (Mangelia) some of the species are oper-

culated, while others are inoperculate. Ciliated appendages,

simple filaments or cirrhi* varying in disposition and number,

and combined with opercula of different forms (which however

are sometimes wanting), occur in Macgillivrayia and Cheletropis

(pelagic mollusks), as well as in Lacuna, the Fissurellade and

Patella, which are widely separated from the Trochide and from

each other. I submit that the question ought not to be deter-

mined upon analogical considerations alone. The orifice in the

mantle and shell of Scissurella indicates an affinity to Emarginula

and Fissurella, the young of which are well known to be spiral.

The slit in S. striatula, Ph., does not commence until the animal

is half-grown. Its sides or walls are raised above the surface of

the shell, and present a prominent ridge; a hollow groove being

thus apparently formed for the reception and passage of the ex-

current or anal canal. The foramen in which it terminates is

oblongo-fusiform, being usually more pointed in front; and it

projects like the groove, in this respect resembling an analogous

process in the young of Fissurella. As Mr. Alder justly re-

marks, this conformation appears to exhibit the same relation be-

tween this species and Scissurella as Punctureila bears to Emar-

ginula. The ribs generally cease when the slit begins to be

developed ; and it would seem as if that operation altered or in-

terfered with the original secreting power of the mantle, which

afterwards was applied as well to the filling-up of that part of

the slit which became useless as to the construction of a series

of close-set transverse strie or steps between the sides of the

groove. The foraminal termination of the slit I have only ob-

served in this species (S. striatula), although a great number of

the British species (S. decussata or crispata) have been examined

* Obs. The use of these organs seems to be little known. In Macgil-

livrayia they are supposed to serve for prehension as well as natation ; but

in the majority of cases they probably perform the functions of supple-

mental tentacula.

Mr. J. G. Jeffreys on the genus Scissurella. 321

by me. In the first-mentioned species, too, the spire is laterally

compressed, as in Stomatia, and is not so trochiform as in the

others; and if the family of Scissurellade (as proposed by Dr.

Gray in his “ List of the Genera of Recent Mollusca”) is adopted,

I venture to suggest that for the species in question and others

which possess a similar organization and form, the generic name of

Schismope (ab oxic, scissura, et on, foramen) would be appro-

priate*. Trochotoma, Pleurotomaria (if indeed Scissurella differs

from it), and other fossil genera, may then form part of the same

family ; as no system of classification can be complete in which

what are usually termed “extinct” forms are not comprised,

Sowerby, in his “ Genera of Recent and Fossil Shells,” took the

characters of Scissurel/a from a species of the Calcaire grossier of

Grignon, and not from any of the species described by D’Orbigny,

who is not likely to have overlooked the remarkable structure of

the scissural foramen. The position given to Scissurella by the

late Professor Forbes in the ‘ British Mollusca’ (viz. between

Adeorbis and Lanthina), cannot, I think, be right; because the

last-mentioned genera belong to very different families. These

minor problems in natural history are very interesting ; and I

hope my friend Mr. Clark will be able next summer to obtain

and describe the animal inhabitant of Adeorbis subcarinata, and

thus increase his valuable stock of observations on the British

Mollusca.

58 Montagu Square, St. David’s Day, 1856.

P.S. Having submitted the above to Dr. Gray, I have been

favoured with his remarks on the subject ; which, with his per-

mission, I will subjoin to my communication :—

* British Museum, 6th March 1856.

“My pear Sir,

“1 have read your note with much interest ; and I have little

doubt the genus Scissurella belongs to the great group which

has been called Scutibranchia, Rhiphidoglossa, or Trochoida,

characterized by the structure of the gills, the lateral membrane

and tentacles, the peculiar disposition of the teeth and organs of

digestion, and by its generally forming a pearly shell.

“This group consists of the genera Trochus, Rotella, Turbo,

Halhotis, Stomatia, Stomatella, Fissurella and Parmophorus of

Lamarck: and perhaps, according to the theories of some con-

chologists, especially such as study the productions of a small

region only containing a very few representatives of each family,

* The only recent species with which I am acquainted (Sc. striatula, Ph.)

is littoral. All the species of Scisswrella proper apparently inhabit deep

water.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser.2. Vol. xvii. 21

322 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

these might even be considered as a single natural genus.

But to such as study the Mollusca of a larger and more pro-

lific district, and especially the species now contained in col-

lections brought from various climes, such a union of genera

seems to me most undesirable, particularly as it prevents that

accuracy of observation and discrimination which it is the great

advantage of natural history as a branch of education to establish

and teach.

“From the study of the animals, shells and opercula of these

Lamarckian genera, I have been induced to form the group into

the following families, viz. Rotellade, Turbinide, Liotiade, Tro-

chide, Stomatellade, Scissurellada, Haliotide and Fissurellade.

I believe that Scisswrella is very distinct from Trochus, and inter-

mediate between it and the Haliotide, but more nearly related to

the latter than the former ; and this view of its position has been

strengthened by Mr. Barrett’s description of the animal, as well

as by what you say as to the operculum and structure of the

shell. |

“ Though the family of Scisswrellade only contains one, or as

you have very properly proposed, two genera, yet they appear

to be all that remain of a large number of fossil genera, con-

taining together more than 800 well described and figured

species.

“T never believed that Scissurella had any relation with

Ianthina, and the figure and description of the animal distinctly

prove that it has not any.

“« Adeorbis, on the other hand, is clearly a genus belonging to

the same great group above mentioned, and is referable, by the

exquisite structure of its operculum, to the family Liotiade,

characterized by its horny many-whorled operculum being orna-

mented with concentric spiral lines of a calcareous pearly sub-

stance.

“ Fiver yours sincerely,

“J. Gwyn Jeffreys, Esq.” “J. KE. Gray.”

XXVII.—On the House Ant of Madeira. By Prof. O. Hur, of

Zurich. Translated from the original by R. T. Lows, M.A.

[Concluded from p. 224. ]

II. Description of the House Ant.

(EcorutHora, Heer.

MANDIBLES very strong, in the females and soldiers with a

sharp cutting edge, in the labourers toothed like a saw. Palpi

of the,tongue and maxille very short and two-jointed; the

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 323

second joint somewhat longer than the first. The pergamenta-

ceous stalk or stipes of the maxille with a thin membranous,

ciliated sheath (case or cover).

Antenne in the males seventeen-jointed, the first joint thicker

but not longer than the next succeeding joints; in the females,

labourers, and soldiers twelve-jointed, with a rather long shaft

and eleven-jointed flagellum, the three last joints of which form

a slight, gradually attenuated club.

Wings with three cubital and two discoidal cells; the middle

cubital cell stipitate.

The tibia in the females, Jabourers, and soldiers with a pec-

tinate hook.

The back of the metathorax with spines.

The abdominal pedicle two-jointed, the first joint clavate.

The family consists of males, females, labourers, and large-

headed soldiers.

This genus belongs to the group Myrmicide; it differs alto-

gether from Myrmica, Latr., by the much shorter two-jointed

palpi, by the seventeen-jointed antenne in the males, and the

venation of the wings; in this last pomt it approaches nearer

the genus A/ta, but in this the maxillary palpi are five-jointed,

and the metathorax is unarmed with spines. In the two-joimted

palpi our genus agrees with Pheidole and Typhlopone, Westw. ;

the latter genus belongs to the group Poneride, and cannot

therefore come into consideration ; the former is founded by

Westwood on an Indian species, the Atta providens, Sykes ;

but from this, @icophthora differs in the much longer first joint

of the tarsus, the anteriorly sharper-toothed mandibles, the

maxillary-case produced beneath, by the fusiform second joint

of the maxillary palpi, the much less deeply notched upper lip,

the differently shaped abdominal pedicle, and the marked division

of the neuters into two forms, widely differing in the structure

of the head.

Ccophthora pusilla, Heer.

Allied species to it are the Myrmica omnivora, L. Latr.,

Myrmica nana, Latr., and Atta megacephala, ¥. Latr., both the

latter of which must certainly belong to the genus Gicophthora.

The Myrmica omnivora, Latr., is spread over all tropical America,

and also appears in Egypt as one of the pests of the country.

More recently it has also spread northwards, and in Kasan as

in London does great mischief in houses. From this M. omni-

vora, our Madeira kind is distinguished (over and above the

generic characters) by the armed thorax, and by not having

both the segments of the node or abdominal pedicle (die beiden

Glieder des Knétchens) cylindrical. With the Myrmica nana,

21*

324 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

Latr. (Formica pusilla, De Geer, from South America), it agrees

in size, colour, and the armed thorax; but in that, the thorax,

with the head, is shagreened with numerous little raised points,

which is not the case in our species. Inthe form and size of the

head, the soldier of the Gicophthora agrees with the Atta mega-

cephala, Latr. (from the Isle of France); yet Latreille would

surely not have overlooked the peculiar striated sculpture of the

head: but since neither the description nor figure gives this, |

we cannot identify our species with his; and this especially as

the female is said to be only a little larger than the neuters,—

the difference in ours being so considerable. From this, A.

megacephala, Latr., the ant so called by Losana (Memorie della

Reale Accademia di Torino, xxxvul. p. 328), is distinct ; and the

description of the species which is found in the gardens of

Piedmont agrees in all points of importance with the soldier of

the Madeiran ant. On the other hand, the description of the

labourer is quite inapplicable, for it assigns to it a larger heart-

shaped head. It is also very surprising that Losana should not

have remarked that the head of the labourer is quite smooth,

and that labourers and soldiers present constant differences, not

only in size, but also in the formation of the head.

1. The Female.

Pl. III. fig. 1. 1, the natural size; fig. 1. 2, ten times magni-

fied ; fig. 1. 3, in profile.

Whole length 31 lines. Length of the head 2 line, breadth

the same. Length of the thorax 1 line, breadth 3 line. Length

of the abdomen 1} line, breadth nearly 1 line. Length of the

upper wings 31 lines, breadth 14 line.

The head is roundish, and of the breadth of the thorax, as

long as broad, with a very slight notch at the base behind.

The eyes are rather small, and composed of few lenses. The

three ocelli are very distinct, and placed at the base of the

head in a triangle. The clypeus is not distinct from the

forehead ; slightly hollowed out directly over the mouth, where

the edge is furnished with a row of punctures. The anten-

nary clefts are somewhat converging forwards, short, but broad

and deep, and rather widening forwards, where the forehead,

which otherwise is flat, becomes more prominent. The

forehead between the antennary clefts is moderately broad, -

and furnished at its anterior margin with an impressed, tri-

angular, somewhat smoother compartment, which is faintly

keeled down the middle. The whole upper side of the head

is traversed by fine parallel striz longitudinally, which reach

down nearly to the base of the head; behind the eyes the striz

are fainter, more irregular, and partly obsolete, or passing into

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 325

dots. The upper lip (labrum) (fig. 1. 4) is very small, and de-

pends quite perpendicularly between the mandibles ; it consists

of two horny plates, a very short but broad basal piece, and a

second longer outer piece, which is rounded, and slightly notched

anteriorly ; in the middle of the notch stands a little papilla.

The labrum is beset with a double row of fine bristles, one

within the other upon the edge, with two longer, stouter bristles

in the centre of the lip. The mandibles (fig. 1.5) are very

strong and horny, becoming broader and hatchet-shaped ex-

ternally ; the fore-edge exactly truncate, and produced for-

wards into a strong tooth, furnished with a narrow horny rim

or border extending at the top into a short, not prominent, tooth.

This border, which, as the actual cutting-edge, forms the man-

dibles, is very sharp, but without teeth. The outer edge of the

mandible is grooved ; the upper surface, on the contrary, even.

The maxilla is much smaller. The peduncle (stipes) is perga-

mentaceous, narrowed at the base, notched at the top, to which is

affixed the extremely small two-jointed palpus: this is so small,

that it does not reach to the point of the sheath. The first joint

is cylindric, the second somewhat longer, fusiform, and produced

into a fine point. The sheath extends pretty far out beyond

the stipes; it consists of a stalk-like basal piece (fig. 111. 5. 5%)

and a larger membranous very thin upper piece, which is rounded

at top and furnished with a crown of hairs; further below

the hairs cease, and the edge is naked and extremely thin; but

here a border of excessively minute hairs runs obliquely over

the surface of the sheath. The labium is very small, as

long as the stipes of the maxilla, greatly narrowed at the base,

broader outwards and bluntly rounded. The lingual palpi are

two-jointed and very short; the first jomt obconic, the second

fusiform and somewhat longer, bearing two bristles. The men-

tum is corneous, and slightly hollowed out. The antenne are

moderately long; the first joint (the scape) extends a little beyond

the edge of the head, and is scarcely perceptibly thickened out-

wards : the flagellum is eleven-jointed; its first joint is about twice

as long as the next very short one; all are of equal thickness ;

the three last are considerably larger, though not abruptly di-

stinct from the rest ; they are together about the length of the

seven preceding joints. All the joints of the flagellum are finely

hairy, especially the last three.

The thorax is pretty large. The prothoraz is very short, and

not perceptible from above; laterally, however, the side-piece

(Pl. III. fig. 1. 8 a?) forms a pretty broad prominent segment ;

the mesothorax composes the chief part of the thorax (fig. 1. 3 8) ;

the mesonotum is somewhat larger than the head, rather flat

above, nearly circular, but truncate behind, with a transverse

impression and row of impressed punctures, and on either side a

326 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. —

small black tubercle. The upper side of the mesonotum is quite

even, with only a faint longitudinal groove. The scutellum

(fig. 1.3 6) is attached immediately to the mesonotum ; it is

abruptly truncate in front, bluntly rounded behind. The side-

plate of the middle thoracic segment is of about the same size as

that of the anterior, and receives the coxa of the middle leg.

The first piece of the metanotum is extremely short (fig. 1.

3 c'); the second piece (its scutellum, fig. 1. 3 c*) is indeed

longer, but still small and strongly attenuated backwards. On

the back it is even ; on each side bordered by a raised margin,

on which stands a distinct prominent black spinule.

The legs are moderately long, with thick but short coxe,

small trochanters, and femora dilated in the middle. The

tibia is considerably shorter than the femur. The anterior

tibia is thickest in the middle, slightly rounded forwards on

the ner side, where there is placed a moveable proportionably

large hook, furnished on its imner side with a membranous

border, which is fringed with a row of fine straight setze (fig. 1.

6 c), giving it the appearance of acomb. The tarsi are long,

and extremely slender and filiform. The first joint is nearly

as long as the tibia, but the four following are very short.

The fifth is thickened outwards, and provided with two curved

very sharp claws (fig. 1. 7), between which lies a membranous

flap (or lobe). The first tarsal joint in the four hinder legs is

straight, but in the anterior pair is very strongly curved at the

base, the curve answering to the pectiniform hook, which has a

similar curvature. It is also worth notice, that on the parts of

the tarsus answering to the hovk, the tarsus is clothed with a

thick fine felt of hairs ; whilst on the other parts of the tarsus,

these hairs are longer and less closely set.

The wings extend pretty far beyond the apex of the abdomen.

The fore-wmgs are much narrowed at the base, and attain their

greatest breadth at three-fourths of their length. They have a

distinct, pretty large stigma. The radial cell, before it, is open,

for the vena scapularis does not run into the margin. The

cubital cells are three, of a similar form to those of the Atte.

The inner cubital cell is polygonal and irregular; it is conti-

guous to the stigma: the second is also closed, somewhat bell-

shaped and pedunculate; the cross vein which divides it from

the third open large cubital cell is connected with the cross-vein

which divides the inner cubital cell from the radial cell, and

which issues from the stigma. The inner discoidal cell is rhom-

boidal and rather small; but the outer discoidal cell is very

large and open. The area interno-media is divided into two cells,

of which the outer one is open, the vena interno-media running

out free. The hind-wings are considerably smaller than the

fore, and the vena scapularis is connected already at one-third

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 327

of their length with the marginal vein ; the v. externo-media di-

vides very soon into two forks, the outer of which is connected

by a little cross veinlet with the scapulary vein, and then pro-

ceeds towards the tip of the wing. The v. interno-media is ex-

tremely short, and opens into the externo-media.

The abdomen consists of six segments, the first two of which

form a proportionably long pedicle. Of this the first segment

is strongly curved like a horn, and clavate. At the point of its

insertion into the thorax it is quite thin, but is thickened up-

wards. This thin pedicle is the cause of the great mobility of

the abdomen: when raised perpendicularly up, it shuts on so

close to the metathorax (cf. fig. 1. 2), that from above only its

nearly quadrangular head (i. e. the upper end) is visible ; but

when lowered, its head separates from the metathorax in pro-

portion to the obliquity of its position (ef. fig. 1.3). When the

pedicle is raised, the abdomen is lifted up aloft; in the other

case it is depressed. The second joint of the node* (the second

abdominal segment) is much broader, but much shorter, inserted

obliquely into the first, and, seen from above, coroniform. On

either side it is furnished with a small tuft of hairs. The body

of the abdomen consists of four segments, and is shortly oval,

somewhat broader than the head, bluntly rounded before and

behind. The first segment, or third of the whole abdomen, is

the largest; it is of the same length as the three following

together. It is even; only furnished on the back with a faint

longitudinal line, and on the hinder edge with a row of punctures

and a circlet of hairs; the upper side is pretty thickly clothed

with fine short pubescence. The second segment is decidedly

shorter, quite smooth and naked, with only a narrow hairy band

on the hinder edge, and the edge itself ciliated with longer

hairs. The third and still shorter segment presents the same

characters ; the fourth only projects a very little.

The colour of the insect is a shining brown. The head is

chestnut-brown ; the fore part lighter, yellow-brown ; the edge

of the scutum and the fore-edge of the mandibles black. The

eyes black, the ocelli whitish. The mesonotum is of the same

colour as the head; the metanotum, on the contrary, lighter

yellow-brown ; the’ tibiee and femora are brown, the tarsi and

antenne light yellow. The abdomen is shining ; lighter in front,

behind blackish-brown: the commencement of the first segment,

and sometimes the (whole) first segment and fore-part of the

second of the body of the abdomen are yellow-brown; the

hinder segment, on the other hand, is dark brown or blackish ;

but the small last (segment) again lighter yellow-brown. In

certain individuals, moreover, the whole body is a lighter brown

* Knétchen—here evidently means pedicle.—Tr.

328 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

than in the majority. The wings are as pact whitish, with

yellowish veins.

2. The Male.

Fig. 11. magnified ten times. As before mentioned, I found

only a single example, which was moreover broken to pieces on

the journey, the head and thorax only remaining perfect. In

fig. 11. 1, the dotted portion (the abdomen) is sketched merely

from memory.

Length of the head } of a line; of the thorax 3; breadth of

the same } a line.

It is much smaller than the female, the length of the soldier,

and of a coal-black colour; the legs only are light yellow,

with however the cox and trochanters black. The head is

small and nearly circular ; its mandibles are small, scarcely per-

ceptible ; the palpi, on the other hand, are somewhat longer

than in the female. The head is smooth, bearing in front the

approximate antenne ; these are long, setaceous, and seventeen-

jointed. The first joint is the thickest, the second of the

same length, as also the 7-8 following; but thence they be-

come gradually shorter, and more abruptly separated from

each other; whence the last seven joints can be much more

easily distinguished from one another than the first ten. All

the joints (with the exception of the first and last) are cylindric

and thickly pubescent. The thorax is considerably broader

than the head, bluntly rounded anteriorly ; the hinder edge

of the mesonotum with a row of longitudinal excavations ;

the scutellum subtriangular, its edge also beset with impressed

punctures; the abdomen oval. In the wings, the inner discoidal

cell is larger than in the females. The legs are of finer make

than in the females. The femur is thinner, the tibia propor-

tionally longer (fig. 11. 2). The hook at the fore part of the

tibia (ef. fig. 1. 3) is differently formed; it is curved, and also

furnished on the inner side with a row of sete, which are not

however attached to a membranous flap (hautlappen*), and are

not pectinate. The tarsus is much shorter than in the female ;

the first joint about the length of the second and third together ;

the second, third and fourth are of equal length; the fifth

is thickened outwards, and with two sharp claws.

3. The Labourer.

Fig. 1v.—1v. 1, the size of nature ; 1v. 2, magnified ten times.

Whole length 14 Jine; length of head 3 line; breadth the

same; length of thorax } line, of abdomen } line.

* “ Hautrande ” (membranous border) before, in description of the

female.—TR.

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 329

The head is somewhat larger than the abdomen ; it is alto-

gether shining, smooth, and naked. The point of insertion of

the antenne is also marked by a pretty deep groove, and the

anterior border of the forehead likewise furnished with an im-

pression ; on the other hand, the striz, which in the females as

well as in the soldiers are perceived on the head, are wholly

wanting. The mandibles (fig. 1v. 3) are proportionably longer,

but more attenuated at the base than in the female and soldier,

acquiring thus a more slender form ; the two teeth at the point are

longer and much more acute, and the whole inner edge is set with

a row of little teeth, varying in number between ten and twelve.

These teeth are very regularly placed, and give a serrated ap-

pearance to the edge of the mandible. The teeth of both

mandibles fit into each other, and make it intelligible how these

little animals can hold and carry with their mandibles such

considerable loads. The other parts of the mouth are formed as

in the female. The antenne (fig. 1v. 4) are much longer in

proportion than in the female and soldier; their shaft or pedicle

extends conspicuously beyond the head, their base; in other

respects their structure is the same. The ocelli are wanting.

The thorax is very narrow; the prothorax (the collar) is very

finely granulated. The mesothorax is somewhat widened in the

middle ; it is quite smooth and shining; on the other hand, the

scutellum and the metathorax are very finely granulated (only

perceptible under the microscope), the latter furnished on each

side with a small spine.

The legs are formed like those of the female, only much

smaller (fig. rv. 5, 7); their tarsi are extremely fine, with how-

ever sharp claws, between which is seen a membranous lobe

(fig. tv. 6). They are finely pubescent.

The second joint of the abdominal pedicle is proportionably

longer and more slender than in the female; the abdomen itself

very small and shortly oval. The first segment is about half

the length of the whole, and is also much greater than the

second.

The head is sometimes lighter, sometimes darker brown ; the

thorax, shaft of the antenne, femur and tibia light yellow-brown ;

the flagellum of the antenne and the tarsi light yellow. The

shining abdomen chestnut-brown, lighter at the base and tip.

4. The Soldier.

Fig. 111. 1, natural size ; fig. 111. 2 & 3, magnified ten times.

Whole length 2 lines; length of head 3 of a line, breadth

full 3 line. Length of thorax % line; of abdomen } line, breadth

the same.

Distinguished from the labourers by the head being twice as

330 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

large, emarginate at the base and striated, by the shorter and

stronger mandibles, which are not toothed on their inner edge,

and by the somewhat larger abdomen.

The faintly pubescent head is of enormous size, and much

more deeply emarginate at the base than in the female, so that

it is nearly heart-shaped. A deep longitudinal furrow traverses

it in the middle.. The antennal clefts are pretty deep, being

bordered anteriorly and towards the forehead by a rather strong

prominent rim. The fore-part of the forehead has a deep im-

pression like that of the female. The clypeus is very short, and

divided from the head by a faint line. The upper side of the -

head is finely striated longitudinally, as in the female; these

striz become obsolete behind the middle of the head, so that its

hinder part is quite smooth. The eyes are small, and the ocelli

are wanting. The trophi are as in the female, as are also the

mandibles, except that on their cutting edge stands a pair of |

very small obtuse denticles furnished with a bristle (fig. 111. 4).

The antennee are as in the females; their shaft is much shorter

than the head; the three last joints (fig. 111. 6, 7) are distinctly

separate.

The thorax is similarly formed as in the labourer, except that

the mesothorax is much broader in the middle and bears on each

side a little tubercle (Harchen) furnished with a bristle, by which

structure it is distinguished both from the female and labourer.

The scutellum is almost quadrangular; the hinder piece of the

metanotum is armed on each side with a sharp spinule, and

furnished in the middle with a longitudinal cleft. The whole

thorax is sprinkled with scattered or distinct hairs. The legs are

larger than in the labourer ; otherwise they are of the same form.

The abdomen is much smaller than the head. The first joint

of the pedicle is enlarged into a more prominent scale-like pro-

tuberance (furnished with a tuft of hairs) than in the labourer ;

the second joint, on the other hand, is shorter and thicker than

in these, and approaches in form that of the female. The first

segment of the abdomen is the largest; the second of about

the same breadth, but shorter; the third rounded behind; the

fourth is very small, and almost withdrawn into the preceding.

It is quite smooth and shining, sparingly sprinkled with fine

bristles, which at the hinder edge of each segment are longer

and set closer together.

The head is sometimes lighter, sometimes darker brown ; on

the under side always lighter than on the upper. The edge of

the clypeus and the anterior edge of the mandibles black ; the

antenne and legs are light yellow; the thorax and abdominal

pedicle somewhat lighter brown than the head; the abdomen at

the'base and tip of the same colour; the second and third seg-

Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 331

ments, on the other hand, blackish-brown. At times the dark

brown extends further, over even the hinder edge of the first

segment ; but still more frequently it is more contracted, forming

only a dark band over the hinder edge of the second and the

(whole of the) third segment.

III. Conclusion.

Comparing with each other these four different kinds which

compose a colony of Cicophthore, we find that the males differ

altogether from the rest in the structure of the head. The

females, soldiers, and labourers approach each other closely in the

structure of the parts of the mouth, in the legs, and in the equal

number of the abdominal segments; yet the labourer differs

much from the female, not only m being so much smaller, but

by its smooth head, its serrato-dentate mandibles, different struc-

ture of the thorax, owing to the want of wings, as well as by the

form of the second joint of the abdominal pedicle. In size,structure

of the mandibles, and striated head, the soldier forms a middle

link between the female and the labourer; but, on the other hand

again, it differs much from both im its excessively large perfectly

heart-shaped head, and in the shape of the mesothorax ; assuming

thus quite a peculiar aspect. These forms are very distinctly

marked; and amongst the numberless specimens seen by me of

this ant, no intermediate link between the labourer and soldier

ever has occurred. In Ata capitata, Latr., which I have ob-

served in great numbers on the Guadalquivir at Seville, as well

as in several other places in Spain, labourers with small heads,

and soldiers with large, occur also; but, between these, trans-

itional forms are found, which is never the case with our Cico-

phthora. That the soldiers cannot possibly be slaves captured

from other nests (a circumstance of known occurrence amongst

the Amazon-ants), is proved as well by their very constant

occurrence in the pupa and perfect state in the nests of the

Cicophthore, whilst they are never found alone, as by their agree-

ment in all essential organs (in their trophi, antennez, and legs)

with the labourers and females. Such a marked distinction

between the two neuter forms as in Gicophthora has not else-

where been observed. Something similar, however, seems to be

the case in several species of the Southern Hemisphere, only it

has not usually been rightly understood. We have seen above,

that in the Train and Driver Ants two forms of neuters are

found, and alsoin Atta capitata, Latr., which must not be con-

sidered aS varieties, but as forms, each of which has its own

special and peculiar position in the ant-ceconomy. Nay, even

amongst several of our own species, attentive observation points

332 Prof. O. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira.

out two forms of labourers ; for example, in Formica herculeana,

L., and F. pubescens, F.; only the difference is not so striking as

in the above-cited species. The same too with the Honey-bee ;

for in the same hive smaller and somewhat bigger labourers are

found, of which, according to Huber, the former take care of the

brood, the latter produce the wax.

At present it is generally held, that the neuters found amongst

all these insects which live together in large families are im-

perfectly developed fenrales ; and one would be led to this view

principally by the resemblance of the working-bees to the

females (the so-called queens), as well as by the fact, deduced

from certain experiments carried on with bees, that in many -

cases they can make queens out of working-bees’ eggs. When

indeed a comb full of eggs is introduced from another hive into

one without a queen, this last can sometimes rear itself a new

queen out of it; but this by no means always happens, and I

have myself twice employed this method without any result,

which shows that queens cannot certainly be reared from all eggs

laid in the cells of working-bees. Amongst bees the labourer

indeed is very like the queen; but with ants the difference

is very great: in these, not only are the females much larger

and winged, but: they have an essentially differently formed

thorax; so that it seems quite incomprehensible to me that

merely the mode of nutriment should determine such different

kinds of individuals, and that it should depend on the labourers

whether a female or a labourer should proceed from the same egg.

But the explanation is rendered still more difficult by the occur-

rence of a second form of neuters, differing again as much from

the females as from the labourers. In this case we must therefore

hold, that ants possess the means of rearing labourers out of

some and soldiers out of other eggs,—which appears to us very

improbable. Hence we are almost compelled to ascribe the

distinction between the females, labourers, and soldiers, not to

the skill of the ants in rearing them, but to an original dif-

ference; and consequently to admit, that not only im the male

and female individuals, but also in the labourers and soldiers,

the difference is congenital. This is borne out by the fact that

biformed individuals, between labourers and males (cf. Entomo-

logische Zeit. 1851, p. 295), have already been discovered, in

which one half exactly represents the male, the other half the

labourer; precisely like bisexual individuals in insects, between

male and female. Were the neuters undeveloped females, we

should not meet with forms like these, but we should rather have

forms of transition between neuters and females, which how-

ever is never the case. Against this view it may be alleged, I

am well aware, that in the animal kingdom only two constantly

ig Th aN Ms, iat eters,

Ann. Mag. Nat Hist. 8.2. VLI?. PL

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‘ y

SID.C. Sowerby Sof

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils, 333

different kinds of individuals (male and female) are produced by

the parent, to which all other aberrations can be reduced. But

reference may here be made to the system of alternate genera-

tions, which reaches up into the class of insects (in'the Aphides

and the Psychidean genus Taleporia) ; and that amongst these,

individuals are produced immediately from the female parent

(the so-called nurses) which are quite different from the neuters.

The neuter ants are to be compared with these; from which

however they again recede, in never being capable of repro-

duction.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE III.

Representing the four different forms of Gicophthora pusilla.

Fig. 1. The Fematze.—1. Natural size; 2. magnified ten times; 3. side-

view; a'. the pronotum; a’. the side-piece of the prothoraz ;

b'. the mesonotum; 6?. the scutellum; 6°. the side-piece of the

mesothorax; c'. the first segment of the metanotum; c?. the

hinder segment of the same, with the spinules ; d. the first jomt

of the abdominal pedicle; e. the second joint of the same; 4. the

labrum; 5. the mandible ; 6. the fore-leg ; 0. tibia; ce. the pec-

tinate hak ; ‘d. the tarsus; 7. the claws.

Fig. 11. The MALE. te Magnified ten times; 2. fore tibia with tarsus ;

3. its hook, more highly magnified.

Fig. 11. The Sotprer.—1. Natural size ; 2. ten times magnified ; 3. side-

view, in the attitude of gnawing a piece of meat; 4. mandible;

5. the rest of the trophi; a. mentum; b. mazille; b'. the stipes;

6. the palpus; 5°. the sheath; c!. the tongue; c®. its palpi;

_6. the last four joints of the antenne.

Fig. 1v. The Lasourer.—1. Natural size; 2. magnified ten times;

3. the mandibles; 4. the antenne; 5. the fore-leg; 6. the claw-

joint of the same; 7. the middle leg. Whee

XXVIII.—Notes on Permian Fossils :—Palliobranchiata. By

Wiiu1am Kine, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in

Queen’s University, Ireland (Q. C. Galway) ; Corresponding

Member of the Natural History and Medical Society of

Dresden, &c.

(Concluded from p. 269.)

Family Rhynchonellide, Gray, 1848.

Genus RHYNCHONELLA, Fischer de Waldheim.

In one of Mr. Davidson’s usual valuable papers lately pub-

lished*, he has been led to question the existence of the genus

Rhynchonella during the Permian period. The query evidently

has reference to the uncertainty hitherto prevailing as regards the

* « A few Remarks on the Brachiopoda,” Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist.

Dec. 1855.

334 Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

generic position of the so-called Terebratula Geinitziana disco-

vered by De Verneuil in the Permians of Russia*. This species,

or rather a shell occurring in Germany first noticed by Geinitzt,

and stated to be identical with it, has lately been placed in

Camarophoriat, though the original description given by M. de

Verneuil is somewhat in favour of the Russian type being con-

sidered a Rhynchonella.

Mr. Davidson no doubt was led by his inherent cautiousness

to query the Permian existence of Rhynchonella from the uncer-

tainty named ; but as this genus is well known to characterize

both the Carboniferous and the Saliferous systems, this fact alone

would have been considered of sufficient force by some to warrant

their positively concluding that it existed during the Permian

period.

Rhynchonella ? Geinitziana§, De Verneuil. Pl. XII. figs. 7-11.

It is only lately that any specimens of the German fossil,

which Geinitz has referred to the present species, came under

my observation ; it required, however, but a very brief exami-

nation of them to feel convinced that they belong to an un-

doubted Rhynchonella, and a species unsurpassed either in beauty

or histological interest. The specimens alluded to were obtained

out of the dark-coloured Zechstein of Ropsen, one of the Ger-

man localities famous for Permian fossils.

Confining ourselves to the species represented by the German

specimens, there cannot be any doubt of its being a true Rhyn-

chonella ; as its large valve is furnished with two well-developed

rostral plates, and the opposite or small valve with the usual

median one. But what constitutes the peculiar interest of this

shell is, that both valves are as distinctly and regularly per-

forated as those of any Terebratulide.

But I am assuming that the German specimens belong to the

species Rhynchonella Geinitziana. Be this as it may, there is no

doubt on my mind of their being the same as those procured by

Dr. Geinitz at Gera, and identified by him in his ‘ Versteine-

rungen’ (loc. cit.) with the Russian species named. I cannot

help thinking, however, that they represent a different species.

De Verneuil describes his shell as having its slightly elevated

ribs “ obsolete or completely effaced near the beak ;” and Count

Keyserling’s testimony is to the same effect, representing them

as “sehr obsolete || ;” but all the specimens from Ropsen, although

* Geology of Russia, vol. ii. pp. 83, 84, pl. 10. fig. 5a, b.

+ Die Versteinerungen des deutschen Zechsteingebirges, p. 12. pl. 4.

fig. 41.

t Schauroth, Beitrag, 1854. § Geinitz, loc. cit.

|| Reise in das Petschora-Land, p. 241, 1846.

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils. 335

possessing about the same number of ribs as the Russian type,

have the entire umbonal region of both valves distinctly ribbed ;

besides, the ribs appear to be more flattened. Moreover, lentertain

a suspicion that in the Russian shell the small valve is decidedly

more rounded posteriorly; and I am also led to suspect that its

valves are not so obviously perforated,—a character which I think

could not have escaped the observation of M. de Verneuil or

Count Keyserling. However, for the present, I am content

with having simply pointed out what I consider to be some im-

portant differences, leaving it for others to confirm or overthrow

my suspicions.

The Roépsen shell is subpentagonal ; and, compared with most

species of the genus, it may be said to have slightly convex

valves, both being only somewhat tumid posteriorly; the small

valve, however, has its anterior half rather strongly elevated, and

its sides sloping somewhat rapidly. The mesial sinus, or ridge,

terminates in front without giving any very abrupt wave to

the anterior margins: the wave is decided, but regular. The

ribs amount to about four or five in the sinus, and nine or

more on the lateral areas: they are broad, flat, evenly rounded,

and separated from each other by a narrow, line-like sulcation:

The rostral plates project forward about one-fourth the length of

the shell, with rather a strong divarication. The median plate

extends a little further along the small valve. The point of the

umbone is sharp and somewhat projecting; and the foramen is

small. The perforations are large, and separated from each

other by an interspace about equalling twice their own diameter :

they give the surface of the shell a finely granulated structure ;

and appear to decrease a little in size as they pass outwardly

through the capillary fibres, which are exceedingly fine*. This

interesting species has not yet been found out of Germany.

* In my ‘ Monograph ’ it is stated, that I noticed the existence of perfo-

rations in every species of Rhynchonella, as well as other Brachiopods, that

had passed under my observation: hence I was led to make the statement

—‘ in short, I doubt their absence in any Brachiopod whatever” (op. cit.

p- 110, &c.). Dr. Carpenter, in his chapter “ On the Intimate Structure of

the Shells of Brachiopoda,” appended to Mr. Davidson’s ‘ Monograph’ of

British fossil species of this Class, having deemed it necessary to anim-

advert somewhat strongly on the above piece of scepticism (vide op. cit.

pp. 31, 32 & 35—notes), I have been induced to make the following ob-

servations :—Although Dr. Carpenter’s researches, as detailed in his “ Re-

port on the Microscopic Structure of Shells,” published in the volume of

the British Association Meeting for 1844, were generally considered as lead-

ing to most important results; yet it is well known that many regarded

them as too initiative to be unreservedly accepted in all their totality. Not

that Dr. Carpenter was in any respect to blame; for it was conceived, that

fossilization had so obliterated the tissue of many shells as to render a de-

tection of it an impossibility ; and it was also conceived that some shells

336 Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

Genus CamaropHoria, King.

Camarophoria globulina, Phillips*.

The occurrence of this species in Germany has not yet been

recorded except by Professor M‘Coy, who states that he found

numerous specimens of it from Gliicksbrunn in Count Miinster’s

collection (now in the Cambridge University Museum) under the

manuscript name Terebratula bisinuatat.

Camarophoria multiplicata, King t.

Schauroth records the occurrence of this species in the lower

Permians of Germany, without, however, stating its locality.

Geinitz represents two specimens in his ‘ Versteimerungen ’ (pl. 4.

figs. 48, 49) apparently the same. M/‘Coy unites it with C.

Schlotheimi; but I must still adhere to the opinion that both

are specifically distinct on the grounds stated in my Monograph.

* King’s Monograph, p. 120. pl. 7. figs. 22-25.

+ British Paleozoic Fossils, p. 443.

+ Monograph, p. 121. pl. 7. figs. 26-32, pl. 8. figs. 1-7.

were more prone than others to become thus altered. In the genus Rhyn-

chonella, it is true, no one had, that I am aware of, discovered any per-

forations ; but after carefully examining a number of fossil species I was led

to believe, that certain very minute dark points, which I observed here and

there dispersed over the surface of their valves, were the remains of orifices

belonging to extremely minute perforations. I may have been deceived as

to the nature of much that my “‘ Stanhope” revealed to me; but will any one

absolutely say that I was so in all cases, now that it is known that perfora-

tions do indisputably exist in Rhynchonella? Geinitziana? A few words as

to Rhynchonella psittacea—the only species, from its occurring in the recent

state, that was likely to settle the question raised by my remarks. I did

not examine this species; but I was acquainted with Dr. Carpenter’s ac-

count of its histology, which account, sice I am compelled to defend

myself, I must say seemed to me avery faulty one. Had I been imbued with

the same spirit which Dr. Carpenter manifested when writing his animad-

versions, I might have severely criticised it ; but I valued his general obser-

vations too highly to indulge in any criticisms of the kind. Dr. Carpenter’s

description of the shell-tissue of Rhynchonella psittacea is so far from cor-

rect, that I naturally inferred he must have been equally in error in con-

cluding it to be without perforations. Referring to Dr. Carpenter’s first

“Report,” paragraphs 37 & 38, it will be seen that the tissue of this species

is described as consisting of sharply folded “ laminz of extreme tenuity ;”’

and it is stated that the “sharp foldings” produce an appearance as if

the laminze were “‘ traversed by a very regular series of lines.” In para-

graph 36, this conformation is described as “a peculiar variety of the

plicated membranous structure.” Now I may be permitted to state that

this is quite an erroneous description of the shell-tissue of Rhynchonella

psittacea; since it does not consist of “laminz of extreme tenuity” with

“sharp foldings ;”’ but of closely packed fibres precisely analogous to the

“capillary fibres” or “ fibrous tissue,” noticed in my ‘ Monograph’ as con-

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils. 337

Family Spiriferida, King, 1846.

Genus Sririrer, J. Sowerby.

Spirifer Permianus, King*.

Schauroth has found this well-marked species in the Zechstein

dolomite of Péssneck: it is represented under fig. 6 in his Ist

‘ Beitrag.’

Genus Marrtinia, M‘Coy.

Martinia Clannyana, Kingt.

This small species, which is extremely rare in the North of

England, appears to be rather abundant in the Zechstein dolo-

mite of Péssneck, where it was first discovered by Schauroth.

It is noticed and figured by him in his ‘ Beitrag’ of 1853. I

procured from Dr. Krantz several examples, most of which are

* Monograph, p. 133. pl. 9. figs. 18-24.

t Monograph, p. 134. pl. 10. figs. 11-13,

stituting the valves of those Brachiopods which I examined. Dr. Car-

penter’s own testimony, which appeared about seven or eight years after

the publication of his first “ Report,” and three years subsequent to the

appearance of my notices, will bear° me out in the correction just made:

“In all the recent Terebratulide and Rhynchonellide, and in all the fossil

specimens of those groups, as well as of Spiriferide, Strophomenide and

Productide, in which there is no indication of metamorphic action, the

shell is found to consist of flattened prisms, of considerable length, arranged

parallel to each other ‘with great regularity ”’ (vide chapter “ On the Inti-

mate Structure of the Shells of Brachiopoda,” p. 25). The italicization of

the concluding portion is my own. It is remarkable that Dr. Carpenter

has nowhere, in the chapter from which the above extract has been taken,

made the least allusion to “laminz of extreme tenuity”’ with “ sharp

foldings ;” nor has he at all acknowledged that others had previously dis-

covered the so-called “flattened prisms” or “ capillary fibres,” as they are

termed in my ‘Monograph’ Surely, if my “ doubt” as to the absence of

perforations “in any Brachiopod whatever,” warranted the ignoring of the

little I have done in the matter, this ought not to have been the case with

what has been done by the Vicomte D’Archiac, who undoubtedly was the

first to signalize the “ fibro-capillary structure” of the Palliobranchs (vide

** Rapport sur les fossiles du Tourtia,”’ in Mém. Soc. Géol. de France,

2 sér. vol. ii. 1847). A few days ago I felt myself justified in laying claim

to this discovery ; for, although I had heard that D’Archiac had written

something on palliobranchiate histology, as noticed in the Appendix to my

‘Monograph’ (p. 244), yet I was not aware that he had ascertained the

existence of the fibrous structure until only within the last few days. * * *

But let me not forget to acknowledge that I was in error in doubting the

absence of perforations “in any Brachiopod whatever :”’ the account which

Dr. Carpenter has given of Rhynchonella psittacea in his late chapter is

quite conclusive on this point; but I cannot help thinking, from their

occurring in R.? Geinitziana, that perforations will yet be found in con-

generic species supposed, or stated, to be without them.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 22

338 Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

nearly twice the size of the English specimens that have occurred

to me: they show a very distinct area in the small valve, with a

well-marked deltidial fissure: the deltidium of the large valve is

also open. In my diagnosis, this species is described as “ nearly

smooth ;”” but two of the Péssneck specimens, particularly one

of them, show the surface of the valves to have been crowded

with very fine short inclined spines: when these are removed,

the surface has very much the appearance of being perforated

like some fossil Terebratulas.

Martinia Winchiana, King*.

Morris in his ‘ Catalogue of British Fossils,’ 2nd ed., unites

this species with the last, a step that would seem to be warranted

by the spiniferous character just noticed. But the spines of the

present species appear to be much coarser, judging from the

very imperfect casts before me: further, the umbone of the large

valve appears to be more incurved, and the area not so well

defined. Schauroth figures a specimen from Péssneck, which

he identifies with Martinia Winchiana, on account of its being

covered with spines; but possibly it may be only a specimen of

the last species—a suggestion I would make with less doubt if

the figure did not show the umbone to be more incurved and the

area less defined than in M. Clannyana.

Other Permian PALLIOBRANCHIATA.

Spirifer alatus, Schlotheim.—This species is considered by

many who have noticed it as being inseparable from the S. undu-

latus of Sowerby ; but I would urge on those who entertain this

view to study the young forms, particularly the specimens repre-

sented in my ‘ Monograph,’ pl. 9. figs. 10 & 16, which I con-

sider respectively as representing the young of these two species.

Spirifer multiplicatus, Sowerby, and S. Jonesianus, King.—

Morris, I perceive, unites these species: perhaps he has had an

opportunity of examining specimens which graduate them into

each other. Neither species has yet been observed in Ger-

many.

Epithyris elongata, Schlotheim. — Specimens occasionally

occurring at Gliicksbrunn show this to have been a prettily

coloured species. Two specimens before me exhibit several dark

bands, inter-radiating with others of a lighter colour almost con-

tinuously from the umbone to the margin, and increasing in

width in their forward progress: in another the dark bands,

reduced to mere lines, are only developed near the margins.

In my ‘ Monograph’ it is stated, that ‘ Specimens from the

carboniferous limestone of Bolland, often identified with Tere-

* Monograph, p. 135. pl. 10. figs. 14-17.

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils. 339

bratula hastata, are in no respect different from the ordinary.

forms of the present species” (vide p. 149). On again exami-

ning one of the Bolland specimens here referred to, having the

nearest resemblance to Epithyris elongata, | perceive that the

surface of both valves shows much stronger incremental breaks

than I have ever seen displayed on any specimens of the Per-

mian species: the valves, too, appear to be thicker.

Epithyris sufflata, Schlotheim.—I have elsewhere stated, that

this species “appears to be identical with a shell found in the

mountain limestone of Bolland, probably hitherto considered a

variety of H. sacculus—a distinct, though closely allied species*.”

M‘Coy supposes that the shell here referred to is identical with

his E. virgoidest; but this is not the case. The Bolland

specimen noticed under the last head as resembling E. elongata

has more affinity to M‘Coy’s species. I have been_led to re-

examine the “shell found in the mountain limestone of Bol-

land,” and I cannot but say, that it agrees most remarkably

with some specimens of the Permian species, particularly the

testiferous one represented under figure 7, pl. vil. of my ‘ Mo-

nograph.’” On the other hand, there are specimens figured on

the same plate closely approximating to true forms of E. sacculus

in its mesial depression and emarginate front. The only dif-

ference I perceive between the Bolland shell alluded to and the

Permian fossil quoted is, that on the former there are faint

traces of a few longitudinal lines on the anterior half of the

valves. I perceive nothing of the kind on any of the Permian

forms, nor do I recognize any on normal specimens of F. sacculus.

There appears to be no difference between them in their histo-

logical perforations.

I have retained the generic name proposed in my ‘ Mono-

graph’ for those Terebratulide resembling the two species just

noticed, in having rostral plates and a shortish loop. Very few

paleontologists appear to agree with me in this respect. I

intended making some observations on the question ; but as Mr.

Davidson is now engaged on species belonging to the same

group, to be published in the next part of his ‘Monograph of

British Fossil Brachiopoda,’ and feeling confident that he has

much important matter to make known as regards their interiors,

I prefer deferring them until the appearance of his work. I

may then be able to offer a decided opinion, either in favour of,

or against, my former views.

Brachiopods appear, for the most part, to be confined to the

lowest deposits of the Permian system. In the North of Eng-

* Monograph, p. 150. + British Paleozoic Fossils, p. 413.

22*

340 Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

land, scarcely any have been found in beds above what | have

termed the “ fossiliferous limestone ;”,—the fossils occurring in

the higher members, namely the “ brecciated and pseudo-brec-

ciated,” and the “ crystalline and non-crystalline” limestones*,

being principally Gasteropods and Lamellibranchs. The same

remarkable fact appears to obtain in Germany; inasmuch as

Brachiopods have rarely been noticed hitherto above the true

Zechsteins, or dolomites; the overlying beds, namely Rauch-

wacke, &c., only containing species for the most part identical

with fossils occurring in the uppermost North of England Per-

mians+. The consideration of these facts induces me to place

the magnesian limestones of Cultra and Tullyconnel in the upper

part of the Permian system ; as they contain no palliobranchiate

fossils. I would likewise place the magnesian limestone of St.

Bees’ Head on the same parallel, Mr. Binney having discovered

therein “casts of Bakevellia, Schizodus, and other shells” f.

The marls in the neighbourhood of Manchester, loaded with

similar fossils, I am also disposed to consider as the equivalents

of the upper synchronous Permians, whether in England or

Germany.

Belmont, near Galway, Feb. 20, 1856.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE XII.

Fig. 1. Productus Geinitzianus, De Koninck. Large valve a little enlarged :

from Gera. 2. Small valve.

Fig. 3. Productus Schaurothianus, King. Umbonal view of large valve:

twice the natural size: from Ropsen. 4. Front view. 5. Small

valve.

Fig. 6. ? Aulosteges umbonillatus, King. Interior of small valve, showing

muscular impressions a, and reniform ditto }: a little enlarged.

A gutta-percha impression of a specimen from Possneck.

* Monograph, Introduction, p. xvii.

+ M. Robert Eisel, of Gera, son of Professor Eisel, informs me that

Productus Cancrini (query, Strophalosia Morrisiana, var. Humbletonensis)

occurs in the Grauer ppt ae Meat of that locality. This deposit, and

the overlying Rauchwacke, &c., I consider to be equivalent to the brecciated,

seudo-brecciated, crystalline and non-crystalline limestones of the North

of England. The former overlie the highly fossiliferous Zechsteins of

Germany ; and the latter repose on the English fossiliferous and compact

limestones. The presence of a Brachiopod so high in the system, corre-

sponds with the occasional occurrence of Strophalosia Morrisiana in the

breccia of Claxheugh (vide ‘Monograph,’ p. 102); and it seems to be

paralleled by the existence, lately made known by Professor Ramsay, of

casts of a Strophalosia-like shell in the sandstones of Exhall, Warwick-

shire. ‘These sandstones I am disposed to place much higher in the Per-

mian system than Professor Ramsay seems to sanction (vide Quarterly

Journal of the Geol. Soc., vol. xi. part 1. p. 198).

t Vide Memoir “ On the Permian Beds of the North-West of England,”

in Mem. of the Lit. and Phil. Soe. of Manchester, vol. xii.

Prof. W. King’s Notes on Permian Fossils.

341

Fig. 7. Rhynchonella ? Geinitziana, De Verneuil. Umbonal valve: twice

the natural size: from Ropsen. 8. Opposite valve. 9. Side view.

10. Rostral plates. 11. View of capillary fibres and perforations :

highly magnified.

Table of all the known Permian PALLIOBRANCHIATA.

{OOM OTB G9 80

. Lingula Credneri, Geinitz .......cccccsceseeees

. Diseina speluncaria, Schlotheim ........+44.

. Productus horridus, J. Sowerby .......+4+..

Leplayi, De Verneutl — ......cceceesoeeee

— Geinitzianus, De Koninck _ ......660...

. —— Hemispherium, Kutorga ..........-.06

Schaurothianus, King ......... iets, ade

. Aulosteges variabilis, Helmerson ......000+.

umbonillatus, King — .......sseeseeeees

. Strophalosia excavata, Geinitz ...... seeccoees

Goldfussi, Miinster ......cccsscccccceess

Cancrini, De Vernewil .........60- 00008:

horrescens, De Vernewil ........eneeee.

Morrisiana, King 06005 scasensvesneseraces

var. ? Humbletonensis, King .........

var. ? Whitleyensis, King ..........2+0+.

Ok Me ihe RV ARESS ARABS CS AN SET

7? lamellosa, Geinttz ........cccccecees nes

. Chonetes ? sarcinulata, Schlotheim .........

. Streptorhynchus pelargonatus, Schlotheim .

. Orthisined., Keyserling ..... avanhediedy di sees

. Rhynchonella Geinitziana, De Verneuil ...

? id

. Camarophoria Schlotheimi, Von Buch ......

globulina, Phillips — ...ccscccecescsceeees

superstes, De Verneuil ....0....0ceeeeee

TOUAIGRES FL INT oksctsccxssnecsenacenees

. Spirifer alatus, Schlotheim — .......sseeeeeeees

undulatus, Sowerby .........sccceeeeeees

- —— Permianus, King ........scsccccceveveees

cristatus, Schlotheim — ......ccceceeeeees

multiplicatus, Sowerby ....cseccceceeeees

. —— ?Jonesianus, King — .....csccccescssceees

curvirostris, De Verneuil ..... oe

. — Blassi, De Verneuil .......cccccccccevees

rugulatus, De Verneutl .....0..se0esseeee

Schrenki, Keyserling .....ssecccscoesecees

. Martinia Clannyana, King ...-+s...seceeseeeees

a WE CHIME, IRUMG™ Ul Sasave st cue okt cts

. Cleiothyris pectinifera, J. de C. Sowerby ...

Roissyi, L’ Eveillé .....0ccccreocscveee eee

. Epithyris elongata, Schlotheim ...........00

. — sufflata, Schlotheim ......cccceccecsecees

- — Qualeni, Fischer de Waldheim .........

. Thecidium productiforme, Schauroth ......

Britain. | Germany. | Russia.

* * ui

* * Pre

* * Sala

‘a6 * *

bis * ak

sal eee *

* * pe

* * ca

eee ? * *

is t* *

* Le hin

* a vis

sos * 25%

yes oak *

* * er

a ne *

ees * @ee

* * *

aes ? x »

* * eas

* * 2 x

* * me

& * say

* sie es

* one Sas

eek Sai *

say ike *

= ork *

sick meee *

* * ye

* ? * aes

* * *

a eS *

* * *

» “«

oak dae *

* ‘ae

342 Mr. W.H. Benson on Tanystoma, Nematura, and Anaulus.

XXIX.—Remarks on the Genera Tanystoma, Nematura, and

Anaulus. By W. H. Benson, Esq.

Mr. H. Anas having kindly brought to my notice the previous

employment of the term Tanystoma* for a genus of Coleoptera,

and of Nematura for a genus of Birds, it appears advisable that

fresh names should be given to those testaceous groups. |

The term Tanystoma was assigned, in the February Number

of the ‘ Annals’ for the present year, to a curious Anostomatous

form from Burmah. The designation Hypselostoma, having re-

ference to the uplifted position of the mouth of the shell, is now

substituted for the former appellation.

Nematura was described in 18386, in the 5th volume of the

‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta,’ from the shell and

animal of a single species, N. Delte, which I had found at low

tide in the mud of the river Hooghly opposite to Calcutta. The

genus has since that time been increased by several species, from

other parts of the Eastern World, and some yet remain to be

described. The name has been adopted, in systematic and other

works, as referring to a genus of Testacea; but Fischer having

first employed the term, in 1813, in another department of

zoology, I propose to designate the shell as Stenothyra, a title

expressive of the contracted structure of the aperture.

Pfeiffer’s description of Anaulus in the ‘ Proc. Zool. Soe.’ for

1855, p. 105, does not indicate the course of the canal or tube,

which terminates in the outer portion of the double peristome

in A. bombycinus, as well as in his new species A. Lorraint, from

Pulo Penang, described in a paper read to the Zoological Society

at a recent Meeting. In the latter species, the opening, at first

sight, might be supposed to be altogether outside of the peri-

stome, but on a closer inspection is found to be embraced by a

portion of it. In both species the canal or tube is sutural and

internal, and can be traced externally along the last whorl, at

the extremity of which it ascends more rapidly in A. Lorraini

than in the original species.

In a specimen of A. Lorraini | was unsuccessful in an attempt

to penetrate the canal with a bristle; but in one of A. bombycinus

I have succeeded in passing a hair, through the canal, into the

eoneavity of the spire. Mr. H. Adams informs me that Mega-

lomastoma Chrysallis, Pfr., is also an Anaulus, with a similar su-

tural tube, a fact which was ascertained from an accidental per-

foration at some distance from the aperture. He further stated

that the anterior opening was partly concealed by the reflected

portion of the peristome.

* Motschoulsky.

M. Tulasne’s Researches in Vegetable Embryogeny. 348

The use of the tube seems to be the preservation of a commu-

nication with the external air when the aperture is closed by the

operculum. The following addition to Pfeiffer’s description of

Anaulus will be necessary :—

“ Canali suturali interno profunde in caverna spire desinente,

utrinque pervio.”

Cheltenham, 13th March 1856.

XXX.—New Researches in Vegetable Embryogeny.

By M. Turasne*.

Dr. Hermann Scuacut, a German phytotomist well known by

numerous and important works, some months ago+ allowed

himself to be persuaded, that the doctrine of the generation of

plants which he has embraced, namely that of M. Schleiden and

the pollinists, was then peremptorily established and proved. His

belief was founded upon some observations recently made by a

young botanist of Berlin, M. T. Deecke, who, as was asserted,

by an extremely: fortunate dissection of the ovule of the Pedicu-

laris sylvatica, had put it beyond a doubt, that the vegetable

embryo is actually produced in the extremity of the pollen-tube

itself, after the introduction of the latter.into the embryonal sac.

Two of the botanists most competent to judge of this difficult

question, MM. Hugo von Mohl and W. Hofmeister ft, have

strongly protested against allowing the memoir and anatomical

preparations of M. Deecke the demonstrative value which was

attributed to them; and although their criticisms have called

forth long replies from MM. Schacht and Deecke, supported

upon new observations §, there would certainly be cause for

astonishment if their confidence in the correctness of their opi-

nions had not been somewhat shaken, and their conviction had

really remained entire.

The passage of every creature from non-existence to existence,

its entrance into life, is a phenomenon too mysterious for us to

flatter ourselves that we shall ever be able to understand exactly

all its circumstances. Nevertheless, as the questions at issue

between M. Schleiden and his opponents are questions of fact,

antecedent to any doctrinal interpretation, and capable of being

judged by our eyes, we need not despair of some day seeing less

diversity of opinion amongst the botanists who occupy themselves

* From the Comptes Rendus, Nov. 12, 1855, p. 790.

+ See the ‘ Flora,’ 1855, part 10.

t See Annales des Sciences Nat. 4 sér. iii. pp. 209 & 219.

§ ‘Flora,’ 1855, no. 29, and Botanische Zeitung of Berlin, Sept. 14 & 19.

344 M. Tulasne’s Researches in Vegetable Embryogeny.

with embryogeny. At present, far from the hopes of M. Schacht

being realized, or nearly so, I think, that if all discussion with

regard to the Horkelian theory must be closed, as he would have it,

it is by the condemnation and definitive rejection of this theory,

rather than by its undisputed admission into science. Now,

more than ever, I feel certain that it is founded upon a mistake ;

upon that error in which I formerly shared for a moment, which

consists in taking the suspensor of the embryo for the pollen-

tube inserted in the embryonal sac. During the past summer

I have made a great number of dissections to establish the cor-

rectness of the results which I published in 1849 in the ‘ Annales

des Sciences Naturelles’ (3 sér. xii.) ; my brother also has de-

voted considerable time to similar researches, and we have both

always been perfectly convinced, that the embryo, whether ses-

sile or stipitate, that is to say, whether provided or not with a

suspensor, never, at any moment, had the least real organic

continuity with the pollen-tube: the embryo-sac, which is often

thickened at its micropylar extremity, receives the close contact

of this tube externally (it is even sometimes lodged in a fold of

its membrane), but still without ever being torn or perforated

by it ; then on its inner face, either opposite to, or at some distance

from the extremity of this fecundating filament, it gives attach-

ment to the embryo.

In the Labiatz, which have especially furnished us with sub-

jects for examination this year; in the Pansy, the Almond, the

Sloe; in the Caryophyllacez, such as the Pinks, the Holosteum

umbellatum, L., the Cerastia, &c.; in the Scrophularinee, the

Crucifere, the Fir-tree, and a multitude of other plants, the

embryo adheres to the generative sac by a very broad circular

base, below which it contracts more or less, and again dilates

almost immediately. This base of the embryo, when seen in

front, looks like a large aperture in the membrane of the sac; but

this is only an appearance, notwithstanding the opposite opinion

of MM. Schacht and Deecke, for it is not very difficult to ascer-

tain, as I formerly showed, that the sac is completely closed and

continuous where the nascent embryo is implanted upon it *.

This fact is of great importance, and contributes not a little to

gain the cause for the opponents of M. Schleiden. I add, that

the basal disk of the embryo is frequently of much greater dia-

meter than the pollen-filament, even when the extremity of the

latter, as is often the case, is thickened and enlarged: this cir-

cumstance is not more favourable to the Horkelian theory than

the absence of a perforation in the membrane of the sac, and

* See our memoir already quoted in the ‘ Annales des Sciences Naturelles,’

3 sér. t. xii, pl. 3-7, and especially pl. 5. fig. 10.

M. Tulasne’s Researches in Vegetable Embryogeny. 345

MM. Schacht and Deecke do not appear to have taken it into

account.

Although amongst the gamopetalous plants with personate

corollas, great dissimilarities separate the Scrophularinee from

the Labiate, if we consider especially the structure of the fruit

and seed, yet the study of the ovule and of the generation of the

embryo reveals analogies between these two families which can-

not be mistaken. From the simplicity of its structure and the

softness of its tissues, the ovule of the Labiatz, which has

hitherto been neglected by embryologists, is generally capable

of easy dissection. As in most of the Scrophularinex, the em-

bryo-sac presents vesicular inflations and appendages of very

various kinds both at its extremities and on the sides. The

anterior inflation, or that near the micropyle, usually projects

from the nucleus, and is sometimes sufficiently elongated even

to pass the apex of the ovule; it is obovate and of middling

size in Lamium; of the same form, but more developed, in the

Motherwort (Leonurus Cardiaca); almost globular in various

species of Stachys, Nepeta and Teucrium; of immense size, sac-

like and often asymmetrical in Betonica, Acinos vulgaris, Pers.,

Galeopsis and Dracocephalum. 'Towards the middle of this cer-

vical inflation is attached a tubular appendage, which is either

short and simple (Lamium, Stachys), or very long, branched and

spirally twisted (Betonica). The middle region of the embryonal

sac is also usually furnished with a short lateral appendage

(Lamium, Galeopsis, Stachys), or with a basal one, accompanied

by long divergent tubes (Dracocephalum peltatum, L.). This

same region alone is filled with the perispermic tissue, in the

midst of which the nascent embryo is buried. The latter is

always borne upon a long and very delicate suspensor, of the

same form as in the Scrophularinex, which is attached to the

rounded apex of the sac; but as the very considerable increase

of this embryoferous ampulla after fecundation often takes place

asymmetrically, and especially at the expense of its lateral ap-

pendage, so as to divide it into two very unequal lobes, the

suspensor may thus be seen fixed near the more or less deep

notch which separates the latter, and consequently removed

from the longitudinal axis of the ovule. The pollen-filaments

are slender, but appear to be nearly solid, from the dense and

very refractive matter with which they are filled. In order to

penetrate into the cavities of the ovary, after having descended

to the base of the style, they have to traverse the tissue of a por-

tion of the gynobase ; then meeting immediately with the funi-

culus of the upright ovule which exists in each compartment,

they rise in the parenchyma of the funiculus itself and only quit

it at the level of the micropyle,—hence they can only be seen

346 M.Tulasne’s Researches in Vegetable Embryogeny.

free for a very short space. Several pollen-filaments often intro-

duce themselves in this manner into each ovuliferous cell, but it

cannot be so frequently proved that the micropyle of the ovule

gives entrance to more than one of them. Their extremity

which comes in contact with the embryo-sac is obtuse and

scarcely inflated ; it applies itself to the surface of the embryo-

sac by twisting in various manners, or lodges itself in a shallow

depression which it sometimes causes. The point of insertion of

the suspensor of the embryo usually corresponds with the point

of contact of the fecundating tube.

The suspensor in the Caryophyllaceze is far from being of the

same tenuity as in the Labiate ; its diameter on the contrary is

very considerable, and it is divided into several very unequal

cells. It is attached by a broad base to the apex of the em-

bryo-sac, and sometimes, as in Alsine media, L., for instance,

is elongated in a remarkable manner at this point, without how-

ever quitting the sac, which appears rather to become intimately

united with it. The pollen-filament of the Pinks is remarkably

voluminous, and contracts such an adherence to the embryo-

sac, that it easily resists the dragging inseparable from the dis- ©

section of the évule; its extremity is often bifid, and then sits

as it were astride upon the sac above the embryoferous disc.

M. Schleiden’s theory is here shown to be in fault in a most

evident manner.

The unusual development of the suspensor towards the micro-

pyle presented by Stedlaria media, Sm., occurs also, but in a very

exaggerated form, in the genus Calendula. In these plants, the

suspensor, which is at first entirely enclosed in the embryo-

sac, soon becomes formed of two distinct parts: one tubular,

always enclosed and continuous with the nascent embryo; the

other excessively inflated into an oval or elongated vesicle, the

greater part of which is protruded from the sac. M. Schacht

does not appear willing to admit that the suspensor may thus

grow simultaneously in opposite directions at its two extremities.

Would he therefore regard that of Calendula as a modified and

metamorphosed pollen-filament? There is nothing, certainly,

more improbable than such a metamorphosis.

The same author is also in the wrong in calling in the Viola

tricolor, L., im support of his theory. Whenever we have been

able in this plant to see the pollen-filament supporting its kneed

extremity upon the embryonal sac, it has been manifest to us

that it remained entirely out of the sac, that is to say, that be-

tween it and the more or less enlarged embryonal vesicle, the

embryoferous membrane was always extended, 1n the form of an

uninjured diaphragm.

The same circumstances may also be easily observed in Helian-

Dr. T. Williams on the Tracheal System of Insects. 347

themum. Although very short, the suspensor, in these plants,

bends in a remarkable manner in the middle, and is most fre-

quently attached to the embryo-sac, beside the point touched

externally by the twisted extremity of the pollen-tube.

XXXI.—On the Tracheal System of Insects. By Tuos. WILLIAMS,

M.D. Lond., F.L.S., Physician to the Swansea Infirmary.

To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History.

GENTLEMEN,

May I request that you will allow me the favour to announce

in your Journal the results of a series of minute dissections

which I have recently performed on the Zracheal System of

Insects and Myriapods. In consequence of a letter on this

subject from the late Mr. Newport, published in the ‘ Annals’

of last year, calling in question the accuracy of my statements,

I have ever since felt anxious to repeat the observations upon

which those statements were made. That I have now done, and

with the utmost care. I find, that not only are the results then

stated true in every particular, but that they fall far short of

indicating the real distinction between the “ membranous capil-

lary trachev,’ and those larger trunks in which the “ spiral”

is visible. My recent studies enable me now to state—

1. That the “spiralled” or larger trachez are mere conduits,

like arteries or veins, and have nothing to do with, take no part

in, the ultimate act of respiration.

2. That this function (that is, the interchange of the gases

concerned in the respiratory act) has its seat exclusively in the

capillary membranous trachez. ’

3. That the peripheric or extreme distribution of the tracheal

system is conformable in plan to that of a blood-vascular system ;

that is, the capillary or membranous trachez are always placed

intermediately between larger trunks, the branches of which they

serve to connect,—standing to the larger trunks in the same

relation as the capillaries of a blood-vascular system do to arteries

and veins.

4. That the trachez can be discovered, in no single instance,

to end in cecal terminations,—always in mutual imosculations.

5. That this anastomotic arrangement establishes a close

similarity between the tracheal system of Insects, Myriapods,

and the blood-vascular system of the Annulosa,—a homology

first theoretically suggested by Mr. Huxley.

6. That the tracheal system, however, is distinguished from

the blood system in two striking anatomical particulars: in the

348 Bibliographical Notices.

former, the main trunks affect a bilateral position, those of the

latter are dorso-abdominal ; that, with one doubtful exception,

the blood system is closed, while the tracheal system always

(that of a few aquatic larve excepted) communicates by means

of spiracles with the external atmosphere.

7. That the tracheal and blood systems of Insects come into

conjunction only at the peripheric segments,—the main trunks

of each observing separate courses.

8. That the periphery of the circulating fluid system of In-

sects is constructed in exact conformity with the Crustacean

model, the blood flowing in imparietal channels, in and through

which the capillary trachez are conducted, floating in the nutri-

tive fluid.

I remain, Gentlemen,

Your obedient Servant,

Tuomas Witu1aMs, M.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

Insecta Maderensia; being an Account of the Insects of the Islands

of the Madeiran Group. By T. Vernon Wo.taston, M.A.,

F.L.S. London: 4to, pp. 634, plates 13.

Some persons are singularly qualified for producing a work on the

natural history of a country. To give one instance :—Otho Fabricius,

a Danish clergyman, spent some years of his life in Greenland, and

thus acquired an intimate knowledge of that Arctic land, which

modern discovery begins to show must be an immense archipelago

bound by one great band of ice. When he left Denmark, with but

little knowledge of natural science, but ardently desirous of stu-

dying the works of Him, whose word ‘‘u¢ Missionarius ordinatus,

ab honoratissimo Collegio de cursu Evangelii promovendo,” it was

his calling to proclaim, Fabricius took with him, in 1768, that na-

tural-history cyclopeedia of the time, the ‘Systema Nature’ of Lin-

neeus, and, urged by those who ordained him, to study Arctic natural

history at his leisure hours, he returned in six years with great

materials for a Physical, Geographical and Historical History of

Greenland. In May 1779 he wrote the preface of a portion of this

work, the ‘ Fauna Groenlandica,’ which was accordingly published

next year, and the character of which may be best given in the words

of Cuvier: ‘‘ Ouvrage précieux par l’extréme exactitude des descrip-

tions.” It is the work of a diligent, observing man, limited by

climate to a highly interesting, but comparatively narrow, field. He

has but few books to distract him, and but few bibliographical re-

searches to make.

Mr. Wollaston, though he went to a tropical climate, was

singularly happy in having such an atmosphere as envelopes an

ocean-girt island of limited size, 250 miles distant from a continent

Bibliographical Notices. 349

with a distractingly large fauna and flora. When he went, Mr. Wol-

laston was regarded by naturalists as one of our ablest entomolo-

gists. The more minute the Coleopteron, the more he seemed to

love it; for beetles he searched the bogs and lakes and mountains of

Ireland and Scotland, and surveyed his native land from Newcastle

to the Chesil-bank—the said bank being a most prolific “field”

under the eye of such an “‘ explorer.”” Mr. Wollaston did not confine

himself to collecting, neither did he leave the “‘ minims of nature”

to be determined, by comparison merely, with named specimens in

the collections of friends or in the great museum of his country. He

was a scholar and fond of books ; a Cambridge M.A., with tastes like

his, regards the Latin of Cicero and Tacitus, of Virgil, Horace and

Juvenal, as pedantic when introduced into the technicalities of

science, and so he looks with sympathy on the energetic, though

often unclassical, language of men not generally trained in Halls.

Like Gray of Pembroke, Mr. Wollaston, of Jesus College, was a

naturalist by taste and by study. He “worked out” descriptions,

and thus “served before the mast,” before he tried to guide the ship.

He was intimate with the structure of his little friends, and saw how

wonderfully their hooks and spines and notches and hairs and lobes

and appendages are adapted to the peculiar habits and ‘ ceconomy”’

of insects.

Hard study at college demanded relaxation, ‘and his health

induced him to seek it in a mild and distant climate. He was

happy in knowing a clergyman long resident in Madeira and fami-

liar with some departments of natural history, such as Fishes, Mol-

lusks and Plants, with which he (Mr. Wollaston) was less acquainted,

while this friend, the Rev. R. T. Lowe, having great local knowledge,

directed him to many a favourite spot. Richly was Mr. Wollaston’s

teacher in Mollusca rewarded by his indefatigable pupil ;—but we must

refrain, and proceed to the work on the Coleoptera of Madeira.

The author went to Madeira three times, and so arranged his visits

that he got collections in every month of the year. Having collected

with the utmost zeal and preserved his treasures with the greatest care

and neatness, he brought his insect collections to England, and com-

menced arranging and classifying them. He had not limited himself,

as most British collectors do, to the Coleopterous productions of his

native land, but had a knowledge as well as specimens of most of

the Coleoptera, indigenous to Europe and the shores of the Mediter-

ranean; in truth he had studied the faune of those lands which

most closely resembled Madeira in their animal productions. Not

wishing to anticipate any one, or to interfere with what had been

done before, and which possibly, in the labyrinth and mazes of

journals, might have escaped his notice, Mr. Wollaston visited the

continental collections, and with great openness submitted his insect

treasures to the sight of the various “ spécialistes.”” Like Horace,

too, he was in no hurry,—he could afford to wait; and though

he did not literally adopt the Horatian maxim and keep his MS.

for nine years, he made entomologists impatient, by his very

carefulness. And at last the work is out. We might object to

350 — Bibliographical Notices.

its size—péya fiBdlov, «.r.A.—we could also say that he published

so large a work at much too cheap a price, and its plates are printed

on too thick paper, though beautifully made and tened; but the

Madeira invalid could not hold even an octavo, so a sumptuous

quarto is just as “ get-at-able,” and the collector, among the towering

rocks of Madeira, would do well to have with him no pocket manual

but one, for he will find it hard work to ‘ carry”’ himself over much

of the ground. The plates have the advantage of having been en-

graved by an able entomologist, Mr. F. Smith, from the fine drawings

of Mr. Westwood, that walking cyclopzedia of knowledge in Annulosa.

The work is not a mere technical work,—it is filled with passages of

great interest to the student of the geographical distribution. of

animals, and must ever form a prized volume in his library, from its

completeness and its excellence. It is curious, too, to know that there

is no Tiger-beetle in Madeira, though only a short distance from a

continent which produces the Manticora, that largest of the family,

the pale night-loving Platychile, the Algerine Megacephala, and per-

haps fifty species of true Cicindela. It is strange to be told, that in

an island with plenty of wood (Madeira means ‘‘ woody’’) there is no

Buprestis*, and yet in Africa Buprestide of large size and endless

variety, from hairy-tufted Julodes and felspar-reflecting Sternocera,

to minute Anthaxie and Agrili, abound ; Madagascar having a pecu-

liar Buprestidous fauna of its own, full of rare magnificence. Africa

is a land of Elateride, from the great Tetralobus and Leptophyllus

with their leaf-plated antennee, to the genera of smaller size, and yet

but one “ skip-jack”’ or ‘‘click-beetle’’ rewarded the assiduity of Mr.

Wollaston, and he found that Hlater in Porto Santo. Africa is the

country of Goliath Beetles and of an endless variety of Cetoniade, which

pasture on the sap and sugar and pollen of its flowery vegetation, but

this family has only one representative in Madeira, and even that is a

very doubtful native. In fact the number of Lamellicorns is so few,

that it is strange to one, who would expect Dynastid@ and Lucanide in

so tropical and so well-wooded a country. It seems to abound in Cureu-

lionide, and some of the genera of these ‘‘snouters’’ are peculiar to it,

such as Laparocerus. Its Heteromera, its Ptinide, are abundant.

Mr. Wollaston records 539 species of Coleoptera as found in Madeira.

These species belong to 228 genera—upwards of 30 of which are not as

yet recorded as occurring elsewhere. Of the 13 sections into which

the order Coleoptera is subdivided, the Rhynchophora, as we have

remarked, contain the largest number of species (110), whilst the

Hydradephaga and Eucerata present the smallest, each of them

numbering but 8. To Madeira proper belong 478 species, to Porto

Santo 155, to the Dezerta Grande 77, to the Southern Dezerta 31,

to the Ilheo Chao 23 ; or to employ Mr. Wollaston’s words in another

place, ‘‘ If we choose to regard the Dezertas as one, the group will

* Mr. Wollaston, on a fourth visit, has detected a single species of

Agrilus, and also one of the family Pselaphide ; we may here say that we

have often contemplated, with delight, the fine series of type specimens of

“Insecta Maderensia ” now preserved in the British Museum.

Biblivgraphical Notices. 351

separate itself into 3 natural divisions ; and we shall have, for Ma-

deira proper 478, for the Dezertas 87, and for Porto Santo 155.

Only 8 species have been hitherto discovered on every island of the

cluster—nevertheless 10 more are all but universal (if indeed, as is

probable, they are not so entirely).”” We may transfer to our pages

the following note on one of the prime rarities of the place, the

highly interesting genus so aptly named Deucalion by its describer :

a second species from the Salvages, remote rocks in the Atlantic, is

described by the author at p. 433, from specimens obtained by his

friend T. S. Leacock, Esq. of Funchal.

We may mention, that on an island almost antipodal to Madeira,

Lord Howe’s Island, the late able Naturalist of H.M.S. ‘ Herald,’

Mr. John Macgillivray, found a third species (D.? Wollastoni,

n. s.), or rather a species of a closely allied genus, which may

prompt, to the mind of some geologist, an idea bearing on the

great continent Atlantis, of which the lovely Madeira seems to be

one of the few remnants above water. The following extract we

copy from p. 430,—it contains all the remarks on Dewcalion,—as

likely to give the general reader some idea of the attractive nature of

the book even to him :—

“There is no genus, perhaps, throughout all the Madeiran Co-

leoptera, more truly indigenous than Deucalion. Confined apparently,

so far as these islands are concerned, to the remote and almost inac-

cessible ridges of the two southern Dezertas, it would seem to bid

defiance to the most enthusiastic adventurer who would scale those

dangerous heights. Its excessive rarity moreover, even when the

localities are attained, must ever impart to it a peculiar value in the

eyes of a naturalist; whilst its anomalous structure and sedentary

mode of life * give it an additional interest in connexion with that

ancient continent of which these ocean ruins, on which for so many

ages it has been cut off, are the undoubted witnesses. Approxi-

mating in affinity to Parmena and Dorcadion, yet presenting a modi-

fication essentially its own, it becomes doubly important in a geogra-

phical point of view ; and it was therefore with the greater pleasure

that I lately received, from T. 8. Leacock, Esq., of Funchal, a second

representative from the distant rocks of the Salvages (midway be-

tween Madeira and the Canaries),—on which we may almost pro-

nounce for certain that an entomologist had never before set foot.

Differing widely in specific minutiee, yet agreeing to an identity in

everything generic, they offer conjointly the strongest evidence to

the quondam existence of many subsidiary links (long since lost, and

radiating in all probability from some intermediate type) during the

* “ When we consider indeed the apterous nature of Deucalion, its sub-

connate elytra, and its attachment (at any rate in the larva state) to the

interior of the stems of particular, local plants, or its retiring propensities

within the crevices of rocks, we are at once struck with the conviction that,

during the enormous interval of time which has elapsed since the mighty

convulsions which rent asunder these regions terminated, it has probably

never removed many yards from the weather-beaten ledges which it now

inhabits.”

352 Bibliographical Notices.

period when the whole of these islands were portions (and perhaps

very elevated ones) of a vast continuous land.

** In the details of their trophi the genera of this section of the

Eucerata are so nearly similar, that we must not look, even in other-

wise anomalous forms, for any very striking irregularities there.

And yet the mouth is not altogether uncharacterized in Deucalion,

since its laterally-rounded upper lip, long and acuminated palpi (the

basal joint of which is broadly sinuated externally, as in Blabinotus),

together with its unusually produced and deeply bilobed ligula, at

once remove it from Dorcadion,—from which moreover its largel

developed and exceedingly uneven prothorax (a hinder zone of whic

is suddenly constricted, as though by a wide and tightened belt, and

is ribbed with transverse plaits), added to its curiously pitted and

tubercular elytra, will still further serve to separate it. In some

respects perhaps it is more akin to Parmena than to Dorcadion:

nevertheless its comparatively gigantic size, and the contracted, pli-

cate, posterior band of its (otherwise) greatly wrmkled prothorax,

apart from the above-mentioned peculiarity of its elytral sculpture

(one of the most remarkable features which it possesses), and its

freedom from the dense elongated pile which is more or less evident

in all the members of the former, will equally distinguish it from

that group also.

«« Amongst other singularities, a tendency (which I have likewise

observed, occasionally, in the Morimi) to have one of their elytra a

little shorter than the other is strongly indicated in the Deucaliones.

Thus, of my two examples of the D. Desertarum one is very de-

cidedly so constituted; and, out of eight of the D. oceanicum it is

traceable in no less than three. Like many of their allies in this

department of the Longicorns, they are gifted with the capability of

making a grating or hissing noise,—the modus operandi in producing

which (since I have not been able to meet with any explanation of it

altogether satisfactory) I have taken some pains to investigate. The

solution given by Mr. Westwood, in his admirable ‘ Introduction to

the Modern Classification of Insects’ (vel. i. p. 356), would seem to

come nearest to the truth, but still it does not quite apply to the

species under consideration,—which are moulded, thus far, on one

and the same principle. Mr. Westwood states that the sound is

generated by the friction of a polished portion of the seutellum

against the edge of the prothoracic cavity. In Deucalion, Parmena

and Dorcadion, however, there is a narrow space, in the shape of an

isosceles triangle (the apex being turned towards the scutellum),

which occupies nearly the entire length of the mesonotum, and

which, from its brightness, appears at first sight to be perfectly

smooth. When viewed however beneath the microscope, this longi-

tudinal area is seen to be composed of very fine, transverse, parallel

and acute ridges, closely set together after the manner of a file: and

it is by depressing and raising the prothorax (an act which alternately

exposes and re-covers the upper region of the extremely cylindrical

mesothorax) that its under side is brought to play against this inner

' dorsal file—by which process the stridulation is effected. In order

Bibliographical Notices. 353

to convince myself of the reality of this, I have relaxed many speci-

mens of the genera in question, and have caused the sound arti-

ficially with the greatest ease.

*« Hence, we can immediately appreciate the object of the broadly

constricted basal margin of the prothorax of Deucalion, which is so

regulated that it may present a more perfect and continuous surface

to the mesothorax,—whilst, by being more tightly drawn as it were

over that especial part, it is made likewise to grate more vigorously

against the lower file. This transverse, coarctate ring is not ex-

pressed at all in Dorcadion, and it is but faintly suggested in a few

of the Parmene: so that we should @ priori have expected that the

stridulating power of Deucalion would be more effectual than is there

the case. And such, on inquiry, we find to be a fact: for so loud is

the sound which the D. Desertarum is able to accomplish, that the

only individual which has come under my notice in a recent state I

heard at a considerable distance; and the second example as yet de-

tected was described by the Rev. R. T. Lowe (who obtained it from

the extreme summit of the Ilheo Bugio, or Southern Dezerta) as

emitting a ‘ buzzing noise, somewhat resembling that of a Humble-

bee.’ Everything indeed in this strange genus seems designed to

give full effect to these, far from unmusical, inter-thoracic notes ;

for, in addition to the hinder contracted belt already mentioned, the

pronotum of Deucalion is furnished with an exceedingly deep,

rounded, postmedial fovea, which (since it projects beneath) must

evidently form an extra instrument of impact to sweep over the

mesothoracic file——when its head (and, simultaneously, its protho-

rax) is by turns lowered and upraised. In the Salvagian repre-

sentative this impression is less developed than in the Dezertan one;

nevertheless it exists in them both,—conjointly with the other struc-

tural characters above enumerated.

“* Deucalion Desertarum, Wollast.

*« Apparently of the utmost rarity, the only two specimens which I

have seen having been captured on the respective summits of the

Middle and Southern Dezertas. The one from the former was taken

by myself, during a week’s sojourn in that desolate spot, with the

Rev. W. J. Armitage, in January 1849. I extracted it from a

crevice of an exposed weather-beaten peak (where it had secreted

itself, in company with the Scarites abbreviatus and several species

of Helops) at the immediate point where the great central heights

commence to narrow into an almost perpendicular ridge nearly 2000

feet above the sea. Although I searched with the greatest diligence,

I could not obtain more; nor indeed was I able to procure it during

a subsequent encampment on the island, with the Rev. R.'T. Lowe,

at the end of May 1850,—even though I visited the identical crag

and split open the fissures, both of it and of the hardened volcanic

mud in all directions around it. The second example hitherto de-

tected is from the still more perilous steeps of the Ilheo Bugio, or

Southern Dezerta, and it is to the Rev. R. T. Lowe that we are in-

debted for this interesting contribution to the fauna of that almost

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvu. 23

854 Bibliographical Notices.

unapproachable rock. Having, on the 3rd of July 1849, succeeded

in reaching the summit, not without much difficulty and at the

greatest peril (in the pursuit principally of land mollusca and plants),

Mr. Lowe informs me that he met with it beneath a slab of stone,

and that he was attracted (as already mentioned) by its remarkable,

stridulating noise. So local indeed does this insect seem to be, that

it, apparently, has not extended itself even over the Dezerta Grande

(where there are no external obstacles to bar its progress); but re-

tains the very position which in all probability constituted its original

centre of dissemination at the remote period of time when this an-

cient continent received its allotted forms. Judging from the slow-

ness with which creatures of such habits must necessarily (under any

circumstances) be diffused, it is at least unlikely that the present

one could have circulated far, when the now submerged portions of

that region began to give way; and hence it is not impossible that

the Southern Dezerta with the adjacent part (then united to it) of

the Central one may have embraced the whole area of its actual

primeval range,— the remains of which (though they be now sepa-

rated by achannel) it still continues to occupy, and from which, even

where physically unimpeded, it has never roamed.”’

We may also quote the following passage from p. 113—of general

and great importance on the oft-mooted and much-disputed question

of species; it occurs as a note to the description of Olibrus bicolor,

and refers to the distinctions between it and Olibrus liquidus :—

“There can be no doubt but that the present insect and the follow-

ing one approach each other very closely, and it is not without hesi-

tation that I have treated them as separate. For some time indeed

I had considered them to be but modifications of the O. bicolor;

nevertheless a careful comparison of a very large series of specimens

has subsequently induced me to believe that they are truly distinct,

since there is no difficulty whatsoever in discriminating them in a

general way, even though it is equally certain that about two exam-

ples out of every forty which I have examined are doubtful, and

might apparently be referred to either. Still, the normal states are

so clearly expressed that I cannot regard these occasional links as

more than exceptional varieties from either side, and which would

fall as unmistakeably into their proper spheres as any of the re-

mainder, were we better able to grasp their exact characteristics, and

to appreciate small shades of difference which are not the less real

because obscure. Nor must we forget that in our ignorance of even

the nature of ‘species,’ so called, we may sometimes err in attempt-

ing to define too rigidly the boundaries of their attributes ; for,

whilst, as a matter of course, we must unquestionably assume them

to be absolutely unconnected (that is to say, to have descended from

common parents,—each of their peculiar kind), yet it is difficult to

assert positively that creatures which in outward points are thus in-

timately allied are of necessity so opposite in their endowments that

they may not now and then intermix, and produce those very aber-

rations (albeit perhaps not able, themselves, to perpetuate their race)

which we are apt to lay hold of, even when occurring thus sparingly,

Bibliographical Notices. 855

to destroy the specific claims of the insects which have accidentally

given them birth. And I should frequently, therefore, be inclined

to look upon such-like media as lapsus nature rather than as con-

nective,—at any rate where they are only of rare experience and

exist between forms the limits of which are otherwise clear and un-

ambiguous. With these few remarks, which I have somewhat pro-

longed, as likely to apply in instances besides the present one, it will

be sufficient to add that the O. bicolor (which, if my identification

of it be correct, would appear to attain a rather larger size in Madeira

than the ordinary type) may be distinguished, for the most. part,

from O. liquidus, not merely by its superior bulk, but by its less

posteriorly-acuminated outline, by its usually just perceptibly darker

and less brassy hue, and by its legs and antenne being, almost

invariably, both of a more diluted testaceous tinge and (proportion-

ably) a trifle longer. It is an abundant insect, during the spring

and summer months, in certain parts of Madeira, at rather low and

intermediate elevations. In May of 1849, whilst encamped in the

Ribeiro de Santa Luzia with the Rev. R. T. Lowe, I captured it in

the utmost profusion from amongst the long grass and flowers imme-

diately outside my tent,—and im company with the O. liquidus,

which thus, at all events, cannot be a local variety of it.”

The mere British collector who studies as well as names his insects

should get this work, if he has not already got it, on account of the

many valuable “clearings” and detailed descriptions of British

genera. In this aspect the book is singularly valuable and import-

ant, and did space permit, we could refer to many passages in proof.

We may perhaps hope to see the other orders described by Mr. Wol-

laston ; and we trust that his present noble and costly contribution

will not stand long alone, but will be followed by at least another

volume, which will certainly never appear, unless its author be en-

couraged by the sale of this splendid volume, and unless, too, he con-

scientiously thinks, that he will be promoting the knowledge of the

marvellous works of an Almighty hand. Such a work will then form,

so far as the insect portion of the multitudinous Annulosa is con-

cerned, a point for the historian of the geographical distribution of

animals to reason on; and should Messrs. Lowe and Wollaston ever

publish an illustrated volume on the Land Mollusca of Madeira, the

zoologist and paleeontologist will be supplied with data for reasoning

on the extremely difficult but intensely interesting question of the

*‘ distribution’ and what is called ‘‘ extinction’ of species. Insects,

Crustacea—especially the Entomostraca—and Snails (Madeira is a

Helico-metropolis) form certainly the most lasting animated features

of any land; drought and other circumstances which destroy Mam-

malia, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles and other orders having hardly any

perceptible influence on these enduring works of ‘‘ Him, who made

the worlds.”

23*

356 Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Society :—

PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. a

BOMBAY BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.

January 10, 1856.—W. E. Frere, Esq., C.S., President, in the Chair.

*« Notes on the Infusoria of the Island of Bombay.—Organization.”’

By H. J. Carter, Esq., Assistant-Surgeon H.C.S.

After a few prefatory observations respecting the necessity of

studying the more simple, in order to understand the more compli-

cated forms of living beings, the author premises that the freshwater

Infusoria of the island of Bombay are, speaking generally, the same

as those of Europe. He then observes, that, before communicating

a summary of his notes on them, it is desirable that he should make

a few observations on their organization, and adopt such terms as

might facilitate his descriptions. The definition of these forms the

subject-matter of his paper, of which the following is an abstract :-—

Pellicula, or Skin.—This term is adopted for the surface-covering

of Infusoria, which, with our present microscopic powers, appears

to be nothing more than a consolidated portion of the subjacent sub-

stance. It has been proposed by Mohl for the surface of the starch-

grain, &c., and the author extends its use to the Infusoria. Dujar-

din likened it to the film which occurs over “flour-paste or glue

allowed to cool in the air.” Although it cannot be demonstrated

when the infusorium is fresh and active, to wit dmeba, yet when the

latter becomes capsuled, its existence is rendered evident by trans-

formation into the investing cyst.

Diaphane, or Transparent Moving Matiter.—This is the colourless

material on which the pellicula rests ; it forms the outer zone of the

infusorium, and is characterized in the 4mcba, where its features are

most evident, by possessing the transparency and structureless appear-

ance of glass, with an amount of polymorphism unequalled by any

other substance in organic creation. It is the agent of progression

and prehension of food in those infusoria which are unprovided with

cilia for this purpose. The term is derived from its transparency,

and has been adopted by the author for convenience of description.

Sarcode, or Abdominal Mucus.—This is a molecular slime which

fills the interior of the infusorium, and is characterized by its turbidit

when compared with the glassy transparency of the diaphane. All

the internal organs are imbedded in it, part of which are fixed and

part moveable ; it is also the receptacle of the food, which in the

Amebe passes into, and out of it, directly through the diaphane, as

they have no apertures of external communication for these purposes.

Dujardin applied the term to ‘‘the glutinous substance of the in-

terior,’ and to this the author wishes to restrict its use, adopting

* diaphane”’ for the outer portion of the infusortum as above stated,

which has heretofore been included under the head of “ sarcode.”’

The central part of the sarcode appears to be the agent by which its

Mr.-H. J.-Carter on the Organization of Infusoria. 357

“moveable ”’ contents are rotated, while the outer surface appears to

be attached to the diaphane, and follows its motions. In the Dia-

tomeze, the sarcode appears to be separated from the diaphane by

the siliceous shield or frustule, as in a locomotive species of Palmogloa

met with by the author, where the cell-wall corresponds to the frus-

tule, and in Huglena, where a layer of spiral fibre appears to be its

analogue.

Molecule, or small grains.—With these the sarcode is completely

charged. They are colourless and vary in size, being sometimes

hardly visible, while at others they are uniformly large and unmis-

takeable. Of their use the author is ignorant, but for the sake of

distinguishing them from the other organs of the sarcode, he has

adopted the term above mentioned.

Granules, or large grains.—These are bodies of circular, elliptical,

elongated or irregular figures. They are always few in number when

compared with the molecule, and are characterized by their larger

size, thick, dark edges, and colourless appearance, except in some

Rhizopoda, where they bear a yellow substance like endochrome.

They undergo rotation with the other contents of the sarcode, and

never appear to be discharged. When ovules are present, as in

Ameba, they are easily distinguished by the latter being discoid,

circular, transparent at the margin, and generally nucleated. Of the

use of the granules the author is also ignorant, but being sufficiently

constant and remarkable to deserve particular notice, he has pro-

posed this name for them.

Digestive Globules.—These are spherical spaces of the sarcode

which are filled with food and water, or, sometimes, with water

apparently alone. They are formed in a fold of the pellicula in

Ameeba, &c., and at the inner end of the buccal tube in Paramecium

aurelia and Vorticella, &c., after which they pass into the midst of

the sarcode, and are there rotated until their contents are digested

and absorbed, or a part of one or both are discharged as unnecessary

for nutrition. Where there is a buccal tube, the water and particles

of food are forced down together through it, directly into the sarcode

at its extremity, and here the digestive globules are formed, which

afterwards pass off into the sarcode one after another gradually, like

soap-bubbles from a pipe. . Their contents then undergo digestion,

and if not wholly absorbed, the rest passes out at a distinct anal

orifice, which is situated on the surface in Paramecium aurelia, &c.,

and half-way up the buccal cavity in Vorticella. In the Amoeba,

&c., as before stated, there are no apertures of external communication

of this kind, and no cilia ; therefore the introduction of food is wholly

effected by the diaphane. For these temporary stomachal dilatations

of the sarcode the author has adopted the term above mentioned.

Spherical Cells, or Biliary Organisms.—These are spherical cells

which abound in the sarcode of some of Ehrenberg’s Trachelina, but

more particularly in an infusorium of the same family which the

author has called O¢ostoma, and in which they have been chiefly

studied. They appear to undergo rapid multiplication and decay,

and therefore are present in all stages of development, The most

358 Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Society :—

remarkable feature about them is, that the largest contain, among

their granular contents, several smaller cells filled with a brownish-

yellow fluid, which are set free when the parent perishes, and seem

to serve some other purpose than that of reproduction. These

spherical cells appear to the author to be biliary organisms, for they

line the stomach of the binocular and blind Planarie, where the

large ones have a lash of from forty to fifty cilia projecting from one

point of their circumference, which keep up a continued circulation

of the gastric contents by their motion, like that observed in the

Infusoria. Of the use of these organs, for which the author pro-

poses the term ‘“‘ spherical cells,” he is unacquainted, further than

that there are many points about them which strikingly ally them to

the hepatic cells of higher animals.

Vesicula, or “ Contracting Vesicle.’’—This is a vesicular organ

presenting a hyaline aspect which appears and disappears rhythmi-

cally. Its services are excretory, and in Paramecium aurelia, where

it is double, each vesicle has a set of radiated lines round it, which

lines extend across the body, and consist, respectively, of a chain

of fusiform sinuses. In the Rhizopoda especially the vesieula

obtains a great plurality, and in Ameeba, sometimes, the sarcode

appears to be filled with such vesicles, which not only now and then

burst into the large one or vesicula, but when the latter has discharged

itself, frequently burst of themselves externally. In Paramecium

aurelia, &c., it is attached to the pellicula ; it also bursts externally

in Ameba; but in Vorticella it is attached to the buccal cavity, and

discharges itself close to the anal orifice, as in some Rotifera; in

Astasia it is close to the oral aperture and never disappears entirely,

even if it diminishes now and then in size. It is a distinct organ m

Vorticella and many of the Infusoria, perhaps so in all, and not a

mere accidental dilatation of the sarcode. The term “‘ vesicula’’ is

proposed for it instead of ‘‘ contracting vesicle,’ from the incon-

venience of the latter in description.

Nucleus, or Primary Organ.—This is a circular, moon-like body

(under the microscope), diseoidal, and of a faint yellow colour. It

is contained in a transparent capsule, and fixed in the periphery of

the sarcode in the Rhizopoda, Astasia, Euglena, &c. In Ehrenberg’s

class of Enterodelous Infusoria it is for the most part of a different

form. The presence of the capsule in Ameba causes it to appear as

if surrounded by a narrow pellucid ring, but when the former becomes

globular, the nucleus is observed to be fixed to one partof it. After

a while the nucleus becomes granular and the capsule globular: it

then also enlarges and undergoes deduplicative subdivision, the seg-

ments of which do not fall into the capsule, but burst through it, and

appear in the form of a botryoidal mass on its periphery. When

the granules, which each segment (now become discoid or spherical)

contains, become endowed with locomotive power they separate,

and make their exit through the proper covering of the segment,

while in the body of the parent (which now perishes), or after the

segment has left its cavity. At first the nucleus appears to be a

presiding organ over the development of the cell, after the manner of

Mr. H. J. Carter on the Organization of Infusoria. 359

the nucleus of the vegetable cell, but subsequently it takes on this,

apparently, generative function.

Ovules. — These are discoid, nucleated cells in Spongilla and

Ameba, but globular in the other freshwater Rhizopoda. The

author first pointed out their nature and development in Spongilla

in 1848, and a repetition of the experiments which led to this con-

clusion has been followed by the same results. In Spongilla they

are contained in globular transparent vesicles in the seed-like body

or capsule, and each of these globular vesicles, at an early period,

has been found to possess all the characters of an Ameeba in the

same condition about to become capsuled; so that the seed-like

bodies of Spongilla are but an aggregation of ova-bearing sponge-

cells, enclosed under one common covering. In Huglypha the ovules

are globular, and appear around the capsule of the nucleus, not

inside it. At an early period, in Spongilla and Ameeba, the ovule

consists of a discoid, transparent capsule, lined with a film of semi-

transparent matter, presenting a glairy, faint greenish-yellow colour ;

the latter afterwards becomes more opake and defined, and subse-

quently, in the course of development, may present a central pellucid

circular area, in the midst of which is a minute, faint yellow body ;

the sarcode then becomes developed, its granules appear, and the

ovule becomes more or less polymorphic, while the central body of

the pellucid area seems to originate the nucleus. Such are the

changes observed in the development of the ovule of the freshwater

Rhizopoda. Similar ovules also occur in Astasia and in Euglena.

When the capsule of the nucleus has been present in an dmeba

filled with ovules far advanced, it has appeared enlarged, and the

nucleus hardly perceptible or effete.

Spermatozoids _—This term is applied provisionally to the granules

developed from the nucleus, for it not only would appear that in

Spongilla, Ameba and Euglypha this development frequently occurs

without the most distant sign of the presence of ovules, but in Hu-

glypha it is seen to occur both separate and together; that is, the

granular development is sometimes present when the ovules (all of

the same size and five times the diameter of the granules) are also

present around the capsule of the nucleus; so that if the granules

passed into ovules, the latter might be expected to be present of

different sizes, which in fact is the case in Spongilla and dmeba.

_ Impregnation. — Although the congress of two individuals in

Ameeba and Euglypha has frequently been seen by the author, yet it

is not uncommon to witness three and sometimes four of the latter

adhering together by the heads; and whatever bearing this may

have on generation, the ovules and granular development of the nu-

cleus are not preparatory to this act in Huglypha, but subsequent to

it. Should these granules hereafter be found to have a fertilizing

influence over the ovules, the process may be extended even to Cla-

dophora among the filamentous Algee, which, consisting merely of a

layer of nucleated cells within one large cell, would not appear to

require any more organs for reproduction than these cells themselves

possess ; and among the Diatomeze and Desmidiez and filamentous

Algee, such granules presenting a motion distinct from that of the

360 | Zoological Society :—

molecules of Brown, are commonly seen, and have been thought by

many to be reproductive organs.

In conclusion, the author adverted to the intimate resemblance

which existed between the organisms of the animal and vegetable

kingdoms at these parts of their scales respectively, insomuch that

they would appear to diverge from one common point, at which

would stand a being neither vegetable nor animal. Spongilla ap-

peared very near this. The author had found that this organism,

towards the end of the dry season, developes almost as much starch

as plants, yet there is not a particle of starch to be found in the

composition of its capsule and ovules. It subsists on nutrition

brought into its cell through endosmosis, yet there is no trace of

cellulose in its cell-wall. It is endowed with polymorphism ;_ but

the protoplasm of the cell in many plants, to say nothing of Algee,

has as much, though it cannot move beyond the cellulose covering

in which it is incarcerated any more than the sponge-cell while the

latter is enclosed ex masse within the general pellicula. It is true

that it possesses the vesicula, but Cohn has shown that this exists in

even some of the swarm-cells of Conferve. It is not impossible,

from the great plurality of the vesteule in the Rhizopoda (in which

class Spongilla should be included) and the activity with which they

perform their peculiar function, that the excretory currents of the

canals should be thus produced. Mr. Bowerbank had discovered

cilia on them to assist in this office, but zoospores move about by the

aid of cilia, and in the spore or macrogonidium of Cdogonium

these are very numerous. The granules of Spongilla contain a yel-

low colouring material, like endochrome, and when Spongilla becomes

green, it appears to be caused by a deepening of this colour. So that

after all, the difference between the lower organisms of the animal

and vegetable kingdoms becomes so slight, that, as Nageli and Cohn

have observed, chemical reagents alone can determine the point ; and

even then, the transition, in some of them, of one vital product into

another during the cycle of their existeace, makes them, according

to this test, at one time a vegetable and at another time animal ;

until, it seems, that there must be a point at which both are equally

combined.

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

January 23, 1855.—Dr. Gray, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

CHARACTERS OF SIX NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS THAMNO-

poitus. By Pusiuie Luritey Scuater, M.A.

1. THAMNOPHILUS TRANSANDEANUS,

Supra niger; subtus albus; tectricibus alarum superioribus et

caude inferioribus nigris albo terminatis ; cauda nigra rectri-

cibus duabus utrinque extimis macula parva terminali alba.

Long. tota 8:1, alee 3°7, caudee 3-2 poll.

Hab. in rep. Equatoriana, Guyaquil. Mus. Brit.

Obs. Similis Thamnophilo majori, sed tectricibus subcaudalibus

nigris albo terminatis et rectricibus non albo guttatis.

Mr. P. L. Sclater on new species.of Thamnophilus. 361

2. THAMNOPHILUS LEUCHAUCHEN.

8 Pileo cristato cum lateribus capitis et gutture antico ad me-

dium pectus nigris; nucha, cervice laterali et corpore subtus

albis; dorso murino-brunneo; alis caudaque nigris albo limbatis ;

rectricis une utrinque extime pogonio externo medio et omnium

apicibus albo maculatis ; rostro et pedibus nigris.

2 Crista ferruginea ; subtus ochracea, gutture nigro striato,

lateribus capitis et nucha ochraceis nigro mixtis.

Long. tota 674, alee 2°8, caudeze 2°5.

Hab. in Peruv. Orient., Chamicurros. Mus. P.L.S.

Oés. Affinis Th. atricapillo, Vieill., sed rostro minore, lateribus

cervicis et corpore subtus albis neque cinereis, dorso clariore brunneo

et gutturali nigro non in ventrem producto distinguendus.

3. THAMNOPHILUS ALBINUCHALIS.

$ Supra murino-brunneus ; nucha late alba ; dorsi medit pennis

albo mixtis; capite summo cristato nigro ; alis fuscis, tectrici-

bus albo limbatis; cauda nigra, rectricum omnium apicibus et

une utringue extime margine externo albo maculatis ; subtus

albus ; gutture et pectore antico nigris; capitis lateribus albo

mixtis.

2 Supra brunnescentior, capite et cauda tota rufo-ferrugineis ;

nucha et corpore infra ochraceis.

Long. tota 6°5, alee 3°2, caudee 2°5.

Hab. in rep. Equatoriana, Guyaquil et insula Puna. Mus. Brit.

Obs. Species a Thamnophilo atricapillo nucha alba et colore cor-

poris inferi albo nec schistaceo, a Thamnophilo leuchauchene dorso

albo mixto, crassitie majore, et nucha candidiore distinguenda.

4, THAMNOPHILUS MELANONOTUS.

Niger ; interscapularibus albo mixtis ; dorso postico cinereo; ab-

domine cinerascenti-albo ; alis nigris albo marginatis ; cauda

nigra, rectricibus omnibus apice et extima utrinque lateral

etiam pogonio externo medio albo maculatis ; rostro et pedibus

nigris. -

Long. tota 6°5, alee 3°0, caudee 2°5.

Hab. in Nova Grenada, Santa Martha. Mus. P.L.S.

Obs. Affinis Thamnophilo atricapillo, sed dorso nigro.

5. THAMNOPHILUS NIGROCINEREUS.

3 Cinereus, capite toto cum dorso summo et gutture nigris ; tn-

terscapularibus basi albis; alis caudaque nigricantibus, albo

limbatis ; rectrice una utrinque extima media albo notata ;

rostro et pedibus nigris.

2 Rufo-brunnea ; gula et ventre medio albescentioribus ; alarum

tectricibus secondariisque et cauda sicut in mari albo notatis.

Long. tota 5°75, alee 3°8, caudze 2°4.

Hab. in Brasilia boreali, Para. Mus. Brit. et P.L.S.

Obs. Similis Th. nevio sed multo major ; rostro fortiore et gutture

nigro.

362 Zoological Society :—

6. THAMNOPHILUS CASIUS.

Lanius cesius, Cuv. in Mus. Paris.

& Nigro-plumbeus; pileo cristato gulaque nigris; tectricibus

alaribus anguste albo limbatis; cauda nigricante unicolore ;

rostro pedibusque nigris.

2 Grisescenti-brunnea, crista nigricante ; capitis lateribus, tec-

tricum alarum marginibus et corpore subtus rufis ; rostro nigro,

mandibula inferiore basi et pedibus pallidis.

Long. tota 5°5, alee 3°25, caudee 2°25.

Hab. in Guiana Britannica. Mus. Parisiensi et P.L.S.

March 13.—Dr. Gray, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Notes ON THE Hasits OF SOME INDIAN Birps. Parr VIII.

By Lirevut. BurGEss.

Family StrRUTHIONID2.

Genus Oris.

Otis N1GRICEPs (Vigors). BLAcK-HEADED Bustarp.

This fine Bustard is found in flocks, varying in size, in the open

plains of the Deccan, preferring the dry grassy and stony grounds

to others. It grows to a large size ; one fine male which I measured

was 7 feet across the wings, and 46 inches from the tip of the beak

to the end of the tail. This Bustard may almost be said to breed

all the year round. I have had an egg brought to me in February,

another on the4th May, containing a young bird. A gentleman on the

Revenue Survey told me that he had seen a young Bustard, covered

with down, in the early part of October. I have had a young bird

brought to me late in November, as well as eggs in November and

December. The female generally lays but one egg. A. F. Davidson,

Esq., Superintendent of the Ahmednuggur Revenue Survey, told

me a curious habit of the male Bustard. He says, “‘ About breed-

ing time the male is fond of mounting some elevated spot, and then

strutting about with the tail erected and spread, the wings drooping,

and the pouch in the throat inflated with air, and looking like a

large bladder ; under the hillock where the male was thus displaying

himself were several young ones.” In corroboration of this, a boy

told me on the 17th May 1850, that about four days previously he had

seen a Bustard, with a white-looking bag hanging below the neck.

I see in Dr. Jerdon’s Catalogue, that he gives an extract from Mr.

Elliot’s notes to this effect ; speaking of the cock Bustard, he says:

*‘ He was strutting about on some high ground, expanding his tail,

ruffling his wings, and distending his neck and throat, making the

feathers stand out like a ruff.’ I do not find it recorded that the

large Bustard of Europe (QO. tarda) has this habit of showing him-

self off during the breeding season. The egg of the Black-headed

Bustard varies in size; the one sent with this paper measures 3,3,ths

in. in length, by 2,3,ths in. in width. It also varies in colour ; the

Lieut. Burgess on the Habits of some Indian Birds. 863

general colour is a brownish olive, dashed with pale brown. One

egg which I had was of a nearly uniform palish blue. The egg now

sent was found in a grassy spot on 18th December. As everything

relating to this noble bird is interesting, I give a description of a

young one brought to me on 28th December 1849. It stood about

10 inches in height ; its beak was of a dirty whitish colour, nostrils

large ; irides clear pale hazel, and eyes very large; back mottled,

very much as in the old birds, as also the wing feathers ; front of

the neck pale yellowish-brown, with a dark streak running down the

sides ; legs dull yellowish-white, feet the same, knee-joints very thick ;

there was down on the neck. This was quite a young bird, ve

feeble on its legs, and barely able to stand. The Black-headed

Bustard utters, when frightened, a harsh barking note. Its flight is

like that of the Heron, a steady flight, sustained by the continued

flapping of its large wings.

Oris Aurita (Lath.). FrioriKin.

I have not met with the Florikin sufficiently often to allow me to

enter into the argument as to whether the Black Florikin is the male

bird in its breeding plumage, or a distinct species from the common

brown Florikin, but Dr. Jerdon’s arguments in his ‘ Illustrations of

Indian Ornithology,” appear conclusive, that the black and brown

are one and the same bird in different states of plumage. But this

point might soon be set at rest, by sportsmen and ornithologists in

India ascertaining whether the black-plumaged birds are ever met

with during the cold weather and spring. That the male of the

Little Bustard (Otis tetrax) should to a certain extent assume this

black plumage during the breeding season, affords strong ground for

the supposition that the Black Florikin is the male in his nuptial

dress. The Florikin breeds during the end of the monsoon, laying

three eggs of a dark olive-green colour, spotted and dashed with

light brown, 1,%,ths in. in length, by 1,5,ths in. in width, the greatest

width being about the centre. The egg now sent was procured with

two others early in September. An officer, who was out shooting,

put up a Florikin and killed it, and on going to the spot where she

rose, found three eggs. I had two specimens of the Florikin sent

to me, both males, one in beautiful black plumage on 2nd October,

the other in the brown plumage on the 4th February.

Family CoLuMBID&.

Genus CoLuMBA.

CoLuMBA @NAS. BLUE PIGEON.

This Pigeon is very common in the Deccan, inhabiting holes in

old forts, walls, temples and wells. It breeds during the cold season,

laying two white eggs. Holes and ledges in wells are its favourite

resorts for breeding. The egg measures 1,4;ths in. in length, by] inch

and nearly ;2;ths in width, and is of a clear shining white. An egg is

sent with this paper ; it was taken from a well on the 8th December.

364 Zoological Society.

Genus TurRTUR.

TurtTurR CAMBAYENSIS.

Of this Dove, Dr. Jerdon says in his notes,—‘ This little dove

abounds over most of India, both in low jungles and near vil-

lages and cantonments, being found, especially towards the north,

in every garden, and frequenting stable-yards, houses, &c.” It is, I

believe, the same as the small Dove to which—not knowing that it

had been previously named—I gave the name of the Vinous-necked

Turtle, on account of the colour of its neck. If this be the case, it

breeds during the month of March, building its nest in low bushes,

and laying two white eggs, rather more than ;%ths of an inch in

length, by nearly ;8,ths of an inch in breadth.

TURTUR RISORIA.

This Dove is considerably larger than the last, and is easily dis-

tinguished by the white crescent on its neck, like the Wood Pigeon

of this country. It abounds in every place ; amongst the prickly-

ear hedges and thickets near villages, in groves of babool trees, and

bushes. Its half plaintive, half laughing note, is heard as soon as

it becomes light, and if the trees over your tent happen to be its

resort, it is anything but conducive to sleep. This Turtle breeds

during the cold season, building in low babool trees ; its nest is com-

posed of a few twigs and pieces of grass. It lays two white eggs,

1,4;ths in. in length, by rather more than ;%ths in width.

Order GRALLATORES.

Family ARDEADZ.

Genus Grus.

Subgenus ANTHROPOIDES ( Vieillot).

Grus Virco. DEMOISELLE CRANE.

This Crane visits the Deccan during the cold weather, but some-

times remains as late as May. I saw a large flock of them on the

river Seena, near Waterphul, as late as 24th May, and was told that

one had been brought into the cantonments of Ahmednuggur as late

as 12th June, but I never heard of any remaining to breed. It

would be most interesting to find out their breeding haunts, their

manner of nesting, and the number and colour of their eggs. The

greater portion leave the Deccan at the end of March or beginning

of April, and return at the end of November. They feed in the

grain fields, retiring to the larger rivers about ten o’clock, where they

may be seen standing in large flocks in the shallows.

Genus ARDEA.

Subgenus ARDEA.

ARDEA CINEREA (Lath.). Common Heron.

A tolerably common bird in the Deccan, frequenting tanks and

rivers. I found two nests in a tall peepul tree on the 27th February;

Miscellaneous. 365

one contained the egg sent with this paper, the other was a nest just

finished, and contained no eggs. This bird is considered, I believe,

to be identical with the English Heron; it most probably therefore

lays four or five eggs, as Mr. Yarrell states that the English Heron

does. The egg is a uniform sea-green colour, 2;4;ths in. in length,

by 1 inch and rather more than ;4ths in width.

MISCELLANEOUS,

On the Mode in which the Tachinee escape from their Pupa-cases

and from closed situations in which they often occur. By

Dr. Retssie.

Amoncstr the phenomena of insect-life few things are more re-

markable than the power possessed by soft, newly-developed flies,

such as the T'achine, ot breaking not only out of the hard larva-skin,

but also out of the closed situations in which these are generally

found, as, for instance, from the galleries and pupa-cells of Saperda

populnea and Cryptorhynchus lapathi in wood, of Tortrix resinana

in resinous galls, &c.

To explain this process it has often been supposed that the hard-

ened larva-skin is softened by the insect when about to escape by

means of fluid, or that the aperture was prepared by the larva before

its change to the pupa state. The author however states, that

according to his observations neither of these suppositions is correct;

the margins of the aperture through which the fly escapes are evi-

dently broken in a manner which could not be the case if the skin

were softened by the agency of a fluid, and he was never able to

detect any traces of a prepared means of exit. He has therefore

come to the conclusion that the dried larva-skin is burst by the fly,

and his observations have proved that this is done in the way which

he describes as follows :—‘‘The fly when about to escape can con-

vert its head into a most wonderful apparatus, acting in the manner

of a hydraulic press, and by this means not only burst its immediate

envelope, but also overcome any obstacles which may lie in its way

to the open air.”

His observations were made on the following species of T'achina :

T. gilva, Hrtg., from Lophyrus pini; T’. pilipennis, Fall., from the

resinous galls of Tortrix resinana; T. flaviceps, Rtzbg., from the

pupee of Noctua; T. fera, Linn., from the dried larva of Noctua

piniperda, &c.; but especially upon 7. bimaculata, Hrtg., from the

cocoon of Lophyrus pint. Tis results are as follows :—

In T. bimaculata he first observed that both at the moment of its

escape and for some time subsequently the fly possesses the power

of converting the head into a nearly perfect globe, the diameter of

which is considerably greater than that of the body.

The surface of the globe consists of the slightly translucent perga-

mentaceous skin, which is folded together very beautifully in the

Tachine from the eyes to the mouth, and this is extended to the form

described by a thin fluid.

866 Miscellaneous.

The globe is so placed that the eyes form a solid part of it, and

thus furnish a support for the whole apparatus.

Besides the two eyes the only visible external organs are: a. the

last joints of the antenne; 6. the two horny, bowed palpiform

organs of the mouth; and c. the proboscis. Everything else on the

head, except the bristles of the antennee and of the margins of the

eyes, disappears, and all the visible organs exhibit a change of posi-

tion. Thus the antenne occur on the side of the globe opposite to

the eyes, or quite in front. Only the last joint of each projects from

the globular head, on the surface of which they form as it were a

double hook directed downwards. They still however retain some

power of movement, and the fly appears to employ them in various

ways. The proboscis is directed obliquely backwards, below the

eyes; it also retains some power of motion, and the fly can elongate

or contract it at pleasure. It appears to be an important part of the

apparatus, serving to press the globular head forwards, or rather to

give it a firm support in the pressure which it exerts upon the

obstacles before it.

The two horny palpiform organs which lie between the antenne

and the nrouth are also of importance in these operations. They

form a pair of hooks turned downwards and resting with their con-

vex sides against the globular head, so that as this expands their

extremities are pressed into the larva-skin, where they produce the

commencement of the transverse cleft of the aperture, which is after-

wards completed by the general expansion of the head.

Besides this transverse cleft in the larva-skin, there is usually a

second crack running from the apex and dividing the cap which is

thrown off, into two nearly equal portions: this is produced by the

wedge-like action of the antennee.

When the expansion of the head has reached its maximum, it is

maintained for a few seconds, and then the head again contracts ;

but if it has not done its business sufficiently, it is again dilated until

the desired result is obtained. In this way the author observed that

a Tachina which he had enclosed in a narrow glass tube, tried more

than a hundred times to expel the cork by the expansion of its head.

The expansion of the head commences by a prolongation of the

front of the face between the angles of the eyes: this forms a conical

point, having the antennee at its apex. The object of this is suffi-

ciently apparent: the fly can introduce this point into small holes

and crevices in the obstacles which interpose between it and the open

air ; these are then enlarged by the globular expansion of the head,

which is doubtless retained in its situation by the action of the

antennse.— Wiegmann’s Archiv, xxi. p. 189.

On the apparent Absence of a Nervous System in the Nemoptera

lusitanica. By M. Lion Durovur.

The author states that in exarhining numerous specimens of the

Nemoptera lusitanica, a species of Neuropterous insect abundant in

Spain and Portugal, he was unable to find any trace of a nervous

Meteorological Observations. 867

system. The head when opened, instead of presenting a distinct

brain or cephalic ganglia, only contained a small quantity of an

amorphous and liquid pulp. In the thorax also, the large nerves

passing into the femora could not be detected. M. Graells of

Madrid was likewise unable to discover any traces either of ganglia

or nerves.

M. Léon Dufour states that the tracheee are not plentiful, so that

the respiration cannot be very energetic, and the locomotive power of

the animal is therefore small. In the structure of the alimentary

organs, the Nemoptera differs from the Panorpida, in which family

it has usually been placed, and M. Léon Dufour thinks that its food

is of a fluid nature.—Comptes Rendus, Dec. 31, 1855, p. 1204.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR FEB. 1856.

Chiswick.—February 1. Light clouds: frosty. 2. Cloudy. 3. Frosty: fine

throughout. 4. Overcast: slight rain. 5. Very fine: boisterous at night. 6.

Densely clouded: boisterous. 7. Uniformly overcast: rain. 8. Densely over-

cast : fine: cloudy. 9. Exceedingly fine. 10. Cloudy. 11. Foggy: rain : over-

cast. 12. Rain: fine: rain at night. 13. Rain: showery throughout. 14. Rain:

fine. 15. Cloudy: very fine: foggy at night. 16. Foggy: very fine: foggy. 17.

Hazy: overcast: foggy at night. 18. Overcast: slight snow. 19. Hazy: cold

and raw. 20. Cloudy and cold throughout. 21. Slight rain: small hail occa-

sionally. 22. Overcast: slight rain. 23. Fine throughout: cloudy at night.

24. Fine: overcast: clear and frosty. 25. Overcast throughout. 26. Cloudy:

slight rain. 27. Overcast. 28. Very slight drizzle: overcast: cloudy. 29. Foggy:

cloudy : frosty.

Mean temperature of the month ...........0+++ seaushepeonedt ae oo 41°54

Mean temperature of Feb. 1855 — ..........seeeeeees pe kire actcene -. 28°01

Mean temperature of Feb. for the last thirty years ............ 38 °71

Average amount of rain in Feb. — .......ecs.secscesscscecsces eesee 1:543 inch.

Boston.—Feb. 1—3. Fine. 4,5. Cloudy. 6. Rain a.m.andp.m. 7,8. Cloudy:

rain A.M. 9. Cloudy. 10. Cloudy: raina.m. 11. Cloudy: rainp.m. 12. Rain

AM. 13, Cloudy: rainp.m. 14,15. Fine. 16—22. Cloudy. 23,24. Fine.

25—28. Cloudy. 29. Foggy.

Sandwick Manse, Orkney.—Feb. 1. Cloudy a.m.: showers, thaw p.m. 2. Cloudy

A.M.: fine P.M. 3. Fine, bright a.m.: fine, clear p.m. 4. Fine, cloudy a.m.:

fine, clear p.M. 5. Fine, drops a.m.: fine, cloudy p.m. 6. Bright a.m. : rain P.M.

7. Bright a.m.: showers p.m. 8. Cloudy a.M.and p.m. 9. Drops a.m.: clear p.m.

10. Bright a.m.: clear, showers p.m. 11. Bright a.m.: clear, fine p.m. 12. Rain

A.M.: showers P.M. 13. Bright a.m.: cloudy p.m. 14. Snow-showers a.m. :

showers p.m. 15. Rain a.m.: cloudy p.m. 16. Drizzle, showers a.m. : drizzle p.m.

17. Damp a.m. and p.m. 18. Cloudy a.m. and p.m. 19. Cloudy, frost a.m. :

clear, fine P.M. 20. Bright a.m.: cloudy, fine p.m. 21. Bright a.m.: clear p.m.

22. Bright a.m.: showers, clearp.M. 23. Bright a.m.: cloudy r.m. 24. Cloudy

A.M.: Clear P.M. 25. Rain a.m.: showers, clear, aurora P.M. 26. Cloudy a.m. :

drizzle p.m. 27. Showers a.m.: fine, cloudy p.m. 28. Drizzle a.m.: damp P.M.

29. Cloudy a.m. and p.m.

Mean temperature of Feb. for previous twenty-nine years ... 38°01

Mean temperature of this month .,........ Spas foubesptcasayve eee. 40°84

Mean temperature of Feb. 1855 —......... cc ceccenccscceecececees 31 -64

Average quantity of rain in Feb. for fifteen previous years ... 3°25 inches.

The storm which raged so violently in the South of Scotland on the 6th and 7th

did not reach Orkney or the North of Scotland, but again we had this month as

well as during the gale of last month a great fall of the barometer, which stood

at 28°49 on the 6th at midnight.

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THE ANNALS

AND

MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY.

[SECOND SERIES.]

No. 101. MAY 1856.

XXXII.—On the British Species of Arctium.

By Cuarues C. Basineron, M.A., F.R.S. &e.*

In a former paper (Ann. Nat. Hist. Ser. 1. iv. 253) I endea-

voured to show that there were two well-marked species of

Arctium inhabiting Britain, and then expressed an opinion that

neither of them accorded well with the plants figured in ‘ English

_ Botany.’ The names applied to them in that paper were A.

_Lappa and A. Bardana, used in the belief that my plants corre-

sponded with those so called by Linnzus and Willdenow. Since

that period my attention has at intervals been directed to the

genus, and specimens have been often seen that did not well

accord with either of those species. A few years since I was

favoured by my friend M. J. Lange of Copenhagen with a spe-

cimen of a plant called by him A. intermedium, and which he

believes to be distinct from the described species. On the sup-

position that this accorded with a plant observed in Britain, and

that it was nearly allied to what I had formerly named 4. Bar-

dana, it is placed in the 3rd edition of my ‘ Manual’ as 4. minus

8. intermedium, and the A. Bardana of Smith is incorrectly re-

ferred to it. A careful re-examination of the plants has led me

to the conclusion that throughout the whole of these researches

I have been in error, and that the following remarks present a

more correct view of the subject.

We appear to possess five well-marked species of Arctium in

this country, namely 4. tomentosum, A. majus, A. intermedium,

A. minus, and A. pubens, the characters of which I now purpose

endeavouring to point out. But before describing the plants it

* Read to the Edinburgh Botanical Society, Mareh 13th, 1856.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 24:

870 Mr.C.C. Babington on the British species of Arctium.

is desirable to direct attention to the points upon which it seems

probable that stress may be best laid. (1.) The arrangement

of the heads presents an easy mode of separating two of the

species from the others. This character must be used cautiously,

for it is only the top of the central stem of the plant that is to

be trusted: it and the branches often have the heads arranged

in the same manner, but frequently the central stem bears a

corymb and the branches racemes of heads. (2.) The form of

the heads is of much value, and their size must not be neglected.

(3.) Although the shape of the phyllaries is nearly the same in

all the plants, their direction is a little different and the appear-

ance of the heads is thereby changed. The inner row has not

this uniformity of shape, but differs considerably in the several

plants. These inner phyllaries are always bordered by a broadish

membrane which sometimes increases in width towards the top,

but in other cases narrows gradually to a rigid point. (4.) The

florets consist of two parts, the upper of which is tubular nearly

throughout. That part which is below the commencement of

the free filaments is slender in all the species; the upper part is

always much thicker, varies considerably in form, and its length

bears different proportions to that of the lower part. (5.) The

phyllaries either fall short of the florets or equal them. In

the latter case the corolla alone is to be taken into account, for

the anthers and styles are always much protruded.

It is proper to state here the reasons which have led me to

retain the name of Arctium for this genus instead of following

DeCandolle in employing it for the A. lanuginosum (Lam.).

Linneus in his first work (Syst. Nat. published in 1731) gave

the name of Arctium to the plant called Lappa by Tournefort,

and characterized it as early as the year 1737 (Gen. Pl.). In

1778 Lamarck transferred the name, under the form of Arciion,

to his A. lanuginosum without paying the least attention to its

previous use by Linneus, and applied the term Lappa to the

Linnean genus. It is doubtless true that the ante-Linnzan

botanists did use Lappa as a generic name, but it has been well

remarked by the Committee of the ‘ British Association for the

Advancement of Science’ appointed to consider the nomen-

clature of zoology, that “ Linnzus was the first to attach a

definite value to genera, and to give them a systematic character

by means of exact definitions ; and therefore, although the names

used by previous authors may often be applied with propriety to

modern genera, yet in such cases they acquire a new meaning

and should be quoted on the authority of the first person who

used them in this secondary sense ” (Report Brit. Assoc. Man-

chester, 1842, p. 110). Applying this excellent rule, which is

just as true in botany as in zoology, to the present case, we find

Mr. C.C. Babington on the British species of Arctium. 871

that the Linnzan name has a priority of many years over that

which Lamarck adopted from the ante-Linnzxan Tournefort.

That this was the view taken at the time is shown by the remarks

of Villars (Pl. des Dauph. ii. 27) when continuing to use the

name of Berardia, which he had given in his ‘ Prospectus’ to the

A. lanuginosum of Lamarck, There does not seem to be any

reason for breaking the rule in this instance, for if it should be

said that Tournefort’s genera are well defined and therefore

should not be rejected, then many more of his names ought to

have been adopted in preference to those given by Linnzus.

1. A. tomentosum (Pers.) ; heads subcorymbose long-stalked sphe-

rical and closed in fruit much webbed (purplish), phyllaries

falling short of the florets subulate, inner row longest and

broad, inflated upper part of florets a little shorter than the

lower part.

A. tomentosum, Pers. Syn. ii. 383 (1807) ; Schkuhr, Handb. iii. 29.

t. 227.

A. Bardana, Willd. Sp. Pl. iii. 1632 (1800) ; Eng. Bot. t. 2478;

Fries, Nov. Fl. Suec. ed. 2. 263.

A. Lappa @, Linn. Fl. Suec. ed. 2. 278, teste Fries, 1. ¢.

A. Lappa, Sven. Bot. t.63; Fl. Dan. t. 642.

Lappa tomentosa, Lam. Dict. i. 377 (1783); All. Fl. Ped. i. 144

(1785) ; Gray, Brit. Pl. ii. 434; Lindl. Syn. ed. 1.154; DeCand.

Prod. vi. 661 ; Koch, Syn. ed. 2. 463; Gren. et Godr. Fl. Fr. ii.

281; Reichend. Icon. Fl. Germ. xv. t. 811; Fl. Dan. t. 2423.

Lappa major montana, capitulis tomentosis sive Arctium Dioscoridis,

Ratt Syn. ed. 3.197. 4; Pet. Brit. Pl. t. 23. 6.

Stem and petioles slightly mealy and floccose. Stem 3 to 5

feet high. Leaves cordate-ovate ; lowermost very large. rect

central stem and usually most of the branches ending in irre-

gular corymbs of heads; but sometimes many of the branches

have fewer heads with a racemose arrangement. Peduncles very

long, but rarely a few of the lower heads have only short stalks.

Heads large, usually covered with much cobweb-like hair ; occa-

sionally a plant with almost glabrous heads is found. Phyllaries

purplish-green or greenish-purple, each with a small strongly

hooked purplish-yellow rigid point ; inner row broad and mem-

branous even near to the end which is purple often quite blunt

truncate or emarginate with a straight rigid excurrent nerve or

rarely shortly subulate. Florets broadest just above the origin

of the free filaments at which point they suddenly enlarge from

a slender tube, become inflated and then narrow upwards, very

persistent with the ripening fruit when they close the small

space left between the ends of the converging phyllaries. Fruit

dark brown with blackish blotches, nearly smooth.

24*

372 Mr.C.C. Babington on the British species of Arctium.

It is probable that the long delay that has attended the

acknowledgement by name of this plant by English botanists,

although it was figured by Sowerby, may have been caused by

its inhabiting the eastern districts of England, and being rarely,

if ever, to be found in other parts of the country. Experience

must prove or disprove this idea. The plant really represented

in ‘English Botany’ not having been seen, any woolly-headed

Arctium was called A. Bardana. The A. minus, which possesses

many of the characters of A. tomentosum, being figured in the

same work under the name of A. Lappa, the conclusion was

arrived at that A. Lappa and A. Bardana formed only one spe-

cies. For if tab. 2478 is a representation of the plant com-

monly called A. Bardana in England, then its difference from the

specimens generally found and so named would show that there

is so great a range of variation in the species as to render it

highly probable that the 4. Lappa of tab. 1228 is another of its

states. Ifthe true A. Lappa of Willdenow had been figured in

that valuable work, no such idea would probably have arisen. —

In most respects Sowerby’s figure is an excellent represen-

tation of A. tomentosum, but the drawing was probably taken

from a lateral branch, and the relative length of the phyllaries

and florets (as shown in the dissected figure) does not appear to

be correct. The inflated form of the floret is excellently shown.

_ The A. Lappa (Willd.) not being presented to the notice of

our botanists, but that name given by Smith to A. minus, caused

the erroneous conclusions that only a single variable species

existed in Britain, and also, that there were no more species

upon the European continent.

Although Fries informs us that the A. minus (Schkuhr) is the

true A. Lappaa. of Linnzeus, a statement confirmed by the spe-

cimen in his herbarium, still the var. 8. (Linn.), which we know

on the same excellent authority is the plant called A. tomentosum

by Persoon and A. Bardana by Willdenow, is figured in. the

‘Svensk Botanik’ (tab. 63) and ‘Flora Danica’ (tab. 643) as

A. Lappa.

It is proper to direct attention to the fact that Gray (J. c.)

and Lindley (/. ¢.) correctly identified the plant of Sowerby as

A. tomentosum, but. neither of them seems to have known that

there are two other woolly-headed species in this country.

I have not observed this plant out of Cambridgeshire, but it

is probably much more extensively distributed.

Flowering in August. -

2. A. majus (Schkuhr) ; heads subcorymbose long-stalked hemi-

spherical and open in fruit glabrous (green), phyllaries equal-

ling or exceeding the florets subulate, inner row shorter than

Mr. C. C. Babington on the British species of Arctium. 373

the others, subcylindrical upper part of florets more than half

as long as the lower part.

A. majus, Schkuhr, Handb. iii. 49; Fries, Nov. 264; Wimm. et

Grab. Fl. Siles. iii. 105; Bab. Man. ed. 2. 182, ed. 3. 179.

A. Lappa, Willd. Sp. Pl. iii. 1631; Bab. in Ann. Nat. Hist. Ser. 1.

iv..254; Man. ed. 1. 171.

Lappa major, DeCand. Prod. vi. 661.; Koch, Syn. 463; Gren. et

Godr. 1. 280.

L. officinalis, All. Fl. Ped. i. 145; Reichenb. Icon. Fl. Germ. xv. 54.

. t. 812.

L. major Arcium Dioscoridis, Rati Syn. ed. 3. 197. 2.

L. major capitulo glabro maximo, Dill. in Rati Syn. ed. 3. 196. 1.

Burdock, Pet. Engl. Pl. t. 23. 1.

- Stem and petioles finely mealy and rather floccose. Stem

3-4 feet high. Leaves cordate-ovate; lowermost very large.

Central stem and usually most of the branches ending in irre-

gular corymbs of -heads ; but sometimes many of the branches

have fewer heads and a racemose arrangement of them. Pedun-

cles very long, but occasionally a few of the lower heads are only

shortly stalked. Heads very large, quite glabrous or with a

very little cobweb-like hair in their youngest state; after the

florets have fallen, which they seem to do at an early stage of

- the growth of the fruit, the head is quite flat and open at the

top, often an inch across, and the involucre is almost exactly

hemispherical with the outer phyllaries deflexed, the middle ones

patent and the inner ones nearly erect. Phyllaries usually all

green and subulate; their hooked points yellowish ; inner row

paler, less gradually subulate than the others but narrowing

upwards until near to the point where it narrows quickly,

scarcely converging over the fruit: the heads therefore do not

appear to be constricted near the top as is the case in the other™

species.. Florets very nearly cylindrical in their enlarged part,

rather widening than contracting above the sudden enlargement,

deciduous. Fruit yellowish, irregularly rugose.

This is usually not nearly so large a plant as A. tomentosum,

although it often attains a very considerable size. It is conspi-

cuous on account of its long branches and large heads, which

latter much exceed in magnitude those of either of the other

species.

The very long peduncles and corymbose heads distinguish it

and the preceding from the three other species, but in estimating

these characters attention should be paid to the heads forming

the termination of the upright central stem of the plant; it has

been already remarked that the branches do not always present

the same arrangement of the heads. Dhifficulties may occur

374 Mr.C.C, Babington on the British species of Arctium.

when neither 4. majus nor A. tomentosum is known, or when

only the lateral branches are examined, but when an intimate

acquaintance has been obtained with either of them, it is nearly

impossible that any doubt of the distinctness of those species can

continue to exist.

The remarks to be found under A. tomentosum have shown

how differently the name A. Lappa has been applied by bota-

nical writers ; three out of our five species having been so called.

It is therefore desirable that the use of it should cease. It

also appears from the remarks of Fries (Nov. 263), that the

A, majus was certainly not the typical 4. Lappa of Linnzeus ;

the name therefore cannot be properly employed to designate

this plant. |

The figure given by Tournefort to illustrate his genus Lappa

rather represents a head of the A. tomentosum than of A. majus

of this paper. The head named L. major by Gaertner is more

like my A. minus.

A. majus is probably generally distributed in Britain, flower-

ing in August.

My specimens are from Grosmont, Monmouthshire ; Mor-

diford, Herefordshire ; Bluntisham, Hunts ; Clonakilty, Cork. I

have seen it in several other places, but unfortunately my notes

concerning them have been lost.

3. A. intermedium (Lange) ; heads racemose subsessile ovate closed

in fruit slightly webbed, phyllaries equalling or exceeding the

florets subulate, inner row lanceolate shorter than the others,

subcylindrical upper part of the florets equalling the lower —

part.

A. intermedium, Lange, MS. in Herb. Bab. et litt.; ‘ Flora of Den-

mark ;? Reichenb. fil. in Icon. Fl. Germ. xv. 54. t. 812.

Stem and petioles floccose. Stem 3-4 feet high. Leaves

roundish-cordate, lowermost large. Central stem usually (?)

nodding and as well as the branches furnished with many nearly

sessile heads arranged in a racemose manner; ending in three

heads placed close together. Heads moderately large, narrower

than those of A. majus, but appearing long from the ascending

direction of most of the phyllaries, usually slightly webbed.

Phyllaries purplish-green and subulate; their hooked points

purplish-yellow ; inner row purple at the end, lanceolate acute.

Florets cylindrical in their upper half, much resembling those of

A. majus but with different proportions, apparently persistent.

I have not seen the fruit.

This plant may be known from all the others by having its

Mr. C. C. Babington on the British species of Arctium. 875

heads nearly sessile ; each branch usually ending in a cluster of

three heads. Its leaves are apparently shorter in proportion to

their width. It is distinguished from the following plant by

possessing much larger ovate (not spherical and stalked) heads ;

from A. pubens by its closed and nearly sessile heads ; from the

two preceding by the racemose arrangement of the heads even at

the top of the primary stem.

Its distribution is unknown to me, with the exception that I

have gathered it near Berwick-upon-Tweed, and Mr. Newbould

at Hope in Derbyshire. Mr. Baker states (Suppl. to the Fl. of

Yorkshire, 85) that he finds it frequently in Yorkshire, but I

have not seen any specimens of his plant.

It flowers in August, but, like all the other species, may some-

times be found in that state in J uly.

As I do not know that M. Lange has published the cha-

racters of his plant, it appears to be desirable to insert the fol-

lowing extract from his letter, dated March 1849 :—

“ A. intermedium calath.: adultis ovatis, squamis exterioribus

subulatis viridibus apice stramineis interioribus lanceolatis apice

purpureis. It is the highest of all the species. Plant fresh

green. Stem and head purple brown tinged, the heads doubly

greater than the little form (4. minus). It grows principally in

woods.

** A, minus calath. : adultis depresso-globosis, squamis omnibus

subulatis cano-viridibus exterioribus apice stramineis. The plant

low, pale and grayish green. Open ground.”

It is probable that similar characters to the above are to be

found in that botanist’s ‘ Danish Flora, which I have not seen,

and which is written in the language of Denmark.

4, A. minus (Schkuhr) ; heads racemose shortly stalked spherical

slightly contracted at the mouth in fruit slightly webbed

(greenish), phyllaries falling short of the florets subulate, inner

row equalling the others, subcylindrical upper part of the florets

about equalling the lower part.

A. minus, Schk. Handb. ii. 49 ; Fries, Nov. 263.

A. Lappa a, Linn. Fl. Suec. ed. 2. 277, teste Fries.

A. Lappa, Curt. Fl. Lond. ii. 173 ; Eng. Bot, t. 1228.

Lappa minor, DeCand. Fl. Fr. iv. 77; Koch, Syn. 463; Gren. et

Godr. Fl. Fr. ii. 280; Reichend. Icon. Fl. Germ. xv. 53. t. 811.

Lappa major capitulis parvis glabris, Dill. in Raw Syn. 197. 3.

Lappa major montana, genie minoribus, rotundioribus et magis

tomentosis, Rai Syn. 197. 5

Small-headed Burdock, Pet. 23. bf

Small woolly-headed Burdock, Pet. 23. 4.

Stem and petioles finely mealy. A smaller plant than either

376 Mr. C.C. Babington on the British species of Arctium.

of the preceding. Central stem usually nodding and as well as

the branches producing scattered shortly stalked heads forming

an irregular raceme, on the lower or later branches the heads

are often nearly sessile ; the terminal head solitary. Heads about

half the size of those of the preceding species and greener than

in it; the amount of web very variable. Phyllaries green, some-

. times slightly tinged with purple; the hocked points yellow;

inner row purple at the end, gradually narrowed into a rigid

subulate point but not hooked, alone converging over the fruit ;

the others mostly patent or a few of the outer ones deflexed.

Fruit fuscous with black blotches, rugose towards the top.

The small spherical heads of this plant, about the size of a

hazel-nut, readily distinguish it from A. intermedium; as do

their size, their short stalks, and their racemose arrangement

even upon the central inclined stem, from A. tomentosum. The

very large corymbosely arranged heads of A. majus clearly point

out that plant as distinct from A. minus. The much larger

hemispherical and long-stalked heads separate A. pubens from it.

Although the typical state of A. minus is very different from

A. tomentosum, it is difficult to find any character by which they

may be at all times certainly distinguished. There is a difference

in the shape of the florets: those of A. minus although thick in

their upper part do not enlarge so suddenly as those of A. to-

mentosum, nor do they contract upwards as in it. It is probable

that A. minus never has corymbosely arranged heads ; that they

are always small and shortly stalked; that the florets are deci-

duous so as to leave the tops of the fruits uncovered: that

A. tomentosum always has its central stem erect and corymbose,

although the branches have the heads arranged in racemes ; that

the heads are usually large and those in the corymb have long

stalks ; that the florets are usually so persistent as to hide the

ripening fruit; that the phyllaries of the innermost row are

usually almost wholly membranous and blunt with an excurrent

midrib.

A, minus is probably common, but the distribution of all the

species requires to be carefully determined. ;

My specimens are from Madingley, Cambridgeshire; Stone-

leigh, Warwickshire ; Mordiford, Herefordshire ; St. Aubin’s,

Jersey ; and I have ascertained that it grows near Saffron Wal-

den, Essex ; Bluntisham, Hunts ; Buntingford, Herts ; and Swan-

sea, Glamorgan.

Note.—The A. Bardana of my former paper (Ann. Nat. Hist.

Ser. 1. iv. 255) includes A. tomentosum and A. minus.

5. A. pubens ; heads subracemose stalked hemispherical and open

in fruit much webbed (green) ; phyllaries equalling the florets

_ Mr. C.C. Babington on the British species of Arctium. 377

subulate, inner row equalling the others and gradually subulate,

subcylindrical upper part of the florets equalling the lower

part.

Stem and petioles thickly clothed with short jointed. hairs

which shrink into a coarse mealiness. Stem 3 feet high. Leaves

large, ovate, lowermost cordate-ovate. The central stem erect,

and the branches, ending in irregular racemes of heads. Pedun-—

cles rather long, those of the lower heads the longest. Heads

as large as those of A. tomentosum, much webbed when young

but losing much of the web (as is usually the case with the

other webbed species) as they advance towards fruit, ultimately

appearing to be nearly naked. Phyllaries green, each with a

purple-yellow hook ; inner row narrowing upwards but rather

membranous, purple at the end. Florets very nearly cylindrical

in the enlarged part, persistent but not closing the large space

between the nearly upright inner phyllaries. Fruit dark brown,

very rugose and with a few paler spots towards the top.

I am unable to place this plant satisfactorily under any of the

published species, and think that it is distinct from them. It

differs from A. tomentosum by its subracemose heads with shorter

stalks of which the lower are the longest, heads hemispherical

and open in fruit, inner phyllaries equalling the others and not

widened upwards, upper part of the florets not inflated nor

broadest at the base: from A. majus by its subracemose much

webbed heads, inner phyllaries equalling the others, upper part

equalling the lower part of the florets: from A. mntermedium by

its hemispherical open heads of fruit upon rather long stalks

and the inner phyllaries equalling the others: from A. minus by

its heads being twice as large, hemispherical and on longish

stalks, and the phyllaries equalling the florets.

It is more pubescent than either of the others from having

-much more numerous and longer jointed hairs upon its stem

and leaf-stalks.

The plant is probably not uncommon. I find it in several

places in Cambridgeshire, am indebted to Mr. Kirk for speci-

. mens found by him at Fillingley and Kenilworth in Warwick-

shire, to the Rev. W. W. Newbould for some gathered by him

at Ecclesall near Sheffield, and observed it myself in the valley of

Llanberis in North Wales in August 1855.

Flowering in August.

378 Messrs. R. M‘Andrew and L. Barrett’s List of the Mollusca

XXXIIT.—List of the Mollusca observed between Drontheim

and the North Cape. By R. M‘Anprew, Esq., F.LS., and

L. Barrett, Esq., F.G.S.

Our observations extended along 700 miles of coast, 300 of

which were south and 400 north of the arctic circle, and from

the littoral zone to a depth of 200 fathoms. The opportunities

for dredging were most favourable, the coast being protected

from the Atlantic swell by the numerous islands to the seaward ;

and the deeply indented fiords supplying many secure anchorages

and sheltered dredging grounds. In the following lists the

Norwegian distribution of each species is given, the coast being

divided into three provinces, so that the extreme southern limit

of the arctic species, and the northern limit of the southern spe-

cies, can be more correctly ascertained.

smaller species were extremely abundant, but the 1

G-ASTEROPODA.

We met with 103 species of this class; of these 91 belong to

the order Prosobranchiata, and 12 to the Opisthobranchiata. The

of Buccinum and Fusus were seldom met with.

arger species

PROSOBRANCHIATA.

Species. Range. re sap Ground. | Freq.| Norwegian distribution.

fathoms. | fathoms.

CANCELLARIA, Lam.

viridula, O. Fabr. ...... 30-150) 30-150) gravel, sand. r. |Nord., Fin.

TricuotTropis, Brod.

borealis, Sow. ...... eee} 5-150} 5-100) laminaria, gravel. | a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

Fusus, Lam. ;

propinquus, Alder...... 150. | ...... sand. r. |Fin.

antiquus, Li. ...csssssoe 8-70 | 8-40 | gravel, mud, sand.| a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

islandicus, Chemn....... 30-50 | ....0. sand, gravel. r. |Fin.

norvegicus (young) ...| 100 | ...... sand. ove snc Nils

TropHon, Monif.

clathratus, DL. ...++++-. 10-100} 16-100\gravel, sand, nullip.) a. |Nord., Fin.

Gunneri, Lovén......... 8-150} 8-150 nullip., weed, gravel} a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

Barvicensis? Johnst....| 70-160} 70 gravel. v. r.|Fin.

Note.—The figures in the first column of this and the following pages

indicate the extent of the range at which the species was met with, whether

alive or dead; in the second, the greatest and least depth at which it was

dredged alive ; in the third, the kind of sea-bottom is named ; in the fourth,

the letters express the degree of frequency of occurrence :—a. abundant,

generally distributed and plentiful ; f. frequent ; /. local, more or less plen-

tiful in a few localities; r. rare; and v. 7. very rare, when but few ex-

amples occurred. In the fifth column the northern Scandinavian distri-

bution is given, the coast being divided into three unequal provinces:

North Drontheim (Dront.); Nordland (Nord.); and Finmark (Fin.).

observed between Drontheim and the North Cape. 879

Species, Range. living ee Ground, Freq.| Norwegian distribution.

: fathoms. | fathoms.

Buccinum, L.

undatum, L. ...cce...00. lit.-150) lit.-70 | gravel, mud, sand.| a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

Dalet, J. Sow. .c.dcsc.s 100-160)100-160 sand. yv. r. |Fin,

Humphreysianum, Benn. 16-150} 16-150) nullipora, sand. |v. r. |Fin.

fusiforme, Brod. ......| ...+0 30-160 sand. y. r. |Fin.

eyaneum, Brug. ...... lit. lit. rock, sand. a. |Nord., Fin

Nassa, Lam.

reticulata, DL. ...ccc00e 8-15 | 8-15 mud, stones. r. |Nord.

incrassata, Mill. ...... 5-50 | 5-50 | laminaria, sand. | a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

Purpura, Adans.

MORAN: Ly) <dnasedecees| | Hite lit. rock, sand. a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

PLEevuRoTOMA, Lam.

nivale, Lovén ......0..00+ 30-150} 30-150) — sand, gravel. r. |Nord., Fin,

teres, Forbes ......++04 OO biewanee sand. 1 sp.|Dront.

Bea, Leach.

turricula, Montg. ......| 10-150) 10-130) mud, sand, gravel.| a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

TOSCA, SATS .icviccsoceesis 30 10 mud, sand. r. |Nord.

rufa, Montg. ..........| 10-200) 10-100)mud, gravel, nullip.| a. {Dront., Nord., Fin.

mitrula, Loven ........ 10 10 sand. l. |Nord., Fin.

Trevelliana, Turton ...| 8-200} 8-150) gravel, mud. a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

Derrancia, Millet.

linearis, Montg. ...... 10-40 | 10-40 [nullip., gravel, mud} r. |Dront., Nord.

pyramidalis, Strém. ...| 50-100) 50 sand, gravel. r. |Nord., Fin.

Cyprama, L.

europsea, Montg. ...0.| 30 |... nullipora. v. r. |Dront.

Natica, Lam.

nitida, Don. ........+... 6-50 | 6-50 jnull., gravel, lamin.) a. [Dront., Nord., Fin.

Montagui, Forbes ...... 3-70 | 3-70 |gravel, nullip., mud] r. [Dront., Nord., Fin.

helicoides, Johnst...... .| 3-60 | 3-30 gravel, sand. 1, |Dront., Nord., Fin.

pusilla, Gould ......... lit.-150} lit.-150\sand, gravel, weed | 1. |Dront., Fin.

Clausa, Sow. ...scceeeas. lit.-150) lit.-150) sand, weed, mud. | a. |Nord., Fin.

LAMELLARIA, Montg.

rodita, Loven ...e...0.| + ee | 30-40 |coral, gravel, sand.) 1. |Fin.

ELUTINA, Flem.

laevigata, L. ......s0000. 1-150) 1-50 | laminaria, gravel. | r. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

flexilis, Montg. .........| 10-40 | 10-40 | laminaria, gravel. |v. r. |Fin.

Opostomia, Flem.

licata, Montg. ...... ...| 15-70 | 15-70 sand, gravel. r. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

HEMNITZIA, D’Orb.

elegantissima ......... 35-160} 40-100 gravel. f. |Nord., Fin.

rufescens, Forbes ...... 50 begneis sand. v. r. |Dront.

EuuLImME.L.La, Forbes.

Scillee, Sow. ............| 15-200) 25-100) gravel, mud. r. |Dront., Nord.

affinis, Phil. .........00 2 ae sand. r. |Nord., Fin.

Euuia, Risso. :

bilineata, Alder....... ..| 15-200} 20-100 mud, sand. a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

Species (MEW)..+.......06 ? 4

polita, fai/....dseiiie. | 15-70 | 40 sand. v. r.|Dront., Nord.

Crriruium, Brug. ‘

metula, Lovén ........: 20-150) 20-150 mud, sand. f. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

species (NEW) ....0.+6. 2 4

reticulatum, Da Costa} 1-40 | 1-40 |. mud, laminaria. | f. |Dront.

380 Messrs. R. M‘Andrew and L. Barrett’s List of the Mollusca

Species. Range. living a Ground.

fathoms. | fathoms.

Triroris, D’ Arch.

M‘Andrei, Adams ......| 50-100} 50-70 sand, gravel.

AporruHals, Da Costa.

pes-carbonis, Brug. ...| 70 | esses. sand.

pes-pelecani, L. ...... 8-40 | 8-40 gravel, mud.

TURRITELLA, Lam.

communis, Risso ...... 15-40 | 15-40 mud, gravel.

Scavaria, Lam.

greenlandica, Sow. ...| 15-150} 15-45 | — gravel, sand.

Loveni, Adams ......... 30-50 | 30-50 gravel.

Lirrorina, Féruss.

littorea, Le. . ainssecerece hit.-10 | lit.-5 | rock, nullipora.

tudis, Don. .........00% lit.-7 lit. rock.

littoralis, DL. ......sscee. lit. lit. rock.

Lacuna, Turton. :

vincta, Montg. .........| lit.-30 | lit.-30 | laminaria, gravel.

labiosa, Lovén ......00.| sesees 2-5 laminaria.

Rissoa, Flem.

calathus, F. & H.......{ 5-40 | 5-10 | laminaria, gravel.

striata, Montg. ......... 8-25 | 8-25 mud, gravel.

parva, Da Costa ...... lit.-10 | lit.-10 weed, gravel.

rufilabrum, D. ......... 1-10 | 1-10 /laminaria, nullipora

ulvze, Penti. ..iiseés.e0s% lit. lit. mud.

SKENEA, Flem.

SPECIES ....-eeseeeeseeee} 15-70 | 15-40 | mud, gravel.

Trocuus, L.

millegranus, Phil. 15-50 | 15-50 |nullip., sand, gravel

tumidus, Montg. ...... lit.-30 | lit.-30 [null., gravel, lamin.

cinerarius, Montg. ...| lit.-30 | lit.-30 | laminaria, gravel.

Marearita, Leach. f

alabastrum, Beck ..... .| 25-150) 25-100 avel, coral.

helicina, O. Fabr....... lit.-30 | lit.-30 /laminaria, nullipora

undulata, Sow. ......0+: ht.-150} lit.-100)lamin., gravel, null.

cinerea, Couth. .........| 10-150} 10-130)gravel, weed, coral.

ScissuRELLA, D’Orb.

crispata, Flem. ......++: 40-100} 40-80 sand, gravel.

angulata, Lovén ...... 40-100) ...... sand.

PuNCTURELLA, Lovén.

noachina, L,. ......-.00+. 4-150} 4-70 | gravel, nullipora.

EMARGINULA, Lam.

reticulata, Sow.,........ 1-30 | 1-30 |laminaria, nullipora

crassa, J. Sow. ......00. BO | ceoess gravel.

Piteopsis, Lam.

hungaricus, L. ......6+4] ++ ee 20 gravel, rock.

PATELLA, L.

vulgata, D. ...... diesel lit. lit. rock.

pellucida, L. ..........2. lit.-20 | lit.-20 | rock, laminaria.

ceca, Mill... ..6200008 20-100} 20-100) = gravel, mud.

Acmza, Esch. i

virginea, Miill. ......... 6-50 | 6-50 | gravel, nullipora.

testudinalis, Mill. ..,| lit.-30 | lit.-10 | nullipora, gravel.

Propiuipivum, F. & H.

fulvum, Miill. .........| 15-150) 15-100) gravel, nullipora.

Freq.

v.Yr.

. |Nord..

Norwegian distribution.

Dront., Nord., Fin.}.

Dront., Nord

Dront., Nord.

Dront.

Dront., Nord.

Dront., Nord., Fin.

Dront.

Dront., Nord.

Dront,

Dront., Nord.

Dront., Nord., Fin.)

Dront., Nord., Fin.

Nord.

Nord., Fin.

Dront., Nord.

. |Dront.

.|Dront., Nord.

Dront., Nord.

Dront., Nord., Fin.

yy Pere

observed between Drontheim and the North Cape. 381

Species. Range. living xc Ground. Freq.| Norwegian distribution.

fathoms. | fathoms.

DentTALIuM, L.

BAUME Ts. Seca sceccestce 4-200) 4-200) gravel, nullipora. | a. [Dront., Nord., Fin.

species (NEW) .....000 70-150) 70-150 mud. r. |Nord., Fin.

species (new) .....00.. ? ?

Cuiton, L.

Hanleyi, Bean ......005| seeoee 35-120! rock, gravel. r. |Dront., Nord.

TUDOR ee eke se cee es it “cunts et 1-30 | gravel, nullipora. | a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

asellus, Chem. .....00+5| sseeee 1-130 gravel. a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

leevis,: Penng 1.0.1.0 f ise. 30-50 nullipora. a. |Fin.

marmoreus, O. Fabr....| «++... 7-30 jnullipora, laminaria, a. |Nord., Fin

cancellatus, Sow. ......| see 15-20 gravel. r. |Nord.

alveolus, Sars ...scccee] ceeees 120-150 rock. r. |Dront., Nord.

Cineres, LD. ...ces.ceaee| cveees lit. gravel. 1 sp.|Dront.

OPpiIsTHOBRANCHIATA.

TORNATELLA, Lam.

fasciata, Li. .scecceseese 30-35 | 30-35 |: mud. 1. |Dront., Nord.

CyLicuna, Lovén.

alba, Loven ....s.ccee0- 20-150} 20-30 mud, sand. f. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

cylindracea, Penn. 20-70 | 20-40 gravel. r. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

truncata, Montg. ......| 8-100) 8-100 mud, sand. f. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

AMPHISPHYRA, Lovén.

hyalina, Turton ......] ss .. | 20-30 mud. r. |Fin.

SCAPHANDER, Montf.

librarius, Lovén ...... 20-150) 20-30 mud, sand. a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

PHILINE, Ascanius.

scabra, Miill. ......00. 15-40 | 15-40 | mud, nullipora. 1. |Dront., Nord.

aperta, L. — es.eeee00e+-| 15-20 | 15-20 nullipora. r. |Nord.

quadrata, S. Wood ...| 40-100; 40-100 gravel, . 1. |Fin.

Apuysia, L.

hybrida, Sow. ...... Dt Wanet lit.-20 rock. r. |Dront., Nord.

Doris, L. .

Johnstoni, A. & H. ...| ...... lit. rock. l. |Nord.

Denpronotus,A.& H.

arborescens, Miill. ...| ....0. lit. rock. r.

PTEROPODA.

Prof. Lovén in his ‘Catalogue of the Mollusca of Western

Scandinavia’ enumerates three species of this order ; but we were

not fortunate enough to procure a living or dead specimen of

We dredged at the entrance of Drontheim fiord

three dead specimens of a species of Cleodora.

either species.

- Species. Range. Pa pe Ground.

: fathoms. | fathoms.

CLEODORA, species ...) 70 | ...00 sand.

Freq.

3 sp.

Norwegian distribution.

Drontheim.

382 Messrs. R. M‘Andrew and L. Barrett’s List of the Mollusca

BRACHIOPODA.

Five species of this order inhabit the shores of Norway, four

of which we procured abundantly, the great depth of water

along the coast being favourable to their numerical development ;

they range from 25-160 fathoms, and are generally distributed

along the coast, with the exception of Crania anomala, which

becomes extremely scarce in Nordland and is not found in Fin-

mark. The species are mostly gregarious, and often when a

haul of shells is obtained from clean ground, the specimens of

Brachiopoda greatly exceed the other Bivalves and Univalves in

number. Very few dead Terebratule were met with.

Species. Range. ie wt Ground. Freq.| Norwegian distribution.

fathoms. | fathoms.

TEREBRATULA, Brug.

cranium, Miill. .......+. 15-200) 25-160 gravel. 1. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

TEREBRATULINA,@ Orb. ;

caput-serpentis, L. ...| 30-100} 30-100; coral, gravel. a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

RHYNCHONELLA, Fisch.

psittacea, Gm. ....+.... 40-150} 40-50 gravel. r. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

Crania, Rez.

anomala, Miill. .......+. 25-100) 25-100) = gravel, rock. a. |Dront., Nord.

CoNCHIFERA.

We met with ninety-four species of this class. They are most

abundant on sandy ‘and muddy bottoms.

We dredged off the

Vigten Islands one living specimen of the Lima excavata, which

was by far the largest bivalve met with. Among the shells

brought home were a few specimens which Mr. Woodward has

found to be identical with Limopsis pygmea from the Crag, a shell

hitherto supposed to be extinct.

Species. Range. living a Ground. Freq.| Norwegian distribution.

fathoms. | fathoms.

Anomia, L.

ephippium, DL. ......... 1-160} 1-160) nullipora, gravel. | a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

patelliformis, L. ......| 3-28 | 3-25 | gravel, nullipora. | a. |Dront., Nord.

aculeata, Miill. ......... 1-70 | 1-70 | gravel, nullipora. |...... Dront., Nord., Fin.

striata, LOVEN.....++00++ 50 50 gravel. 1, [Dront.

PrectENn, Miiller.

opercularis, D. .......04] sseee 3-25 | gravel, nullipora. | r. |Dront., Nord.

islandicus, Mill. ......| 15-150) 20-40 | gravel, nullipora. | a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

pusio, Pent. ......ce000| oseees 5-20 laminaria. r. |Dront.

tigrinus, Miill. ......++. 20-100) 20-100} mud, gravel. f. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

observed between Drontheim and the North Cape.

383

Species. Range. biviae, - Ground.

fathoms, | fathoms.

Precten, Miill.

striatus, Miill. ......... 3-100} 3-50 mud, gravel.

danicus, Chemn. ...... ae (5 YE pe ea mud, gravel.

similis, Laskey ......4.. 15-200) 15-50 | sand, nullipora.

groenlandicus, Sow. ...|100-150) 150 sand.

sp. (mew) .siwisill,...3.. 100-150) 100-150 sand.

BPs (ROW) sleds Liisie.8: 100-150) 100-150 sand.

Lima, Brug

hians, Gm. ...seee0000.| 4-25 | 4-25 | gravel, nullipora.

Loscombii, Leach...... 8-50 | 15-25 | gravel, nullipora.

subauriculata, Montg...| 15-120) 15-120) gravel, sand.

excavata, Chemn. ......| 30-150) 120 gravel, rock.

Limopsis, Sassi.

pygmea, Philippi ....0.| sees 70-100) gravel, mud.

Mytiuus, L

edalia, Lo.) 00-0008 seeee.| lit.-40 | lit.-40 | nullipora, gravel.

Mopro.a, Lam.

modiolus, LD. ....0000. 6-30 | *6-30 | laminaria, gravel.

phaseolina, Phil. ...... 30-160} 30-160 gravel.

SP. 2 ceccccanscscoseseceve 30 30 mud.

CRENELLA, Brown.

decussata, Montg. 8-150} 8-100) sand, gravel.

Giscors) Ty, t4s465..%..¥. 3-100) lit.-109} rock, gravel.

nigra, Gray ........0.. 15-150} 15-150) mud, sand, gravel.

marmorata, Forbes ...| lit.-100) lit.-100} mud, gravel.

Arca, L.

raridentata, S. Wood...| 20-150) 30-150 gravel.

nodulosa, Mill. ...... 15-25 | 15-25 gravel.

Nucuta, Lam. :

nucdedey Dai) ibis s.s00s 8-50 | 8-50 | nullipora, gravel.

tenuis, Montg. ......... 8-100} 8-100) gravel, mud.

corticata, Moller ...... 100-150/100-150 sand, mud.

Lepa, Schum.

pernula, Mill. ......... 20-160) 20-160) gravel, mud.

caudata, Don. ......... 10-160} 10-160} gravel, mud.

lucida, Lovén ......... 10-160; 10-160} sand, gravel.

pygmea, Munster 120 120 mud,

limatula, Say ......... 120 120 mud.

Carpium, L.

echinatum, DL. ......... 20-40 | 20-40 | mud, nullipora.

WIE PIS. vecssascdeve nse lit.-25 | lit.-25 sand, mud.

fasciatum, Montg. ...| 15-100) 15-100} mud, gravel.

nodosum, Turton ...... 3-100) 3-100) nullipora, mud.

suecicum, Reeve ......| 20-150) 20-100} gravel, mud.

elegantulum, Moller...| 30-40 | 30-40 mud.

Lucina, Brug.

borealis, L. ...... wee} 8-30 | 8-30 | mud, null., gravel.

spinifera, Montg. ...... a sand.

flexuosa, Montg. ...... 7-150; 7-150} mud, gravel.

ferruginosa, Forbes ...| 20-100) 20-100} gravel, sand.

Sarsil 2; PAB aise a 30-100) ...... sand, mud.

Freq.| Norwegian distribution.

a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

valves| Dront., Nord., Fin.

f. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

v.r. |Nord., Fin.

veuraty Nord.

v.r. |Nord., Fin.

a. |Dront., Nord.

v.r. |Dront., Nord.

v.r. |Dront.

v.r. |Dront., Nord.

v.r. |Nord.

a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

r. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

r. |Fin.

f. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

f. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

l. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

Nord., Fin.

Dront.

Nord.

Dront., Nord., Fin.

Nord., Fin.

Dront., Nord., Fin.

Nord.

. Nord.

Dront., Nord., Fin.

Nord., Fin.

Dront., Nord., Fin.

Fin.

Dront., Nord., Fin.

.|.Nord.

Dront., Nord., Fin.

Dront., Nord.

Dront., Nord., Fin.

384 Messrs. R. M‘Andrew and L. Barrett’s List of the-Mollusca

Found

-| Norwegian distribution.|

Species. Range. | jiving at Ground, Freq

fathoms. | fathoms.

ARTEMIS. rma Yi

exoleta: Ja.) Vai. id. 3-10 | 3-10 nullipora. v.r. |Nord. saad

lincta, Pult. ............ 8-25 | 8-25 mud, gravel. r. |Dront., Nord.

KEeLuia, Turton. ak

suborbicularis, Montg.| 1-25 | 1-25 gravel. r. |Dront. xe

Monracuta, Turton.

substriata, Montg. ...| ...... 20 on Spatangus. | ¥- |Dront., Nord.

bidentata, Montg. ...| ...... 50? sand. sp.|Nord.. *

Cyprina, Lam.

islandica ..........e..8- 8-70 | 8-70 gravel, sand. a. |Dront., Nord, Bat

ASTARTE, Sow.

suleata, Da Costa......| 15-160} 15-160) — sand, gravel. a. |Dront., Nord., Fin

crebricostata, F......... 20-200} 20-160)mud, nullip.,gravel.| a. [Nord., Fin... |

eHliptica, Brown ...... 4-50 | 4-50 |sand,nullip.,gravel.| a. Dront., Nord., Fin.

arctica, Gray ......00. lit.-4) | lit.-30 | sand, nullip., mud.| 1. |Nord., Fin. 7h {i

compressa, Montg. 4-50 | lit.-50 gravel, sand, nullip.| a. Dront., whe Fin.

Venus, L.

fasciata, Da Costa ...| 50 | «..... sand. 1 sp.|Dront.

striatula, Da Costa ...| 3-40 | .3-40 jgravel,nullip.,sand.| a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

ovata, Penn. ....4...005. 15-100} 15-100 nullip.,gravel,sand.| a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

casing, Dy. seiiesiscviss 15-25 | ese gravel. 1 sp./Dront.

Tapes, Megerle.

pullastra, Wood ...... Bo1O fia ssiees nullipora. r. |Dront., Nord.

virginea, Dy. \:.. 5.5.0.5}. Lb-25 | iesesss gravel. v.r. |Dront., Nord.

Mactra, L. 1

Shinty Be és 7-150} 7-25 | nullipora, sand. f. |Dront., Nord.; Fin.

TELLINA, L. Doh

solidula, Pult. ....... 4-28 | 4-25 gravel, mud. f. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

proxima, Brown ...... 20-100} 20-100} sand, nullipora, | f- |Dront., Nord., Fin.

fabula, Gronovius......} ...... 3-10 nullipora. r. |Nord.

PsamMMoBIA, L.

ferroensi8,Chemn. ...... 3-40 | 3-40 | nullipora, gravel. | ¢- |Dront., Nord.

tellinella, Lam. 223...) cceee. 3-25 | nullipora, gravel. | ?: Dront., Nord.

GASTRANA, Schum. ‘

fragtis, Tae avec sane KROL oe bceebecsopeeuane 1 valve| Dront.

Donax, L.

anatinus, Lam. ......+0.} 15-25 | sss... gravel r. |Dront.

Synposmya, Recluz. F

ala, Wood ii iii. 8-40 | 8-40 mud a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

prismatica, Montg. 8-150} 8-30 mud. a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

mtermedia, Thompson| 8-70 | 8-70 mud a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

SOLEN, qT.

CRM ee sekcatces Ui 778% oat rock 1 sp.|Nord.

pellucidus, Penn. ...... 3-40 | 3-40 mud. r. |Dront., Nord.

Mya, L

truncata Tir ...33.. lit.-100} lit.-40 | mud, sand. a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

arenaria, Dye ..5.....008 20-40 | 20-40 mud. r. |Dront., Nord., Fin.

CorBu.a, Brug.

nucleus, Lam. ......++. 8-20 | 8-20] mud, gravel. a. |Dront., Nord.

NERA, Gray.

cuspidata, Olivi ...... 40-160} 40-160} gravel, mud. f. |Nord., Fin.

costellata, Desh. ...... 20-40 | 20-40 mud. r. |Dront.

observed between Drontheim and the North Cape. 385

Species. Range. site os Ground. Freq.| Norwegian distribution.

fathoms. | fathoms.

Nera, Gray.

obesa, Lovén ......00. 30-35 | 30-35 mud. r. |Fin.

Tuetis (EMBLA).

Korenii, Lovén ......... 45-90 | 70 sand. r. |Fin.

SAXICAVA.

I Bi lennanssesdes lit.-160) lit.-150} gravel, sand. a. |Dront., Nord., Fin.)

Turacia, Bl.

convexa, Wood ......... 8-100} 8-100} gravel, mud. ]. |Nord., Fin.

phaseolina, Lam. ......| s+ 2-25 gravel, sand. r. |Nord.

PERIPLOMA, Schum.

pretenuis, Pult. ......| +00 3-10 nullipora. v.r. |Nord.

Lyonsia, Turton.

arenosa, Moller ......| sees | 4-7 nullipora. r. |Nord.

CIOS, cr ec diel’ aaa 70 sand. vy. r. |Dront.

PuHo.as, L

erispata, D.. s.....s0000 nd Gree sand. 1 sp.|Nord.

XyLopHaGa, Turton.

GOPSAD .. cardvionss sneha vet oe +e 30-40 wood. - |y.r.|Dront.

TeREDO, Adans.

norvegica, Spengl.....0.| sees. 20-30 wood. v.r. |Fin,

TUNICATA.

The species of this class were most abundant on clean ground

at a depth of 15-50 fathoms. In Grote fiord, on a muddy

bottom in 20 fathoms water, a species of Cynthia occurred abun-

dantly in masses composed of twenty to thirty individuals. A

single specimen of Pelonea corrugata was dredged off the coast

of Nordland.

Amovuracium, M.-Edw. Ascip1A, Baster.

argus, M.-Edw. virginea, O. F. Miiller.

BotryYLuvus, Gaertner. CYNTHIA, Savigny.

* polyeyclus, Savigny. limacina, EF. Forbes.

BotryLLoipEs, M.-Edw. ageregata, Rathke.

albicans, M/.-Edw. PELoNzA, F. & G.

corrugata, Forbes.

Note.—We have several other species of this class which we

think are not described.

Potyzoa,

The number of species collected is about thirteen, of which

six at least seem to have been hitherto undescribed. With one

exception, those which are known appear to belong to forms met

with only in the Arctic or northern part of the temperate zones.

The exception, Retepora cellulosa, of which however only a frag-

ment occurred, is found in the Mediterranean, and probably in

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 5

386 Mr\A. Rv Wallace’s Account of an Infant Orang-Utan.

the Southern hemisphere also. One species seems to be identical

with a tertiary fossil, Defrancia stellata of Goldfuss. The most

striking peculiarities in so small a collection are the occurrence

in it of no Jess than four new species of Eschara, and of two new

(as recent) forms of Defrancia, both abundant generic forms in

the tertiary and cretaceous formations. ac

CELLEPORA, O. Fabricius. IpmMongA, Lame.

cervicornis, Autor. atlantica, Forbes.

Escuara, Ray. Hornera, Lamz.

teres, n. sp. frondiculata, Lame.

tridens, n. sp. Diastropora, M.-Edw.

saccata, li. sp. obelia, Johnst.

rosacea, Ni. sp. TuspuLipora, Lamarck.

Retepora, Imperato. hispida, Fleming.

cellulosa, Lam. DgFRANCIA, Bronn.

beaniana, King. fungiformis, n. sp-

stellata, Goldfuss.

Frequently the dredge came up quite full of masses of one or

more of the above species. At Keilvig, in l'inmark, a dredge

from 100 to 160 fathoms water was quite filled with Retepora.

The Cellepora cervicornis frequently formed large patches im

50 fathoms water. The Idmonea atlantica was very common,

attached to a red weed found in the lower part of the Lami-

narian zone. We are indebted to Mr. Busk for the above list

and notes on the Polyzoa; he has also kindly described and

figured the new species, which will be published im. an. early

Number of the § Annals.’ :

XXXIV.—Some Account of an Infant “ Orang: Utan.”

By Atrrep R. WALLACE.

Tus little animal was probably not more than a month old

when I obtained it by shooting its mother, with whom it fell to

the ground apparently uninjured. I found out afterwards that

it had then broken a leg and an arm, which however mended so

rapidly, that I only noticed it a week or two afterwards by

observing the hard swellings on the limbs where the irregular

junction of the bone had taken place. When I first obtained it,

it. was toothless, but a few days afterwards it cut its two lower

front teeth. I fed it with rice-water given out of a bottle with

a quill in the cork, which after one or two triais it sucked very

well. When however a finger was placed in its mouth it would

suck at it with remarkable vigour, drawing in its little cheeks

with all its might, thinking no doubt it had got hold of the

MrvA. Ru Wallace’s Account.of.an Infant Orang-Utans 387;

right,,thing! at last, and wondermg that all its exertions could

get, no.milk out of it. It would persevere for a long time till

at, last it gave up with despair and disgust, indicated generally

by.a very baby-like scream.

When handled or nursed it was always quiet and contented,

but when laid down alone it would invariably cry, and the first

night or two was very restless. I fitted up a small box as its

cradle with a mat for it to lie upon, which was changed and washed

every day. I soon found it necessary to wash the little Mias

as well, which appeared to have very good effect. It winced a

little and made ridiculously wry faces when the cold water was

poured over its head, but enjoyed the rubbing dry amazingly,

and was particularly pleased at having the hair of its back, head

and legs brushed afterwards, during which operation it would

lie perfectly still as long as I liked to continue it. For the

first day or two it clung desperately with its four hands to what-

ever it could lay hold of, and having once unawares caught hold

of my whiskers and beard, it clutched them with its little hooked

fingers cruelly tight, and I had considerable difficulty in getting

free. It doubtless felt quite at home, being accustomed to cling

from its birth to the long hair of its mother.

When restless it would struggle about with its hands up to

eatch hold of something, and might often be seen quite con-

tented when it had some bit of rag or stick grasped in two or

three of its hands. At other times it would take hold of its own

feet, and latterly its constant practice was to cross its arms like a

little Napoleon, and with each hand seize hold of the long hair

just below its opposite shoulder. The excessive tenacity of its

grasp however soon diminished. The constant and powerful

exercise of the limbs in the young Mias, remaining as it does for

many hours each day with the whole weight of its body sup-

ported by its four extremities. from the body of its mother,

must induce a development of the limbs which can hardly take

place in confinement. We should therefore expect a considerable

- difference m the proportions of the limbs and body, between

animals brought up in a state of captivity and those killed in a

state of nature.

I soon found that I could feed my infant Mias with a spoon,

and make its food rather more solid. I gave it soaked or chewed.

biscuit with a little sugar and egg, and sometimes sweet potatoes.

These it liked very much, and it was a never-failing source of

amusement to observe the curious changes of countenance by

which it would express its approval or dislike of what was given

it. It would lick its lips, draw in its cheeks, and turn up its

eyes with an expression of the most supreme satisfaction when

it had a mouthful particularly to its taste. On the other hand,

25%

388 Mr. iA, R. Wallace’s Account of an Infant Orang-Utan.

when, its food was, not sufficiently sweet or palatable, it would

turn the mouthful about with its tongue for a moment as. if

trying to extract what flavour there was, and then push it all out

between its lips. If the same food was continued, it would. set

up a scream and kick about violently, exactly like a baby ina

passion.

After about three weeks I obtained a small Hare-lipped

Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus), which, though young, had its

first teeth, was very active, and could feed itself. I placed it in

the same box with the Mias and they immediately became ex-

cellent friends, not exhibiting the least fear of each other. The

little monkey would sit upon the Mias’ stomach, or even on its

face, with very little regard to its feelings, and after feeding

would pick off what was sticking to its lips, and then pull open

its mouth and put its little hand in to see if any was left inside,

and would afterwards lie down across its body in whatever posi-

tion was most convenient, without at all consulting the comforts

of its companion. The poor little Mias would submit to all

these insults with the most exemplary patience, seeming quite

glad to have something warm about its body, and occasionally

taking its revenge by clutching tight hold of the loose skin on

the monkey’s back or head, and then, when he tried to escape,

holding on by the long tail as long as it could, the vigorous

jumps of the monkey generally being too much for it in the

end.

It was curious to observe the difference between these two.

The Mias like a young baby lying on its back quite helpless,

rolling lazily from side to side, stretching out its four hands into

the air wishing to grasp something, but unable to guide its

fingers to any particular object, and when dissatisfied opening

wide its almost toothless mouth and expressing its wants. by an

infantine scream. The little monkey, on the other hand, im con-

stant motion, running and jumping about wherever it pleased,

examining everything with its fingers and seizing hold of the

smallest objects with the greatest precision, balancing itself on

the edge of the box, or running up a post and helping itself. to

everything eatable that came in its way. There could not bea

greater contrast, and the baby Mias looked more baby-like by

the comparison.

In order to give my infant a little exercise and strengthen its

limbs, I contrived a kind of ladder upon which I put it to hang

for a quarter of an hour at a time; but this was not much to its

liking, as it could not get all four of its legs into convenient

positions. It would hang for some time by two hands only, and

then suddenly leaving go with one would cross it to the opposite

shoulder to catch hold of its own hair, and thinking no doubt

My. AYRy Wallace’s “Account ofan Infant Orang-Utan. 389

that that. would support it much better than the’ stick, would

leave hold with the other hand and come tumbling down on to

the floor, when it would immediately cross its arms and lie

quite contented, for it never seemed hurt by any of its numerous

tumbles. I then tried to make a kind of artificial mother for

the little creature by wrapping up a piece of buffalo-skin into a

bundle with the long woolly hair outside, and hung it up about

a foot from the ground. This suited it much better, as it could

Sprawl its legs and arms about wherever it liked, and always find

some hair to catch hold of, which its little fingers grasped with

the greatest tenacity. But the very success of this plan led to

its speedy disuse ;—it was too natural; and the poor little crea-

ture thinking it had recovered its mother was continually trying

to suck. It would pull itself up close by the strength of its

arms and try everywhere for a likely place, but only succeeded

in getting mouthfuls of wool, when of course it would be greatly

disgusted, scream violently, and if not rescued would soon let

itself fall. One day it got so much wool into its throat that I

thought it would have been choked, but after much gasping

it recovered, and this plan of giving it exercise had to be dis-

continued.

After I had had it about a month, it began to exhibit some

little signs of learning to run alone. When laid upon the floor

it would push itself along by its legs, or roll over, and thus make

an unwieldy progression. When in its box it would lift itself

up to the edge into almost an erect position, and once or twice

succeeded in tumbling out. When left dirty or hungry, or any-

way neglected, it would scream violently till attended to, varied

by a kind of pumping noise very similar to that which is made

by the adult animal. If its cries were taken no notice of, or no

oné was in the house, it would lie quiet, but as soon as it heard

a footstep near it would recommence with great violence.

In five weeks it cut its two upper front teeth, but in all this

time it had not grown the least, remaining both in dimensions and

weight the same as when I first procured it. This was no doubt

owing to want of milk or other equally nourishing food. Rice-

“water was a miserable substitute, and cocoa-nut milk, which I

‘sometimes gave it, did not quite agree with its stomach. To

this I imputed an attack of diarrhoea which the poor little ani-

mal suffered, for which I gave it a small dose of castor-oil which

“operated very well, and it afterwards soon became better. It

“was however again taken ill, and this time more seriously. The

symptoms were all those of intermittent fever, accompanied with

its food, and after lingering for a week a most pitiable object,

died, after being in my possession nearly three months.

390 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

I much regretted the loss of my little pet, which T had at one

time looked forward to bringing up to years of maturity, and

which had afforded me daily amusement and pleasure by its

curious ways and the inimitably ludicrous expressions of its little

countenance. Could I have obtained a regular supply of milk,

or better still, could I have found some animal to have given it

suck, I have little doubt it might have been reared, though it

would probably never have reached the dimensions of its parents.

It is probable that so young an animal of this species has never

been before observed by Europeans. I have therefore given this

brief account of its habits, which may not be uninteresting to

lovers of nature.

Dimensions of young Orang-Utan.

it, ih.

Length : heel to crown ....eseseseceseeseees Lion?

arms extended ...s.ccsecessaceseece hol]

legs extended, } ; «csp -syeperpario'edd : one”;

EE PER ESTE PORT O48

GE UREN Cac pesan cael cspcnet sce uauiens 2 ati

Gitth oP Body! i.e AO Aas RSA 0 11

ofthigh (2. lslica. i. 2ild)..end tho DBF

Cf HID vine cap shtedachensscopapcbeaddionven> 0:5:%

of head, chin to Crown .....eseeceeees Ly 34

Weight 3 lb. 9 oz.

XXXV.—On the Theory of the Fecundation of the Ovum.

By E. Cuaparepe.

[Concluded from p. 311.]

We have already seen that J. Miiller, on discovering an open-

ing in the envelope of the ova of Holothuria, could not avoid

mentioning the analogy of this canal with the micropyle of. the

Phanerogamous plants, so naturally did this comparison occur

to the mind. Keber in his turn adopted the name of micropyle

in treating of the ova of the Nazades, and we may now say that

both the name and the analogy are sanctioned by science. The

analogies between the modes of fecundation in the vegetable and

animal kingdoms are indeed of more than one kind. What, in

fact, are the phytosperms of the Cryptogamia,—for an exact

knowledge of which we are particularly indebted to Nageli and

Leszezye-Suminski,—unless they are the spermatozoa of these

plants? Is it not a very remarkable fact, that in both cases

fecundation should be connected with particles endowed with

motion, which at first sight might be taken for animated crea-

tures? Prévost and Dumas, Siebold, Miller, Wagner, Kélliker,

(Juatrefages, Bischoff, Leuekart, &c., have more especially

Fecundation of the Ovum. |» 391

. brought. forward. the importance of these mobile. particles in the

act of fecundation in animals. Brongniart*, Schleident, Nagelif,

Gviffith$, Suminski||, and especially Hofmeister], and Hen-

_ frey **, have also noticed the importance of the movements of

the phytosperms, or vegetable spermatozoa, and the contents of

the pollen in the act of fecundation. From what we know of

the generation of the Ferns, the Lycopodiacez, the Equisetacee,

the Rhizocarpes, the Mosses, and the Characez, does it not

present so great an analogy with the generation of animals, that

the relation must strike everybody? In each case we have

oogenous and spermagenous bodies, which are in such similar

conditions, that we may ask why we may not say simply ovary

instead of archegonium, and testicle instead of antheridium? The

analogy goes so far, that we find in both groups examples of

alternate generations 1 accordance with the same type. On

one hand, for instance, we have a Hydra which produces, asexu-

ally, buds which become converted into Meduse, whilst the

Medusa acquires sexual organs and produces polypes in its

turn, after fecundation; and, on the other hand, we have Ferns

which produce buds (the so-called spores) asexually, which are

converted into a prothallium, and this developes antheridia and

archegonia, that is to say, sexual organs, and in its turn re-

produces Ferns, after a fecundation. The sexuality of plants

has been long in making its way into science, and, up to the

most recent times, the entire group of the so-called Crypto-

gamia has been excluded from the privilege of possessing sexes.

Is it not a singular circumstance, that it should have been re-

served for our age to show that these Cryptogamia are of all

plants those of which the sexual organs possess the greatest

analogy with those of animals? All, or nearly all the Crypto-

gamia in fact appear to possess, on the one hand, archegonia

(or ovaries), and, on the other, antheridia (or testicles) ; in the

latter, spermatozoids are developed. (We prefer the term sper-

matozoid to that of phytosperm, because it is applicable at once

to plants and animals.) We are acquainted with these organs

in the Equisetacez, the Rhizocarpex, the Ferns, the Lycopodi-

* Rech. sur la Génération et le Développement de l’Embryon dans les

Végétaux phanérogames. Ann. des Sci. Nat. 1828.

+ Grundziige der wissenschaftlichen Botanik.

{ Bewegliche Spiralfaden (Samenfaden ?) an Farren; im Schleiden und

Niageli’s Zeitschr. fiir wiss. Botanik, 1844.

§ Linn. Trans. xxi.

|| Zur Entwickelung der Farrenkrauter, 1848. .

| Untersuchungen des Vorganges bei der Befruchtung der G‘notheren.

' Bot. Zeitung von Mohl und Schlechtendal, 1847. i

** Linn. Trans. xxi.; Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. ix. 1852,

392 M.E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

ace, the Mosses and the Characee, and we have strong pre+:

sumptions that we are on the way to discover them in» the

Floridez, the Fucoidex, the Lichenes and the Fungi. Lastly,

their existence has lately been ascertained by Pringsheim in the

freshwater Alge*. The analogy of these organs with the gene-

rative organs of animals is so great, that it is the sole reason for

their being regarded as organs of fructification ; for until within

the last few years we had no direct proofs of their function.

And yet botanists are now almost universally agreed to regard

them as organs serving for reproduction. It is an interesting

fact, that at the very moment when the discovery of the pene-

tration of the animal spermatozoid into the ovum startled the

zoologists, that of the passage of the vegetable spermatozoid

into the archegonium appeared on the botanical horizon. It is

scarcely a year since Thuret+ made known some remarkable

experiments made at Cherbourg upon the spores of Fucacez.

He found that the spores of these plants only germinate when

they are in contact with the mobile elements contained in the

antheridia, that is to say, with the spermatozoids (antherozoids).

When the spores are isolated, which is easily done in the dicecious

Fuci, they all perish without exception, and without any develop-

ment. ‘This proves at least that the antheridia have a part to

play in the act of fecundation. But these experiments have not

the value of direct observations, and fortunately the want of

these is beginning to be supplied. Suminski has already

asserted, that he has seen the spermatozoa penetrate into the

archegonium of a Fern (Pieris serrulata). Hofmeister has ob-

served the same phznomenon in another species (Aspidiwm

filiz). These observations, however, have given rise to numerous |

objections, reposing to a great extent upon the difficulties of

observation resulting from the tissue which envelopes the arche-

gonium. These objections can scarcely apply to Pringsheim’s

new discovery of the penetration of the spermatozoid imto the

archegonium in Vaucheriat, where the sexual organs are so much

exposed, that we can scarcely suppose the possibility of error.

Besides the reproduction by zoospores, the Vaucherie present

another means of multiplication, which depends on the develop-

ment of their sexual organs ; namely, on the one hand of the

recurved horn-like organ, to which even Vaucher§ gave the

* Ueber die Befruchtung der Algen. Monatsberichte der Berl. Akad.,

March 1855.

+ Comptes Rendus, xxxvi. p. 745.

{ Ann. of Nat. Hist. 2nd Ser. xv. p. 347.

§ Histoire des Conferves d’eau douce. Genéve, 1803. See especially.

his Ectosperme sessile, pl. 2. fig. 7 a,—sessile seeds furnished with their

anther.

2 =‘ Fecundation of the Ovum. / 893

name of filament serving as an anther, and. which ‘actually per-

forms ‘the part of an antheridium ; and, in the second place, of

the ‘slightly recurved organ placed close beside it, to which

Pringsheim thinks we should give the name of sporangium rather

than that of spore. In the course of its development, the

sporangium, which is at first only a simple papilla, acquires a

kind of beak-like process, turned in the direction of the antheri-

dium. These two organs are then in direct communication

by their bases with the tube of the Vaucheria, and enclose the

same contents as the latter; but they soon separate from it,

each forming a septum. The sporangium becomes transparent

on its free side, in consequence of the accumulation in that part

of the substance called the pellicular layer* (Hautschicht) by

Pringsheim, whilst the antheridium also becomes transparent,

but by the metamorphosis of its chlorophyll and the remainder

of its contents. The pellicular layer continuing its development

causes the sporangium to cleave at the place of the beak-like

process, and project externally. The part which has thus

issued separates in the form of a mucilaginous mass, and soon

decomposes. By avery remarkable coincidence, as soon as the

sporangium” has split open, the point of the antheridium also

opens and pours out its contents. A mass of small moveable

corpuscles issues from it, which, lashing the water with their

tails, move in crowds about the sporangium, pressing against the

pellicular layer. As the beak of the sporangium and the parts

in its neighbourhood are completely transparent and destitute

of chlorophyll, it is easy to make perfectly sure of the penetration

of the corpuscles (spermatozoids) into the interior, if this takes —

place. This is the case, according to the observations of Prings-

heim. One or more spermatozoids penetrate into the interior —

of the pellicular layer, and the latter then, in common with the

rest of the contents of the sporangia, becomes surrounded by a

membrane which Mohl might this time consider as a true

primordial utricle, but for its want of primordiality. It is the

mucilaginous pellicular layer itself that becomes converted into

membrane; for in proportion as the latter thickens, the former

disappears. This cell, which fills all the interior of the sporan-

gium, is therefore the true spore, the result of fecundation. In

* This is, in fact, the primordial utricle of Mohl, of which Pringsheim

disputes the membranous nature. He has shown that the membranous

appearance is due to the reagents employed, which cause the substance

to contract. With sufficiently weak reagents, a mucilaginous mass is

obtained; but nothing that can be compared to a membrane... See

Pringsheim, Grundlinien emer Theorie der Pflanzenzelle, Berlin, 1854; ..

in abstract in Mohl and Schlechtendal’s Bot. Zeitung, 25th May 1855, and

Annals, 2nd Ser. xv. p. 347.

394 M. E.:Claparéde on the Theory of the «

the course of a few months this spore becomes developed into a

Vaucheria*, | Ny

Pringsheim has also completed the observations of ‘Thurett

and Decaisne on the reproduction of the Fucacez, studying par-

ticularly the common Fucus vesiculosus. In this it is not the

spores, properly so called, that are fecundated, but these give

origin in their interior to eight secondary spores (Thed/sporen).

During the ebb tide, at the moment when the plants are left

dry upon the beach, these secondary spores issue from the

mother-spore, and the antheridial sacs also quit the envelopes of

the male organs. On the return of the tide, the antheridial sacs

burst and give issue to the spermatozoids. These then press in

crowds round the secondary spores, which are not yet enveloped

by any membrane, and penetrate into their interior. After this

fecundation, each secondary spore envelopes itself in a membrane

and becomes developed into a Fucus. In this we have a case

exactly analogous to that of the animal ovum, in which the

spermatozoa penetrate into the vitellus before the formation of

the vitelline membrane, or when it no longer exists (as in the

Earthworms, according to Meissner).

In the Floridez, it appears that there are two kinds of spores,

of which some reproduce the plant asexually, whilst the others

give rise to a product analogous to the prothallium of Ferns, or

the pro-embryo of Mosses. It is upon the latter that fecunda-

tion takes place.. In the Angiospermez of Kiitzing, Pringsheim —

* A discovery exactly analogous to that of Pringsheim on the Vaucherie

has lately been made by Cohn in a Conferva (Spheroplea annulina, Ag.).

In the cells of this plant stellate spores are produced, which, im their form,

present a most deceptive resemblance to the reproductive bodies of the

Volvozx stellatus, Ehr. (hibernating spores of Stein). In the spring, the

contents of these spores divide into two, and afterwards into four or eight

parts, which become developed into zoospores. These zoospores move

about for a certain time in the water, then fix in some place and give rise

to young Conferve. This is a first asexual generation. These young

Conferve, in fact, are only a kind of prothallium, for new spores, or rather

new sporangia, are formed in their filaments; these present sexual dif-

ferences. Some which present themselves in the form of a membrane,

pierced with a certain number of apertures, have contents which become

converted into spores; these are the archegonia. The others, the mem-

brane of which is also pierced with several apertures, contain small,

mobile, baculiform bodies; these are the antheridia, with their spermato-

zoids. The spermatozoids escape from their prison by passing through

the apertures of the membrane, and, swimming through the water, go m

search of the archegonia, into which they penetrate by passing the aper-

tures of their membrane. Cohn has directly observed this interesting

phenomenon. (Monatsbericht der Berl. Akad., May 1855.)

+ (Thuret had previously seen and described minutely this process of

fecundation : see Proe. Soc. Cherbourg, i. p. 161, and Ann. ad. Se. Nat.

4th Ser. ii. p. 197.—Ep. Ann. Nat. Hist.) |

Fecundation of the: Ovun. || 1395

shas:also ascertained the existence of two modes of reproduction,

one by zoospores and the other by fecundation ;—at least the

‘presence of spermatozoids and female organs leads to a suppo-

sition of the latter.

It is clear that fecundation must be a pretty general phzeno-

menon in the Cryptogamia, and it is probably effected throughout

by the entrance of the spermatozoids into the sporangia or arche-

gonia. <A plant allied to Vaucheria, the Achlya prolifera, m

which Unger, Alex. Braun, Thuret and De Bary have studied

the reproduction by zoospores, possesses spores of a second de-

scription, which are destitute of motion. These rather deserve

the name of sporangia, like those of Vaucheria. Pringsheim

has ascertained the existence of a micropyle in them, and has

also pointed out the micropyle in the genera Bulbochete

and Cidogonium. Besides the. zoospores and the stationary

spores (sporangia), these two genera possess a third kind of

spores, first indicated by A. Braun under the name of micro-

gonidia*, and which, according to his observations, germinate,

and become converted into a small plant, usually composed. of

two cells. It is remarkable that these microgonidia, the strue-

ture of which is exactly analogous to that of the zoospores, fix

themselves in Gidogonium sometimes on the membrane of the

sporangia, and sometimes on the cell which is closest to them,

and in Bulbochete always upon the sporangia themselves. Prings-

heim draws attention to the fact, that these microgonidia, when

once fixed, open and pour their contents close to the micropyle

in Gidogonium, and close to the cleft which takés its place in

Bulbochete. It is true that the existence of spermatozoids in

the microgonidia has not yet been detected; but who can tell

what the future has in reserve for us? It would be a great

advance in the knowledge of the Cryptogamia, if it should be

positively ascertained that the microgonidia are a kind of an-

theridia, for A. Braun has proved the existence of them in a

great many families of freshwater Alge; and it is probable,

from the observations of Thuret upon several families of Fucozdee,

that they also occur in the marine Alge. All that remains to

be proved is the existence of antheridia in the Palmellacea, the

- Spirogyre, the Desmidiacee, and the Oscillariee, in order to give

us a complete and uniform picture of the development of the

Alge.

The mother-spores of the Fuci and the sporangia of the

Vaucherie are, morphologically speaking, the homologues of the

central cell of the archegonium in the Ferns and Mosses, to

°* Beobachtungen iiber die Erscheinungen der Verjiingung in der Natur.

_ Freyburg, 1849-1850. (Ray Society’s Publications, 1853.)

396 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

which the canal with which this organ is furnished leads; they

are also the homologues of the embryonal sac of the Phanero-

gamia. It appears that the central cell of the archegonium

contains no trace of the embryonal cell before fecundation

(Pringsheim), and that the latter is only formed subsequently,

after the entrance of the spermatozoids, surrounding a portion

of the contents of the central cell, and enclosing the sperma-

tozoids. '

Pringsheim puts the question, whether something of the

same kind does not take place amongst the Phanerogamia, and

whether the extremity of the pollen-tube, which penetrates into

the embryonal sac, does not contain spermatozoids, which, in

common with the contents of the sac, would surround them-

selves after this fecundation with a fine membrane, and thus

give rise to the first cell of the embryo. Such an hypothesis*

has no want of probability for those who admit Schleiden’s

theory, which, it must be confessed, has made some progress

during the last few years. For my part, Henri Schacht has

shown me some very delicate preparations which appeared to

speak strongly in its favour, and which would have completely

convinced any person who did not bear in mind the difficulty

there is in such remarkably fine preparations in distinguishing

what is interior from what is above or below. I have also exa-

mined Deecke’s famous preparation (a longitudinal section of the

ovule of Pedicularis sylvatica, with a pollen-tube which has

penetrated into the embryonal sac‘), which appears to me to be

strongly in favour of Schleiden, notwithstanding all the objec-

tions which Mohlt has brought against it. In any case, the

analogy with what takes place in the Cryptogamia and in animals

comes in as evidence in favour of the defenders of Schleiden’s

theory; and although there is no doubt that in the inductive

sciences we must be as careful as possible about reasoning from

* It is, moreover, perfectly possible that the presence of spermatozoids

may not be absolutely necessary throughout; and it is not improbable

that a liquid may play their part.

+ See an article by H. Schacht, Flora, 1855, Nos. 10 and 11.

* Der vorgebliche entscheidende Sieg der Schleidenschen Befruchtungs-

theorie. Bot. Zeit. 11th June, 1855. These objections, however, are not

of much value with respect to our present subject. Thus, Mohl first objects

that the so-called pollen-tube might very probably be the suspensor of the

embryo issuing through a rent in the sac, although it appeared to Mohl

himself to be a pollen-tube. The argument is not one of the strongest.

Mohl then passes to the second point; that is to say, he denies that the

extremity of the pollen-tube forms the embryo, without however pretending

‘to dispute that this pollen-tube may penetrate into the embryonal sac. But

we ask nothing more to furnish the analogy with the Cryptogamia and

animals, for in the latter also it. is not proved that the embryo is’ directly

produced from the spermatozoid or spermatozoids.

Fecundation of the Ovum. 397

analogy, we cannot help regarding this as a reason for paying

more attention to an opinion which is held by such distinguished

observers as Schleiden, Schacht, Pringsheim, &c.*

We have thought it necessary to dwell briefly upon the fecun-

dation of the vegetable ovule to complete what we had to say of

the fecundation of the animal ovum; for it must be confessed,

the relations are here so considerable, that they approach what

we are accustomed to regard as serial identity in the study of

organized beings. The distance which separates the modes of

generation in different animals from one another, is often much

greater than that which separates the mode of generation of a

particular animal from that of a particular plant. Why then

separate what Nature has united? Why wish to follow Schleiden

when he refuses to recognize any relation between the physio-

logical phenomena presented by plants and those of animals

(without saying why, however!) ? Every day the precise limits

which have been arbitrarily drawn between the vegetable and

animal kingdoms are disappearing from our view,—the physical

and chemical characters have fallen one after the other+, and we

have been compelled to fall back upon the presence of vibratile

cilia and a contractile vesicle, which animals alone ought pro-

perly to possess. The first of these characters is already inad-

missible, on account of the zoospores of a great many Alge;

and if we choose to consider the motive organs of these as

bristles rather than as vibratile cilia, the Closteria will always re-

main as a stumbling-block. These, although generally regarded

as plants, and having nothing animal about them, are, in fact,

clothed with vibratile cilia on the whole of their internal surface.

These cilia, first discovered by Focket, but afterwards disputed

by many, do really exist. If we take the contractility of the

cell as the test, we must raise to the rank of animals the Monads,

Cryptomonads, Chlamidomonads, and all -the Monadina in

general, as they have always one or two contractile vesicles.

The botanists must also cease to regard the Euglene as plants,

* (Henfrey (Ann. Nat. Hist. 2nd Ser. xv. p. 349; Microscopic Die-

tionary, article OvulE; and in a paper recently laid before the Linnean

Society of London) holds that the fluid of the pollen-tube fecundates a

protoplasmic corpuscle pre-existing in the embryo-sac, and determines the

formation of a membranous coat converting this into the germ- or embryo-

eell.—Ep. Ann. Nat. Hist. |

..t The presence of amylaceous substances has entirely lost its import-

ance since they have been found, not only in the Tunicata, but also in Man

hunself. Virchow (Wurzburger Verhandlungen, 1851; Annals, ser. 2,

vol. xiil., p. 158), Prokitanski and Luschka ( Virchow’s Archiv, 1853), have

demonstrated the presence of cellulose in the human brain (corpora amylacea

of. Purkinje), in the Malpighian follicles, in the spleen, in bones attacked

by softening, &c.

Hi Bhysiotoutacks Studien. Bremen, 1847.

398 M. E. Claparéde on the Theory of the

as they possess one contractile vesicle (at least Euglena viridis:

does so)*. Many Volvocine also appear to possess contractile’

vesicles. It is moreover an idle dispute to attempt to decide

whether these low organisms be animal or vegetable; for’ even

if the question be decided, the two beings would still remain so

closely related, that it would be a mere splitting of hairs to place’

one in one kingdom and the other in another. If there exists

an actual division in Nature, it is that between the organic and

inorganic kingdoms; and even there we must shut our eyes to

certain Polycystina, and especially to some of those agglome-

rations of organized raphides, as it were, raised to the state of

independent beings, to which the name of Thalassicolle has been

given. That my meaning may not be misunderstood—it is with

the relation between animals and vegetables as with those of the

group of Fishes with the neighbouring groups. In its broad

features, the class of Fishes is one of the best existing in zoology ;

but if we descend into details, we shall find the limits, which at

first appeared so well marked, become less and less distinct. If

you ask a young student, he will very readily give you a definition

of a fish, by means of its biconcave vertebre, its heart with two

cavities, its branchie, and some peculiarities of its brain. But if

you question an ichthyologist, he will be much more embarrassed ;

for he knows, on the one hand, that there are fishes with lungs

and a heart with three cavities (Sirenoides+) ; and, on the other,

that there is a fish without vertebree, without a brain, and with-

out anything that can be called a heart. (Amphiozus).

I hope I shall be pardoned for this digression, the only object

of which was to show that it is not without reason that the

vegetables and animals have been united in treating of the:

general phenomena of fecundation. We have ascertained the

probable universality in the organized kingdom of the penetration

of the spermatozoids into the ovules ; but what is the part which

they play when once arrived there? According to Meissnert,

* To those who attach importance to chemical and physical characters

I would observe, that, according to Angstrém’s observations, whilst the.

green extract of the Phanerogamia gives three brilliant streaks in the

spectrum, that of Euglena viridis only gives two, one in the green, the

other in the red. It is remarkable that in this respect the Euglena behaves

exactly like the three Conferve in which Angstrém has studied the pro-

perties of chlorophyll (Conferva glomerata, a Zygnema, and a Vaucheria).

Poggendorff’s Annalen, xciii.

t It is to be observed, that the opinions of zoologists as to the true

position of these animals (Lepidosiren and its allies) are by no means

settled, so that M. Claparéde is scarcely warranted in treating them as

members of the class of Fishes —TRANSL.

{ Beobachtungen iiber das Eindringen der Samenelemente in den

Dotter, No.1. Zeitschr. fiir wiss. Zoologie, vi., Sept. 1854.

Fecundation of the Ovum. 399

at all events in the animals observed by him, they dissolve and

unite to form a drop of oil, which must afterwards mingle with

the substance of the vitellus. Nelson had previously seen them

dissolve into a transparent fluid. But we may justly ask,

whether this be really their destiny, or whether it be not rather

the fate undergone by those which are not made use of, and which

would consequently be condemned to the fatty metamorphosis,

sO common in animals, when Nature desires to facilitate the

absorption of useless materials. The spermatists may perhaps

some day raise their heads again, and again seek for their young

embryo in the spermatozoid; the only object of which in secking

to lodge itself in the ovum would then be, to find a suitable

medium for its development. In the Earthworms, in which, as

we have seen, the eggs, on arriving in the common receptacle,

float in a very considerable mass of semen, a large quantity of

the latter passes with the eggs into the capsule at the moment

of deposition. Those spermatozoids which have penetrated into

the vitellus become converted there into an oily fat, which

mingles with the elements of the vitellus; the others, according

to Meissner, undergo the same metamorphosis, and remain in

the form of fat around the vitellus. Subsequently, by means of

their vibratile cilia, the embryos pass the whole of this fat mto

their alimentary canal, in the same way that the embryos of the

Leeches consume their vitellus of nutrition.

It remains now to be seen whether the new discoveries have

caused the theory of fecundation to take a step forward. The

theory of the dynamists has not made any progress; for to say

that the touching of an ovum by a spermatozoid awakens a

new life in it, may be the expression of the fact, but is not an

explanation. Bischoff, who not long since supposed that the

essential part of the semen is the liquid itself, and that the

spermatozoa only prevented its decomposition by their move-

ments, has abandoned this opinion, and has the merit of having

introduced into science a new theory, which appears capable of

accounting for the facts, provisionally at any rate, in a more

satisfactory manner*. It is well known that Liebig admits the

existence in nature of a force analogous to the catalytic force of

Berzelius, his force of contact, by means of which he explains

various phenomena which, without it, would be difficult to

understand. It consists in the fact that a body in a state of

chemical decomposition, or, to speak more correctly, a body the

molecules of which are in a state of chemical movement, is

capable of disturbing the chemical equilibrium of certain other

bodies, without adding anything to, or taking anything from

* Ueber die Befruchtungstheorie. Miiller’s Archiv, 1847.

400 On the Theory of the Fecundation of the Ovum.

them,—calling up in them, by virtue of its own state, a chemical

movement which is in relation either to the composition of the

bodies themselves, or to the quality of the chemical movement

existing in the acting body. Thus, to take the commonest ex-

ample, the ferment of beer, being in a state of chemical move-

ment, induces the formation of alcoho! in a saccharine solution,

without, however, the occurrence of any chemical combination

between the elements of the ferment and those of the sugar.

This is an attractive hypothesis, and the more so as there is not

perhaps a more general law in nature than that by which a body

in motion communicates a part of its motion to another body

with which it comes in contact ; and this is more considerable

in proportion to the amount of resistance offered by the second

body. According to Bischoff, the seminal fluid may be com-

pared to the yeast of beer, and the ovum to the saccharine solu-

tion. The former being in a state of chemical movement, would

induce in the second a series of modifications, commencing with

the segmentation of the vitellus up to the formation of the embryo.

After all, this would only be to place the pheenomenon of genera-

tion upon the same footing as that of digestion. In fact, whether

we call the substances actively in operation in digestion, ptyaline,

pepsine, pancreatine, or diastase of the saliva, of the stomach,

pancreas, &c., we are not the less obliged to recur to the force

of contact in order to account for their action. Bischoff’s ex-

planation was not very satisfactory, as long as it was believed

that the semen only came im contact with the membranes of the

ovum. But now that we know that the spermatozoa penetrate

into the interior of the ovum, either through the micropyle or

otherwise, and that when there they are in a state of chemical

movement (the fatty metamorphosis of Meissner), this theory is

far from losing probability. Nevertheless it is still nothing but

a theory, convenient it is true, but impossible to demonstrate.

That organized beings may be the products of a simple fermenta-

tion is possible, but we shall only attach positive credence to it

when we obtain palpable proofs of its truth. The force of contact,

again, is itself really nothing but the expression of the facts, and

not an explanation; so that by Bischoff’s theory the difficulty

is only removed a step backwards. We must leave the question

in doubt, impressed as we are with the feeling that great pre-

caution is required in applying purely chemical explanations in

such cases as the present, not merely to organic, but to organized

bodies. The existence of the micropyle and the penetration of

the spermatozoids into the ovules of organized beings are im-

portant discoveries ; but by these only a corner of the veil has

been raised, and the veiled image of Isis still leaves us many

mysteries to be revealed. Thus we believe we must for once

Mr.8.P. Woodward on the genus Scissurella. 401

sympathise with Keber, by repeating with him in conclusion the

words of the great embryologist Von Baer :—

but the palm will only belong to him who shall be fortunate

enough in regard to the forces which preside in the formation of

the animal body to determine their place amongst the general

forces which govern the system of the world. ‘The tree from

which the cradle of this man will be made, has not yet germi-

nated in the forest.”

XXX VI.—Another Note on Scissurella.

By 8. P. Woopwarp, F.G.S.

To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History.

GENTLEMEN,

WuHEN a naturalist thinks he has discovered an error in your

pages, he is bound in courtesy to communicate his suspicions to

the author—rather than the editor—that he may have an oppor-

tunity of putting himself right. I am compelled for once to

depart from this practice, because I have protested in vain

against the publication of the mistake.

The distribution of Mr. Jeffreys’ Mediterranean shells was

entrusted to Mr. R. Damon of Weymouth, who kindly sent me

examples of Scissurella elegans. In these specimens I observed,

and pointed out to Mr. Jeffreys, the conversion of the fissure into

a foramen when the shell became adult; a circumstance which,

like the operculum, had escaped his observation. I proposed, in

accordance with modern practice, to give a subgeneric name to

the species exhibiting this character ; but on referring to Philippi,

and Sowerby (Zool. Journ. 1824), I found it was already known,

and existed in the species which Sowerby regarded as typical.

I was, therefore, rather astonished when Mr. Jeffreys told me,

some time after, that he had written an article for the ‘ Annals,’

adopting the notion I had discarded, and seeking to justify it

by the testimony of persons unacquainted with the facts of the

case. I urged him to refer to D’Orbigny’s original paper in the

Memoirs of the Natural History Society of Paris for 1823, but

he declined taking the trouble, adding that I could do it.

In this Memoir the genus Scissuredla was first described, and

illustrated by large figures. The first and second species,

S. levigata and costata, were found living: on sea-weed; the

others, S. decussata and elegans, were obtained from the newest

tertiary sands of Castel Arquato, in the Plaisantin. In the year

1844, M. Philippi figured two other recent species, S. plicata

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser.2. Vol. xvi. 26

402 Mr.S8.P. Woodward on the fossil genus Conoteuthis.

and striatula, which are considered identical with D’Orbigny’s

S. costata and elegans. I believe the whole six are varieties of

one species ; and at all events the type of Mr. Jeffreys’ new genus

is a typical Scissurella. There is some difficulty about the spe-

cies called elatior and concinna in Sowerby’s ‘ Genera of Shells,’

but they are probably synonymous with some of the varieties

before described : there is no species of Scisswrella in the “ Cal-

caire grossier,” nor any extinct species known, as I told Mr. Jef-

freys before he published his article.

If the genus Scisswrella was incompletely described by M.

D’Orbigny in 1823, it was certainly made good by Mr. G.

Sowerby in 1824; and my friend Mr. Henry Adams, to whom

I have submitted the question, quite agrees with me, that we

have no alternative but to regard Mr. Jeffreys’ new genus as an

exact synonym of Scissurella.

Should it prove that in the British Scisswrella crispata, and

some others, the slit is never closed, Mr. Jeffreys may reimburse

himself by proposing a new name for this section. It is true

that Philippi, Adams, and M‘Coy have adopted Montfort’s name

Anatomus, but without sufficient reason; for the “ Anatomus

Indicus” is represented like a Skenea, or Valvata spirorbis, and

the slit is in the lower margin of the lip: it may be the fry of a

Nucleobranch, or altogether apocryphal.

The name Pleurotomaria (Defrance, 1821) has better claims,

and a species is really found in the Paris basin ; but it is a large

pearly shell, and I think Prof. Forbes was right in hesitating to

associate with it the little translucent Scissurella.

S. P. Woopwarp.

Barnsbury, April 1856. :

XXXVII.—On the Occurrence of the Fossil Genus Conoteuthis,

D’Orb., in England. By 8. P. Woopwarp, F.G.S.

Tue rich collection of Mr. Bowerbank contains a specimen of

Conoteuthis, obtained by himself from the Gault of East-ware

Bay, Folkestone. It is an oblique, chambered cone, curved

rather suddenly near the apex, and measures 6 lines in dia-

meter by the same in height. The dorsal side is 8 lines in

length, and has a slight ridge towards which the lines of growth

are curved, and become longitudinal, showing that when perfect

there was a projecting process on this side. The septa have

simple margins, and the last eight occupy a space of four lines ;

the apex is not solid.

The type of this genus, C. Dupinianus, D’Orb., occurs in the

Lower Greensand (Aptien) of France ; it is of the same size, but

On the Development of the Freshwater Sponges. 403

slenderer, and less curved than the English specimen. It has a

ventral stphuncle like the Belemnite, and is supposed to have

been attached to a style more than 6 inches in length, like the

appendix to the pen of many Calamaries.

The plate illustrating Conoteuthis is wanting in most copies

of the ‘ Paléontologie Francaise,’ but occurs in the ‘ Mollusques

Vivans et Fossiles’ of the same author, and one of the figures is

copied in my Manual, pl. 2. f. 9.

XXXVIII.—On the Development of the Freshwater Sponges.

By N. LizserKtun*.

TuE structures hitherto recognized as belonging to the fresh-

water Sponges are the following:—The skeleton, consisting of

siliceous needles of various forms; the gelatinous substance;

the so-called gemmules, which are furnished with a pore, and

are either surrounded by a smooth shell, or by a ring of amphi-

disks+; moveable bodies occurring at certain periods of the

year, and effecting the propagation of the sponges: according

to Hogg, these move by an endosmotic process; according to

Laurent, by cilia. Grant has described similar bodies in the

marine sponges, ciliated in front, but not behind; Quekett was

unable to confirm this observation, and gives a totally different

account of the propagation. Huxley has described spermatozoa

in Tethya, and Carter in Spongilla.

The following observations have been made almost exclusively

upon specimens of Spongilla fluviatilis, which I examined almost

daily in the fresh state during two summers and a winter. They

are yery common in the river Spree at Berlin, especially upon

old wooden posts, and at the bottom of the water.

Skeleton and Gelatinous Substance.—The siliceous spicula have

been frequently described, both in their common and unusual

forms (see Dujardin’s work upon the Infusoria, and Ehren-

berg’s ‘ Mikrogeologie’). Meyen states that their ends are

connected together by a delicate colourless siliceous mass. I

have found this formation, especially in dead sponges, upon

which however gemmules and young sponges are often situated ;

but the connecting material is not silica, for it is destroyed by a

red heat, the needles and amphidisks being left. The needles

are usually so arranged that several form a rod, the apex of

which is applied to the apex of similar rods at an obtuse angle.

* From Miiller’s Archiv, 1856, i.

+t The term Amphidiscus was applied by Ehrenberg to a supposed genus

of Infusoria, consisting of bacillar spicules of sponges with discoidal ends.

—Ep.

26*

404 M.N. Lieberkiihn on the Development of

These rows of rods project slightly outwards beyond the surface

of the sponge, and are further connected with each other by

groups of needles. The distance they are apart from each

other is easily recognized in a branched sponge which has

been kept out of the water for a short time; the apices of the

rods project strikingly, and render the surface of the sponge

spinous. Each projecting point is seen under the microscope to

consist of a bundle of several needles. |

_ The gelatinous substance has been examined most accurately

by Dujardin. Small portions exhibit under the microscope

Ameeba-like movements; but whether these are vital pheno-

mena, as supposed by Dujardin, or are connected with decay, is

unknown. Other portions were furnished upon part of their

surface with long cilia, by means of which they rapidly changed

their position, at the same time emitting processes from the por-

tion free from cilia, and again retracting them, just like Amcebee.

The ciliated portions were not found in winter, but appeared in

the spring; in the winter, only those exhibiting the Ameceba-like

movements were present. These portions, which are always

obtained by spreading living Spongille upon an object-glass,

are not, however, amorphous masses, as represented by Dujardin,

but frequently exhibit distinct structures having the form of a

cell: this is especially observed in winter, wnen the granular

matter is not.so abundant. When the Amceba-like movements

cease in one of these masses, a nucleus and a nucleolus become

visible ; and at this time, not merely a part of the gelatinous

mass consists of them, but the entire sponge.

I have never succeeded in displaying the cell-membrane itself ;

hence the use of the term ‘cell’ is not at present justifiable, being

used for the sake of brevity. Sometimes the nucleus with its

nucleolus is found isolated between other uninjured cells, espe-

cially when the sponge is not perfectly fresh. The cells are

<z5 inch in diameter, the nucleus 35/55, the nucleolus 5555.

Frequently the nucleolus only is visible in the cells, and some-

times not even this, the interior of the globule being then filled

with green or colourless granules. Frequently also the cells

do not attain the above magnitude. In some cases I found

structures containing within them foreign bodies, such as Dia-

tomacez ; in other respects these exactly resembled the sponge-

cells, containing also a similar nucleolus; a contractile vesicle

was.absent ; they emitted and retracted processes, and were pos-

sibly true Amcebze, in which often no trace of a contractile vesicle

ean be detected. True Amcebz with contractile vesicles are not

rare in sponges. |

The Spongille generally abound with infusorial life, especially

in winter. I found, in the course of last winter, large numbers

the Freshwater Sponges. 405

of Paramecium Aurelia, Paramecium Colpoda, Chilodon cucullulus ;

several species of TZirachelius, especially Trachelius ovum; less

frequently the various forms of Amphileptus, especially Amphi-

leptus Anser 31,th of an inch in diameter, with a bacillar coat to

the cesophagus, resembling Prorodon, which was also present ;

moreover, Lowodes bursaria, several species of Bursaria and

Ophryoglena. Of the Oxytrichina were found principally Sty-

lonichia, Urostyla, and Euplotes.

The Gemmules.—The living sponges are often situated not

directly upon wood, stones, or other objects, but separated

from them by a peculiar dark brown earthy mass, often several

inches thick. This consists principally of the remains of the

dead sponge, empty shells of gemmules with their amphidisks,

various siliceous needles and decayed gelatinous substance ; some-

times it contains brown gemmules, the contents of which are sus-

ceptible of development. In many the developing power of the

contents is extinct, and they consist merely of extremely slender

acicular crystals and a detritus-like mass; the crystals are too

minute to allow of the determination of their shape, yet the

angles are perfectly distinct in some of them. In a few instances

the dead and broad sponge retained exactly the form and colour

of the living, but the microscope showed that the cells were

absent: between these acicular skeletons gemmules were also

present. The dead branched sponges, which exist mostly at

the bottom of the water, are frequently so densely covered with

needles then project beyond the gemmules; these again are

often entirely covered by new sponge-formations, and are not

visible until the sponge is broken. In the lowest layers of the

living broad sponge, which bound the dead layers, large numbers

of shining white gemmules are sometimes found ; they resemble

in general the ordinary brown gemmules; their shell is very

firm, and when pressed offers considerable resistance; but the

amphidisks are remarkably distinct. Their contents consist

of the well-known globular masses, composed of smaller or

larger fat-like granules and albuminous matter,—are of about

the size of the largest sponge-cells, and when pressed are easily

broken up. Other gemmules found here are distinguished by

a very soft transparent shell, which is immediately burst, even

when the glass-cover is carefully laid upon the object ; their

amphidisks are also very distinct, but the globular masses con-

tained within them do not break up very easily. When a piece

of one of these sponges containing the above-described forma-

tions is dissected under water with fine needles, isolated whitish

ill-defined globular pieces, of about the size of the gemmules,

are usually detected, with the following properties. ven under

406 M.N. Lieberkiihn on the Development of

a low magnifying power, two different layers of the substance:

are distinguishable,—the uppermost possessing a low refractive

power, about equal to that of the ordinary sponge-cells, the

inner globular mass being highly refractive, almost like aggre-

gations of fat. When these are compressed by a glass-cover,

they become resolved into two kinds of cell-formations, both of

which are of about the size of the sponge-cells. The innermost,

which belongs to that portion which refracts the hight most.

strongly, adhere firmly together, and consist of a sarcoid mass,

in which tolerably large fat-like granules are densely interspersed.

When isolated, they exhibit motions resembling those of the

sponge-cells ; they emit processes into which the granules enter,

and again retract them. When forming a larger aggregation,

this resembles a lump of fat which begins to fuse, and emits

the liquid in separate striz in all directions. When suitable

pressure is made upon the mass, the original separate pieces are

distinguishable, but of the most variable forms. I was unable

to find in them the delicate transparent coat which surrounds

the white gemmules above described. In its place was found

only a layer of firmly cohering cell-like globules, some of which

resembled the sponge-cells in the arrangement of the granules

and the nucleolus, whilst the others enclosed amphidisks. Some -

of the enclosed amphidisks had exactly the same form as those

usually surrounding the gemmules; each bounding by the peri-

phery of its disk a circular portion of the interior of the shell of

the globule, which it encloses. In others the two disks Were

not present, but a slender rod with slightly capitate ends existed

in the interior of the cell-like formation ; in others again, a row

of extremely slender sete radiated at right angles from the knob

of the rod. If these sete were broader and the stalk thicker,

the form would be that of the ordinary amphidisk. The outlines

of the cellular body furnished with an amphidisk are as sharp

and distinct as in the sponge-cells, but I could not find a

nucleus in them; sometimes they contained some fat-granules.

Among the white gemmules were some with amphidisks enclosed

in vesicles situated upon their transparent envelope together

with free amphidisks. There can be no doubt that the pre-

viously described bodies are imperfectly developed gemmutles.

Sometimes firmly connected whitish aggregations of sponge-

cells are found with them, of the same size and of a spheroidal

form. They are also obtained on dissecting a suitable portion

of sponge; but usually the cells separate in this operation.

I am not acquainted with similar facts in the case of the

sponges with smooth gemmules; neither have I hitherto met

with the smooth gemmules and those surrounded with amphi-

disks simultaneously in the same sponge. Both forms occur at

the Freshwater Sponges. : 407

all times of the year. The branched sponges living at the

bottom of the river Spree have hitherto only contained smooth

gemmules. In the broad sponge which grows upon boards and

posts, both forms were met with, but not in the same piece.

The ordinary contents of the gemmules have already been ac-.

curately described by Meyen (Miiller’s Archiv, 1839, p. 83),

where it is shown that the amphidisks are constituents of the

gemmules. In several specimens, the globular arrangement was

not present; the finer granules exhibiting molecular motion

being present in great numbers.

In regard to the destiny of the gemmules, Meyen supposed

that a polyp-like animal was developed in them, and escaped

from the pore. Grant had previously stated, that in the marine

sponges, at certain times of the year, infusorial beings, ciliated

at the anterior end of the body, are produced; these. subse-

quently becoming fixed, and forming sponges.

In the freshwater sponges, Grant did not find the gemmules

exhibiting motion, nor were cilia present. Dujardin mentions

two forms of reproductive bodies in the freshwater sponges,—

the gemmules and the ciliated bodies found by Laurent. John-

ston states, that at certain times of the year the gemmules

separate from the general mass of the sponges; that they are

then furnished with locomotive organs, like Infusoria, with which

they might easily be confounded. The results of the observa-

tions of Hogg and Carter have already been published in the

‘Annals.’ Carter found no trace of swarm-spores. The course

of development described by him by no means, however, ex-

cludes the possibility of his having overlooked them. But the

observation that insular groups of germs occur, the contents of

which are gradually converted into the variously shaped cells, is

correct,

During the month of June of the present and last year, I

have frequently observed ciliated swarm-spores of the freshwater

sponges; and a number of circumstances prove that they are

integral components of the sponges. |

That the entire gemmule is converted into the swarm-spore,

as supposed by some observers, is incompatible with the facts to

be presently described. The shell of the gemmule and the

cortical substance of the swarm-spores are totally different in

their properties. Very frequently empty shells of the gemmules

are met with; and nothing is opposed to Meyen’s supposition,

that their inhabitants escape from the pore.

The Swarm-spores.—I first detected these afterleaving recent.

sponges for some hours in a glass full of river-water. They are:

visible even to the naked eye, being about 4 inch in length,

and about 54, in their broadest diameter. They are oval, and,

408 M.N. Lieberkiihn on the Development of

usually somewhat more pointed at one end, like a hen’s egg.

The smaller forms are not half so large, just as similar variations

exist in the size of the gemmules. In most specimens, without

the microscope, a transparent hemispherical space may be di-

stinguished in the anterior, and a shining white one at the pos-

terior part of the body; the distinction of anterior and posterior

being based upon their position when swimming, which takes

place at about the same rate as in Trachelius ovum. They swim

in all directions: sometimes at the surface of the water, next

towards the bottom, gliding along this, and then rising towards

the surface again ; sometimes in straight lines, at others forming

a circle. When two of them meet, they often swim for some

minutes around each other, subsequently going apart; frequently

they remain motionless for a time, and then start off again. If

touched when at rest, they swim away. They remained in this

state for one or two days, when they went to the bottom of the

vessel, where they adhered and began to decay. In but few

instances, notwithstanding numerous experiments, have I suc-

ceeded in inducing their development. After the above time,

the substance of the bodies becomes expanded into a delicate

layer, in which a structureless mass with the fine siliceous needles

is soon all that can be distinguished: the experiments succeeded

when spring-water was applied. On the 20th day I remarked

that the spots formed by the spores had become larger. Ex-

amination showed the presence of the constituents of young

sponges, viz. moveable cells, smaller and larger needles, and some

germ-granules. The movements are effected by cilia regularly

spread over the entire body. They are of about the same

length as those of the Turbellaria, but more slender. But what

distinguishes them at once from the ciliary apparatus of all

known Infusoria, and from that of the Turbellaria, so accurately

examined by Schultze, is a kind of epithelial layer upon which

they are situated. This consists of a single layer of spherical

cells, about 74,5 inch in diameter. The cells are not so crowded

as to flatten each other, but they are mostly in contact. I have

not as yet detected a nucleus or nucleolus in them, but they

usually contain some highly refractive granules.

On watching a swarm-spore under the microscope, part of the

epithelial layer is not unfrequently seen to separate from some

part of the body,—eight or ten connected cells often becoming

detached and set in motion in the liquid by their cilia. Each

cell has a single cilium, and never more than one. In a few not

perfectly fresh swarm-spores, the surface was divided into several

circular and irregular spaces, which under a low magnifying

power appeared like large cells, but under a high power be-

came resolved into groups of the above-described small cells.

the Freshwater Sponges. 409

On dissecting larger portions of sponges, within which swarm-

spores exist, the latter are easily lacerated, and fragments only

of them become separated for examination, in which the ciliary

motion continues active. Dujardin was not aware of the origin

of these portions when he described the movements of the

sponges. It sometimes happens also, that the spermatozoa-

like bodies, hereafter described, adhere to a smooth piece of

sponge, which exhibits the Amoeba-like movements, and that

they carry it about with them in the liquid. These bodies were

also unknown to Dujardin. Iam unacquainted with the other

moveable forms of the sponges which Dujardin calls Monad-

like.

Beneath the epithelial layer the cortical substance is situated,

the thickness of which is considerable in comparison with the

cellular layer—it is visible even to the naked eye. Even under

a high magnifying power, no definite structure could be detected

in it. It forms a gelatinous mass, in which here and there

some granules of fat are scattered, without regular arrangement.

When isolated portions of sponge are separated by dissection,

so that they are unconnected with the cilia, they exhibit the

same locomotive phenomena as the sponge-cells themselves.

Next to the cortical substance comes the medullary portion,

which fills the interior of the spore as a spheroidal mass. Even

under a low magnifying power, this is seen to form a body

distinct from the cortical layer. The diameter of this spheroid

at its broadest part is about ;1, inch; but it varies in about the

same degree as the swarm-spore itself. Its surface consists of a

thinner mucoid layer, and the interior is the same portion of the

swarm-spore, which exhibits great varieties in different specimens,

whilst the remainder is nearly constant. The larger and most

anterior portion of the spheroid in the swarm-spores examined

early in June formed a pulpy mass, with fine scattered granules ;

the posterior part of the spheroid exhibited larger and smaller

fat-like granules, forming with sarcoid matter larger and smaller

globules, which, when kept for some time in water, became .con-

fluent. Many of them contained a very highly refractive body,

which sometimes almost entirely filled the gelatinous globule ;

sometimes these bodies were found without any gelatinous enve-.

lope, and were of about half the size of an ordinary sponge-

cell. The above-described contents give rise to the white ap-

pearance, visible with the naked eye, in the posterior part-of the

swarm-spore. The entire spheroid, both the transparent and

the white portions, contains extremely small siliceous needles,

often of exactly the same shape as the adult spicula. The

smallest are of a barely measurable breadth, but about 7,155 inch

in length ; the larger being about izoo ch broad, and 735 and

410 M. N. Lieberkiihn on the Development of

more long. The larger are either smooth or furnished with

minute spine-like processes. The latter form is also not un-

common among the fully developed siliceous needles ; and some

Spongillz contain these exclusively. The spicules in the swarm-

spores are arranged without definite order. The constant presence

of the siliceous needles in the swarm-spores formed the first

indication of their origin from the Spongille. I found the

swarm-spores both in the broad and in the branched sponge, in

that with smooth gemmules as also in those with amphidisks.

Differences in the contents of the Swarm-spores.—These consist

principally in the greater or less number of the germ-granules.

The mature germ-granules are usually spherical, rarely lenti-.

cular. Sometimes two of them are relatively so placed, that one

extends like a shell over the greater part of the other; such

watch-glass-shaped bodies also occur separately, and may also

be empty shells. The germ-granules attain the diameter of 73/55

inch, but some of them are much smaller. A very highly refract-

ive shell and contents. are distinguishable in them. In those

occurring in the swarm-spores, the latter are not so distinct as

in many of those which are free, and which will be noticed pre-

sently. Sometimes they contrast strongly with the shell, and

form an ill-defined gelatinous globule; in many germ-granules

they cannot be directly perceived. Notwithstanding their simple

form, the germ-granules are so characteristic, that they cannot

be mistaken for any other objects. At first sight they might

be considered as large fat-globules; but the difference is soon

made manifest when they are strongly compressed and burst. The

number of these germ-granules is so great in many swarm-spores,

that, with the minute siliceous needles and the albumimous

matter, they almost exclusively make up the medullary mass of

the swarm-spores ; some being free within it, others aggregated .

in twos and threes with fatty granules and albuminous matter.

These swarm-spores are distinguishable with the naked eye, the

highly refractive portion occupying the greater part of their

interior, and sometimes forming a perfect spheroid. The above-

described form of swarm-spore also appears to contain a white

globule, when the anterior part of the spore is directed down-

wards and the posterior part upwards; but the real state of

things is discovered when it swims in the usual manner. It

sometimes happened that one of these aggregations of germ-

granules with its siliceous needles escaped completely from the

swarm-spore ‘when its envelope was burst by pressure; it was

of a spherical form, and surrounded by a mucoid, structureless,

and readily crushed coat.

The aggregations of germ-granules, of a spherical form, exist

free, in vast numbers, in all parts of Spongille, but especially at

the Freshwater Sponges. 411

the base. In the same parts I have also found ciliated swarm-

spores; they lie completely in the mass of the living sponge,

but can seldom be separated from it uninjured. Empty shells

of gemmules are not found in these parts. The swarm-spores,

however, attach themselves firmly to the empty siliceous skele-

tons; when detached, they swim about as usual. The aggre-

gated germ-granules seldom contain the small, smooth, and

spinous spicula in their interior; but these are often found in

their immediate neighbourhood. The mucous envelope is some.

times separable, by evacuating the contents with gentle pressure ;

but it is structureless. The size of the aggregations of germ-

granules varies from +, to =4, inch. The germ-granules are either

uniformly diffused through the entire substance, or are arranged

in spherical heaps, and mixed with fatty globules and mucous

matter. Many of them exhibit a distinct gelatinous globule,

which sometimes contains small fatty granules, at others also a

nucleus-like body.

We may here recur to Carter’s investigations. As far as I

can conclude from his descriptions, the insular groups of germs,

which, according to Carter, pass into the variously shaped cells,

are my aggregations of germ-granules. But the statement of

this observer, that these escape directly from the gemmules, is

essentially different from my view. Were we to suppose that

Carter had directly observed this occurrence, and that it was

not simply based upon supposition, and that the swarm-spores

were absent in the sponges examined by him, the difference

between the developments of such nearly allied formations would

be so great, that it could scarcely occur. In some instances I

saw pieces of sponge, the aggregations of germ-granules of

which had no longer the definite form, but appeared to be

undergoing decomposition. The mucous envelope was also

absent, the separate granules being scattered around them.

Moreover, at the period at which all the above-described bodies

are present, large masses of sponge are always met with which

contain no trace of them. Even in one and the same locality,

we find near together Spongille containing large numbers of

gemmules, swarm-spores, and aggregations of germ-granules,

and others in which none of these are present.

Immature forms of the gelatinous substance and of the spicula.

—As early as June, white spots about the size of one or several

of the aggregations of germ-granules are perceptible on various

parts of the sponge, some of which are well defined, whilst others

are confluent with the surrounding parts. They are sometimes

also found upon other bodies at the bottom of the water, as

upon shells of the Mollusca, the exuvie of the larve of the

Phryganide, upon straws, stones, and other similar objects upon

412 On the Development of the Freshwater Sponges.

which sponges grow. Their microscopic constituents are,—

germ-granules of the above-described form and size, which con-

tain either a finely granular globule distinctly contrasted with

the enclosing shell, or a cell-like body containing a low refracting

body resembling the nucleolus of the sponge-cells; germ-gra-

nules, which protrude a sarcoid substance from some part of their

surface,and this is continued within the germ-granule, the outline

of the portion situated outside being continuous with that lying

within ; large and small ordinary sponge-cells, some containing

a distinct nucleolus, whilst others merely form an aggregation of

fine granules and sarcoid substance, exhibiting the Amceba-like

movement ; variously formed small and large siliceous needles,

some resembling the smooth and tuberculated forms met with

within the swarm-spores and the aggregations of germ-granules,

others being larger, but not so large as the fully developed ones.

It is uncertain whether these spicula are developed from the

germ-granules ; some of them agree in size with these; they

are either spherical, drawn out into fine points at the ends, or

spindle-shaped, and usually tubercular ; they are easily recog-

nized by the refractive power peculiar to siliceous spicula, but in

the smallest specimens even this character becomes uncertain.

Whether the above-described reproductive bodies of sponges are

the only ones which occur, or whether sponge-cells also propagate

by spontaneous division, is unknown.

A comparison of Sponges with allied bodies may be met with

in J. Miiller’s memoir upon Thalassicolla, Collosphera, and

Acanthometra*.,

The Spermatozoa-hke bodies.—In June of the last and the

present years, large numbers of moving corpuscles were not

unfrequently seen on dissecting sponges, which were readily

distinguishable from those giving rise to the movements of the

swarm-spores; for in the former the filament is much longer

and thicker, and the head much smaller. When swarming, their

heads are usually directed towards each other, and their move-

ments greatly resemble those of ordinary spermatozoa. They are

seldom met with in the locality where they are developed. They

are formed in globules enveloped by a transparent structureless

membrane, and surrounded by sponge-cells. The globules are

about 4, inch in diameter. They are seen to move to and fro

within the globules until these burst, when they swim away in

large or small groups, the filament constantly vibrating to and

fro. To determine their import as spermatozoa, I endeavoured

to observe their entrance into the pore of the gemmule, as per-

haps forming the micropyle, but in vain.

* Monatsbericht der Berliner Akademie, April 1855.

Prof. S. Lovén on the Development of the Chitons. 418

As already mentioned, Carter has observed peculiar bodies

in sponges, which he regards as spermatozoa. These agree in

no respect with the above; they are much larger, and are fur-

nished with a contractile head, whilst the far smaller head of

the above-described spermatozoa never exhibits contractions. I

have found bodies during the winter in the sponges exactly

resembling Carter’s figures; these I can only regard as large

and small specimens of Trachelius trichophorus, the occurrence of

which in sponges Carter does not mention ; more rarely I found

a kind of Monad, probably identical with Dujardin’s Cercomonas

acuminata ; this differs, however, importantly from all the com-

ponents of sponges, in the presence of a contractile vesicle. On

the other hand, the spermatozoa which Huxley has figured as

those of Tethya closely resemble those of the Spongille; but

Huxley has said nothing about either their origin or their power

of motion.

XXXIX.—On the Development of the Chitons.

By Prof. S. Loven *,

WHEN on a visit to our Western Skerries three years ago, I had

an opportunity of observing the development of Chiton margi-

natus, Pennant (C. cinereus, Linn., according to Forbes and

Hanley).

Some individuals of this species, which were kept in confine-

ment, laid their eggs, loosely united in clusters of from seven to

sixteen, upon small stones. Each egg was furnished with an

envelope, which being folded, and as it were vesicular, was of

considerable thickness, amounting to about half the total radius.

All the stages of segmentation were already passed, and the

envelope contained a well-formed moving embryo (fig. 1).

The embryo, 0°18 mill. in length, exactly of an oval form, and

without any trace of shell, is divided by a circular indentation

into two nearly equal parts; and close to this indentation are

attached the cirri, by means of which the movements of the

embryo are effected. In the middie of the upper part there is

a tuft.of very fine filaments, which scarcely exhibit any move-

ments. The lower half exhibits two dark points, one on each

side close to the indentation ; these are the eyes, of which how-

ever only one is usually very distinct. The general form of the

animal is somewhat variable, the lower part sometimes giving

rise to a tapering process. The young ones, when freed, swim

* Translated from Ofversigt af Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens Forhand-

lingar, 1855, p. 169.

414 Prof. S. Lovén on the Development of the Chitons.

round the clusters of eggs; their form is more elongated than

when enclosed within the egg; the fore-part exhibits not hing

but fine cilia, which probably existed previously, and the tuft of

filaments is extended at full length and occasionally vibrated,

although but slowly. There is nothing as yet to indicate the

Chiton ; but the posterior part of the animal now begins to grow

more rapidly than the anterior (figs. 2, 3), which becomes more

conical ; and the lower part is specially characterized by the

separation of the back of the mantle by means of two furrows and

its division into joints, of which seven are distinguishable, and

through which some close granulations make their appearance as

Development of (Chiton) Leptochiton cinereus.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Embryo in the egg.

Fig. 2. Dorsal view of young Chiton, showing the commencement of the

divisions.

Fig. 3. Lateral view of the same. |

Fig. 4. Dorsal view of young Chiton further advanced, with the seven irre-

gular plates deposited inthe segments.

Fig. 5. The same from beneath, showing the foot, with the eyes on the sides

of the head.

Fig. 6. Dorsal view of a still older Chiton.

the first rudiments of the shell. The anterior part is sprinkled

with pointed tubercles, which are also seen on the margins of the

mantle, The animal bends itself frequently ; it is still quite soft,

and can only swim; but soon after this it begins to crawl (fig. 2).

By the circular indentation of the mantle on the under side,

Prof. 8. Lovén on the Development of the Chitons. 415

its margin separates from the foot, each lamina remaining free.

The eyes are seen more distinctly than before to be situated on

the ventral side, but they are also indistinctly visible from above

(fig. 2). The joints of the mantle become more distinctly sepa-

rated, and its margin more closely set with points. The an-

terior, more conical part is still rather large and covered with

small pointed tubercles, which however are principally on the

upper surface. As yet I could observe no traces of the oral aper-

ture,and the animal was still seen sometimes swimming and some-

times crawling. In the meantime, the first layerof the shell-valves

was formed on the back (fig. 4), in the shape of narrow bands with

irregular margins, of which, as yet, I only observed seven ; the

three or four anterior ones being nearly equal in length, whilst

the posterior diminished rapidly. At this period the cirri dis-

appear. Thus they are wanting in the form shown in fig. 5.

But now a considerable change takes place. We observe that

the conical anterior part of the animal is no longer to be seen,

nor the tuft of filaments which it has hitherto borne. In place

of this the head, with its oral opening, is perfectly developed,

and above it the curved folds which are also found in the mature

animal. The eyes are situated on the sides upon distinct pro-

tuberances, and consist of pigment-spots and lenses. The foot

has somewhat increased, but has not yet attained its full size in

proportion to the head. No trace of the branchiz is yet visible,

but many approximated cells may be observed in the place which

they are to occupy. The mantle has advanced over the head,

and one of the shells may already be seen in front of the eyes.

This advancement of the mantle is distinctly shown in fig. 6.

In this there are still only seven distinct shells, and in front of

the most anterior of these is a plane surface studded with

pointed tubercles; this is all that remains of the conical an-

terior part of the embryo. This plane surface is gradually much

diminished, at the same time that the eighth shell is produced

behind the seventh. , .

If the formation of the shells be examined more closely, it

appears in the first place, that, with the exception of the eighth,

they are formed almost simultaneously at the commencement ;

that. is to say, the anterior shells are at first of a proportionate

size when compared with the posterior ones, which they do not

afterwards retain. Thus, in fig. 4, the first is a transverse arch

of equal length with the second and third. But this proportion

has already changed in fig. 6, and it alters still more subse-

quently. The first does not occupy the same breadth on the

animal as the three following ones, and thus the oval becomes

more distinct, as now the posterior shells increase in breadth.

416 Prof. S. Lovén on the Development of the Chitons.

The anterior shells are earlier in acquiring their form than the

posterior ; thus the foremost will have assumed its crescent

shape before the posterior is scarcely formed.

In the second place, we find that the shells first make their

appearance in the form of narrow plates with irregular waved

edges, and increase both in breadth and thickness by the depo-

sition of new and somewhat larger plates beneath those first

formed. But fig. 6 shows that each shell soon acquires two.

deep notches (incisure laterales, Midd.), one on each side of

the anterior margin. When the new lamine are deposited by

the mantle, these notches are gradually closed when viewed

from above, and only a mark on its inner part is left; but it is

more than probable that by this mode of growth the lower

surface of the shell, which is applied against the accustomed

surface of the mantle, ought to present a pitted furrow directed

forwards and outwards (sutura lateralis porosa, Midd.). It also

appears that the articulamentum of Middendorff is first formed.

I saw no distinct indications of a tegmentum. It would seem

moreover that, at least in Chiton marginatus, the shells are

not united by four aréiculi, and still less is there any support

for the opinion that the posterior valve is the true shell, ana-

logous to that of Patella, and that the anterior ones are laid

over this.

As regards the edges of the mantle, I have only to observe

that its pointed tubercles appeared quite irregularly, as they

were seldom present over the whole surface, but only in

patches.

Nothing could be ascertained with regard to the internal

anatomy, from the want of transparency of the external parts.

If we compare this development with that of other Mollusca,

it is evident that the circle of cirri, by means of which the

animal moves in its first or swimming stage, corresponds with

the cirri of the velum in the young of other: Gasteropoda and of

the Acephala. But in Chiton the velum is not developed into a

broad, extensible sail. Instead of this, another part has acquired

a considerable thickness, namely, the anterior conical portion

having the tuft of filaments. This is exactly what I call the

“pyriform body ” which bears the “ flagellum” in the marine

Acephala.

The velum disappears i in many Mollusks, so as to appear only

as buccal tentacula or labial palpi. Perhaps a vestige of it is

to be found in the fold of skin which surrounds the head in

Chiton.

Prof. A. Henfrey on Cell-development in Plants. 417

XL.—On Cell-development in Plants.

By Prof. Anruur Henrrey, F.R.S.

To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History.

GENTLEMEN, April 18, 1856.

In a recent Part of the ‘Transactions of the Microscopical

Society of London’ appeared a paper entitled “On the Formation

and Development of the Vegetable Cell,” by Mr. Wenham

(Quarterly Journal of Microscopic Science, January 1856), a

well-known microscopist. This essay, containing internal evi-

dence of the author’s want of familiarity with the subject treated,

tended to revive the long-exploded hypothesis that vegetable

cells originate as bubbles or vacuoles in a formless ‘ plasma,’

into which cavities the true cell-contents penetrate after the

formation of the cell. The paper would not have required any

notice at the hands of physiological botanists, had it not been

endorsed in some degree by the late President of the Microscopic

Society in his Anniversary Address (Quarterly Journal, April

1856). The deservedly high authority of Dr. Carpenter as a

physiologist renders it necessary that a protest should be entered

by some one having practical experience in these matters. I

have no hesitation in saying that Mr. Wenham’s observations

are faulty, consequently his conclusions useless. The objects

selected for observation were unfavourable, and not favourable as

he imagined; for young leaves of most flowering plants, in the

stages figured by him, are not flat plates, but cones, or at all

events solids having more than one thickness of cells in all three

dimensions ; therefore the view is confused by one layer lying |

behind another. The young leaves of most Mosses or Liver-

worts, the prothallia of Ferns, and similar structures composed

of a single flat layer of cells, exhibit the phenomena much more

clearly ; but even in the young leaves of Anacharis, the applica-

tion of dilute sulphuric acid and solution of iodine suffices to

render the structures clearly distinguishable as quite different

from what is represented i Mr. Wenham’s drawings. The

appearances presented by the protoplasmic structures in such

nascent tissue are familiar to most of those who have practically

studied these questions, so that it is merely necessary for me to

state, from my own experience, that the objects observed by

Mr. Wenham really offer no exception to the general rule, that

the primary cell-wall is formed on the outside of the mass of

protoplasm (primordial utricle, protoplast, primordial cell, por

tion of cell-contents, or whatever we may choose to call it), which

is to form the active nitrogenous contents of the future cell.

I am, &c., yours truly,

ArtHur Henrrey.

_ Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 27

418 Bibliographical Notices.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

A Monograph of the British Hieracia.

By James Bacxuovste, Jun. 8vo, York, 1856.

We have much pleasure in announcing the publication of this

book, which cannot fail to attract considerable attention. The au-

thor has spent several years in obtaining the requisite information,

in collecting multitudes of specimens, and in cultivating most of the

supposed species, He has been in active correspondence with those

botanists in this country and on the European continent who are

known to have carefully studied this difficult genus.

It is with great satisfaction that we perceive the modest manner

in which Mr. Backhouse introduces his book to its readers. He

does not pretend to have produced a perfect monograph, but. hopes

that what he has done may “form a nucleus round which further

knowledge maybe collected.’’ He thinks it not unlikely that some

of his species may ultimately be proved to be only varieties, and

that. some of his varieties may be considered as species by future

botanists, and very reasonably hopes to obtain that indulgence and -

excuse for errors of the kind which every real searcher after truth

has a right to expect. Let his views be examined in the spirit in

which they are published, and the author is manifestly ready to

submit cheerfully to the result.

We have some slight personal knowledge of the care with which

Mr. Backhouse has examined all the pomts treated upon in this

book, and have considerable confidence in the soundness of the

opinions formed by him. We know that he has not spared time

nor labour in the acquisition and arrangement of his materials.

It will probably astonish some of our older readers to find that

there seem to be 33 distinct species of Hieracium inhabiting the

United Kingdom, and still more, that 11 of these are supposed to

be new. The wonder will be lessened by remembering that the

only really elaborate work upon the genus is the ‘Symbole Hiera-

ciarum ’ of Fries; also, that until after the publication of that work,

very little addition had been made to the knowledge of our native

species since the appearance of Smith’s ‘ English Flora ;’ most

collectors, and even some botanists, being satisfied if they could force

any plant discovered, to conform itself to some one or other of

Smith’s species. This habit was not confined to such difficult genera

as Hieracium, but applied to the whole native flora. It is probable

that such a compliment has seldom or never been paid to any other

book treating upon natural history. That it was well deserved

originally we do not deny; but we do assert, that after a few years

this habit became most detrimental to the advancement of science.

Its bad effects have hardly disappeared, and even now the know-

ledge of the native botany of Britain can scarcely take a position

of equality with that attained in several other European countries.

But we must return to the consideration of Mr. Backhouse’s book.

Probably the most elaborate and novel part of it is that which

. Bibliographical Notices. 419

treats upon the species allied to H. alpinum, H. nigrescens and H.

pallidum. He has shown, we think satisfactorily, that the A.

alpinum of all our Floras includes several well-marked species.

Similarly he states, that several new species occur in each of the

other groups represented by the above-named plants; and also, that

some of the names hitherto used in our books (and even in the

above-mentioned great work of Fries) are erroneous.

From his position at York, and various engagements, the author

has not been enabled to elucidate the synonymy as much as we could

have desired ; neither has he studied some of the Herbaria that we

should have recommended to his notice. He has however been

supplied with large accurately named collections by Professors Fries,

Blytt and Grenier, and has thus had sufficient materials for the

determination of the plants described in the ‘Symbole’ and the

‘Flore de France,’ where the French species are described with great

skill. He also appears to have had the free use of the large collec-

tions of Professors Arnott and Balfour and that of our colleague

Mr. Babington.

We think that he has made a good use of these opportunities and

therefore cordially recommend his book to our readers.

A Rearrangement of the Nomenclature and Synonymy of those

species of British Coleoptera which are comprised under the

sections Geodephaga, Hydradephaga, and part of Philhydrida,

- being the first portion of a general British Catalogue. By

J. F. Dawson, LL.B., and Hamurtr Cuarkx, M.A. London,

8vo. 1856. Post free for 12 stamps, on application to the

Rey. H. Clark, All Saints, Northampton.

In the shape of a small pamphlet of ten printed pages, and under

the above promising though somewhat indefinite title, we have re-

ceived the first instalment of what will certainly be a welcome boon

to the collector of British Coleoptera. For years the want of some

list of these insects, which, with the Lepidoptera, engross nearly the

whole attention of our native entomologists, has been severely felt ;

the imperfections of the ‘ Manual of British Beetles,’ by the late

James Francis Stephens, and of the lists of British insects published

by that author and by Mr. Curtis, becoming every year more manifest.

Under these circumstances the value of the present undertaking, by

authors so well known as careful Coleopterists, must be evident to every

entomologist, and we trust that the sale of the present part, of which

more than half consists of the nomenclature of the Geodephaga so

recently and admirably worked out by Mr. Dawson, may be such as

to induce them to continue their enterprise. A certain number of |

these lists are printed on one side, so as to serve as labels for the

cabinet, and the synonyms given appear to be confined to such

names as have been quoted by British authors.

27*

420 Royal Society :—

PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES.

ROYAL SOCIETY.

February 7, 1856.—Colonel Sabine, R.A., V.P. and Treasurer, in

the Chair.

“On the Vitality of the Ova of the Salmonide of different Ages ;

in a Letter addressed to Charles Darwin, Esq., M.A., V.P.R.S. So. ’

By John Davy, M.D., F.R.S. Lond. and Edinb. &c.

My pear S1r,—In a letter which I had the honour to address to

you last year ‘‘On the Ova of the Salmon in relation to the distri-

bution of Species,’ I have expressed the hope that some of the

results of observations therein described may aid in solving the

question as to the period, the age, at which the impregnated ova of

fish are most retentive of life, and consequently are in the state best

fitted for transport without loss of life.

Joining with you in considering the subject in need of and deser-

ving further inquiry, I have taken the earliest opportunity that has

offered of resuming it. The experiments which I have made, and

which I shall now describe, have been more limited than I could

have wished, having been confined to the ova of the Charr, as I was

not able to obtain the ova of the Salmon or any of its congeners in a

fit state for the trials required.

The ova of the Charr which have been the subject of my experi-

ments, were from living fish brought to me from the river Brathay,

a tributary of Windermere, on the 9th of November. They were ob-

tained by the pressure of the hand on the abdomen of the females

under water, and immediately after their expulsion a portion of liquid

milt, procured in the same way from a male, was mixed with them

for the purpose of impregnation.

The ova thus treated, 654 in number, procured from two fish,

were transferred, after little more than an hour, to a shallow glazed

earthenware pan, of a circular form, about a foot in diameter, with-

out gravel, the water in which, afterwards, was changed daily once,

and once only. The vessel was kept ina room of a temperature

fluctuating from about. 55° Fahr. when highest, to about 40° when

lowest. The water used was well-water of considerable purity, and

before used it was allowed to acquire the temperature of the room.

Two modes occurred to me as likely to afford the means of testing

the vital power of the ova, or their power of endurance without loss

of vitality ; viz. one by subjecting them for a limited time to a tem-

perature raised above the ordinary temperature ; the other, by having

them conveyed to a considerable distance.

For the trials first proposed, the ova were put into a thin glass

vessel half-full of water, which was placed in a water-bath and heated

to the temperature desired.

The first experiment was made on ova taken from the general stock

one day after their expulsion. Six, for two hours, were exposed to

a temperature varying from 79° to 80° of Fahr. The result was,

Dr. Davy on the Vitality of the Ova of the Salmonide. 421

that they became opaque in the course of twenty-four hours, all but

one, and that, some days after, underwent the same change, denoting

loss of vitality.

The second experiment was made on the 10th of November. Six

ova were similarly exposed for two hours to a temperature rising

gradually from 70° to 78°; the result was similar: on the following

day they were all found opaque.

The third experiment was made on the 11th of November. The

same number of eggs were exposed for an hour to a temperature

falling from 70° to 69°. Two shortly became opaque ; four retained

their transparency during a month, though in reality dead, which

was denoted by their bearing no marks of development when seen

under the microscope, those ova which retained their vitality being

at that time well advanced.

The fourth experiment was made on the Ist of December ; the ova,

the same number, were exposed to a temperature rising from 75° to

78° for an hour and twenty-two minutes. Three became opaque,

other three retained their transparency and vitality, and in due time

were hatched, the first on the 31st of December, the last on the 7th

of January.

The fifth experiment was made on the 13th of December. Six ova

were exposed for an hour and twenty-five minutes to a temperature

falling from 82°, which it was at the beginning, to 78°, which it was

at the end. Two became opaque; in these no marks of progress

could be seen of development, thus indicating that they were dead at

the time of trial. Four remained transparent; in these, under the

microscope, embryo-fish were seen with an active circulation of the

blood-corpuscles. One of them was hatched on the 31st of Decem-

ber; one, the last, on the 6th of January.

The sixth experiment was made on the 20th of December, on six

ova, containing livmg embryos. They were exposed for an hour and

twenty-eight minutes to a temperature of about 98°, and this during

the whole time. When taken out, they had not lost their trans-

parency, but in each the heart’s action was arrested, and death was

the result : they all sooner or later became opaque, from the common

cause, the imbibition of water.

The seventh experiment was made on the 21st of December, on six

ova, in which the circulation was distinct in the fcetal fish. After

an exposure for an hour and five minutes to a temperature of 70°

rising to 82°, in five, on cooling, the circulation was found active ;

‘In one, stopped, which was dead; two were hatched on the 5th of

January ; three, the remainder, on the 7th of the same month.

The eighth experiment was made on the 23rd of December, on six

ova, each containing a living foetus. They were exposed to a tem-

- perature falling from 84° to 82° during an hour and twenty minutes.

Examined after the water had cooled, in one, the circulation was seen

pretty distinct ; in two, very feeble; in three, the blood-corpuscles

appeared to be stagnant. Examined on the following day, the cir-

culation was seen active in all. One was hatched on the 5th of

January, the other five in the two following days.

422 Royal Society :— 0 qv .1¢

The ninth experiment was made on the 24th of December. Six ova

were exposed for two hours and four minutes toa temperature falling

from 72° to 70°. Examined a quarter of an hour after, and before

the water was cold, the circulation was found vigorous in all. One

was hatched on the 2nd of January, the remainder between the 5th

and 8th.

The tenth experiment, and the last of its kind that I have to

describe, was made on the 2nd of January. Six ova, in each of which

the circulation was distinct, were exposed for four hours to a tem-

perature varying from 70° to 72°—the greater part of the time 72°.

Examined immediately on being taken out, the circulation was seen

uninterrupted in three, arrested in the other three. In three-quarters

of an hour, when the water had cooled nearly to the temperature of

the room, 55°, the circulation was found to be renewed in the latter.

In the interval, one of the former was hatched, and a vigorous fish

produced ; on the following morning four more had come forth, and

in the one remaining egg the foetal circulation was vigorous; it was

hatched on the 4th of January.

I beg now to pass to the other series of experiments referred to,

those in which trial of the vitality of the ova was made by sending

them to a distance. The method was briefly the following. The

ova were lightly packed in wet wool contained in a tin-plate box per-

forated in its bottom to admit air, and covered with a wooden cover

that had been soaked in water, with the intent of preserving moisture.

The box was wrapped in tow, loosely covered with oiled paper, and

the whole, in an envelope of common writing-paper, was well secured

by a binding of thread. Thus prepared, the ova were sent by post

to Penzance, in Cornwall, a distance exceeding 500 miles, with the

request that they should be sent back by return of post unopened.

The first experiment was made on the 9th of November. The number

of ova sent was thirty, taken from the common stock without selec-

tion. They were received on their return on the 14th of the same

month. On taking them out, all were found transparent ; but, with

the exception of one, all became opaque on being put imto water,

and that one, after a few days, also underwent the same change.

The second experiment was made on the 14th of November. ‘Twenty

ova then sent were returned on the 18th. All became opaque on

being put into water.

The third experiment was made on the Ist of December. ‘Twenty

ova then sent were returned on the 5th. Put into water, eleven

became opaque within a minute; most of these were slightly shrivelled.

After three hours, two more became opaque. After forty-eight hours,

four only remained transparent ; in these, under the microscope, the

circulation was found active in two; in the other two it could not be

detected. Onewas hatched on the 31st of December, the other died

before hatching.

The fourth experiment was made on the 13th of December.

Twenty-two ova then sent came back on the 17th. During the

interval there was a severe frost ; the thermometer here in the open

air was constantly below the freezing-point, and it would appear to

Dr. Davy on the Vitality of the.Ova of the Salmonide. 423

have been much the same throughout England, When examined,

eleven of the ova. immediately became opaque on immersion in water.

In the other eleven there was no loss of transparency, and in these,

under the microscope, the circulation was found active. Those

which had become opaque were placed in a pretty strong solution of

common salt, by which their transparency was restored, the saline

solution dissolving the coagulum. Now examined, no traces of

development could be detected under the microscope in any one of

them,—showing that they had been dead before they were sent away.

On the following day, the 18th of December, the eleven transpa-

rent ova were repacked, and again sent the same distance. They

came back on the 22nd; they retained then their transparency ;

placed in water, a feeble circulation was to be seen in two under the

microscope ; in nine the blood-corpuscles had ceased to flow; these

became opaque. Of the two in which the circulation was perceptible,

one was hatched on the 28th of December; the young fish in the

other died, it would appear, in the act of breaking the membrane, its

head, on the 29th, having been found protruding, but the heart’s

action stopped.

The fifth experiment was made on the 26th of December. Ten

ova, in which the circulation was active, and the foetus in each well

advanced, were sent off on the day mentioned, and returned on the

31st. The weather, during the whole time, was mild, the frost

having ceased. When opened, the ova were all found hatched, and

the young fish dead, as might have been expected. When put into

water, not one of them showed any signs of remaining vitality; they

were all examined under the microscope.

The sixth and last experiment was made on the 6th of January.

Six ova, in each of which the circulation was vigorous, were put into

a glass tube of one cubic inch and a half capacity, with water to the

height of about.1:4 cubic inch, the remaining space, after closure by

a cork, being filled with air. The intention was to try the effects of

conveyance to a distance on these ova in water with a small quantity

of air. Owing to a mistake, they were not forwarded. Examined

on the following day, five ova were found hatched, the young fish

dead; in the one ovum remaining unhatched, the foetus was alive,

the circulation active; on the 9th it burst its shell; the young fish

was vigorous. Leeeerhe

As I could not with any certainty determine, at the time the ex-

periments were commenced, what eggs were impregnated and alive,

and what were not, I had at the beginning thirty ova taken indis-

criminately from the common stock, and put apart in a glass vessel,

the water in which was also changed daily. Of this number, seven

were found in progress of development on the 14th of December, or

23 per cent.; the rest had become opaque. One of the seven was

hatched on the 3lst of December, the others in succession, the last

on the 8th of January.

Further to arrive at a proximate average of the proportion of im-

pregnated and unimpregnated ova, or living and dead, on the 14th

424 Zoological Society :—

of December, when in the living ova the circulation was distinct

under the microscope, and the embryos were visible even to the

unaided eye, I examined the whole number then remaining, viz. 405,

thus reduced, owing to 67 having been removed, one after another

having become opaque, and 152 having been taken out for the pur-

pose of experiments. Of these 405 remaining, 138 were found alive,

each containing a well-formed embryo, and 267, though still trans-

parent, without life, no marks of organization being to be seen in

them, either with the naked eye or under the microscope. Hence,

irrespective of the 152 experimented on, the proportion of living to

dead on. the 14th of December would appear to be as 138 to 364,

or about 25 per cent. And, with the exception of two which died

after the 14th, all those then alive were hatched, the first on the

31st of the same month, the last on the 9th of January.

What are the conclusions to be drawn from these results? From

those of the first series of experiments, may it not be considered as

proved that the power of resisting an undue increase of temperature

is possessed in a higher degree by the ova in an advanced than in an

early stage of development,—the degree probably being in the ratio

of the age? From those of the second series, is it not as manifest

that the power of bearing distant transport, and of retaining life in

moist air, is in like degree increasing with age? And from both,

may not the general conclusion be drawn, that the strength of vi-

tality of the impregnated ovum, or its power of resisting agencies

unfavourable to its life, gradually increases with age and the progress

of foetal development? And as the Charr is one of the most delicate

of the family of fishes to which it belongs, may it not further be

inferred, with tolerable confidence, that the ova of the other and

more hardy species of the Salmonidee, were they similarly experi-

mented upon, would afford like results, confirmatory of those ob-

tained last year in some trials on the ova of the Salmon, and men-

tioned in my former letter to you?

The practical application of these results, and of the conclusions

deducible from them, is obvious, and need not at present be dwelt

upon.

I am, my dear Sir, yours very truly,

Joun Davy.

Lesketh How, Ambleside,

January 10, 1856.

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

January 9, 1855.—Dr. Gray, Vice-President, in the Chair.

Noricre oF THE HORNS OF AN UNRECORDED SPECIES OF PRONG

Horn (ANTILOCAPRA), IN THE COLLECTION OF THE DERBY

MuvsevM, Liverpoou. By Dr. Jonn Epwarp Gray, F.R.S.,

V.P.Z.S. etc.

Some years ago the late Earl of Derby showed me a pair of horns

' attached together by the skin of the forehead, which he had then

Dr. J. H. Gray on a new species of Antilocapra. 425

recently received ; and more lately, Mr. Moore, the Keeper of the

Derby Museum, submitted these horns to my examination, requesting

my opinion on them. At his request I bring a short notice of them

before the Society, in hopes to obtain further information respecting

them, and a specimen of the animal itself, should it prove to be a

distinct species of the anomalous American Antelope. The horns are

most probably from America ; but this is not certain, as the special

locality has not been recorded, nor the person from whom they were

obtained.

The colour, substance, and texture of the hair on the skin of the

forehead attached to the horns, exactly resembles that of the Cabrit or

Prong-horn (Antilocapra Americana, Gray, Cat. Mam. B.M. p. 117),

and if it were not for the very peculiar form of these horns, I should

have been inclined to have considered them as only the deformed

horns of that animal ; but both the horns are alike and have the same

peculiarities, which is not usual in malformations ; under these cir-

cumstances it appears better to regard them provisionally as belonging

to a distinct species, to be established or erased from the list as further

knowledge may decide.

There can be no doubt of the position of the horns, as a part

of the upper surface of the orbit is to be observed, with the remains

of the eyelids and eyebrows at the base of the left horn.

Fig. 1. Antilocapra Americana. Fig. 2. Antilocapra anteflexa.

ANTILOCAPRA ANTEFLEXA.

The horns compressed, dark brown, rugose, rounded and curved

and arched behind, compressed in front, becoming more so as they

reach the supra-medial frontal process. The apex subtrigonal,

evidently compressed and angularly bent forwards rather above the

compressed frontal process, with a deep furrow rather on the inner

side of the middle of the hinder upper part of the bend; the inner

edge of the recurved tip is rounded, the outer compressed, rather

426 Zoological Society :—

produced and sharp-edged ; the extreme tip is roundish, tapering, with

a white end. ‘They are considerably larger than the horns of the

usual species.

In the Cabrit or Antilocapra Americana, the horns are thick,

rounded on each edge and produced into a compressed submedial

frontal process, which is gradually bent towards the inner side. The

tips of the horns are rounded, becoming nearly cylindrical, and

are gradually and regularly arched backwards and inwards with a

bluntish extreme end.

The horns of the genus are peculiar for being lined internally with

a close velvety coat of short hair, directed towards the tip of the

cavity; and the whole outer surface of the horn appears to be formed

of agglutinated hair, some separate hairs being seen on the surface.

The peculiarity in the internal structure of the substance of the

horns of this genus shows, like the branched external form, a simi-

larity to the horns of the Deer; the hairy horn being the analogue

of the deciduous velvet of the Deer, and the permanent hairy coat of

the Giraffe. The ring of hair round the base of the outer surface is

to be observed equally developed in the horn from Lord Derby’s

¢ Collection and in that of the common Prongbuck. '

March 27, 1855.—Dr. Gray, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Notre ON THE SIXTEEN Species or TExAN Birps* NAMED

By Mr. Giraup or New York, 1n 1841. By Puinip LutT ey

SciaTer, M.A.

1. Icrerus Aupusonu, Giraud (no plate), is Psarocolius mela-

nocephalus, Wagl. Isis, 1829, p. 750. A good figure and interesting

account of this fine species is given by Mr. Cassin in his new work

on the birds of California, Texas, Oregon, &c. pt. 5. p. 137. pl. xxi.

2. Muscicapa TEexeNnsis, Giraud, pl. 1. This seems very like

Elenia cayennensis (Linn.), (which is included by Mr. Swainson

in his Synopsis of the Birds of Mexico, ) though rather larger in size.

3. Muscicapa Lawrencetit, Giraud, pl. 2. fig. 1.

4. Muscicapa FuLviFRoNS, Giraud, pl. 2. fig. 2.

5. Sytvia Hatsem, Giraud, pl. 3. fig. 1. This and the two pre-

ceding species I do not recognise.

6. Muscicara Deruamil, Giraud, pl. 3. fig. 2, is Muscicapa vul-

nerata, Wagl. Isis, 1831, p. 520; Setophaga vulnerata, Bp. Consp.

p- 313.°

7. Muscicapa Bewut, Giraud, pl. 4. fig. 1. This bird I believe

to be Sylvia chrysophrys, Licht. in Mus. Berol. ; Myiodioctes chrys-

ophrys, Licht. Nomencl. p. 32; Basileuterus chrysophrys, Bp. Consp.

* Descriptions of sixteen new species of North American birds, collected in

Texas, 1838, described in the ‘ Annals of the New York Lyceum of Nat. Hist.’ by

Jacob P. Giraud, Jun.—New York, 1841, 1 vol. fol.

Mr. P. L. Sclater on new species of Birds. 427

p. 314. But Mr. Giraud’s name has many years’ precedence, and it

will therefore stand as Basileuterus Belli (Giraud).

8. Parus tevcortis, Giraud, pl. 4. fig. 2, is without doubt Seto-

phaga rubra, Sw. Phil. Mag. 1827, p. 368, and has other prior

synonyms.

_ 9. FRINGILLA TExeENsts, Giraud, pl. 5. fig. 1, is Chrysomitris

mexicana (Sw.); Carduelis mexicana, Sw. Phil. Mag. 1827, p. 435.

10. PrprA GALEeRIcuLATA, Giraud, pl. 5. fig. 2=Zuphonia ele-

gantissima (Bp.) ; Pipra elegantissima, Bp. Pr. Z. 8. 1837, p. 112,

and has other synonyms.

11. Muscrcapa tevcomus, Giraud, pl. 6. fig. 1, is Setophaga

picta, Sw. Zool. Ill. n.s. pl. 3.

12. Muscicapra Brasierti, Giraud, pl. 6. fig. 2, seems to be the

same as Basileuterus culicivorus, Bp. Consp. p. 313; Sylvia culici-

vora, Licht. in Mus. Berol., which in that cage must be called Basi-

leuterus Brasieri (Giraud).

13. MuscicaPa RUBRIFRONS, Giraud, pl. 7. fig. 1. This very

pretty bird is named in Bonaparte’s Consp. p. 312, Cardellina amicta,

Dubus; and a reference is given to that author’s ‘ Esquisses Orni-

thologiques,’ 1850, t. 25, which, unless I am much mistaken, is

still unpublished. Be that as it may, Mr. Giraud’s name has many

years’ priority, and the bird will stand as Cardellina rubrifrons

(Giraud).

14. Synvia oxtvacea, Giraud, pl. 7. fig. 2, is Sylvia teniata, Du-

bus, Bull. Ac. Brux. xiv. part 2. p. 104; Rev. Zool. 1848, p. 245.

Mr. Giraud’s name has the priority.

15. Cerraia ALBIFRoNS, Giraud, pl. 8, is Salpinctes mexicanus,

Bp. Consp. p. 224; Thryothorus mexicanus, Sw. Zool. Ill. n.s. pl. 11.

16. ALAuDA mrnoR, Giraud (no plate), is an Otocorys, probably

the same as Wagler’s <Alauda chrysolema, Isis, 1831, p. 530;

Otocorys chrysolema, Bp. Consp. p. 246. But there is much con-

fusion at present among the American, as among the Old-World

species of this genus.

I have thought it worth while to give the previous list of the

Texan birds described by Mr. Giraud, and some remarks on their

synonymy, as his book appears to be very little known on this side

of the Atlantic. The only copy I have seen is that in the Society’s

Library, to which it was presented by the author. It will be observed

that by far the greater portion of the species have been also noticed

by European naturalists, though in some cases subsequently to Mr.

Giraud’s publication of them.

428 Zoological Society wes

On a New SPECIES OF THE GeNuS ToDIROSTRUM OF LESSON.

By Puaruie Luruey Scuater, M.A.

TODIROSTRUM NIGRICEPS.

T. supra flavo-olivaceum : alis caudaque nigris ; rectricibus et re-

migibus primariis stricte, secondariis autem et alarum tectricibus

latius flavescente limbatis : pileo cum nucha et capitis lateribus

nigris: subtus flavum; gutture et crisso albis: rostro pedi-

busque nigris.

Long. tota 3:4, alee 1°5, caudee 1*1.

Hab. Santa Martha in Nov. Grenada.

De Lafresnaye has given an account of the species of this peculiar

South American genus of Tyrants in the ‘ Revue Zoologique’ for

1846, p. 360. Bonaparte in his ‘ Conspectus’ has rather extended

the list; but his 4th and 5th species from Desmarest seem rather

doubtful, and the Muscicapa diops of Temminck is, I believe, quite

incorrectly stated to be identical with Hartlaub’s Todirostrum grana-

dense, and does not belong to this genus. There is also little doubt

that Todus melanocephalus, Spix, is the same as Todus cinereus,

Linn., and the first and third species of the Conspectus are therefore

coequal. The latest additions to this genus are :—

1. T. ruficeps, Kp. in these Proceedings, 1851, p. 52=T7'. multi-

color, Strickl. Cont. Orn. 1852, pl. 85. fig. 2.—(Todirostrum pecto-

rale, Kp.of the same page does not differ from Hartlaub’s granadense.)

2. T. chrysocrotaphum, Strickl. Cont. Orn. 1850, p. 48. pl. 49.

3. T. striaticolle, Lafr. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1853, p. 58.

4. T. fumifrons, Hartl. Journ. f. Orn. 1853, p. 35; and

5. T. rufilatum, Hartl. 7. c. 1855, p. 98.

The present elegant species I cannot identify with any of those

previously described. It is a typical Todirostrum, and may be placed

near 7’. cinereum, the type of the genus, from which it is easily

distinguished by its pure black head, yellowish-olive back, and white

throat. I obtained the only example of it I have yet seen from the

MM. Verreaux, by whom it was received along with many other

rare and valuable species from Santa Martha, on the north coast of

New Grenada.

Mr. Gould has specimens of the Todirostrum spiciferum, Lafr.,

from Chamicurros in North-east Peru. This species, with its largely-

developed crest, quite reminds one of the Muscivora regia (Gm.).

April 10, 1855.—Dr. Gray, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Descriptions oF Eigut New Specirs or Birps rRom

SoutH AMERICA.

By Joun Gou tp, Esa., F.R.S. etc.

Before describing the following birds, all of which are in my own

collection, I would remark, that I have submitted them to the in-

spection of Mr. P. L. Sclater, who has paid much attention to South

Mr. J. Gould on new species of Birds from South America. 429

American birds, and who pronounces them new to science; I there-

fore embrace the earliest opportunity of placing them upon record.

1. CAMPYLORHYNCHUS HYPOSTICTUS, Gould.

General hue of the upper surface brown, the feathers edged with

greyish-brown, producing a somewhat spotted appearance; from

above each eye, down the side of the neck, an obscure streak of

buffy-white ; upper tail-coverts dark brown, fringed with reddish-

brown; along the margins of the primaries a series of dark brown

dots on a light brown ground; tail brown, with lighter edges dotted

with dark brown like the primaries; under surface greyish-white,

with a streak of light brown down the centre of each feather, small

on the throat, gradually increasing on the abdomen, and assuming

the form of bars on the flanks; under tail-coverts buff, barred with

dark brown; irides red; bill light horn-colour; feet olive-brown.

Total length, 84 inches; bill, 1 ; wing, 33; tail, 32; tarsi, 1.

Hab. River Ucayali in Peru.

Remark.—This species is very closely allied to C. scolopaceus,

Spix, but differs in being of a rather larger size, in having a some-

what more curved bill, a more uniformly coloured back, and in the

greater number and larger size of the brown markings of the under

surface, which, moreover, extend on to the upper part of the neck

and throat.

2. CHAMZZA NOBILIS, Gould.

Head very dark brown suffused with rufous ; upper surface, wings

and tail-coverts rich reddish or saffron-brown ; tail reddish-brown,

crossed by a broad black band near the end, and slightly tipped with

buffy-white on the centre feathers, and much more conspicuously

on the lateral ones; lores fawn-colour; under surface white, the

feathers of the breast broadly, and those of the centre of the abdo-

men narrowly bordered on the sides with brownish-black; on the

flanks the latter hue increases to such an extent as to leave only a

lanceolate stripe of the white down the centre of each feather ; under

tail-coverts buff, speckled with brown; above each eye a narrow

streak of buff commencing a little in advance of the centre of the

eye, and extending downwards as low as the nape; irides brown ;

bill black ; feet reddish-brown.

Total length, 95 inches; bill, 1}; wing, 43; tail, 27; tarsi, 13.

Hab. Chamicurros, on the eastern side of Peru.

Remark.—This is the largest and perhaps the finest species of the

genus: its legs and feet are very powerful, its bill thick and strong,

its tail very short and rounded, its wings concave, and its plumage

offers that silkiness to the touch which is so characteristic of the

members of the genus Chameza, of which it forms in every sense a

typical example.

3. FoRMICARIUS NIGRIFRONS, Gould.

Band across the forehead black ; crown, occiput and nape deep

chestnut ; upper surface and wings rich brown; central primaries

430 Zoological Society :—

edged at the base with yellowish-brown ; base of the imner web of

the primaries and secondaries golden, showing conspicuously on the

under surface, but not perceptible on the upper; the outer covert at

the shoulder with a streak of ochreous-yellow along the margin of

its outer web ; tail brown at the base, gradually deepening into black

at the tip; throat, neck and breast sooty-black ; abdomen and

under tail-coverts fuliginous-brown, assuming an olive tint on the

flanks ; irides brown; bill black ; feet dark brown.

Total length, 7 inches: bill, 4 ; wing, 33; tail, 2; tarsi, 14.

Hab. Chamicurros, on the eastern side of Peru.

Remark.—About the same size and nearly allied to F. Cayennensis,

but may be at once distinguished from that species by the bar of

black on the forehead.

4. FoRMICARIUS ERYTHROPTERUS, Gould.

Head, upper and under surface and the tail black ; feathers of the

shoulders and mantle fringed with grey, giving it a scale-like appear-

ance ; those of the back fringed in a similar manner, but so nar-

rowly as to be scarcely apparent; tail-coverts black, edged with

rusty-red ; extreme edge of the shoulder white ; wing-coverts black,

tipped with dark rust-red, forming first a narrow bar of red, and

then a broad one of black; primaries rusty-red, largely tipped with

black ; secondaries rusty-red at the base, then black and tipped with

rusty-red, the extent of the red increasing as the feathers approach

the body ; orbits naked and apparently red; bill black ; feet fleshy-

brown.

Total length, 63 inches; bill, 4; wing, 33; tail, 25; tarsi, 2.

Hab. Interior of Demerara.

Remark.—This is a very fine species. The specimen above de-

scribed, which is the only one I have seen, is in my own collection.

5. SCHISTOCHLAMYS SPECULIGERA, Gould.

Head, neck, breast, back, wings and tail black ; base of the third,

fourth and succeeding primaries white, forming a small conspicuous

patch in the centre of the wing; lower part of the back, rump and

upper tail-coverts grey; under surface of the wing, abdomen and

under tail-coverts white; flanks grey, with a few black feathers

interspersed on the sides of the chest; irides red; bill, legs and

feet greenish.

Total length, 6% inches; bill, ; wing, 3; tail, 3; tarsi, 4.

Hab. River Ucayali in Peru.

6. THamMnopuitus Corvinus, Gould.

The entire plumage deep black with the exception of the shoulders,

on which is a broad mark of white ; bill black ; feet dark olive.

Total length, 7 inches; bill, 12; wing, 33; tail, 23; tarsi, 14.

Hab. River Ucayali in Peru.

7. THAMNOPHILUS MELANURUS, Gould.

Male.—Crown and sides of the head, crest, back, lesser wing-

coverts and tail, black; the wing-coverts tipped with white ; ; re-

Lieut. Burgess.on the Habits of some Indian Birds. 481

mainder of the wing blackish-brown ; throat and all the under surface

white ; bill black, becoming lighter at the base ; feet olive-brown.

Total length, 83 inches; bill, 1¢; wing, 33; tail, 34; tarsi, 14.

Female.—Crown of the head, crest, upper surface of the body,

wings and tail, chestnut ; throat and chest white, passing into the

mingled grey and sandy-red of the flanks; feathers clothing the

thighs rusty-red tipped with white; bill blackish-brown ; feet olive-

brown.

Hab. River Ucayali in Peru; I have also received examples from

Bogota. I must remark, however, that the specimens from the latter

locality are somewhat smaller than those from Peru. :

8. THAMNOPHILUS HYPERYTHRUS, Gould.

Crown and sides of the head, all the upper surface and tail, slaty-

black ; wings brownish-black, with a spot of white at the tip of each

of the coverts, forming three semicircular rows across the wing ;

chin, breast and abdomen rich dark chestnut-red, gradually blend-

ing on the flanks and vent into the dark hue of the upper surface ;

bill black ; feet olive-brown.

Total length, 7 inches; bill, 1; wing, 34; tail, 24; tarsi, 1.

Hab. Chamicurros in Peru.

Remark.—I believe the above to be the description of a female.

Notes ON THE HABITS OF SOME INDIAN Birps.

By Lirvut. Burcess. Parr IX.

Genus ARDEA.

Subgenus Earerra (Swainson).

ArpEA CaspoGaA. CatTrLE HERON.

This active little Heron is abundant in the Deccan, and, as its

name implies, is a constant attendant on cattle, running about amongst

them, and picking off the flies that settle on them. I give the fol-

lowing from my note-book on their habits :—‘‘ Towards the end of

November I observed a number of the common small White Heron

feeding near some cattle, and the same day twenty or thirty others,

and there were probably more feeding in fields of the toor plant;

they appeared to be picking up food from the ground, and were in

constant motion, frequently taking short flights from one part of

the field to the other. I observed the same birds next morning

sitting on a banian tree within the walls of a village; they quite

whitened the top of the tree with their numbers.

“1st May, 1848.—Observed that the small White Heron has at

this season of the year the fawn-coloured neck, and also that the

long feathers falling over the breast are fawn-coloured.

«12th May.—Saw numbers of the small White Heron feeding

amongst the sheep and along the grass plain at Khoonthephi.

*° 18th May.—Observed a flock of fifty-nine small White Herons

in a ploughed field picking up the worms and insects brought out by

last night’s heavy rain ; several of them were without the fawn-colour

on the neck, head and breast.”’ ;

432 Zoological Society :—

“8th May, 1849.—Saw five or six of the small White Heron feed-

ing amongst cattle. They keep close to the animals whilst feeding,

and I saw one evidently picking the flies off a bullock ; all these had

more or less of the buff-colour on the neck. It is extremely amusing

to observe these birds chasing flies, their long neck stretched out as

they follow every turn and twist of the fly, which is seized imme-

diately it has settled.”

The Cattle Heron breeds during the month of April, building in

tall trees. The nest is composed of sticks, and contains four eggs of

a pale greenish-blue colour, 1,8; im. in length by 1,3, in. in width.

I obtained eleven eggs from one tree on which there were twenty

nests. Ido not know if it has been satisfactorily determined whe-

ther both sexes assume the buff head and neck during the breeding

season.

Subgenus Nycricorax.

Arpra NyctTicorax. Nicut Heron.

Is a tolerably common bird in the Upper Deccan, but from its

habit of roosting during the day in thick lofty trees, which it leaves

for the streams after dusk, is not often observed. Its harsh grating

cry is heard in the early dawn as it returns to its hiding-places. I

made several attempts to obtain its nest and eggs, but without suc-

cess, neither could I learn its time of breeding ; however, I shot

a young bird on 3rd December, with some down remaining on its

head, which circumstance leads me to believe that they do not breed

at the same time as others of the Heron tribe. Dr. Jerdon says,

‘it breeds on palm and other trees, many nests together.”” The

Night Heron of England, identical I believe with that of India,

*‘ builds in trees,’ says Mr. Yarrell, “and lays four pale greenish-

blue eggs, rather more than 2 in. in length by 1} in. in breadth.”

Genus PLATALEA.

PLATALEA LEUCORODIA. WutitTE SPOONBILL.

I have seen flocks of these birds on the river Godavery, and occa-

sionally on the smaller streams., They breed during the month of

April, building in tall trees on the border of a stream. I append

a note on the subject: —“18th April, 1848. Found the White

Spoonbill breeding in a peepul tree beside a stream. The nest was

not, like those of the species of Tantalus and Ibis, built on the top

of the tree, but on the outside branches, about two-thirds from

the ground ; it was composed of sticks, and appeared small for so

large a bird. It contained four eggs of a white colour, spotted with

pale red, of much the same size as those of the Tantalus leucoce-

phalus.”’ The egg is 2,5, in. in length, by rather more than 1,4 in.

in breadth. The gizzard of the male bird, which I shot rising from

the nest whence the eggs were taken, was of a strong and rough tex-

ture, much like that of a fowl; it contained some bright yellow sub-

stance, a few small stones, a seed, and a few small particles of grass.

Although the Spoonbill does not build its nest in the same situation

Lieut. Burgess on the Habits of some Indian Birds. 488

as the Tantalus or Ibis, I quite agree with Dr. Jerdon that the

Spoonbill shows more affinity to the Ibis than to the Herons, from

the size and colouring of its eggs; and I believe that the more the

study of oology is taken up, the more clearly will it be shown that birds

may. be nearly as well classed by the number and colour of their

eges and their mode of nidification, as by their external form and

internal organization. The egg is white, with a belt of light red

spots at the larger end.

Genus Ciconta (Briss.).

CICONIA LEUCOCEPHALA (Jerdon). WHITE-NECKED STORK.

I have but seldom met with this handsomely-marked bird, but I

was fortunate enough to find it in its breeding haunts, and to secure

its eggs. On the 7th March 1850, I found a pair of these Storks

breeding in rather a low peepul tree; the nest was composed of

sticks, and contained four white eggs, nearly 2,5, in. in length,

by nearly 1,, in. in breadth. On the same tree a Black Vulture

(Vultur ponticerianus) had also built its nest, containing one egg.

In February I found young birds ; when hatched, the beak and bare

skin of the face are of a dull greenish-black, irides brown; the body

is covered with light brownish fawn-coloured down, legs and feet

dull brownish-orange. On one tree were two nests, each containing

two young. ‘The nests were composed of sticks, and built near the

top of the tree, a tall Indian fig, the stem of which was partly within

the walls of a village. ‘These birds, I was informed, breed in the

same tree every year.

Genus Tantauus (L.).

TANTALUS LEUCOCEPHALUS. PELICAN [nis.

The Pelican Ibis, as it is called by Dr. Jerdon, is a common bird

in the Deccan, frequenting rivers and tanks, and feeding, I believe,

chiefly on fish. Its large size renders it remarkable, particularly

during the breeding season, when the back and scapulars attain

their particularly rich rosy tint. These birds are social, feeding in

flocks. I was told by the natives of a village close to a tank fre-

quented by them, and close to one of their breeding places, that

when they fish in the tank they walk in the shallow water in line,

driving the fish before them. In another village, about ten miles

from the Godavery River, where there are a great number of large

banian trees both outside and inside the walls, I found a commu-

nity of these birds, which had built their nests on them, probably

to the number of fifty. The trees inside the walls were as thickly

covered with nests as those outside, and the birds, which appeared

docile and tame, did not mind the noise of the people passing beneath

them. At the time that I visited the village, the young birds were

all well fledged, and most of them able to fly. The village people

informed me that the old birds move off to the river in the very

early dawn, and having caught a sufficient supply for their young,

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 28

434. Zoological Society :—

return about eight or nine o’clock. A second expedition is made

during the afternoon. Some idea of the quantity of fish caught. by

these birds may be gathered from what the people told me, that

quantities of fine fish were dropped by the old birds when feeding

their young, and were eaten by them. A young bird of this spe-

cies which I shot in Scinde, disgorged a large quantity of small

eels. This Ibis breeds during the month of February. The nest

is composed of small sticks, and is placed at the top of the trees.

If there are many on the same tree, they are placed pretty close

together. They lay three or four eggs, of a dull opake white,

nearly 2,5 in. in length, by rather more than 1,8 in. in width.

The voung birds are able to fly by the month of May. I kept a

young bird which had dropped from the nest and broken its wing in

my garden for three or four months. It was most gentle and quiet,

oceasionally only snapping its strong beak at any person it did. not

like. In a short time it recognized the person who fed it, and when-

ever he made his appearance it would walk towards him, uttering a

piteous cry, flapping its long wings and bowing its head towards

him. It was a most ludicrous sight, which many came to see. It

was fed on fresh fish, and would not touch any that were at all

tainted. Another young bird which I also kept, would devour the

bodies of birds brought in for stuffing, and did not appear at all par-

ticular as to the quality of its food. The stomach of an old bird

contained a grassy substance, the remains of fish, and what appeared

to be the claw of a small crab. I give a description of a young bird

taken on 20th April. The beak dark lead-brown, darkest at the

base, which is very thick; the skin on the face and forehead the

same blackish lead-colour; the feathers on the head brownish-grey ;

the feathers on the neck of an ashy-brown, mixed with down.

Shoulders ashy, with light brown edges ; scapulars much the same,

with much lighter ash edges; the centres of the feathers darkest in

colour; lesser wing-coverts brownish-black, with an ashy tinge and

light ashy edges; larger coverts dark greyish-black; outer webs

tipped with whitish ash-colour, and inner webs tinged with the same

colour on the edges. ‘Tertials much the same colour as the greater

coverts, but tinged with rose-colour. Primaries and secondaries

black, with green reflections; back beautiful pale rose-colour ; upper

tail-coverts dusky grey ; tail-feathers twelve, black, with bright green

reflections. The breast, belly and sides covered with beautiful white

down, interspersed on the breast with some dark ash-grey feathers,

and on the sides with white, tinged with delicate rose-colour; the

whole of the back is also covered with beautiful down. This bird

was evidently a nestling, the first feathers having scarcely grown

enough to cover the body.

Genus Isrts.

Isis PAPILLOSA (Temm.). Warry-HEADED I[nis.

This Ibis is more common than the Black-headed, and is fond of

open places, as well as the sandy shores of the larger streams and

rivers. They are seen in flocks in the open country, picking up in-

Mr. P. L. Selater on new species of Birds. 435

sects; the stomach of one which I shot contained nothing but the

heads, legs, and wing-cases of locusts; that of a second was full of

large grasshoppers, and a lizard; that of a third was filled with the

chrysalides ? of butterflies. At the approach of evening the Warty

Ibis retires to thick trees to roost, uttering its loud and discordant

cry. It breeds during the months of February, March, April, May

and June, laying as many as three, and probably four eggs, of a pale

bluish-white, slightly streaked and spotted with pale brown, 2,4, in.

in length, by nearly 1,4, in. in width. I found the nest of this Ibis

. built on the top of a peepul tree (a species of Banian), and containing

three young birds, in the month of March.

April 24, 1855.—John Gould, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair.

ON SOME NEW OR LITTLE KNOWN SPECIES OF BIRDS IN THE

Derspy Museum Atv LivERPOOL.

By Puaiuie Lutrury Scrater, M.A.

The zoological collection of the late Earl of Derby, now at Liver-

pool, contains one of the largest and finest series of birds at present

in existence, many of the examples being valuable not only for their

rarity, but also as types of species described long ago by Latham in

his ‘ General History’ and other works, and which are hardly to be

recognized without examination of the original specimens.

Mr. Thomas Moore, the present Curator, is busily engaged in

arranging this mass of materials, and affords every facility to those

who. are anxious to inspect any of the objects committed to his care.

Among the birds I have had an opportunity of examining there

during a recent short visit are the following, which I venture to

characterize as new.

1. CONIROSTRUM FERRUGINEIVENTRE, Sclater.

C. cerulescenti-schistaceum, pileo et alis caudaque intus nigri-

cantibus : superciliis latis et elongatis albis: subtus intense

Serrugineum aut ferrugineo-rufum.

Long. tota 4°9, alee 2°75, caudee 2°0.

Hab. in Bolivia.

This is a typical Conirostrum, and quite distinct, I think, from

any species hitherto described. The members of this genus’ with

which I am at present acquainted are—

1. ConrROsTRUM CINEREUM (Lafr. and d’Orb.); D’Orb. Voy.

~*Ois. pl. 59. fig. 1. From Tacna in Peru and Sicasica in Bolivia.

2. CONIROSTRUM RUFUM, Lafr. Mag. de Zool. 1843. \Daenis

rufo-cinerea, Bp. Atti 6% Riun. Se. It. 1845, p. 404, et Consp.

p. 401. From Bogota.

3. CoNIROSTRUM siTTicoLoR, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 102.

C. bicolor, Less.; Gray’s Gen. pl.34. From Bogota.

4..CoNnrRosTRUM AaLBirrons, Lafr. R. Z. 1842, p. 301; Mag.

de Zool. 1843, Ois. t. 35 (from which, I believe, C. atrocyaneum,

28%

‘~

436 Zoological Society :—

Lafr. R. Z. 1848, p. 9, and O. ceruleifrons, Lafr. R. Z. 1842, p. 302,

only differ in age or sex). From Bogota.

Conirostrum superciliosum of Hartlaub, R. Z. 1844, p. 215, and

Bp. Consp. p. 402. sp. 5, is a true Sylvicola of Swainson, the same

as Parula mexicana, Bp. Consp. p. 310, and has of course nothing

to do with these birds.

The only other species that have been referred to this genus, as

far as I am aware, are Conirostrum ornatum, Townshend, Ann. Lye.

New York, 1851, p. 112, pl. 5. fig. 1, from Texas (the same as

Aigithalus flaviceps of Sundeval, according to Dr. Hartlaub), and the

C. fuscum and colombianum of Lesson, Descr. d. Mamm. et Ois.

pp- 273 and 274, none of which I have as yet recognized.

2. SYNALLAXIS ERYTHROTHORAX, Sclater.

S. fuscus, olivaceo-tinctus, capite obscuriore: gutture nigro-

cinereo: alis extus, nist parte apicali, tectricibus subalaribus

et vitta lata pectorali rufo-castaneis : ventre medio cineras-

cente, lateribus brunnescenti-olivaceis : cauda brunnea: rostro

nigro: pedibus brunneis.

Long. tota 5°3, alee 2°3, caudee 2°5.

Hab. in America Centrali; Coban et Honduras.

Of this Synallaxis, which seems different from all other members

of the genus that I am acquainted with, there is a specimen in the

Derby Museum procured at Coban by Delattre in 1843. The

British Museum contains an example from Honduras, and I have a

single skin in my own collection purchased in Paris, which I believe

to be from the same locality. The occurrence of species of this

group north of the Isthmus of Panama seems hitherto unnoticed,

except by the Prince Charles Bonaparte, in a list of a Guatimala

collection of birds in the Proc. Zool. Soc. for 1837, p. 118, in which

he includes the Synallaxis cinerascens of Temminck (Pl. Col. 227.

fig. 3). But the characters there given do not at all agree with

Temminck’s bird, and would seem more applicable to the present

species. Besides, the true Synallaxis cinerascens is said to be from

Brazil, and is not likely to occur also in Guatimala.

In my specimen of the present species the throat is slightly speckled

with whitish.

3. RAMPHOCANUS CINEREIVENTRIS, Sclater.

R. olivaceo-brunneus ; capitis lateribus rufis, spatio postoculari

nigro: alis extus brunnescentibus : gutture albo, nigro-cineras-

cente striato: abdomine cinerascente, medialiter albescentiore,

lateraliter autem olivascentiore: cauda nigricanti-fusca : rostri

mandibula superiore nigrescente, hujus autem apice et mandi-

bula inferiore albidis.

Long. tota 4°0, alee 2°0, caude 1°3.

Hab. in rep. Novee Grenade, Pasto.

A third species of this peculiar genus, beautifully intermediate in

colouring as in locality between the Ramphocenus melanurus of

Brazil and the rufiventris of Central America. When I say a third

species, I am perhaps doing an injustice to M. Lesson, who has

Mr. P. L. Sclater on new species of Birds. 437

already described a third and a fourth. But I have never seen the

Ramphoceni trinitatis* and viridist, and indeed they are hardly

likely to be recognized again from such meagre descriptions.

The Ramphocenus cinereiventris, of which there is only one

example in the Derby Museum, was procured at Pasto, in the

mountains of New Grenada, by the indefatigable Delattre. It is a

rather shorter-billed bird than the other two to which I have com-

pared it. Like R. rujfiventris, it has the sides of the head rufous,

but differs in showing a well-marked postocular spot. It is also

striated on the throat like that species, but has no tinge of rufous on

the abdomen, which is darkish cinereous. The tail of the specimen,

I regret to say, is not quite perfect, but there is no appearance of the

white markings which are the distinguishing characteristic of the

Guatimalan bird. |

The Derby Museum contains examples of R. rufiventris from

Coban and Panama, and also specimens of R. melanurus. The latter

Species appears to extend from the Amazon, where Mr. Wallace

collected specimens in the neighbourhood of Para, to South Brazil,

where Prince Maximilian of Neuwied notices its occurrence under

the name of Troglodytes gladiator, Beit. iii. p. 751.

4. CYPHORINUS ALBIGULARIS, Sclater.

C. intense rufo-brunneus: alis extus obsolete nigro-fasciolatis ;

cauda nigra, brunneo fasciata: capitis lateribus nigris; super-

ciliis posticis et gutture toto pure albis: abdomine crissoque

nigris, fasciis minutis albidis transvittatis: rostro nigro, tomits

pallidis : pedibus nigris.

Long. tota 5°75, alee 2°7, caudee 2°1.

Haé. in Isthmo Panama.

This fine large typical Cyphorinus, distinguishable by its pure white

throat and dark closely-banded under plumage, is also due to the

researches of M. Delattre, by whom it was brought from the Isthmus

of Panama. The only species I can find which resembles it in some

degree is Cyphorinus leucostictus,Cab. Orn. Notiz. in Wiegm. Archive

1844, p. 206; Schomb. Reise, i. p. 673. sp. 37, from Mexico and

Guiana; but that would appear to be a much smaller bird, and has

the under parts from the chin to the belly white, with the sides

and crissum reddish-brown.

Among the rare types in the Derby Museum is Mr. Eyton’s

Dendrexetastes capitoides (Cont. Orn. 1851, p. 76). This does not

seem to me different from M. de Lafresnaye’s Dendrocolaptes tem-

mincki (Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1851, p. 154. pl. 4), named about

the same time, but I think the latter term has a slight precedence

in point of date, and the bird will therefore stand as Dendrewetastes

temmincki, if thought worthy of continuing to rank as a separate

genus. The Derby Museum specimen is, to judge by its make, de-

cidedly a Cayenne skin. The Dendrocolaptes temmincki in the Ley-

den Museum is said to be from Bogota.

* Lesson, Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 42. 2. pileo rufo: darso et alis brunneo-rujis :

corpore infra niveo, lateribus griseis.

+ Lesson, Traité d’Orn. p. 377. Vert-olivdtre en dessus, jaune en dessous t

438 Linnean Society :—

Upon examining Dr. Kaup’s Psaris fraseri, of the Proc. Zool. Soc.

‘1851, p.47, I found it the same as Tityra albitorques, Du Bus,

Bull. Ac. Brux. 1847, xiv. pt. 2. p.104; and his Psaris parinus,

ib. p. 48, seems to me very closely allied to, if not identical with,

Pachyramphus atricapillus (Gm.), Pl. Enl. 687. fig. 1.

I can also confirm what Dr. Hartlaub has said in Wiegmann’s

Archiv, 1854, that Todirostrum pectorale, Kp., of the same paper

is T. granadense, Hartl., T. ruficeps, Kp.=T. multicolor, Strickl.,

and Setophaga flammea, Kp. = S. intermedia, Hartl. R. Z. 1853,

p- 5. Butin the two latter cases Dr. Kaup’s names were first given,

though from the long delay in publishing the Proceedings the others

were first published.

When criticising other writers, it is proper also to mention my own

mistakes ; and I take this opportunity therefore of stating, that my

Tenioptera striaticollis of the Proc. Zool. Soc. 1851, p. 193 (of which

the Derby Museum contains examples), has been long ago named

and figured in D’Orbigny’s Voyage as Tyrannus rufiventris, p. 312.

pl. 32. fig. 2. ,

LINNZAN SOCIETY.

March /4, 405 G.vie/The Phesideii:te dhe: Cinia

The following papers were read :—

1. “Note on some Larvee voided by Children,’ by Mr. E. New-

man.

2. “Notice on the occurrence of Sepia bisertalis in Cornwall,”’ by

J. Couch, Esq.

3. “A Memoir on the Development of the Ovule of Santalum

album, with some Remarks on the Pheenomena of Impregnation in

Plants generally,” by Prof. Henfrey.

The observations detailed in this memoir were undertaken with the

object of confirming Mr. Henfrey’s views on this subject, as detailed in

the 21st volume of the Society’s Transactions, which views coincide

generally with those of Amici, Von Mohl, Miller, Hofmeister, and

Tulasne, and are in opposition to those of Schleiden and Schacht. Even

among the disciples of Amici, however, a certain degree of discrepancy

exists in regard to the origin of the germinal vesicle, as to whether it

exists before, or is formed after fecundation. Hofmeister says before.

Tulasne states that he never could find it anterior to the fertilization ;

though, he adds, ‘‘this delicate question no longer (1849) possesses

all the interest which was accorded to it by MM. Mirbel and Bron-

gniart, and more recently by Mr. Henfrey. It is true the existence

of the embryonary vesicle at a period anterior to the arrival of the

pollen-tube would, if placed beyond doubt, prove invincibly that this

vesicle could not owe its origin to the latter organ: even now that

the error of the pollinists is no longer uncertain, the question seems

worthy of attention, especially on account of the theoretical conse-

quences involved.” Confidently as Tulasne expressed himself as to

the origin of the germinal vesicle independently of the apex of the

pollen-tube, this very point is most warmly contested by Schacht.

Prof. Henfrey on the Phenomena of Impregnation in Plants. 489

Notwithstanding a tolerably positive opinion, derived from a number

of cases in which the end of the pollen-tube and the germinal vesicle

were seen together, but distinct, in one preparation, the objects are

so delicate, and the causes producing obscurity so difficult to guard

against, that Mr. Henfrey cannot but think the demonstration of the

pre-existence of the germinal vesicle in the embryo-sac must be

considered the most important fact that can be brought forward in

opposition to the views of Schleiden. As remarked by Tulasne, it

has great philosophical importance in reference to the speculations

as to the source of the vitality of the new being; and it is no less

important for the establishment of the relations of the processes of

embryogeny in the various classes of plants, and of the analogy which

these present to phzenomena attending the reproduction of animals.

The details of Mr. Henfrey’s researches were given with great exact-

ness, and were illustrated by many excellent sketches. The memoir

was chiefly occupied in describing the course of development of the

ovule of one plant, in which the complete series of observations have

been repeated many times. Other fragmentary corroborative re-

searches being set aside, the facts detailed, though not now brought

forward for the first time, were offered as supplementary, partly con-

firmatory, partly emendatory, of the memoirs on the same subject by

the late Mr. Griffith. ‘The investigation itself,’ Mr. Henfrey re-

marked, “had derived a melancholy interest from the materials

having been furnished by the late lamented Dr. Stocks.”

After describing many of his microscopic examinations, Mr. Hen-

frey continues, “I have directed my utmost efforts to the accurate

observation of the ends of the embryo-sacs with the pollen-tubes

adherent. They are tolerably easily extracted with needles under a

low doublet. I have examined at least five-and-twenty, and have

applied every means to make the structures clear. . ... The end of

the pollen-tube adheres so firmly to the end of the embryo-sac, that it

cannot be torn away ina really fertilized ovule. My decided opinion

is that Griffith was in error in stating that the pollen penetrates into

the embryo-sae ; I believe that it only applies itself firmly against it,

over the point where the line of division exists between the two coagula

lying in the apex of the embryo-sac. But I incline to believe that

a phenomenon analogous to conjugation takes place. Moreover, very

soon after the pollen-tube becomes adherent, the pre-existing proto-

plasmic globule acquires a proper coat of cell-membrane, becomes

a real cell, the germinal vesiele from which the suspensor is developed.

I think the contents of the pollen-tube, after it becomes adherent to

_ the summit of the embryo-sac, pass into the latter, reach the germ-

globule, and determine its conversion into a cell. .... The facts

relating to the germination of the Fucaceze and Confervee described

by Thuret and Cohn, together with those brought forward in this

paper, tend to prove that the process of impregnation in plants con-

sists in the absolute admixture of the protoplasmic substance of two

cells (‘ male’ and ‘female’), of which the female (or germinal)

substance or body always pre-exists in the form of a nucleus, or ‘ pro-

toplast,’ while the male (or spermatic) substance exists in the form

of a granulose fluid. In the flowering plants the spermatic fluid is

440 Geological Society.

conveyed directly into the embryo-sac by the channel of the pollen-

tube ; a similar process appears to exist in the conjugation of some

of the lower Algze; in other cases the spermatic fluid is conveyed

from organs situated at a distance from the parent-cell of the germinal

vesicle by the agency of the locomotive structures (spermatozoids)

developed in the spermatic cells, bathed in and discharged with their

contents, and themselves composed of the nitrogenous protoplasmic

matter of cell-contents.”” A series of thirty-six clever microscopic

figures was given in illustration of the memoir.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

“‘On the Affinities of the great extinct Bird (Gastornis parist-

ensis, Hébert) from the lower Eocene near Paris.’”’ By Prof. Owen,

F.R.S., F.G.S. )

Prof. Owen communicated the results of his comparisons of the

fossil tibia of the Gastornis parisiensis, Hébert,—a large bird from

the lower Eocene deposits at Meudon near Paris—with the tibie of

known recent and fossil birds.

The tibia of the Gastornis presents the same median position of

the supra-tendinal bridge as in the Albatross and the lamellirostral

web-footed birds; but, as the same position of the bridge occurs in

the Notornis, the Gallinule, the Raven, and some accipitrine birds,

that character is not conclusive of the affinities of the Gastornis to

the Palmipeds; and it is further invalidated by a difference in the

aspect of the plane of the lower outlet of the bridge. In the Alba-

tross (Diomedea) and the Lamellirostres, the foramen or outlet looks

directly forwards; its plane is vertical. In the oblique aspect of

that outlet, the Gastornis more resembles the large Waders (Gralle)

and the Dinornis tribe. Amongst the Gallinacee, the Turkey (Me-

leagris) nearly resembles the Gastornis in the position of the bridge ;

and more nearly resembles it than does the Albatross or the Swan in

the low tuberosity external to the bridge above the base of the outer

condyle, as well as in the shallow groove dividing that tuberosity

from the bridge. The depression on the fore-part of the tibia above

the distal condyles, if natural to the Gastornis, is a structure not

precisely repeated in any of the Gralle. In the Ciconia Argala the

anterior interspace of the condyles forms a cavity, bounded above by

the tubercle and ridge developed from the bridge, and by the oblique

converging upper borders of the condyles below. ‘The canal of the

bridge opens below into the concavity. In the Grus Antigone the

lower border of the outlet of the bridge defines, with a tubercle ex-

ternal to it, the shallow supracondyloid cavity; but there is no

definite fossa, like that in the Gastornis.

In the Notornis, the breadth of the lower end of the tibia a little

exceeds the depth or fore-and-aft diameter of the condyles. The

supra-tendinal bridge is of moderate breadth, is transverse, and median

in position; its lower outlet looks forward just above the wide and

shallow intercondyloid space. The extinct Aptornis chiefly differs

from the Notornis in the less median position of the bridge, and in

Miscellaneous. 4A

the more shallow canal leading to it. In the Dinornis, the breadth

and depth of the condyles are equal; the outer condyle is the broad-

est, the inner one is the most prominent ; their articular surfaces

are so continuous as to leave no space answering to the intercondy-

loid space in the Aptornis, Notornis, &c. The bridge is situated

nearer the inner side of the bone, is subtransverse, rather narrow,

with a widely elliptical lower outlet opening above the inner condyle.

The Gastornis was a bird of the size of the Ostrich, but with more

bulky proportions, and in that respect more resembling the Dinornis :

it appears to have had nearer affinities with the wading order, and

therein, perhaps, to the Rallide; but the modifications of its tibia

indicate a genus of birds distinct from all previously known genera.

“Description of some Mammalian Fossils from the Red Crag of

Suffolk.” By Prof. Owen, F.R.S., F.G.S.

The fossils described in this paper were referred by the author to the

following genera and species :—Rhinoceros, a species nearly allied to,

if not identical with, Rh. Schleiermacheri, Kaup; from crag-pits at

Wolverston, Sutton, and Felixstow, Suffolk. Tapirus priscus, Kaup ;

from Sutton. Sus paleocherus, Kaup; from Sutton. Sus antiquus,

Kaup; from Ramsholt, Suffolk. Equus: two species, one appa-

_ rently Eq. plicidens, Owen; from Bawdsey, Suffolk. Cervus dicra-

nocerus, Kaup; from Ipswich and Sutton. Cervus megaceros, from

Felixstow. _ Ursus, sp. indet., less than Ur. speleus. Canis, appa-

rently C. Lupus. Felix pardoides, Owen; from Newbourn, Suffolk.

Mastodon longirostris, Kaup; from Sutton, Felixstow, and Ipswich.

Ziphius longirostris, Cuv. (Dioplodon Becanii, Gervais) ; Hoplocetus

crassidens, Gervais; Balenodon affinis, Bal. definita, Bal. gibbosa,

Bal. emarginata, Owen; and remains of species of Delphinus, of the

size of the Grampus. .

The conclusion which the author deduced from the large propor-

tion of miocene forms of mammalia, and the very great numerical

superiority of individual fossil specimens from the Red Crag refer-

able to miocene species, and from the admixture of these fossils with

a few eocene and pleistocene species, was that the Red Crag was the

débris of former tertiary strata of different periods, and, in a great

proportion, of the miocene period.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The British Museum—its Catalogues and accessions in Zoology.

“Ir is with great pleasure,’ said the Prince Charles Bonaparte, in

presenting the Academy of Sciences of Paris with a copy of Dr. Gray’s

recent ‘ Catalogue of the Tortoises,’ “‘it is with great pleasure that I

lay before you this new work on the Chelonian Reptiles, because it

is a true model of what the catalogues of great museums ought to be,

taking the science at its standing point, and furnishing figures of new

or doubtful species and of such as have been ill represented. In

one word, it is a work worthy of its author, of the national establish-

442 Miscellaneous.

ment in which he presides over the Zoological Department, and,

above all, of the Administrators or ‘Trustees’ under whose charge

it is. These enlightened statesmen, raised above low intrigues and

personal considerations, although imbued with a spirit of order and

strict economy, know how to avoid parsimony when the advancement

of science is in question. Of this, the publication of this fine book

by order of these ‘Trustees’ is a fresh proof, and the thanks of the

scientific world are due to them for it.”

If there be any class of men to whom the old proverb, that “a

prephet is without honour in his own country,”’ may be more especially

applied, it is undoubtedly to our British zoologists; for while plain

Brown, Jones, and Robinson may baw! themselves hoarse without

finding a hearer, the moment Professor Schafskopf or Herr von

Windbeutel makes his appearance he is greeted with unanimous

applause; every opinion he puts forward is treasured up as so much

gospel; and although here and there a thorough John Bull may be

found to stand up for the merits of his countrymen, most of us are

as little inclined to abate one jot of our exclusive faith in foreign

scientific literature, as was mine ‘host of the Garter’ to suspect the

honesty of his German customers. Under these circumstances it is

very gratifying to find that the continental savans themselves by no

means treat the labours of our British zoologists with contempt, and

we have thought it worth while to quote the above passage from

Prince Charles Bonaparte’s oration, as it serves to show the estimation

in which one of a long series of works, but little known to many of

our readers, is held by one who is certainly no mean authority in

such matters.

The books here referred to are the Catalogues of the Zoological

Collections in the British Museum, which have now been appearing

in constantly increasing numbers for a period of twelve or thirteen

years. The value of their contents has also partaken of this progress ; »

for instead of the “‘ Lists,” containing merely the names of the species

existing in the national collection, with a few of the most important

synonyms, which constituted the earlier volumes, those recently

published generally include all the described species of the group on

which they treat, accompanied by a full synonymy and descriptions

of the new species; whilst in many cases the characters of all the

species, and those of the genera and other groups are given. This

applies especially to the Catalogues prepared by Dr. Gray himself,

which embrace a portion of the Mammalia (the Cetacea, Pinnipedia,

and Ruminantia), the whole of the Reptiles with the exception of

the Colubrine Snakes, and the Cartilaginous Fishes ; but some of Mr.

Walker’s and Mr. Smith’s recent Entomological Catalogues present

the same feature. Many of them also are accompanied by plates

illustrative of the characters of the new genera, or, as in Dr. Gray’s

Catalogues of Mammalia, of all the genera; and it is with a view to

the more effective illustration of the subjects that these books have

lately cast off the form of unpretending duodecimos, in which the

originally appeared, and come out boldly as quartos. Such is the

“Catalogue of Chelonian Reptiles’ referred to by Prince Bonaparte

Miscellaneous. 4.43

in the above extract, which is illustrated by some admirable plates of

Tortoises by Mr.G. i. Ford; and such is also the excellent Catalogue

of the Papilionide not long since brought out by Mr. G. R. Gray,

which contains coloured figures of the new species described. We

must therefore echo His Imperial Highness’s expression of thankful-

ness to the Trustees for placing within our reach, at a moderate price,

such a mass of valuable zoological literature.

In connexion with this subject we may also call attention to the

vast additions which have been made to the zoological collections in

the Museum in the course of the last twenty years, but especially

since 1840, as shown in the following table, derived from the Parlia-

mentary returns, as this more than anything will serve to show, not

only the energy displayed in the conduct of the Department, but

also the abundance of materials at the disposal of the authors of the

different catalogues to enable them to render their works as perfect

as possible :—

Additions made to the Zoological Collections in the British Museum

during the years 1836 to 1855 inclusive.

Vertebrata. joahbeong ‘ohare: Total.

1836. 302 1,755 248 2,305

1837. 1923 233 4,779 6,935

1838. 1088 1,807 803 3,698

1839. 1019 7,049 1,558 9,626

1840. 654 12,371 8,164 21,976

1841. 1936 - 3,744 11,345 16,238

1842. 2740 5,125 10,877 18,742

1843. 4503 10,221 6,150 20,874

1844. 3517 19,191 10,200 32,908

1845. 5842 8,868 2,688 17,398

1846. 4535 10,181 3,960 18,678

1847. 2396 6,337 5,524 14,266

1848. 2717 11,566 3,661 17,944

1849. 1608 5,011 3,559 10,178

1850. 2251 7,260 3,827 13,338

1851. 2889 9,438 8,415 20,742

1852. 2303 8,237 5,724 16,264

1853. 1979 105,406 5,015 112,400

1854. 903 9,663 13,847 24,413

1855. 4865 15,173 4,340 24,378

422,301

Note on the Development of the Lampreys.

By M. Scuuutze.

The author has examined the development of the ova of Petromyzon

Planeri, which occurs commonly in a small brook near Berlin. The

ova were artificially impregnated. The mature ova are white and

4.4.4: Miscellaneous.

opake; they possess a viscous, temporary outer envelope, and a finer

delicate chorion (membrane coquilliere of Vogt). _ The latter is finely

punctured, and appears to be pierced by minute tubes, as in other

fishes. The vitellus is furnished with an extremely delicate vitelline

membrane. No micropyle could be discovered.

The segmentation of the vitellus commences six hours after im-

pregnation. It implicates the whole of the yelk, and differs in this

respect from that which occurs in other fishes, in which only a small

portion of the vitellus (formative vitellus) undergoes this transforma-

tion. The segmentation of the vitellus in the Lampreys is exactly

the same as in the Frogs, and the vitelline membrane furnishes very

delicate envelopes for the segments, which are true cells.

The two first furrows are perpendicular, whilst the third is trans-

verse, separating the egg into upper and lower portions. The seg-

mentation goes on much more rapidly in the upper half, so that

when the segmentation is complete (two days after fecundation), the

cells contained in it are much smaller than those in the lower portion.

During this period a large cavity is formed in the interior of the egg,

but situated almost entirely in the upper part, which it dilates into a

thin vesicle, whilst its bottom is formed by the large cells of the

lower part of the egg. As in the eggs of the Frogs, this cavity

disappears during the further development, and its purpose is not

known.

The first changes which take place after segmentation consist in

the increase of the upper part, which grows over the lower and

covers it,—not equally on all parts of the circumference, but only on

one side, by a margin in the form of a high ridge. At the side of

the latter and beneath it, a hollow is formed in the lower part of the

egg, corresponding to the anus in the eggs of the Frog. This is the

entrance to a second cavity, the primitive alimentary cavity, which

is developed during the diminution of the cavity of segmentation ; it

subsequently becomes the anus of the Lamprey, and is therefore the

first portion of the fish to make its appearance. No trace of vibratile

cilia is distinguishable on the surface of the egg, which does not

exhibit any rotatory movement like that which distinguishes the eggs

of the Frog. On the fifth day, dorsal ridges, like those of the Batra-

chia, make their appearance, and the dorsal furrow which is situated

between them soon closes above ; the extremity of the head now rises

distinctly, whilst the anus constantly becomes smaller, but never dis-

appears entirely. In the meantime the primitive alimentary cavity

extends up to the extremity of the head of the embryo, whilst it dis-

appears gradually in the neighbourhood of the anus, from the

approximation of the large cells of the lower portion of the yelk, by

which it was enclosed. In this way the primitive alimentary cavity,

which never exhibits vibratile cilia in its interior, becomes the pha-

ryngeal, and subsequently the branchial cavity. At this time also

the chorda dorsalis and the heart make their appearance ; the latter

only makes sixteen pulsations in a minute. On the sides of the

chorda dorsalis appear parts which become the lateral muscles

(vertebral divisions of Vogt) ; above it are the commencements of the

Miscellaneous. 445

spinal cord and. the cerebellum, the latter only forming a clavate

inflation of the former, as in Amphiowus.

On the fourteenth day the young Lampreys, 1} line in length,

languid, white and opaque, quit the egg; they are incapable of

rising from the bottom of the vessel. In the inflated extremity of

the hinder part of the body are the large cells formed by the seg-

mentation of the lower half of the vitellus; they are filled with the

elements of the yelk, and do not entirely disappear for three or four

weeks after exclusion. During this period the young fishes take no

nourishment.

After leaving the egg, the branchial apertures are formed suc-

cessively by wrinklings of the skin, which attain the number of

seven on each side, and become constantly deeper until they reach

the pharyngeal cavity. At the same time another wrinkle of the

skin produces the mouth; and above the anterior extremity of

the chorda dorsalis, between the skin and the cerebellum, there

appears a spot of black pigment, which constitutes the eye. This is

formed in the manner of the eye in the Invertebrata. Behind the

eye, and near the brain, a large clear cell becomes filled with cal-

careous granules; this is the auditory vesicle, with the otolithes.

The heart divides distinctly into ventricle and auricle, and the peri-

pheric portion of the vascular system is developed. Behind the

heart some large yellowish cells form the liver.

At the bottom of the branchial apertures the branchial filaments

spring from the partitions; they are never furnished with vibratile

cilia. The cartilaginous branchial arches commence their develop-

ment from the chorda dorsalis, and passing beneath the skin of the

partitions soon meet beneath, forming a branchial skeleton exactly

like that of the mature Lamprey. Beneath the branchial cavity the

branchial artery is produced, and between this and the skin a long

oval gland, composed of small granulated cells, is formed. It is

situated in a cavity with soft walls, which it fits exactly, and its

surface is covered with vibratile cilia. The author regards it as a

thymus gland, but it does not exist in the mature fish.

Round the mouth are formed the upper and lower lips, and two

lateral flaps united with the upper lip. The young animal becomes

more and more transparent ; but in several parts of its body, espe-

cially over the artery and vein beneath the chorda dorsalis, cells of

black pigment are deposited in a stellate form. Here also numerous

adipose cells are developed, from which some small papillee arise

above the heart and liver ; these are directed towards the abdominal

side, and oscillate freely ; they also bear on their surface a longi-

tudinal range of cilia. ‘The author doubts whether they are the first

rudiments of the kidneys or of the Wolffian body, as he subsequently

saw the formation of a tortuous canal further back, but still above

the liver, which presented no oscillations, and which perhaps would

become the Wolffian body, discovered in other fishes not long since

by M. Reichert. When the membranes of the intestine are deve-

loped, and the residue of the vitelline mass is consumed, a vibratile

epithelium is seen in the posterior portion of the digestive tube.

4.46 Miscellaneous.

This is at four weeks after exclusion, and it is only then that the

young Lampreys take some nourishment from the mud in which

they delight to bury themselves. Some cartilages also now make

their appearance at the anterior extremity of the chorda dorsalis;

these are the foundations of the basilar cartilage of the cranium.

The eyes are still deeply immersed in the skin, but the auditory

vesicles are enlarged and the number of otolithes increased. A

single olfactory organ, a small cavity covered with a_vibratile

epithelium, is situated in front of the brain, and receives a short,

thick, olfactory nerve. It is remarkable, that four weeks after ex-

clusion there was no trace of peripheric nerves, either in the head

or body, although the spinal cord is very thick.—Comptes Rendus,

Feb. 18, 1856, p. 336.

CLAUSILIA MORTILLETI.

To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History.

Cheltenham, March 30, 1856.

GENTLEMEN,—My attention was only very lately directed to a

note from Herr Adolf Schmidt, of Aschersleben, in your ‘ Annals’

for January last, mentioning the occurrence of Clausilia Mortilleti,

Dumt., near Cheltenham.

In the autumn of last year I found a Clausilia in this neighbour-

hood, which I at first suspected might be Clausilia Rolphii, a species

I have always hoped to find in this county. Isent three specimens to

the British Museum, with the statement, that if not C. Rolphii, with

which I was not acquainted, and the figure and description of which

differ widely from each other and from the species itself in Turton’s

‘Manual,’ it was probably C/. Mortilleti, Dumt. I subsequently

sent two examples of the same to Herr A. Schmidt, from whom I

had previously received continental shells, with the note, that if it

was not a very ventricose variety of Clausilia rugosa, it was probably

Clausilia Mortillets.

_In this neighbourhood the species is extremely local. I found it

in company with dzeca tridens, among nettles and long grass, in a

damp and shaded locality, and did not procure more than a dozen

examples altogether. It is not a very well marked species; but, in

addition to structural points of difference, its “habit” is unlike that

of C. rugosa.

I am, Gentlemen, yours obediently,

CHARLES PRENTICE.

On a supposed New Species of the Genus Equus.

By M. I. Grorrroy Sarnt-Hivarre.

The Empress of the French has recently received as a present

from the Viceroy of Egypt, and presented to the Menagerie of the

Jardin des Plantes, two specimens of an Equine animal, which M.

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire considers to be a new species. It belongs to

Meteorological Observations. 4.47

the section of the great genus Hqguus of which Dr. Gray has formed

his genus Asinus. It is most nearly allied to the Djiggetai (Equus

(Asinus) Hemionus), but differs from that species in the smaller size

and better shape of the head, its shorter ears, and its tail partially

covered with long hairs. It thus appears to be intermediate between

the Djiggetai and the Horse, for which reason M. Saint-Hilaire pro-

poses to name it Hquus hemippus. Its colour is the same as that of

the Djiggetai, and, like that species, it has a blackish mane and dor-

sal line. It is supposed to be a native of the deserts of Syria between

Palmyra and Bagdad.—Comptes Rendus, Dec. 31, 1855, p. 1214.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR MARCH 1856.

Chiswick.—March 1. Cloudy: fine. 2. Cloudy: slightrain. 3,4. Cloudy and

cold. 5. Overcast. 6. Cloudy and cold: fine. 7. Cloudy: fine. 8. Fine: slight

rain. 9. Cloudy. 10. Foggy: fine. 11. Foggy: hazy: frosty at night. 12.

Clear and frosty : cloudy and windy. 13. Cold and dry. 14. Excessively cold

wind : clear, cold and dry. 15. Cloudy. 16. Slight haze: heavy rain at night.

17. Hazy. 18. Hazy: fine rain. 19, 20. Hazy: overcast. 21. Hazy: cloudy.

22. Overcast: fine. 23. Hazy: fine: clear. 24, 25. Hazy and cold. 26. Cloudy

and cold. 27. Clear: fine: frosty. 28. Cloudy and cold. 29. Dry cold haze:

eet at night. 30. Slight haze: fine: sharp frost. 31. Slight haze: very fine:

rosty.

Mean temperature of the Month ...........sessccssecsoressceee »- 38°95

Mean temperature of March 1855 __....... sedee'eesaponacecsecsses 04, “OL

Mean temperature of March for the last thirty years ......... 42 :09

Average amount of rain in March —........sseceeeceees seaceeesee 1344 inch.

Boston.—March 1, 2. Cloudy. 3. Cloudy: rainr.m. 4,5. Cloudy. 6. Cloudy:

rain A.M. 7—9. Fine. 10. Cloudy. 11. Cloudy: snow a.m. 12, 13. Cloudy.

14. Fine. 15. Cloudy. 16. Fine. 17. Cloudy: rain a.m.and p.m. 18. Cloudy:

rain P.M. 19. Cloudy: rain a.m. 20. Cloudy. 21. Cloudy: rain a.m. and p.m.

22—26. Cloudy. 27. Fine. 28. Cloudy. 29—31. Fine.

Sandwick Manse, Orkney.—March 1. Cloudy a.m.: fine, drizzle p.m. 2. Drizzle

A.M.: fine, cloudy p.m, 3. Damp a.m.: fine, clear p.m. 4. Showers, fine A.M. :

fine, cloudy p.m. 5. Damp a.M.: fine,S aurora p.m. 6. Drops A.m.: fine p.m.

7. Fog a.m. and p.m. 8. Showers a.M.: fine, aurora p.m. 9. Showers a.M.:

cloudy p.m. 10. Frost a.m.: clear, frost p.m. 11, 12. Snow-showers a.m. and

P.M. 13. Snow, frost a.m. : clear, frost p.m. 14. Clear, frost a.m. : very clear P.M.

15. Bright a.m.: very clear, aurora P.M. 16. Clear a.m.: very clear p.m. 17.

Bright a.m.: cloudy p.m. 18. Cloudy a.m.andp.m. 19. Bright a.m.: cloudy

p.M. 20, 21. Cloudy, fine a.m. and p.m. 22. Bright, fine a.m.: clear, fine p.m.

23, 24. Cloudy a.m.: cloudy, fine p.m. 25. Cloudy a.m.: clear, fine p.m.: 26.

Bright a.m.: cloudy, fine p.M. 27. Bright a.m.: clear, aurorap.M. 28.: Cloudy

A.M.: very clear, fine P.M. 29. Clear a.m.: very clear, fine p.m. 30. Cloudy

A.M.: very Clear, fine, aurora p.M. 31. Bright a.m. : cloudy, fine p.m.

Mean temperature of March for previous twenty-nine years... 40°40

Mean temperature of this Month ......secsesseseseceees Siro usecy 40 °39

Mean temperature of March 1855 oc... .ececececeeseeeeeeeeeeees 36 °61

Average quantity of rain in March for fifteen previous years . 2°60 inches.

This month has been unprecedentedly dry, the rain being only about one-eighth

of the average for March, and less than that of any month during my observations,

except April 1852, when it was only*11 of an inch. Rain fell only on eight days.

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THE ANNALS

AND

MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY.

‘

[SECOND SERIES.]

No. 102. JUNE 1856.

tien

XLI.—On the British Diastylide.

By C. Srence Barz, F.L.S.

[With three Plates. ]

Tue first recorded specimen of the anomalous group of Crus-

tacea which forms the subject of the present memoir, was that

figured by Col. Montagu in the ‘Transactions of the Linnzan

Society,’ vol. ix., as Cancer scorpioides. He there describes it as

a mutilated specimen, and the only one which he had observed.

The head or forepart he believed to have been wanting, and thus

accounted for his inability to detect the eyes or antenne. But

still, from the general appearance of the creature, he thought it

entitled to a place amongst the Cancri,—which term appears to

be with him synonymous with Crustacea, exclusive of the Isopoda

and the Entomostraca,—and that it bore a near relation to Cancer

esca of Gmelin.

Say, in the Ist volume of the ‘Transactions of the Phila-

delphia Philosophical Society,’ describes a Crustacean under the

name of Diastylis, which he affirms to be of the same genus as the

Cancer scorpivides of Montagu and the Cancer esca of Gmelin.

In the 13th volume of the ‘ Annales des Sciences Naturelles,’

Dr. Milne-Edwards has described another specimen, under the

name of Cuma Audouinii ; but this he afterwards, in his ‘ Histoire

des Crustacés,’ qualified with a doubt as to whether it might not

be the immature form of some known Decapod. |

This last opinion has been recently supported by the assertion

of Professor Agassiz to Mr. Dana, that the Cume were the larve of:

certain Macroura. Consequently the most recent and one of the

most important works on the subject, Mr. Dana’s great work on

Crustacea, contains the following passage :—“‘ But according to

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvi. 29

450 Mr.C.Spence Bate on the British Diastylide.

recent observations by Prof. Agassiz, communicated by him to

the author, the Cume are in part, if not always, the young or

immature forms of certain Macroura, as Alpheus, Palemon, and

Hippolyte. This distinguished observer has actually obtained

Cume from the eggs of Crangon septemspinosus, Palemon vul-

garis, and Hippolyte aculeata.”

A communication made by so eminent a man is like the

sound of a trumpet, the voice of which extends to the farthest

limits of the earth, and long is the time ere its echo shall cease

to be repeated.

Agassiz says that he has “ actually obtained Cume from the

eges of Macroura.” This strong assertion by so great a man

will require the clearest evidence that careful investigation can

produce in order to demonstrate its error and to elucidate the

truth, that the Cume are adult animals perfect in themselves, and

that they belong to the suborder Stomapoda among Crustacea,

in which they form a family of themselves, the Diastylide.

I have chosen this name from the earliest given to a genus of

the family, which appears moreover to be the type of the group ;

also as considering the term Diastylis to be more significant in

relation to the form of the animal than either of the other

generic names in the family. |

Kroyer, in his illustrations to the ‘ Voyages en Scandinavie,’ &c.,

has figured several species most carefully and most correctly, in

accordance with the usual practice of that eminent carcinologist.

More recently Mr. Goodsir, in the Edinburgh New Philosophical

Journal for 1843 (in a paper which has been reprinted in full in

Bell’s ‘ British Crustacea’), has described all the known British

forms, and with the exception of Kroyer, whose work Mr. Goodsir

appears not to have been aware of, has entered more fully ito

the subject than any previous author. He has recognized their

true character as animals in their adult condition, and considers

that they should be ranged with the lower forms of Macroura,

and between them and the Stomapoda. With this, Prof. Bell in

his ‘ British Crustacea’ entirely agrees, and has included these

anomalous forms of Sessile-eyed Crustacea amongst the Podoph-

thalma.

Sir James Dalyell, in his fine work on the ‘ Rare Animals of

Scotland,’ has figured one or more species, without adding much,

we believe, to the knowledge of either the structure or habits of

the animals. . |

The first step will therefore be to describe the separate parts

of the dismembered animal ; and although this to a certain extent

has been done by Kroyer, yet his great work is in the hands of

so few, that it will scarcely be deemed a work of supererogation

even to repeat some that he has well displayed, and by this

Mr. C. Spence Bate on the British Diastylide, 451

means we shall be enabled homologically to consider the relation

which their several parts hold to the same respectively in the

larvee of the Decapoda, and demonstrate not only that the Cume

are not the young of certain Macroura, but that they are animals

complete in their development and capable of the production

of others of their own form.

That the Diastylide are a depauperized family, there can, I

think, be no doubt; yet it is one of those forms in creation

which assist to destroy the popular theory of authors, of a gradual

rise in the gradation of animal existence; for though in classifi-

cation we place them among the higher types, yet there can be

little doubt that in organized perfection they are less complete

than those of animals below them in the natural scale of ar-

rangement,

Genus DIAsTYLiIs.

Diastylis, Say, Trans. Phil. Soe. Philad. vol. i.

Alauna, Goodsir, Edin, New Phil. Journ. (1843).

Cuma, Kroyer (Voyages en Scand. &c.).

Carapace with the lateral angles developed anteriorly, and

meeting without uniting in front of the eye and antennal seg-

ments, and produced anteriorly in the form of a rostrum. Eyes

confluent, and situated as a single organ on the top. Five seg-

ments of the thorax exposed behind the carapace. Upper an-

tenna short, scarcely reaching to the anterior margin of the

carapace. Lower antenna longer than the upper. First five

abdominal segments without appendages, except the two anterior

in the male only. The sixth furnished with a pair of members

terminating with double stylets. The ¢elson* produced into a

long styliform process.

Diastylis Rathki. Pl. XIII.

Cuma Rathkii, Kroyer.

Alauna rostrata, Goodsir.

The genus Bodotria is perhaps the highest form in the family ;

but since my opportunity of dissection has been more complete

on the Alauna of Goodsir, which I believe to be of the same

genus as Diastylis of Say, I shall take this latter as the type

of the whole family, and under their respective heads trace the

generic or specific differences in the group. |

The first character in the general appearance of one of these

animals that strikes the observer is that of its being a muti-

lated creature,—an idea present to the mind of Montagu when

* From réAcoy, extremity. The centre tail-piece in Crustacea generally ;

\ the twenty-first segment in the homologies. oe

452 Mr. C. Spence Bate on the British Diastylide.

he described and figured in the ‘ Linnean Transactions’ the ani-

mal in the collection at the British Museum. From the reduced

form of the members generally, many appear, on a careless exa-

mination, to be wanting ; hence it is that both Say and Montagu

mistook the character of their respective species.

Taking each of the segments in succession, we observe that

that which supports the first pair of appendages in Crustacea

is strongly marked as an independent segment, both in Squdlla

among the Stomapoda, and Palinurus among the Decapoda ;

and that in the Decapoda when the segment itself is absent,

the eyes are still borne on projecting peduncles ; but in the whole

of this group not only is the segment absent, but the peduncles

themselves are wanting; and the eyes not only lose their podoph-

thalmic character, but the two are so closely assuciated as to

appear, as they probably are, but a single organ, and to general

observation fixed in the centre of the carapace, in which ano-

malous position they have been described by those who have

discovered the organ, except Kroyer.

The second segment, or that which supports the first or in-

ternal pair of antenne, is elosely associated with the third, or

that which bears the second or external pair of antennze ; the two

segments united together are attached to the next succeeding

by the posterior margin only, which is somewhat broader than

the anterior, the centre of which is slightly advanced, as if to

cover the organ of vision. The fourth segment, or that which

supports the mandibles, is developed posteriorly to the pre-

ceding, to which it is united by the entire width of the anterior

segment, but only at its posterior margin, for the lateral edges,

unlike what is found in the perfect Macroura, are free. The

lateral processes or wings of the mandibular segment extend

considerably forward on each side of the segments which bear

the antenne, and meet without uniting in front of the same.

This segment forms nearly the whole of the carapace, and sur-

rounds the anterior segments, which appear as a central patch

on the dorsal surface.

The carapace is developed from the same segments as in the

perfect Macroura, but in this tribe covers only the first two or

three instead of all the segments of the thorax ;—obedient to a

law which I think has been made out in a previous paper (see

Ann. Nat. Hist. July 1855), that the anterior portion of the

carapace lessens in importance in relation to the posterior, and

that the whole decreases as the animal descends in the scale of

nervous centralization. Consequently the great buckler, which

in the Brachyura and Macroura protects the whole of the thoracic

portion of the animal, extends its defence only over the two an-

terior segments ; the last five are seen posterior to the carapace,

Mr. C. Spence Bate on the British Diastylide. 453

and, unlike the same segments in the higher forms, have the

dorsal portion complete, and each is developed into a perfect

ring to which the respective thoracic legs are attached.

The seven succeeding segments belong to the abdomen, and

are unfurnished with appendages, except the penultimate, which

is supplied with a pair of double-branched stylets, from which

peculiarity of form Say derived his generic name for the Ame-

rican species. In the male however the first two segments are

each supplied with a pair of short, stout, styliform appendages,

which are probably intromittent organs, since they homologize

with those which are known as such in the higher forms. The

last segment is developed into a caudal style, the edges of which

are furnished with short spinules: near the centre of this articu-

lation debouches the alimentary canal.

The upper or interior antenna is short and pyriform, appa-

rently consisting of a peduncle, which is formed of a single seg-

ment and a short filamentary appendage of four articulations,

each being furnished with a long ciliated hair (Pl. XIII. fig. 4 a).

The whole organ does not extend beyond the rostrum-like pro-

jection of the carapace.

The lower or exterior antenna is considerably longer than

the upper, and consists of a peduncle formed of a single joint

and a filamentary appendage, the first two articulations of which

peduncle in the antenna of the true Macroura, since that which

we call the peduncle in this, evidently homologizes with the first,

or first and second, for the olfactory organ is distinctly dis-

cernible in the middle of the segment (PI. XIII. fig. 5 a), which

is considerably broader than the next succeeding; we there-

fore think it convenient to describe it as the peduncle, and the

slighter continuation as the terminal filament, rather than accord-

ing to what may or may not be homologically true. The first

joint of the filament is nearly as long as the peduncle, and the

second considerably longer, whereas the four terminal are ex-

“tremely short, each successively shorter than the preceding ; the

last is tipped with a slhght brush of cilia, and reaches consider-

ably in advance of the most anterior extremity of the animal.

The mandibles are the next succeeding pairs of appendages,

and are very powerful organs, not developed upon the type of

the Decapoda, but furnished with a molar tubercle and a comb-

_ like row of teeth or hairs as found among the Amphipoda, pos-

sessing however a long osseous tendon as in the Macroura, and

therefore forming a type intermediate between the two extremes,

and probably belonging to the Stomapoda (Pl. XIII. fig. 6).

The maxillz are thin foliaceous plates intermediate in their

454, Mr. C, Spence Bate on the British Diastylide.

form between the higher and the lower types (PI. XIII. figs. 7, 8).

The maxilliped (fig. 10) partakes more essentially of the higher

type than that of the lower forms; it is pediform, and consists of

a stout basal joint supporting five terminal smaller ones, the last

of which ends in an extremely fine point; three large plumose

hairs are given off from the penultimate and antepenultimate

articulations. To this pair of limbs are attached the branchial

appendages, which consist on each side of eight or nine secondary

saccular ceca, connected with a common membranous chamber

iu which the blood circulates for its perfect aération.

The two gnathopoda (or second and third maxillipeds) are

developed upon the true type of the Macroura; the anterior

(fig. 11) does not possess the secondary palpi, whereas the pos-

terior (fig. 12) does, and moreover is developed so as to become

the closing operculum to the mouth. The basal joint is long

and broad, and its internal margin is fringed with a row of hairs,

which answers to a corresponding row of teeth-like prominences

in the true Macroura, where they perform the part of an efficient

biting apparatus ; the upper extremity of the joint extends on

the outer side, slantingiy forwards, and is crowned with hairs.

The five terminal articulations are short and unimportant, the

whole not equalling the first joint in length. This pair of limbs,.

together with the preceding, is attached each to one of the first.

two rings of the thorax, the sternal portion and lateral walls of

which are alone developed.

The next succeeding pair of feet are those which homologize

with the great cheliform limbs of the Decapoda (fig. 13) ; they

are the most powerfully formed organs which the animal pos-.

sesses, are considerably longer than any of the others, and reach

anteriorly beyond the extreme limits of the antenne. Lach is

formed of an anteriorly curved basal joint, three succeeding

posteriorly curved articulations, the three together equalling in

length the preceding, and two others which appear to be more

freely jointed than any of the preceding, and which together

equal in length the basal articulation. The basal segment is

ciliated upon the convex or posterior margin, the three suc-

ceeding are furnished with long plumose cilia upon the anterior

margin, and the terminal one has long simple hairs upon the

posterior margin only. Arising from the coxa, which in the whole

family is closely associated and probably anchylosed with the

segment of the body, is the palpe (of M.-Edwards’s earlier

writings, the ewognathe of his later),—a secondary appendage to

the legs peculiar to the Stomapoda; it consists of a single arti-

culation, and a terminal ciliated stalk or filament (tige) equalling

in length about half that of the true leg.

Mr. C. Spence Bate on the British Diastylide, 455

The next succeeding pair of limbs (fig. 14) homologize with

the (so-called) second pair of thoracic legs in the Macroura.

Each agrees closely in character with the preceding, but differs

in details by the increased size of the coxz, the shortness of the

joints succeeding the basal, and the very great length of the

penultimate articulation of the legs: like the two preceding sets

of limbs, it is furnished with a palpe or secondary appendage,

Moreover, in the female a scale-like appendage, the fouet of

Milne-Edwards, is attached to this, the one preceding and the

next succeeding pairs of legs, forming by their mutual overlapping

the incubatory pouch, in which the egg is nourished, and the

embryo cherished, and the larva carried until it assumes the form

of the adult animal, when it leaves the parent to seek its exist-

ence as a self-providing animal.

The three next succeeding homologize with the three pos-

terior pairs of legs in the Decapoda, and are developed in one

form (fig. 15). The first joint or cova appears not to be so closely

associated with the segment of the body as those belonging to the

anterior legs. The second joint is long, the third short, the

fourth long, and the two next intermediate; the last joint ap-

pears to be represented by a stout jointed hair. :

Appendages are attached to the two next succeeding segments

of the body, in the male only, these being the first two segments

of the abdomen; they must therefore homologize with the

styliform processes in the males of the Decapoda which are

_known to be intromittent organs, and probably answer the same

purpose in these creatures. |

The three succeeding segments are unfurnished with append-

ages in both sexes; but the next, the penultimate, supports a

pair of a form peculiar to the family. They consist each of a

long basal joint, armed with a single row of spinules upon the

inner margin, and a pair of unequal terminal styliform processes

slightly frmged with cilia. This pair of appendages, with the

pointed terminal segment or telson, form the caudal appendage

or tail of the animal.

The general structure of the integumentary tissues is slight :

the cell-character of the original formation is readily apparent

beneath the microscope, with a few granules of lime deposited in

each, The colour of the animal is stated by Mr. Harry Goodsir,

who took them in the Frith of Forth, as of a beautiful bright

straw colour inclining to yellow. I have never seen any alive,

but have received specimens from the Moray Frith from a

highly esteemed correspondent, the Rev. Geo. Gordon ; also from

St. Ives, where it has been dredged by my friend Geo. Barlee,

‘Esq., who also dredged a single specimen with mature larve off

the Isle of Arran. From Falmouth I have received it from my

456 Mr.C.Spence Bate on the British Diastylide.

friend W. Webster, Esgq., and have taken it myself from the

refuse of the trawlers in the neighbourhood of Plymouth.

Genus Cuma.

Cancer, Montagu.

Cuma, Edwards, Ann. Se. Nat.; Goodsir, Edin. New Phil. Journ.

1843; Kroyer, Voyages en Scand.

Carapace with the lateral angles meeting in front of the con-

fluent eye and the antennal segments, but not produced ante-

riorly into a rostrum-like projection. The lower anterior margin

not generally receding. Four segments of the thorax complete,

and exposed behind the carapace. The upper antenne “ single-

jointed and scalelike ” (Goodsir) ; the lower short and unimport-

ant, reaching not far in advance of the carapace. Abdomen

without appendages to the five anterior segments, sixth with

double branched stylets, seventh or ¢elson absent.

Cuma scorpioides. Pl. XIV. fig. 11.

Cancer scorpioides, Montagu, Linn. Trans. vol. ix.

Cuma Audouinti, Edwards, Ann. Se. Nat. ; Goodsir, Edin. New Phil.

Journ. 1843.

— Edwardsii, Goodsir, Edin. New Phil. Journ. 1843.

This animal has been described by Edwards and Goodsir. I

have received but a single specimen, and that, taken in the

Moray Frith by the Rev. Geo. Gordon, from which the present

drawing was made*. Mr. Goodsir was more fortunate, having

captured many, some carrying spawn. He has imagined that

there were two species among them, but I am inclined to think

that neither his figures nor his descriptions support this conclu-

sion, and I believe them to have been mere varieties of the species

described in the ‘ Annales des Sciences Naturelles,’ vol. xiii., by

Dr. Milne-Edwards, and that the whole, as also the one from

which my own figure has been taken, are identical with the

species found by Montagu and figured by him in the Linnean

Society’s ‘ Transactions,’ and still preserved in his collection in

the British Museum.

Upper antennz “ rhomboidal” (Goodsir) ; lower very short,

terminating but a little in advance of the carapace. The lateral

angles of the carapace meeting in front of the antennal segments,

but not culminating to a rostrum-like projection. A lateral ridge

extends on either side from the posterior margin nearly to a level

with the eye. Eyes confluent, and apparently a single organ.

Thoracic feet furnished with a palpe. Telson rudimentary.

* Not wishing to destroy the only specimen that I have seen, I am not

enabled to examine the animal by dissection ; therefore my description is

taken from the perfect creature.

Mr. C. Spence Bate on the British Diastylide. 457

The whole animal (says Goodsir) is of a fine straw colour with

a delicate tinge of pink, which is brighter in certain lights.

Cuma Edwardsii. Pl. XIV. fig. rv.

Cuma Edwardsii, Kroyer, Voyages en Scand.

Carapace covering only two segments of the thorax, leaving

the five posterior ones exposed as complete rings in themselves.

The carapace is marked on the lateral margins as if it were

divided into segments ; its anterior portion extends in front of

the antennal segments, the anterior inferior angle receding.

The lower antenna exposed considerably in advance of the cara-

pace. The two anterior thoracic legs succeeding the gnathopoda

are extremely long, the three posterior extremely short, and all ex-

cept the posterior furnished with a palpe or secondary appendage.

The segments of the thorax lie very compact, and resemble a

continuation of the carapace; those of the abdomen are naked,

except the penultimate, which is furnished with a pair of limbs

common in form to the tribe. TZelson rudimentary.

Having seen but a single specimen, for which I am indebted

to Professor Williamson, who obtained it from Weymouth and

kindly sent it to me, I am not enabled to speak so positively

as one could wish, but I am much inclined to believe that it

should represent a separate genus. All the Cume exhibit but four

segments posterior to the carapace, whereas this species exposes

five; it is less compressed at the sides, the anterior form of the

carapace is more pointed, and the antenna appears longer, but

the importance of these relative parts can only be distinctly

appreciated by dissection and a proper examination of the details.

It is evidently the same species as the one figured in Kroyer’s

great work, and until further opportunity occurs of examining

its structure, it must still be retained in the genus assigned to

it by its discoverer.

Kupora, n.g.

Differs from Cuma in having the upper antenna obsolete*.

Eudora truncatula, mihi. Pl, XIV. fig. 111.

The lateral angles of the carapace meet in front of the antennal

segments and are somewhat raised above them. The inferior

* My own inclination is to unite this genus with Cuma, and Venilia with

Bodotria, to which in general form they respectively agree. But Mr. Goodsir,

who has dissected many of the genus Cuma, distinctly affirms the upper

antenna to be present, whereas in Bodotria he is as positive that the

lower is “ quite obsolete ;”’—facts so distinctly at variance with my own

experience of the closely allied forms of Eudora and Venilia, that I am

compelled, in deference to so careful an investigator, to place the new

species in separate genera.

458 Mr.C. Spence Bate on the British Diastylidee.

anterior edge is considerably produced, and gives a truncated

character to the appearance of the animal. The margin is ser-

rated, anteriorly more prominently so.

The upper antenna is wanting; the lower (fig. 5) is very

short, and consists of a peduncle of three joints and a filamentary -

terminal appendage, the first segment of which is long and the

rest extremely small and fine.

Mandible furnished with a prominent molar tubercle, but not

supplied with hair-like spinules between it and the incisive

margin. The first gnathopod (fig. 11) is pediform; the second

(fig. 12) also, but the basal articulation is broadly developed

anteriorly, so as to fulfil the office of an operculum ; the internal

margin is convex and furnished with strong hairs ; the external

margin is concave posteriorly, and extends at the anterior corner

into a long, firm, ciliated spine ; a second spine of the same cha-

racter is situated on the anterior margin between the former and

the terminal joints of the appendage, which consists of four small

segments supplied with a few plumose cilia. This pair of limbs

is furnished with a palpe, or secondary appendage, consisting of

a single-jointed peduncle and a terminal filamentary appendage

supplied with a brush of cilia. The next succeeding pair of legs

(fig. 13), the homologues of the large claw-feet of the Decapoda,

are extremely long, reaching considerably in advance of the an-

terior margin of the animal; each of them consists of a long

basal joint, denticulated with four or five strong spines upon the

convex or inferior margin, followed by a short joint and three

terminal long ones: this as well as the three succeeding legs are

furnished with a palpe similar in formation to that of the pre-

ceding pair.

The four next succeeding pairs of legs (figs. 14, 15, 16, 17)

are similarly formed, except that they gradually diminish in

size posteriorly, the last being considerably the smallest, and

moreover unfurnished with a palpe. In the female the two anterior

pairs of these last four are furnished with fowets, or scale-like

appendages which overlap each other and carry the ova and the

larvee.

I have received four or five specimens of this species, which

were dredged by W. Webster, Esq., in Plymouth Sound, some-

what within the Breakwater; some of them having eggs in the

incubatory pouch. |

a Ltr f f PEPER

Genus Hatia,n.g.< “4, frobe, fed

Cuma, Goodsir.

Carapace elongate, compressed, covering the thorax, except

the three posterior segments. The four posterior legs of the

Mr. C. Spence Bate on the British Diastylide. 459

thorax without a palpe. Telson rudimentary. Upper antenna

prominent, lower membranaceous. :

Halia trispinosa. Pl. XIV. fig. v.

Cuma trispinosa, Goodsir.

The carapace is long and much compressed, the lateral angles

meeting in front of the antennal segments, and projecting for-

wards into a rostrum-like point. Half-way between the eye and

the posterior margin of the carapace are two (three, Goodsir)

small teeth or spines, from which the specific name is derived.

The superior antenna consists of a single-jointed peduncle and

a terminal filament, the first two segments of which are half

the length of the whole organ; the remainder are minute and

furnished with cilia. The lower antenna consists of a peduncle

formed of two minute articulations, calcareous in structure and

furnished with plumose cilia, and a terminal filament of a mem-

branous structure, soft and flexible in its character, the anterior

portion of which exhibits an appearance of rudimentary articu-

lations, and the organ generally bears a strong resemblance to

that of the embryo Crustacean.

The mandible (fig. 6) is furnished with a very prominent:

molar tubercle and a secondary incisive denticle, as well as a

row of intermediate spinous hairs more or less furnished with

cilia. The maxille (figs. 7,8) are foliaceous, and resemble those

described in Diastylis.

The maxilliped (fig. 10) consists of a long and stout basal

joint, followed by a second, rather shorter and less robust, fur-

nished on the inner margin with minute denticles, and termi-

nated by two minute articulations well supplied with cilia. This

pair of members carries the branchiz.

The first gnathopod (fig. 11) is pediform, consisting of a long

basal joint and four or five terminal smaller ones,

The second gnathopod (fig. 12) is also pediform, but deve-

loped so as to fulfil the office of an operculum. The basal joint

is long, and the external anterior margin is prominent and fur-

nished with a number of hairs; the second joint is similarly

formed, but short ; the three terminal ones are unimportant. The

member is furnished with a palpe consisting of a basal joint and

a terminal filament.

The next succeeding leg (Pl. XV. v. fig. 13), which is homo-

logous with the large cheliform organ in the Decapoda, consists

of a long basal joint (the rest except the palpe in our speci-

mens were broken off).

The four succeeding pairs closely resemble each other, and

are each respectively formed of a long basal joint and four or five

460 Mr. C. Spence Bate on the British Diastylide.

terminal shorter ones. None of these are furnished with a palpe,

or secondary appendage. They are moderately covered with

cilia, most of which are of a peculiar form, very long and slight

(15 a), with a smaller, short stout hair at the base. The longer

one is very straight, and through two-thirds of its length pos-

sesses what appears to be an internal spiral.

The penultimate segment of the abdomen is furnished on each

side with a member consisting of a long basal joint and a pair of

terminal styliform appendages, each of which is double-jointed ;

the outer one being fringed on the inner side only with plu-

mose cilia, the inner one with corresponding serrated spinules.

The termination of the alimentary canal is seen to debouche in the

rudimentary ¢e/son (or terminal joint of the animal).

We have received this species through the kindness of the

Rev. Geo. Gordon, who took it in the Moray Frith. Mr. Goodsir

took a single species in the Frith of Forth.

Genus Boporria, Goodsir, Edin. New Phil. Journ. 18438.

Bodotria arenosa, Goodsir*. Pl. XV. fig. v1.

First, second, third, fourth and fifth segments of the abdomen

each armed with a pair of bifurcate finlets. The two terminal

scales of the caudal styles are single-jointed. The superior

antenne are quite obsolete ; the inferior pair are of considerable

length, and are terminated by means of two long spines.

Genus VENILIA, n. g.

Carapace with the lateral angles meeting in front of the

antennal segments. Both pairs of antennz well developed.

Five of the posterior segments of the thorax exposed. Lach of

the five anterior abdominal segments carries a pair of swimming

feet ; the penultimate is furnished with a pair of appendages of

the form common to the family. Telson rudimentary.

Venilia gracilis, mihi. Pl. XV. fig. vit.

Carapace long and narrow, the lateral angles meeting in front

of the antennal segments, and projecting anteriorly into a

rostrum-like point. The superior antenna well developed, and

reaching much beyond the anterior margin of the carapace.

The inferior antenna consisting of a peduncle formed of three

(or more) articulations, the last of which is longest, and an

extremely long and delicate terminal filamentary appendage,

* For this description, together with the figure, I am indebted to

Mr. Goodsir’s paper, to which I must refer the reader for a more complete

account. ;

Mr. C. Spence Bate on the British Diastylide. 461

equalling about half the length of the entire animal. The third

thoracic leg, the homologue of the claw in the Decapods, is very

long, reaching to the anterior margin of the carapace; the four

succeeding are much shorter, being scarcely longer than the

basal joint of the preceding. None of them appear to be

furnished with a palpe. ;

The abdomen is well developed, and partakes of the character

of the higher types in the way in which the lateral edges overlap

the sides and seem to protect the delicate appendages beneath,

which consist, to each segment, of a pair of organs formed each

of a basal joint and a pair of flexible scale-like appendages.

The appendages of the sixth or penultimate segment resemble

those of the preceding species. “The telson is rudimentary.

This very elegant species was taken in the Moray Frith by the

Rey. Geo. Gordon, among several specimens of Halia trispinosa.

Having examined all the forms of the family that I have met

with, or believe to have been discovered as British, and the struc-

ture of those of which I could obtain more than a single specimen,

it will be necessary that I should compare them with the larve

of the Decapoda Macroura, since Agassiz’ assertion that he has

taken Cume from Hippolyte, &c., 1s so very positive. All the

species mentioned by Agassiz are American—it will therefore

be difficult for persons on this side of the Atlantic to procure

their evidence from the same; but I think an examination of

one of the same genus will be quite sufficient, particularly as all

the Diastylide that have been examined in this paper are British ;

consequently, if they are the young of any of the Decapoda

Macroura, as asserted by Agassiz, they must be those of British

forms. ‘The larva which I have chosen as being the nearest to

those mentioned in Dana’s work, is that of Hippolyte varians,

of which I have given a careful figure in Pl. XV. fig. vinx. It

was obtained direct from the parent,—therefore in the same

manner that Agassiz obtained his Cume.

The carapace, furnished with a distinct rostrum, is broad, and

not laterally compressed ; it reaches back to the commencement

of the abdomen, which consists of but three segments, the ter-

minal one being dilated at the extremity into a fish-tail form,

having seven unequal spines on each division.

_ The eyes are large, situated laterally at the anterior portion of

the carapace, and extend on each side beyond the margin; they

can scarcely be ranked among the sessile forms of the organ, as

typified among the Edriophthalma.

The anterior antenna (Pl. XV. fig. 2) has at least two segments

to the peduncle, and two terminal short filaments (the number

belonging to the genus in the adult form). The posterior.

antenna (Pl. XV. fig. 3) consists of a peduncle with two seg-

462 Mr.C, Spence Bate on the British Diastylide.

ments, to the first of which is attached a scale-like appendage}

the extremity of which is fringed with cilia, and to the second

a terminal filament scarcely so long as those belonging to the

anterior organ.

The mandibles and maxille are distinctly visible; and Mr.

Darwin, who dissected the specimen from which the figure

accompanying this paper is taken, found the mandibles and two

pairs of maxille*, after which follow six pairs of appendages,

all of which are united at the base in pairs, so that they repre-

sent three sets of limbs. The basal articulation of the anterior

organ is furnished with three strong spines, which are directed

anteriorly. That of each of the two posterior members has

but a single spine. Each separate appendage consists of from

two to three articulations, furnished with four or five strong

hairs.

The abdomen is unfurnished with appendages, but at the

posterior limit of the first segment are two cells with a coloured

nucleus.

In this immature state of a known decapod Crustacean, we

perceive the organs that are present possess the character of the

adult animal in an embryonic form. The eyes are placed at the

lateral margins of the carapace, ready to be elevated on foot-

stalks. The superior antenna has a peduncle, with two out of

three of the normal articulations, and differs in no other feature

but size from the perfected organ of the adult Crustacea. The

inferior antenna bears also a near resemblance to the adult form,

except in the incomplete number of the articulations m the

peduncle. The moveable scale peculiar to the Macroura is

distinctly seen, and the terminal filament differs from that of

the adult only in being very short, and the three double pairs of

leg-like appendages are the immature forms of the maxillipeds

in the adult Crustacea. The rest of the appendages are yet in

embryo. The length of the entire animal is the sixteenth

of an inch; and as it mcreases im size, other limbs are developed

upon the type of those which they ultimately assume in the

adult form, becoming more and more complete as the creature

progresses in age and growth.

But in the Diastylide we find that there is a material dif-

ference. The carapace, instead of being broad and flat as in

the larva of the Macroura, is laterally compressed ; and although,

as in Diastylis, there is the appearance of a rostrum, yet it is

the result, as shown in the description of the animal, of a

monstrous development of the lateral angles of the mandi-

bular section of the carapace,—a circumstance which gives a

peculiar and eccentric feature to the whole family, that of the

* Cirripedia, vol, ii. p. 107, note T. -

Mr. C. Spence Bate on the British Diastylide. 463

posterior portion of the carapace surrounding the anterior,

which consequently appears to be situated in the middle instead

of at the anterior extremity of the carapace, and its importance

is so lessened in degree as to impoverish the character of the

appendages which it supports. Thus the eyes, instead of bemg

efficient organs, supported upon peduncles, are so reduced in

size and converged together as not to be distinguishable from a

single organ; a circumstance which, together with the known

habits of the animal, induces me to believe that they are sub-

terranean Crustacea, living chiefly in muddy and sandy soils.

The antennz are peculiar, sometimes one or other being rudi-

mentary or obsolete, but never, as far as 1 know, developed upon

the type of those of the Macroura.

Again, the mandibles are developed upon a type so decided

in their character, that their form alone would be sufficient to

demonstrate that they do not belong to the true Macroura; each

organ being furnished with a molar tubercle similar to that of

the Amphipoda, and not supplied with a flagellum. The maxillz

are developed upon the type of the Stomapoda rather than the

Amphipoda. This is equally correct with regard to the maxilli-

peds and the five succeeding pairs of appendages.

The abdomen consists of seven segments, which, with the

exception of the penultimate, are generally destitute of append-

ages, although in the genera Bodotria and Venilia they are

attached to every segment, and the whole animal assumes, in each

of these two genera, a character more normal in its condition.

Thus it will be seen, that the segments are developed as in

the adult animal; and the appendages also, I think, possess a

similar signification. But should these not be admitted as suf-

ficient evidences of the maturity of the animals, they can further

be supported by the fact recorded by Mr. Goodsir, that he had

taken the female Cuma with “spawn,’—a circumstance that I

haye corroborated by obtaining a C. truncatula with ova in the

pouch, and also a specimen of Diastylis Rathkit with larve fully

developed in the same position. This latter specimen was taken

by G. Barlee, Esq., in the Isle of Arran.

The female has attached to two pairs of legs four plates, ana-

logous to those found in the Amphipoda, which overlap each

other, and form a pouch in which the ova and the undeveloped

larvee are protected during incubation. ;

The larva quits the pouch ina form resembling the parent—

at least so near, that, with the assistance of a most efficient

microscope, I have failed to distinguish any difference. Those

in the pouch at the same time were of two sizes, as if 1t contained

the young of separate ages, or distinct broods.

The male in Diastylis, if not in the other genera, is capable

464 Mr. C.Spence Bate on the British Diastylide.

of being recognized by the two pairs of short styliform processes

attached to the two anterior segments of the abdomen, analogous

to those of the higher types of Crustacea. 3

Having traced the forms of the Diastylide and compared

the same with that of the larva of a Macroura-form Decapod,

and having, moreover, shown that the former are in a con-

dition to continue their species, I think I am in a position to

assume that they are Crustacea of adult forms, and that, con-

sequently, they are not the young of any of the Decapoda, and

that they form several genera in a family essentially character-

istic. It now becomes necessary to see where, among Crustacea,

this family should be placed, and the comparison of the dissected

animal with that of others may lead to an approximation of the

truth.

The carapace is developed upon the type of the Podophthalma,

whereas the eyes are sessile; but in some of the Macroura, as

in Athanas and Alpheus, the peduncles are rudimentary: there-

fore it is but legitimate to assume that the organs are formed

upon the same type, but rudimentary in character, in the Dia-

stylide,—reduced to this form by the subterranean (?) habits of

the animal and the eccentric development of the carapace from

the normal form. ) 7

The antenne are generally more or less abortive, and all are

typically below the Macroura; although in some species, as in

Diastylis, there may be observed in the lower antenna an organ

which can only homologize with the olfactory organ of the

Decapoda (fig. 5 a).

The mandibles are developed upon the type of those of the

Amphipoda rather than upon those of the Macroura or the

Stomapoda, although they assimilate to the latter somewhat in

the development of the internal lever-like process for the attach-

ment of muscles. The maxille and posterior members all ap-

proximate the Stomapod type, as exemplified in the Myside,

whereas the abdominal segments, except in Bodotria and the

closely allied genus Venilia, are mostly wanting.

Taking these several distinctions into consideration, there can, —

I think, be little doubt, —

1st. That the animals are adult Crustacea.

2nd. That they belong to the suborder Stomapoda.

8rd. In that suborder they rank after the Myside, that is,

they hold the lowest position known among the Stomapoda ; but

that they indubitably belong to that suborder,—not to the sub-

order Decapoda Macroura, as suggested by Goodsir, and repeated

with doubt in the ‘ British Crustacea,’

Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. S.2.V17. PLXM,

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Ann. ke Mag, Nat Hist. 8. 2NOV

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Dr. J. E. Gray on a new species of Spherium. 465

EXPLANATION OF PLATES XIII. XIV. & XV.

[The numbers attached to the details of figures 1. 111. and v. indicate the

same parts throughout. |

PuLaTE XIII.

Fig. 1. Diastylis Rathkii.

2. Carapace seen from above ; showing the manner in which the

lateral angles, a, a, meet, without uniting, in front of the an-

tennal segments, 5: 3

3. Carapace seen from beneath, with the gnathopoda in position.

4. a. Upper antenna, attached to the carapace, seen from below.

5. Lower antenna; a. olfactory organ.

6. Mandible.

7 & 8. Maxille.

10. Maxilliped; a@. branchial sac. |

11 & 12. Ist and 2nd gnathopoda (2nd and 3rd maxillipeds).

13 & 14. Two anterior pairs of thoracic legs.

15, 16 & 17. The three posterior pairs ; a. hairs.

18. Appendages of the two anterior pairs of abdominal segments

in the male.

19. Caudal segments and appendages.

20. Section of shell.

21. Gizzard-like structure of stomach.

' Piate XIV.

Fig. 11. Cuma scorpioides.

Fig. 111. Eudora truncatula.

Fig. tv. Cuma Edwardsii.

Fig. v. Halia trispinosa.

PLATE XV.

Fig. v. Halia trispinosa continued.

Fig. v1. Bodotria arenosa (after Goodsir).

Fig. vu. Venilia gracilis.

Fig. vi11. Larva of Hippolyte varians.

. Eyes.

. Upper antenna.

. Lower antenna.

. Pair of larval feet (the first maxilliped of adult).

. One of the two next pair.

Oo GORD =

XLII.—Description of a new species of Spherium found near

London. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., P.B.S. &e.

Tuese shells were first brought to me at the British Museum

by an intelligent collector, Mr. John Rowse of Brownlow Street,

Endell Street. He discovered them on the 17th of May, in the

Grand Junction Canal near Kensal Green, and the following day

most kindly furnished me with several living specimens for

examination. They are not abundant in the locality named.

They are decidedly distinct from any of our British specimens,

but bear a very great resemblance to Cyclas rhomboidea of Say,

found in the rivers of North America.

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser.2. Vol. xvii. 30

4.66 Mr, P.L. Sclater on new Birds from South America.

We have unfortunately only a single specimen of this species

in the British -Museum, which was sent from the Ohio, by

Mr. Anthony. This example only differs from the specimens

found by arr Rowse in the front side being rather attenuated

and produced, while in the British specimens this part. of the

shell is regularly rounded ; but I have no means of ascertaining

whether this is the usual state of the species, or only an acci-

dental variation in the individual we possess, and one can scarcely

believe, without better proof, that the same species should be —

found in Europe and the United States ; therefore I shall for the

present consider it as distinct.

The species is intermediate in size and form between Spherium

rivicola and S. corneum.

Spherium pallidum.

Shell oblong, pale whitish yellow on the circumference,

slightly concentrically striated, rounded before,

rounded and rather truncated behind ; sides rather

swollen, evenly convex ; the cardinal edge rather

produced, nearly straight, and slightly compressed

on each side the umbo ; the umbo regularly convex, S. pallidum.

rather in front of the middle of the shell, sometimes slightly

crumpled.

‘The foot very large; the siphons elon putes united nearly to

the tip ; the apices conical, the upper the smallest.

The young are compressed, rather rounded, gradually be-

coming more gibbous and elongated as they increase in size.

Inhabits Grand Junction Canal near Kensal Greet

The largest specimens are $4 of an meh long, 34 high, iha

2 thick. The average-sized specimens are 3 inch long, 4 thick,

and 2 high.

The living specimens emitted when in confinement several

young shells about 1 line long.

" May 20, 1856.

XLIL.—Deseriptions of eight new species of Birds from South

America. By Puiiie Luriny Scrater, M.A., F.Z.S. &e.

l. SYNALLAXIS CASTANEA.

S. brunnescenti-castanea unicolor : plaga magna gutturali nigra:

loris obscuris: mento fulvescenti-albido: remigibus intus ni-

gricantibus : cauda unicolore castanea longissima ; rectricibus

tantum octo et harum una utrinque extima brevissima.

Long. tota 5°5 ; ale 2°3; caude 41 poll. Angl.

Hab. in vic. urbis Caraccas in Venezuela.— Mus. Brit., Paris.

There are several specimens of this fine Synallazis in the Bri-

Mr. P. L. Selater on new Birds from South America. 467

tish Museum, where it first attracted my notice. The beautiful

series of birds recently transmitted by M. Levraud, the French

Consul at Caraccas, to the Museum of the Jardin dep Plantes at

Paris (which I have lately had the opportunity of inspecting

through the courtesy of the Directors of that establishment),

contains a single example of the same bird, which has enabled

me to assure myself of its locality.

This is one of the species of this form that shows the greatest

‘rapprochement’ towards Sylviorthorhynchus, the tail being com-

posed of eight rectrices only, and the outer pair of these being

abnormally small.

DiGossoris, gen. nov.

Diglossopis, genus novum Diglosse proximum, et rostro simili

sed productiore ; mandibule superioris apice non uncinata sed

supra mandibulam inferiorem fortiter incurva : hac autem rec-

tissima, acutissima, nec seorsum curvata: alis modicis, remi-

gibus tertia et quarta longissimis, secunda quintam squante

et primam paulo superante: cauda modica quadrata: pedibus

Diglosse assimilibus.

2. DiGLOssopPiIs CHRULESCENS.

D. cerulescenti-cinerea fere unicolor, subtus in ventre dilutior :

alis caudaque intus nigricantibus: loris et rostri ambitu ob-

scuris: rostro nigro: pedibus brunneis.

Long. tota 6°0; ale 2-9; caude 2°3 poll. Angl.

Hab. in vic. urbis Caraccas in Venezuela.

Mus. Bremensi et Parisiensi.

Dr. Hartlaub first pointed out this curious bird to me when I

was on a visit to Bremen in 1854 and inspecting the well-ordered

collection of birds in the museum of that city. The single spe-

cimen there is without indication of locality, and I was conse-

quently unwilling to describe it. I never met with this species

again until quite lately among the before-mentioned series of

birds sent to Paris by M. Levraud from Caraccas.

I think there is no doubt that it ought to form the type of

a new genus of Diglossine.

3. DigLossa INDIGOTICA.

Diglossa indigotica, J. & E. Verreaux, MS.

D. indigotico-cerulea unicolor : loris nigris : alis caudaque nigris

cerulescenti-viridi limbatis: rostro et pedibus nigris.

Long. tota 4°3; ale 2°2; caude 1’4 poll. Angl.

Hab. in rep. Equatoriana.

MM. J. & E. Verreaux have kindly supplied me with a spe-

cimen of this beautiful Diglossa as yet undescribed, and for

30*

468 Mr.P.L. Sclater on new Birds from South America.

which I retain their MS. name. It must be placed next to

D. personata, a common species in Bogota collections, from

which it may be distinguished by its smaller size, want of the

black face, and the dark velvety purple hue of the blue colouring.

4. ANABATES INFUSCATUS.

A, supra fumoso-brunneus, capitis pennis medialiter vix palli-

dioribus : tectricibus caude superioribus et cauda tota intense

ferrugineis: subtus sordide albus; crisso autem rufescente,

abdomine cinerascente, paululum tincto: tectricibus alarum

inferioribus ochracescenti-rufis: rostro unigricanti-brunneo ;

mandibula inferiore flavescente: pedibus brunneis.

Long. tota 7:5 ; ale 3°6; caudz 3:0 poll. Angl.

Hab. in Peruvia Orientali.

Obs. Affinis Anabate leucophthalmo, sed supra et subtus multo

minus rufescens.

5, ANABATES LINEATICEPS.

A, supra fumigato-brunneus, capite nigricantiore: capitis, inter-

scapulii et tectricum alarum pennarum scapis pallide ochra-

cescenti-albis, lineas longitudinales formantibus: alis cauda-

que clare ferrugineo-rufis: primariorum parte mediali nigra,

interna cum tectricibus subalaribus pallide cinnamomea: cor-

pore subtus albo, cmnamomeo tincto: cervice antica striis qui-

busdam parvulis nigris irregulariter perfusa: rostro recto,

mandibule superioris apice uncinata, colore flavido, culmine

nigro: pedibus fuscis.

Long. tota 7°5; ale 3:6; caude 3:0 poll. Angl.

Hab. in Peruyv. Orientali.

These two Anabate are from a large collection received by

MM. Verreaux of Paris from the Upper branches of the Peruvian

Amazon in 1854.

6. MyYIADESTES VENEZUELENSIS.

M. supra chocolatino-brunnea: capite antico et laterali cine-

rascentioribus: loris nigris: subtus saturate schistacea, abdo-

mine medio albescentiore, hypochondriis brunnescentibus :

remigum nigricantium basi interiore alba, exteriore fulves-

cente, vittam pallidam trans alarem formante; harum quoque

marginibus exterioribus versus apices pallide fulvis: cauda

nigricante; rectricis une utrinque extime dimidio apicali

interno albo: secunda quoque et tertia (sed hac multo minus)

albo terminatis : rostri brunnei basi flava: pedibus pallidis.

Long. tota 6°7; ale 3:4; caude 3:0 poll. Angl.

Hab. in vic. urbis Caraccas in Venezuela.—Mus. Parisiensi.

Mr. P. L. Sclater on new Birds from South America. 469

There is an example of this apparently undescribed Myiadestes

in the collection lately sent to Paris by M. Levraud from Ca-

~raceas. It is of the same form as M. obscurus (Lafr.) from

Guatimala and 8. Mexico.

The only birds likely to belong to this form hitherto known |

as inhabitants of South America are Ptilogonys griseiventer and

P. leucotis described in Tschudi’s ‘ Fauna Peruana.’

I may mention that the latter bird is quite distinct specifically

from Hypothymis leucogonys, Licht. (Cichlopsis leucogonys, Cab.),

with which it has been united by Prince Bonaparte in his ‘ Con-

spectus,’ though they may perhaps be referable to the same

genus.

7, PIPREOLA MELANOLEMA.

P. clare viridis: capite toto cum gula et pectore saturatissime

nigro-viridibus, vix a nigro distinguendis: tenia angusta hanc

colorem undique nisi in nucha marginante cum ventre medio

crissoque flavis, ventre laterali flavo variegato: alis caudaque

nigris viridi extus limbatis ; tectricibus alarum majoribus flavo,

secundariis autem dorso proximis et rectricibus albo termi-

natis: tectricibus subalaribus flavescenti-albidis : rostro pedi-

busque rubris.

? viridis, sicut mas, sed non cucullata, abdomine flavo variegato,

medialiter pure flavo: alis caudaque sicut in mari coloratis.

Long. tota 7°83; ale 3°6; caudz 3°] poll. Angl.

Hab. in Venezuela, Caraccas.

Mus. Heineano, Parisiensi, P. L. 8. &e.

This is the Venezuelan representative of P. rieffert, so com-

mon in Bogota collections, from which it may be distinguished

by its larger size, much darker head and throat, and the brighter

edging of the wing-coverts.

I am now acquainted with seven species strictly referable to

this beautiful form of Cotingine: viz. (1) viridis (d’Orb.)—a

female of a species of which I have not yet seen the male—ex

Bolivia; (2) rieffert ex Bogota; (8) melanolema; (4) aurei-

pectus ex Bogota et Venezuela; (5) elegans (Tschudi) ex Peruv.—

usually united to aureipectus, but quite distinct ; (6) formosa ex

Venezuela ; (7) sclateri ex rep. Equatoriana.

8. CHIROXIPHIA REGINA.

Pipra regina, Natt. in Mus. Vindob.

C. nigra, dorso czruleo : crista in medio pileo flava.

Hab. Borba, Rio Madeira in imp. Brasil.

Obs. Similis C. pareole sed crista flava nec rubra.

There are three examples of this Manakin in the Imperial

470 Mr. J..G.Jeffreys.on Scissurella and Schismope., ..//

Museum at Vienna, brought by the celebrated. traveller and

naturalist Natterer from the vicinity of Borba on the Rio

Madeira, and numbered 833 of his collection. The bird closely

resembles the well-known C. pareola, but has the crest yellow.

Natterer’s notes upon this species are: “ From the underwood,

rather near the ground ; solitary.”

I believe it has never yet been published.

XLIV.—On Scissurella and Schismope.

By J. Gwyn Jurrreys, Esq., F.R.S.

To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History.

GENTLEMEN,

AttHoueH I knew that naturalists were, like poets, a‘ genus

irritabile,” I confess that I was not quite prepared for Mr. Wood-

ward’s attack on me in your last Number. |

He says that, because he thinks he has discovered an error,

and had protested in vain against it; he was bound to publish.

I beg leave to dispute the conclusion, if not the whole of the

premises.

When I showed Mr. Woodward specimens of the Scissurella

striatula of Philippi (which I had much pleasure in presenting

him with), he called my attention to the conversion of the fissure

into a foramen when the shell became adult. We then referred

to Sowerby and Philippi; and I went to the Library of the

British Museum and consulted D’Orbigny’s Memoir. - Mr.

Woodward having informed me that he did not.intend to publish

on the subject, I did so, and mentioned in the March number ~

of the ‘Annals’ that he had poimted out to me the peculiarity

in question, and at the same time I cited. D’Orbigny’s Memoir.

About a fortnight afterwards, in consequence of Mr. Clark

having expressed his opinion that Scissurella was synonymous

or identical with Trochus, I made the further communication

which appeared in the ‘ Annals’ for last month ; and I then went

fully into the matter, being backed by the undeniable authority

of Dr. Gray. This, Mr. Woodward calls seeking to justify my

position by the “testimony of persons unacquainted with the

facts of the case” ! - !

Mr. Woodward admitted to me that he had never previously

seen any species of Scissurella except S. crispata; and as he does

not state that he has since seen any other, his belief that certain

species which were described and figured by D’Orbigny, Sowerby

and Philippi (eight in number) are varieties of one and the same

species, I leave to the judgment of your readers.

Mr. A. R. Wallace on the Orang-Utan or Mias of Borneo. 471

The well-known accuracy of the late Mr. Sowerby makes it

needless to do more than repeat his statement, that the species

which he called elatior and concinna were found in the “ Calcaire

grossier.””? Whether those species, or the S. decussata and ele-

gans of D’Orbigny, are extinct, is another question, with which

Mr. Woodward is probably not more familiar.

If Mr. Woodward would take the trouble of reading again

my paper in the ‘ Annals’ for April, he will, or ought to, be con-

vinced that his remarks as to the separation of Schismope from

Scissurella were unnecessary and uncalled for, because D’Orbigny

and Sowerby evidently took their characters of what they re-

garded as the same genus from different and uncongeneric

species.

My reason for wishing Mr. Woodward, instead of myself, in

the first instance, to refer to D’Orbigny, was simply that he, and

not I, might have the credit (if any) of making this separation.

I am therefore sorry that he should have put such a strange

construction upon our conversation.

I never heard of any “ protest” from Mr. Woodward until I

saw his letter in print.

Yours obediently.

J. Gwyn JEFFREYS.

Montagu Square, London, 21st May 1856.

P.S. Since writing the above, Professor King has reminded

me that in his “ Monograph of the Permian Fossils of England ”

(pp. 213 and 214), he satisfactorily made out Scissurella to be

the same as Pleurotomaria, and that Mr. Morris, in his “ Mono-

graph of the Mollusca from the Great Oolite,” follows him in

that view. It can hardly be said that these naturalists are also

“ unacquainted ” with the subject, so far as regards the palzon-

tological part of it. Professor King quite approves of the sepa-

ration of Schismope from Scissurella, although he suspects the

former may approach too closely to Deslongchamp’s genus T7o-

chotoma.

XLV.— On the Orang-Utan or Mias of Borneo.

By Aurrep R. WaALtace.

Havrne spent nine months in a district where the Mias is most

abundant, and having devoted much time and attention to the

subject, I wish to give some account of my observations and

collections, and particularly to record their bearing on the

question of how many species are yet known from Borneo.

I have altogether examined the bodies of seventeen freshly

killed Orangs, all but one shot by myself. Of eleven of these

472 Mr. A. R. Wallace on the Orang-Utan or Mias of Borneo.

I have preserved the skins, either in spirits or dried. Of seven I

have perfect skeletons, and of the remainder the skulls; and of

all, the sex, colour and other external peculiarities were accurately

noted at the time, as well as all the principal dimensions. I

have besides two other skeletons and two skulls, the sex and

external characters of which are determined on the authority of

Kuropeans or natives who saw them when freshly killed. Of

this extensive series sixteen are fully adult, and their skulls are

therefore strictly comparable with each other, nine of them being

males and seven females. They were moreover all obtained in

a very limited tract of country watered by the same small river

and of very uniform physical features. We may therefore as-

sume, unless the contrary can be supported by the very strongest

evidence, that the male and female specimens are sexes of the

same species, whether they be one or more.

The males procured by me may be divided into two groups,

differing considerably both in the external characters and in

those of the cranium. The first and most abundant is the

large animal known among the natives as the “ Mias pappan”

or ‘‘ Mias chappan,” the latter name being used by the Dyaks

as well as that of “ Mias Zimb,”’ while the former is, on the

authority of Sir James Brooke, a name applied to it by the

Malays. It is known by its large size and by the lateral expan-

sion of the face into fatty protuberances or ridges over the tem-

poral muscles, which have been mistermed callosities, as they are

perfectly soft, smooth and flexible. Five of this form measured by

me varied only from 4 feet 1 inch to 4 feet 2 inches in height

from the heel to the crown of the head, the girth of the body

from 3 feet to 3 feet 73 inches, and the extent of the outstretched

arms from 7 feet 2 inches to 7 feet 8 inches; the width of the

face from 10 to 133 inches. The colour and length of the hair

varied in different individuals and in different parts of the same

individual ; some possessed a rudimentary nail on the great toe,

others none at all, but they otherwise present no external dif-

ferences on which to establish even varieties of a species. Yet

when we examine the crania of these individuals we find remark-

able differences of form, proportion and dimension, no two being

exactly alike. The slope of the profile and the projection of the

muzzle, together with the size of the cranium, offer differences

as decided as those existing between the most strongly marked

forms of the Caucasian and African crania in the human species.

The orbits vary in width and height, the cranial ridge is either

single or double, either much or little developed, and the zygo-

matic aperture varies considerably in size. This variation in the

proportions of the crania enables us satisfactorily to explain the

marked difference presented by the single-crested and double-

Mr. A. BR, Wallace on the Orang-Utan or Mias of Borneo. 473

crested skulls, which have been thought to prove the existence |

of two large species of Orang. The external surface of the skull

varies considerably in size, as do also the zygomatic aperture

and the temporal muscle ; but they bear no necessary relation to

each other, a small muscle often existing with a large cranial

surface and vice versd. Now those skulls which have the largest

and strongest jaws and the widest zygomatic aperture, have the

muscles so large that they meet on the crown of the skull and

deposit the bony ridge which separates them, and which is

highest in that which has the smallest cranial surface. In those

which combine a large surface with comparatively weak jaws and

small zygomatic aperture, the muscles on each side do not ex-

tend to the crown, a space of from 1 to 2 inches remaining be-

tween them, and along their margins small ridges are formed.

Intermediate forms are found in which the ridges meet only in

the hinder portion of the skull. The form and size of the ridges

are therefore independent of age, being sometimes more strongly

developed in the less-aged animal. Professor Temminck states

that the series of skulls in the Leyden Museum shows the same

result.

Sir James Brooke first noticed these differences in the ridges,

and finding that the Dyaks affirmed that two large species of

Orang existed, very naturally concluded that they respectively

belonged to them.‘ Mr. Blyth of Calcutta has adopted this

view, considering that the animal possessing the double-crested

skull has the large cheek-excrescences, while that with the single-

crested skull is deprived of them; but my specimens, as well as

the series at Leyden, show that these various forms of skull

belong to one and the same species of animal, in which view

Sir James Brooke, after an examination of my specimens, perfectly

coincides. I may here mention, that Mr. Blyth has since written

to Sir J. Brooke acknowledging the receipt of some skeletons

from Sarawak, and stating that he has found a new species

among them distinguished by its shorter and more robust limbs

and slightly projecting jaws. The great amount of variation,

however, which exists in these respects among animals whose

external characters are identical, would show that it is not pos-

sible to establish a new species on such grounds from a single

specimen. Asan instance of the extreme variation which occurs

in the skull of the fully adult male Orang with cheek-excres-

cences, I may mention that the width between the orbits exter-

nally is only 4 imches in one specimen and fully 5 in another,

while the two animals did not differ 1 inch in their total height.

The second form of male Orang which I have procured differs

so remarkably from the first, that it seems well entitled to be

considered a distinct species. The two fully adult specimens

474 Mr.A) R. Wallace on the Orang-Utan or Mias of Borneo.

which I obtained were respectively 3 ft. 8} in. and 3 ft. 93 in.

in height, 6 ft. 6 in. in extent of arms, and about 2 ft. 6 in. in

girth of body. They possessed no signs of the cheek-excres-

cences, but in other respects resembled the larger kinds. The

skull is smaller and weaker, and the zygomatic arches narrower

than in the large species; it has no bony crest, but two faint

ridges from 14 inch to 2 inches apart, exactly as in the Simia

Morio of Prof. Owen, figured in the ‘ Transactions of the Zoolo-

gical Society.’ The teeth however are in proportion to the skull,

of immense size, equalling, and in one case surpassing, those of

the larger animals: the molars extending further backward, and

the incisors and canines being set closely together, room is

found for them in a much smaller jaw. The great canine teeth

are quite as large as in most specimens of the larger animal,

and of exactly the same form. These animals the Dyaks called

“ Mias Kassu.”

The adult females, five in number, examined by me exhibit a

remarkable uniformity among themselves, and a striking differ-

ence compared with the large males. In size they vary only from

3 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft. 7 in. in height, from 2 ft. 4 in. to 2 ft. 62 in.

in girth below the arms, and from 5 ft. 9 in. to 6 ft. 53 in. in

extent of arms. None possess any cheek-excrescences, some

have and some want the nail on the great toe, the colour varies

considerably, but the external characters are in general remark-

ably similar to those of the smaller males before mentioned,

from which they only differ in a stature from 1} in. to 3 inches '

lower. Their crania are either equal to or slightly less than

those of the small males; but their teeth differ remarkably from

those of all the males, in the canines being comparatively small,

and of the peculiar subtruncated form, dilated at the base, which

is represented in the plate of Simia Morio before alluded to.

With that plate most of these crania exactly agree; I presume -

therefore that it represents a female specimen, and that the

peculiar form of canine tooth is characteristic of the female sex.

The question then remains, to which of the two forms of male

animal are these the females. From a careful examination

of my specimens I am induced to consider that most of

those, the crania of which equal in size those of the small

males, may be referred to the larger species, while one or two,

slightly smaller in all their dimensions, but remarkable for

having the two middle incisors in the upper jaw larger than in

the other specimens, may be considered as the females of the

smaller species, the male of which has also those teeth larger

than in the animals which possess huge crested skulls and cheek-

excrescences. ‘These smaller females so exactly correspond with

Prof. Owen’s figure, that there is no doubt of their belonging to

Mr. A. R. Wallace on the Orang-Utan or Mias of Borneo. 475

the same species, the adult male of which will, I believe, now be

made known for the first time. -The skins of the two small

males and of the females, now on their way to England, in spirits,

will; when strictly compared, serve to determine accurately the

characters of the two species of Bornean Orang, Simia Satyrus

and S. Morio.

The Dyaks of N.-Western Borneo, however, have names for

three species of Mias, although I could never find any one who

could determine them with precision. All the animals with

large cheek-excrescences form the “ Mias chappan,”’ but they

declare that females are also found of the same form. Authen-

ticated female specimens, however, with cheek-excrescences do

not exist in Europe, and if they ever do occur, seem far too rare in

proportion to the males to be any other than an accidental

variety in which the one sex has assumed characters generally

confined to the other. All Orangs of smaller size and without

cheek-excrescences are called by the Dyaks Mias Kassu, and my

small\males and females are undoubtedly of this kind; but these

people have asserted that every female I shot was a Mias Kassu,

so that I am rather inclined to think that they have regarded

the larger males as distinct species from the smaller and differ-

ently formed females: In one case however they said that a

female was a Mias chappan, though it possessed no cheek-excres-

cences, nor differed from the other females except in having the

skin of the throat rather more loose and inflated than usual,—a

character generally very prominent in the large males. The

third kind they call the Mias rambi, and they say it equals the

“chappan” in size, but has no cheek-excrescences and very

long hair. This seems very rare, and is probably one of the

large species in which the excrescences have been little or not at

all developed. One of my females they asserted with hesitation

to be a “rambi,” but I could not perceive that it in any way

differed from the others except in a much paler colour than

usual.

The conclusions therefore at which I have arrived are as

follows :—

1. That two species of Orang have been ascertained to exist in

Borneo.

2. The differences between them are well marked in the males,

but much less distinct in the females.

3. That all the females are characterized by the a wee

skull without prominent ridges and by their subtruncated dilated

canine teeth.

4. The males of both species possess large Shae canines.

5. That the form, size and proportions of the crania, and the

size and position of the teeth, vary in each individual to such an

476 Dr, Falconer on Cuyier’s Laws of Correlation,

extent, that. these variations alone cannot be taken to .mark

distinct species.

Most of these conclusions are fully supported by Prof. Tem-

minck, from an examination of the very extensive series of spe-

cimens in the Leyden Museum, though, from not possessing

specimens of the smaller male, he was unable to detect Soe apht

cific difference in the females.

Prof. Owen, in his admirable papers published in the ‘ Trans-

actions of the Zoological Society,’ has described the apparent

confusion in the position of the second set of teeth in the jaws

of the young animal, and observes that it seems wonderful that

they should all fall into their proper places in the adult, without

those irregularities which are so frequent in Man. ‘My spe-

cimens however prove that such irregularities are very frequent,

as more than one-half of my crania exhibit them in a greater or

less degree. In two cases a sixth molar tooth occurs on one or

both sides of the jaw; the incisors are often unsymmetrical and .

the whole jaw is frequently oblique, in one case so much so, that

while the upper canine closes inside the lower on one side of the

jaw, it is outside on the other.

A striking peculiarity, not, I believe, hitherto noticed, exists in

the mamme of the female, which are scarcely perceptible even

when giving suck. In two specimens which I shot with their

infant young, the nipples rose from a breast not more developed

than in the male animal.

The preceding observations might have been very much ex-

tended, but the object has been merely to give some account of

the writer’s observations and collections, believing that no defi-

nite and certain conclusions can be arrived at without a compa-

rison of his materials with those which already exist in England

and at Leyden, a comparison which he looks forward to ss

on his return.

Sarawak, Dec. 1855.

XLVI.—On Prof. Huxley’s attempted Refutation of Cuvier’s

Laws of Correlation, in the Reconstruction of extinct Verte-

brate Forms. By H. Fauconer, M.D., F.R.S. &c.

Tue printed Proceedings of the Royal Institution contain a full

abstract of the principal part of an evening lecture, delivered by

_ Prof. Huxley, on the 15th February last, “On Natural History,

as Knowledge, Discipline, and Power,” ‘authenticated with his

initials, and thus leaving no doubts as to the authorship. It

contains some statements which are so remarkable,—emanating

in the Reconstruction of extinct Vertebrate Forms. 477

from one who is at the same time a Professor of Physiology, and

an officer on the paleontological staff of the Museum of Econo-

mie Geology,—as to require some notice.

The temptations of a popular lecture are notoriously so great,

to produce effect instead of merely giving instruction, and to

heighten sober fact with a little gilding, that a considerable

allowance is usually extended to discourses addressed to large

mixed audiences. If the banquet is plain, to go down well, it

requires some strong seasoning. But there is a limit to this

kind of consideration ; and when a man of science, of recognized

standing, assails generally admitted principles and established

reputations, in a discourse of this nature, which comes before the

world in the permanent form of publication, it is no longer en-

titled to indulgence, but becomes a fair subject of legitimate

criticism.

Nearly three-fourths of Mr. Huxley’s abstract are devoted to

the first head, viz. Natural History regarded as knowledge, the

leading feature of which is an attempt to refute the principle

propounded by Cuvier, that the laws of correlation which pre-

side over the organization of animals, guided him in his recon-

struction of extinct forms. It is to this part of the lecture that

the remarks now offered have reference.

By the common verdict of mankind, George Cuvier has been

considered one of the most successful investigators of natural

knowledge, in all time. His principal claim for this rank rests

upon his having been the founder and architect of philosophical

paleontology. He not only laid the first stone, but he con-

structed, and covered over, the edifice. What has been accom-

plished by his successors, has been merely to fill up, and embel-

lish the details of the interior; this much he left to them as an

express legacy. The general results of his researches, and the

principles upon which they were conducted, were set forth in

the “ Discours préliminaire,” which, taking due account of the

state of knowledge at the time, and the wide scope of the argu-

ment, has hitherto been held up as a model of exhaustive philo-

sophical inquiry, conveyed in a strain of chastened didactic

eloquence, such as has not yet been surpassed in the literature

of natural history.

That in some important respects Cuvier was behind the pro-

gress of zoological science in his day, is undeniable ; as also that

he arrived at some wrong paleontological conclusions, This is

not to be wondered at ; the real marvel being, that in achieving

so much in a new field, he erred so little. But Mr. Huxley

assails him on very different and much higher grounds. ‘The

prince of modern naturalists,” it is alleged, “did not himself

understand the methods by which he arrived at his great re-

478 Dr. Falconer on Cuvier’s Laws of Correlation,

sults.” ‘His master-mind misconceived its own processes.”

“ Whatever Cuvier himself may say, or others repeat, it seems

quite clear that the principle of his restorations was not that of

the physiological correlation or coadaptation of organs.”

Such strong assertion should be well supported; for, besides

the attack upon Cuvier and his followers, the very foundations

of paleontology, as they have hitherto been understood, are as-

sailed. Let us now see whether soundly or otherwise. Mr. Hux-

ley, after showing up the pretensions and shortcomings of the

alleged philosophical principle, supplies the blank with a substi-

tute of his own, namely, “ A law of the invariable coincidence of

certain organic peculiarities established by duction ;” or, in

other words (when the definition and illustrative cases are ana-

lysed), empirical observation. In order to put the case fairly,

and guard against the risk of misapprehension, a long extract

must be made :—

x x x “Is this utilitarian adaptation to a benevolent pur-

pose, the chief, or even the leading feature of that great shadow,

or, we should more rightly say, of that vast archetype of the

human mind, which everywhere looms upon us through nature?

The reply of natural history is clearly in the negative. She

tells us that utilitarian adaptation to purpose is not the greatest

principle worked out in nature, and that its value, even as an

instrument of research, has been enormously overrated.

*“ How is it then, that not only in popular works, but im the

writings of men of deservedly high authority, we find the oppo-

site dogma—that the principle of adaptation of means to ends is

the great instrument of research in natural history—enunciated

as an axiom? If we trace out the doctrine to its fountain-head,

we shall find that it was primarily put forth by Cuvier, the prince

of modern naturalists. Is it to be supposed then that Cuvier

did not himself understand the methods by which he arrived at

his great results? that his master-mind misconceived its own

processes? This conclusion appears to be not a little presump-

tuous ; but if the following arguments be justly reasoned out, it

is correct :— :

“ In the famous ‘ Discours sur les Révolutions de la Surface

du Globe,’ after speaking of the difficulties in the way of the

restoration of vertebrate fossils, Cuvier goes on to say :—

“< Happily, comparative anatomy possesses a principle whose

just development is sufficient to dissipate all difficulties ; it is

that of the correlation of forms in organized bemgs, by means

of which every kind of organized being might, strictly speaking,

be recognized, by a fragment of any of its parts.

“* Every organized being constitutes a whole, a single and

complete system, whose parts mutually correspond and concur,

in the Reconstruction of extinct Vertebrate Forms. 479

by their reciprocal reaction to the same definitive end. None of

these parts can be changed without affecting the others; and

consequently each taken separately indicates and gives all the

rest.’

“‘ After this, Cuvier gives his well-known examples of the

correlation of the parts of a Carnivore, too long for extract, and

of which therefore his summation merely will be given :—

*¢In a word, the form of the tooth involves that of the con-

dyle; that of the shoulder-blade ; that of the claws: just as the

equation of a curve inyolves all its properties. And just as by

taking each property separately, and making it the base of a

separate equation, we should obtain both the ordinary equation

and all other properties whatsoever which it possesses; so, in

the same way, the claw, the scapula, the condyle, the femur, and

all the other bones taken separately, will give the tooth, or

one another; and by commencing with any one, he who had a

rational conception of the laws of the organic ceconomy, could

reconstruct the whole animal.’ |

*¢ Thus far Cuvier ; and thus far, and no further, it seems that

the compilers, and copiers, and popularizers, and id genus omne,

proceed in the study of him. And so it is handed down from

book to book, that all Cuvier’s restorations of extinct animals

were effected by means of the principle of the physiological

correlation of organs.

*‘ Now let us examine this principle ; taking, in the first place,

one of Cuvier’s own arguments and analysing it; and in the

second place, bringing other considerations to bear.

“ Cuvier says—‘ It is readily intelligible that Ungulate animals

must all be herbivorous, since they possess no means of seizing

a prey (1). We see very easily also, that the only use of their

fore-feet being to support their bodies, they have no need of so

strongly formed a shoulder; whence follows the absence of

clavicles (2) and acromion, and the narrowness of the scapula. .

No longer having any need to turn their fore-arm, the radius

will be united. with the ulna, or at least articulated by a gingly-

mus and not arthrodially with the humerus (3). Their herbi-

vorous diet will require teeth with flat crowns to bruise up

the grain and herbage; these crowns must needs be unequal,

and to this end enamel must alternate with bony matter (4) :

such a-kind of crown requiring horizontal movements for tritu-

ration, the condyle of the jaw must not form so close a hinge as

in the Carnivora; it must be flattened; and this entails a cor-

respondingly flattened temporal facet. The temporal fossa which

will have to receive only a small temporal muscle will be shallow

and narrow (5).”

“The various propositions are here marked with numbers, to

480 Dr. Faleoner on Cuvier’s Laws of Correlation,

avoid repetition ; and it is easy to show that not one is really

based on a necessary physiological law :— oss

“(1.) Why should not ungulate animals be carrion-feeders?

or even, if living animals were their prey, surely a horse could

run down and destroy other animals with at least as much ease

as a wolf,

(2, 3.) But what purpose, save support, is subserved by the

fore-legs of the Dog and Wolf? how large are their clavicles ?

how much power have they of rotating the fore-arm? (4, 5.) The

Sloth is purely herbivorous, but its teeth present no trace of any

‘such alternation of substance.

“Again, what difference exists in structure of tooth, in the

shape of the condyle of the jaw, and in that of the temporal fossa,

between the herbivorous and carnivorous Bears? If Bears were

only known to exist in the fossil state, would any anatomist

venture to conclude from the skull and teeth alone, that the

white bear is naturally carnivorous, while the brown bear is

naturally frugivorous? Assuredly not; and thus, in the case of

Cuvier’s own selection, we see that his arguments are absolutely

devoid of conclusive force.” : i

Our first remark is, where and by whom has the principle of

the “ utilitarian* adaptation to purpose” been used as an instru-

ment of research ? Mr. Huxley avers that its value as such has

been enormously overrated! If so, by whom has it been ever

used ? From the prevalence of adaptations and mechanisms in

nature, suited to the production of certam ends, we reason up

to the agency of an all-wise, powerful and benevolent Designer.

But the inference is a product, not an instrument of the research ;

and to call it the latter, is simply a misuse of terms.

The same objection applies to what Mr. Huxley designates

as “the opposite dogma—that the principle of adaptation of

means to ends is the great instrument of research in natural

history.” The generalization in this case also is a resudé, not an

instrument, of the research. |

Mr. Huxley contrasts the two as opposite dogmas. Wherein,

we would ask, lies the opposition ? Hot and cold, dry and moist,

sweet and sour, are in ordinary language opposites; and in

medicine, theorists speak of the opposite dogmas of the humoral

and mechanical, the chemical and vital pathologies. They are

obviously opposed, because the one is inconsistent with, and of a

contrary nature to, the other. But there is nothing of like

opposition and incompatibility in the two dogmas or principles

as enunciated by Mr. Huxley. So far from such being the ease,

the first is merely a more advanced stage of the second. In the

* The employment of the term in this sense is by Mr. Huxley.

in the Reconstruction of eatinet Vertebrate Forms. 481

one, we satisfy ourselves by observation of the necessary cor-

relation of the parts to effect a common end; in the other, we

speculate from these premises, as to whether or no they furnish

proofs of a Supreme Designer. We may stop short at the former

stage without going further; but we cannot arrive at the second

without having gone through the first. The two principles,

therefore, have never, been employed as instruments of research

in natural history, nor are they, in their nature, opposites,

Ir disquisitions of this kind, precision of thought and expres-

sion is so essential, that it seemed necessary to clear the ground

of these preliminary objections, before coming to the gist of Mr,

Huxley’s argument, namely, that the law of reciprocal relation

between the organs of animals is not the principle which guided

Cuvier in his reconstruction of extinct forms.

Mr. Huxley first takes the beautiful illustration given by

Cuvier, of the correlation of the parts in a Carnivore, quoting the

summary ; and he attempts to refute it by asking, ‘‘ What differ-

ence exists in the structure of tooth, in the shape of the condyle

of the jaw, and in that of the temporal fossa, between the herbi-

vorous and carnivorous Bears? If Bears were only known to

exist in the fossil state, would any anatomist venture to conclude,

from the skull and teeth alone, that the white bear is naturally

carnivorous, while the brown bear is naturally frugivorous { ?

Assuredly not ; and thus in the case of Cuvier’s own selection,

we see that his arguments are absolutely devoid of conclusive

force.”

Can it be believed, after this, that the case in question is not

that of Cuvier’s. selection? But such is really the fact. In

stating the proposition to be demonstrated, Cuvier puts it thus:

*« If the intestines of an animal are organized so as only to digest

flesh, and the flesh fresh,” then these correlative conditions are

involved, viz.: its jaws must be constructed to devour a prey ;

its claws to seize and tear it asunder ; ; its teeth to cut it up and

divide it ; its organs of motion to pursue and catch it; its organs

of sense to recognize it at a distance; and it must also be

endowed with the instinct to conceal itself and lay toils for its

yictims. ‘ Such will be the conditions of the carnivorous habit ;

every animal destined for such habit will infallibly have them in

combination, for its race could not subsist without them.” But

the Bears have not their “intestines organized only to digest

fresh flesh ;” nor their claws to seize a prey and tear it asunder ;

nor their teeth only to cut up and divide it; nor their organs of

motion to pursue and catch it; nor have ‘they the instinct to

conceal themselves and entrap it. What was obviously in

Cuvier’s mind was, a pure typical digitigrade carnivore like

the Tiger, which rigidly fulfils the terms of the proposition, and

Aun. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser.2. Vol. xvi. 31

every oné of the conditions set forth as involved in it. The

Bears are heavy cumbrous animals; their teeth are not purely

carnivorous, but mixed*; their feet are plantigrade; and their

habit of diet, when they are regarded in the mass, is omnivorous.

We have known the same species, a brown bear, to browse on

young grass like an ox; to devour the flesh of a slaughtered

deer left in the forest ; and to kill and eat a tame pheasant that

came within its reach. Nature has given mixed teeth, and a

mixed organization throughout, to match the mixed habits of

the genus. Technically they are ranked, in some classifications,

as among the Carnivora; but competent naturalists divide the

order of Fere into three groups, excluding the Bears and their

allies, under the designation of Plantigrada, from the Carnivora,

which comprise the digitigrade Dogs, Cats, Hyznas, &e. How

then is Mr. Huxley warranted in assertmg, that the Bears were

““the case of Cuvier’s own selection”? In every demonstration

of a subject, and in ordinary instruction, we select the simplest

problems ; and having mastered them, we next proceed to the

more complicated or mixed. Cuvier took the pure and simple

ease: Mr. Huxley fixes upon him the mixed. opi

Let us now take the case as put by Mr. Huxley, and suppose

that the brown and white bears were only met with in the fossil

state; but with the proviso of the other living species being

known to us as at present. The comparative anatomist would,

we believe, be led to infer that the polar bear had been more car-

nivorous than the brown bear, and the latter more of a vegetable

feeder than the former. The polar bear differs more from all

the other bears in the form of the skull, than these do from one

another; and the differences are all in the direction of a more

carnassial type. In proof that this is not a rash or unguarded

assertion, it can be shown that comparative anatomists have not

hesitated, in the cases of certain extinct fossil bears, to form

conclusions as to their habits of diet upon the osteological evi-

dence. Thus: “From the greater proportional size and more

complicated tubercular surface of the posterior molar teeth, espe-

cially in the upper jaw, and from the greater complication on

the crown of the smallest persistent molar in the lower jaw, one

might be led to suppose that the Ursus speleus fed more on

vegetables than the grisly bear does ” (Owen, Brit. Foss. Mamm.

p. 101). The evidence furnished by the skull confirms this

guarded inference: it deviates widely in form from that of the

polar bear. Again: “The above remarkable modification of

the crowns of the molar teeth of the lower jaw, indicates this

great extinct bear (of the Sewalik Hills) to have been more’ car-

* Their molar teeth generally manifest in both jaws a tuberculate

grinding surface, Owen, Odontog. vol. i. p. 501.

in the Reconstruction of extinct Vertebrate Forms. 483

nassial than the Ursus speleus, or any of its existing congeners ”

(Owen, Odontography, vol. i. p..501).. The same. conclusion

had been previously arrived at by the original describers of this

species, from the combined indications of the skull and teeth*,

Here then are two fossil bears, the one of which is inferred to

have been more of a vegetable feeder, and the other more car-

nivorous, from characters of correlation presented by their skulls

and teeth ;—being practical refutations of the assertion made by

Mr. Huxley. It is true that the legitimacy of the deductions

may be questioned or denied: all that can be said in reply is,

that if the propositions, positive and negative, are considered

according to the degree of their respective probability, the verdict

of every competent judge will be in favour of the former. Of

more than this, a case of the kind does not admit,

Mr. Huxley next takes in hand the opposite case of the Un-

gulate Herbivora, as put by Cuvier. They present the simplest

and most unmixed types of the strictly vegetable feeders, and

their organization is modified throughout, in a series of adapta-

tions in contrast with those presented by the Digitigrade Carni-

vora, and in necessary correlation with each other (1. e. necessary

in the sense of being demonstrable in such a way that the con-

trary involves an absurdity and is inconceivable). We will take

Mr. Huxley’s objections in the order suggested by the analysis.

Cuvier states that: ‘‘ Their herbivorous habit will require teeth

with flat crowns to bruise up the grain and herbage; this crown

must needs be unequal, and to this end enamel must alternate

with the bony materials.” Mr. Huxley attempts to refute the

generality of the proposition by the case of the Sloth. He says,

“‘ The Sloth is purely herbivorous, but its teeth present no trace

of any such alternation of substance.” It will be shown in the

sequel, that. they do present such alternation ; but the first re-

mark that is suggested is, that m an argument where there is

an express specification of the premises, it is inadmissible. to

adduce a.case that does not come within the terms. Cuvier

specifies the Ungulata (including the Pachydermata, Solidungula,

and Ruminantia) : Mr. Huxley meets him with the Sloth, which,

although herbivorous, does not belong to either, but to the order

Bruta, comprising animals very different in their habits and

organization from the Ungulata. The mass of the species in

the one order is constructed for extreme speed, to escape from

_their predaceous enemies ; while the progression of the mass in

the other is extremely slow, but strictly in unison with their

habits and wants. Instead of presenting a narrow scapula, with

no. acromion and no clavicle (conditions expressly specified by

* Asiatic Researches, vol. xix. p. 200.

ol*

484 ~ Dr. Falconer on Cuvier’s Laws of Correlation,

Cuvier), the Sloth has a very broad scapula, an enormously pro=

longed acromion, and a clavicle. A portion of the functions: of

its fore-arm is modified after the plan presented by the Tiger,

instead of that of the Ungulata. The habits of the Sloth, although

herbivorous, required it, and the necessity under the law of ‘cor-

relation worked out the means*. The detailed demonstration

would be tedious ; but it is wholly unnecessary, as every com-

parative anatomist is familiarly acquainted with it, and probably

no one better than Mr. Huxley. So far as the'applicability of

this objection to the case in point is concerned, it is clearly of a

still more exceptionable character than that of the Bears contra

the typical Carnivora. ° : |

' But the special force of Mr. Huxley’s objection lies in the

absence of enamel from the teeth of the herbivorous Sloth,

The adduction of the instance is mgenious; yet the objection in

reality is more specious than valid. The molars of the Sloth

consist of an irregular cylinder of soft and open-grained ivory

(vascular dentine of Owen), which is so permeated by vascular

or medullary canals, that it has been compared structurally to

the teeth of certain fishes; this central mass is encased ina

shell of compact hard ivory (unvascular dentine of Owen),

closely resembling (it is said) that of the human tooth+; and

outside of this shell there is a layer of cement harder than the

central mass, but softer than the shell of ivory. The cement by

use wears away, so as “ to form a bevelled edge,” while the cen-

tral mass becomes depressed, the edge of the shell projecting

between them. The crown thus presents three alternate mate-

rials of unequal hardness, resulting in an unequally worn surface,

being the very end to be attained, in the case put by Cuvier;

the only difference being, that in the Sloth a shell of hard ivory

is ‘substituted for the ordinary shell of hard enamel. And so

exactly does this shell, to the naked eye, simulate the appearance

of enamel, that Cuvier and every other naturalist down to 1837

described it either as being enamel or analogous to it. Enamel

is equally absent from the teeth of the whole of the Megatheroid

* “Toutes ces choses se déduisent une de V’autre selon leur plus ou

moins de généralité, et de maniére que les unes sont essentielles et exclu-

sivement propres aux animaux 4 sabot, et que les autres, quoique égale-

ment nécessaires dans ces animaux, ne leur seront pas exclusives, mais

pourront se retrouver dans d’autres animaux, ow le reste des conditions per-

mettra encore celles-la.”’ (Cuvier, Discours prélim. p. 50, 4to edit.) Alter

the words “ animaux a sabot ” into * animaux carnivores,” and the clause

in italics is applicable to the fore-arm of the Sloths. It were easy to show,

that the construction of the Sloths, so far from weakening the evidence as

to the law of necessary correlation, does, in fact, furnish the strongest

arguments in favour of it.

t Owen, Odontography, vol. i. p. 330.

inthe Reconstruction of extinct Vertebrate Forms. 485

Edentata,.as from the Sloths,.. But so little do the united in-

stances furnish a case of means inadequate to the end, that Clift,

in 1836, supplied Buckland with a drawing of the teeth of Me-

gatherium in opposition, in which the hard shell is figured and

described as enamel, and the harder parts of the reversed teeth

are shown to be brought in contact with the softer, in such a

manner, that mastication is performed and maintained by a series

of wedges “like the alternate ridges on the rollers of a crush-

ing-mill,” and accompanied by a property, the perfection of all

machinery, namely, that of maintaining itself perpetually in

perfect order by the act of performing its work*. -

Enamel, therefore, although structurally absent, is functionally

present in the substituted shell of hard ivory. The force of Mr,

Huxley’s objection is thus narrowed to the use in the Sloth of

a material different from the ordinary one.. Does this furnish

any good argument against the law of correlation? In physies

analogous cases of substitution are met with; for instance, in

Mitscherlich’s isomorphous salts, wherein certain bases may be

substituted indifferently, but the combinations will always result

in the same function, ¢.e. crystallize in- the same geometrical

form. No one has on this account doubted the constancy of the

laws of crystallization. In predaceous birds, the teeth and jaws

of the Carnivora are replaced by the mandibles and hooked

bill; but the claw of the Eagle is, notwithstanding, as much in

correlation with the bill, as the retractile claw with the scissorial

carnassial tooth in the Tiger, the types of construction being

different. | :

Mr. Huxley’s next objection is startling. He asks: ‘ Why

should not ungulate animals: be carrion-feeders? or even, if

living animals were their prey, surely a horse could run down

and destroy other animals with at least as much ease as a wolf.”

There are certain Ungulata which do sometimes eat flesh and

carrion. The Hog is an example. | Cases have been asserted on

respectable evidence of its even having eaten young children.

But the molar teeth, unlike those of the typical Ungulata, are

tubercular or mammillated, not flat, and they differ otherwise.

Among the extinct aberrant forms” (in the Suide) “the

Hippohyus presents almost a rumimant pattern of the grinding

“surface, while the Cheropotamus manifests in its whole dentition

a close resemblance to the plantigrade Carnivora.” “ Nothing

.as yet is known of the incisors of the Cheropotamus ; the rest of

the dentition closely resembles that of the Peccari; but the pre-

‘molars are more simple, and the canines, by their size, shape

“and direction, and the lower jaw by the backward prolongation

of its angle, alike manifest a marked approximation to the

* Buckland, Bridgewater Treatise, p. 148.

486 Dr. Fatconér’on Cuvier’s Laws of Correlation,

Ferine type. The occasional carnivorous properties of the

common Hog are well known, and they correspond with the

minor degree of resemblance which this existing Pachyderm

presents to the same type*.” On the other hand, “ The essen-

tial characteristic of the dentition of the true Bears is the

development, in the lower jaw, of the true molar teeth to their

typical number in the placental Mammalia, and their general

manifestation, in both jaws, of a tuberculate grinding surface +.”

In other words, the Hog and some of its allies, in certain respects,

diverge in their structure from the ungulate towards the car-

nivorous type; while conversely, the Bears similarly diverge

from the carnivorous type towards the Ungulata; the result

being the same,—that is, regarded in the mass, they become

omnivorous. But the exceptions, so far from being inconsistent

with the law of correlation, furnish fine illustrations of the

manner in which its details are carried out, in contrasted cases

of mixed types.

But as regards the pure herbivorous Ungulata—say the Horse

—with flat grinding teeth when in full wear, the fitting reply

to the first part of Mr. Huxley’s query would be—Why should

not a pair of millstones serve as well to cut up broad cloth as a

pair of scissors? The typical Ungulata have their molars con-

structed on the grinding principle,—the Carnivora on the scis-

sorial; and both physicists and naturalists know, upon a very

wide induction, that the antecedents and consequents in these

cases are not reciprocals. As to the second part of the query,

the teeth and correlative organs tell us that the speed of the

Horse is to enable him to run away from his predaceous and

other enemies—not to run down, seize, and destroy other animals.

Nature, like a thrifty housewife, has endowed him with organs

of locomotion suited to his wants, and not gone beyond them.

The last objection raised by Mr. Huxley is, “ What purpose,

save support, is subserved by the fore-legs of the Dog and Wolf ?

how large are their clavicles? how much power have they of

rotating the fore-arm?” Every one has seen a dog gnawing a

bone. If there is flesh or gristle on it, his paws (7. e. the pre-

hensile function of the combined clavicle, scapula, and fore-arm)

enable him to place the object in the most favourable position

for his jaws to act. If it is flat, like a blade-bone, he can raise

it edgewise and so on; being selective acts of manipulation,

which are impossible to the Horse with his less artificially en-

dowed fore-arm. All thisis familiar and elementary knowledge;

the only marvel is, that one should have to adduce the facts at

the present day in such an argument. |

* Owen, Odontography, vol. i. p. 562. + Ibid. p. 501.

in the Reconstruction of extinet Vertebrate Forms. 487

Mr. Huxley then brings certain other considerations to bear,

Taking the ease of a crustacean fossil impression, he shows that

the restoration of the extinct form is founded on the invariable

concurrence of the peculiar many-ringed body and jointed limbs,

with a certain form of the jaws, and certain relations of the

muscles, neryous system, and other internal organs, to the exo-

skeleton. He adds, “For any physiological necessity to the

contrary, the creature might have had its mouth, nervous system

and internal organs arranged like those of a fish.” The general

statement is quite correct, but the corollary is a manifest fallacy;

for if, in the adduced instance, the creature had had its mouth,

peryous system and internal organs arranged like those of a fish,

it would haye ceased to be a crustacean and have become a fish.

Mr. Huxley, with the skeleton of a hawk before him, might as

well say that, for any physiological necessity to the contrary, that

creature might have its jaws with teeth, and its internal organs

arranged, like those of a tiger. Nature has formed living beings

upon certain types, which constitute the basis of methodical

nomenclature, and the correlation of part to part, and organ to

organ, is adjusted in subordination to those types.

The fallacy involved in his next instance is still more obvious:

“Tf we turn to the botanist, and inquire how he restores fossil

plants. from their fragments, he will say at once, that he knows

nothing of physiological necessities and correlations. Give him

a fragment of wood, and he will unhesitatingly tell you what

kind of a plant it belonged to; but it will be fruitless to ask him

what physiological necessity combines e.g. peculiarly dotted

vessels with fruit in the shape of a cone and naked ovules, for

he knows of none. Nevertheless his restorations stand on the

same logical basis as those of the zoologist.

Therefore, whatever Cuvier himself may say, or others may

repeat, it seems quite clear that the principle of his restorations

was not that of the physiological correlation or coadaptation of

organs. And if it were necessary to appeal to any authority

save facts and reason, our first witness would be Cuvier himself,

who in avery remarkable passage two or three pages further

on (‘Discours, pp. 184, 185) implicitly surrenders his own

principle.” |

Now, plants have only organic or vegetative life, limited to

nutrition and reproduction. But animals, besides this organic,

have. sensorial life superadded. Supposing a question were

raised as to the reality of sensorial life, what would be thought

of the naturalist who would turn to the botanist and say,

“Your plants assuredly have not got sensation, perception, and

voluntary motion, therefore animals are not likely to have

them”? ?. The argument drawn by Mr. Huxley from instances

488 — Dr. Falconer on! Ouvier’s\Laws of Correlation, a

of empirical relation in the vegetable kingdom. against ‘there

bemg necessary or reciprocal relation in the higher classes of

the animal kingdom, if it means anything, is exactly of this

character. The truth being, that in both plants and animals

there are two kinds of relation between the constituent parts or

organs: the one empirical, of which we know the invariable

constancy, although, so far.as our present knowledge goes, we

cannot show the reason; the other reciprocal, of which we

equally know the constancy, and at the same time can demon-

strate the necessity. Physiology takes cognizance of both; and

as a general expression of the phenomena it may be stated,

that the necessary relations are more numerous and. obviously

manifested in the ratio of the higher organization of the living

form. Hence the paramount importance of the principle of

reciprocal relation as .a guide in mammalian paleontology. |

So far as regards the terms above quoted, in which the

supposed refutation of the Cuvierian principle is summed: up,

rarely in the history of science has confident assertion been put

forward, i so grave a case, upon a more erroneous and unsub-

stantial foundation. Later paleontologists are brushed aside

with still lighter consideration. They are les moutons que suivent

“the compilers, and copiers, and popularizers, and id genus

omne.” It is some consolation to this pecus tgnobile to reflect,

that Professor Owen has been among their number. Mr. Huxley

holds him up in the s quel, as furnishing a bright example (of

which more anon) of empirical deduction; but it must be ad-

mitted, that the Hunterian Professor’s numerous works, and

reiterated avowals, somewhat compromise him as a rational cor-

relationist *. ; | ooR bat BoD

Let us now consider what was the method actually followed

by Cuvier in the determination and restoration of extinct fossil

forms. He first examined, through every organic detail, a vast

number of living forms, derived from every class and order of

the Vertebrata, with infinite labour and assiduity, during thirty

years. In the spirit of pure induction, he ascended from the

aggregate of the particular observations to general conclusions;

namely, that certain laws of correlation invariably preside over

the organization of animals. He found that these laws were

classifiable under two heads: Ist, what he called rational (i.e.

general) laws, wherein the correlation is demonstrable as being

necessary and reciprocal throughout the parts, just as the form

of a piston must be a reciprocal of the cylinder in which it

* Mr. Owen flies his hawk at a more ambitious quarry in original re-

search; but it is not too much to expect that he may on some occasion

record his protest against Mammalian Paleontology being asserted to rest

merely on empirical correlation, in a pithy foot-note. - bata aay

in the Reconstruction of extinct Vertebrate’Forms. 489

‘works 5: 2nd; empirical laws, where the constancy of the correla:

tion.is invariéble, but the cause is not manifested’; suchas that

Ruminants alone should have cloven feet and horns ‘on ‘their

frontals, concurrently with certain peculiarities in their teeth®

thus establishing a harmony—constant, yet wholly inexplicable

—between remote organs apparently unconnected; ‘or, to use

the definition of Mr. Huxley, “the invariable odin cdenide of

certain organic peculiarities established by induction.”

Having thus arrived at the general conclusions from observa-

tion’on living animals, Cuvier, in the spirit of the same indue-

tive philosophy, then applied the inverse process of deduction

to the fossil remains: 7.e. from the ascertained general, he rea-

soned down to the unknown particular, and thus attained those

wonderful results, which have been well characterized by a great

living writer as being “among those rare monuments of humati

genius and labour of which each department of exertion’ can

scarcely ever furnish more than one, eminent therefore above

all the efforts made in the same kind*.” Throughout his great

work there is that continual alternate use of the inductive and

deductive method, which, Herschel remarks, is essential to the

successful process of scientific inquiry. The case of all others

to which he most proudly referred, was the determination of the

Eocene Opossum ofthe Paris basin. The crushed skeleton of a

minute quadruped was found ina slab of gypsum, and Cuvier

employed the following process of analysis for its identification :

.\ 1+ The teeth, and skeleton throughout, indicated a mammifer.

2. The elevation of the coronoid apophysis above the condyle,

andthe form of the acute posterior angle of the lower’ j jaw, in-

dicated a predaceous animal.

3. The general construction of the skeleton excluded the

Chetroptera.

4. ‘The elevation of the condyle above the hiotizotital Hine of

the teeth eliminated the ordinary Carnivora, such as Dogs, Cats,

Martens, &c.; but was consistent with placental Trisestivors,

suchas the Mole and Hedgehog, and likewise with Oposdtny

and. other marsupials.

5. The molar teeth also were consistent with both Po

and: implacental Insectivora.

6, The height and width of the coronoid apophysis, and the

peculiar inflection of the posterior angle of the lower jaw, elimi-

nated the placental Insectivora, leaving Didelphys and —

marsupials.

7. Special characters of the teeth excluded all the other mar-

supials except Didelphys and Dasyurus. :

* Brougham, Dissert. vol: ii: p. 113.

490 Dr: Falconer on Cuvier’s Laws of Correlation,

_. 8. The number of. the incisors excluded Dasyurus, leaving

only Didelphys. |

. 9, The sum of all the characters throughout the skeleton,

and each of them taken separately, indicated Didelphys.

10. Therefore the fossil animal was a Didelphys, like the non-

prehensile tailed Opossums, which are now restricted to the

American continent.

If, in turn, we analyse the process, it is obvious that the

result was obtained, first by determining the class, and then

eliminating, by a series of successive steps, every differential

condition, down to a single residual form; and if we examine

the nature of the correlations upon which the successive steps

were founded, it will be seen that most of them were of. the

necessary order, and but few of the empirical. . Cuvier, was con-

fident, upon the evidence, that the conclusion was sound: but

a. crucial instance remained, by which to verify it... If the

extinct form was an Opossum, it must. have had a marsupial

pouch, and to sustain the pouch, marsupial bones were neces-

sary. He summoned some competent friends to witness the

expected verification. A portion of gypsum was cleared away

from the slab by the graver, at a sacrifice of some of the ver-

tebre, and a pair of marsupial bones, concealed in the matrix,

were brought to light, resting in their natural position above

the edge of the pubis. Thus, after determining the class, the

first step in the further analytic deduction rested upon a rational

or necessary correlation, and so also did the last, crowning the

identification. When referring, afterwards, to this signal

triumph, the great anatomist quietly remarked: “Je laisse cet

article tel qu’il a paru d’abord, dans les annales du Muséum,

comme un monument, selon moi assez curieux, de la force des

lois zoologiques, et du parti que l’on peut en tirer.”

Let us next examine what the true principle is, according to

Mr. Huxley. It is not denied, that in paleontology, legitimate

consequences may be deduced from the laws of living form:,.on

the contrary, the whole science is admitted to be built on. them.

But the process of restoration depends, “not on the physiological

correlation or coadaptation of organs ;” but, “ first, on the validity

of a law of the invariable coincidence of certain organic. pecu--

liarities established by induction ; secondly, on the accuracy of

the logical process of deduction from this law.” Now, the ability

to demonstrate a proposition, or to infer a legitimate deduction,

may be a measure of the capacity of the individual, but it is no

criterion of the abstract truth of either. The second clause

may therefore be struck out, as self-evident and superfluous.

The principle is thus limited to “ the invariable coincidence. of

certain organic peculiarities.” This invariable coincidence may

inthe Reconstruction of extinct Vertebrate Forms. 491

be, ‘as’ has’ been’ shown above, either empirical or necessary.

Cuvier, like a true interpreter of nature, employed both indif-

ferently in his restorations, according as they were presented to

him, and professed it. This important fact is nowhere recog-

nized by Mr. Huxley, who argues the case throughout as if

Cuvier had excluded the empirical and admitted only of neces-

sary correlations. He, on the other hand, denies any share to

the latter, and attributes the whole weight to the former. This

is also implied by the antithesis between “ physiological cor-

relation or coadaptation of organs” (Cuvier), and “ invariable

coincidence of organic peculiarities” (Huxley). The same is

manifested in the references to the sculptured pollen-grains, the

forms and colours of flowers, the relation between the dotted

vessels and naked ovula in the Gymnosperms, and the crusta-

cean illustration. They are all empirical, so far as science can

at present show. The special instance adduced is of the same

nature: *‘ Professor Owen’s determination of the famous Stones-

field mammal is a striking illustration of this” (i.e. of reason-

ing from the law, by the logical process). “A small jaw of a

peculiar shape was found, containing a great number of teeth,

some of which were imbedded by double fangsin the jaw. Now

these laws have been inductively established—

(a.) That only Mammals have teeth imbedded in a double

Beebe) HY APIO 9p IQs ek. od we (empiricaly,

“*(b.) That only Marsupials have teeth in so great a number

imbedded in so peculiarly formed a jaw ..... . (empirical).

* By deduction from these laws to the case in question the

legitimate conclusion was arrived at, that the jaw belonged to

a Marsupial mammal.”

Mr. Huxley has been as unhappy in this instance as with the

Sloth, for it so happens, that the observed characters do not

bear out this asserted deduction. The Stonesfield mammal par

excellence is the genus Amphitherium, which shows the greatest

number of teeth (sixteen on either side of the lower jaw), while

it wants the peculiar marsupial inflection of the posterior an-

eular process, or, at least, does not exhibit it in a greater degree

than the placental Mole and Hedgehog. The balance of the

evidence therefore “ turns the scale in favour of its affinities to

the placental Insectivora*.” On the other hand, the second

Stonesfield genus discovered long afterwards, Phascolotherium,

has fewer teeth (only twelve on either side of the lower jaw),

while 2¢ does exhibit the marsupial inflection of the angular

process. “ On reviewing, therefore, the whole of the osteological

evidence, it will be seen that we have every reason to presume

that the Amphitherium and Phascolothertum of Stonesfield re-

* Owen, Brit. Foss. Mamm. p. 61.

present both the Placental and Marsupial classes of Mammalia*

(i. 2. the former Placental, the latter Marsupial).

In-all'the sciences of ‘observation, a great part of our lado

ledge, at an early stage, is, and must needs be, empirical. It is

the same in physics as in natural history. But the constant

effort of every philosophical mind is to extinguish the empirical

character of the phenomena, and bring them within the range

of a rational explanation. Every successful effort of this kind

is regarded as so much fertile land reclaimed from the sterile

domain of the ocean ; and there is an irrepressible revulsion of

feeling on seeing the dykes breached for a fresh submergence:

In astronomy, Kepler’s laws of the planetary motions re

mained for upwards of a century purely empirical; but at

length they were proved to be a necessary consequence of the

Newtonian system. Bode’s law of the progression of the mag-

nitudes of the planetary orbits still remains empirical. In phy-

siology, animal heat, and the phenomena’ of sensation and

voluntary motion, remained for many ages purely empirical.

The most untiring application was devoted to them until the

problems were, in a greater or less degree, rationally’ solved.

The name of Charles Bell is imperishably connected with one of

these solutions; for mankind has mvariably received witha

grateful triumph every instance where the demonstration of a

great principle. has superseded empirical. darkness ;. and such

was the feeling with which it recognized Cuvier’s announcement

and demonstration of the zoological laws of reciprocal relation

as furnishing a guide in the reconstruction of extinct vertebrate

forms, It is a rare spectacle to see empiricism chosen by pre-

ference. |

Considering the pre-eminent services of Cuvier and the esti-

mation in which they have hitherto been held, it might have

been expected that Professor Huxley, in placing himself in

collision with such an antagonist, would have taken every pains

to arrive at an accurate appreciation of the position which he

eombated, and that he would have stated the case impartially;

*modeste tamen et circumspecto judicio de tantis viris pro-

nuntiandum est.” But we fail to detect the imdications of

either. The case is only put in part, and the luminous ex-

position of the great anatomist is met by special pleading, and

technical or light objections, beside the real scope of the argu-

ment. The result is, that after the encounter the law of cor-

relation stands exactly as Cuvier found and left it,—inscribed by

nature in indelible characters on the organization of every living

and extinct vertebrate form, and wholly uninjured by its a

assailant.

* Lyell, Manual, 5th edit. p. 313.

in the Reconstruction. of extinct: Vertebrate Forms. 498.

«Throughout. Mr. Huxley’s brochure there runs a strain of

extolment of what is empirical in natural history at the expense

of the rational... Let him be the great expounder of its zesthetics,

if he likes,—every one will cheer him on. But he must beware

of attempting to put back the hand of the rational dial, for

every arm will be against him, The circulation of the blood

has been stoutly denied in Britain within the memory of thou-

sands: now living. Strange events of this kind make their

appearance periodically in all the sciences. They are anachron-

isms, which startle by their unexpectedness, and then pass into

oblivion. How different were the aspirations of Cuvier! ‘ Avec

cette derniére précaution,” (7. e. le habitude de ne se rendre

qu’a Pévidence, ou du moins de classer les propositions d’aprés

le dégré de leur probabilité) “il n’est aucune science que ne

puisse devenir presque géométrique: les chimistes Pont. prouvé

dans ces derniers temps ‘pour la leur; et j’espére, que l’époque

n’est pas éloignée ot. l’on en dira autant des anatomistes.”

One other remark is necessary. Although the principle of

correlation is borne out by a cumulative mass of evidence that is

irresistible, it must not, in practice, be pushed too far in pale-

ontology. There are numerous instances on record, in which,

in attempting to determine extinct forms from a single bone or

tooth, or from imperfect materials, very erroneous conclusions

have been arrived at; among others, even by Cuvier himself.

And since his time, the same lower jaw, presenting nearly the

whole series of teeth, has been referred, by different eminent

comparative anatomists, to a fish, a reptile, and a mammal!

When these cases are examined under the light of improved

knowledge, they furnish no grounds to weaken our confidence

in the constancy of the zoological. laws of correlation; but an

emphatic warning to interpret the evidence carefully, leaving no

part of it out, and to eschew hasty conclusions where it As

inadequate.

De Blainville, smarting under the sting of some signal, mis-

interpretations committed by himself, unceasingly inveighed

against the sufficiency of a single fossil bone for the reconstrue-

tion of the form. At the present day, some molar teeth ofa

fossil mammifer have been met with in the Trias of Stuttgart.

‘The cast of one of them has been shown to one of the most

competent living authorities, who, it is stated, “is not able to

recognize its affinity with any mammalian type, recent or extinct,

known to him.” But when Microlestes antiquus is better

known, upon more copious materials, we may have every con-

fidence, judging from past experience, that its teeth will be

found to be in perfect harmony with the rest. of its organization,

and amenable to the laws of zoological correlation.

494 Mr: W.H. Benson on new species of Paludomusi

XLVII.—Deseriptions of three new species of Paludomis® from

Burmah, and of some forms of Stenothyra (Nematura) from

Penang, Mergui, &c. By W. H. Benson, Esq. 1STONS

Tue forms first to be described belong to the genus Paludomus

proper of Swainson (recently deceased at New Zealand), who. was

unacquainted with the Cingalese forms added by Reeve, and since

separated chiefly with reference to the opercula. This cireums

stance, and not the applicability of Reeve’s character, which. is

far from expressing the true features of the operculum, properly

warrant Mr. E. Layard’s restriction of Swainson’s name. to. the

shells which present a close affinity to P. conica, Gray. In.a

paper contained in the Proc. Zool. Soc. for 1854, Mr, Layard

stated that, with the addition of the position of the nucleus.in

the operculum, Reeve’s characters sufficiently describe it; but,

even thus amended, the author has omitted the essential cha-

racter separating it from Paludina, as pointed out to him in a

communication dated in April 1852, when I accompanied the

information with the distinctive characters of the divisions

Tanalia, Gray, and Philopotamis, Lay., under the names of

Serenia and Heteropoma, and with figures of the opercula of the

three genera. The fact is that the nucleus of Paludomus proper;

unlike that of the similarly horny and concentrically striate

operculum of Paludina, is subspiral, and analogous to the testa-

ceous one of Bithinia. I had prepared a memoir on the subject,

with illustrations of the variations of the opercula in Paludomus

and the Melaniade, which has been partly anticipated by the

paper already before the public.

The genus Paludomus requires revision, especially with respect

to the unfigured species, which demand more: strictly defined

characters. It will be found also that several species belong to

it, of which the affinity was unsuspected by the describers’;

among them Melania obesa, Philippi, which is really an inha-

bitant of the vicinity of Bombay, not of Australia, and which

may possibly be the same as P. parva, Layard ; then the Egyp-

tian Cyclostoma Bulimoides, Olivier, which has the true typical

operculum of Paludomus, and which is singular in the genus

from presenting a perforated base; lastly, Melania lutosa, of

Souleyet from the lower part of the Hooghly River near Cal-

eutta. Both Philippi and Souleyet notice the concentrie stria-

tion of the operculum in the shells which they doubtfully referred

to Melania, overlooking however the structure of the nucleus:

In the Atlas to the ‘ Voyage of the Bonite,’ Souleyet gives a figure

of the animal, which curiously illustrates its affinity to both

Melania and Paludina. 251

The ungulate operculum of Tanalia, Gr., is analogous:to that

Mr:W.H. Benson on new species'of Paludomus. 495

of the.-marme genus Purpura, and the animal (of which I was,

in, the early part of 1853, kindly furnished with an interesting

sketch by Mr. Frederick Layard of the Ceylon Civil. Service)

fully bears out the separation of the shell. It may, indeed, be a

question whether Tanalia belongs to the Paludomide at all. On

the other hand, the subspiral operculum of Philopotamis, Lay.,

seems rather to indicate its place to be among the Melaniada,

from the spiral and subspiral types of which family it differs in

having the nucleus removed towards the right side of the base ;

the formation of the shell alone exhibiting a relation to the

Paludomide. The subspiral opercula of the American forms

Anculosa, Gyrostoma, and Amanicola, all point rather to the Mela-

niade than to Paludomus, Reeve, who was right in his conjec-

ture respecting the affinity of Melania obesa, Ph., to Paludomus,

has erred respecting that of M. Griineri, Ph., inasmuch as, ac-

cording to the assertion of Philippi, its operculum consists of six

spiral turns.

I may add the following characters of the restricted genus

from my inedited paper above referred to.

Patvupomus, Swainson.

Testa plerumque imperforata, globoso-ovata, ovato-oblonga, vel

ovato-acuta, fere solida, glabra, spiraliter sulcata, vel lirata, inter-

dum spinuloso-costata, epidermide cornea induta ; apertura sub-

verticali, ovato-acuta, callo parietali munita, margine columellari

crasso, arcuato, basali integro, interdum subeffuso.

Qperculo corneo, concavo; nucleo subspirali insulari, submediano,

ad sinistram sito, striis lamellatis concentricis partem majorem

_ disci usurpantibus, circumdato.

The genus occurs in Ceylon, Southern India, Gangetic India

to the eastward of a line drawn from Sikkim to the mouth of

the Hooghly, in the Burhampooter in Assam, and in the hill-

streams which flow into that river from the eastward, in Burmah,

and Sumatra.

I- possess from North-eastern India, besides P. conica, Gray;

lutosa, Soul., Stephanus, nobis, and Paludinoides, Reeve, four

other species which I cannot, with any degree of certainty, refer

to published descriptions ; and from Southern India two species

in addition to P. obesa, Ph.

I may remark cursorily that Swainson’s name having reference

to the dwelling-place of the genus in marshes, the specific names

ought to bear a feminine termination.

1. Paludomus labiosa, nobis, n. s.

Testa ovato-globosa, leeviuscula, oblique tenuiter et obsolete spiraliter

‘o striata, ‘versus ‘suturam 2-3-sulcata, luteo-olivacea, nigrescenti-

496 Mr. W. H. Benson on some forms of Stenothyra,

castaneo fasciata, fasciis tribus latioribus ; spira brevi, apice eroso ;

anfractibus 2 superstitibus convexis, alsin 3 testee superante ;

apertura obliqua, ovata, superne acute angulata, fauce quadri-

fasciata, peristomate tenui, acuto, margine dextro superne declivi,

medio valde arcuato, columellari incrassato, dilatato-appresso, extus

fuscato, intus albido, compressiusculo ; callo parietali mediocri,

Operculo typico.

tian 13, diam. 11 mill. Apert. 10 mill. longa, 7} lata.

Hab. in rivulis vallis Tenasserim. Teste W. Theobald.

2. Paludomus ornata, nobis, n. s.

Testa ovato-conica, solidiuscula, leeviuscula, striis remotis obsoletis

cincta, infra suturam marginatam bisulcata, luteo-olivacea, fasciis

4 fusco-castaneis, suturali angusta, secunda latissima, quarta in-

conspicua, ornata ; spira conica, apice eroso; anfractibus 4 super-

stitibus convexis, ultimo 2 teste vix superante; apertura vix ob-

liqua, ovata, fauce ceeruleo-albida, 4-fasciata, superne angulata,

angulo intus calloso; peristomate tenui, acuto, marginibus callo

albo junctis, columellari subrevoluto, angusto, albo. Opere.

Long. 18, diam. 13 mill. Apert. 13 mill. longa, 8 lata.

Hab, in regno Burmanico. Teste W. Theobald.

3. Paludomus regulata, nobis, n. s.

Testa ovato-acuta, solidiuscula, regulatim distincte spiraliter sulcata,

interstitiis latis planatis, minutissime confertissimeque decussato-

striatis, sulcis 2-3 prope suturam latioribus profundioribus, pal-

lide lutea, fasciis sub quatuor, tertia latiori, ornata; spira elata,

conica, apice acuto ; anfractibus 6, convexiusculis, ultimo dimidium

testee vix superante ; apertura verticali, ovata, superne angulata,

albida, intus 4-fasciata, peristomatis margine dextro recto acuto,

eetate intus vix incrassato-marginato, parietali calloso, columellari

versus basin subdilatato, appresso. Opere. ut in sp. typ. ;

Long. 19-24, diam. 12-14 mill. Long. apert. majoris 13, lat. 9 mill.

Hab. ad Thyet- Myo Burmanorum. Detexit W. Theobald.

Genus Stenoruyra, Benson, Annals, Ser. 2. vol. xvii. p. 342.

Nematura, ejusdem, Journ. As. Soc. Cale. vol. v. p. 781.

<1. Stenothyra cingulata, nobis, n. s.

Testa vix rimata, ovato-fusiformi, compressiuscula, nitida, lineis re-

motiusculis spiralibus, leviter impressis, puncticulatis cingulata,

translucente pallide cornea vel hyalina; spira elongata, ovato-

acuta, apice acuto, fulvescente, sutura profunda; anfractibus 5,

superioribus convexis, ultimo ventre longiori convexiusculo, antice

descendente, subtus rotundato, ¢ longitudinis testee eequante ; aper-

tura vix obliqua, ovata, superne angulata, peristomate acutiusculo.

Operculo

Long. 5, diam. 3 mill. ; 3s

Hab, ad insulam Penang. Detexit Dr, Theodore Cantor.

Mr. W. Hi Benson on some forms of Stéenothyra. 497

This shell was found by Dr. Cantor in company with S¢.

glabrata, A. Adams, but more rarely. Its narrower elongated

form distinguishes it from all previously described species.

The sculpture has some resemblance to that of St. polita, Sow.,

and to that of the species next to be described.

2. Stenothyra monilifera, nobis, n. s.

Testa subperforato-rimata, oblongo-ovata, compressiuscula, nitidi-

uscula, sulcis confertioribus, dense puncticulatis, spiralibus im-

pressa, fusco-cornea, fascia pallida supra mediam ornata, versus

apicem obtusulum hyalinum rubente, spira convexo-conica, sutura

_ profunda, canaliculata ; anfractibus 42 convexis, ultimo subsoluto,

% testee eequante, antice valde descendente, subtus rotundato, pe-

riomphalo subcompresso ; apertura obliqua diagonali, rotundato-

ovali, sulco profundiori ab anfractu penultimo divisa, peristomate

obtusulo, callo parietali superne solum conspicuo. Operculo cor-

neo-pellucido, apice ad dextram spectante.

Long. 43, diam. 3 mill.

Hab. ad Mergui Burmanorum. Teste W. Theobald.

Distinguished from the last by its form, more developed

sculpture, colour, want of polish, and péculiar umbilical rimation.

3. Stenothyra foveolata, nobis, nu. s.

Testa vix rimata, ovato-acuta, spiraliter foveolato-striata, striis versus

basin confertissimis, spira conica, apice acuto, sutura mediocri ;

anfractibus 5 convexiusculis, ultimo ad ventrem planiusculo, 4+

testee eequante, antice descendente, basi rotundato; apertura ob-

liqua, rotundato-ovata, peristomate obtuso, margine parietali sulco

medioeri ab anfractu ventrali separato. Operculo —— ?

Long. 5, diam. 34 mill.

Hab. in Gange fluvio, prope Sikrigali. Teste Capt. T. Hutton.

This shell has reached me in a weathered condition, so that

the colour and the normal condition of the surface cannot be

exactly described. Its form, however, and the pitted lines seem

to mark it as a distinct species. In form it resembles the small

St. puncticulata, A. Adams, from the Eastern Isles ; but in that

species the puncticulate lines are faint and distant, and not

closely set even towards the base, while a scarcely compressed

ridge runs down by the side of the slightly impressed rimation

and joins the columellar margin below it, a feature not found in

the Gangetic shell. Another Stenuthyra resembling foveolata

in the characters of the aperture, and marked with delicately

puncticulate lines, was found with it, but, from the imperfection

of the spire, its identity with it cannot be safely declared. The

degree of closeness between the lines is about the same, and the

surface is of a pale horn-colour, as in some specimens of St. Delta,

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 32

498 Mr. W.H. Benson on some forms of Stenothyra.

like which also it presents a faint oblique striation, These

shells are important as showing the occurrence of the genus at

a distance of 8300 miles from the sea, and 200 miles above the

extreme influence of the tides.

4. Stenothyra frustillum, nobis, n. s.

Testa vix rimata, minima, ovato-conoidea, politissima, sub lente obso-

letissime oblique striatula, albida, translucente, Spira convexo-

conoidea, apice obtusulo, sutura leviter impressa; anfractibus 4

convexiusculis, ultimo ventricosiore, minime compresso, dimidium

testee non sequante, antice descendente, basi rotundata; apertura

subrotundata, marginibus peristomatis acutiusculis. Opere. —?

Long. 13, diam. 1 mill.

Hab. in Australia. Mus. Cuming.

5. Stenothyra strigilata, nobis, n. s.

Testa non rimata, oblongo-ovata, solidiuscula, nitidula, oblique obso-

lete striatula, creberrime spiraliter sulcata, lineis brevissimis ob-

liquis excavatis (punctorum loco) sulcos occupantibus, fusco-nigres-

cente ; spira ovato-conica, apice eroso, sutura impressa ; anfractibus

4 superstitibus convexiusculis, ultimo dimidium testee sequante,

antice valde descendente basi rotundata; apertura ovata, subver-

ticali, intus livide czerulescente, peritremate obtuso, margine pa-

rietali intus callo, superne subito desinente, munito, dextro tus

longitudinaliter sulco marginato. . Operculo tenui translucente,

concaviusculo, corneo, intus costa albida marginato.

Long. 7, diam. 4 mill.

Hab. in Insula Borneo. Mus. Cuming.

This is the largest known species of the genus, and is a fine

addition to it. ‘The cross linear sculpture of the furrows is dif-

ferent in character from that of the several species which present

puncticulate or foveolate lines.

The operculum of Stenothyra has a calcareous skeleton or

basis, covered internally and externally by a horny layer, which

led to its designation by myself in 1836, and A. Adams in 1851,

as horny. According to Philippi, Gray states it to be calcareous,

and, on fracture, it will be found to be brittle, and that in some

species it does not yield to the knife like a horny substance, the

calcareous matter being predominant ; while in other very thin

and pellucid opercula the horny part is m excess. On the whole,

this part may be considered rather as of a mixed character than.

as either strictly calcareous or horny. The structure of the,

operculum is subspiral, and more analogous to that of Assiminia

and Hydrobia than to that of Bithinia.

More extended characters of a few of the described species. will

My. W. H. Benson on some forms of Stenothyra. 499

add to the information already possessed respecting this curious

little genus. I shall begin with the typical species—

Stenothyra Delta, Benson.

Testa vix rimata, globoso-conica, leeviuscula, oblique exilissime striata,

striis obsoletis spiralibus minutissimis, versus basin remotioribus,

decussata, pallide fulva, albida, vel cornea translucente ; Spira co-

nica, acuminata, apice subtili, sutura impressa submarginata; an-

fractibus 53, superioribus convexis, sequentibus convexiusculis,

ultimo ventricoso, compresso, 2 testee sequante, antice descendente,

supra aperturam arcuatim striato, basi compresse rotundata ; aper-

tura obliqua, ovato-circulari, superne indentata, peristomatis mar-

gme dextro acutiusculo, columellari et basali expansiusculis, pa-

rietali intus callo inconspicuo superne truncato, munito, extus sulco

impresso marginato ; operculo corneo, limbo albido.

Long. 4-5, diam. 23-34 mill.

Hab. in locis lutosis fluvii Hooghly prope Calcutta Bengalensem,

satis copiose ; necnon in lacu salso prope Balliaghat, ligno natanti

adheerentem ipse detexi.

Syn. Nematura Delta, Bens. Journ. As. Soc. 1836, vol. v. p. 781 ;

Sow. Charlesw. Mag. 1837, vol. i. p. 217.

I found it alive in both the places named ; also a dwarf variety

in an aqueduct, supplied by a steam-engine from the river, in

front of the Town Hall, at Calcutta.

Stenothyra glabrata, A. Adams.

Testa omnino imperforata, ovato-conica, leevissima, nitidissima, fusco-

cornea vel olivacea, spira conica, apice acutiusculo, sutura impressa,

submarginata; anfractibus 5 convexiusculis, ultimo ventricosiori,

latere sinistro szepius gibbosulo, antice descendente, 2 teste

eequante, basi rotundata; apertura obliqua, rotundato-ovata, su-

perne angulata, peristomate recto, obtuso, plerumque nigrescente.

Operculo typico, concaviusculo, fusco.

Long. 3-53, diam. 2-33 mill.

Hab. in paludibus Insule Penang. Detexit Dr. Theo. Cantor.

Syn. Nematura glabrata, A. Adams, Pr. Z. Soc. July 22, 1851;

et var. olivacea, ejusdem, loc. cit.

Nematura polita, Bens. MSS., nec Sow.

This shell, of which I have examined at least eighty speci-

mens, when divested of the reddish-brown earthy coating which

generally covers it, may be at once recognized, by its polish,

dark suite of colours, and freedom from sculpture and umbilical

rimation, independently of its form, which is more elongate than

the Gangetic species; also by the gibbosity of the left side of

the ventral volution, and the comparative absence of lateral

32%

500 Mr. W.H. Benson on some forms of Stenothyra.

compression. It varies much in size. It was communicated to

me by Dr. Cantor in 1842, and has been diffused under the MS.

name above quoted, both in England and on the Continent.

» That name however was transferred, by some accident, to the

following shell, under the impression that it had been so named

by Sowerby. This circumstance may lead to some confusion,

but the very different characters of the two species will permit

of rectification on a cursory comparison.

Stenothyra polita, Sowerby.

Testa arcuato-rimata, ovato-pyramidata, levi, exilissime confertim

oblique striata, striis antice fortioribus, punctis (interdum elon-

gatulis) lineas remotas spirales interruptas efformantibus, fusco-

castanea vel castanea, spira elongato-conica, sutura impressa,

apice acuminato ; anfractibus 53, supremis valde convexis, ultimo

antice celeriter descendente, 2 testee eequante, ventre majori pla-

nato, latere sinistro compresso, angulato, basi transverse cristato-

carinata, circa periomphalum compresso-cingulatum sulcis nonnullis,

peritrema transgredientibus, insculpta; apertura vix obliqua, ovata,

superne leviter angulata, peristomate undique planato, callo parie-

tali mediocri pallido. Operculo concavo, albido, duriori, epidermide

fusco-castaneo induto.

Long. 63, diam. major 43, min. 3 mill.—Sp. mus. nost.

Hab. in paludibus Insule Singapore. Detexit amicus Dr. J. F. Bacon.

Syn. Nematura polita, Sow. teste A. Adams, Pr. Z. 8. 1851.

Dr. Bacon sent me a single specimen from Singapore, from

the marshes of which island he procured many species of Auri-

culade, including some new shells lately described by Pfeiffer.

the typical one transmitted by Mr. Cuming from his collection

for comparison. The species is easily known by its pinched

carinate base, form, and peculiar sculpture. On the back of

the shell the puncta are closer, and more disposed to form im-

pressed continuous lines than.on the flattened front.

Stenothyra minima, Sow.,

Charlesworth’s Mag., April 1837, vol. i. p. 217, fig. 22 3,

where this shell was very cursorily described as Nematura

minima, Sowerby, in the following terms :—

‘This is about one-fifteenth of an inch in length, and is trans-

lucent ; it has asmooth polished surface and a small umbilicus,

and it is of a hght brown colour.”

It was subsequently described by Mr. Arthur Adams in the

P. Z. S. July 1851, as follows, and was erroneously recorded as

N. minima, Benson :-— :

Mr. W.H. Benson on some forms of Stenothyra. 501

*‘ N. testa parva, cornea, semipellucida, ovali; spira subpro-

ducta ; polita, fasciis rufis subobsoletis ornata; apertura orbi-

culari, peritremate simplici. Mus. Cuming.”

A specimen is now before me from Mr. Cuming’s cabinet,

which presents the following characters :—

Testa breviter distincte rimata, ovato-conica, sub lente oblique stri-

atula, nitida, pellucida, albido-fulvescente ; spira conica, apice ob-

tuso, sutura late marginata; anfractibus 4 convexiusculis, ultimo

antice breviter descendente, ventre convexiusculo, latere sinistro

compresse angulato, basi rotundata; apertura verticali, subcirculari,

superne angulata, peritremate acuto. Operc. ?

Long. 2, diam. | mill.

Sowerby says that many specimens were found in the collec-

tion of Mr. George Humphreys, in a box of minute shells which

he had marked, “ From the W.I.” No species has yet been

recognized in the western hemisphere, so that “Western India”

may possibly have been originally intended. An examination

of the other shells in the box might have thrown some light on

the question.

The shell cited by M. Albert Mousson, in his ‘ Moll. von

Java,’ as the Javanese representative of Quoy’s and Gaimard’s

Paludina ventricosa from Celebes, and which forms another

species of Stenothyra, may be distinguished from St. minima,

which it about equals in size, by its more ovate form and less

conic spire, by the greater descent of the last whorl anteriorly

above the aperture, by the lengthened sulcus which separates

the peristome from the body whorl, the deeper non-marginate

suture, the more tumid ventral part of the last whorl, the

absence of compression at the left side, and finally by its pale

horny colour and duller surface. I owe this form to the kind-

ness of M. Mousson.

Including St. puncticulata, A. Adams, P.Z.S. 1851, I have

now before me eleven good species of the genus from Mr.

Cuming’s and my own collection. Sowerby has figured (/oc. cit.)

a fossil species from Grignon. The Delta of the Irawadi, the

Siam and Anam rivers, the embouchures of streams in the

islands of the Eastern Archipelago, and the waters of Southern

India and Ceylon, ought to add materially to the list, when

properly explored for these minute and interesting shells.

Cheltenham, 5th June 1856.

502 Dr. W. B. Carpenter on the Structure of Brachiopod Shells.

XLVIII.— On the Minute Structure of certain Brachiopod Shells ;

and on Vegetable Cell-Formation. By Wi.ii1am B. Car-

PENTER, M.D., F.R.S., F.G.S.

To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History,

GENTLEMEN, é; University Hall, London, May 19, 1856.

Pror. Kine having introduced into his “ Notes on Permian

Fossils,” in the ‘ Annals’ for April last, certain comments upon

former statements made by me respecting the intimate structure

of the shells of Brachiopods, which must, if unnoticed, tend

to diminish the value attached to them by those who have hitherto

relied upon my assertions, I must beg you to admit the following

reply, which shall be as little personal as the tone taken by Prof.

King will permit me to make it.

In the ‘Annals’ for December 1843, I first published’ the

fact, which had been nearly a year previously communicated to

the Royal Society, that the shells of many Brachiopods are tra-

versed by large perforations, passing from one surface to the other,

the external orifices of which may be detected as minute puncta-

tions ; and I mentioned that this character presents itself in all

the recent Terebratule which I had examined, with the exception

of the 7. psittacea, which, as is now well known, has been since

separated as one of the two recent types of the genus Rhyncho-

nella. In the ‘Reports of the British Association’ for 1844, I

entered much more fully into this point, embodying the results

of more extended examinations into the structure of the shells

of fossil Brachiopoda, and giving thirteen figures of the minute

organization of recent and fossil shells of this group, drawn

under magnifying powers varying from 75 to 250 diameters, by

that very accurate microscopic draughtsman, Mr. 8. W. Leonard.

Save for a want of perfection in the printing-process, these

figures could scarcely be surpassed at the present time.

In his ‘Monograph of the Permian Fossils of England,

published by the Palzontographical Society in 1850*, Prof,

King took upon himself, upon no other evidence than that of

the examination of the surfaces of various Brachiopods with a

Stanhope lens, to throw discredit upon my previous statements ;

asserting that punctures, though much more minute than those

in the Terebratulide, occur in every species of Rhynchonella which

had passed under his notice ; and adding, “ I doubt their absence

in any Brachiopod whatever.”

* I am obliged to call attention to this date, which I take from the

title-page, for a reason which will presently appear. The work was issued

as the publication of the Pal. Soc. for 1849; but (according to the practice

of the Society) it was not delivered to the members until the following

year.

Dr. W..B.. Carpenter on the Structure of Brachiopod Shells, 503

Having been requested by Mr. Davidson to contribute a

Memoir on the intimate structure of the Shells of Brachiopoda

to his admirable Monograph of that group in course of publication

by the Paleontographical Society, I re-entered upon the in-

vestigation with no desire but that of contributing to the esta-

blishment of the truth ; and made microscopic sections of many

additional specimens, with which Mr. Davidson kindly supplied

me,—the total number of sections examined (nearly all of which

are preserved in my cabinet) being about three hundred. In the

course of this inquiry, the presence of perforations in Terebratu-

ide, and their absence in Rhynchonellide, was established as the

character of so large a number of species. of both tribes, that I

thought myself justified in stating these as distinctive characters

of the shells of these two groups respectively. A remarkable

confirmation of their validity, and an important lesson as to the

fallacy of superficial observations upon this point, were afforded

by the apparently-exceptional cases of Stringocephalus and Por-

ambonites. The former had been previously regarded as a non-

perforated genus, and had been associated on other grounds

with the Rhynchonellide ; examination of microscopic sections,

however, satisfied me that its shell was perforated; and the

letter in which I communicated to Mr. Davidson this at first

sight anomalous fact, was crossed by one from him to me, men-

tioning that he had been led by the researches of Prof. Suess to

consider the affinities of Stringocephalus as being rather with the

Terebratulide, and inquiring as to the presence or absence of

perforations ; so that both sets of characters came again into

complete harmony. The place of Porambonites being undoubtedly

among the Rhynchonellide, the existence of perforations (which

had been thought to be unmistakeably indicated by the very

regular punctations of the surface) was an apparent anomaly of

no small importance ; this, however, was at once removed by

the examination of microscopic sections of the shell, since it was

found to be as destitute of perforations as any true Rhynchonella.

The case of Trematis was one of the same kind, the punctations

being there also quite superficial ; constituting, in fact, a peculiar

kind of ‘ sculpture.’

I thought it right, in stating these and similar facts, to give

an emphatic warning against superficial observations upon this

point, and to express my surprise that Prof. King should have

ventured, upon such evidence, to affirm the universal existence of

perforations in the shells of Brachiopoda ; especially without

haying examined one of the most common of the recent types of

the group, namely Rhynchonella psittacea, in which the absence

of perforations, as described and figured by me in 1844, can be

verified without the slightest difficulty. ‘“'To myself personally,”

504 Dr. W. B. Carpenter onthe Structure of Brachiopod Shells

I added, “ it is a matter of entire indifference whether Prof. King

does or does not admit the correctness of my observations ; but

I would submit, that the interests of science are not very likely

to be promoted by this easy setting-aside of observations made

with every advantage of first-rate instruments and careful pre-

paration of specimens, in favour of glances with a hand-magnifier

at shells whose surfaces are peculiarly lable to present deceptive

appearances.”

As Prof. King made no reply to these observations at the

time they were published, I hoped that he acquiesced in their

justice, and that the question between us might be regarded

as settled. It now appears, however, that I was premature ;

since, after the lapse of two years, Prof. King returns to the

charge; not so much, however, to maintain his former asser-

tions, as to justify himself for having discredited mine. He

now admits the non-existence of perforations in Rh. psittacea,

and, by implication, in other Rhynchonellide ; but he considers

the case of Rh. Geinitziana to be an unquestionable exception

to the universality of non-perforation in that genus,—both valves

of this species being “as distinctly and regularly perforated as

those of any Terebratulide.” By the kindness of Mr. Davidson,

I have had the opportunity of examining one of Prof. King’s

own specimens, as well as an authentic specimen of this species

which he has received from Baron von Schauroth; and I am

bound to admit that both these specimens bear out Prof. King’s

statement, so far as can be judged by external appearance. I

have not felt at hberty, however, to damage these specimens to

the extent necessary for determining the question whether the

superficial pittings extend through all the layers of the shell,

and are therefore the homologues of the perforations of Tere-

bratulide. Supposing, however, this should prove to be the

case, it would still have to be determined whether, in spite of

its external characters, this species be a true Rhynchonella, or

whether it should be separated as a sub-type of that genus,

which, like Spirifer, may contain both perforated and non-per-

forated species, or whether, like Stringocephalus, it should be

found to be more related in its internal structure, as well as in

the texture of its shell, to the Terebratulide.

The question of the accuracy of my observations on this point

is one quite distinct from that of the accuracy of my generaliza-

tions. I have given, in my Memoir, the evidence on which the

latter seemed to me to be at least provisionally established; but

I myself remarked at its conclusion, on the necessity of a far

more extended examination of species than I had been myself

able to make, before these generalizations could be regarded as

established. I shall be, therefore, as ready as any one to with-

Dr. W. B. Carpenter on the Structure of Brachiopod Shells. 505

draw them, when they shall be proved to have been premature ;

but until the structure of the species now in question shall have

been fully investigated, I must claim a suspension of the verdict.

Prof. King attempts to justify his scepticism as to my former

statement of the non-perforation of certain Brachiopods, on the

plea that “ fossilization had so obliterated the tissue of many

shells, as to render the detection of it an impossibility ; and it

was also conceived, that some shells were more prone than others

to become thus altered.’ This argument is, of course, quite

inapplicable to the case of Rh. psittacea, which I had described

as the type of the non-perforated group. Further, it will be

seen on reference to pars. 36 and 44 of my “ Report” for 1844,

that I distinctly recognized the existence of this metamorphic

action as obscuring the structure of certain shells of this group ;

and I have never spoken confidently about the presence or

absence of perforations, save where the intimate structure of the

shell was so perfectly preserved as to leave no possible doubt

about the matter. Where the place of the passages which exist

in Prof. King’s imagination is found to be occupied, not by fos-

silizing or metamorphic substance, but by the peculiarly charac-

teristic structure of the Brachiopod shell, I venture to affirm

that there can be “ no mistake.”

The greater part of Prof. King’s note, however, seems in-

tended to turn the tables upon me, by showing that my original

account of that structure was so incorrect, as tested even by

my own subsequent description of it, that no confidence what-

ever was to be placed in it; and also, to claim for himself the

merit of setting me right. I shall not occupy your space by a

detailed justification of myself as to this matter, but shall simply

draw attention to the following points.

In my original “ Report” I did not minutely describe the

peculiar microscopic appearances of these Brachiopod shells,

considering that my figures spoke for themselves; but the

special object of that “ Report” beimg to establish the organic

structure of Shell, I. offered an interpretation of them (based on

the idea of plications in the shell-membrane), which at that

time seemed to me to be borne out by the facts I had ascer-

tained by the decalcification of recent shells and examination of

the organic residue. Subsequent examination having led me to

doubt the validity of this interpretation, I did not reproduce it

- in my “ Memoir” of 1854, but confined myself to a description

of the appearances, which will be found to be accordant im all

_essential particulars with my figures of 1844. As I never saw

the Memoir of Vicomte D’Archiac referred to by Prof. King, it

is not to that accomplished paleontologist that my abandonment

of my former heresy is attributable. And that Prof. King has

506 Dr. W.B. Carpenter on Vegetable Cell-formation.

no ground for charging me with adopting Ais corrections without

acknowledgment, will appear from the following quotation from

the article “ Shell,” which I contributed to the ‘ Cyclopedia of

Anatomy and Physiology’ (vol. iv. pp. 5638, 564) :—‘‘ When

thin sections are microscopically examined, they present a very

peculiar texture (shown in the figure), which might be referred

either to long flattened cells, or to plications in the shell-mem-

brane..... The cells, if cells they be, must be excessively

flattened, and no vestige of them can be traced in the decalcified

shell; whilst, on the other hand, the membranous residuum does |

not give any distinct indication of having been plicated with the

regularity necessary to produce such a remarkable appearance.”

Now this passage was written in 1848 or early in 1849, conse-

quently long before the publication of Prof. King’s Monograph.

I must trespass a little further upon your space, for the

purpose of requesting your readers to suspend their judgment

upon the question on which Prof. Henfrey has pronounced (in

your last Number, p. 417) a very positive opinion in opposition to

mine,—namely, the value to be attached to Mr. Wenham’s ob-

servations on the process of cell-development in plants. No one

has a higher estimate than myself of Prof. Henfrey’s acquire-

ments in vegetable physiology; but since I happen to know

that Mr. Wenham’s conclusions are borne out, as to certain

important particulars, by the testimony of other independent

observers, who will probably ere long make public the facts

they have witnessed, I venture to believe it possible that Prof.

Henfrey may be mistaken. What I considered to be the essen-

tial point in Mr. Wenham’s observations was this,—that a mass

of protoplasm may resolve itself into cells by a process of vacuo-

lation in the parts which are to be the cell-cavities, and of con-

solidation in those which are to become the cell-walls, essentially

corresponding with that which takes place in the development

of a single cell from a “ gonidium ” or any other isolated particle

of protoplasm. ‘That this doctrine does not agree with Prof.

Henfrey’s general ideas of the process of cell-formation, is no

more proof that it is wrong, than the denial of the sexual nature

of the antherozoids of Cryptogamia by Prof. Schleiden proved

that doctrine to be invalid. When Mr. Wenham’s observations

shall have been shown to be incorrect as to the essential point just

mentioned, I shall be quite ready to retract the “ endorsement ”

which I gave to them. ;

I am, Gentlemen,

Yours sincerely,

WiiuiaM B. Carpenter,

‘Bibliographical Notices. 507

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES,

General Outline of the Organization of the Animal Kingdom, and

Manual of Comparative Anatomy. By Tuomas Rymer JongEs,

F.R.S. Second edition. London, Van Voorst, 1855. 8vo.

On the Continent, and especially in Germany, every important fact

in the anatomy and development of animals is sure, in the course of

a year or two from its discovery, to find itself embodied, with its

consequences upon zoological classification, in one of the numerous

manuals of Zoology or Comparative Anatomy with which the press

of that country teems. Everything is thus brought within the reach

of the student, who, at the commencement of his course, has merely

to buy one of the most recent of these works, in order to place him-

self pretty nearly in possession of the actual state of the science.

To the English student, however, none of these advantages are

offered ; amongst the few books of this class and of any reputation,

the best was probably the first edition of the work which we have

now before us, and this, notwithstanding its undoubted merits, could

by no means be regarded, even at the time of its publication, as per-

fectly free from faults. These, the interval of fourteen years which

had elapsed since the book first made its appearance in the world, had

certainly not tended to diminish, and it was therefore with no small

satisfaction that we learnt that a new edition was forthcoming, as in it

‘we fondly hoped that the English student might at last obtain an idea

of the vast progress that has been made in Zoology within the last few

years, without the necessity of resorting to foreign literature for this

purpose.

In this hope, however, we regret to say we have been disappointed.

In his second edition Professor Rymer Jones clings with astonishing

pertinacity to the grouping adopted in his first, and if we are to take

his book as our standard, zoological classification has made but little

progress since the days of Cuvier; for we cannot see that the division

of the Cuvierian Radiata into Acrita and Nematoneura, or the sub-

stitution of new names for the other three primary groups of that

author, constitutes any great step in advance.

Retaining his old primary divisions, it is but just to say, however,

that our author has sacrificed a little to the spirit of the times ; but

even where this is the case, he seems to be hampered by his prejudices

in favour of his former views :—thus he adopts the group of the Pro-

tozoa, but still places it as a class of his Aerita ; and the different

sections into which these simple creatures are divided are mentioned

in such a manner that it is utterly impossible to understand what

comparative value the author attributes to them. Moreover he has

actually introduced amongst the Protozoa a description of the Sper-

matozoa, a somewhat unnecessary addition one would think, especially

as the author himself tells us that they are not independent organisms.

Another step in the right direction is the adoption of the Class of

Hydrozoa for the Hydroid polypes and Acalephs.

When we look into the remaining groups of the Acrita and Nema-

508 Bibliographical Notices.

toneura, we find that the contents of these two great sections are

positively identical with those of Cuvier’s Radiata. The Flat-worms

(Cestodea and Trematoda) are placed amongst the Acrita, and the

Round-worms amongst the Nematoneura, and the latter division also

contains the Bryozoa, Rotifera and Epizoa. The retention of the

latter in such a situation is certainly calculated to astonish one, con-

sidering how well established is the close resemblance, we might

almost say identity, between the young state of these anomalous para-

sites and the Entomostracous Crustacea; and we must confess that

we cannot understand why the class of Zpizoa should be condemned.

to figure so low in the scale of animal existences, whilst the epizootic

genus Nicothoé occupies an aristocratic position amongst the Crus-

tacea. Equally inadmissible is the position assigned to the Cirrho-

poda amongst the Heterogangliata (or Mollusca), in spite of the

positive demonstration that we possess of their Annulose nature ;—

indeed we can only impute the retention of this unfortunate group of

Crustaceans amongst such unsuitable neighbours, to some confusion

of ideas on the part of Professor Rymer Jones, as he actually figures

a complete Homogangliate nervous system as characteristic of the

Cirrhopods, and places them in his list of the Homogangliate (or

Avnulose) Classes, at the end of his general chapter on Classification.

It would almost seem as though Professor Rymer Jones were of

opinion that the position of the Cirrhopoda in the Animal Kingdom

might as well be settled by the ingenious device of tossing up, pro-

posed, as we are told, by some truly American Statesman for the

adjustment of the little difficulties existing between this country and

the United States.

We should hardly have dwelt at such length upon these defects

in a work which notwithstanding them possesses a great claim to

consideration, but for the circumstance that the author leaves it to

be inferred by his reader that the system adopted in it is the system,

whilst he must be well aware that, so far from its being adopted by

the majority of zoologists and comparative anatomists, it furnishes

anything but a true picture of the generally received views of zoo-

logical classification. But the reader may seek in vain in the pages

of this thick volume for anything like an admission that a different

mode of arrangement is practicable, or for a confession that other

writers place particular groups in a position different from that as-

signed to them by Professor Jones,—the nearest approach to any-

thing of the kind consisting in references to resemblances between

the EHpizoa and Rotifera and the Crustacea, and a statement re-

garding the Cirrhopoda, that ‘‘it will not be surprising, if, after

reading the details connected with their structure, some naturalists

should prefer to regard them as belonging to the Homogangliate

rather than to the Heterogangliate division.”” We should think it by

no means surprising ; but we are rather surprised that, when he went

so far, our author could not tell his readers, that the conclusion at

which he more than half expected them to arrive was the one now

generally adopted by the first zoologists both at home and abroad.

It may be urged, that as Professor Rymer Jones’s work only pro-_

Bibliographical Notices. 509

fesses to treat of the comparative anatomy of animals, the question

of classification is one of secondary importance as far as he is con-

cerned ; but this plea can hardly be admitted, inasmuch as a com-

parative anatomy must of necessity take a zoological classification

for its foundation, and the nearer the truth we can bring this, the

better will be our representation of the ‘‘ organization of the Animal

Kingdom.”

Notwithstanding the faults above referred to, Professor Rymer

Jones’s work will be found to contain a most valuable outline of the

structure and development of the different classes of animals, al-

though it is to be regretted that, in the consideration of the latter

portion of the subject, his unfortunate views of classification again

step in, and certainly prevent his giving that importance to the earlier

stages of some groups which they deserve, if indeed they have

not induced him rather to throw them into the background, as

matters of comparatively little consequence. The same circum-

stance of course prevents the reader from finding any reference in

the pages of this book to the doctrine of a retrograde metamorphosis,

which not only applies to such groups as the Epizoa and Cirrhopoda,

but is also adapted to throw much light upon the position in nature

of other anomalous animals, which have generally been puzzles to

zoologists. As a general rule, however, the information seems to

have been pretty carefully brought down to the present time, al-

though we notice several omissions of greater or less importance in

different parts of the work. One or two of these we may mention,

as we can hardly understand how Professor Rymer Jones could have

made them. Under the Cephalopodous Mollusca, we find not the

slightest reference to those curious spermatophora the Hectocotyli ;

and in his description of the dulbus arteriosus in Fishes, our author

states that it is of a muscular nature, although Professor Miller

has shown that it is nothing of the kind in the ordinary fishes: and

in mentioning the existence of the numerous valves in the arterial

bulb of the Sharks, &c., he has taken not the least notice of the

occurrence of the same structure in the Ganoid Fishes, although it is

upon this character that the order Ganoidea now reposes. We can

hardly suppose that Professor Rymer Jones is in utter ignorance of

Miiller’s admirable paper upon the Ganoid Fishes, which has been

published about twelve years, and must attribute his omitting to take

any notice of it to its having in some way slipped from his memory.

However, with all these omissions and an occasional misstatement of

minor importance, there can be no doubt that Professor Rymer Jones’s

volume contains an immense amount of valuable information, well put

together, and adorned with all that elegance of language for which

the author is particularly distinguished. As in his previous edition,

he commences with the lowest forms of animals and proceeds from

these upwards in the scale of existence to the Vertebrata, a mode of

arrangement which certainly has many advantages. ‘The numerous

woodcuts with which the work is profusely illustrated are of the

highest excellence and very well printed, whilst the general utility of

the book is greatly increased by the admirable double index, con-

Se - Cg Zoological Society :—

sisting in fact of two separate tables of contents, one giving:a list of

the subjectsjtreated of in the order in which they occur in the sub-

sequent pages ; whilst the other or “ Physiological Index ”’ takes the

different organs or their functions as the basis of its arrangement,

and furnishes references to the particular paragraphs in which their

nature in the various groups of animals is described, thus enabling

the reader to trace any one function or organ from its first appearance

to its full development.

PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES.

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

May 8, 1855.—G. R. Waterhouse, Esq., in the Chair.

Mr. Gould exhibited a portion of a collection of birds formed by

Mr. Hauxwell in a district lying on the eastern side of the Peru-

vian Andes, in the neighbourhood of the River Ucayali, one of the

tributaries of the Upper Amazon. Mr. Gould observed, that the

exploration of this particular district had been one of the earliest

objects of his own ornithological ambition, but that until within the

last few years no naturalist had visited it. The splendid collection

sent by Mr. Hauxwell, of which the birds exhibited to the Meet-

ing formed a part, fully bore out the anticipations entertained by

Mr. Gould, that when explored it would prove one of the richest

and most interesting ornithological districts with which we are ac-

quainted.

Amongst the birds exhibited were some Cotingas, differing from

the ordinary species found in the lower countries of Brazil, and

remarkable from the splendour of their colouring, together with spe-

cies of Phenicercus, Rhamphocelus, &c., of the most dazzling bril-

liancy. As a contrast to these, Mr. Gould exhibited a series of dull-

coloured Thamnophili, also contained in this collection, and remarked

that this striking difference in the coloration of birds inhabiting the

same locality was due almost entirely to their different degrees of

exposure to the cun’s rays; the brilliantly coloured species being

inhabitants of the edges of the forests, where they fly about amongst »

the highest branches of the trees, whilst the others form a group of

short-winged insectivorous birds, which inhabit the low scrub in the

heart of the dense humid jungle, where the sun’s rays can rarely,

if ever, penetrate.

Mr. Gould also remarked, that the colours of the more brilliant

species from the banks of the Ucayali, a district situated towards the

centre of the South American continent, were far more splendid than

those of the species representing them in countries nearer to the sea, .

and from this circumstance he took occasion to observe that birds»

from the central parts of continents were always more brilliantly

coloured than those inhabiting insular or maritime countries. This

rule applies equally to birds of the same species, the Tits of Central»

Europe being far brighter in colour than British specimens... Mroo

Mr. J. Gould on a new species of Ruticilla. 511

Gould had observed that the like difference existed between spe-

cimens of the same species inhabiting Van Diemen’s Land and the

continent of Australia. He attributed this principally to the greater

density and cloudiness of the atmosphere im islands, and countries

bordering the sea; and in further illustration of the influence of

light upon colour, he stated, that the dyers of this country are never

able to produce tints equal in brilliancy to those obtained by their

continental rivals, and that in England they never attempt to dye

scarlets in cloudy weather.

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF RUTICILLA FROM

Erzeroum. By Joun Gou.tp, F.R.S. Etc.

RvuticiuLA ERYTHROPBOCTA, Gould.

Forehead black; crown of the head clouded silvery-grey ; back,

shoulders, throat, chest, and the upper part of the abdomen, jet-

black ; lower part of the abdomen, upper and under tail-coverts dull

red; tail-feathers dull red, except the two middle ones, which are

brownish-black ; wings both above and beneath brownish-black ;

some of the secondaries slightly fringed with silvery-grey; bill and

feet black.

Total length, 53 inches; bill, §; wing, 37; tail, 23; tarsi, 7.

Hab. Erzeroum.

Remark.—Nearly allied to, and about the size of, R.Tithys ; but

differing from that species in the under surface of the shoulder being

darker, and the lower part of the abdomen being red instead of

greyish-white.

In my own collection.

NoreEs ON THE Brrvos oF WESTERN INDIA.

By Lixur. BurGeEss.

Family RALLIDzA.

Genus Funica, L.

FuLica ATRA. Baup Coor.

I found some of these birds breeding on the Singwa tauk, situ-

ated about eighteen miles north of the station of Ahmednuggur, on

21st August, 1849. I obtained three eggs and three nestlings, which

were marked as follows: head, neck, breast and back covered with.

bright orange-red, hair-like feathers ; beak crimson, tip white ; lower

part of the back dark lead-colour, nearly black; near the beak the

face was covered with bright scarlet pustules ; irides brown ; legs

and feet dark lead-colour. The young birds swam with surprising

rapidity. I was attracted at first by the unusual movements of the

old: birds, who swam backwards and forwards with great swiftness at

some distance from the nest, showing great uneasiness, and when I

was handling their young appeared quite distracted.

The egg is rather more than 2,/, in. in length, by nearly 1,5; in.

in width, of a stone-colour, spotted with numberless small specks of

brown, andsome larger spots of dark brown and grey.

512 hal Zoological Society:—

Family ScoLopacip.

Genus ScoLopax.

Subgenus Ruyncaa (Cuv.).

Ruyncu#a picta (Gray). Patnrep SNIPE.

I quite think that the Painted Snipe breeds in the Deccan, or at

least some few of them, as I have had both male and female birds

sent to me in the middle of July, which were shot near Ahmednug-

gur. ‘The female was in remarkably rich and beautiful plumage.

It is very probable that some breed annually in the rushy grounds

bordering the large tank at Singwa..

Subgenus ScoLopax.

ScoLopax NEMORICOLA. SoxiTary Snipe of the Neilgherries.

Dr. Jerdon in his Catalogue says, “It is a rare visitant to the

Neilgherries during the cold season, and has not, as far as I am

aware, been killed elsewhere in the Peninsula.” I believe the Snipe

mentioned in the following note, which I made at Nassick, to be the

same bird :—

‘‘ Solitary, or rather, a very large Snipe, shot at Nassick by Lieut.

Boddam of the Engineers : a very fine specimen; the plumage of a

very dark dim colour, and the tints on the scapulars not very bright.

Shot 5th January, 1847.”

Family CHARADRIADZ.

Genus CHARADRIWUS.

CHARADRIUS PLUVIALIS. GOLDEN Puioyer, L.

I have never met with this Plover in the Deccan, but shot them

on the sandy plains near Kurachee in Seinde. Dr. Jerdon says,

that it ‘is but rarely met with in the Peninsula. Ihave only seen

it on two or three occasions on the banks of large rivers on the table-

land, and on grass plains near the sea-coast, usually in small flocks

of five or six. I have seen specimens killed in the neighbourhood of

Madras in the breeding plumage, viz. with the whole under surface

of the body deep black. It therefore most probably breeds in this

country.” !

CHARADRIUS MINOR, Wagl. Lesser Rincep PLover,

I believe the egg sent with this paper to be that.of the linens

Ringed Plover ; if so, this bird breeds in the Deccan in the monthof

April, laying its eggs on sand-banks in the middle of the: larger

rivers. The egg forwarded was from a sand-bank in the river

Bheema. These pretty little lively birds are common in the Deccan,

resorting to the beds of streams and sandy shallows and. banks) of

rivers. They are difficult birds to shoot, being very restless, con-

tinually taking short flights, and running about with great activity

along the water’s edge ; their food consists of worms, small. shells

Lieut. Burgess on the Birds of Western India. 513

and grass; they lay as many as three eggs I believe; the eggs are

deposited on the bare sand The egg is rather more than 151; in. in

length, by ;8,ths of an inch in width, of a rich stone colour, spotted

and streaked with grey and two shades of brown.

Genus VANELLUS.

VANELLUS BILOBUS (Gmel.). YELLOW Wartiep Lapwina.

I have had frequent opportunities of seeing this Lapwing on the

open bare plains which it frequents, and have obtained specimens,

but never to my knowledge succeeded in procuring its eggs, though

I haye had the eggs of Plovers brought to me in numbers. Dr.

Jerdon says, “‘I found the eggs of this bird on one occasion on a

rass plain on the west coast m the month of September ; they were

of a light salmon colour with dusky spots, four in number, and laid

on a slight depression of the ground.” This Lapwing utters a

plaintive cry when on the wing; it feeds on small beetles, white

ants, &c., picking up small pieces of stone or crystal to assist the

action of the gizzard.

Vanetivus Goensis (Lath.). Rep Wattitep Lapwine.

This common Lapwing is as partial to water as the last-mentioned

is to dry sandy plains; indeed I do not recollect ever to have seen it

at any distance from water. It is very common in the Deccan, and

may be easily recognized by its oft-repeated ery of —“ Dick did you

do it—Dick, Dick did you do7¢.”” As soon as March has well set in

they pair, and the female commences laying; she generally chooses

the banks of rivers and small streams. On a sand-bank in the midst

of the river Bheema, one of the large rivers of the Deccan, I fell in

with the nest of this bird—if a small heap of dry gravel with a hollow

in it can be called a nest—it contained foureggs. During the breed-

ing season these birds, vociferous at all times, become doubly so,

acquainting every one with the fact that their nest is near. I have

had their eggs brought to me as late as 19th May. On the 27th

May a man brought me three young ones, apparently just released

from their imprisonment; their plumage was as follows :—Irides

dark hazel ; wattles dark brown, nearly black; the whole body covered

with down, thaton the head and neck brown with spots of black ;

the front of the neck, breast and belly white; a black streak runs

along the sides from the wing to the tail; on the nape of the neck

there was a black patch, and another cravat-shaped patch of black

on the fore part of the neck and throat; legs and feet dark lead

colour.

This Lapwing, like many of the Sandpipers, has a curious fashion

of elevating and throwing forward the head, much like the motion

of bowing. It is equally active by night as by day, filling the air

with its taunting cry of “ Did you do it.” If you should fire at and

miss one of them, he goes off with, and his companions fly round

you with the insulting cry of “ Did you do it;” or, as Dr. Jerdon

has it, ‘* Pity to do it.’ The food of this bird consists of grass and

Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 633

514 onsen" Zoological Society :-— rT aM

small insects; it also picks up small pieces of crystal to help .di-

gestion, The egg varies much in size; one sent measures 155, in.

in length, by rather more than 1,%,; in. in width, of a yellow stone

colour, spotted and dashed with grey and dark sepia.

Genus Gipicnemus (Cuv.).

CEDICNEMUS CREPITANS. 'THICK-KNEED PLOVER.

This bird is tolerably common amongst the stony hills and undu-

lating grounds of the Deccan. It is more active by night than by

day, at which time its plaintive call is heard. I had for some time

@ young bird in my tent; during the day it used to remain quiet,

but when evening began to draw on its restlessness commenced, and

it used to run round and round the tent with great rapidity, uttering

a single sharp querulous note. The Thick-knee feeds on small

beetles and other insects, as also small particles of grass, taking

down small stones to help the action of the gizzard, which is of a

strong texture. They breed during the months of March and April,

laying two eggs varying in colour, 2 in. in length, by rather more

than 1.4, in. in width, of a stone colour, blotched and spotted with

dark sepia-brown, and a few under spots of dark grey. In some

eggs the blotches are more of an olive-brown.

CEDICNEMUS RECURVIROSTRIS (Swains.).

On the 5th April, 1849, I found two young birds of what I then

took to be the young of dic. erepitans, on a large sand-bank in

the middle of the river Bheema. At the same time I thought it a

very strange place for a bird found in dry stony places to breed in.

In March 1850, I shot a specimen of Cdienemus recurvirostris on

the same river, some distance higher up; I therefore think, it most

probable that they were the young of Udic. recurvirostris, and not

of Gdic..crepitans. Had I, at the time I found them, known that

the former bird was to be found on that river, I should have exa-

mined carefully the shape of the bill. The testes in the male speci-

men shot in March were in a turgid state. I brought away the

young birds above mentioned ; one was much smaller than the other,

but much more active. They were both, if I remember. right,

covered with a greyish down. For fear of their dying through not

getting proper food, I returned them to their sandy hollow the next

day. The gizzard of the full-grown bird contained the bones of some

small animal.

Genus TACHYDROMUS.

I believe the egg now exhibited to be that of the Courier Plover,

Tachydromus Asiaticus. 'Two of them were found in a field in a

slight hollow of the ground in the month of April. Of the breeding

of this bird Dr. Jerdon says—‘ It breeds in the more retired spots

during the hot weather, laying three eggs of a pale Rage iat

colour, much blotched and spotted with black, and also with a few

Mr. P. L. Sclater on new or little-known Tanagers. ®15

olive spots; they are deposited in a slight hollow.’ The Courier ‘is

abundant on the plains of the Deccan, frequenting sandy bare spots

in flocks; they have a peculiar habit of running for a distance at

great speed, then suddenly stopping and erecting the body, then

starting off as before.

Subgenus GLAREOLA.

GLAREOLA ORIENTALIS (Leach).

I came across this pretty little Pratincole when shooting on a

Stony bank in the river Bheema. There were numbers of them

flying about like swallows, and as they mobbed me, I concluded

that they had nests, but though I made most diligent search could

not find any. I procured a pair of birds: the eggs in the ovaries

of the female were large: the crop of the female was filled to a great

a ei species of small black beetle. This occurred in the month

of March.

May 22, 1855.—Dr. Gray, F.R.S., in the Chair.

DESCRIPTIONS OF FOUR NEW OR LITTLE-KNOWN TANAGERS,

By Painie Luriey Scuater, M.A.

1. ARREMON ERYTHRORHYNCHUS, Sclater.

A, olivaceus : capite nigro; vitta mediali verticis, nucha cervi-

cisque lateribus cinereis; superciliis et corpore subtus albis:

torque gutturali angusta nigra: lateribus cinerascentibus :

campterio flavo: pedibus albis : rostro elongatiore, incurvo,

rubro. |

Long. tota 5°8, alee 3°0, caudee 2°7.

Hab. in Nova Grenada, Bogota.

I have to thank Mr. Gould for allowimg me to describe this new

Arremon, which is from his collection. It is closely allied to my

Arremon spectabilis (P. Z.S. 1854, p. 114. pl. 67) from Quixos,

but may be distinguished by its more lengthened incurved and brilliant

orange red-bill, and the yellow bend of the wing..

2. TACHYPHONUS XANTHOPYGIUS, Sclater. :

Tachyphonus wanthopygius, Sclater, P.Z.8.1854, p. 158.pl.69 (2).

Lanio auritus, DuBus, Bull. Ac. Brux. Feb. 1855 (3 et 2).

$ niger: tergo flavo: fascicula post-supereiliari coccinea : carpo

summo dilute flavo : tectricibus subalaribus albis.

Long. tota 6°1, alee 3°5, caudee 2°5.

2 nigro-cinereus, subtus dilutior ; axillis et tectricibus subalaribus

albis: tergo flavo.

Hab. in Nova Grenada, Bogota. |

‘Society on the 25th of July last year. M. Parzudaki of Paris has

Jately received several examples of both sexes from Bogota. A pair

‘Of these passed into the hands of the Vicomte DuBus, by whom

they were characterized as new in the Bulletins de ae Royale

516 comma. os Loological Society :— 4 1)

de Belgique* for February last. . A male bird from the same quarter

has been kindly entrusted to me for examination before being depo-

sited in the British Museum, where the female I originally named:is

also to be found. I cannot agree with the Vicomte DuBus in con-

sidering this species a Lanio, but, after seeing the male, am the more

convinced that it is a true T'achyphonus.

3. TANAGRA NOTABILIS, Jardine.

T. flavo-olivacea : capite undique et mento nigris, macula nuchali

triangulari, a dorso linea nigra divisa, flava: alis nigris ce-

ruleo marginatis, tectricibus autem summis dorso concoloribus :

cauda nigra, margine vix cerulescente: subtus lete aurantio-

frava ; rostro pedibusque nigris.

Long. tota 7:2, ale 3°7, caudee 3-0.

Hab. in rep. Equatoriana.

Sir William Jardine has been so good as to lend me the types of

this and the following species of Tanagers for examination. They

were lately procured by Professor Jameson of Quito, during a botani-

cal excursion along the eastern range of Cordilleras to the north of

Quito, and are to be described with other rare birds, the product of

the same or similar expeditions, in the forthcoming number of the

new series of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal.

The present bird is a most brilliant fourth of the little section

denominated Compsocoma by Cabanis, easily distinguished from the

others by its yellow-olive back, triangular nape-spot, black chin and

orange-yellow under-plumage, and may be therefore called Compso-

coma notabilis, if that name is used generically. The other three

species of this group are—(1) Compsocoma victorint, with its dark

olive back and elongated nape-stripe, which is common in collections

from Bogota ; (2) C. sumptuosa (Arch. du Musée Paris., vii. p. 379.

pl. 23), with the back black and uropygium olivascent, from Trans-

andean Ecuador—the same locality as the present—and Peru ; and

(3) C. flavinucha, a rare species in collections, which seems confined

to Bolivia, where d’Orbigny discovered it on the eastern slope of the

Andes of the province of La Paz.

4. SALTATOR ARREMONOPS, Jardine.

S. rufo-brunneus, vlivaceo parum tinetus, pectore multo clariore

‘et rubescentiore: capite toto mentoque nigris ; vitta mediali

verticis et superciliari utrinque postice elongatis cum medio

ventre cinereis : alis intus et cauda nigricantibus: rostro et

pedibus nigris.

Long. tota 7°25, alee 3°2, caudee 3°5.

Hab. in rep. Equatoriana.

This peculiar Tanager in style of plumage and general habit ‘cor-

* The article is entitled ‘“‘ Note sur quelques espéces inédites d’Oiseaux.” The

Nemosia torquata therein described (sp. 10) is my Daenis pulcherrima, Rev. et

Mag. de Zool. 1853, p. 480—(a true Dacnis to my mind) ; and, is not Vireosylvia

Frenata, DuBus, sp. 1, the same as V. altilogua, Vieill.—Cassin, Birds of Cal. pl. 37.

-p. 221—and Phyllomanes mystacalis, Cab. Wiegm. Arch. 1844, p. 348 ?

Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth on mw new. Sea Anemone. BLY

‘responds most closely with the members of the genus Arremon,| bit

the bill:is altogether abnormal, the upper mandible swelling in the

middle and overlapping the under, as in the genus Danio, though

not, developed into a decided hook. But the bill is much shorter,

broader and deeper than in the last-named genus, and has more

general resemblance to that. of some of the Saltatores. The wings

are very short, but the only skin sent belonging to a bird in moult,

the comparative length of the remiges cannot be determined.

DeEscRIPTION oF A New Sea ANEMONE.

By E. W. H. Hotpsworts, F.Z.S.

The species now to be described must be separated from the true

Actinie, and may be well placed in the genus Scolanthus, which was

proposed by Mr. Gosse for the reception of an animal obtained by

him at Weymouth, and which presented the very distinctive cha-

racters of a perforated base, and the absence of a terminal adhesive

disk.: A description of that species will be found in the ‘ Annals of

Natural History’ for the year 1853, p. 157. These points of differ-

‘ence are accompanied, as might be expected, by a variation in habits,

and the members of the genus will be found living buried in mud

or sand, into which they retire on being alarmed, their extraordi-

nary powers of inversion enabling them to hide at some little distance

below the surface.

SCOLANTHUS SPHZROIDES.

This species, which I found tolerably abundant at Seaford, near

Beachy Head, has, in expansion, the body lengthened and cylindrical,

regularly striated longitudinally with fine, transverse markings, the

upper part sparingly covered with sucking-glands, not arranged in

any definite order... Disk flat. and even, but little exceeding the dia-

meter of the body. .Tentacula numerous, in three or four irregular

series, the inner one containing from nine to twelve; these are the

longest, and measure, when fully extended, about half an inch, or two-

thirds of the breadth of the disk ; the outer row consists of from fifty

to sixty tentacula of the same slender tapering form as the inner

ones, but are one-third shorter, the other series being intermediate in

size,and number. The body tapers a little posteriorly and terminates

with. a rounded base, having a distinct central perforation. When

closely contracted, the two ends of the body are nearly alike, and the

animal assumes the appearance of a more or less flattened sphere or

bead, the resemblance to which is much increased by the presence

of the terminal orifices.

The colour of the body is a dirty-white, and the upper portion is

generally covered with particles of sand or mud adherent to the

sucking-glands surrounding that part, and which help to conceal the

animal when contracted, as is found to be the case with Act. crassi-

cornis, and probably other species under similar circumstances. The

mouth opens transversely, and from it very delicate white lines radiate

518 Zoological Society.

to the bases of the tentacula, interspersed with two or three shades»of

brown in the form of stripes or spots: in some specimens a circle of

very pale spots with darker margins surrounds the mouth. ‘The base

of each tentaculum is very dark and is surmounted by a broad band.

of white or buff, the upper portion shading off to a clear pale :pel=

lucid brown, on which are three narrow distinct white rings, their

breadth and the interspaces diminishing rapidly as they approach

the tip. These animals are capable of assuming a great variety of

shapes, and even when fully expanded sometimes elongate themselves

to the extent of 14 inch, or contract to little more than a 4 of an

inch. They feed readily in confinement; but those that had buried:

themselves in the sand appeared best able to secure their prey when

placed within reach, the others on the surface often tumbling over in

their endeavours to get the food into a proper position for swallow-

ing, from not having the support of the surrounding sand or mud

natural to them when buried. They were all found near low water-

mark, imbedded in the fine chalky mud which fills the crevices of the

rocks at Seaford, their expanded disks being just level with the surface,

but so nearly covered that only a faint star-like outline was visible ;

on being touched they instantly disappeared ; and so great was their

power of inversion and contraction, that on digging carefully, they

were generally found about 1} inch deep, and having that peculiar

bead-like form which has suggested the specific name of spheroides,

There was usually a depth of 6 or 7 inches of mud below them, so

that they could not have been fastened to the rock ; and since I have

had them at home, now nearly five weeks, they have not shown the

least inclination to attach themselves to the gravel, or glass sides of

the tank in which they are living; three of them have burrowed

into some sand on which they were placed, but the others remain on

the surface, and are but rarely contracted. Soft mud is probabl

their natural habitat, being the most easily penetrated, and I could

find no traces of any of these animals in a considerable tract of sand

only a few yards from the locality whence these were obtained.

June 12, 1855.—W. Yarrell, Esq., in the Chair.

ON Two NEw Spectres oF HumMING Brrps.

By Joun Goutp, F.R.S.

I bring before the notice of the Meeting two species of beautiful

Humming Birds, which I believe to be new to science: they belong

to that section of the Trochilide to which the generic appellation of

Heliothriz has been given; of this form only three species have

been previously characterized, namely H. auritus, H. auriculatus,

and H. Barroti. One of these new species, for which I propose the

specific name of purpureiceps, is nearly allied to H. Barroti, but

differs from that bird in having a much shorter bill, in the blue of

the head being of a paler purple, and in that hue not being confined

to the crown, but extending some distance down the nape of the

Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 519

neck. » This species was obtained from the districts near Popayan.

The second species, for which I propose the name of phainolema,

has several characters in common with H. auritus and H. auricu-

latus ; it differs, however, from both those species in the beautiful

metallic-green colouring extending over the throat and front, as well

raat sides of the throat. The two species may be described as

ollows :—

_ HELIOTHRIX PURPUREICEPS.

Male: Forehead, crown and nape beautiful purplish-blue ; upper

surface, upper tail-coverts, and upper and under wing-coverts beauti-

ful golden-green ; mark below the eye and ear-coverts black, termi-

nating in a small blue tuft; below the black a streak of rich luminous

green; wings purplish-black ; central tail-feathers bluish-black ;

lateral tail-feathers, chin, throat, and under surface, pure white ; bill

black ; feet flesh-colour.

Total length, 44 inches; bill, $; wing, 23; tail, 14.

Hab. Popayan.

HELIOTHRIX PHAINOLZEMA.

Male: Head, upper surface, upper tail-coverts, upper and under

wing-coverts rich golden-green, very brilliant on the head; wings

urplish-black ; four central tail-feathers bluish-black ; lateral tail-

eathers snowy-white ; below and behind the eye a lengthened mark

of black, terminating in a violet-blue tuft ; chim, throat and sides of

the neck rich luminous green ; breast and under surface pure white ;

bill black ; feet flesh-colour.

Total length, 43 inches ; bill, 1; wing, 23; tail, 14.

Hab. River Napo.

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH.

March 1856.—Dr. Greville, Secretary, in the Chair.

The following papers were read :—

1. “ Notes on the Flora of Perth,’ by Dr. W. Lauder Lindsay.

*« The most interesting plants of the district are probably Scheuch-

zeria palustris, Moneses grandiflora, Teucrium Chamedrys, and

Turritis glabra; but the following also are noteworthy: Corallo-

rhiza innata, Epipactis latifolia, Cephalanthera grandiflora and

C. ensifolia, Neottia Nidus-Avis, Paris quadrifolia, Erigeron alpi-

nus, Trientalis europea, Adoxa moschatellina, Leonurus Cardiaca,

Scrophularia vernalis.”

_ 2. On the occurrence of Cladophora repens (J. Agardh) at

Malahide, Co. Dublin,” by A. C. Maingay.

From the specimen now shown, it appears that Mr. W. M‘Calla

found this plant in Ireland in 1841, and therefore that to him is due

the credit of having first collected it in this country, although he

520 Miscellaneous.

was ignorant at the time of its being a new species, and.in..conse-»,

quence communicated it to Professor Balfour under the name. of.

Conferva Brownit. : BP al

Dr. Harvey’s slight doubt as to the British form of Cladophora

repens being the same species with that described by J. Agardh is»

entirely dispelled by these specimens from Ireland, in which the,

articulations, although variable, are in general shorter than. in the,

Jersey specimens gathered by Miss Turner, and intermediate in size...

between Agardh’s plant and that described by Harvey.

3. “On the British species of Aretium,” by Charles C. Babington, |

M.A., F.R.S. &. (See p. 369.) ined

4. “Register of the Flowering of certain Plants in the Royal ~

with the five previous years,’ by Mr. M‘Nab. |

MISCELLANEOUS.

On the Influence of the Soil on the Distribution of Plants. By —.

M. Srur. Communicated by Count Marscwau. .

In a Memoir presented to the Imperial Academy of Sciences of —

Vienna, March 6, 1856, M. Stur, treating of the influence of the

soil on the distribution of plants, gave the results of the observations

made by himself in the Alpine region of Austria. WN

The soil on which plants live is either rocky or disintegrated. —

The “rocky ”’ or solid soil is either of calcareous or of argillaceous —

and siliceous nature. The “ disintegrated” or detrital soil is com- ~

posed of fragments from the “rocky,” agglutinated by mineral

substances of tertiary origin; it contains therefore lime, silica, and

alumina, in more or less equal portions. | i asthe

The rocky soil prevails in the higher elevations of the Alpine region ; /

the detrital soil fills up the bottoms of the valleys and depressions. —

The first corresponds to the continents. surrounding the tertiary sea,

or to the islands emerging from it ; the second indicates the extension _

of this sea itself, as formed by drift deposited on its bottom. :

The nature of the roots is an essential condition for the thriving of

any plant on either of these soils. Species with annual fleshy, or with

compound fasciculated, roots, or with underground stems, can onl

live on detrital soil ; those with woody roots, with numerous rami-

fications, are best fitted for the rocky soil. ;

A comparison of the flora of the higher calcareous region with the

mica-schist flora proves the plants of either of them, although equal

in size, to differ so materially from each other in shape, that it must

be admitted that the geological constitution of the soil has an influ-

ence on the vegetation covering its surface. é

Alpine plants carried down by the streams into the plain increase

in size and grow more luxuriantly in their new station. _Forest-trees

Miscellaneous. 521

shrink more and more in size and shape as they reach greater eleva-

tions. Both these facts bear witness to the influence of climatal

conditions on the development of vegetable life. ;

Cereals occur exclusively on the detrital soils of the lower region.

They follow the Alpine tertiary gravel in its variations of altitude ;

but are only able to produce a rich harvest where they grow on a

detrital soil composed of lime, alumina, and silica mixed in nearly

equal proportions. This same soil is likewise the most congenial to

the non-cultivated plants of the lower region. If this soil be mixed

with heterogeneous substances (as salts, on the sea-shore, on the

banks of saline lakes, on plains with saline efflorescence, or above

saliferous rocks), new genera and species, not occurring under ordi-

nary circumstances, make their appearance.

The pine (Pinus abies, L.) accommodates itself to every soil, and

therefore ranges from the lower to the upper region, marking the

limits between, and participating in both. Its vertical oscillations

correspond to those of the cereals, and to the distribution of detrital

soil accessible to atmospheric heat.

New vegetable forms, together with new rocks, make their appear-

ance in the higher rocky regions. Such are certain species peculiar

to the calcareous mica-schist, as Artemisia nana, Sand., Lomato-

gonium carinthiacum, Rehb., Gentiana prostrata, Haenke, Herni-

aria alpina, L., Braya alpina, Hoppe, &c.

Wherever a great variety of rocks near to, or interstratified with,

each other appear within a comparatively narrow space, the plants

pass from one of these soils to another, undergoing at the same time

frequent alterations of form; species nearly allied to each other are

peculiar to such spots, producing hybrid and intermediate forms.

The distribution of genera and species in the upper region answers

exactly to the geological constitution of the soil. Calcareous and

mica-schistose Alps have every one their peculiar. flora.” Near Win-

disch-Matzey and Heiligenblut the mica-schist and the calcareous

mica-schist floras appear side by side. At the “Tauern” of Rad-

stadt, where nearly all Alpine rocks are heaped together, the floras

of the calciferous rocks, of the mica-schist and of the calcareous mica-

schist appear simultaneously. jf

M. Stur appended to his memoir a catalogue of about 1000 species

of plants collected by him within the Alpine region, and arranged

according to their localities and to the geological constitution of

their native soil.

Note on the Freshwater Dolphins of South America.

_, By M. Pavt Gervais.

Tt has long been known that a peculiar species of Dolphin is an

inhabitant even of the upper parts and branches of the great river

Amazon, to the Indians living on the borders of which it is a creature

of no small importance. It was described by M. d’Orbigny as the

type of a new genus under the name of Inia boliviensis, by which

it has since been generally known; but it appears to have been

Ann. & Mag. N, Hist, Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 34. .

522 Meteorological Observations.

previously described by Spix and Martius under the name of Del-

phinus amazonicus, whilst, according to M. Paul Gervais, it is identical

with the D. Geoffrensis of De Blainville, who however supposed. his

specimen to come from Canada.

Besides the Inia Geoffrensis, M. Gervais states that the Amazon

and its tributaries possess two other species of Dolphin, both, ac-

cording to him, belonging to the restricted genus Delphinus. "They

will be described by him in the Zoological section of M. de Castelnau’s

Voyage in America, under the names of D. pallidus and D. fluviatilis.

—Comptes Rendus, 28th April 1856, p. 806.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR APRIL 1856.

Chiswick.—April 1, 2. Exceedingly fine. 3. Overcast: rain. 4. Densely

clouded : fine, with low white clouds. 5. Fine: cloudy. 6. Fine: frosty at night.

7. Fine: cloudy: rain. 8. Rain. 9. Cloudy: rain. 10. Rain. 11. Fine:

showery : rain at night. 12. Rain: cloudy and mild: fine. 13. Fine: cloudy:

hazy. 14. Fine: rain: boisterous, with rain at night. 15. Overcast: cold north-

east wind. 16. Fine, but cold: masses of white clouds. 17. Dusky white clouds:

fine: cloudy. 18. Overcast: fine: cloudy. 19. Overcast: densely clouded:

clear: frosty. 20, Fine: frosty at. night, 21. Cloudless: very fine: hazy at

night. 22. Overcast: cloudy: frosty. 23. Slight haze: cloudy. 24. Uniform

haze: overcast: fine. 25. Foggy: very fine: rain. 26. Heavy rain: cloudy.

27. Rain. 28. Clear: fine: frosty. 29. Partially overcast: cloudy and cold.

30. Fine.

‘Mean temperature of the month ......... avepebaagesnseabensag eee 46°48

Mean temperature of April 1855 ...........ceeeeee Aananangnekenne 46 °08

Mean temperature of April for the last thirty years ......... 47°13

Average amount of rain in April ...... eageass redsenge onsen ese. 1°553 inch.

Boston.—April 1. Fine: rain p.m. 2. Cloudy. 3. Cloudy: rainr.m. 4. Cloudy.

5. Fine. 6. Cloudy: rain p.m. 7. Cloudy. 8. Cloudy: rainp.m. 9. Cloudy.

10. Cloudy: rain p.m. “11. Fine: rain p.m. 12. Rain A.M. and p.m. 13. Fine.

14. Cloudy. 15. Fine. 16—19. Cloudy. 20. Fine. 21—24. Cloudy. 25. Fine.

26. Rain a.m. and p.M. 27. Cloudy. 28. Cloudy: rain p.m. 29. Cloudy:

rain A.M. and p.m. 30. Cloudy.

Sandwick Manse, Orkney.—April 1—3. Bright a.m.: cloudy p.m. 4. Cloudy,

drops 4.M.: clear, aurora P.M. 5. Cloudy, drops a.M.: clearr.m. 6. Damp A.M.:

clearp.m. 7. Bright a.m.: drops p.m. 8—10. Cloudy a.m. and p.m. 11. Showers,

cloudy A.M. : clear P.M, 12—14. Cloudy a.m. and p.m. 15. Vipudy A.M. : Clear,

fine p.m. 16. Cloudy a.m. and p.m. 17. Showers, cloudy a.m. : cloudy P.M.

18. Showers, cloudy a.m. : clear, fine p.m. 19. Clear a.m.: drizzle p.m. 20—22.

Cloudy a.m. and p.m. 23. Clear a.m.: cloudy p.m. 24. Cloudy a.m.: cloudy,

fine p.m. 25. Cloudy, fine a.m.: cloudy, drops p.m. 26. Clear a.m.: hail-

showers P.M. 27. Hail-showers a.m.: sleet-showers P.M. 28, Sleet-showers a.M.

and p.m. 29. Sleet-showers a.m.: cloudy p.m. 30. Bright A.m.: cloudy p.m.

Mean temperature of April for previous twenty-nine years ... 43°47

Mean temperature of this month

SOSH SSSC TCO eeesesterseaeeeee 44 56

Mean temperature of April 1855 .essesssseeeseseeceseueeeeeseeens 43 +20

Average quantity of rain in April for fifteen previous years... 1°90 inch.

The drought is quite unprecedented, only °68 of rain having fallen for two months.

vE.o | gS.r | 26.2 gt.zb |SL.gv| o.gbhlov.vé |9S.g$ | 2LL.6z bbl.6z 9£.6z £19.62 Sol.6c | uv

ssveceees! OF, Lo. ‘ou | mu | cau} §ov| Lb Lv| 62 | ZS £6.62 88.62 97.62 019.62 ££9.6z of

10. go. [tel gua | mm | mn | ob | Fb Sv} rf | oS 98.62 94.62 17,62 g9$.6z 019.62 be

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INDEX to VOL. XVII.

Agave AMERICANA, on the flower-

ing of, 284.

Algee, unusual dearth of, 76.

Alyczeus, new species of, 225.

Amphiphora, on the conjugation of, 6.

Amphora, on the conjugation of, 1.

Anabates, new species of, 468.

Anaulus, notes on the genus, 342.

Animals, marine, on the geographical

distribution of, 165.

Ant, house, of Madeira, on the, 209,

322.

Anthracosia, on the fossil genus, 51 ;

new species of, 56.

Antilocapra, new species of, 424.

Araneidea, new species of, 233.

Arctium, on the British species of,

369.

Arremon, new species of, 515.

Assiminia, on the genus, 57.

Astropyga, new species of, 282.

Aulosteges, new species of, 262.

Babington, C. C., on some species of

Epilobium, 236, 311; on the Bri-

tish species of Arctium, 369.

Backhouse’s, J. jun., Monograph of

the British Hieracia, reviewed, 418.

Baker’s, J. G., Flowering Plants and

by of Great Britain, reviewed,

99.

Barrett, L., on the animal of Scissu-

rella crispata, 206 ; on the Mollusca

observed between Drontheim and

the North Cape, 378.

Bate, C. S., on the British Diastylide,

449.

Beetles, on the blistering, of Monte-

video, 75.

Benson, W. H., on the genus Sca-

phula, 127; on Tanystoma tubi-

ferum, 129; on new forms of Cy-

clostomacea, 225; on the genera

Tanystoma, Nematura and Anaulus,

342; on new species of Paludomus,

and on some forms of Stenothyra,

494.

Birds, new species of, 63, 77, 78, 428,

435, 466, 511, 515, 518; habits of

some Indian, 65, 200, 362, 431,

511; notes on some, 426, 510.

Blackwall, J., on new species of

Araneidea, 233.

Blyth, E., on the Indian species of

Shrews, 11. |

Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Society,

proceedings of the, 356.

Books, new:—De Koninck and Le

Hon’s Crinoides du Terrain earbo-

nifére de la Belgique, 58; T. R.

Jones’s Lecture on the Geological

History of Newbury, 60; Seemann’s

Popular History of Palms, 194;

Hooker’s Museum of Economic Bo-

tany, 196; Gosse’s Handbook to the

Marine Aquarium, 197; E. M. C.’s

Popular Geography of Plants, 198 ;

Baker’s Flowering Plants and Ferns

of Great Britain, 199 ; Stainton’s

History of the Tineina, 272; Mon-

tagne’s Sylloge Generum. Specie-

rumque Cryptogamicarum, 277;

Wollaston’s Insecta Maderensia,

348 ; Backhouse’s British Hieracia,

418; Dawson and Clark’s List of

British Coleoptera, 419; ° Rymer

Jones’s Outline of the Animal King-

dom, 507.

Botanical Society of Edinburgh, pro-

ceedings of the, 74, 205, 283, 519.

Brachygalba, new species of, 72.

British Museum, Catalogues of thie,

441.

Burgess, Lieut., on the habits of some

Indian birds, 65, 200, 362, 431,

511. :

a haa ec new species of,

429,

Carpenter, Dr. W. B., on the minute

structure of certain Brachiopod

shells, and on vegetable cell-for-

mation, 502.

Carter, H. J., on the conjugation ‘of

Cocconeis, Cymbella and Amphora,

with some remarks on Amphiphora

INDEX.

alata, 1; on the development of

gonidia from the cell-contents of

the Characeze, and on the circula-

tion of the mucus-substance of the

cell, 101; on the organization of -

the Infusoria of the island of Bom-

bay, 356.

Cell-development in plants, 417, 502.

Chamezza, new species of, 429.

Characez, on the cell-contents of the,

101; circulation and tenacity of life

- Inthe, 123.

Chiroxiphia, new species of, 469.

er i Oh on the development of the,

Cidaris, new species of, 281.

Cladophora repens, on the occurrence

of, im Ireland, 519.

Claparéde, E., on the theory of the

fecundation of the ovum, 289, 390.

Clark, H., and J. F. Dawson’s List of

British Coleoptera, reviewed, 419.

Clark, W., on the genus Assiminia,

57; on Scissurella crispata, 269.

7 new British species of, 10,

46.

Cocconeis, on the conjugation of, 1.

Cocks, J., on an unusual dearth of

_ Alge, 76.

Conirostrum, new species of, 435.

Conoteuthis, occurrence of the fossil

genus, 402,

Courbon, A., on the blistering beetles

of Montevideo, 75.

Crossopus, new species of, 25.

Crustacea, on the geographical distri-

bution of, 42.

Culicivora, on the genus, 68.

Cuma, on the British species of, 456.

Cuvier’s. laws of correlation, in the

-- reconstruction of extinct vertebrate

forms, remarks on, 476.

Cyclophorus, new species of, 228.

Cyclostomacea, new forms of, 225.

Cylichna, new species of, 188.

Cymbella, on the conjugation of, 1.

Cyphorinus, new species of, 437.

Cypselus, new species of, 286.

Dacnis, new species of, 62.

Dana, J. D., on the geographical dis-

tribution of Crustacea, 42.

Davy, Dr. J., on the vitality of the

ova in the Salmonide, 420.

Dawson, J. F., and H. Clark’s List of

British Coleoptera, reviewed, 419.

Diastylide, on the British, 449.

525

Diastylis, British species of, 451.

Diatomacez, on the mode of repro-

duction of the, 1.

Diglossa, new species of, 467.

Diglossopis, description of the new

genus, 467.

Dolphins, on the freshwater, of South

America, 521.

Dredging on the Piedmontese coast,

155; between Drontheim and the

North Cape, 378.

Dufour, L., on the apparent absence

of a nervous system in the Ne-

moptera lusitanica, 366.

Duncan, Dr. P. M., on the pollen-

tube, 283.

Echini, on the perforation of granite

by, 76

Echinida, arrangement of the families

of, 279.

Eeabryopeny researches in vegetable,

43.

Entomostraca, on paleozoic bivalved,

Epilobium, on the species of, 236,311.

Equus, new species of, 446.

a description of the new genus,

457. .

Eulimella, new species of, 186.

Eversmann, M., on some new species

of mammals and birds, 77.

Falconer, Dr. H., on Prof. Huxley’s

attempted refutation of Cuvier’s

laws of correlation, in the recon-

struction of extinct vertebrate

forms, 476.

Formicarius, new species of, 429.

Formicivora, new species of, 65.

Fossils, notes on Permian, 258, 333 ;

mammalian, 441.

Galbula, new species of, 70.

Garelia, new species of, 282.

Gasteropods, on the glands contained

in the respiratory cavity of branchi-

ferous and pulmoniferous, 247.

Gastornis parisiensis, on the affinities

of, 440.

— deltura, on the occurrence of,

207.

Geological Society, proceedings of

the, 440.

Gervais, P., on the freshwater Dol-

phins of South America, 521.

Gosse’s, P. H., Handbook to the

Marine Aquarium, reviewed, 197.

Gould, J., on the new genus Malaco-

526

cichla, 78; on some new South

American birds, 428, 510; on a

new species of Ruticilla, 511; on

some new Humming-birds, 518.

Gray’s; G. R., Genera and Subgenera

of Birds, notes on, 189.

Gray, Dr. J. E., on the arrangement

of the Echinida, with descriptions

of new genera and species, 279;

on the genus Scissurella, 321; on

a new species of Antilocapra, 424 ;

on a new species of Spheerium, 465.

Halia, description of the new genus,

458.

Heer, Prof. O., on the House-ant of

Madeira, 209, 322.

Heliothrix, new species of, 519.

Henfrey, Prof., on cell-development

in plants, 417 ; on the development

of the ovule of Santalum album,

- 438.

Holdsworth, E. W. H., on a new

species of Sea Anemone, 517.

Hon’s, H. le, Recherches sur les Cri-

noides du Terram carbonifére de la

Belgique, reviewed, 58.

Hooker’s, Sir W. J., Museum of Eco-

nomic Botany, reviewed, 196.

Humming-birds, new species of, 518.

Huxley, Prof., on Cuvier’s laws of cor-

relation, in the reconstruction of

extinct vertebrate forms, 476.

Hydrocena, new species of, 231.

Hypocnemis, new species of, 64.

Infusoria of Bombay, on the organi-

zation of the, 356.

eae on the tracheal system of,

347.

Jeffreys, J. G., on the marine Tes-

tacea of the Piedmontese coast,

155, 271; on the genus Scissu-

Jeffreysia, new species of, 184.

Jones’s, T. Rupert, Lecture on the

Geological History of Newbury,

Berks, noticed, 60; on some new

species of Leperditia, 81.

Jones’s, T’. Rymer, General Outline of

the Animal Kingdom, reviewed, 507.

King, Prof. W., on the fossil genus

Anthracosia, 51; on Pleurodictyum

problematicum, 131; notes on Per-

mian fossils, 258, 333.

Koninck’s, L. de, Crinoides du Ter-

rain carbonifére de la Belgique, re-

viewed, 58,

INDEX.

Krohn, Dr. A., on the development

of Pelagia noctiluca, 285.

Lampreys, on the development of

the, 443.

Lanius, new species of, 78.

Lawson, G., on the structure of Vic-

toria regia, 74. '

Leperditia, new species of, 81.

Leptopoma, new species of, 229.

Lieberkiihn, N., on the development

of the freshwater Sponges, 403.

Linnzan Society, proceedings of the,

438.

Lister, J., on the flowering of Agave

americana, 284.

Lovén, Prof. S., on the development

of the Chitons, 413.

Lymneade, on the structure of the

organs of breathing in the, 153.

M‘Andrew, R., on Mollusca observed

between Drontheim and the North

Cape, 378.

Malacocichla, on the new genus, 78.

Mammals, new species of, 77.

Megalomastoma, new species of, 229.

Meteorological observations, 79, 207,

287, 367, 447,523. ~ |

Mias of Borneo, on the, 471. .

Mollusea of the Piedmontese coast,

on the, 271; observed between

Drontheim and the North Cape,

list of, 378.

Montagne’s, C., Sylloge Generum

Specierumque Cryptogamicarum,

reviewed, 277.

Myiadestes, new species of, 468... —

Myrmeciza, new species of, 63.

Nematura, on the genus, 342.

‘Nemoptera lusitanica, on the apparent

absence of a nervous system in the,

366.

Neriéne, new species of, 233.

Newport, G., the late, monument to,

Odostomia, new species of, 185.

CEcophthora pusilla, on the habits-of,

221,

Orang-utan, account of an infant, 386;

of Borneo, on the, 471.

Otopoma, new species of, 231.

Otostoma, new species of, 117.

Ovum, on the theory of the fecunda-

tion of the, 289, 390.

Owen, Prof., on the affinities of Gast-

- ornis parisiensis, 440; on some

mammalian fossils, 441.

INDEX.

‘Paludomus, new species of, 494...

Pectinibranchiata, on the structure of

‘o the organs of breathing im the, 28.

Pelagia noctiluca, on the development

of, 285,

Pipreola, new species of, 469.

Pithys, new species of, 65.

Plants, cell-development in, 417 ; on

impregnation in, 438; on the in-

» fluence of the soil on the distribu-

tion of, 520.

Pleurodictyum problematicum, obser-

vations on, 131. ;

Polioptila, new species of, 68.

Pollen-tube, observations on the, 283.

Prentice, C., on the occurrence of

Clausilia Mortilleti, 446.

Productus, new species of, 261.

Pterocyclos, new species of, 227.

Pulmonifera, on the structure of the

organs of breathing in the, 142.

Pupina, new species of, 230.

Ramphoczenus, new species of, 436.

Reissig, Dr., on the mode in which

the Tachine escape from their

pupa-cases, 360.

Respiration, on the mechanism of

aquatic, ininvertebrate animals, 28,

‘encb42;-247.

Rissoa, new species of, 182.

Royal Society, proceedings of the,

420.

Ruticilla, new species of, 511.

Saint-Hilaire, G., on a supposed new

species of Equus, 446.

Salmonide, on the vitality of the ova

in the, 420. :

Saltator, new species of, 516.

Santalum album, on the development

of the ovule of, 438.

Scaphander, new species of, 188.

Scaphula, new species of, 128.

Schismope, description of the genus,

321.

Schistochlamys, new species of, 430,

Schmidt, A., on a new species of

Clausilia, 10.

Schultze, M., on the development of

the Lampreys, 443.

Scissurella, on the genus, 319, 401,

470; new species of, 181.

Scissurella crispata, on the animal of,

206, 269.

Sclater; P. L., on new species of

_or Daenis, and on the general arrange-

ment of the genus, 62; on new

527

species of -birds, 63, 435, 466;. on

the genus Culicivora, 68 ;,.on the

arrangement of the Galbulide, 70 ;

on a new species of Swift, 286; on

some new species of Thamnophilus,

360; on some Texan birds, 426;

on a new species of the genus Todi-

rostrum, 428; on new species of

Tanagers, 515,

nr new British species of,

517.

Seemann’s, Dr. B., History of Palms

and their Allies, reviewed, 194.

Shells, on the minute structure of

certain Brachiopod, 502.

Shrews, on the Indian species of, 11.

Sorex, new species of, 18.

Soriculus, new species of, 24.

sr? shes new British species of,

465.

Sponges, on the development of the

freshwater, 403.

aoe Desmarestii, occurrence of,

206.

Stainton’s, H. T., History of. the

Tineina, reviewed, 272.

Stenothyra, new species of, 496.

Strophalosia, new species of, 263.

Stur, M., on the influence of the soil

on the distribution of plants, 520.

Synallaxis, new species of, 436, 466.

Tachinz, on the mode in which the,

escape from their pupa-cases, 365.

Tachyphonus, new species of, 515.

Tanagra, new species of, 515.

Tanystoma, on the new genus, 129,

342.

Testacea, marine, of the Piedmontese

coast, on the, 155, 271.

19 mie new species of, 360,

Thompson, W., on the occurrence of

Squilla Desmarestii and Gebia del-

tura, 206.

Todirostrum, new species of, 428.

Tomes, R. F., on the Indian species

of Shrews, 11.

Toreumatica, new species of, 283.

Trochus, new species of, 182.

Tulasne, M., researches in vegetable

embryogeny, 343.

Turritella, new species of, 184.

Uregalba, new species of, 71.

Valenciennes, M., on the perforation

of granite by Echini, 76.

Vanellus, new species of, 78.

528

Venilia, description of the new genus,

460

Vesperugo, new species of, 77.

Victoria regia, on the structure of, 74.

Walckenaéra, new British species of,

235.

Wallace, A. R., on an infant Orang-

utan, 386; on the Orang-utan or

Mias of Borneo, 471.

Williams, Dr. T., on the mechanism

of aquatic respiration in inverte-

INDEX.

brate animals, 28, 142, 247; onthe

tracheal system of insects, 347.

Wollaston’s, T. V., Insecta Made-

rensia, reviewed, 348.

Woodward, S. P., on the genus Scis-

surella, 401; on the fossil genus

Conoteuthis, 402. ;

Zoological collections in the British

Museum, additions to the, 443.

Zoological Society, proceedings of the,

62, 200, 279, 360, 424, 510.

END OF THE SEVENTEENTH VOLUME.

PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,

RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

FLAMMAM.