Ke tGlctets oe Paar a oY. Neem actos df Ae ys “ etre 4 ne aye Mt it ee oe Bh, oN nea THE ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY, ZOOLOGY, BOTANY, ann GEOLOGY. (BEING A CONTINUATION OF THE ‘ANNALS ’ COMBINED WITH LOUDON AND CHARLESWORTH'’S ‘MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. ’) CONDUCTED BY CHARLES C. BABINGTON, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., JOHN EDWARD GRAY, Ph.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., V.P.Z.8. &c., AND WILLIAM FRANCIS, Ph.D., F.L.S. aero VOL. XX.—THIRD SERIES ——Y_ PE ED CO I saniat 1 Ins ~ USUity x ‘Wf \ oo ( 2F2VO5 tional Museums, LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS. SOLD BY LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER} SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.; KENT AND CO.3; BAILLIERE, REGENT STREET, AND PARIS: MACLACHLAN AND STEWART, EDINBURGH ; HODGES AND SMITH, DUBLIN: AND ASHER, BERLIN. 1867. \\ “Qmnes res create sunt divine sapientie et potentie testes, divitiz felicitatis humane :—ex harum usu donitas Creatoris; ex pulchritudine sapientia Domini; ex ceconomia in conservatione, proportione, renovatione, potentia majestatis elucet. Earum itaque indagatio ab hominibus sibirelictis semper estimata; a veré eruditis et sapientibus semper exculta; malé doctis et barbaris semper inimica fuit.”— LINNEUS. “ Quel que 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 Systéme Animal, Leyden, 1767. SMten elif lila -meme ne sylvanenowers 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. CONTENTS OF VOL. XX. [THIRD SERIES. ] NUMBER CXV. I. Onthe Annelid Genus Spherodorum, CErsted, and a new Repre- sentative of it, S. Claparedii. By Dr. RicHArD GREErFF. (Plate IL.) II. On the Menispermacee. By Joun Miers, F.R.S., F.L.S., PSIG, 6 SG SS oppLoCeor cen coddaco: HEnSbdrnosennosnocesbecdoasiog Aepoaoacceneconcae sec III. List of Coleoptera received from Old Calabar, on the West Coast of Africa. By ANDREW MURRAY, F.L.S. ..........ccseesecsenees IV. Remarks on the Potton Sands, in reply to Mr. Walker’s Paper in the ‘Annals of Natural History’ for November 1866. By Harry Govier SEELEY, F.G.S., of the Woodwardian Museum in the Uni- EET) CES 0) 0 1G FE ee penonS cchectindoescucncocnteder csdennbuneneduannceccbosnoas V. Remarks on Pyrula (Fulgur) carica (Lamarck) and Pyrula (Fulgur) perversa (Lamarck). By T. GRAHAM PONTON....++...e0000. VI. On the Tunnelling Coleopterous Genera Bledius, Heterocerus, Dyschirius, and their Danish Species. By Professor J. C. ScHIODTE VII. Description of a new Australian Tortoise (Elseya latisternum). By Dr. J. E. GRAy, F.R.S. &e. ...2.000000. APpdecr” Sen enpgonee neenoacoodn VIII. Additions to the knowledge of Australian Reptiles and Fishes. By ALBERT GinTHER, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., F.R.S. ......... IX. On the Shell-structure of Spirifer cuspidatus, and of certain allied Spiriferide. By Wiuu1AM B, Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S. ... New Books:—1. A List of the Flowering Plants, Ferns, and Mosses collected in the immediate neighbourhood of Andover, by C. B. Clarke.—2. Flora of Devon and Cornwall, by J. W. N. Keys. (Ranunculaceze—Geraniacez.)—3. The Bath Flora: a Lecture delivered to the Members of the Bath Natural History and Anti- quarian Field Club, by the Rev. L. Jenyns.—4. Flora of Norfolk : a Catalogue of Plants found in the County of Norfolk, by the Rev. K.: Trimmer:...s..3 Maslemaieciceiicrisesteescinciceestsenedilnesieiecieresiiscte sete Page iv CONTENTS. Page On the actual state of our Information relative to the ‘ Leporide,’ or Hybrid between Hare and Rabbit, by Dr. Pigeaux ; Megaceros hibernicus in the Cambridgeshire Fens, by Norman Moore, Esq.; Note on Assiminea Francesie, by Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &e.; On the Species of the Genera Latiavis, Faunus, and Melanatria, by Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c.; Descriptions of new Fishes, by Dr. F. Steindachner; Supplement to ‘ English Botany’ ......... 75—80 NUMBER CXVI. X. On Waldheimia venosa, Solander, sp. By THomas Davipson, BOP Mone Sas BaCaca cas venescernsscencesecenserenenesreeceans cece aaswender aren: 81 XI. List of Coleoptera received from Old Calabar, on the West Coast of Africa. By ANDREW MURRAY, FLAS. ......sssececcseececsees 83 XII. On the Occurrence of Diplommatina Huttoni in Trinidad. By R. J. LecHMERE Guppy, F.G.S., F.L.S. ...-......seeeeceeeee aeceua ego XIII. Conchological Gleanings. By Dr. E. von MarTENs ...... 97 XIV. Notule Lichenologice. No. XVI. By the Rev. W. A. Lereuron, B.A., F.L.S.—Prof. Santo Garovaglio on the Species of Verrucaria found in Lombardy .......scccccescsescsescscscececscscsesoeases 106 XV. New Fishes from the Gaboon and Gold Coast. By ALBERT GintTuer, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., F.R.S. (Plates II. & IIT.) ......... 110 XVI. Description of a new cee of Apocryptes. By Dr. ALBERT SGU NUPELIOH Gren oss ebasaesnnecnsscaciebieessnnameerssseyeacer: casreaeme.t oneeeeartne 117 XVII. A Reply to Mr. H. G. Seeley’s Remarks on my Account of the Phosphatic Deposit at Potton in Bedfordshire. By J. F. WALKER, B.A., F.C.P.S., F.C.S., F.G.S, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge... 118 XVIII. Note on the Species of the Genus Tribonyz. By P. L. SciaTer, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Zoological Society Gl MN GGN 45525205005 ssas5cij0. 50s onenddepeentibe song doe soaRseatustmeeeeemene arena 122 XIX. On. Hyalonema lusitanicum. By J. V. BArBoza bu Bo- CAGE sescccccesccsvessvacencessanaseccnesssoncsssaseoesereseccendes decescedens sec 123 Eroceeamps of the Royal Society c-2c2<0.00-s=s0--s0sne-aesennaceuse 127—140 Cases of Monstrosities becoming the starting-point of New Races in Plants, by C. Naudin; The Theory of the Skeleton, by Harry Seeley, Esq.; Note on the Phenomena of Muscular Contraction in the Vorticelle, by C. Rouget; On the Regeneration of the Limbs in the Axolotl (Siren pisciformis), by J. M. Philipeaux ; On the Development of the brown Aphis of the Maple, by MM. Balbiani and Signoret; Cervus megaceros previously known in the Fens, by H. Seeley, Esq. ......... Seman en snessseeecoresk 141—152 CONTENTS. i's NUMBER CXVII. XX. On Venomous Fishes. By M. Auguste DUMERIL ......... 153 XXI. On the Menispermacee. By Joun Miers, F.R.S., F.LS., SiGe Seetearan ee enone Pa sacrcennena: stuce camadacsee saan eae en ee secendc cos ee 167 XXII. On the Recent Zoology and Paleontology of Victoria. By FREDERICK M‘Coy, Professor of Natural Science in the University of Melbourne, Director of the National Museum of Victoria, &e. ..... 175 XXIII. Notes on Spiders, with Descriptions of several Species supposed to be new to Arachnologists. By JoHN BLACKWALL, XXIV. On some new Species of Oliva and a new Trivia. By IBS OPV Meee co WE REA a cans ove coatet/ ans tea aucenssSacesie cou qes tank ccactn ess 213 XXV. Descriptions of some remarkable new Species and a new Genus of Diurnal Lepidoptera. By ArtHur G. Burter, F.Z.S. EAC ies pear to uaa eetatt actiec ceccateatans ee caneinedunsSenactteanunses sau 216 XXVI. Description of a new Species of Tiger-Moth in the pos- session of Mr. T. W. Wood. By ArrHur G. Buruer, F.Z.S. QBlate PM shies ehe) cua cesaaseeceqs on Se staouuse eda csi sesceeacansueSeuncaatagnes 2] XXVII. Notes on the Skulls of Hares (Leporide) and Picas (La- gomyide) in the British Museum. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S....... 219 oa) XXVIII. Descriptions of two new Saurians from Mossamedes (West Afries). By J. V. BARHOZA DU BOGAGE 0.2.5.2... 500 ssceck wea 2o On the Development of the Ctenophora, by A. Kowalewsky; Re- markable Instances of Crustacean Parasitism, by A. E. Verrill ; On the Anatomy of Balanoglossus (Delle Chiaje), by A. Kowa- lewsky ; On the external Characters of the Young ef the Central American Tapir (Elasmognathus Bairdii, Gill), by A. E. Verrill 228—232 NUMBER CXVIII. XXIX. On the Classification of the Subdivisions of M‘Coy’s Genus Athyris, as determined by the laws of Zoological Nomenclature. By E. Bituines, Palzontologist of the Gevlogical Survey of Canada ... 233 XXX. Fourth Report on Dredging among the Shetland Isles. By Jit GWAVINE UIE RR VIS RHA Ses sci iaw ce sanckeen seceueulen coo ceatres cake Sec cacseces 247 XXXI. Notule Lichenologice. No. XVII. By the Rev. W. A. Leteuton, B.A., F.L.S.—Dr. W. Nylander on new British Lichens 256 XXXII. On the Menispermacee. By Joun Mters, F.RS., vi CONTENTS. Page XXXIII. Revision of the Group of Lepidopterous Insects hitherto included in the Genus Pronophila of Westwood. By A. G. BuTLER, EZ Sack weecc a cneeccs saimeelasiuateres ovsiailestel aaa os baie Sug as os oe aaRea encore wack peti 266 XXXIV. On two new Birds from Eastern Australia. By JoHN GOULD, EORS) cicnccsencec oss ssnveecacwencconcstteaqesenteeanavaacusmqesvpetact 269 XXXV. Synopsis of the Asiatic Squirrels (Sciuride) in the Collec- tion of the British Museum, describing one new Genus and some new Species. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.ZS., & 0. ceeceeeeeseeeeeees 270 XXXVI. On anew Genus of Phalanger. By FrepERIcK M‘Coy, Professor of Natural Science in the Melbourne University and Director of the National Museum of Victoria. (Plate VI.) .........sceeeeeseeseees 287 XXXVII. Additions to the British Fauna. By Dr. ALBERT GunwHer, FIR.S.. (Plate Vi) o.cccscesecccascupsyeendennnscnvsiweaceevasuna 288 XXXVIII. On the Systematic Value of Rhynchophorous Coleo- ptera. By Joun L. Leconte, MUD rh eee ee reece cence wen asst 291 Proceedings of the Royal Society ......s..ssessseeesseseeeeeeeecaeees 294—300 Notice of a new Species of Spider Monkey (Ateles Bartlettiz) in the British Museum, by Dr. J. E. Gray; Note on a Species of Plana- rian Worm hitherto apparently not described, by the Rev. W. Houghton, M.A., F.L.S.; Megaceros hibernicus in the Cam- bridgeshire Fens, by Mr. Norman Moore ; Note on Ursus lasio- tus, a hairy-eared Bear from North China, by Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &e.; On the Anatomy and Physiology of Amphioxus, by MOP Bent. oc cxcenaaccccataccoates wees ceueuectcvcheacresactessnctcs 300—304 NUMBER CXIX. XXXIX. On a new form of Mudfish from New Zealand. By Dr. ALBERT GUNTHER; F.R-S: (Plate VIR) ccitiswex cosctss=scu>-cn0e 305 XL. Remarks upon Oceanic Forms of Hydrozoa observed at Sea. By CurHpert CoLLInGwoobD, M.A., F.L.S. &. cessseeeeeeeeeee sees 309 XLI. List of Coleoptera received from Old Calabar, on the West Coast of Africa. By ANDREW Murray, F.LS. ............00 ere 314 XLII. Synopsis of the African Squirrels (Sciwrid@) in the Collee- tion of the British Museum. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., Keeper of the Zoological Department .......... seaaamedanwd “Cena sopceeenr 323 XLIII. On some undescribed points in the Anatomy of the Limpet (Patella vulgata). By E. Ray Lanxesrer, Christ Church, Oxford 334 XLIV. On the Structure of the Annelida, including a critical CONTENTS. Vil Page Examination of the most recent Works on this class of Worms. By PRE GA DIAS CRN eee cee ede ines naicanis'c omaaeeicseeiaseenpaste. en naemennn 436 LIII. Notule Lichenologice. No. XVIII. By the Rev. W. A. LercuTon, B.A., F.L.S.—On the Lichens of Spitzbergen ..........+. 439 LIV. On a new Species of Victorian Honey-eater. By FrepE- r1cK M‘Coy, Prof. Nat. Se. Melbourne University, and Director of the National Museums, VictOrial Jecccsscssccccsecssasaccceresciececnssvslissleas 442 New Book :—Letters Home, from Spain, Algeria, and Brazil, durmg past Entomological Rambles, by the Rev. Hamlet Clark, M.A., BS IS 5 eae taioe's cx cucwaetathsanccuasvoee st apteese eee estcwcag tees tceaeaismen=< 443 Note on Mermis nigrescens, by William Mitten, A.L.S.; Experiments on the Axolotl, by M. Auguste Duméril; Note on a supposed new Species of Planarian Worm, by the Rev. W. Houghton; On the Development of Sepiola, by E. Mecznikow; M. LeVaillant, the African Traveller, by Mr. E. Layard; Investigations on Rhabditis terricola, hy M. J. Perez ......sscecocessscnseseeeee 445—455 LST Y6 (E> ane RSE a nA Re APRN OIA as ann, eB corti ORBOGRCOCOC 456 PLATES IN VOL. XX. Pate I. Spherodorum Claparedii. Hr te Fish from the Gaboon and Gold Coast. IV. New Diurnal Lepidoptera.—Mazeras Woodii. V. New British Fish. VI. Gymnobelideus Leadbeateri. VII. Neochanna apoda. VIII. New Asiatic Lepidoptera. IX. New Asiatic Lepidoptera.—New Genus of American Satyride. THE ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. [THIRD SERIES. } ee eaads ROAEONCAONECD per litora spargite muscum, Naiades, et circdm 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 Cee init Ecl.1. No, 115; -JUBY 1867. I.—On the Annelid Genus Spherodorum, Girsted, and a new Re- presentative of it, 8. Claparedi. By Dr. Ricuarp Greerr*, [Plate I.] Unpir the name of Spherodorum, Cirsted, in 1844+, founded a new genus of Annelids, characterized by the spherical form of the dorsal cirri, and by numerous papille standing on the fore part of the head. This was afterwards described by John- ston { under the name of Pollicita (peripatus), and lately more carefully by Claparéde §, and, with especial reference to the structure of the wee globular dorsal cirri, by Kol- liker |]. During a short residence in Dieppe last year, I found in the oyster-basin of that place a small Annelid which showed a near relationship to the genus in question, but at the same time differed from it in several points, and which, morcover, in other respects seems to me to present some very interesting pecu- * Translated from Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1866, pp. 338-351, by W.S. Dallas, F.L.S., &e. t “Zur Classification der Annulaten,” Wiegmann’s STeuy, 1844, p. 108. f Annals & Magazine of Natural History, vol. xvi. p- 5, pl. 2. figs. 1-6. § * Beobachtungen uber Anatomie und Entwickelungsgeschic! ite wir- belloser Thiere,’ Lei ipzig, 1863, p: 5, taf. 11. figs. 8-18. || ‘‘Kurzer Bericht wber einige vergl. -anat. Untersuchungen,” Wurz- burger naturwiss. Zeitschrift, 1864, Band v. p. 240, taf. 6. fig. 1. Ann. § Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol. xx. 1 2 Dr. R. Greeff on the Annelid Genus Spherodorum, liarities that may render it worth a particular description *. I will revert at the conclusion of my communication to the cha- racters common to this worm and to Spherodorum, as also to those by which it differs therefrom, im order the better to effect a comparison between them. The little animal measures scarcely 2 millims. in length, but is of considerable comparative breadth, attaining nearly 0°6 millim. in the middle regions of the body. It is narrowed before and behind in such a manner that the general form of the body, leaving out of consideration the external appendages, approaches an oval; nevertheless the narrowed anterior part of the body is shorter and more rounded, whilst the hinder part appears more drawn out. The skin has a general light brownish- yellow colour, with dark-brown marks (plaques) distributed singly over the whole surface of the body ; these acquire the most various forms, and possibly represent the secretion pro- duced by the cutaneous glands. At no part is there a trans- verse segmentation of the body indicated by external furrows. The segmentation, however, is sufficiently indicated by the ex- ternal appendages, according to which the entire body is divisible into 18 segments. The cephalic scgment (see Pl. I. fig. 1), which at first sight almost presents a greater resemblance to that of a mollusk than to that of an annelid, is the longest of all; its somewhat truncated frontal margin presents in the middle a distinct but not deep notch forming the two lateral lobes of the head. On each lobe are seated two clavate tenta- cles—cne placed more towards the upper surface, the other lower down towards the mouth ; so that, in all, four cephalic or frontal tentacles are present—two superior, ad two inferior. The bases of these, as also the space between them, are densely set with small papille, likewise more or less clavate, which are distinguished from the true tentacles by nothing but their smaller size; so that the tentacles, from their whole habit and when compared with the small papille surrounding them, might hkewise be characterized as papille projecting, in conse- quence of especial development, from the midst of the numerous smaller but otherwise perfectly similar structures. But their constant occurrence on the above-mentioned spots on the head, their size, and mobility justify their receiving the denomination of tentacles. Further back, at about half the length of the head, there are * T have already made a brief communication upon this subject, at the Meeting of the Niederrheinischen Gesellschaft fiir Natur- und Heil- kunde (Bonn) on the &th February, 1866, where I also exhibited the drawings relating to it (Kolnische Zeitung, dlst March, 1866, No, 90). and a new Representative of it, 8. Claparedi. 3 two more tentacles, one on each side, which might be deno- minated posterior cephalic tentacles or tentacular cirri; so that we have in all six tentacles on the head—four anterivr, and two posterior. The small clavate papillee mentioned above as oc- curring in the spaces between the anterior tentacles, extend also into the region of the posterior tentacles, but are not so closely approximated, and from this point begin to change from the elongate. clavate to a more globular form. I call attention at once to this change, as it indicates at the same time a change in the function of these cutaneous appendages, the anterior cla- vate appendages being, in my opinion, organs of touch, whilst the posterior globular ones are to be regarded as glands. The middle part of the cephalic segment bears two reddish-brown eyes, which are placed a little within the bases of the two lateral posterior tentacles. The segment of a spherical lens projects from each eye forward and outward. The cephalic segment, as already remarked with regard to the segmentation in general, is not separated by any transverse furrow from the first segment of the body, but passes into it without any definite boundary. The first body-segment is therefore determined partly by the inferior setiferous pedal tu- bercles, and partly by the large globular cutaneous appendages which at this spot pass like a rmg round the whole body. I say like a ring, and must call particular attention to this, be- cause, singularly enough, these appendages are not only ar- ranged transversely upon the dorsal surface between the two lateral rudimentary feet, but occupy the ventral surface also in the same manner*, As regards the number, however, there is a noticeable difference between those standing on the dorsal and ventral surfaces; for whilst on the back there are six of these globular bodies in a row, there are only four on the ven- tral surface. This condition, of course, tends greatly to sug- gest the notion that the two outer lateral processes situated upon the back over the pedal tubercles are to be regarded as the two true dorsal cirri. But the two lateral structures are perfectly similar to those standing in a row between them, both in size and form. As regards their function, moreover, there is no distinction ; all, as we shall see hereafter, are glands. If, therefore, we were to call the two lateral processes dorsal cirri, this might also be required for the other similar ap- pendages situated on the back, and, in the same way, we should also have to name the transverse rows situated on the ventral surface ventral cirri. It would be no obstacle to such a conception * In Spherodorum peripatus, as is well known, only one pair of these globular cutaneous appendages is situated upon each segment—one on each side of the back. 1* 4 Dr. R. Greeff on the Annelid Genus Spherodorum, that all these appendages, as already stated, are glands; for the cirri of the Annelids in general are not to be regarded merely as organs of touch or motion, but may apparently be subser- vient to very various,purposes *. If we now examine these globular cutaneous appendages more closely, we observe, even with a low power, that their cavities are occupied by a coil of tortuous vermiform bodies, which (Ersted + has already detected and described in the dersal cirri of Spherodorum, and with regard to which he proposes the question whether they may not be ovaries. These peculiar structures seem to have entirely escaped Johnston {, which I can only explain by supposing that he did not examine them ina fresh state; for if the animals under examination be dead, or if they have been exposed for some time to pressure for the purpose of observation, nothing remains of the original appear- ance, in consequence of the breaking up of the vermiform bodies. Johnston regards the globular appendages in Spherodorum (Pollicita peripatus) as branchiz. To Claparéde belongs the merit of having first more accurately grasped the morpholo- gical nature, although he could not arrive at any definite opinion as to the physiological signification of these organs. He thought that he could see an orifice § in the papilliform process which occurs on the upper part of the globular dorsal cirri in Spherodorum, but not in our animals, but found that the cap- sule was closed in other respects; in this, however, as Kolliker has proved, he was in error. Kolhker|| first placed their histological and by that means also their physiological character in the proper light, when he found that the papilliform process in Spherodorum is not perforated, but that each of the vermiform bodies situated in the interior of the capsule opens externally by an orifice of its own. He regards the individual bodies as tubular glands, which “ appa- rently consist entirely of rounded-angular, dark, cell-like struc- tures.” As regards my own observations, I have but little to add to Kolliker’s statements in relation to the structure of these organs. The mammilliform process occurring upon the capsules in Sphe- rodorum is entirely wanting in our animals; so that I can ex- press no opinion as to the perforation which Clapérede describes, but, according to Kolliker, has no existence; I can, however, completely confirm KOlliker’s results, according to which each of * See Ehler’s ‘Die Borstenwiirmer,’ p. 22. T “ Zur Classification der Annulaten,”’ Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1844, p. 108. Tt ‘Annals,’ vol. xvi. p. 5, pl. 2. § Beobacht. tiber Anat. der wirbell. Thiere, p. 21, taf. 11. figs. 12, 13. || Wurzb, naturw. Zeitschrift, 1864, p. 240, taf. 6. fio; and a new Representative of it, S. Claparedu. 5 the tubular glands opens externally by a separate orifice (PI. I. figs. 10-14). With regard to the contents of the individual tubes, these frequently consist of densely compressed, small, more or less roundish, sharply defined corpuscles: these were seen by Claparéde; and Kolliker, as already stated, calls them “ cell- like structures.”” Even by the employment of high powers I could detect no nucleiform structures, or anything of the sort, in the individual corpuscles. KOlliker’s interpretation of the structures in question as tubular glands is the only admissible one; it is especially founded on the above-mentioned opening of each tube sepa- rately at the external surface. Thus (to return to the description of our little animal) we have ten of these large globular glandular capsules surrounding the periphery of the first segment of the body, and that of each following one, in two transverse rows, one on the dorsal, the other on the ventral surface. It is only on the last seg- ments that the number diminishes by one or two capsules in each row. Between the regular rows of these large cutaneous appendages there are distributed over the whole surface of the body a very great number of irregularly arranged smaller but likewise globular capsules, the size of which varies greatly among themselves. They all, like the above-described larger structures, represent cutaneous glands; and by their careful examination we may, it appears to me, carry out the very in- teresting observation of the complete development of the glan- dular bodies in question. I have figured some of the principal forms and stages of development, so far as the limited material permitted this to be done (Pl. I. figs. 3-9). The first (and smallest) of these forms (fig. 3) represents a vesicle of only 0-009 millim. in diameter, in the interior of which a tolerably sharply marked compact nucleus is situated : there are often two, or even three of these nuclei; but one of them is usually re- markable for its size. A further-advanced form (fig. 4) shows the vesicle enlarged to nearly double the diameter, as also the enclosed nucleus, which has also become filled with a finely granular substance. This type is also retained by the following stage, except that the granular substance of the nucleus be- comes more dense, and some granules shine out of it like dimly lustrous globules. When a certain size has been attained, a roundish perforation of the nuclear substance itself takes place at some spot, usually near the periphery of the nucleus, so that the nucleus appears as if pierced at this point. This first hole is often followed by a second in close juxtaposition with it. As this opening enlarges, the bridge situated towards the peri- 6 Dr. R. Greeff on the Annelid Genus Spherodorum, phery, corresponding with the narrowest border of the orifice, breaks through, and the two ends then separate from each other; so that instead of the round hole in the nuclear sub- stance we have a deep indentation of the nuclear substance penetrating from the circumference towards the middle. By this simple process therefore, as may be readily seen, the form of the above-mentioned glandular tube is very soon produced : at first, by the two ends becoming rounded, it has nearly the appearance of a sausage with two surfaces in apposition; and it frequently retains this form even in the fully developed state. But generally, during the further growth of the tube, its two extremities separate more or less, and then one of them becomes bent or rolled up, so as even to embrace the neighbouring tubes; and thus the position and form of the mdividual glands is altered in many ways, and the above-described appearance of the vermiform, tortuous, glandular coil as the contents of the capsule is produced. As regards the further histological differentiation of the indi- vidual glandular tubes, these, during the processes just de- scribed, become more and more filled with darkly granular substance, in which afterwards larger pale bodies make their appearance; these gradually increase, until finally the whole tube is filled with the roundish corpuscles, or, as Kolliker calls them, cell-like structures, above described. The perfectly formed glandular tube is attached by one end, or frequently, as it seemed to me, by both ends, to the wall of the capsule; but only one extremity, and with it the wall of the capsule at the same spot, exhibits a roundish external orifice. The number of glands enclosed in a capsule is not constant. The above-mentioned large capsules standing in regular trans- verse rows generally contain three or four, rarely more (figs. 10 to 14); the smaller only one, or, at the utmost, two tubes. On various parts of the surface of the body, partly upon and partly between the vesicles, and sometimes even within them, we frequently see dark-brown marks (plaques), forming the most multifarious figures, which are often, in consequence of their tenacious consistence, much elongated, and only connected by narrow bridges. These substances appear to have nothing to do with the pigment-structures which so frequently occur in the skin of Annelids; but whether they are, as I suppose, to be regarded as the secretion furnished by the glands, and. what purpose is served by it in this case, I cannot decide. I have already called attention to the gradual transition from the small clavate cutaneous structures, resembling the tentacles which stand upon the anterior portion of the head, to the globular ones which succeed them, and indicated that a change of func and a new Representative of it, 8. Claparedi. i tion is connected with the change of form. This opinion is founded upon the circumstance that in the small papille of the cephalic segment I have never detected structures resembling the above-described developmental stages of the glands, or the latter with their openings. On the other hand, it appeared to me that fine filaments penetrated into some of them from below, and passed at the top into granular inflations: these therefore might be regarded as the extremities of nerves. I believe, therefore, that these small papilla of the cephalic seg- ment are to be regarded as tactile organs, in contradistinetion to the globular appendages seated upon the rest of the body, which, as already shown, are cutaneous glands. With reference to Spherodorum, Kolliker remarks that the (whole of the) small papilla of the skin are not pierced by glands, but contain nerve- terminations—in direct contradiction to Claparéde, who found the papille of the entire surface of the skin pierced by the efferent ducts of small cutaneous glands in the same animal. As I have at my disposal only a few spirit-specimens of Sphe- rodorum, collected last summer in Heligoland, I cannot decide upon this difference, or whether the above-described distinction between tactile and glandular papille exists also in Sphero- dorum. Besides the described circlet of globular glandular capsules (or, if it be preferred, the transverse rows of dorsal and ventral cirri), each segment also bears a pair of uniramose pedal tuber- cles. Each foot (fig. 2) consists of a conical tubercle, at the apex of which there is a pair of lamellar processes or fins and a bundle of about six composite sete inserted into the tubercle ; posteriorly the number of the latter diminishes, so that on the last segments there are only one or two sete in each tubercle ; but these are exactly similar to those of the anterior feet. The pedal tubercles are placed directly beneath the two lateral dorsal capsules, and are usually in part concealed by them. The alimentary apyiaratus of our animal commences with a buccal orifice placed on the lower surface of the cephalic seg- ment, towards the anterior margin; this, when retracted, re- sembles a funnel with numerous folds. The mouth leads at once into a spacious flask-shaped cesophagus (fig. 1) or gizzard with double walls, or rather consisting of two chambers placed to a certain extent one within the other. By compression, the inner part can be pushed out ; but whether it can be voluntarily extended, and is consequently to be regarded as a trunk, I was unable to determine by observation, The cesophagus is directly followed, and, indeed, embraced, by a rather wide, dark-brown intestine, which lies loose in the body- -cavity without any attach- ments or constrictions, and makes about four or five convo- 8 Dr. R. Greeff on the Annelid Genus Spherodorum, lutions before reaching the anus, which is situated at the poste- rior extremity of the body. With regard to the sexual conditions, I can only state that one of the animals examined I found filled pretty closely with roundish disccid ova, which lay perfectly loosely and irregularly in the body-cavity, and, surrounding the intestine on all sides, were driven to and fro in the cavity of the body by the move- ments of the intestine and the general movements of the animal. If we now glance back at the zoological characters of our animal, especially in comparison with those of the genus Sphero- dorum, we shall be at once struck by certain pomts common to both. The most prominent of these are the globular cutaneous appendages occupied by glands, and the form of the cephalic segment, with its pecuharly formed tentacles and _papille. Further points of union are presented by the form and compo- sition of the feet, which in both consist of simple conical fins having a bundle of composite sete. Cirsted* indeed ascribes to Spherodorum a multifid fin (pinna unica multifida); but this notion, as Claparede correctly observes, has evidently arisen from the fact that Girsted regarded the glandular appendages which are frequently seated upon the pedal tubercles as parts or branches of the fin. Besides these characters, the two have in common the absence of any external segmentation of the body, or annulation of it by means of transverse furrows, as also, in connexion with this, no internal constrictions of the intestine are present, but the latter in both constitutes a loose tube laid together in several convolutions. When we consider those properties of our animal which re- move it from Spherodorum, we find, in the first place, that whilst Spherodorum bears only one pair of the large globular cutaneous appendages upon the back of each segment, in our animal fen of these stand upon each segment—six on the back, and four on the ventral surface. There is also a difference in the form of these appendages; for in Spharodorum there is a papilliform process upon the globular capsule, whilst in our animal, in which this process is deficient, the globular form of the struc- tures in question is much more clearly shown. In the presence and even the form of the-four frontal tentacles of the buccal segment both agree; but we have described two posterior tentacles or tentacular cirri, exactly like the frontal tentacles, which are wanting in Spherodorum, where thei place is taken by two mere rudimentary glandular appendages. Of subordinate distinctions we find that in our animal there are at the apices of the pedal tubercles two lamellar fins, which are absent in Spherodorum; whilst, on the other hand, the * Loc. cit. p. 108. and a new Representative of it, S. Claparedi. 9 pecuhiarities which Claparéde describes in the fect of some of its segments (the third, fourth, &c.) are wanting in our animal. Further, according to the statements of all authors, Sphero- dorum fas four eyes, whilst our animal only shows two. The accordance of the true intestine has already been pointed out ; but we find essential differences in the anterior part of the ali- mentary tube, as in Spherodorum this consists of three succes- sive divisions (see Claparéde, Anat. &e., p.51), which cannot be made to agree with the structure of the cesophagus &c. described by us. Lastly, as regards the external form of the body in general, this, again, 1s extremely different in the two animals. ‘Ersted says of Spher cdorum, “corpus lineare teretiusculum ;” John- ston, “body serpentiform;’ and, lastly, Claparede describes Spherodorum as a cylindrical worm of 2 inches long. If we contrast with this the little animal above described, scarcely 2 millims. in length, and comparatively very broad and nearly oval, the difference becomes very striking. Nevertheless, notwithstanding all these differences, the affini- ties first indicated lead me to prefer uniting our animal, at least provisionally, with Spherodorum to form a single genus, for which purpose, however, the generic characters given by Mrsted and others must undergo some modifications. I would define the genus as follows :— Genus Spumroporum, Cirsted. The more or less elongated body, which is always narrowed before or behind, nowhere shows any transverse annulation or segmentation indicated by external furrows, although this is defined by the outer appendages. The buccal segment bears on the anterior margin of the small and not deeply divided cephalic lobes four clavate and anteriorly somewhat inflated frontal tentacles, the bases of and intervals between which are closely set with small but also clavate papille. Further back, likewise on the buccal segments, there are two tentacular cirri, one on each side, which sometimes resemble the frontal tenta- cles, and in this case are to be regarded as true tentacles also in respect of their function, sometimes in form and signification approach the globular cutaneous appendages of the followmg segments, and must then pass as glandular organs. The first body-segment and all the following ones are characterized by large globular cutaneous appendages occupied by tortuous tubular glands. Of these either each segment bears only two upon its back, namely, one on each side over the pedal tubercle (dorsal cirri), or the whole segment is surrounded by a circlet 10 Dr. R. Greeff on the Annelid Genus Spherodorum. of these appendages, which are placed at regular intervals, and form a transverse row upon the back and another on the belly. Between the large cutaneous appendages there are numerous small ones irregularly scattered over the body. Feet simple, containing a bundle of composite sete. . 1. Spherodorum flavum, Hirst. Annulat. Danicor. Conspectus, fase. i. p. 43, pl. 1. fig. 5, pl. 6. fies. 92,101. Archiv fiir Naturg. 1844, i. p. 108. Corpore 14" longo, 2!” lato, teretiusculo, flavescente, utrinque fere equaliter attenuato, segmentis 150, duplo latioribus quam longis, papillarum 12-16 in margine anteriore capitis, duabus paulo longioribus; oculis quatuor quadratum forman- tibus; pinnis abbreviatis, 7-8-fidis, setis 5-7 uncinatis. The preceding character of Mirsted’s species must certainly undergo some alterations in accordance with the above observa- tions. As, however, S. flavum does not appear to have been observed by any one since Mirsted, I leave his description unal- tered for the present. It is possible, moreover, that there is no specific difference between S. flavum and 8. peripatus. 2. Spherodorum peripatus, Grube. (Die Familien der Anneliden, p. 67.) Pollicita peripatus, Johnston, Aun. Nat. Hist. vol. xvi. p. 5, pl. 2. figs. 1-6. Spherodorum peripatus is the species investigated by Clapa- rede and Kolliker, as has already been repeatedly stated. 3. Spherodorum Claparedii, sp.n. Pl. I. I venture to name the new species described in detail in this paper after the indefatigable observer who has done so much for the natural history of the Annelida. EXPLANATION OF PLATE I. Fig. 1. Spherodorum Claparedii, magnified about 40 diameters. Fig. 2. Foot with the bundle of composite uncini, magnified 300 diameters. Figs. 3-9. Developmental stages of the glandular appendages, magnified about 600 diameters. Figs. 10-14. Developed glandular capsules with the tubes contained in them, and opening externally by a fine orifice in the wall of the capsule ; magnified about 600 diameters. Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacee. 11 II.—On the Menispermacez. By Joun Minrs, F.R.S., F.L.S., &e. [Continued from vol. xix. p. 330.] 50. PycnarRHENA. This genus was established by me in 1851 upon an Indian plant in the Wallichian Collection. It is easily recognized by its oblong, acuminated, simply penninerved leaves, upon short and remarkably tumid petioles: this manner of nervation, though less frequent, is not rare among the Menispermacee, for it occurs also in Hyperbena, Antitazis, Penianthus, Clambus, Elissarrhena, Spirospermum, and Rhaptonema. It is also remarka- ble for having nine stamens almost without filaments, or, rather, as many 2-celled anthers, crowded in three series so as to form a sessile central head, after the manner of Anamirta; the anthers are transversely oval, 2-valved, gaping by a common horizontal suture. The drupe is oval, with the vestige of the style placed a little above the middle on the ventral face ; the putamen is reniformly oval, somewhat compressed, thin and testaceous, the seed being appended to the slight intrusion of an almost obsolete con- dyle on the ventral side; the ore is exalbuminous; the co- tyledons, occupying almost the whole space of the cell, are very fleshy, accumbent, lunately incurved at the apex towards the ventral face, where the minute radicle points to the persistent style. The genus comes near to Antitazis. PYcNARRHENA, nob.—Flores dioici. Mase. Sepala 6-9, ter- natim disposita, exteriora gradatim minora et bracteiformia, 3 interiora multo majora, cuneatim ovalia, valde concava, estivatione imbricata. Petala 6, sepalis breviora, cuneata, transversim latiora, apice subtruncata, lateribus paulo oblique involutis, membranacea. Stamina 9, in glomerulum centralem crebriter ageregata ; filamenta ee coe tenuia, fere obso- leta; anthere subglobose, cruciatim sulcate, s septo transverso bivalvatim hiantes, loculo antico septulo verticali diviso, hine inequaliter 3-locellate.—F/. Mem. ignoti. Drupa gibboso- ovata, styli vestigio facie ventrali supra medium notata, glabra: putamen subreniformi-ovatum, paulo compressum, leve, chartaceo-testaceum, 1l-loculare; condylus e sinu ven- trali intra loculum paulo intrusus, hine convexiuasculus. Se- men loculo conforme, exalbuminosum ; integumentum tenuiter membranaceum, facie ventrali condylo affixum: embryo locu- lum implens ; ‘cotyledones magni, carnose, accumbentes, apice incumbentim incurvee, radicula minima supera ad stylum spectante multoties longiores. Frutices Indie orientalis et insularum indigent; rami rigidt, 12 Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacee. flexuosi, avillis nodosis et approximatis ; folia oblonga, utrinque subacuta, lucida, glaberrima, penninervia, supra im nervis sul- cata, petiolo brevi, apice valde tumido et cavo: panicule g perplurime vel pauciores, supra-axillares, fasciculate, interdum brevissime et crebriter subglomerate, aut laxe ramose et petiolo paulo longiores ; floribus parvis: in? pedicelli pauct, aaillares, et 1-flori. The characters of the following species will be given in the third volume of the ‘ Contributions to Botany ’— 1. Pycnarrhena pleniflora, nob. in Ann, Nat. Hist. 2 ser. vil. 44; —Pyenarrhena planiflora, Hook. & Th. Fl. Ind. 1. 206 ;— Cocculus. planiflorus, Wall. (pro errore typographico vice pleniflori)—In India orientali: v. s. in herb. Soc. Linn. 3S, Sylhet et in bort. Bot. Cale. cult. (Wall. Cat. 4961) ; in herb. Hook. ° , Bengal (Griffiths). 2. tumefacta, nob.—In Borneo: v. s. in herb. Hook. 2, Bangarmassing (Motley, 357). 3. mecistophylla, nob.—In Himalaya: v. s. in herb. Hook., Assam (Griffiths, 1264). 5]. ANTITAXIS. This genus was proposed by me in 1851 for a plant collected in Malacca by the late Mr. Griffiths, with male flowers. It is only lately that I have seen other specimens in fruit. It has large lanceolate leaves, with alternate pinnate slender nerves, anastomosing towards the margin, and with rather short pe- tioles: in the ¢ it has a few slender 1-flowered pedicels, fasci- culated in each axil; in the ? the inflorescence is similar. The 6 flower has eight sepals decussately arranged in opposite pairs, the two inner series being larger, equal in size, and imbricated in estivation; it has two petals alternate with the inner pair of sepals, and somewhat smaller thau these, four stamens cruciately placed opposite the petals, with filaments somewhat shorter than they, fleshy, thickening upwards, the anthers partly immersed in their summits, globular, 1-lobed, opening somewhat extrorsely by a diagonally transverse fissure, showing two gaping lips, as in Anelasma and Elissarrhena. The 9 flower is unknown; but the drupes are subglobose and tomentose, with a somewhat reniform putamen, which is chartaceous and brittle, with an almost obsolete condyle in the sinus of the ventral side; the embryo is exalbuminous, reniformly orbicular, with large, fleshy, curving, accumbent cotyledons which nearly fill the cell, and a very minute, somewhat superior radicle. ‘The leaves are coria- ceous, glabrous, shining, having a peculiar nervation resembling Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermacee. 13 that in Pycnarrhena, Clambus, and Penianthus. In its inflores- cence, with several 1-flowered pedicels fasciculated in each axil, it resembles Pycnarrhena, as well as in its globular anthers opening extrorsely by a gaping fissure—a feature repeated in Anelasma, Jateorhiza, and Elissarrhena. The chief peculiarity of Antitaxis is in the dimerous arrangement of its floral parts ; but the AMJenispermacee are far from constant in their usual ternary disposition, as we find also binary sepals and petals in Antizoma, Clypea, Peraphora, and others of the Cissampelide, while in several genera of the family the floral parts are found in numbers varying between two and seven, or even beyond this. When I published the synopsis of the genera (hw. op. xiii. 124), a separate section was made to includes all those of which (for want of sufficient evidence) the tribe to which they belong could not be determined; to this section Antizoma was then referred. Since that time I have seen its fruit, which closely resembles that of Pycnarrhena and other genera of the Pachy- gonee ; consequently Ann, & Mag. N, Hist. Ser.3, Vol, xx. 3 34: Prof. J.C. Schiddte on the Tunnelling Coleopterous markably tenacious of the locality : thus a small colony of this species still existed thirty years ago in the unpaved footpath of a little-frequented street in Copenhagen, which in ancient times was a meadow such as it generally inhabits. 2. B. bi- cornis, Ahrens, m. fr. on marshy soil near high-water mark, in company with Corophium longicorne ; its tunnels reach a depth of 2 feet, and are of importance for the formation of new allu- vium. 3. B. diota, n.sp., resembles B. hinnulus, Er., but is distinguished by the great size and development of the anterior corners of the forehead, and by the elytra being more sparingly and finely punctate. The larva was described in ‘ Naturhist. Tidsskrift,’ iii. p. 148 as that of B. hinnulus, Ey., for which the Danish specimens of the imago were first mistaken; and it is Dr. Gerstiicker who kindly undertook to compare Danish specimens with the original specimens of B. hinnulus of Erich- son in the Berlin Museum, and has thus ascertained that the former belongs to a different species. B. Sockets of anterior cove closed. Lobes of /abellum with only one long, much subdivided branch. Spinulous ridges on anterior tibieé close together. TaDUNUS, nov. gen. Danish species :—1. T. fracticornis, Payk., fr. 2. T. crassi- collis, Boisd. & Lacord., r. 3. T. atricapillus, Germ., r. II. Terminal part of mandibles attenuated. Lobes of labellum ramified on the outside: ramifications short and of uniform length, some of them bifid or trifid at the apex. Posterior corners of pronetum projecting from posterior margin. Spinulous ridges on anterior tibie close together. A. Inner lobe of mavil/e spinulous, the terminal spines strong, blunt, Labrum with a round emargination. Lobes of Jabellum broadly rounded ; the spines of the comb lobate at their points. Sockets of first pair of coxe externally open. BarGus, nov. gen. Danish species :—]. B. erraticus, Er., r. 2. B. opacus, Ey., m. fr. 3. B. pallipes, Gravenh., fr. 4. B. ratellus, n. sp., m.fr. 5. B. terebrans,u.sp.,m. fr, The two new species re- semble B. pallipes, but are shorter and thicker, the teeth of their mandibles strong and powerful, and placed close behind the point, whilst in pallipes they are small and removed from the point ; the posterior corners of the pronotum are perceptibly salient in the new species, obtuse in B. ratellus, rectangular in B. terebrans; the colour of the antenne and legs is deeper in the two new species, particularly in B.ratellus. The latter differs from B. terebrans by possessing a small but distinct depression on the top of the head, which is wanting in the latter, and by the elytra being closely and finely punctated in B. ratellus, whilst their puncture is much coarser in B. terebrans. B. Inner lobe of mawille without spines, ending with a brush of bristles. Lobes of labellum elongated, pomted. a. Sockets of anterior cove externally open. Terminal part of mandibles with one tooth behind the apex. Labrum deeply bifid. Tooth of the comb serrate. Astycoprs, Thomson. Genera Bledius, Heterocerus, and Dyschirius. 35 Danish species:—l. A. talpa, Gyllh., m. fr. 2. 4. sub- terraneus, Ev., fr. b. Sockets of anterior pair of cove closed. Terminal part of mandibles with two teeth behind the apex. Anterior margin of /abrum straight. Teeth of the comb with blunt points. HusPEROPHILUS, Steph. Danish species:—1. H. arenarius, Payk., fr. nT: The manner in which Erichson, in his work ‘ Naturgeschichte der Insekten Deutschlands, has treated of the numerous small Clavicornia has afforded a new starting-pomt for in- vestigations of the often very difficult natural history of these animals. His principal object being to reduce to order the confused mass of material by settling the species, it was but natural that he should be more successful in distinguishing and separating than in combining. It is therefore to be expected that future more penetrating investigations of the structure and de- velopment of these Coleoptera, and more strictly scientific com- parisons, will in some cases result im the principal systematic value being attributed to points now less regarded or overlooked, and in essential changes in his classification. The last four families more particularly, Byrrhii, Georyssii, Parnide, and Heteroceridee, exhibit so close a relationship in all essential features, especially in the structure of the mouth, and in all stages of their development, that it is more than probable they will have to be regarded merely as subdivisions of one and the same family, each expressing a peculiar modification of the same fundamental type; for it will be found that all those characters which distinguish these families from one another are merely expressive of the different requirements of movement and re- spiration in different kinds of localities and different media. In Byrrhus we find this Coleopterous type developed for life on land, in shady and moist places, and. for feeding on moss. In other genera we find an incipient modification calculated for wetter localities. Still within the pale of Byrrhi we meet with Limnichius, living on the shore itself, and Syncalypta, which is enabled, by club-shaped bristles on the back, to carry about a protecting shield of mud. In Georyssus* we see the same type * With regard to the character “‘ prosternum membraneum,” on which Erichson lays so much stress as being peculiar to Georyssus, it must be observed that the prosternum of these Coleoptera is as hard as any other part of their skeleton; but it is very narrow, owing to the manner in which the head is retracted, and consists only of a narrow, arched, transverse band, which, besides, on account of its hidden position, does not acquire 3% 36 Prof. J.C. Schiddte on the Tunnelling Coleopterous adapted for a similar life, the beetle wandering about on the shore, protected entirely from the sun and hidden from its ene- mies by means of a portable roof of clay. Heterocerus obtains the same protection by tunnelling the shore, whilst Parnus and Elmis represent still more decided modifications for living in water, the former crawling about the water-plants under the surface, whilst the latter clings to the under surface of the stenes on the bottom. It is one of the most striking examples of typical unity coupled with extreme biological adaptation for different modes of life, that im all these animals the structure of the mouth remains almost entirely the same, even in the smallest details, not only in Heterocerus and Parnus, but even in the larvee of Heterocerus and Elmis. All these Coleoptera are dis- tinguished by the peculiar structure of the mandibles, which, both in imagos and in larve, are constructed as pincer-shaped grinding-instruments carrying several teeth on their terminal part. The larvee possess two maxillary lobes. Hitherto much stress has been laid on their external shape, which is very vary- ing ; but this view will have to be abandoned here as everywhere. Even the larva of Cytilus is entirely different from that of Byr- rhus in appearance, being much more like the larva of Szlpha, though the imagos are so very much alike. Heterocerus and allied genera occupy exactly the same position with regard to the other Coleoptera we have mentioned as Bledii occupy amongst Staphylini, Scaritint amongst Carabide, Ce- briones amongst Elateridee. They exhibit the fossorial modifica- tion of the type, are the moles of the family, and form a special group (Heterocerini), which, according to the structure of the mouth and of the antenne, is distributed into several genera, the characters of which will be explained further on. H. von Kiesenwetter has supplied excellent materials for the difficult distinction of the species, to which we offer some further addi- tions. The principal characters of the group are as follows :— When the head is pushed forwards, the closed mandibles work both as a wedge and asa shovel. These latter are proportionally long, their upper surface somewhat hollow, the outer margin bent upwards, and with a tooth on the very edge; the terminal part is protruding, carries four teeth, and is (in the males of some species, particularly in large and powerful specimens) pro- longed and curved upwards ; the inner lobe is greatly developed, with a free apex and the inner margin furnished with spines forming a comb ; the molar tooth is very large and grooved ; the the dark colour of the other integuments. When the head is bent in, the prosternum is covered up by the organs of the mouth, the trochanters of the first pair, and the mesosternum. Genera Bledius, Heterocerus, and Dyschirius. 37 labrum is long, hard, rounded in front, the edge slightly emar- ginate in the middle, with four strong, short, thick and blunt spines on each side. The maxillze and labium are elongated and narrow ; the palpifer of the maxillee reaches beyond the root of the palpi, forming a protruding point; the maxillary lobes are hard; the anterior angles of the mentum very salicnt; the lingua is cordate, hard, and spinulous; the stipites of the labial palpi very small, and coalesced with one another as well as with the lingua. The basal joint of the antenne can be laid into a groove in front of the eye; the club is serrated, arched, calcu- lated for being coiled round the eye. Prothorax narrowed behind, its sides extended so as to form an angle on each side (hitherto erroneously described as the hind corner) ; the prosternum possesses a short procursus labialis. The legs are constructed for digging, all three pairs of about the same size and shape; the cox are transverse; the trochanters support the femora, which are spindle-shaped ; the tibice broad, with a comb of spines; the spurs long and curved; the feet thin, long-haired, four-jointed, the claws very thin. The body is in general cylindrical, rather flat or vaulted, oblong, with parallel or round sides. The hairy covering double, consisting of an inner coat to which the air clings, and an outer coat of longer bristles standing out from the body; both layers vary according to the closeness and moisture of the soil in which the animal has its home, being finer and closer in those which live in clay, coarser and stiffer in those which dig in sand, those which live in mixed soil presenting intermediate modifications. These short observations may suffice as an introduction to the following synopsis of Danish species; but there is one rather remarkable point in the structure of these Coleoptera which de- serves more special attention. Erichson pointed out (Naturg. d. Ins. Deutschl. ili. 539) the existence of a peculiar arched ridge on each side of the first (externally visible) ventral segment, and a similar straight and sharp ridge on the inner side of the third pair of femora, which he interpreted as constituting an organ of sound, as indeed it is. It seems, however, that in suggesting this interpretation, Erich- son was led rather by a happy instinct than by a careful exa- mination of these parts; for he does not give any account of those peculiarities of structure which really enable the animal to make a sound by means of this apparatus; and those parts to which he draws attention have in fact nothing at all to do with the production of the creaking sound. He says that in some species, the lateral part of the arched ridge is distinctly transversely grooved in both sexes or only in the males*, whilst * Referring to the descriptions of the species, we find that the lateral 38 Prof. J.C. Schiddte on the Tunnelling Coleopterous in others it is entirely smooth all over in both sexes; and this is really the appearance presented when the parts are observed through an ordinary pocket magnifier. But whilst, on the one hand, it seems impossible that the friction of the two ridges against one another could produce a sound in those species where they are described as entirely smooth (supposing always the description to be correct), a careful examination shows, on the other hand, that the lateral part of the ridge on the abdo- men, which Erichson evidently looks upon as the source of the sound, cannot by any means be concerned in its production. It lacks two essential conditions, being neither in a favourable po- sition nor furnished with transverse grooves sufficiently fine. The creaking sound produced by many insects depends on a very rapid and powerful friction of a very thin edge against a grooved surface, the fine transverse strize of which catch hold of and again let go the edge. The thinner the edge, the finer the striz, and the greater the velocity of the movement, the higher is the note; and if the velocity and strength of the movement are small and the grooves coarse, no sound, or a mere low rattling noise, can be produced. But that lateral part of the abdominal ridge which, in some species, under a moderate power, shows transverse grooves is placed so far forward that the ridge on the femur could touch it only when the leg is stretched out, moved by its tensors, when the movements would not by any means be strong or quick enough; and its direction is, moreover, such that the grooves could not alternately catch and let go the ridge on the femur. Besides, these grooves are so distant from each other, so coarse, and so deficient in sharpness, in comparison with the strie on the creaking-apparatus of other Coleoptera, that even on that account they cannot be regarded as sources of sound. Eyen in animals so large as Necrophorit and Cerambyces, the strie on the surface of the creaking-apparatus are so extremely close and minute that they show interferential colours*, and are distinctly observable only by the assistance of a very strong mag- nifier. The structure does not come out clearly till the parts are examined under the microscope by strong side light and a mag- nifying-power of 50-100 times. If the creaking-apparatus of Heterocerus deserves that appellation, the strize must be expected to be still more minute, and the surface would appear smooth part of the ridge is described as grooved in both sexes of H. marginatus, antermedius, and levigatus, grooved in the male but smooth in the female of H. fossor, femoralis, fusculus, and hispidatus, smooth in both sexes of H. parallelus, obsoletus, and sericans. * On the creaking-apparatus of Necrophori, y. Naturhistorisk Tids- skrift, ser. 2. vol. 1. (1844), pp. 61, 69; and on that of Cerambyces, Nat. Tid. ser. 3. vol. ii. p. 494 [Ann, & Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xv. pp. 191, 192]. Genera Bledius, Heterocerus, and Dyschirius. 39 to the naked eye or even under an ordinary pocket magnifier. Now this is precisely the state of the case. The ridge on the femur is not rubbed by the action of the tensors against the outer lateral part of the ridge, which in some species shows a few coarse transverse grooves (a sort of introduction, as it were, to the structure of the true apparatus), but it is rubbed, by the powerful action of its flexors, against the inner part of the arched ridge, which forms exactly a ‘segment of acircle, the point of the coxa being the centre and the femur the radius, and which, though apparently smooth in all species and both sexes, is co- vered with transverse striz as regular, close, and minute, in proportion to the size of the animals, as in any of the larger insects just mentioned. Of course this is not observable except by means of the microscope, by side light and a suitable mag- nifying-power: it is best seen by a power obtained by using a proportionally strong eye-piece, if the instrument allows it. It is still better to choose specimens for the examination which have just gone through their transformations, and in which the integuments, having not yet acquired their deep colouring, are semipellucid. The first ventral segment should be cut off, carefully separated from the soft parts, cleansed with solution of caustic potash, and examined, under a strong magnifying-power, by transmitted side light, which, of course, ought to be directed along the arched ridge, across the transverse striz. The pre- paration repays the trouble, as nothing can be more elegant than the aspect of the strize, which cover the whole arch in the cases where this, by a low power, appears entirely smooth all over, but only the inner larger portion of it in those cases where the pocket magnifier shows transverse grooves on the outer or lateral part of the arch. Whilst, according to the account given in ‘ Naturg. d. Ins. Deutschl.,’ these latter species would appear to have the most developed creaking-apparatus, the reverse is the case, as it is the apparently smooth part of the arch which produces the sound, not the coarsely grooved part. It follows that several of the characters for species and sexes which Erichson thought to find in this creaking-apparatus lose very much of their value ; but it presents one peculiarity, hitherto overlooked, whick more than makes up for the loss, and is of great utility in distinguishing closely allied species. The fore end of the arch, which generally exhibits a few coarser trans- verse grooves, is the broader of the two; and these two circum- stances indicate clearly enough that the friction is calculated to commence at that end and continue inwards, when the femur is inflected, towards the lower or posterior extremity of the arch, which is more and more attenuated, and generally ends at the posterior margin of the segment. But im some species 40 Prof. J. C. Schiodte on the Tunnelling Coleopterous (amongst the Danish in H. sericans, intermedius, Physites aureolus and Augyles hispidus) the arch is continued as an excessively thin and sharp recurring ridge, as far as the apex of the poste- rior coxee, thus completing a larger section of the circle. Inter- mediate forms between this and the common structure do not seem to occur. DANISH SPECIES. HETEROCERUS, F. Antenne 11-jomted, the club abruptly separate; third and fourth joints very small. Maxillary lobes spinulous. Inner lobe of mandibles membranaceous, with membranaceous comb. A. Lateral angles of pronotum rounded, without marginal groove. Inner lobe of mandibles slightly emarginate in the middle. Body oblong, with parallel sides, flatly vaulted. Pronotum in the male broader than the elytra, in the female of the same breadth as these. a. Arches of creaking-apparatus ending in the posterior margin of the first ventral segment. 1. H. femoralis (Kiesenw.), fr. b. Arches of creaking-apparatus recurring from the posterior margin of the first ventral segment towards the apex of the third pair of cOxe. ; 2. H. sericans (Kiesenw.), m. fr. B. Lateral angles of pronotum with deep marginal groove. a. Lateral angles of pronotum rounded. Inner lobe of mandibles with a sharp indentation in the middle. Body oblong, with parallel sides, flatly vaulted. Pronotum in the male as broad as elytra, in the female narrower. Arches of creaking-apparatus ending in the posterior margin of the first ventral segment. 3. H. obsoletus (Curt.), fr. 4. H. levigatus (Panz.), m. fr. 5. H. fusculus (Ksw.), fr. . Lateral angles of pronotum pointed. Body oblong, rounded, rather high vaulted, almost the same in both SEXES. * Arches of creaking-apparatus ending in the posterior margin of first ventral segment. oS 6. H. marginatus, Ksw. * Arches of creaking-apparatus recurring towards the posterior coxz. 7. H. intermedius, Ksw., vr. PHYRITES, nov. gen. Antenne 11-jointed; the club increasing gradually from the third joint. Mazillary lobes spinulous. Tnner lobe of mandibles bifid, the lower division membranaceous, with membranaceous comb, the outer division horny, with frmged margin, and carrying five or six very thick horny spines. 1, P. aureolus, ». sp. (Oblong, rounded sides, highly vaulted ; hairy Genera Bledius, Heterocerus, and Dyschirius. 4) covering thin, coarse, the hair standing out from the body, brown, in the elytra partly golden, forming three narrow, serrated, golden transverse bands; the outer “lay er of hairs very long, close, and black; teeth of mandibles very powerful; lateral angles of pronotum pointed, marginated; elytra coarsely punc- tured, without coloured markings on the integument itself; ab- domen underneath with a broad, dark-red margin; arches of creaking-apparatus recurring towards posterior cox. 3f—4 mil- lint: )5 3 AUGYLES, nov. gen. Antenne 10-jointed; club abruptly commencing, third and fourth joints very small. Mazwillary lobes furnished with bristles. Inner lobe of mandibles membranaceous, with membranaceous comb, 1. A. hispidulus, Ksw., fr. Ti: Although the representatives of our indigenous genera of Searitini, Clivina and Dyschirius, abound everywhere, our know- ledge of their natural history seems still open to not unimpor- tant additions. On a previous occasion* I drew attention to several peculiarities in the structure of the mouth not hitherto noticed—for instance, the convenient character for distinction be- tween these two genera, that the anterior margin of the clypeus is merely slightly emarginate in Clivina, but bi- or tridentate in Dyschirius; and in a paper on the new genera Niletus and Ochyropus +, I have pointed out that both Niletus and Chivina, Dyschirius, Oxygnathus, and Oxystomus amongst Scaritini, pos- sess a sharp, hard, horny spine between the claws—a true ony- chium, the possession of which was formerly looked upon as a principal character of certain Lamellicornia, but which really occurs in many Coleoptera. ‘To these we shall add two other remarks. The inner lobe of the maxille in Dyschirius is almost straight, and ¢runcate at the apex, though it is often de- scribed as pointed, owing to some of the terminal spines being mistaken for the apex of the lobe. But in Clivina (fossor) the lobe terminates, as in other Carabi, with an inwardly bent hook. In Dyschirius the two bristles of the lingua are divergent, whilst in Clivina (fossor) they stand so close together as to look like one thick bristle. The anterior margin of the palpifer is rounded in Dyschirius, with finely serrated edge, whilst in Cli- vina it presents an obtuse angle with undulated edge. In examining the organs of the mouth in a great number of specimens of Dyschirius, I observed that in many individuals * Danmarks Eleutherata, i. p. 110, she 4, Ae + Naturhistorisk Tidsskrift, Rekke 2. vol. ’* 1846-49), 346; vide Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. x. p.379. 4.2 Prof. J.C. Schiddte on the Tunnelling Coleoptera. the terminal joint of both pairs of palpi presented a rather peculiar structure. In dry specimens this betrays itself by the joimt being somewhat broader than usual; and on the under surface a deep spoon-shaped cavity is observable. In fresh specimens, or such as have been boiled for examination, the hard chitinous integument seems to be wanting in this spot, and to be replaced by a soft membrane, closely covered, as if it were paved, with small black polygonous chitinous warts, pretty regularly disposed in quincunx. It can scarcely be doubted that this is an organ of sense, a secondary palparium; and a dissection of the internal sexual organs shows that the indivi- duals possessing this peculiarity are all males. Hitherto no external marks of distinction between the sexes were known ; but these supplementary inferior palparia are found in the males of all species of Dyschirius and in many exotic species of Clivina, though they are wanting in the males of Clivina fossor. The characters available for the distinction of species are not very many. Originally authors were almost confined to the variations of the external teeth on the tibie; Erichson added (Kifer d. Mark Brandenburg) the varying extension of the mar- ginal striz of the elytra; in ‘Danmarks Eleutherata’ I pointed out some additional characters derived from the shape of the clypeus ; whilst Thomson, in ‘Skandinaviens Coleoptera,’ drew attention to the marginal striz of the pronotum, which some- times are wanting, and, where they exist, extend to a varying distance from the posterior corners. ‘Two new characters may be derived from the different size of the supplementary palparia on the maxillary palpi of the males, and from a small difference in the outline of the ligula (or, rather, fulerum ligule). By combining these characters, the species may be grouped with satis- factory precision. But within the pale of each of these groups the species are so closely connected that it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish them except by a set of characters which are not always as sharp as could be desired; and one is often tempted to look upon many reputed species as mere local variations. But this same uniformity is observable also in other genera of Scaritini, and is, upon the whole, of frequent occurrence in Arthropoda which dig or burrow in the ground, within such genera as have a very wide geographical distribution. _ If, then, those species of Dyschirius which dig their tunnels on the shores of the Ganges, or in the salt-moors of Tranquebar, and along the rivers of America, when carefully examined, differ as little from our indigenous species as these latter do from one another, we must be content to leave the matter as it is, in spite of the dearth of specific characters. Dr. J. E. Gray on a new Australian Tortoise. 43 DANISH SPECIES. DySscHIRIUS. A. Superior palparia on both pair of palpi of the male very large, extend- ing over the whole length of the joint. a. Clypeus tridentate. Ligula extended at the apex, with pointed cor- ners. Marginal strie of pronotum continued past the second pair of bristle-points. Marginal strie of elytra continued to the base of the latter. External teeth of anterior tibie pointed. Pronotum round. Hlytra ovate. 1. D. thoracicus, Fabr., fy. 2. D. obscurus, Gyllh., fr. b. Clypeus bidentate. Ligula gradually attenuated, with round apex. Marginal strie of pronotum terminating in the second pair of bristle-points. Marginal strie of elytra ceasing at the shoulder. External teeth of anterior tibie pointed. Pronotwm oblong, round. Striz of elytra deeply punctate, smooth towards the apex. 3. D. eneus, Dej., fr. 4. D. salinus, Er., fr. -¢. Clypeus bidentate. Ligula gradually acuminated, with round apex. Marginal strie of pronotum wanting. Marginal strie of elytra ceasing at the shoulder. External teeth of anterior tibie obtuse. 5. D. gibbus, Fabr. B. Superior palparia on the labial palpi very large, extending over the whole length of the joints, those on the maxillary palpi reduced to a small spot behind the apex of the joint. Clypeus bidentate. Ligula gradually acuminate, with round apex. Marginal strie of pronotum continued beyond the second pair of bristle-pomts. Marginal strie of elytra ceasing at the shoulder. External teeth of anterior tibie indistinet. Pronotum oblong. 6. D. inermis, Curt., r. 7. D. politus, Dej., m. fr. 8. D. im- punctipennis, Daws. (Geod. Brit. 29. 6 = arenosus, Putz., levistriatus, Farm. & Laboulb.), fr. VII.—Deseription of a new Australian Tortoise (Elseya lati- sternum). By Dr. J. EH. Gray, F.R.S. &e. In the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ for 1863, vol. xi. pp. 98 & 246, I described a species of Chelymys under the name of Chelymys dentata. In that paper I proposed to divide the genus into two sections, the one having and the other being destitute of a nuchal shield. In the collection from North Australia there are two specimens of the animal in spirits, which show that the animals of the Chelymydes without a nuchal shield differ greatly from those of the typical Chelymys ; and they are particularly interesting (as forming a passage between the Hydraspides of Australia and South America) in having a pair of beards in the front of the chin, a warty upper surface to the neck, and scaly temples—all characters absent in most of the Australian species, but generally present in those genera of the 44, Dr. J. HE. Gray on a new Australian Tortoise. family peculiar to South America. They thus combine with the habit and structure of the Australian genera some of the technical characters of the South American. I am therefore inclined to form for these a new genus, which I propose to name (after my late friend, who lost his life in attempting to increase our knowledge of the zoological produc- tions of Australia) Eusrya, and which may be thus charac- terized :— Nose and crown of the head covered with a smooth skin; temple, cheek, and throat covered with flat polygonal plates; tympanum flat; chin two-bearded; upper side of the neck warty. Shell convex, expanded and subdentate behind; sides slightly revolute ; nuchal shield none; front of the cavity rather contracted. Vertebral column short, keeled within; sternum solid, rather narrow, with shelving side-wings; gular shield elongate, smal], marginal. Tail short, thick, concave ; claws 5/4, acute. Hab. Australia. This genus contains two species :— 1. Elseya dentata. Chelymys dentata, Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1863, vol. xi. pp. 98, 246. The front of the sternum narrow, half-ovate, with the sides rapidly contracted in front; the gular shield very narrow, elon- gate. Hab. North Australia, Upper Victoria (Dr. Elsey). There is a series of three shells of this species in the British Museum, young, middle-aged, and adult. The plates of the under surface of the two younger specimens are pale, and do not appear to have a dark edge as is the case with the two half- grown specimens of the next species. The adult shell is black brown above and below, varied with pale brown on the middle of the sternum. 2. Elseya latisternum. The front lobe of the sternum broad, nearly semicircular in front; the gular shield as broad as the side shield, and rather short ; the plate on the under surface yellow, with narrow dark edges to the shields; hinder margin of the shell dentated. Hab. North Australia. There are two specimens of this species in the Museum; they are at once known from FE. dentata by the greater compa- rative breadth of the sternum, which is most marked in the form of the front lobe, though common to all its parts. The shells of the two specimens vary considerably im form, one being much broader compared with the length than the Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 45 other ; and also, on the surface, one has the shields of the back of the shell nearly smooth, and the other covered with close sunken dots. The animal is dark slate-coloured above, and paler grey be- neath. ‘There is a broad well-marked white streak from the hinder angle of the mouth, margining the underside of the tympanum and extending nearly to the middle of the base of the front legs; the hind legs have a series of rather large pro- minent scales from the outer side of the knee to the base of the outer toes, which are largest near the toes; tail short, with two series of shields on the underside, behind the vent. VIII.—Additions to the knowledge of Australian Reptiles and Fishes. By Avpert GUnruer, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., F.R.S. Tue British Museum has received in the course of the last three or four years various collections of reptiles and fishes from Aus- tralia, and quite recently one made at Champion Bay and Nicol Bay (Western and North-western Australia) by Mr. Duboulay, and two others brought by Hr. Dimel from Cape York and Port Denison. The following notes were made during the arrange- ment of these specimens; and, besides the new species, only those are mentioned which were either previously desiderata in the British Museum, or for which new localities can be given. TORTOISES. 1. Elseya latisternum. See the preceding paper by Dr. Gray. LIZARDS. 2. Odatria punctata (Gray). West and North Australia. Var. timoriensis. Timor, Torres Straits. 3. Odatria ocellata (Gray) = ?O. tristis (Schleg.), West and North-west coast of Australia (Nicol Bay, Du- boulay). Distinguished by the large spines of the tail. 4. Pygopus lepidopus (Lac.). Pygopus squamiceps (Gray). Swan River, Champion Bay, Sydney, Van Diemen’s Land. 5. Lygosoma laterale, sp. n. Habit slender ; limbs feeble, fore limbs equal in length to the 4.6 Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. distance of the ear from the snout ; toes very unequal in length. Nasals shghtly in contact behind the rostral ; central occipital not much larger than a preoccipital. Eyelid with a transparent disk ; ear-opening very small. Body surrounded by twenty-two series of scales; sixty-seven scales in a series between the axils of the fore and hind limbs. Two large preeanal scales. A deep- black band, two scales broad, runs from behind the eye along each side to the root of the tail. South Australia. 54 inches long (Krefft, 47). 6. Lygosoma australis (Gray). Swan River, Cape York. 7. Delma Fraseri (Gray). Champion Bay and Nicol Bay. 8. Lialis Burton (Gray). Scales in seventeen rows. Swan River, Houtman’s Abrolhos. Var. with the ornamental colours very pale; chin not dark- coloured. Champion Bay. 9. Lialis punctulata (Gray). Scales in nineteen rows. Sydney, Port Essington. Var. bicatenata. Port Essington. Var. uniformly coloured. Sydney, Cape York. 10. Rhodona punctata (Gray). Swan River. 11. Rhodona Gerrardii, sp. n. Rhodona punctata, var. Gerrardu, Gray. Nasals slightly in contact with each other; upper labials six ; frontal triangular, thrice as large as the central occipital. Body surrounded by twenty-one longitudinal series of scales ; seventy-one scales in a longit. series between the axils of the fore and hind limbs. Two large preeanal scales. Ear-opening small, covered by scales. Fore limb very small, single-toed on one side, and with two toes on the other. Two toes behind, the outer more than twice as long as the inner. Body with three black longit. bands, one along the middle, and one on each side of the back. Swan River, Champion Bay. 5 inches long. The fore limb of Rhodona punctata is about as large as a scale, that of Rhodona Gerrardii equals the length of six scales; Rh. punctata has only one large central occipital, kh. Gerrard one central and a pair of preeoccipitals. The eyelid has a transparent disk m the middle. Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. A7 12. Rhodona punctato-vittata, sp. n. Nasals forming together a broadish suture ; upper labials six; frontal triangular, twice as large as the central occipital. Body surrounded by seventeen longit. series of scales; eighty-two scales in a longit. series between the axils of the fore and hind limbs. Two large preanal scales. Ear-opening small, covered with scales. Fore limb minute, tapering, terminating in a straight minute claw, with scarcely an indication of a second claw. Two toes behind, the outer more than twice as long as the inner. Each scale on the upperside with a black dot, the dots forming six or eight longit. lines. Queensland. 5 inches long. 13. Anomalopus Verreauatu (Dun.). Brisbane, Clarence River, New South Wales. Specimens from the last two localities through Mr. Krefft. The eyelid is scaly, as observed by Prof. Peters in ‘ Monatsber. Ak. Wiss. Berl.’ 1867, p. 24. All our specimens are distin- guished by the light occipital cross band, which is pure white in young examples, but only faintly marked in adults of twelve inches in length. 14. Hinulia fasciolata, sp. n. Ear-opening small, rounded, and not denticulated in front. Na- sals separated by the prefrontal, which is of a triangular shape. Postoccipitals forming a suture together behind the central occipital, which is a little smaller than the preoccipitals. Body surrounded by thirty-three longit. series of scales, the vertebral scales being scarcely larger than the others; there are fifty scales in a longit. series between the axils of the fore and hind limbs. Subcaudal scales broad. Lach series of scales on the upperside of the tail with a low ridge. Six preeanal scales, the central pair being much the largest. Limbs rather feeble; tail of moderate length, but very thick. Body with narrow, black, rather irregular cross bands, some of them obliquely descending forwards. Rockhampton, Port Curtis. 8 inches long. 15. Hinulia branchial, sp.u. Ear-opening small, rounded, and not denticulated in front. Nasals forming together a suture ; the central occipital separating entirely the postoccipitals. Body surrounded by twenty-four longit. series of scales, of which the vertebral pair is broadest; there are fifty scales in a longit. series between the axils of the fore and hind limbs. Subcaudal scales broad. Four przeanal scales, the central pair largest. Limbs rather feeble; tail of 48 Dr. A.Ginther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. moderate length. Three black transverse spots on each side of the neck. Three specimens, 4 inches long, from Champion Bay, north- west coast of Australia. 16. Hinulia Richardsonii (Gray). Abrolhos, Champion Bay. 17. Hinulia (Hemispheriodon) Gerrardii (Gray). Rockhampton (Krefft, 43, 512). 18. Cyclodus gigas. The stomach contained the remains of crabs and a fungus. 19. Cyclodus occipitalis (Ptrs.). Adelaide, Swan River. 20. Cyclodus Adelaidensis (Ptrs.). Adelaide (Krefft, 40). 21. Tropidolepisma nitidum (Gray). Swan River. 22. Tropidolepisma majus (Gray). Rockhampton. 23. Mabouia macrura, sp. n. Tail strong, much longer than the body; limbs rather feeble. Supranasals separate. Prefrontal forming a long suture with the rostral and parietal, separating the postfrontals, which are small. Central occipitals three, of nearly the same size; post- occipitals forming a short suture together behind the central occipital. Anterior margin of the ear-opening with very small denticulations. Body surrounded by twenty-eight longit. se- ries of scales, the vertebral pair being broadest. There are forty- eight scales in a longit. series between the fore and hind limbs. Eight preeanal scales nearly equal in size. Uniform brownish- olive above, white below. Cape York. 143 inches long, the length of the tail being 9 inches. 24. Tetradactylus decresiensis (Péron). Kangaroo Island, Swan River, Champion Bay. Young specimens with a very distinct and well-defined black lateral band from the snout to the end of the trunk. 25. Hemiergis polylepis, sp. n. Very similar to H. decresiensis, but with smaller scales, the Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 49 body being surrounded by twenty-six series (in H. decresiensis by eighteen or twenty). Also the toes are more developed, the anterior as well as the posterior being conspicuously longer than the eye. Posterior frontals well developed. Seventy-two scales in a series between the axils of the fore and hind limbs. South Australia. 4 inches long (Krefft, 48). 26. Chelomeles quadrilineatus (D. & B.). Houtman’s Abrolhos, Swan River. 27. Soridia miopus, sp. n. Form of the head and arrangement of head-shields as in S. lineata, but with the snout somewhat less wedge-shaped. No free fore limbs, but there is a short longitudinal groove, in the upper end of which a minute tubercle (the first indication of an external limb) is visible; hind limb as long as the head, terminating in a single longish toe. Body surrounded by twenty series of scales. Coloration nearly uniform, pale olive ; four very indistinct stripes of minute blackish dots along the dorsal series of scales. Six inches long. Champion Bay. 28. Ctdura marmorata (Gray). Port Essington, New South Wales (Krefft, 52). 29. dura rhombifera (Gray). 2?Phyllodactylus Lesueurii, D. & B. New South Wales (Krefft). 30. Strophura spinigera (Gray). Houtman’s Abrolhos, Champion Bay, South Australia ( Krefft, 31. Diplodactylus vittatus (Gray). Champion Bay, New South Wales. 32. Diplodactylus ornatus (Gray). Houtman’s Abrolhos, New South Wales, through Mr. Krefft (114, 518). 33. Diplodactylus marmoratus (Gray). Houtman’s Abrolhos, Freemantle, Champion Bay. 34, Diplodactylus ocellatus (Gray). Diplodactylus bilineatus (Gray). Houtman’s Abrolhos, Champion Bay. 35. Diplodactylus polyophthalmus, sp. n. Allied to D. ocellatus (Gray), but with much smaller scales, Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser.3. Vol. xx. 4, 50 =Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. which in that species are particularly rough and tubercular. Tail rounded, rather swollen. Head scarcely depressed. Sub- digital plates narrow. Scales minute, those on the belly scarcely larger than those on the back. Upper parts brownish or greyish, with round white spots, which, in young examples, are sur- rounded by a brown ring. Uniform white below. Two specimens, 3 and 2 inches long. Nicol Bay, Champion Bay. 36. Gecko albo-fasciolatus, sp.u. Body covered with small flat granulations arranged in cross series, and with ten longitudinal series of mamilliform tubercles ; seales of the belly in about twenty-six longitudinal series ; pree- anal pores sixteen, in a slightly angular series. Nostril sepa- rated from the rostral by an intervening shield. Thirteen upper and eleven lower labials; the front pair of chin-shields are as long as the first lower labial. Head depressed, longer than broad. Tail rounded on the sides, with an irregular series of enlarged subcaudals. Reddish-olive, marbled with greyish ; upperside of the head with a few small white spots; a narrow white horseshoe-shaped band across the neck, the convexity being directed backwards. Trunk with six rather irregular, narrow, transverse bands, composed of white spots. Lower parts uniform whitish. Ten inches long ; without tail 63. Polynesia ? 37. Gehyra australis (Gray). Swan River, Port Essington, Champion Bay, Norfolk Islands. 38. Heteronotia Binoei (Gray). Eublepharis derbianus (Gray). Hoplodactylus australis, Stemdachner, Reise d. Novara, p. 18, taf. 1. fig. 2. Houtman’s Abrolhos, Champion Bay, Port Essington, North Australia, Queensland. 39. Hemidactylus vittatus (Gray). Borneo, Port Essington. The Australian specimen differs from the types only in having a pair of additional rows of very small tubercles along the median line of the back. , 40. Phyllurus Milliusii (Bory). Sydney, Houtman’s Abrolhos, Champion Bay. RuyNcHOEDURA (g.n., Geckot.). All the toes are compressed, rather slender, not dilated in any Dr. A. Gunther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 51 part, granular below, with feeble claws. Head and body with very small granule-like scales, without any tubercles; tail rounded, slightly swollen, covered with rings of small square plates. Snout pointed, peculiarly compressed; labial shields minute, front of upper jaw covered with a prominent, nail-like shield. Tongue narrow, rather pointed in front, not notched. Eye very large. Some larger shields, without pores, before and behind the vent. 41. Rhynchoedura ornata, sp. n. Greyish, each side with confluent black half-rings, a black band across the occiput. Head and body with round, faint, whitish spots. Lower parts white. Nicol Bay. 24 inches long. 42. Physignathus Lesueurw (Gray). Istiurus Lesueurii (D. & B.). Amphibolurus heterurus (Ptrs.). Clarence River (Krefft). 43. Chlamydosaurus Kingu (Gray). Port Essington, Cape York, Nicol Bay. 44, Lophognathus Gilberti (Gray). Redtenbacheria fasciata, Stemdachner, Reise d. Novara, Rept. p. 31. Port Essington, Swan River, Champion Bay, Nicol Bay. 45. Grammatophora reticulata (Gray). Nicol Bay. 46. Grammatophora maculata (D. & B.). Nicol Bay, Champion Bay. 47. Grammatophora macrolepis, sp. n. No larger scales scattered between the others; all the scales comparatively large, those on the back larger than the labial shields ; body surrounded by fifty-four series of scales, of which fourteen belong to the back. Scarcely a trace of a dorsal crest is visible on the back. Hund limbs long, extending to the ear, if laid forwards. Snout short, nostril midway between the end of the snout and the angle of the ocular slit. A few small pro- minent scales above and behind the tympanum. Yellowish-olive, with some darker markings on the side of the body and tail. Snout deep brown, interorbital space yellowish ; lateral fold of the neck black. Adult female, 8 inches long, tail 74 inches. 4k 52 Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 48. Grammatophora levis, sp. un. Back with a median series and several irregular transverse series of larger scales. None of the dorsal scales with a distinct keel or spine; scales of the limbs and tail distinctly, those of the belly very faintly keeled. Head broad, high; snout very sbort, the nostril being midway between the end of the snout and the angle of the ocular slit. Limbs of moderate length, hind limb ex- tending nearly to the gular fold. Sides of the head and neck with conical tubercle-like scales. Yellowish brown, with a series of irregular large blackish-brown blotches along each side of the back ; sometimes the whole back reticulated with brown. Champion Bay. 7 inches long, tail 4 inches. 49. Grammatophora temporalis, sp. un. No larger scales scattered between the others, those on the back small, shorter than the labial shields ; a shght dorsal crest runs from the nape to the end of the trunk. Hind limbs very long, extending beyond the eye, if laid forwards. Nostril much nearer to the end of the snout than to the angle of the ocular slit. A few prominent scales in the middle between the tym- panum and the lateral fold of the neck. A white band along the lips, below the tympanum to the lateral fold of the neck ; a black band above it from the eye to the tympanum ; a white streak above the black band, more or less distinctly continued along the side of the anterior part of the trunk. Back with more or less complete black cross bars, the anterior only being distinct in adult examples. Tail more or less distinctly annulated. Port Essington, Nicol Bay. The largest example is 13 inches long, the tail being 9 inches. 50. Grammatophora calotella. Calotella australis, Steindachner, Reise d. Novara, p. 28. Cape York. 51. Tympanocryptis cephalus, sp.n. Body very stout; head very short, high, and broad; snout extremely short, the nostril being midway between the angle of the ocular slit and the end of the snout; hind limb extending somewhat beyond the gular fold, if laid forwards. Head above — with keeled scales, larger than those on the back, those on the occiput being particularly large. Back with numerous enlarged spinous scales intermixed with the others; upper parts of the limbs with large spinous imbricate scales. Body reddish olive, with a brown collar; blackish-brown bands across the limbs and tail. Nicol Bay. Adult female 54 inches long, tail 3 inches. ‘Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 53 SNAKES. 52. Tropidonotus picturatus (Schleg.). This snake varies in coloration. We have received a nearly entirely black example from Cape York. Port Essington, Cape York, Rockhampton. 53. Dendrophis punctulata (Gray). Attains to a length of 66 inches. Port Essington, Moreton Bay, Cape York, Sydney. 54. Dendrophis calligastra, sp. n. Scales in thirteen rows. Loreal none. Hight upper labials, the fourth and fifth entering the orbit ; one pre- and two post- orbitals ; temporals 1+2+42. Abdominal shields 179, strongly keeled. Some of the scales with a single terminal pore. Greenish brown above, sides of the head and neck yellow; a black band across the rostral shield through the eye to the side of the neck. Belly purplish yellow, powdered with purplish brown. Cape York. 36 inches long, tail 12 inches. 55. Brachysoma diadema (Schleg.). Elaps ornata (Gray). Glyphodon ornatus (Gthr.). Extends over the whole of Australia. 56. Diemenia superciliosa (Fisch.). = Pseudoelaps Sordelli (Jan)=Ps. Kubingui (Jan) = Cacophis Giintheri (Steindachner). New South Wales, Adelaide, Norfolk Islands ? Of this snake we possess now a series of nine examples, vary- ing in length from 16 to 60 inches. 57. Hoplocephalus nigriceps (Gthr.). Swan River, Champion Bay. 58. Hoplocephalus maculatus (Steindachner) . The young has the upperside of the head and neck uniform black. Rockhampton. FROGS. 1. Pterophryne Georgiana (Bibr.). Port Essington, Sydney, King George’s Sound (Krefft, 4). 2. Pterophryne fasciata (Stemdachner). Houtman’s Abrolhos, Sydney. (Cystignathus sydneyensis, Krefft, 16.) 54. Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 8. Limnodynastes Krefftu (Gthr.). se da Salmini, Steindachner, Reise d. Novara, p. 27, taf. 4. figs. 12-15. Specimens from Rockhampton, collected by Hr. Damel, have the hinder surface of the thighs black, dotted with white. Sydney, Brisbane, Rockhampton, Clarence River (Krefft, 59), Port Denison. 4 Limnodynastes ornatus (Gray). Opisthodon Frauenfeldi, Steindachner, Reise d. Novara, p. 9, taf. 1. figs. ]-3 (representing the usual coloration). Extremely variable in coloration. Port Denison, Cape York. 5. Limnodynastes (Platypectron) Dumerilii (Ptrs.). Heliorana Grayi, Steindachner, Reise d. Novara, p. 32, taf. 2. figs. 11-14. Adelaide. 6. Limnodynastes platycephalus, sp. un. Closely allied to ZL. tasmaniensis, but with the head much broader and depressed. Snout very short, not longer than the eye. Hind leg without large gland. Two small metatarsal tubercles. Hind toes slightly fringed. Choanz very small. Olive, with large dark-brown blotches, sometimes a white verte- bral line. A broad dark band along the canthus rostralis, an- other from the eye to behind the angle of the mouth; an oblique band-like spot below the eye descending forwards. Adelaide (Krefft, 39). 7. Chiroleptes australis (Gray). Cyclorana Nove Hollandie, Steimdachner, Reise d. Novara, p. 29, taf. 2. figs. 7-10. ?Phractops alutaceus (Ptrs.)=old example? Clarence River, Rockhampton, Port Denison, Nicol Bay. 8. Chiroleptes alboguttatus, sp.n.? ? Chiroleptes inermis, Ptrs. Head as long as broad; snout depressed, with very indistinct canthus rostralis, somewhat pointed; the distance between the nostrils is less than that from a nostril to the eye. Tympanum at least one-third smaller than the eye. Vomerine teeth between the choanez, in two transverse series, separated by an inter- space, but extending to the edge of the choane. The inner metatarsal disciform tubercle well developed; no outer meta- tarsal tubercle. Smooth above; hinder lower parts very finely granulated. Toes half webbed. Blackish ashy above, indistinctly marbled with black. A white vertebral line. Sides of the Dr, A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 55 body and hind part of the thighs black, with numerous round white spots. A black band along the canthus rostralis and above the tympanum. Lower parts white; throat reticulated with greyish. Port Denison, Cape York. Body 2% inches long, hind limb 34 inches. 9. Heleioporus albopunctatus (Gray). Swan River, Port Essington, River Murray, New South Wales. 10. Uperolia marmorata (Gray). West Australia, Cape York, Sydney. 1]. Pseudophryne Bibronii (Gthr.). Van Diemen’s Land, Sydney, Clarence River (Krefft, 60). 12. Eucnemis bicolor (Gray). Port Essington, Cape York, Brisbane, Blue Mountains, Port Denison. 13. Litoria Wilcowu (Gthr.). ?Litoria Copei, Stemdachner, Reise d. Novara, p. 56, taf. 3. figs. 14-17. Clarence River, Rockhampton, Port Curtis, Brisbane (Krefft, 62, 55), Richmond (Krefft, 12). 14. Litoria nasuta (Gray). Port Essington, Clarence River (Krefit, 56), Brisbane (Krefft, 57), Sydney (Krefft, 54). 15. Litoria latopalmata, sp. n. Snout of moderate length, somewhat pointed in front, the distance between the front angles of the orbit being equal to that between the eye and the extremity of the snout. Canthus rostralis rather obtuse; nostril much nearer to the end of the snout than to the eye. Tympanum very distinct, not much smaller than the eye. Back with a few indistinct, short, glan- dular folds or tubercles. Vomerine teeth in two oblique short series between the choanz. Tongue with scarcely a trace of a notch behind. Openings of the Eustachian tubes at least as wide as the choanz. Limbs rather slender, the third finger much longer than the fourth. The length of the body is less than the distance between vent and heel. Tarsus with a lateral fold of the skin. Metatarsus with two small tubercles, the inner being minute. Toes broadly webbed, the web extending to the disks of the third and fifth toes. The length of the fourth toe is one-half that of the body. Disks small. Upper parts reddish-olive, with numerous small irregular 56 Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. brown spots. An irregular brown cross band between the eyes. A brown streak along the canthus rostralis ; tympanum in front and behind with a narrow deep-brown margin. Hunder surface of thighs marbled with brown, as the upperside. Kenethyvot the bodyasneamrr rt: ener ee 18 lines. Width of cleft of the mouth .......... ess Lengthvof forelimb. 21a. oaeews ese La ee - third finery. : vst sie oa By ap as hin litle G cece eee oe Somes a GMAIR ING 4 oo aioroins Aa ay a aa LAr. 35 TOUTtHELOE: OM ees cee Or; Two specimens from Port Denison (Krefft, 11). 16. Hylorana erythrea (Schleg.). East-Indian archipelago, San Christoval, Cape York. 17. Hyla Ewing (D. & B.). Hobart Town, North-east Australia, Melbourne, King George’s Sound (Krefft, 2). 18. Hyla adelaidensis (Gray). Port Essington, King George’s Sound (Krefft, 23). 19. Hyla rubella (Gray). Port Essington, Houtman’s Abrolhos, Port Denison (Krefft, 36). 20. Hyla Peroni (D. & B.). Port Essington, New South Wales, Clarence River, Rock- hampton. 21. Hyla infrafrenata, sp. n. Snout short, rounded, with obtuse canthus rostralis. Vome- rine teeth in two transverse series on a level with the hind part of the choane, which are wide. Skin minutely granular. Fingers one-third webbed. Uniform green above (bluish in spirits). A pure white band round the margin of the lower jaw, and continued in a straight line to below and behind the tym- panum. Lower parts whitish. Cape York. Body 13 inch long, hind limb 3 inches, foot 2 inch. 22. Hyla nigrofrenata, sp.n. Allied to H. adelaidensis, but with longer hind limbs, wider choane, and different coloration. Snout long and pointed. Vomerine teeth in two transverse groups on a level with the front part of the choanz. Choanz Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 57 about one-fourth the size of the tympanum. Fingers not webbed. Skin perfectly smooth above. Light olive-coloured ; a broad black band runs from the extremity of the snout through the eye and tympanum, to the side of the abdomen, being inéer- rupted a short distance behind the tympanum. A blackish band across the back of the wrist. Hind limbs marbled with blackish along the fore and hinder surfaces. Cape York. Body 12 inch long, hind limb 33 inches, foot 10 lines. 23. Pelodryas ceruleus (White). Port Essington, Moreton Bay, Nicol Bay, Sydney. FISHES. 1. Serranus fuscoguttatus (Riipp.). Kast Africa, Hope Island, Port Essington, Port Denison, Cape York. 2. Serranus undulato-striatus (Ptrs.). New South Wales. 3. Plectropoma maculatum (Bl.). Cape York. 4. Priacanthus Benmebari (Schleg.). Japan, Sydney. 5. Ambassis agrammus, sp. un. De7 t— Avee Welat. 26-27. 8 The height of the body is two-fifths of the total length (with- out caudal). Lateral line visible on the foremost scale only. The second dorsal spine is longer than the third, much longer than the second and third anal spines (which are equal in length), not much shorter than the head, and two-sevenths of the total length (without caudal). Uniform greenish olive, with a narrow bluish-silvery band along the middle of the tail. Cape York. 6. Ambassis Agassizii (Stemdachner). EGA oni lnty 25) 8 The height of the body is contained twice and one-third in the total length (without caudal). Lateral line none. The second dorsal spine is scarcely longer than the third, much longer than the anal spines, shorter than the head without snout, and less than one-fourth of the total length (without caudal), Body immaculate, with a narrow bluish-silvery lateral band. Clarence River (Krefft, 65). 58 Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 7. Apogon aterrimus, sp. 1. D.7| 5. A.=. I lat. 25. The height of the body is one-third of the total length (with- out caudal). Entirely uniform deep black. Cape York. 8. Apogon Nove Hollandie (Val.). New South Wales. 9. Arripis georgianus (C. & V.). Port Jackson, Hobson’s Bay, Holdfast Bay, Houtman’s Abrolhos. 10. Therapon percoides (Gthr.). Fitzroy River, Nicol Bay. The cross bands become less distinct in large examples, of 7 inches in length. 11. Therapon unicolor (Gthr.). New South Wales, Fitzroy River, Rockhampton. 12. Therapon caudovittatus (Rich.). Victoria, Harvey River, Cape York. 13. Diagramma reticulatum (Gthr.). China, Cape York. 14. Scatophagus argus (L.). = Sc. ornatus (C. & V.). In young specimens the markings are frequently like those represented in Se. ornatus by Cuvier and Valenciennes; but these specimens do not constitute a distinct species, being in other respects entirely similar to young Sc. argus without light bands on the head. The length of the dorsal spines is subject to much variation. Young specimens from Australia exhibit the coloration of Se. ornatus ; adult do not differ from East-Indian Se. argus. Cape York, Sydney (Krefft, 102). 15. Atypichthys strigatus (Gthr.). Young with a black ocellus on the soft dorsal fin. Swan River, Holdfast Bay, Champion Bay, Raoul Island, Sydney. 16. Scorpis equipinnis (Rich.). Scorpis lineolatus (Kner). Richardsonii (Steindachner). This species varies a little in the shape of the body, and in the. Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 59 proportions of parts of the head; but from an examination of eight examples in the British Museum, I cannot convince my- self that these variations represent distinct species. Swan River, King George’s Sound, New South Wales (Krefft, 5), Sydney (Schiitte). 17. Upeneus porosus (C. & V.). D.8|5. A.7. L, lat. 30. Distinguished by the elevated anterior part of the body, the greatest depth of which is not more than one-third of the total length (without caudal). Upper profile of the head and neck describing a fourth of a nearly regular circle. Snout elevated, not quite twice as long as the eye. Barbels extending to the vertical from the hind margin of the opercle. The dorsal fin commences above the root of the pectoral ; its spines are flexible, the longest being two-thirds the height of the body. Tubes of the lateral line with a cluster of short branchlets. Parts above the lateral line clouded with darker. Spinous dorsal blackish. Sydney (Krefft), Melbourne, Van Diemen’s Land, New Zealand. 18. Upeneus signatus, sp. nu. Allied to U. barberinus, but with the head much deeper, the snout much shorter, and larger caudal spot. D.8|5. Ag L. lat. 30-31. The height of the body is contained thrice or thrice and one-third in the total length (without caudal). Head not much longer than deep ; snout only twice as long as the diameter of the eye. Barbels extending to the hind margin of the preeopereulum. Dorsal spines slightly flexible at the top. Tubes of the lateral line with rather long lateral branchlets in small number. Colo- ration as in U. barberinus, but with the black caudal spot large, square, extending over the back of the tail ; a whitish blotch in front of it. Port Jackson (Krefft, 12). 0™:18 long. 19. Lethrinus Richardsoni (Gthr.). China, Cape York. 20. Girella tricuspidata (Q. & G.). New South Wales. 21. Chilodactylus nigricans (Rich.). D. 4S. A. 4. L. lat. 48-53. King George’s Sound, Victovia. 60 Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 22. Chilodactylus gibbosus (Rich.). The tuberosities on the snout and the long dorsal spines are probably sexual characters developed with age. Sydney (Krefft). 23. Scorpena bynoensis (Rich.). Scorpena bynoensis, Richards. Ereb. & Terr. Fish. pl. 14. figs. 3-5 (young). jacksoniensis, Steindachner, Wien. Sitzgsber. xin. taf. 3. fig. 2 (adult ; tentacles and membrane between dorsal spines badly figured). North-west coast of Australia, Port Jackson (Krefft, 6). 24. Centropogon australis (White). Sydney, Port Jackson. 25. Centropogon robustus (Gthr.). Centropogon Troschelit (Stemdachner). Sydney, Port Jackson, Cape York. 26. Centropogon marmoratus (Gthr.). Moreton Bay. 27. Polynemus macrochir, sp. n. Das tes Aa eeeietat7O: Five pectoral appendages, three of which extend to the anal fin; pectoral fin nearly as long as the head, the length of which is contained thrice and two-thirds in the total (without caudal), and equal to the distance between the root of the ventral and the anal. A distinct spine above the angle of the praeoperculum. Coloration uniform. New South Wales (Krefft, 103). 0™:22 long. 28. Otolithus atelodus. DANO. egy 3 Scales small; canine teeth none. Body elongate. The height of the body is contained five times in the total length (without caudal), the length of the head thrice and two-thirds. The maxillary does not quite extend to the vertical from the hind margin of the orbit. Preeoperculum rounded, with small, slender, distant, spmous teeth. Dorsal spmes moderately feeble. Caudal fin slightly emarginate. Silvery; distinct, oblique, dark lines along the series of scales. Axil black behind. Australia. O™31 long. 29. Acanthurus matoides (C. & V.). Indian Ocean, Pacific, Nicol Bay. Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 61 30. Trachynotus Bailloni (Lac.). Indian Ocean, Pacific, New South Wales (Krefft, 101). 31. Psettus argenteus (L.). New South Wales. 32. Aphritis Urvillit (C. & V.). Dee L7H19, AL 23.) Ll. late 61: (Van Diemen’s Land.) Sydney (Krefft, 506). 33. Batrachus diemensis (Les.). Port Essington, Cape York. 34, Batrachus dubius (White). New South Wales (Krefft). 35. Antennarius pinniceps (C. & V.). Sydney. 36. Antennarius Commersonii (C. & V.). Sydney (Krefft). Entirely uniform deep black. 37. Lepidotrigla phalena (C. & V.). Melbourne. 38. Gobius crassilabris (Gthr.). Oualan, Aneiteum, Australia (63. 7, 29, 20, Krefft). 39. Gobius bynoensis (Richards.). Port Essington, Cape York. 40. Gobius ornatus (Rupp.). Indian Ocean, Pacific, Nicol Bay. 41. Gobius Voigtit (Blkr.). Port Essington, Cape York. 42. Gobiodon quinquestrigatus (C. & V.). Tubercles on the forehead minute. _ Kast-Indian archipelago, Cape York. 43. Eleotris australis (Krefft). Eastern Creek. 62 Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 44, Eleotris gymnocephalus (Stemdachner). Hawkesbury River (Krefft, 52). 45. Hleotris Coxti (Krefft). Hawkesbury River, Mulgoa Bay (Krefft). 46. Eleotris grandiceps (Krefft). Bronte (Krefft). 47. Eleotris fusca (Bl., Schn.). Indian and Pacific Oceans, Australia. 48. Eleotris compressus (Krefit). This species varies much in the form of the body, according to age and season, being rather elongate when young and be- fore spawning-time. Also the coloration varies, old males having, in the spawning-season, a bright orange anal fin with a broad black and white margin. Clarence River (Krefft), River Dunn (Port Denison). 49. Eleotris aporos (Blkr.). Islands of the East-Indian archipelago and Pacific, Port Denison, Cape York. 50. Eleotris muralis (Q. & G.). Kast-Indian archipelago, Philippine Islands, Cape York. 51. Periophthalmus Koelreuteri (Pall.). Port Essington, Nicol Bay. 52. Salarias meleagris (C. & V.). Van Diemen’s Land, Cape York. 53. Petroscirtes anolis (C. & V.). Port Jackson. 54. Lepidoblennius haplodactylus (Steindachner). Rockhampton (Krefft). 55. Cristiceps robustus, sp. n. D.3/%. AZ The anterior dorsal fin commences over the hinder margin of the preoperculum, and is not higher than the posterior. A fringed tentacle above the orbit, a small one at the nostril. Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 63 Back with seven dark cross bands, the first below the anterior dorsal, subocellated. Melbourne. 5 inches long. StTicHARIUM, gen. nov. (Blenn.). Body elongate, compressed, naked, or with scarcely a trace of rudimentary scales hidden in the skin. Anterior part of the lateral line distinct, near the dorsal profile. Snout short ; small teeth im the jaws, without canines; palate apparently toothless. Dorsal fin long, formed by pungent spines only. Ventrals jugular, with two rays; caudal distinct. Gull-openings rather wide, the gill-membranes being broadly united below the throat and quite free from the isthmus. 56. Sticharium dorsale, sp. n. D.41. A.Z. The height of the body is two-thirds of the length of the head, which is contained six times and a half in the total length (without caudal). Cleft of the mouth extending to below the middle of the eye; lower jaw slightly prominent. Length of the trunk not much exceeding that of the head. Dorsal and anal fins very low, terminating in a low fold of the skin, which is con- tinued to the caudal. Ventrals much longer than pectorals. A broad white band runs along the upper surface of the head and back. Sides finely marbled with brown, the markings radiating from the eye on the head. Two examples, 0-066 long, formed part of a collection from Australia, containing several species known from Port Jackson. . Noroerartus, gen. noy. (Blenn.). Body elongate, compressed, covered with minute scales. La- teral line complete, running along the base of the dorsal fin. Head longish and rather depressed ; snout of moderate extent, somewhat pointed ; cleft of the mouth wide; a short flat barbel at the symphysis of the lower jaw. Bands of villiform teeth im the jaws and palatine bones, none on the vomer; tongue narrow, long, free. Vertical fins confluent; dorsal and anal with nu- merous spines, the posterior becoming gradually stiffer and more pungent than the anterior. Ventrals jugular, close together, reduced to a single bifid ray. The gill-membrane is attached to the isthmus before the ventrals. Pseudobranchiz well deve- loped. Intestinal tract short, simple, without pyloric appen- dages. Air-bladder none. 64 Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 57. Notograptus guttatus, sp. n. D. 69. "Crile Al 43. The height of the body is one-twelfth of the total length (without caudal), length of the head two-fifteenths. Eye small. Barbel shorter than the ventrals, which are about twice as long as the eye. Reddish or brown; dorsal fin, upper, aud lateral parts with numerous blue dots, those on the head largest. Young with the spots on the body indistinct, and of a brown colour. Cape York. O™-17 long. 58, Mugil subviridis (C. & V.). India, Cape York. 59. Mugil cephalotus (C. & V.). China, Hawkesbury River. 60. Mugil breviceps (Steindachner). Hawkesbury River (L. lat. 48-50). 61. Atherina stercus muscarum, sp. 0. D7 | A.%. L. lat. 33. LL. transv. 8 or 9. 5 Origin of the spinous dorsal behind the root of the ventrals. The height of the body is contained four times and two-thirds in the total length (without caudal), length of the head thrice and two-thirds. Snout not much shorter than the eye. Dorsal spines feeble. Pectoral short, extending to the root of the ventral. A black band from the snout through the eye to the root of the pectoral. A silvery band along the fourth series of scales. Each scale with a black dot at the base. Cape York. 2 inches long. 62. . niloticus or Tr. maximus is meant. The name Trochus niloticus itself is consequently incorrect: it originated with old Aldrovandi (who gave it, equally incorrectly, to a large species of Conus), and was transferred to our Trochus by Linné; but as it is now generally adopted and so evidently untrue that no misunderstanding is to be feared from it, I would not propose to change it for a new one. The habitat of Tr. maximus has not been stated by Koch and Philippi. I procured a young specimen at Singapore, and think therefore that the Indian Ocean is the common home of both Tr. niloticus and Tr. maximus. Nevertheless there are some traces of another habitat for Zr. maximus: in the Berlin Museum there is a very young specimen of the latter, stated by a label to have formed part of a collection made in Guinea by Mr. Halleur (the other shells of the same collection are true West-African species) ; and Chemnitz informs us that, in his copy of Lister’s work, a manuscript note, “ex insula Principis,” was added to the said figure 617.3. If this is the island situated in the Gulf of Guinea, it would be in favour of the West-African habitat ; or are we perhaps allowed to presume that the Prince of Wales Island, ze. Pulo Pinang, on the coast of Malacca, was meant? It is very desirable that more reliable statements concerning the habitat of this form, Trochus maximus, should come to our knowledge. I never saw a full-grown specimen which left any doubt whether it belonged to the one or the other species: the dif_i- culty of distinguishing them increases the younger the indivi- duals are which come under observation, and the more so as even the different stages of age in which the characteristic changes of feature make their appearance are subject to a certain 102 On the different Ages of Trochus niloticus and T. maximus. amount of individual variability. Some young individuals of Tr. maximus are as broad as high, some even a little broader than high; and, on the contrary, in the younger age of Tr. ni- loticus (stage of marmoratus), its breadth exceeds its height by a relatively smaller amount than in the full-grown shell. I have before me two very young specimens (stage, of spinosus), which Iam induced to regard as niloticus by their relative breadth ; the height of both is ‘the same, millims.; the breadth of the one _, of the other millims. *, which last proves to be a very excessive one when compared with those of other young indivi- duals’ The even and smooth surface of their last whorls is the most characteristic feature of the adolescent specimens of nilo- ticus (marmoratus) ; it is the consequence of the disappearance of the sculpture long before the change of shape peculiar to the full-grown age makes its appearance at the same time as the last whorl; whilst in Tr. maximus both changes, which are of less intensity, coincide with regard to the age of the individual. But even this vanishing of the sculpture in 77. niloticus takes place in some individuals a little sooner or later than in others : the amount of this variation may be a whole whorl; and external causes seem to have some influence upon it: in fact one of the specimens in the stage of marmoratus shows the traces of having been fractured just in the whorl, where the change generally takes place very gradually ; but here the sculpture is preserved in its full strength up to the fracture, and immediately after it the newly formed continuation is smooth. There is no evi- dence that a rather large portion of shell has been destroyed and taken away by the fracture; on the contrary, the perfect regularity of the following portion of the whorl shows that there is no marked restoration, but simply progress of growth ; never- theless the change of sculpture is sudden, as if the interruption and new beginning had given the animal an impulse to construct the following parts of the shell at once according to the new fashion, instead of gliding gradually from one into the other. Another instance of individual variation is presented by a speci- men of niloticus which shows on its Jast whorl the dilatation and swelling of the lower edge which is so very characteristic of the last whorl of the full-grown shell, whilst its dimensions (height 56, breadth 66 millims.), the still even base, the broad purple rays above, and the small spots beneath rather clearly indicate that another whorl is still required for the full growth of the shell. Such specimens, in which a property normally peculiar to the adult makes its appearance in a previous stage of growth, may be called premature individuals. * [These measurements, which have been accidentally omitted by our correspondent, will be given in a note in our next.—Eb. | Dr. E. von Martens on the Species of Argonauta. 103 It is an almost general rule throughout the animal kmgdom that members of different species, genera, families, or orders agree more with each other in the first stage of their life than when full-grown; but very often this general resemblance is due rather to the special characters being indistinct, or not yet developed, not to the special similarity of them—as, for in- stance, the embryo of all the Vertebrata in its first period is similar, but not a fish or a bird, the distinctive characters of these making their appearance afterwards. In the present in- stance the sculpture, which is a rather special character, neither similar in all species of Trochus nor already formed within the egg, is specifically similar in the young state of both species; and the difference in the sculpture between the two full-grown shells arises not from any new character coming up, but from the disappearance, earlier or later, perfectly or partially, of that which has been common. If we may take for granted that the single species, such as they live at present, have not been created independently of each other, but that they are the descendants of others of other times, that they bear the traces of their genealogy in themselves, and that the characters trans- mitted by a longer series of ancestors are also more constant and manifest themselves earlier in the youth of the individual, whereas the modifications acquired for the species in later times make their appearance less early in the course of individual development—if this be granted, then we may be entitled to pronounce that Trochus niloticus and Trochus maximus descend from similar, therefore probably common ancestors, which must have been sculptured throughout, with an even, spirally grooved base, such as is presented, for instance, among the now living allied species by 77. acutangulus,—that Tr. niloticus has deviated in the same space of time more from the common ancestors than Tr. maximus, the characters of the last whorl in Tr. niloticus being quite new,—and that the above-mentioned premature spe- cimen of the same may give a hint as to the direction in which the species will change itself in future times. VI. On the Species of Argonauta. Linné comprises all the Argonaute known to him in one species, A. Aryo; his second species, A. Cymbium, is a foramini- ferous shell (Peneroplis planatus, Montfor t), as is proved by his own words, “testa vix minim arenule magnitudine,” and by the quotation of Gualtieri. Lamarck, who laid the foundations of the modern generic and specific distinction of sea-shells, distinguishes ¢hree species of Argonauta— Argo, tuberculosa, and nitida (= hians, Solander). 104 Dr. E. von Martens on the Species of Argonauta. D’Orbigny limits himself to the same three species, admitting A. gondola and haustrum, Dill., as varieties of A. tuberculata and Argo. Reeve, in the ‘Conchologia Iconica,’ vol. xu. 1861, admits five species; H. and A. Adams, in the ‘Genera of Mol- luscous Animals,’ 1858, and Sowerby, in the ‘ Thesaurus Conchy- liorum,’ six species. On reviewing the twenty-nine specimens exposed in the Ber- lin Museum, I was impressed with the conviction that they all are referable to three constant types :— 1. Type of A. Argo: ribs smooth and numerous; keel nar- row; colour white. 2. Type of A. tuberculata, Shaw (nodosa, Solander, tubercu- losa, Lam., oryzata, Meuschen) : ribs tuberculated, numerous ; keel rather narrow; colour white or pale yellow. 3. Type of A. hians, Solander (nitida, Lam.) : ribs smooth, distant, and therefore few; keel broad; colour yellowish or ight brown. In all three the hinder part of the keel is very often tinged with dark brown; this dark-brown colour is wanting in a few specimens of A. Aryo and tuberculata, and in many of A. heans. Within each of these types there are specimens in which the lateral edge of the aperture is nearly straight, the aperture therefore narrow (forma mutica), and others in which this edge forms near its inner end an angle which is more or less blunt (forma obtusangula), or extends itself into a prolongation called the ear (forma aurita). Type of Argonauta Argo :— a. Forma mutica: A. Gruneri (Dunker), Reeve, fig. 66, Marquesas Islands; Sow. fig. 9. b. Forma obtusangula: A. Argo of most authors. Lister, Hist. Conch. pl. 555. fig. 7; Martini, Conchylhen-Cabinet, vol. i. pl. 17. fig. 157; D’Orbigny, Céphalopodes, pl. 2. figs. 1,2; Reeve, fig. 2°, from Venezuela; Sow. Thes. fig. 2. c. Forma aurita: obtained at Ceram, Moluccas, by myself; Rumph, Amb. Rariteitkamer, pl. 18. fig. a, from Amboyna; Gualtieri, pl. 12. fig. a; Argenville, Conchyliologie, pl. 5. fig. a; D’Orb. Céph. 2, 3-5. A. haustrum, Dillwyn; Reeve, fig. 2, from Tahiti ; Sow. Thes. fig. 1. Type of Argonauta tuberculata :— a. Forma mutica: one specimen from the coast of Brazil, in the Ber- lin Museum; Reeve, fig. 1. 6. Forma obtusangula: some specimens in the Berlin Zoological Mu- seum. c. Forma aurita: Gualtieri, pl. 12. fig. B ; Argenville,5c; Martini, figs. 156 & 160; D’Orb. Céph. pl. 4; Reeve, fig. 2; Sow. fig. 3. A. navicula, Solander. A. gondola, Dillwyn, on the authority of D’Orbigny. Dr. E. von Martens on the Species of Argonauta. 105 Type of Argonauta hians :— a. Forma mutica: Lister, 553. 5? 6, Forma obtusangula: Gualtieri, pl. 12. fig. c; Argenville, 5B. A. hians, Solander, and A. Owenii, Adams and Reeve, Zool. Voy. Samarang, Reeve, figs. 4 & 5, pl. 3, South Atlantic. Obtained by myself at Ceram, Moluccas. e. Forma aurita: Lister, 554.6; Rumph, pl. 18. fig. B, from Amboyna; D’Orb. Céph. pl. 5. A. gondola (Dillwyn), Adams and Reeve, Zool. Voy. Samarang, pl. 2, from the South Atlantic. A gon- dola, Reeve, figs. 3° & ge Sow. fig. 4, from the Philippines. Obtained by myself at Batjan, Moinccns! from the natives. Concerning ¢uberculata, I have no doubt that the three forms are merely variations of the same species, as some specimens remain intermediate between them. For A. hians I incline rather to think the same, although very respectable authorities range themselves on the opposite side; in this the first form seems to be very rare, as it is the only one out of the nine which is wanting in the Berlin Zoological Museum. The presence or absence of the ears, however, is not a character of age, as both are to be seen in very young ‘and in full-grown specimens, nor does it seem to be a difference of geographical value, the forms b & c of hians having been found both in the South Atlantic and in the Indian Ocean. For A. tuberculata, 1 cannot find anywhere the geographical habitat of the eared variety separately stated, so as to compare it with that of the earless form. Concerning A. Argo I feel much more doubtful—first because the want of the ears in A. Gruneri is combined with a more elongated shape of the whole shell, and secondly because it seems to me that the eared form, A. haustrum, is proper to the Indian seas, the obtuse-angulated, on the contrary, to the Medi- terranean; but I am acquainted with the exact habitat of too few specimens of either form to advance anything positively m this respect. However, it seems to me not quite absurd to admit that some species may be rather constant and others very vari- able in the shape of the upper margin. It may be remarked that the ears of A. haustrum are prolonged in the same plane with the sides of the shell, whereas they are bent outwards in the eared forms of A. tubercuiata and A. hians. Finally, there is in the Berlin Museum a specimen, belonging to the type of A. Argo, in which the angles are present but little developed, and not free but firmly joined to the spire, in consequence of which, at first sight, one might suppose them to be entirely absent; the shell is more compressed and more elongated than that of A. Argo generally; its coloration is typical of that species. This seems to be a very well-charac- terized species; but I cannot help suggesting whether it may not be regarded rather as a fourth variation of A. Aryo, espe- 106 Prof. Santo Garovaglio on the Species of cially as A. Kochianus, Dunker (loc. cit. figs. 7, 8) appears to be the analogous variation of A. hians. If this view should prove to be right, we shall have a fourth form (forma agglutinans), the rarest of all, being as yet exemplified only in two of the three species. XIV.—WNotule Lichenologice. No. XVI. By the Rev. W. A. Leicuton, B.A., F.L.S. Pror. Santo Garovacuio has favoured us with a copy of a further portion of his ‘Tentamen Dispositionis Methodice Lichenum,’ comprising the Verrucarie quadriloculares, and illustrated with three plates. Secrio III. Verrucarie quadriloculares. Saxicole vel corticole ; hermaphrodite, monoicz vel dioicee ; epithecium breve, dimidiatum, subintegrum, carbonaceum (in una alterave specie coloratum ; paraphyses null, obsolete vel distinctz, simplices aut ramosz, continue vel in feaceale solutee, capillares vel articulate ; asci lineares vel clavato- elongati ob- ovative, interdum circa medium ventricosi, interdum supra basim saccato-gibbi, octospori ; spore in duplicem triplamve seriem, rarius (Cohors IV.) uno ordine altera super alteram disposite, figura et magnitudine vari, s. ovoidez, obovate, in formam cocci, bombycis, vel fusi, in cohorte IIL eracillimee, aciculares, in reliquis sat crass, rectze vel curvate, normaliter quadri- loculares, loculis amplis vel angustis, quorum duo interpositi vix non semper rectangulari-tetragoni, extimi duo subconici. In quibusdam speciebus loculi omnes ocellulati apparent, ocellis rhombeis, subrotundis vel ellipticis, in singulis loculis ut pluri- mum singulis. Thallus varius, in corticolis hypophloeodes. Hypothallus modo obsoletus, modo distinctus, ater. Cohors I. Epithecio brevi vel dimidiato ; paraphysibus nullis vel obsoletis; ascis elongato-clavatis, ventricosis, inflatis, octosporis; sporis in duplicem triplamve seriem intra ascos distributis, tumi- dulis, ellipsoideis obovatisve, eximie bombyciformibus, gran- diusculis, quadrilocularibus, loculis binis intermediis rect- angulari-tetragonis, extimis duobus ad formam coni, quorum infimus vix non semper minor. (Species omnes ‘saxicolee, hermaphrodite.) 1. V. pseudo-Dufourei, Garov. = V. pyrenophora, Leight. Ang. Lich. p. 76; Exs. 189. V. papillosa, Leight. Ang. Lich. t. 24. Verrucaria found in Lombardy. 107 f.1. V. Sprucei, Leight. Ang. Lich. t. 23. f. 4,5, 6; Heppe, 97, 98. Subspecies 1. V. eryptarum, Garov. = Anzi, Lich. rar. Ven. 3. 2. V. Zwackhu, Garov. = Heppe, 96, 437, 442, 443; Anzi, Lich. rar. Ven. 186, 171. Cohors II. Epithecio vario, carbonaceo vel colorato; paraphysibus liberis, distinctis, flexuosis, simplicibus vel subramosis, capillaribus vel articulatis, perdurantibus ; ascis elongatis, linearibus, in- feriora versus sensim attenuatis, passim clavato-obovatis, in medio ventricosis vel circa basim saccato-gibbis, octosporis ; sporis duplici triplave (jam ordinata, jam confusa) serie spi- raliter intra ascos dispositis, angustato-ellipticis s. fusiformi- bus, adultis quadrilocularibus, loculis ope septi tenuis cras- sive evidenter sejunctis, duobus interpositis eylindrico-trun- catis vel rectangulari-tetragonis, extimis subconicis. (Species saxicolee vel corticolee, monoicz vel dioicz.) A. Sazicole. 1. V. umbonata, Scher. = Scher. Exs. 285; Leight. Ang. Lich. t. 24. f. 6, Exs. 82; Heppe, 696; Rabenh. 650. 2. V. Ricasolu, Garov. = Leight. Ang. Lich. t. 22. f. 1, 2, t. 23. f.1; Heppe, 694, 695. Subspecies V. macularis, Wallr. = Zw. Exs. 152, 153; Scher. L. H. Exs. 523, 524; Leight. Ang. Lich. t. 25. f.3, Exs. 138 ; Heppe, 693. B. Corticole. 1. V. punctiformis, Fries, L. Europ. Ref. p. 447. f. carpinea, Garov. = M. & N. 855; Scher. 525; Leight. Ang. Lich. t. 18. f. 2, Exs. 99; Heppe, 459; Anzi, Lich, rar. Ven. 139. f. callopisma, Garov. = Mass. Lich. Ital. 350 4,8; Anzi, Lich. rar. Longob. 222; Zw. Exs. 46. f. rhyponta, Garov.=M. & N. 557; Scher. 591; Anzi, Lich. rar. Ven. 121,122; Mass. Ital. 255. Subspecies V. erumpens, Garov. 2. V. cerasi, Schrad.=Scher. Exs.664; Zw. Exs. 106; Leight. Ang. Lich. p.41; Mass. Ital. 106; Anzi, Lich. rar. Ven. 130 ; Heppe, 457. 108 Prof. Santo Garovaglio on the Species of Cohors III. Epithecio tenui, dimidiato, carbonaceo; paraphysibus raro dis- tinctis, plerumque obsoletis, vel in massam granuloso-floc- cosam cito diffluxis; ascis clavato-elongatis sublinearibusve, octosporis ; sporis duplici sat regulari serie intra ascos col- lectis, gracillimis, fusiformi- acicularibus, vel angustato-ellip- ticis, incurvis, primum unilocularibus, tribus vel quatuor ocellis rotundis minutis preeditis, dein bilocularibus cum loculis elongato-cylindricis acuminatis, postremum quadri- locularibus cum vel absque ocellis. (Species unica, corticola.) 1. V. oxyspora, Nyl.=Zw. Exs. 107; Rabenh. 117; Heppe, 460; Mass. Ital. 352. Cohors IV. Epithecio carbonaceo, crasso, subintegro, cum tunica arcte laxeve conjuncto; paraphysibus creberrimis, gracilibus, filiformibus, flexuosis, interdum in frustula fatiscentia solutis; ascis elon- gatis, cylindricis, vel linearibus, circa basim attenuatis, octo- sporis; sporis plerumque in una rectilinea serie ad invicem verticaliter aut oblique sibi succedentibus, rarius duplici con- fuso ordine congregatis, ovoideo-ellipticis, obtusiusculis (s. cocciformibus), quandoque torulosis, ceeterum coloratis s. fulvis vel fuliginosis, quadrilocularibus, passim bi- triloculari- bus, loculis septo tenuissimo, szepe obsoleto, divisis, duobus interpositis prismatico-tetragonis, binis extimis obtuse co- nicis, omnibus ocellulatis, ocellis in singulis vel pluribus, rhombeis, subrotundis vel ellipticis. (Species omnes corticole, monoice vel dioicze.) 1. V. nitida, Schrad. = Borrer, E. Bot. Suppl. t. 2607. f. 1; Leight. Ang. Lich. t. 15. f.3; M.& N. 365 as. f. major=Scher. Exs. 111; Heppe, 467. f. minor = Leight. Exs. 28; Heppe, 468. 2. V. glabrata, Ach.=Scher. Exs.110; M.& N. 950; Zw. Exs. 34, 85; Leight. Ang. Lich. t.18.f. 4; Heppe, 227. f. coryli, Nyl.=Rabenh. 85; Heppe, 455. Appendix. V. quercus, Garov.=Scher. Exs. 105; Zw. Exs. 33, 215. The plates contain sections of the apothecia, asci, and spori- dia :— Verrucarie uniloculares. Tab. I. fig. 1. V. aberrans, Gar. 2. V.hydrela, Ach. 3. V. ethio- bola, Ach. 4. *V. submersa, Scher. 5. V. plumbea, Ach. Verrucaria found in Lombardy. 109 6. V. glaucina, Fries. 7. *V.collematoides, Gar. 8. V. nigres- cens, Pers. 9. *V. nigrescens, Pers., var. stenospora, Gar. Tab. II. fig. 1. V. macrostoma, Duf. 2. V. tristis, Krmphbr. 3. V. Dufourei, DC. 4. V. epipolea, Ach., var. orbicularis, Gar. D. FV. epipolea, Ach., var. muralis, Gar. 6. V. macrostoma, Duf., var. imbricum, Gar. 7. V. epipolea, Ach., var. lurida, Gar. 8. V. epipolea, Ach., var. murina, Gar. Tab. IIT. fig. 1. V. decussata, Gar. 2. V. epipolea, Ach., var. rupes- tris, Gar. 3. V. epipolea, Ach., var. major, Gar. 4. V. papu- laris, Fries, var. neglecta, Gar. 5. V. papularis, Fries, var. platy- spora, Gar. 6. V. papularis, Fries, var. subtestacea, Gar. 7. V. purpurascens, Hoffm. 8. V. calciseda, DC. Verrucaria biloculares. Tab. IV. fig. 1. V7. olivacea, Fries. 2. V. Ungeri, Flot. 3. V. he- terospora, Gar. 4. V, pertusatii, Gar. 5. V. conoidea, Fries, var. vulgaris. 6. V. conoidea, Fries, var. subsquamacea. Tab. V. fig. 1. V. gemmata, Ach. 2. V. biformis, Borr. 3. V. con- fusa, Gar. 4. V. epidermidis, Gar., var. analepta-spectabilis. 5. V. epidermidis, Gar., var. cinereo-pruinosa. 6. V. epidermidis, Gar., var. lauri. 7. V. epidermidis, Gar.; var. fraxini. 8. V. epidermidis, Gar., var. analepta-vulgaris. 9. V. epidermidis, Gar., var. analepta-betule. 10. V. Heppii, Naeg., var. Juglandis, Gar. Verrucarte quadriloculares. Tab. VI. fig. 1. V. pseudo-Dufourei, Gar., var. verrucosa. 2. V. pseudo- Dufouret, Gar., var. feracissima. 2*. V. pseudo-Dufourei, Gar., var. crassiseda. 2**. V. pseudo-Dufourei, Gar., var. con- spurcata. 3. V. cryptarum, Gar., var. intumescens. 4. V. cryp- tarum, Gar., var. hiascens. 5. V. cryptarum, Gar., var. asperata. 6. V. eryptarum, Gar., var. detersa. 7. V. Zwackhii, Gar. 8. V. umbonata, Scher. 9. V. Ricasolii, Gar. 10. V. macularis, Wallr. Tab. VII. fig. 1. V. nitida, Schrad., var. major, Gar. 2, 2*. V. nitida, Schrad., var. minor, Gar. 3. V. glabrata, Ach. 4. V. punctiformis, Gar., var. callopisma*. 5. V. punctiformis, Gar., var. carpinea*. 6. V. punctiformis, Gar., var. callopisma**, 7. V. *erumpens, Gar. 8. V. Heppii, Gar., forma. 9. V. punc- tiformis, Gar., var. rhyponta. 10. V. punctiformis, Gar., var. carpinea**, 11. V. cerasi, Schrad. Tab. Suppl. I. fig. 1. VY. Anziana, Gar. (unilocular). 2. V. cinereo- rufa, Schrad. (unilocular). 3. V. Hochstetteri, Fr. (unilocular). 4. V. scrobicularis, Gar. (bilocular). 5. V. micula, Fitw. (bi- locular). 6. V. oxryspora, Nyl. (quadrilocular). 7. V. quercus, Gar. (4-5-6-locular). 110 Dr. A. Gunther on new Fishes XV.—New Fishes from the Gaboon and Gold Coast. By A. Gunruer, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., F.R.S. [Plates II. & III.] A most valuable collection of Fishes made by Mr. R. B.N. Walker in the Gaboon country has been recently secured by the Trustees of the British Museum. Besides several species which were formerly desiderata in this collection, the following prove to be new and of great interest, partly because some of them are the types of distinct groups, and partly because others prove that the Fish-fauna of the Upper Nile is nothing but the most eastern branch of that of Tropical West Africa. Repeatedly on former occasions I have directed attention to the identity of these two faunas ; and we may safely conclude that there is an uninterrupted continuity of the fish-fauna from west to east, and that the species known to be common to both extremities inhabit also the great reservoirs of water in the centre of the African continent. Mr. Walker had sent other collections to the Free Public Museum of Liverpool; and Mr. Moore was kind enough to lend them to me for examination, adding another very valuable col- lection made by H.T. Ussher, Esq., Deputy Assistant Commissary- General, Lagos, on the Bossumprah River, Gold Coast. The latter gentleman had previously sent a small collection to the British Museum from the same locality. The Cyprinoids are not mentioned in this paper, as their descriptions will be found in the forthcoming seventh volume of the ‘ Catalogue of Fishes.’ Ctenopoma Petherici (Gthr.). Dorsal spines sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen, anal spines nine or ten. This species, first discovered by Mr. Petherick in the White Nile, occurs also in the Gaboon. Ctenopoma multispine (Ptrs.). This species was first described from Kast-African specimens with seventeen dorsal and ten anal spines. An example from the Gaboon, with twenty dorsal and eleven anal spines, agrees in every other respect with the East-African type, and must be regarded as a variety only. Mastacembelus cryptacanthus (Gthr.). The number of dorsal spmes varies between twenty-four and thirty. A fine example, 16 inches long, has been sent to the Liverpool Museum, from the Bossumprah River, by Mr. Ussher. Hemichromis fasciatus (Ptrs.). Guinea, Lagos (Mr. Ussher), Gaboon (Mr. Walker). from the Gaboon and Gold Coast. ti) Clarias Gabonensis, sp. n. - D. 76-78. A. 56-60. Vomerine teeth villiform, forming a. band which is about as broad as that of the intermaxillaries ; it has not a process behind in the middle of its concavity. Head finely granulated above, its length being one-fourth of the total (without caudal). Bar- bels long; those of the nostril extend to the base of the occi- pital process, those of the maxillary beyond the origin of the dorsal. The pectoral fin extends to, or somewhat beyond, the vertical from the origin of the dorsal ; its spine is at least three- fourths as long as the fin. The dorsal extends to the root of the caudal. Snout somewhat narrowed in front. River Ogome (Mr. Walker). 7 inches long. This species may prove to be identical with Clarias angolensis of Dr. Steindachner, who, however, has omitted to give the formula of the fin-rays, so that it is impossible to determine our specimens from his description. Heterobranchus isopterus (Blkr.). Bossumprah River (Mr. Ussher). GyMNALLABES, g.n. (Silur.). (Group Crarimna.) Adipose fin none; dorsal and anal fins very long (confluent with the caudal*). Jaws with a band of villiform teeth ; a crescent-shaped band of similar teeth across the vomer; cleft of the mouth transverse, anterior, of moderate width; eight barbels, as mm Clarias. Kyes very small. Head covered entively with soft skin, the lateral parts especially mus- cular and soft. The postbranchial cavity is present; but the accessory organ is reduced to a simple securiform process of the second and third arches. Pectoral and ventral fins very small, the former with a pungent spine, the latter five-rayed. Gymnallabes typus, sp.n. Plate II. fig. A. Di ca 98. A-caiB2. ©. 12: The height of the body is one-sixteenth or one-fifteenth of the total length (without caudal), the length of the head one- ninth or one-tenth. Head much depressed, flat, swollen on the temples, two-thirds as broad as long. Nasal and outer mandi- bulary barbels not quite as long as those of the maxillary; the latter are longer, and the inner of the mandible shorter, than the head. Uniform brownish black. West Africa, probably Old Calabar. 7 inches long. * This is perhaps merely a specific character, as in Clarias. E12 Dr. A. Giinther on new Fishes Eutropius mandibularis, sp. n. Do /6 Rae SOS ee /10: The height of the body is contained thrice and three-fourths in the total length (without caudal), the length of the head five times. The greatest width of the head equals its length without snout. The upper jaw is slightly the longer; cleft of the mouth twiee as broad as deep. Anterior mandibulary barbels short ; maxillary, nasal, and posterior mandibulary barbels subequal in length, not extending to the base of the pectoral, but beyond the orbit. The diameter of the eye is two-ninths of the length of the head. The dorsal fin is situated entirely before the ventral, the width of its base being more than tbat of the latter; its height equals the length of the head; spine slender, serrated posteriorly. The anal fin terminates at some distance from the caudal. Caudal deeply forked, with the lobes pointed. Pec- toral spine rather broad, serrated, terminating at some distance from the ventral. A single specimen, 9 inches long, was sent by Mr. Ussher from the Bossumprah River to the Liverpool Museum. Chrysichthys macrops (Gtky.). Upper Nile, Gaboon, Bossumprah River (Gold Coast). Synodontis guttatus (Gthr.). Gaboon, Lake Aznigo. Malapterurus affinis (Gthr.). Old Calabar, Gaboon. NANNOCHARAX, g. 0. (Characin.). Dorsal fin short, placed in the middle of the body, above the ventrals; anal short. Body elongate, covered with scales of moderate size; belly rounded. Cleft of the mouth very small, similar to that of a Coregonus ; intermaxillary and mandible with a single series of notched incisors. Nostrils close together. Gill-openings rather narrow, the gill-membrane being grown to the isthmus. This genus 1s the type of a separate group, NANNOCHARACINA, intermediate between Anostomatina and Tetragonopterina. Nannocharax fasciatus, sp.n. Plate III. fig. A. D.12. A.10. V.10. L.lat.46. L. transv. 43/44. The height of the body is contained six times in the total length (without caudal), the length of the head four times and one-third. Kye large, the length of its diameter being less than Sa from the Gaboon and Gold Coast. 113 one-third of that of the head, and more than that of the snout or the width of the interorbital space. Head low, elongate, flat above ; snout subconical, the upper Jaw somewhat longer than the lower. Ventral fin below the anterior dorsal rays, long, pointed; the third ray is the longest, extending to the vent. The distance of the origin of the dorsal fin from the end of the snout is somewhat more than that from the adipose fin. Back with seven rhombic brown spots, lighter in the centre ; sides with about ten brown cross bars broader than the interspaces between. Gaboon. 2 inches long. This discovery of Mr. Walker is of the greatest interest, not only because the fish is the type of a distinct group of the family of Characinide, but also because it throws light upon the fish from the Nile which was deseribed by Joannis in Guérin’s Mag. Zool. 1835 (Gtnth. Fish. v. p. 379) as Coregonus niloticus, and which has ever since been a riddle to ichthyologists. There can- not be the slightest doubt of the affinity of these two fishes, although Joannis (who had no experience whatever in the de- scription of fishes) states that his fish is toothless. The affinity between the two fishes is so great that the differences which at present appear on comparing the descriptions may prove to be accidental, and the Nannocharax niloticus to be identical with the West-African species. The figure is double the natural size. Alestes macrophthalmus, sp. vn. DIO Ac els Ulatso9 4. otransyer lle Closely allied to A. sethente, but with larger scales. The height of the body equals the length of the head, and is two- ninths of the total length (without caudal). Kye very large, scarcely less than one-third of the length of the head, with broad adipose eyelids. The origin of the dorsal fin is exactly oppo- site to that of the ventral. Pectoral not much shorter than the head. Silvery, a blackish stripe along each series of scales ; pectoral blackish. Gaboon. 11 inches long. Alestes teniurus, sp. 1. D.10. A.19. L. lat. 23. L. transv. 43/34. Closely allied to A. acutidens, but with the body more elevated, its depth being more than one-third of the total length (without caudal). The origin of the dorsal fin is a little behind the base of the ventral. A narrow deep-black band runs along the middle of the tail and caudal fin, commencing below the end of the dorsal fin. Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol. xx. 8 114 Dr. A. Giinther on new Fishes Gaboon. 5 inches long. I do not retain the genus Brachyalestes, as the last two species would be separated from those most nearly allied to them by the technical character on which that genus was founded. Alestes leuciscus, sp. 1. D.10..A.17. LU. lat. 26-27. LL. transv. 54/34. The height of the body is contained thrice and one-fourth in the total length (without caudal), the length of the head thrice and two-thirds. The origin of the dorsal fin is exactly opposite that of the ventrals. The pectoral terminates close to the ven- tral. Bright silvery, with a very indistinct dark humeral spot and a second at the root of the caudal. Ins golden. Two specimens, 24 inches long, from West Africa; purchased of a dealer. Sarcodaces odoé (Bl.). Bossumprah River (Mr. Ussher). This fish has fifty scales in the lateral line, and not sixty, as stated in ‘ Fish.’ y. p. 852. XENOCHARAX, g. n. (Characin). (Group Crenucuina.) Dorsal fin rather long, placed in the middle of the length of the body, above the ventrals. Anal not elongate. Body compressed, rather elevated, covered with rather small scales ; lateral line present; belly rounded. Cleft of the mouth rather wide. Intermaxillary and mandible with a double or treble series of small bicuspid teeth; a few teeth in the maxillary. Nostrils close together. Gull-openings wide; the gill-membranes not attached to the isthmus. Gill-rakers long, setiform. Xenocharax spilurus, sp.n. Plate II. fig. B. Dis) TALIS 2 VAT. late 73.5 aattransyetOyilos The height of the body is contained twice and two-thirds in the total length (without caudal), the length of the head thrice and one-fourth. Jaws equal in length; the maxillary extends to below the front margin of the large eye. Root of the ventral below the middle of the dorsal. Silvery; body with about four- teen narrow blackish transverse bands. A large round black spot on the root of the caudal. Gaboon. 4 inches long. Distichodus notospilus, sp. un. D.16-17. A.15-16. L.lat.39. L. transv. 7/9. The height of the body is two-fifths of the total length (with- from the Gaboon and Gold Coast. — 115 out caudal), the length of the head one-fourth ; snout a little longer than broad, with the nose slightly protruding. Teeth in a double series, the lower jaw with sixteen teeth im the front series. Body silvery, caudal and lower fins red; a large, oblique, band-like black blotch on the dorsal; a small black spot on the root of the caudal. Gaboon. Frofn 3 to 5 inches long. Mormyrus zanclirostris, sp.n. Pl. II. fig. B. DO AS o. li lato 70: Snout much prolonged, tubiform, straight. Lower jaw with- out appendage; eye rather nearer to the end of the snout than to that of the opercle, very small. Teeth small, compressed, incisor-like, =. Pectorals much longer than ventrals, but ter- minating at a great distance from the base of the ventrals. Caudal very small. Origin of the dorsal fin opposite to the thirteenth anal ray. The height of the body is one-seventh of the total length (without caudal), the length of the head rather more than one-fourth. Brown; an ill-defined band along the lateral line, and the tail of a darker colour. Gaboon. 10 inches long. The figure is two-thirds the natural size. Mormyrus microcephalus, sp. n. D. 15-16. A.28-381. L. lat. 62. Snout obtuse, very short, twice as long as the eye, the dia- meter of which is about one-seventh or one-eighth of the length of the head. Mouth subanterior. Teeth brown, emarginate, small, ®. The height of the body is two-elevenths of the total length (without caudal), the length of the head one-sixth. Pec- toral nearly as long as the head, extending beyond the root of the ventral. Caudal fin small. Brown; head and fins black. Gaboon (River Ogome). 7 inches long. Evidently allied to Marcusenius brachyistius (Gall). Mormyrus Henryt. Isichthys Henryi (Gill). This is not a Mormyrops as I formerly supposed; it has an elongate band of teeth on the palate and tongue. Our specimen has D.48. A. 46, and is from West Africa, probably Old Calabar. 8* 116 _ Dr. A. Giinther on new Fishes. Mormyrus Mooru, sp. n. D: 24. A.29. DL. lat-45. 1. transv: 22% ca 7 Snout obtuse, with the jaws equal in length, the mouth being terminal. Eye small, its diameter being one-half of the length of the snout, and one-eighth of that of the head. Teeth small, deeply notched, . Pectoral fin not much shorter than the head, extending somewhat beyond the middle of the ventral fin. The height of the body is contained thrice and four-fifths in the total length (without caudal), the length of the head nearly five times. Brown; head and a small spot on the root of the caudal fin black. One specimen, 9 inches long, is in the Liverpool Museum ; it was discovered by Mr. Walker in the River Ogome. Mormyrus Ussheri, sp. n. 1D. 27-28. A.30. 1. lat.58. 1. transv. = ca 10° Snout not very obtuse, with the lower jaw somewhat promi- nent, and terminating in a very short skinny flap. , Eye small, its diameter being two-fifths of the length of the snout, and two-thirteenths of that of the head. Teeth small, slightly notched, 5. Pectoral fin at least as long as the head, extending beyond the middle of the ventral fin. The height of the body is contained thrice and a half in the total length (without caudal), the length of the head four times and two-thirds. Uniform brown. Two specimens, from 7 to 9 inches long, were collected by H. 'T. Ussher Esq., in the Bossumprah River, Gold Coast. Mormyrus catostoma (Gthr.). This species was described from Kast-African specimens. An example with twenty-nine anal rays, from the Bossumprah River, has been sent by Mr. Ussher to the Liverpool Museum. Mormyrus Walkeri, sp.n. Plate III. fig. C. D. 21. A. 22-28. I. lat. 55. Allied to M. niger. Snout obtuse, convex, not projecting beyond the mouth, which is terminal. Eye small, its diameter being shorter than the length of the snout. Teeth deeply notched, =. Pee- toral fin as long as the head withont snout, not quite twice as long as, and extending beyond the root of, the ventral. The * Tn an oblique line between the origins of the dorsal and anal fins. Dr. A. Giinther on a new Species of Apocryptes. ily height of the body is two-sevenths of the total length (without caudal), the length of the head one-fourth. Uniform brown. River Ogome (Gaboon). 4 inches long. Mormyrops longiceps, sp. n. De26) "AL 39) Trlats90) Head very low and elongate, more than twice as long as high. Snout subcylindrical, of moderate length, rounded in front, with the upper jaw somewhat longer than the lower. Eye very small, situated in the anterior third of the head. Teeth not very small, truncated and notched at the apex, 3+. Dorsal fin more than half as long as the anal. The height of the body is one- seventh of the total length (without caudal), the length of the head a little less than one-fourth. Coloration uniform. This species is more closely allied to WM. anguilloides from the Nile than to M. deliciosus from West Africa; it differs from the former in the shape of its head. It was discovered by H. T. Ussher, Esq., in the Bossumprah River. One specimen, 1] inches long, is in the Liverpool Museum. XVI.—Deseription of a new Species of Apocryptes. By Dr. ALBert GintueEr. Apocryptes polyophthalmus. D.5-6| 5. A. 25. Scales minute anteriorly, becoming somewhat larger poste- riorly. The height of the body is one-sixth or one-seventh of the total length (without caudal). Snout rather high, twice as long as the eye, with the upper jaw somewhat longer than the lower ; gape extending to below the posterior margin of the eye. Eye retractile as in Periophthalmus. Teeth small, two anterior pairs enlarged in each jaw; mandibulary teeth nearly horizontal. Dorsal fins not continuous, the spmes of the anterior prolonged into filaments. Caudal fin shorter than the head. Olive- coloured ; head with some minute whitish dots. Anterior dorsal with numerous small (in spirits white) ocelli. Similar ocelli on the second dorsal, where they are elongate and arranged in four regular series ; a few ocelli on the caudal fin. China. 5 inches long. 118 Mr. J. F. Walker in reply to Mr. Seeley on the XVII.—A Reply to Mr. H. G. Seeley’s Remarks on my Account of the Phosphatic Deposit at Potton, in Bedfordshire. By J. F. Wacker, B.A., F.C.P.S., F.C.S., F.G.8S., Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. In April 1866 the Rev. P. B. Brodie wrote a paper on the phos- phatic deposit near Potton, in Bedfordshire, and stated that the fossils were derived from preexisting formations*. Having ob- tained from this bed some additional fossils, especially remains of Iguanodon, I wrote a short paper, supplementary to Mr. Brodie’s, which was published in the Number of this Magazine for July 1866. At this period the Woodwardian Museum con- tained no fossils from this deposit ; but since then, through the exertions of Mr. Keeping, who has the care of the Museum, it has obtained a fine series of these fossils. In August of the same year Mr. Seeley published a letter criticising the results arrived at by Mr. Brodie and myself; but this fact does not appear from his reference to that paper in the last Number of the ‘ Annals,’ in which he would seem to intend to represent himself as the person attacked, instead of the aggressor, in this matter. Mr. Seeley stated in his letter that all the fossils appeared to him to be “denizens of the old sea-bed where they abound ;” and this is the chief point on which our views do not coincide. Mr. Seeley says that the only mistake in his paper is the statement that “the Gryphea dilatata is perversely wanting.” But I am not surprised that Mr. Seeley obtaimed no specimens of this fossil, as the work-people did not save the ferruginous shells until I told them to do sot. I will now consider Mr. Seeley’s criticisms sertatim. I. Mr. Seeley objects to this deposit being called the Lower Greensand, and says :—‘ The Shanklin (or Lower Green) Sand, as I understand it, is the series of beds between the Weald Clay and the Gault. But these sands at Potton are between the Gault and the Oxford Clay; and, so far as I remember, the only fossil previously recorded from the beds in this district is Ammonites biplex, mentioned in my paper on the Cretaceous beds at Ely,—neither of which facts offers any presumptive evidence of the deposit being Shanklin Sands.” Here is his statement in the paper he refers to :—“ The lower part of the Shanklin Sands is a conglomerate of small rounded pebbles, which in the best place in the section is hardly more than four feet thick ; and above this are some brown sands alternating irregularly with thin courses of clay with phosphatic nodules ; * Geological Magazine, vol. ii. p. 153. + This circumstance explains Mr. Brodie’s apparently erroneous asser- tion that “every organism in this phosphatic bed is evidently extraneous,” which was perfectly true with regard to the fossils obtainable when he wrote. Phosphatie Deposit at Potton, in Bedfordshire. 119 and in places these deposits almost stand on end, through false bedding. They are seven feet thick, and unfossiliferous, a good deal resembling the beds below; but I cannot say they should not be classed with the Gault. A rolled fragment or two of Ammonites biplex is the only fossil I have found in the rock ; so that it might be Portland Sands but that it is traced to Hunstan- ton, where fossils are more numerous.” Mr. Seeley then pro- ceeds to trace the bed to near Potton and Sandy. He evidently at the time he published the above (December 1865) considered the bed to be of the same age as I do, but has since altered his opinion. I shall again have occasion to refer to the second paragraph quoted above. I am not aware that Neithea quinque- costata has ever been found in the Kimmeridge Clay at Wey- mouth or elsewhere. II. Mr. Seeley says, “ The term conglomerate applied to this bed is calculated to mislead,” and gives a definition of what he thinks a conglomerate ought to be. In the paragraph already quoted Mr. Seeley applied this term to the same beds! I wished to involve the idea he objects to, viz. the denudation of older beds. III. I stated that, if Mr. Seeley’s views be correct, the term Carstone is inapplicable to the bed. On the idea that the Car- stone at Hunstanton represents the Gault and Lower Greensand, he forms his remarkable hypothesis of the Significance of the Sequence of Rocks*. He now restricts the term to the sands of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk, between the Hunstan- ton Limestone and the Kimmeridge Clay, and says, “ But though I abandon the term, I do not abandon the idea,” which idea he proceeds to illustrate by a diagram, but does not attempt to prove it; therefore I will not discuss the merits of it. IV. I appear to have misunderstood Mr. Seeley’s remarkable expression “the truth is, the ‘Sandy nodule bed,’ as this bed m the Carstone may be called, reproduces earlier in time the con- ditions of the Cambridge Greensand.” I am very sorry ; but it may be due to the ambiguity of the sentence tending to mislead. But I am still of opinion that two deposits so different in every respect as the Cambridge Greensand and the sandy conglomerate bed at Potton and elsewhere cannot have been accumulated under similar conditions. Mr. Seeley by no means explains the discrepancies between the two formations indicated in my former paper+, nor does he bring forward a particle of evidence in support of his assumption that both were formed upon a long low shore. V. Mr. Seeley ascribes to me the “notable discovery that by soaking six or seven parts of alumina in decomposing animal * Geological Magazine, vol. il. pp. 262-265. + Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 3. vol. xvii. p. 383. 120 Mr. J. F. Walker an reply to Mr. Seeley on the ' and vegetable matter till they increase to 100, you will produce a nodule of phosphate of lime.’ In return I may congratulate him on having made a still more “ notable discovery,” “namely, that clay consists of pure alumina, which is evidently implied in his interpretation of my statements. Mr. Seeley ought to be aware that clay consists not of alumina, but of a silicate of alu- mina; and also that clays like the Oxford and Kimmeridge contain various other substances. Again, what Mr. Seeley denominates “rolled concretions of tolerably pure phosphate of lime ” do not, in the best average samples, contain more than 22°39 per cent. of phosphoric acid =48°51 per cent. of tricalcic phosphate, supposing it all combined with calcium (see ana given in Mr. Brodie’s paper). I hope at some future period to demonstrate the origin of these nodules by chemical analysis. The indication of the comparatively small amount of pure alu- mina contained in clays may serve to a certain extent to remove Mr. Seeley’s difficulty as to what “ becomes of the clay ;” and | may also remind him that, on his part, he has not told us whence the alumima undoubtedly contained in the nodules is derived. To Mr. Seeley’s objection to the word “soaked” I can only reply that I used it to indicate my belief that the clay derived from the sea-cliffs, formed of older beds, encloses and is saturated with animal and vegetable matter. VI. Mr. Seeley repeats, “ with diffidence, on account of the state of the specimens,” that he gathered no extraneous fossils from the bed. It is ‘‘on account of the state of the specimens” that I regard them as derived from the denudation of older formations. The condition of the bones and teeth of reptiles and fishes shows that they have been rolled, and, moreover, rolled after fossilization. VII. & VIII. Mr. Seeley complains that I did not take the trouble to get the phosphatic casts of the shells named; but he cautiously omits to give a list of those which he has determined to be Portland species; he also omits a list of the ferruginous shells. I gave a list of all I had obtained, when my paper was published, that were in a condition sufficiently perfect for deter- mination. IX. I am flattered by Mr. Seeley’s remark that my list of Mollusca has ‘‘ some approach to correctness.” I am sorry that he does not add the “ some few others ” to his remarkable state- ment about the species of Terebratule. With regard to the fossil I have named Ostrea macroptera, he makes the following curious statement :—‘ Although this is the name used by me for this fossil, as a variety of the O. frons of Parkinson, it is a form limited, so far as I know, to the Portland Rock—very unlike Sowerby’s typical O. macroptera”’ Why does Mr. Seeley Phosphatie Deposit at Potton, in Bedfordshire. 121 call this fossil by a name which he knows to be the wrong one? On referring to Prof. Morris’s catalogue, I find that O. macro- ptera occurs in the Gault of Oxfordshire, in the Lower Greensand of Atherfield, and in the Greensand of Farringdon, where I found specimens during a recent visit. Mr. Seeley next states that he has seen no such shells as Exogyra conica &c., adding, “though I have long had other species of those genera in the Woodwardian Museum.”’ He ought to have given a list of the specimens, which I presume, from his statement, have been presented by him to the University Collection. X. With regard to this paragraph I can only say that, m my paper read before the British Association, I distinctly mentioned that fishes from the Kimmeridge Clay at Ely, specifically iden- tical with those from Potton, were exhibited m the Woodwardian Museum, and that I think the rolled condition of the Potton specimens is a sufficient “reason for thinking them other than tenants of the sea of the time.” I must confess that 1 am at a loss to understand the purpose of Mr. Seeley’s reference to the existence of named specimens of these fishes in the University Museum, unless he considers that no one has a right to consult a public museum without acknowledging each occasion on which he may have derived information from it. As regards the spe- cimens referred to in my paper, I had many of them in my possession and had determined them before any fossils from Potton were exhibited or, so far as I know, contained in the Woodwardian Museum. XI. I will not be behind Mr. Seeley in confessing what I dare not call the only mistake in my paper. There occur in this bed rolled fragments of a rock composed almost entirely of shells ; the specimens found were very much decomposed, and presented precisely the aspect of fragments of the Cyrena-bed. Since then, more boulders of this rock have been found, in a better state of preservation. On breaking these, I also have found specimens of Cardium ; therefore I will admit that the specimens I mentioned in my paper probably contain the same shells. But I think that there is sufficient evidence of the denudation of the Wealden in the occurrence of the rolled bones of [guano- don &e., and in the rolled fruits and wood. The wood exists in two different states of mineralization, as I remarked in my paper. Mr, Seeley states that he has shown in his paper “ that the material of the deposit came from the east.” I suppose he refers to one of his unpublished papers. XII. The species described by me as Sphera Sedgwickii, if not a Sphera, is probably the type of a new genus ; if, however, it should hereafter be proved to be a Cyprina, I have no doubt that it will be found to differ considerably from C. angulata,Sow., 122 Dr. P. L. Selater on the Species of the Genus Tribonyx. of which species Mr. Seeley says it is only a variety. Pholas Dallasii (nibi) appears to me to be nearly allied to D’Orbigny’s P. Cornueliana ; and both will, of course, take their place in the subgenus Pholadidea, as indicated by Mr. Seeley. Finally, Mr. Seeley says: “ The age of the beds is a difficult problem, and not one that can be solved by an appeal to fossils, or mineral character, or superposition.” Unfortunately, Mr. Seeley does not inform us how the problem is to be solved, unless he wishes us to receive his hypotheses without requiring any proof. If I am honoured by a reply to my remarks, I may remind Mr. Seeley that, although the opinion of an eminent geologist must have great weight, yet it is by no means weakened by an appeal to facts, and that it is hardly fair to adduce in support of his arguments results said to be detailed in a book still unpublished, or in papers which have not yet appeared in print *, XVIII.— Note on the Species of the Genus Tribonyx. By P. L. Scrater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Zoological Society of London. In endeavouring to ascertain the correct scientific name of a fine specimen of a Ralioid bird of the genus Tribonya, from Western Australia, which has lately been added to the Society’s Collection, I have discovered that there seems to have been some little confusion between two of the species of this genus, which I take the opportunity of setting ght. Upon turning to Mr. Gould’s ‘ Birds of Australia,’ to which one naturally refers for the determination of an Australian bird, it is at once apparent that the Society’s specimen is not the bird figured there as Tribonyx Mortiert, being distinguishable by its larger size and the distinct white stripes on the wings, although otherwise much resembling it. But, in his original description of Tribonyx Mortieri, Du Bus most clearly describes these * Several examples of this citation of unpublished materials occur in Mr. Seeley’s paper. I may refer more particularly to that which, as he says, was read on May 27th, 1867, before the Cambridge Philosophical Society, on a deposit near Upware. I was present on that occasion, and heard Mr. Seeley’s remarks, with many of which, however, I could not concur, as I stated at the time. Mr. Seeley’s so-called paper consisted apparently of an extempore exposition of his views. No list of fossils was given by him; and the whole paper was quite unworthy of an attempt to revolutionize the geological classification of the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous beds, in support of which it is cited in the last Number of the ‘Annals.’ I had already communicated (May 7th, 1867) a short paper on the Upware deposit to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society : this is printed in the ‘ Geological Magazine’ for July. Prof. J. V. Barboza du Bocage on Hyalonema lusitanicum. 123 spots*, although they are very faintly represented in the figure attached. It is the same in the case of Lafresnaye’s descrip- tion of his Brachyptrallus ralloides, which is to be referred to the stripe-winged species. It becomes evident, therefore, that Mr. Gould has been in error in referring the smaller Tasmanian bird to Tribonyx Mortieri ; and I propose to call it Tribonyx Gouldi, after its discoverer. We may then distinguish the three species (two of which are now living in the Society’s collection, where also the third was exhibited alive a few years since) as follows :— 1. Tribonyx Mortiert. Tribonyx Mortieri, Du Bus, Bull. Ac. Brux. vii. p. 215 (cum fig.). Brachyptrallus ralloides, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 232. Diagn. Major ; alis albo striatis ; plaga magna hypochondriali alba. Hab. Western Australia. In vivario Soc. Zool. Londin. Specimen unicum ! 2. Tribonyx Gouldi. Tribonyx Mortieri, Gould, Birds of Austr. vi. pl.71; ejusd. Handb. it. p. 324. Diagn. Medius; alis immaculatis; plaga magna hypochon- driali alba. Hab. Tasmania. Nuper in vivario Soc. Zool. Londin. 3. Tribonyx ventralis. Gallinula ventralis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soe. 1836, p. 85. Tribonyx ventralis, Gould, Birds of Austr. vi. pl. 72; Handb. to Birds of Austr. il. p. 325. Diagn. Minor ; alis immaculatis; hypochondriis nigris, albo guttatis. Hab. New South Wales, Southern Australia, Victoria and Western Australia (Gould). In vivario Soc. Zool. Londin. XIX.—On Hyalonema lusitanicum. By J. V. Barsoza pu BocaGe. Letters addressed to Dr. J. E. Gray. My pear SiR, Lisbon, May 25, 1867. On my return from a journey of a few weeks to our northern provinces I have just received three of your letters, the last of * “ Tectricibus alarum mediis et minoribus cinereo-olivaceis, albo termi- natis, et longitrorsum in medio striatis.”,—Du Bus. 124 Prof. J. V. Barboza du Bocage on Hyalonema lusitanicum. which informs me that the specimen of Hyalonema sent to M. Ehrenberg has already returned into your possession. At the same time with your letter, I have received another from Professor Ehrenberg. He persists in believing me the victim of a mystification, and in regarding the Hyalonemas as artificial products manufactured by the Japanese. I will here transcribe for you a portion of his letter, in order that you may judge of the arguments upon which he supports his opinion. It is Professor Ehrenberg who speaks :— “T am convinced that the officer of customs who procured you these specimens has been deceived by some dealer in objects of natural history, or by travellers coming from Japan, and who have invented the fishery of these bodies near Setubal. It has been possible to place beyond doubt the presence of cotton threads for the attachment of the different pieces; there are also on the surface fibres of wool coloured red and green, certainly belonging to some old sailor’s garment. The resemblance of this specimen to one of Brandt’s figures is so striking, that it is impossible for me to believe that bodies so alike im all their parts can occur both in the Sea of Japan and in that of Portugal, or that these forms could be constructed in a manner so identical in the midst of circumstances so widely separated.” Such are the arguments which lead Professor Ehrenberg to maintain:—1l. That the Hyalonemas are artificial products. 2. That the specimens that I possess have been manufactured in and brought from Japan. 38. That they have been sold to my correspondents by natural-history dealers (who do not exist in Portugal), or by sailors returning from Japan to Setubal, which has never, in the memory of man, seen a ship from China or Japan enter its little port! I have just replied to M. Ehrenberg:—1. That the seven specimens which I possess have been sent to me from Setubal by three persons, all belonging to the well-to-do classes of society, and all well known as perfectly honourable. 2. That these per- sons have received the Hyalonemas at different periods (1863, 1864, and 1865) from well-known fishermen, who brought them precisely in the season of the shark-fishery. 38. That these fishermen had no interest in deceiving, as they could not know the scientific interest of these captures. 4. That these fisher- men were always contented with a very modest gratuity (two or three francs) as a remuneration for having brought them. 5. That if the fishermen had the intention of demanding a higher price, instead of announcing them as derived from our coasts, they would not have failed to say that they had bought them from strangers, that this had cost them very dear, &c. Here, as everywhere, exotic products generally pay much better. Prof. J. V. Barboza du Bocage on Hyalonema lusitanicum, 125 This is pretty nearly what I have replied to Professor Ehren- berg; but I am sure that he will maintain his first notion. It is his fixed idea. There is, however, in what Professor Ehrenberg has written to me a question of fact, which I beg you to verify and get veri- fied. M. Ehrenberg asserts that he has been able to place be- yond doubt the presence of cotton threads attaching the different pieces of the Hyalonema. Now I beg you to examine with the utmost care the specimens which you possess, and in which M. Ehrenberg asserts that he has found this proof of artificial fabri- cation, and be kind enough to communicate to me the result of your examination. For my part I have examined with scrupulous attention the six specimens which [ possess; and not one of them presents the least trace of cotton threads, or anything which would lead one to believe in their artificial fabrication. The power of a preconceived idea is such that it will make us see cotton threads and signs of human fabrication in perfectly natural products in which they do not exist ! The confidence with which M, Ehrenberg writes to me about this throws me into the deepest astonishment. On my side there is not the least question of self-love. I am disposed to change my opinion in the presence of good arguments ; but I cannot accept as such perfectly absurd hypotheses. I have also just read, in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History? (March 1867), the article by M. Max Schultze. He still believes in his sponge; but, although agreeing on this point with Dr. Bowerbank, he does not admit that the polypes also belong to the sponge. Quot capita, tot sententie. Excuse me for having written you such a long letter, and accept, &e. J. V. Barsoza pu Bocacs. My DEAR AND HONOURED CONFRERE, Lisbon, June 15, 1867. Professor Ehrenberg’s incredulity with regard to the habitat of Hyalonema lusitanicum has driven me to undertake a journey to Setubal, in order to obtain all desirable particulars on the spot. The following is a summary of the rigorous imquiry which I have just carried out. The Hyalonemas are well known not only to the shark-fishers and the proprietors of fishing-boats, but also to several people of good position in the town. They call them “ chicotes de mar,” that is to say, “sea-whips.” It is since 1863 that the shark- fishers have most frequently found Hyalonemas attached to their fishing-apparatus ; nevertheless some persons remember having 126 Prof. J. V. Barboza du Bocage on Hyalonema lusitanicum. seen, long before that period and at long intervals, some speci- mens brought from the sea by an old padrone lately dead, called Christovao da Penha. It is not difficult to explain why the Hyalonemas, having been extremely rare and almost unknown at Setubal until 1863, have become more abundant since that period. We must in the first place take into account the ignorance of the fishermen, who are in the habit of throwing overboard everything that they think useless ; but there is another important circumstance that has strongly struck me. Formerly the sharks were more abun- dant in our seas, and to find them the fishermen of Setubal did not need to depart very far from the shore; but for some years they have had to be sought at greater distances and at greater depths; and it is precisely in these deeper seas and at this greater distance from the coast that the Hyalonemas are found. I must also add that, from information in which I have perfect confidence, the above-mentioned fisherman (Christovao da Penha) was, previous to 1863, perhaps the only one who was in the habit of fishing in the seas at a distance from the shore now frequented by all the fishermen; and this explains quite naturally why this same fisherman was the only one to meet with Hyalonemas in his tackle. Since 1863 I have received from Setubal seven complete spe- cimens of Hyalonema and a large packet of threads belonging to three or four individuals, which makes a total of ten or eleven individuals. Perhaps you would like to know the dates of these acquisitions, the names of the persons from whom I received them, and the names of the proprietors and padrones of boats who captured them. The first specimen (that which was described and figured by me) was sent to me by M. Garnitto, superior officer of customs at Setubal ; it was fished in June 1863 by the padrone Domingo Correia. In May 18641 received from M. Garnitto another individual, which was given to him by José Vagueiro, proprietor of a boat, the padrone of which is named Manuel de Souza. In September of the same year, M. Brito, a landed proprietor at Setubal, presented me with a magnificent specimen and with a large packet of threads, which he had received from Manuel Pedro, proprietor of a boat, the padrone of which is named José Correia. Lastly, in September 1866, M. Cunha Freire, officer of cus- toms at Setubal and collector of the fishery. dues, presented me with four specimens taken together by the padrone Domingo Correia, the same who brought to M. Garnitto the first specimen of which he made me a present, in 1863. It is one of these four specimens that is now in the British Museum. Royal Society. 127 I profited by my short residence in Setubal to inquire whether there were other specimens of Hyalonema im the possession of any inhabitant of that town, and I had the good fortune to find one in a good state of preservation, belonging to a proprietor of fishing-boats, Antonio Avelino, who generously gave it to me. This individual, which brings up to twelve the number of Hya- lonemas observed by me, was fished in April of the present year, by the padrone Manuel de Souza the younger, After this exposition of the facts, the correctness of which I guarantee, I hope there will no longer be any pretext for doubting the habitat which I have assigned to Hyalonema lusi- tanicum. As to regarding the Hyalonemas as artificial products of the industry of the Japanese, this is an hypothesis so destitute of proof that it seems to me useless to discuss it here. I will only renew the declaration which I have already made to you with regard to the cotton thread which Professor Ehrenberg supposes to exist twisted round the filaments beneath the corium poly- pigerum. I maintain that this supposed thread does not exist either in the specimen I have presented to the British Museum, or in any of those in the Museum at Lisbon. I authorize you to make what use you please of this letter, as also of my preceding one. Accept, &c., J. V. Barsoza pu Bocace. PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. ROYAL SOCIETY. May 2, 1867.—Lieut.-General Sabine, President, in the Chair. “On the Genera Heterophyllia, Battersbyia, Paleocyclus, and Asterosmilia, and their Position in the Classification of the Sclero- dermic Zoantharia.”” By Dr. P. M. Duncan, Sec. GS. Although the practical and natural classification of the Madre- poraria (Sclerodermic Zoantharia) which has been submitted by MM. Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime is very generally admitted to be the best, still there are great gaps in the succession of the genera, and, moreover, some genera cannot be placed. The ‘‘ break”’ between the Turbinolides and the Astrzeides is so great as to render the classification rather artificial ; but Dr. Duncan’s discovery of a genus Asterosmilia, comprising several species, unites these great divisions. The new genus has the peculiarities of the Trochocyathi, but in addition it is furnished with an endotheca. The species are described. The genera Heteropiyllia, M°Coy, and Battersbyia, Milne- 128 Royal Society :— Edwards and Jules Haime, are amongst those incerte sedis. The discovery of several new species of Heterophyllia enables Dr. Duncan to determine the anatomy of the genus, to offer for consideration the most extraordinary coral form he has ever seen, and to ally the genus with Battersbyia, which he proves had no ccenenchyma. The species of both of the genera are described shortly, and the develop- ment and reproduction of B. gemmans also. The genera are placed amongst the Astreeidee. The genus Paleocyclus, M.-E. & J. H., supposed to be one of the Fungidee, is proved to be a vesiculo-tubulate coral genus, and to be one of the Cyathophyllide. One Mesozoic family is therefore removed from the Paleozoic coral- fauna, and two genera of a Mesozoic division are introduced. They foreshadow the Thecosmilie of the Trias. “Contribution to the Anatomy of Hatteria (Rhynchocephalus, Owen).” By Avsert Gintuer, M.A., Ph.D., M.D. The skull of Hatteria is distinguished by the following charac- ters :— 1. Persistence of the sutures, especially of those between the lateral halves of the skull, combined with great development of its ossified parts—a development which appears in the expanse of the bones forming the upper surface of the facial portion, in the com- pleteness of an orbital ring with a temporal and zygomatic bar (Crocodilia), in the much expanded columella, in the nearly com- pletely osseous bottom of the orbit, and roof of the palate. 2. Sutural union of the tympanic with the skull; firm and solid union of the bones of the palate with the tympanic, as shown by the sutural connexion of tympanic and pterygoid, broad sutural con- nexion of the columella with tympanic and pterygoid, immoveable pterygo-sphenoid joint, firm and extensive attachment of pterygoid to ectopterygoid. 3. This restriction of the mobility of the bones named is com- pensated by an increased and modified mobility of the lower jaw, the mandibles being united by ligament, and provided with a much elongated articular surface. 4, Displacement of the palatine bones, which are separated by the pterygoids, and replace a palatal portion of the maxillaries. 5. Perforation of the tympanic; extremely short postarticular process of the mandible. The vertebral column and the remainder of the skeleton show the following peculiarities :— 1. Vertebree amphiccelian ; caudal vertebre vertically divided into two equal halves. Points of minor importance are the uniform development of strong neural spines, and the direction of the caudal pleurapophyses, which point forwards. 2. The costal hemapophyses are modified, first, into a series of appendages identical in position with the uncinate processes of birds; and, secondly, into a double terminal series connecting the Dr. A. Giinther on the Anatomy of Hatteria. 129 ribs with the thoracic and abdominal sterna, the distal pieces being much dilated and forming the base of a system of muscles (retractors of the abdominal ribs). 3. The development of a system of abdominal ribs, standing in intimate and functional relation to the ventral integuments. 4. Continuity of the ossification of the coracoid ; presence of an ae tuberosity of the scapula; subvertical direction of the os ilium. 5. The arrangement of the bones of the limbs and their muscles does not show any deviation from the Lacertian type. The dentition of Hatteria is unique. That of young examples differs scarcely from the dentition of other acrodont lizards. In adult examples the intermaxillaries are armed with a pair of large cutting-teeth ; a part of the lateral teeth are lost ; and the alveolar edges of the jaws are cutting and highly polished, performing the function of teeth. A series of palatine teeth is in close proximity and parallel to the maxillary series, both series receiving between them in a groove the similarly serrated edge of the mandible. As regards the organs of sense, the absence of the pecten of the eye and of the tympanic cavity, the commencement of a spiral turn of the cochlea, and the attachment of the hyoid bone to the terminal cartilage of the stapes are to be noticed. The structure of the heart and of the organs of respiration and circulation are of the Lacertian type. The absence of a copulatory organ is a character by which Hat- teria is distinguished from all other Saurians. Thus Hatteria pre- sents a strange combination of elements of high and low organiza- tion, and must be regarded as the type of a distinct group. Its affinities and systematic position may be indicated in the following Synopsis of Recent Reptilia. I. SQuaMATa. First order. Ophidia. Second order. Lacertilia. Suborder A. Amphishenoidea. Suborder B. Cionocrania. Suborder C. Chameleonoidea. Suborder D. Nyctisaura. Third order. Rhynchocephalia. II. Loricata. Fourth order. Crocodilia. III. CaTaAPHRACTA. Fifth order. Chelonia. May 9, 1867.—Lieut.-General Sabine, President, in the Chair. **On the Development and Succession of the Teeth in the Marsu- pialia”’ By Witit1am Henry Fiower, F.R.S., F.R.C.S. Although the dentition of adult individuals of all the animals which constitute the remarkable Order or, rather, Subclass Marsupialia Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol. xx. 9 130 Royal Society :— has been repeatedly subjected to examination, and described with exhaustive minuteness of detail, it is a singular circumstance that most of those peculiarities in the succession of their teeth which distinguish them from other mammals appear hitherto to have escaped observation. To supply this blank is the object of the present com- munication. Fortunately the materials at my disposal, although not quite so complete as might be desired, are yet amply sufficient to illustrate the main aspects of the question, and to supply a result as interesting as it was unexpected. Descriptions are given in the paper, accompanied by drawings, of several stages of the dentition of members of each of the six natural families into which the order is divided. 1. Macropodide.—tThe dentition of the Kangaroo (genus Macro- pus), from the completely edentulous foetus to adult age, is described in detail. Contrary to what has been specially stated with regard to this genus, there are no deciduous or milk-incisors, the teeth of this group which are first formed and calcified in both jaws being those which are retained throughout the life of the animal. The rudimentary canine and first premolar have also no deciduous pre- decessors. The second tooth of the molar series (a true molar in form) is vertically displaced by a premolar. The four true molars have, as has long been known, no deciduous predecessors. There is thus but one tooth on each side of each jaw in which the phenomenon of di- phyodont succession occurs. ‘The period at which this takes place varies in different species of the family. In some forms of Hypsi- prymnus the successional premolar is not cut until after the last true molar is in place and use,—this probably having relation to the ex- traordinary size of the tooth, and the time consequently required for its development.. A special characteristic of this family is the ten- dency to lose the canine and one or both premolars at a compara- tively early period of life. 2. Phalangistide.—Several early stages of the dentition of Pha- langista vulpina are described and figured. In a young specimen in which no teeth had cut the gum, the crowns of the permanent in- cisors, canine, and first two molars were found to be calcified, and the germ of the permanent premolar was already formed beneath the milk- or deciduous molar, which, as in Macropus, is the only tooth which is shed and replaced by a successor. The change takes place at an earlier period than in the last family. 3. Peramelidea.—No very early stages of Perameles were examined; but adolescent specimens of this genus and of Cheropus show that a very minute, compressed, molariform tooth is replaced by the tri- angular, pointed, third or posterior premolar. No other signs of vertical displacement and succession were observed. 4. Didelphide.—In the American genus Didelphys, the observa- tions are complete from the earliest stage, and show that, as in the Australian Macropodide and Phalangistide, none of the teeth of the permanent series have predecessors except the compressed pointed last premolar, which replaces a tooth having the broad multicus- pidate crown of a true molar. Mr. W. H. Flower on the Teeth in the Marsupialia. 1381 This change does not occur until the animal approaches the adult age. 5. Dasyuride.—In a foetal Thylacinus, in which no teeth had cut the gum, the crowns of the permanent incisors, canines, premolars, and anterior true molars were partially calcified, and necessarily much crowded together in the jaw. A very minute rudimentary molar was situated just beneath the alveolar mucous membrane, superficially to the apex of the hindermost premolar, and was evi- dently its milk-predecessor. 6. Phascolomyide.—This family is placed last because the obser- vations regarding it are less complete than in the case of any of the others. The youngest Wombat available presented no evidence of succession of any of the teeth; but it is probable that the single premolar is preceded by a milk-molar, at a still earlier period than any examined. From the foregoing observations it may be concluded with toler- able safety that the animals of the Order Marsupialia present a pe- culiar condition of dental succession, uniform throughout the order, and distinct from that of all other mammals. This peculiarity may be thus briefly expressed. The teeth of Marsupials do not vertically displace and succeed other teeth, with the exception of a single tooth on each side of each jaw. The tooth in which a vertical succession takes place is always the corresponding or homologous tooth, being the hindermost of the premolar series*, which is preceded by a tooth having the characters, more or less strongly expressed, of a true molar. It has been usual to divide the class Mammalia, in regard to the mode of formation and succession of their teeth, into two groups—the Monophyodonts, or those that generate a single set of teeth, and the Diphyodonts, or those that generate two sets of teeth; but even in the most typical diphyodonts the successional process does not ex- tend to the whole of the teeth, always stoppmg short of those situated most posteriorly in each series. The Marsupials occupy an intermediate position, presenting as it were a rudimentary diphyo- dont condition, the successional process being confined to a single tooth on each side of each jaw. This position, however, is by no means without analogy among the mammals of the placental series. In the Dugong and the existing Elephants the successional process is limited to the incisor teeth. It is questionable whether the first premolar of those animals of this group which have four premolar teeth, as the Hog, Dog (mandible), &c., ever has a deciduous pre- decessor, at all events so far advanced as to have reached the calci- fied stage. But the closest analogy with the marsupial mode of succession is found among the Rodents. Here the incisors appear to have no deciduous predecessors ; and in the Beaver, Porcupine, and others, which have but four teeth of the molar series, 7. e. three true * The convenient distinction between false molars or premolars and true molars, is always well marked in the form of the crown, especially in the upper jaw, in the Marsupials. Q* 1382 Royal Society :— molars and one premolar, the latter is, exactly as in the Marsupials, the only tooth which succeeds a deciduous tooth. The analogy, however, does not hold in those Rodents which have more than one premolar, as the Hare; for in this case each of these teeth has its deciduous predecessor. In the preceding account I have used the term “ permanent”? for those teeth which remain in use throughout the animal’s life, or, if they fall out (as do the rudimentary canines and the premolars of the Macropodide), do not give place to successional teeth; and I have therefore assumed that the milk or temporary dentition of the typical diphyodont mammals is represented in the Marsupials only by the deciduous molars. It may be held, on the other hand, that the large majority of the teeth of the Marsupials are the homologues of the milk or first teeth of the diphyodonts, and that it is the permanent or second dentition which is so feebly represented by the four successional premolars, This view is supported by many general analogies in animal organization and development, such as the fact that the permanent state of organs of lower animals often represents the immature or transitional condition of the same parts in beings of higher organization. Looking only to the period of development of the different teeth in some of the marsupial genera, we might certainly be disposed to place the successional premolar in a series by itself, although, indeed, all its morphological characters point out its congruity with the row of teeth among which it ultimately takes its place, the reverse being the case with its predecessor. It is, however, almost impossible, after examining the teeth of the young Thylacine described and figured in the paper, to resist the conclusion originally suggested. The unbroken series of incisors, canines, premolars, and anterior true molars of nearly the same phase of development, with posterior molars gradually added as age advances, form a striking contrast to the temporary molar, so rudimental in size, and transient in duration. I can scarcely doubt that the true molars of this animal would be identified by every one as homologous with the true molars of the diphyodonts, which are generally regarded as belonging to the per- manent series, although they never have deciduous predecessors. Now, if the homology between the true molars of the Thylacine and those of a Dog, for instance, be granted, and if the anterior teeth (incisors, canines, and premolars) of the Thylacine be of the same series as its own true molars, they must also be homologous with the corresponding permanent teeth of the Dog. It may be objected to this argument, that the true molars of the diphyodonts, not being successional teeth, ought to be regarded as members of the first or milk-series; but, in truth, the fact that they have themselves no predecessors does not make them serially homo- logous with the predecessors of the other teeth, while their morpho- logical characters, as well as their habitual persistence throughout life, range them with the second or permanent series. We have been so long accustomed to look upon the second set of teeth as an after-development or derivative from the first, that it Mr. W.H. Flower on the Teeth in the Marsupialia. 133 appears almost paradoxical to suggest that the milk- or deciduous teeth may rather be a set superadded to supply the temporary needs of mammals of more complex dental organization. But it should be remembered that, instead of there being any such relation between the permanent and the milk-teeth as that expressed by the terms *‘progeny’’ and “parent”’ (sometimes applied to them), they are both (if all recent researches into their earlier development can be trusted) formed side by side from independent portions of the pri- mitive dental groove, and may rather be compared to twin brothers, one of which, destined for early functional activity, proceeds rapidly in its development, while the other makes little progress until the time approaches when it is called upon to take the place of its more precocious locum tenens. Many facts appear to point to the milk-teeth as being the less constant and important of the two sets developed in diphyodont dentition. Among these the mest striking is the frequent occurrence of this set in a rudimentary and functionless or, as it were, partially developed state. The milk-premolars of some Rodents (as the Guinea-pig), shed while the animal is iz wéero, the simple structure and evanescent nature of the milk-teeth of the Bats, Insectivores, and Seals, the diminutive first incisors of the Dugongs and Elephants, all appear to be cases in point. On the other hand, examples of the commencing or sketching out, as it were, of the successors to a well-formed, regular, and functional first set of teeth, are rarely, if ever, met with. Occasional instances of the habitual early deca- dence, or, perhaps, absence of some of the second or so-called per- manent teeth occur in certain animals ; but these are rather examples of the disappearance or suppression of organs of which there is no need in the economy, and chiefly occur in isolated and highly medi- fied members of groups in the other members of which the same phenomenon does not occur, as in Cheiromys among the Lemurs, Trichechus among the Seals, and the recent Elephants (as regards the premolars) among the Proboscideans. They form no parallel to the cases mentioned above of the rudimentary formation of an entire series of teeth of the temporary or milk-set. To return to the Marsupials :—If this view be correct, I should be quite prepared to find, in phases of development earlier than those yet examined, some traces either of the papillary, follicular, or sac- cular stages of milk-predecessors to other of the teeth besides those determinate four in which, for some reason at present unexplained, they arrive at a more mature growth*. Such proof as this would alone decide the truth of these speculations ; and I have not at pre- sent either the requisite leisure or materials for following out so delicate an investigation. I trust that the facts already elicited are sufficiently novel and important to justify my bringing them, as they now stand, before the Society. * Tt may be remarked that the milk-tooth which alone is developed in the Marsupials corresponds homologically with that which, as a general rule, is most persistent in the typical diphyodonts, including Man, viz. the posterior milk- molar, replaced by the posterior permanent premolar, 134 Royal Society :-— May 16, 1867.—William Bowman, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. “Further Observations on the Structure and Affinities of Hozoon Canadense.” (In a Letter to the President.) By Wriuiam B. CARPENTER, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S. University of London, May 9th, 1867. When, on the 14th of December 1864, I addressed you on the subject of the remarkable discovery which had been recently made in Canada, and submitted by Sir William Logan to myself for verification, of a fossil belonging to the Foraminiferal type, occurring in large masses in the Serpentine-limestones imter- calated among Gneissic and other rocks in the Lower Laurentian formation, and therefore long anterior in Geological time to the earliest traces of life previously observed, no doubts had been expressed as to the organie nature of this body, which had received the designation Hozoon Canadense. The announcement was soon afterwards made, that the Serpen- tine Marble of Connemara, employed as an ornamental marble by builders under the name of “ Irish Green,” presented struc- tural characters sufliciently allied to those of the Laurentian Serpentines of Canada to justify its bemg referred to the same origin. An examination of numerous decalcified specimens of this rock led me to the conclusion that, although the evidences of its organic origin were by no means such as to justify, or even to suggest, such a doctrine, if the structure of the Canadian Eozoon had not been previously elucidated, yet the very exact corre- spondence in size and mode of aggregation between the Serpen- tine-granules of the Connemara Marble and those of the ‘ acervu- line’ portion of the Canadian was sufficient to justify in behalf of the one the claim which had been freely conceded in regard to the other. In the following summer, however, it was announced in the ‘Reader’ (June 10,1865) by Professors King and Rowney of Queen’s College, Galway, that having applied themselves to the study of the Serpentine-Marble of Connemara with a full belief in its organic origin, they had been gradually led to the convic- tion that its structure was the result of chemical and physical agencies alone, and that the same explanation was applicable to the supposed Kozoon Canadense of the Laurentian Serpentines. This view was afterwards fully set forth in a Paper “ On the go- called Eozoonal Rock,” read at the Geological Society on the 10th of January 1866, and published (with additions) in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for August 1866. The following is their own Summary of their conclusions (p. 215) :— “Tt has been seen (1) that the ‘chamber-casts’ or granules of serpentine are more or less simulated by chondrodite, coccolite, pargasite, &c., also by the botryoidal configurations common in Permian Magnesian Limestone; (2) that the ‘intermediate ske- leton’ is closely represented, both in chemical composition and other conditions, by the matrix of the above and other minerals ; Dr. W. B. Carpenter on Eozoon Canadense. 135 (3) that the ‘proper wall’ is structurally identical with the asbestiform layer which frequently invests the grains of chondro- dite—that, instead of belonging to the skeleton, as must be the case on the eozoonal view, it is altogether independent of that part, and forms, on the contrary, an integral portion of the serpentine constituting the ‘ chamber-casts,’ under the allomorphic form of chrysotile, and that perfectly genuine specimens of it, completely simulating casts of separated nummuline tubules, occur in true fissures of the serpentine-granules; (4) that the ‘canal-system’ is analogous to the imbedded crystallizations of native silver and other similarly conditioned minerals, also to the coralloids imbedded in Permian Magnesian Limestone; that its typical Grenville form occurs as metaxite, a chemically identical mineral imbedded in saccharoidal calcite ; (5) that the type ex- amples of ‘casts of stolon-passages’ are isolated crystals appa- rently of pyrosclerite. Furthermore, considering that there has been a complete failure to explain the characters of the so-called internal casts of the ‘ pseudopodial tubules’ and other ‘ passages’ on the hypothesis of ordinary mechanical or chemical infiltration, also bearing in mind the significant fact that the ‘intermediate skeleton,’ in Irish and other varieties of eozoonal rock, contains modified examples of the ‘definite shapes’ more or less resembling the crystalline aggregations and prismatic lumps in primary sac- charoidal marbles—that eozoonal structure is only found in meta- morphic rocks belonging to widely separated geological systems, never in their unaltered sedimentary deposits,—taking all these points into consideration, also the arguments and other evidences contained in the present memoir, we fee! the conclusion to be fully established, that every one of the specialities which have been diagnosed for Hozoon Canadense is solely and purely of crystalline origin: in short, we hold, without the least reservation, that from every available standing point—foraminiferal, mineralogical, che- 5 mical, and geological—the opposite view has been shown to be utterly untenable.” Considering that the Foraminiferal characters of Hozoon Cana- dense had been unhesitatingly accepted by all those zoologists, Continental as well as British, whose special acquaintance with the group gave weight to their opinion, it might have been pru- dent, as well as becoming, on the part of the Galway Professors, to express themselves somewhat less confidently in regard to its purely mineral origin. The case they made out would not have lost any of its real strength if they had simply put forward their facts as affording valid grounds for questioning the received doc- trine ; and a way of escape would have been left for them, if the progress of research should happen to bring to light conclusive evidence on the other side. Although such conclusive evidence is now producible, it may be well for me briefly to point out what I regard as the fundamental fallacies in the argument of Professors King and Rowney. 136 Royal Society :— In the first place, the Serpentine-Marble of Connemara, on which their investigations had been chiefly conducted, is admitted by every one who has examined it to have undergone a considera- ble amount of metamorphic change. To myself, as well as to Professors King and Rowney, the evidence which it presents of the operation of chemical and physical agencies is most obvious and conclusive; whilst the evidence of its organic origin rests entirely on its partial analogy to the eozoonal rock of Canada. Hence an entire surrender might be made of the organic hypothesis as regards the Connemara marble, without in the least degree invalidating the claim of the eozoonal rock of Canada to an or- ganic origin. But, on the other hand, if the latter claim can be sustained, it may be fairly extended to the “ Irish Green,” should the evidence of similarity be found sufficient to justify such an extension, since it must be admitted by every petrologist that no amount of purely mineral arrangement in a metamorphic rock can disprove its claim to organic origin, if that claim can be shown to be justified by distinct traces, in other parts of the same formation, of organisms adequate to its production. The Carboni- ferous Limestone, various members of the Oolitic and Cretaceous formations, and the Hippurite and Nummulitic Limestones, all exhibit in parts an entire absence of organic structure, which is yet so distinct elsewhere as to justify the generalization that their materials have been originally separated from the ocean-waters by animal agency. And it is well known to those who have studied the changes which recent Coral-formations have undergone when upraised above the sea-level, that a complete conversion of a mass of Coral into a subcrystalline Limestone not distinguishable from ordinary Carboniferous Limestone, may take place under circumstances in no way extraordinary. It is, therefore, upon the character of the Serpentine- Limestone of Canada, not upon the nature of the Connemara Marble, that the question of organic origin eutirely turns; and, as I have else- where shown in detail*, the hypothesis of Professors King and Rowney altogether fails to account for the combination of pheno- mena which the former presents, whilst the accordance of that combination with the idea of its Organic origin (a very moderate allowance being made for the effects of metamorphic change) is such as to establish the same kind of probability in its favour as that which we derive in the case of the Human origin of the “ flint implements ”’ from the cumulative evidence of their succession of fractured surfaces, or in the case of the chemical composition of the sun from the precise correspondence between certain dark lines in the solar spectrum and groups of bright lines produced in a dark spectrum by the combustion of certain known metals. I may stop to point out, however, that Professors King and Rowney do not attempt to offer any feasible explanation of the fundamental fact of the regular alternation of lamelle of Calca- * Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, August, 1866. Dr. W. B. Carpenter on Eozoon Canadense. 137 reous and Siliceous minerals, often amounting to fifty or more of each kind, extending through a great range of area, nor of the fact that not only is this arrangement the same, though the sili- ceous mineral may be Serpentine in one place, Pyroxene in an- other, or Loganite in another, whilst the calcareous may be Calcite in one part and Dolomite in another, but that these variations may occur in one and the same specimen, the structural arrange- ment being continuous throughout. And in what they state of the peculiar lamella forming the proper wall of the chambers, which I have designated the ‘ num- muline layer,’ they have fallen into errors of fact so remarkable, that I can only account for them by the belief that when their paper was written they knew this layer only by decalcified speci- mens, and had never seen it in thin transparent sections. For they describe it as composed of parallel fibres of chrysotile packed together without any intermediate substance; whereas I have distinctly proved that the siliceous fibres are imbedded in a calea- reous matrix, which I therefore feel justified in regarding as a finely tubulated Nummuline shell, of which the tubuli that were originally occupied by pseudopodia have been permeated by sili- ceous infiltration. So, again, while asserting that by no conceivable process could the animal substance originally occupying these tubuli have been replaced by siliceous minerals, they have entirely ignored the fact stated by me, that this very replacement has taken place in recent specimens in my possession—a fact on the basis of which the reconstruction of the animal of Eozoon proposed by Dr. Dawson and myself securely rests. The question may now, I believe, be regarded as conclusively settled by the recent discovery, in a sedimentary limestone of the Lower Laurentian formation at Tudor in Canada, of a specimen of Hozoon presenting characters that cannot, in the opinion of the most experienced paleontologists and mineralogists, be accounted for on any other hypothesis than that of its organic origin. Jor, in the first place, the occurrence of a calcareous framework or skeleton in a matrix of sedimentary limestone, which also fills up its interspaces, altogether excludes the hypothesis that this frame- work might be the product of any kind of pseudomorphic arrange- ment produced by the separation of calcareous and _ siliceous minerals from a solution containing both. And, secondly, this specimen exhibits that which had not previously been distinctly seen in any other, viz. a distinctly limited contour, formed by the curving downwards and closing-in of the septa, in a manner as perfect and characteristic as the closing-in of the successive chambers of any polythalamous shell. I believe that no palzonto- logist familiar with Paleozoic fossils would have hesitated to pro- nounce this specimen a fossil Coral allied to Stromatopora, if it had oceurred in a Silurian Limestone. That this specimen, though differing greatly in appearance 138 Royal Society :— from the ordinary Serpentinous Hozoon, really represents that or- ganism, is shown not merely by the oeneral arrangement of the calcareous lamelle, but by their minute structure. This, it is true, is far less characteristically seen in thin sections microsco- pically examined than it is in the specimens whose cavities have been filled up: by Serpentine, the texture of which is often so marvellously little changed as to have all the appearance of recent shell-substance ; but the alteration which the shelly layers have undergone in this specimen is precisely paralleled by that which I have been accustomed to find in the best-preserved specimens of other organic structures contained in the more ancient lime- stones. And there are still distinctly recognizable traces of the canal-system imperfectly injected with black substance, which correspond with those of the ordinary Serpentinous Hozoon. For the imperfection of the specimen in this respect, however, full compensation is made in the perfect preservation of the canal- system in a small fragment of Hozoon long since observed by Dr. Dawson in a crystalline limestone at Madoc. This specimen having been placed in my hands by Sir William Logan, with permission to treat it in any way that should enable me to make a thorough examination of it, I have succeeded in finding in it most complete and beautiful examples of the canal-system, pre- senting varieties of size and distribution exactly parallel to those with which I am familiar in the Serpentine-specimens. Now, as there is not in the Madoe, any more than in the Tudor specimen, any such combination of different minerals as has been supposed by Professors King and Rowney to have given origin to the arbo- rescent forms of the canal-system of Eozoon (which they have likened to moss-agate or crystallized silver), there can be no longer any reasonable ground for disputing the essential similarity of this canal-system to that first described by myself in Calcarina, with which it was originally compared by Dr. Dawson*. The extension of the inquiry into the character of the Serpentine limestones intercalated among the Gneissic and other rocks of Laurentian age in various parts of Europe, has brought to light such numerous examples of eozoonal structure, more or less dis- tinctly preserved, as to afford strong grounds for the conclusion that this organism was very generally diffused at that epoch, and performed much the same part, in raising up solid structures in the waters of the ocean, that the Coral-forming Zoophytes perform at the present time. I had myself examined before the close of 1865 specimens of Ophicalcite from Cesha Lipa in Bohemia and from the neighbourhood of Moldau, in which an eozoonal struc- ture was distinctly traceable ; and early i in 1866 a more extended series was transmitted to me ‘through Sir C. Lyell from Dr. Giim- bel, the Government Geologist of Bavaria, in which I was able to * A full description of these specimens by Dr. Dawson, with a notice of their stratigraphical position by Sir William Logan, has been read at the Geological Society, on the 8th of May, 1867. Mr. W. B. Dawkins on Ovibos moschatus. 139 trace a continuous gradation, from specimens in which the eozoonal structure was distinct, to others in which, if it ever existed, it had been completely obscured by subsequent metamorphism. The results of a very careful and complete examination of the Ophi- calcites of Bavaria by Dr. Giimbel himself have been communicated to the Royal Academy of Munich*. Appearances of the same character are presented by a series of specimens of the Serpentinous Limestones from the Primitive Gneiss of Scandinavia, kindly transmitted to me by Prof Lovén. Iventure to hope that the foregoing résumé of the present aspect of this subject will be of interest to the Fellows of the Royal Society. I say the present aspect, because I am strongly con- vinced that we are at present only at the beginning of our know- ledge of this and other ancient types of Foraminiferal structure, and that careful search in promising localities will bring to light many wonders now lying unsuspected in the vast aggregate of pre-Silurian strata. May 23, 1867.—Lieut.-General Sabine, President, in the Chair. a “ Ovibos moschatus (Blainville).””, By W. Boyp Dawkins, M.A., GS. Ovibos moschatus, more commonly known as the musk-ox, has been described under different names by naturalists as their opinions fluctuated concerning its aflinities with the ox, buffalo, or sheep. It is called the musk-ox by all the arctic explorers, Bos moschatus by Schreber, Zimmermann, Pennant, and Cuvier, musk-buffalo allied to the Bubalus caffir of South Africa by Professor Owen, Ovibos moschatus by De Blainville, Desmarest, Richardson, and M. Lartet. That the latter four naturalists are right in the place they assign to it in the zoological scale, inter- mediate between Ovis and Bos, is proved both by the natural his- tory and the osteology of the animal. The absence of a muftle and dewlap, the hairiness of the nostrils, the shortness of tail and smallness of ear, and the possession of two teats only, separate the animal from Bos and connect it with Ovis, while the large size and long gestation of nine months differentiate it from the latter animal. Precisely the same evidence is afforded by its skeleton. In the skull, the tapering of the anterior portion, the prominence of the orbit, the verticality of the facial plate of the maxillary, the presence of a larmier, the squareness of the basisphenoid, the pre- sence of the occipito-parietal suture on the coronal surface—in the dentition the sharpness of the cost 1, 2, and 3, and the absence of the accessory column from the inner interspace of the lobes of the upper teeth, are among the chief ovine characters; and throughout the skeleton the same ovine tendency is manifested. * “Ueber das Vorkommen von EKozoon im ostbayerischen Urgebirge,” aus d, Sitzungsber. d. k. Acad. d. W. in Miinchen, 1866, i. 1, 140, Royal Society. With the exception of the great development of the horns, there is no point in common between it and Bubalus caffir. The encroach- ment of the horn-cores on the parietals differentiates it from the sheep. The animal ranges at the present day from Fort Churchill, lat. 60°, northwards as far as the arctic sea, and eastwards as far as Cape Bathurst, lat. 71°, living for the most part on the “barren grounds,’ and never penetrating far into the woods. In geological times, however, it had a far greater range eastwards and southwards. In the pleistocene river-gravels lying on the solid ice in Eschscholtz Bay, in Russian America, it is found associated with the elk, reindeer, bison, horse, and mammoth. Traces of the animal ranging further to the east are afforded by the skull found on the banks of the Yena, in lat. 70°, long. 185°. Dr. Pallas’s discovery of two skulls on the banks of the Obi brings the animal still closer to the borders of Europe. All three skulls were found in the “ Tundas,” or treeless “ barren grounds”’ of Siberia, in the same series of eravels which afford such vast stores of fossil ivory. In Germany it has been found in three localities ; and in France, in the valley of the Oise, it is as- sociated with flint implements of the St. Acheul type, and with the mammoth and Hlephas antiguus. It has also been found in the reindeer-caves of Périgord, under circumstances that prove beyond doubt that the animal was eaten by the reindeer-folk. In England it has been found in three gravel-beds of late pleisto- cene age, near Maidenhead, at Freshford near Bath, and at Greenstr -eet- green near Bromley. In 1866 the author dug it out of the lower brick-earth of Cray ford in Kent, where it was as- sociated with Rhinoceros megarhinus, R. leptorhinus (Owen), and Elephas antiquus. The skull in this latter case belonged to a remarkably fine old male. Thus its present limited range in space contrasts most strongly with its wide range in pleistocene times through North Siberia and Central Europe north of a line passing through the Alps and Pyrenees. Its association with animals of a temperate or else southern zone is to be accounted for by its having been driven from its usual haunts by an un- usually severe winter. The rarity of its remains proves that it was not so abundant as those animals which are associated with it in France, Germany, and Britain. Professor Leidy figures and describes two fossil skulls most closely allied to Ovibos moschatus, from Arkansas and Ohio, under the name of Bootherium cavifrons and B. bombifrons; they are, however, most probably the male and female of the same species. They differ from Ovibos moschatus only in the direction of their horn-cores, and in their bases meeting and becoming fused on the coronal surface of the male skull. The horn-cores are supported both by the frontals and parietals. In other respects they pre- sent the same ovine affinities as Ovibos, and certainly belong to the same genus. 14] MISCELLANEOUS. Cases of Monstrosities becoming the starting-point of New Races in Plants. By C. Naupin. THE discussion lately raised by MM. C. Dareste and A. Sanson upon the question whether monstrosities, in the animal kingdom, can become the origin of peculiar races, recalls to my memory some teratological facts which appear to me to show that this is the case in plants. Perhaps, however, in the first place, we ought to come to an understanding as to the sense to be attached to the word mon- strosity ; and to avoid all confusion I shall say that I employ it in the sense which is habitually given to it in botany, that of a notable deviation from typical or reputed typical forms. There is, in fact, a distinction to be made between cases of monstrosity incompatible with the faculty of reproduction by generation in the individuals affected by it, and those in which the alteration of form is not such as necessarily to imply the loss of this faculty. It is to the latter only that I wish to refer here, as they alone are in question. Well attested facts place it beyond a doubt, in my opinion, that considerable anomalies which, by general consent, are classed among the teratological facts of the vegetable kingdom are faithfully transmitted from generation to generation, and become the salient characters of new races. Horticulture would furnish a great number of these if the trouble had been taken to collect them and subject them to the check of experiment; but I can cite only a few, because they alone, as far as I know, have been examined scientifically ; and, moreover, they suffice to establish the principle of the transmission of anomalies by sexual reproduction through an indefinite series of generations. The first fact of this kind will be borrowed from Professor Goppert of Breslau. This was a poppy (Papaver officinale) which presented the curious anomaly of the transformation of a part of its stamens into carpels, from which resulted as it were a crown of secondary capsules round the normal central capsule, the develop- ment of which was nevertheless complete. One thing to be noted is that many of these small additional capsules, as well as the normal capsule, contained perfect seeds capable of reproducing the plant. In 1849, M. Goppert, having learnt that a whole field of these monstrous poppies existed a few miles from Breslau, sowed in the following year a considerable quantity of seeds taken designedly from the normal capsules; and nearly all the plants which sprang from this sewing reproduced the monstrosity of the previous genera- tion, although not all in the same degree. I do not dwell upon this first fact, because its observation was not, so far as I know, carried any further, and it may be thought that the number of generations is not sufficient to justify our concluding from it the stability of the anomaly indicated. The same doubt does not exist with regard to the following facts. Cultivators of ferns know that these plants are very subject to vary, and that some of them, even in the wild state, present true mon- 142 Miscellaneous. strosities in the conformation of their fronds, which by that means acquire very singular figures. These monstrosities are sought for by the fanciers of these plants, because they consider them an improvement; and they were for a long time rare and bore a high price in horticultural commerce. Now-a-days they are produced in as great abundance as can be desired, by simply sowing the spores, on condition that these spores are taken from the altered parts of the fructifying frond. Where the frond remains in the normal state, the spores only give origin to normal plants ; but those of the monstrous portions of the same fronds reproduce with certainty plants affected with the same kind of alteration. This mode of propagation has been in use for several years; and the fact of the transmission of monstrosities by sowing, in the Ferns, has never yet been invalidated by experiment. Very considerable anomalies, which may be classed among terato- logical facts with as much reason as in the two preceding instances, may be observed in the three species of alimentary gourds—plants subjected to cultivation from time immemorial, and which have never been found in the wild state. These anomalies are peculiar in this respect, that they characterize very well-marked and persistent races, are preserved notwithstanding changes of place and climate, and even partially resist crossing with other races of the same species. The date of their origin is unknown, nor do we know under what influences they were formed; but the species being here entirely reduced to a state of domesticity, it is very probable that some of these races, if not all, were actually produced by cultivation. Such, among others, is a race of the common gourd (Cucurbita pepo), in which the tendrils are all converted into a kind of branches which give origin to leaves, flowers, and often to fruits ; such are also, in the same species, those numerous races with deformed, warty, and oddly coloured fruits, which are preserved by sowings, always in a similar condition, so long as intercrossings do not step in to modify them. A still more remarkable example i is that of a small race of pumpkin (C. maxima) which we have received from China and ob- served for several years at the Museum. Resembling the type of the species in the organs of vegetation, it differs therefrom singularly in the ovary and the fruit, which have become almost entirely free, the tube of the calyx being reduced into a sort of plateau serving to support the carpels. Nevertheless the complete adhesion of the ovary to the tube of the calyx, in which it is deeply immersed, is given by all authors as one of the essential characters of the family Cucurbitacee. From this example we see how great may be the extent of the varia- tions and also what a degree of fixity these variations may acquire when once they are produced. The fact of which I have still to speak is quite recent, and has already been brought under the notice of the Academy by Dr. Godron, Professor of Botany at Nancy (Comptes Rendus, 1866, i. p- 379). I refer to it here because my own observations confirm it in all points, and especially because it shows us very clearly how a new race may originate from an anomaly. In 1861, Dr. Godron Miscellaneous. 143 found in a sowing of Datura tatula, a species with very spinous fruits, a single individual of which the capsule was perfectly smooth and unarmed. The seeds taken from this capsule furnished, in 1862, a lot of plants, all of which faithfully reproduced the individual from which they were derived. From these seeds sprang a third genera- tion similarly unarmed ; and I have myself observed at the Museum, in 1865 and 1566, the fourth and fifth generations of this new race, in all nearly one hundred individuals, none of which manifested the least tendency to resume the characters of the spinous type of the species. When crossed with the latter by M. Godron himself, the unarmed race furnished hybrids, which in the succeeding generation reverted to the spinous and unarmed forms; in other words, they behaved like true hybrids endowed with fertility. From this fact M. Godron proceeds to refer to a single specific type Datura stra- monium, D. levis (Bertoloni, not Linneeus), and D. tatula, three very constant forms which had previously been regarded as good species. By adding to these the D. tatula inermis, discovered by him, and to a certain extent originated under his eyes, we have four distinct forms, issuing by variation from a single type, and with regard to which we should not well know how to say what they wanted of being true species. Here a point presents itself to which I call the particular atten- tion of those who believe in the mutability of specific forms, and ascribe the origin of existing species to simple modifications of more ancient ones. They assume (at least most of them do so) that these modifications have been effected with excessive slowness, and by insensible transitions—for example, that it required several thousands of generations to transform one species into another congeneric species. We do not know what may have taken place in this long lapse of ages ; but experiments and observa- tion teach us that in the present day slight or profound anomalies, alterations of what we, perhaps arbitrarily, call specific types,—in a word, monstrosities, whether they be transitory and purely indi- vidual, or give rise to new durable races uniform in an unlimited number of individuals, are produced suddenly, and without there ever having been transition forms between them and the normal form. A new race originates perfectly formed, and the first indi- vidual which represents it is at once such as it will show in the suc- ceeding generations if circumstances allow it to be preserved. New modifications may be added to the first and subdivide the primary race into secondary races, but they are produced with the same suddenness as the first. Ido not here set myself up as the defender of the doctrine of evolution; I only say that the biological pheno- mena of the period in which we live by no meaus justify the hypo- thesis of an insensible degradation of ancient forms and the necessity of millions of years for changing the physiognomy of species. To judge from what we know, these transformations, if they have taken place, may have been effected in a lapse of time incomparably shorter than has been supposed. It may be, indeed, that there are these alternations in the life of nature—that periods of immobility, 144. Miscellaneous. real or apparent, are succeeded by other periods of rapid transforma- tion, during which what was previously only exceptional and abnormal becomes the regular state of matters. And, finally, we must not forget that to us time is only the succession of phenomena, and that, whether these phenomena appear to us to succeed one another slowly or precipitately, the result remains the same as regards the doctrine of evolution. In either case the principle of the continuity of things is in no degree affected.—Comptes Rendus, May 13, 1867, pp. 929-933. The Theory of the Skeleton. To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. GENTLEMEN,—I do not imagine that readers of this Magazine will have forgotten Mr. Herbert Spencer’s claim to date his views on the skeleton from 1858. I wrote to you not to dispute that, or to impugn Mr. Spencer’s claim to be a great discoverer, but to vindicate my own claim to have honestly and independently thought out, from anato- mical and physiological data, the theory of the skeleton which I had the honour to submit to your readers. I did not attempt to claim any credit, believing the pursuit of truth inconsistent with the pursuit of fame, and that fame is not honour when awarded at a man’s measure of his deserts, but only when spontaneously conferred by his fellow thinkers. If the germ of the view published in my paper prove, as it may prove in its present or some other form, an addition to the philosophical groundwork of anatomy, Mr. Spencer may be sure that he will receive a full share of honour, if his claim is well founded ; but till then, all haggling over priorities is waste of good time, which neither of us ought to be able or asked to spare from original work. I have done myself the pleasure to read the review of Prof. Owen’s theory of the skeleton, printed in the ‘ British and Foreign Medical and Chirurgical Review’ (new ser. vol. xxii.), of which Mr. Spencer avows himself the author. And after much logical criticism, in which Prof. Owen’s views are roughly handled, the review concludes with a page or two, much less logical, in which Mr. Spencer claims to have stated his discovery. So far as I can judge, the important passages in this statement are these :— “The entire teaching of comparative osteology implies that dif- ferences in the conditions of the respective vertebrze necessitate differences in their structures.” * * * * * “Tt is impossible to deny that if differences in the mechanical functions of the vertebrze involve differences in their forms, then community in their mechanical functions must involve community in their forms.” * * * * * Beta ka have a community of function, it follows necessarily that they will have a certain general resemblance.” Miscellaneous. 145 In my judgment, this is only another and more emphatic way of stating the coordination of structure and function which has been insisted on by Prof. Owen and other naturalists again and again. In the first passage that I have quoted all this dependence of structure on “conditions”? is assumed to be true. In the second passage, assuming it to be true, it is generalized into a law. In the third passage, assuming the existence of the law, its results are assumed to be tolerably uniform. Now I am not aware that any number of assumptions, vague ideas, or guesses will make a discovery; and if they had done so, are we not entitled to assume that the discoverer, instead of pub- lishing it anonymously, in a few vague sentences at the end of a review in a specially professional periodical, would have avowed his great thought, and brought it prominently before naturalists who could judge of its value? especially as he is now anxious to have: credit for it. I have also had an opportunity of referring to the ‘ Principles of Biology ;’ and although Mr. Spencer insists with admirable clearness on the correlation of structure and function, and, as in the review, on the modification of structures by ‘incident forces,” I did not notice that these “‘incident forces’’ were defined ; while, so far as I could understand, Mr. Spencer confessed that he did not altogether see how their results were produced. If this is a correct statement of Mr. Spencer’s vague hypothesis, I submit that, but for the terms “pressure and tension,” and ‘mechanical theory,”’ our views have little in common. His appears to me to have been an idea evolved out of an intellectual conscious- ness of what ought to be. My view was arrived at inductively from a long investigation ; and it was only when I was assured by mathe- maticians, chemists, physicists, and others of their willingness to cooperate in eventually demonstrating the view, that I consented to publish a sketch of my method of studying the theory of the skele- ton. For it is a part of a larger system referring the phenomena of nature to their ultimate and actual physical causes, many of which in their applications to life are discussed in a book of mine shortly to be published, on ‘‘ The Dynamical Geology of Great Britain.” . I am, Gentlemen, Very faithfully yours, Harry SEELEY. Note on the Phenomena of Muscular Contraction in the Vorticelle. By C. Rovcet. Living muscles can alternately shorten and elongate themselves : this is their characteristic property. In purely elastic organs short- ening only takes place after previous mechanical elongation ; the muscles, on the contrary, can shorten themselves without appearing to have undergone any extension. Whatever may be the causes of the elongation and shortening of the muscular fibres, whether these opposite states result from a Ann. & Mag. N. Hist, Ser. 3. Vol. xx. 10 146 Miscellaneous. mechanical extension followed by retraction, or whether they are produced apparently spontaneously, observation proves that in either case the alternate changes which the contractile organ undergoes are identical. In a muscular fibre which, after mechanical extension, returns upon itself in virtue of its elasticity, the transverse striee change their aspect and approach each other, at the same time that the transverse diameter increases in proportion to the diminution of the length. It is exactly in the same way that the muscular fibre behaves in passing from the state of elongation corresponding with the repose of the muscle to the state of active shortening designated by the name of muscular contraction. If the essential phenomena by which muscular contraction is manifested are identical with those of the elastic contraction of muscles—if, on the other hand, the elementary structure of contractile organs appears specially adapted to the manifestations of elasticity, we may justly ask whether it is necessary to invoke, in order to explain the shortening of muscle in the state of contraction, a special property of contractility, distinct from the properties of inorganic matter. Elasticity may become a cause of movement in two opposite condi- tions :— Either the elastic body, the spiral spring, is subjected to a pres- sure which keeps the turns of the spiral in a forced approximation, when, on the pressure ceasing, the turns separate, the spring elon- gates and moves by the mere fact of its elasticity ; or the spring is subjected to a tension which elongates it by separating the turns of the spiral from each other; on the tension ceasing, the turns ap- proach each other, and the spring moves by shortening, without anything but elasticity coming into play. The alternations of elongation and shortening of the elastic ele- ments (spiral fibrille) of the muscles might therefore be explained by elasticity alone, if we demonstrated the existence either of an agent of pressure exercising its action during the period of shorten- ing, or of an agent of extension acting during the period of elonga- tion—the muscle elongating in the former case and shortening in the latter by the free play of elasticity the moment the action of an antagonistic force ceases to equilibrate it. The physiological problem of muscular movement is thus brought to its most simple terms—to determine the natural form (the state of repose) of the muscular spring, the conditions which can remove it therefrom, and those to which elasticity recalls it. There are at present two hypotheses as to the cause of muscular movement: one attributes this movement to a special property of muscular fibre, zrrztability or contractility, which manifests itself only in the period of activity of the muscle and produces the short- ening; the other, on the contrary, regards the shortening as the return of the muscle to a state of repose. This latter hypothesis, which supposes that, during the period of apparent inactivity of the muscle, the nerves are constantly at work to maintain the forced extension of the contractile fibres, is certainly refuted by the incon- testible fact that the section of the motor nerves does not cause the Miscellaneous. 147 contraction of the muscle, but, on the contrary, the opposite state ; nevertheless it approaches the truth much more closely than the former. The observation of the phenomena of muscular contraction is presented to us in the Vorticelle in the most simple condition which it is possible to imagine. In many Invertebrata an entire muscle is often represented by a single primitive bundle; in the Rotifera iso- lated fibrillee form so many distinct muscles. The stalk of the Vorticella shows us the principal organ of locomotion of an animal composed of a single muscular fibrilla free in a canal in the centre of a perfectly transparent sheath, which allows us to see, with the greatest distinctness, all the changes which the contractile element undergoes during the states of activity and repose, of elongation and contraction. When the animal is at rest, the stalk is at its maximum of elonga- tion, and the body as far removed as possible from the point of attachment and refuge. The vibratile cilia alone are active, the body and the stalk remain perfectly immoveable. In this state the cen- tral filament of the stalk, the contractile fibrilla, is completely ex- tended; nevertheless it is never straight, but constantly presents a torsion in a very elongated spire, like a ribbon twisted round its longitudinal axis, and of which the appearance exactly resembles that of a spiral watch-spring fixed and strongly extended by the ex- tremities. As soon as any mechanical, electrical, thermic, or other excitant affects the animal, this elongated spiral, suddenly contract- ing upon itself, becomes transformed almost instantaneously into a perfectly regular spiral spring, with very close turns, which does not measure more than one-fifth of the length of the stalk in repose, and of which the transverse diameter has proportionately increased. This state generally persists only for a short time: the turns of the spring separating, it soon elongates, rather slowly, and the animal returns to its natural position. The shortening and elongation of the contractile organ are here manifestly due to the approximation and separation of a spiral spring; but to which of these two states belongs the action of elasticity? which of them shows us the muscular spring in its natural form, in its state of repose? Observation establishes, in the first place, this important fact—namely, that the spiral filament never appears in its extreme elongation except when the animal is alive and uninjured. As soon as the animal is killed, or detached from its stalk, sponta- neously or by violence, the turns of the spiral roll themselves up like a tendril, and remain in this state for an indefinite period; the same is the case if the animal be suddenly killed by poison or by the elevation of the temperature to 104° or 113° F. It frequently happens, even during the life of the animal, that the contractile fibrilla breaks, and the continuity is broken between it and the body, the nutritive centre of the whole animal ; in this case, if the sheath be intact and continuous, the body, living and swimming by means of the vibratile cilia, drags along at its posterior part the 10* 148 Miscellaneous. dead contractile fibrilla rolled up like a tendril, persisting in this state of contraction, and having Jost for ever the faculty of elonga- tion. I have several times observed that as soon as the body of a Vorti- cella detaches itself from the stalk to which it normally adheres, the contractile stem begins to execute a series of movements of rotation round the axis. Each of these movements is accompanied by the formation of a spiral turn; and when the whole of the stalk is thus converted into a close spiral, the movement ceases, and no elongation afterwards takes place. The elongation of the spiral fibrilla, the organ of muscular move- ment in the Vorticelle, is therefore dependent on the state of life— that is to say, on the continuity of nutrition and the exchange of materials. From the moment when nutrition is suppressed by the death of the animal, or by the separation of the fibrilla from the nutritive centre, the contractile element takes and retains the natural form inherent in its structure—that of a spiral spring, of which the turns are at the maximum of approximation in the state of repose. The contraction of the muscular fibre of the stalk of the Vorti- cella corresponds with the state of repose of the spring; it is the immediate consequence of its elasticity ; the elongation of the fibre is the result of the forced extension of the spring by a cause of movement dependent on the act of nutrition, and acting during the apparent repose of the contractile organ. As soon as the source of this antagonistic force is exhausted, elasticity, recalling the muscle to its natural form, produces the so-called movement of contrac- tion. Is this a phenomenon peculiar to a singular organ of locomotion, the stalk of the Vorticella? or is it the condition of muscular con- traction in all animals? I shall have the honour very shortly to communicate to the Aca- demy the results of numerous experiments which I have undertaken upon muscular contraction in the higher animals, their results establishing :— 1. That a recent hypothesis, according to which permanent con- traction is essentially constituted by a series of successive shocks or vibrations, is in absolute contradiction to well-observed facts. 2. That a tendency towards extreme contraction is a property inherent in living muscular fibre, a necessary consequence of its structure and elasticity. 3. That during life this tendency to contraction is combated by a cause of extension which predominates during the repose of the muscle, is developed in the exchange of nutritive materials, increases with the activity of their access, diminishes or becomes extinguished by their exhaustion, and may be momentarily suspended by all the excitants of muscular contractility—nervous action, heat, the electric shock, &c.—Comptes Rendus, June 3, 1867, pp. 1128-1132. Miscellaneous. 149 On the Regeneration of the Limbs in the Axolotl (Siren pisciformis). By J. M. Parirpeavx. | On the 24th of September, 1866, I had the honour to bring before the Academy some experiments demonstrating that the limbs of the newt (Triton cristatus) are only regenerated when at least the basal part of these members is left in its place (that is to say, the sca- pula, when, as in my experiments, we have to do with the anterior limbs). It appeared to me necessary to repeat these experiments upon other animals of the same class, in order to see whether we have to do in this case with a constant fact, as, indeed, everything would lead us to suppose. By the kindness of M. Duméril, I have had at my disposal ten Axolotls bred in the menagerie of reptiles at the Museum of Natural History. On the 4th of October, 1866, I removed the left anterior limb, including the scapula, from five of these Axolotls ; from the five others, on the same day, I amputated the right anterior limb, with scissors, at the surface of the body, consequently leaving in place not only the scapula, but also the head of the humerus. It is now more than eight months since the operation was per- formed ; and it is easy to. prove that it has furnished the results which I had foreseen. In the Axolotls of the first series cicatrization has taken place in the most regular manner; but there has not yet been the least indication of any ‘regeneration. In those of the second series, on the contrary, very soon after the operation, the cicatrix began to rise, and there was formed a projection which has gradually increased, and I was able to trace day by day the phenomena of the regeneration of the limb. Already, and indeed for a long time past, this limb has been completely reproduced, with all its normal characters of form and structure. Thus all the experiments which I have made since I commenced studying the question of the reproduction of removed parts con- stantly lead me to the same conclusion. Whether we have to do with the removal of entire limbs, as in the Batrachia, or with that of more deeply seated organs, such as the spleen in the Mammalia, regeneration never takes place except when the operation has left in position, and with its normal anatomical connexion, a portion of the limbs or of the spleen. This constancy in the results already at- tained has encouraged me to try other experiments, the results of which I will hereafter communicate to the Academy.—Comptes Rendus, June 10, 1867, p. 1204. On the Development of the Brown Aphis of the Maple. By MM. Bausrant and Signorer. The facts recently observed by M. Dareste in the evolution of the common fowl, and the deductions which he has drawn from them with regard to the production of races in animals, with the conclusive analogous examples in plants made known by M. Naudin, demon- strate that, in both kingdoms, certain anomalies of development may 150 Miscellaneous. be the starting-point of peculiar races. The following observation proves not only that simple races are produced in this manner, but that forms described as species, or even as actual genera, sometimes acknowledge no other origin. In 1852 an English naturalist, Mr. J. Thornton, indicated, under the name of Phyllophorus testudinatus, an Hemipterous insect which he had found on the leaves of the common maple (Acer campestre), and which he regarded as the larva of an undetermined species of Aphis. Subsequently, in 1858, Mr. Lane Clark also observed it, and placed it, under the name of Chelymorpha phyllophora, in a genus intermediate between the Aphidide and the Coccide. Lastly, in 1862, M. van der Hoeven, of Leyden, described it, also as a new genus, replacing the generic names Phyllophorus and Chelymorpha by that of Periphyllus, the other names being previously employed to designate other genera of insects ; and our Hemipteron received from the illustrious Dutch naturalist the name of P. testudo. Like Mr. Thornton, M. van der Hoeven regarded it as the larva of an Aphis of which the adult form was still unknown. These brief historical indications form a summary of all that was known about this insect when we on our part undertook some inves- tigations upon it, the results of which we now propose to communi- cate. We first ascertained that, far from constituting a new genus or even a distinct species, the Periphyllus is really nothing but the larva of one of the known species of Aphides which live on the maple —namely, Aphis aceris, a brown species which is to be met with during a great part of the year upon the leaves and at the extremi- ties of the young shoots of that tree. But, at the same time that we ascertained this fact, we were set on the track of a most unex- pected discovery, constituting a new and very remarkable peculiarity in the development of the animals of this group, already presenting such curious phenomena in connexion with their reproduction. This was the faculty, become transmissible to all the generations of a particular species, of engendering two kinds of individuals—one normal, the other abnormal—of which the former alone, after their birth, continue the course of their development, and become capable of reproducing the species ; whilst the latter retain throughout their existence the form which they possessed on coming into the world, and appear to be incapable of propagating. Moreover these two categories of individuals present such marked characters that, with- out having watched their birth, and being thus convinced that they are really produced by identical females, and sometimes even by one and the same mother, one would inevitably consider them to belong to two species, nay even to two completely different genera. Now one of these is nothing but the Periphyllus mentioned at the commencement of this note as having been described by the authors who had observed it as a separate genus in the family of the Aphides. Such is, in summary, the singular observation that we have made upon Aphis aceris. We may now give some fuller details upon each of the two kinds of individuals of which this species is composed. Miscellaneous. 151 When we examine with the naked eye or with a lens the embryos of the brown Aphis of the maple at the moment of their being pro- duced by the females, or after opening the bodies of the latter, we see at once that all of them have not the same coloration. In some they are of a tolerably bright green, whilst in others their colour is more or less brownish or greenish brown. The brown embryos pre- sent no peculiarities, and only differ from their mothers by characters analogous to those which are remarked in all species of Aphides between the newly born young individuals and the adult females. As in these latter, their bodies and appendages are furnished with rather long simple hairs, and, like all young Aphides at the moment of their birth, they already contain rudiments of embryos in the interior of their generative apparatus. If, on the other hand, we examine the green embryos, we at once detect, besides their peculiar coloration, very marked differences between them and their brown congeners. The various parts of the body and limbs do not present the same conformation as in the latter, but one is especially struck by the extraordinary development and the unusual appearance of their tegumentary system. Thus their surface is no longer furnished only with simple hairs, but also and principally with scaly transpa- rent lamella, more or less rounded or oblong, and traversed by divergent and ramified nervures. These lamelle occupy especially the anterior margin of the head, the first joint of the antennee (which is very stout and protuberant), the outer edge of the tibize of the two anterior pairs of legs, and the lateral and posterior margins of the abdomen. Moreover the whole dorsal surface of the latter and of the last thoracic segment is covered with a design having the aspect of a mosaic composed of hexagonal compartments, and which is not without analogy to the pattern formed by the scaly plates of the carapace of tortoises. These peculiarities give our insect a great elegance of appearance, which causes it to be much in request with the amateurs of the microscope in England, where it is commonly known under the name of the “ leaf-insect.’’ The entire animal is strongly flattened, and resembles a small scale applied to the surface of the leaf upon which it reposes, and on which it requires a certain amount of care to detect it. Another remarkable character of these abnormal individuals of Aphis aceris is the rudimentary state of their generative apparatus. This is reduced to a few groups of small pale and scarcely visible cells, none of which arrives at maturity to become transformed into an embryo; and it retains this character as long as it is possible to observe the animal. The functions of nutrition, also, are performed in them in a very unenergetic manner ; for from the moment of their birth until that at which we cease to observe them, they increase but little in size, attaining scarcely 1 millimetre. They undergo no change of skin, never acquire wings like the reproductive individuals, and their antennze always retain the five joints which they present in all young Aphides before the first moult. Nevertheless they possess a well-developed rostrum and an intestinal canal, the peri- 152 Miscellaneous. staltic contractions of which we have distinctly observed. In short, although we have observed them for several months (that is to say, from May to November), no change in their condition was ascer- tained; and they disappeared with the leaves which bear them, without its being possible to ascertain what becomes of them sub- sequently. The question naturally arose, What was the signification of these abnormal individuals of the Aphis of the maple, and what part did they fulfil in the reproductive functions of the species to which they belong? They are evidently not males, since their generative appa- ratus retains the same rudimentary form at whatever epoch we examine them. . Moreover in no known species of Aphis are the males produced at the same time as the viviparous individuals, which are not the true females of the species. There is therefore no other ~ alternative but to regard them as a modification of the specific type constantly reproduced with the same characters by the successive normal generations. Our abnormal Aphides are indeed deprived of the faculty of reproduction, either by sexual generation or in any other manner ; but after the observations of M. H. Landois upon the law of sexual development in insects, we know that in them the sexes depend simply upon the conditions of alimentation of the larva. Because, in the present state of things, these conditions have not yet occurred for one of the two sorts of larvee of Aphis aceris, there is no reason for our concluding that they may not some day be realized; and by thus acquiring, with the attributes of the sexes, the faculty of propagating directly in an indefinite manner, these abnormal individuals will become in their turn the origin of a new species produced by deviation from an anterior specific type.— Comptes Rendus, June 17, 1867, pp. 1259-1262. Cervus megaceros previously known in the Fens. To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. GENTLEMEN,—If Mr. Norman Moore will turn to pp. 466-467 of Prof. Owen’s ‘ British Fossil Mammals,’ he will find it recorded more than twenty years ago that “remains of the Megaceros found eight and a half feet below the surface of the peat-bog at Hilgay, Norfolk, are preserved in the collection of Mr. Whickham Flower, F.G.S.”’ Various specimens have come under my notice in the last five or six years; and these facts I have recorded, by enumerating the species as one of the peat-fauna mammals, in the ‘ Geological Magazine’ for November 1866, and in the ‘ Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society’ for the same date. I remain yours, &c. H. See vey. THE ANNALS MAGAZINE OF NATURAL ‘HISTORY. [THIRD SERIES.] No. 117. SEPTEMBER 1867. XX.—On Venomous Fishes. By M. Aucuste Dumrrit*. THERE are numerous instances on record of poisoning due to the use of certain fishes as food: the manner in which such venomous properties are acquired has long been matter of re- search. Causes of the Poisonous effects produced by the Flesh of Fishes. i It is evident that the nature of the waters in which they live must exercise a considerable influence upon the qualities of the flesh. A. Waters in which textile plants have been allowed to rot, or in which carcasses have become decomposed—all such, in fact, as have been corrupted by the presence of matter in a state of putrefaction will be capable of rendering unfit for food any fish which may inhabit them. This was the case with the waters of the Loire in 1794, when, on account of the number of persons drowned at Nantes, the police were obliged to forbid not only drinking of the river, but even fishing in it. B. Another source of such taint is to be apprehended from the discharge of the refuse of different manufactures into the waters. II. Herrings, both salted and smoked, sometimes occasion acci- dents of this kind, when, from long keeping, the ingredients employed in their preservation have lost their efficacy. Sometimes deleterious effects are to be traced to the imperfect or bad curing of such fish. In other cases of this nature the * Translated, from the ‘ Annales de la Soc. Linnéenne du Département de Maine-et-Loire,’ 8™° année, 1866, by Arthur W. E. O’Shaughnessy. Ann. & Mag. N. Mist. Ser.3. Vol. xx. 11 154 M. A. Duméril on Venomous Fishes. accident is mainly due to zdiosyncrasy or some peculiar condition of the stomach, by which certain aliments, generally easy of digestion, become a sort of poison. ITI. The supposition has been put forward that the noxious pro- perties of various fishes are dependent on circumstances con- nected with their aliment. Thus Munier, in a letter to Sonnerat (Journal de Physique, 1774, t. m1. p. 129), says that in Bourbon and Mauritius, be- tween December and March, or even April, none of the Scari which he calls “ Vieille” and “ Perroquet ” (the precise deter- mination of which, as Valenciennes has remarked*, is uncertain) are eaten. They are then regarded with mistrust, because, during the season when the coral is growing, they eat great quantities of the animal which constructs it. According to Munier, the causticity of the juices of their prey is the only cause of their baneful properties. Commerson, in his manuscripts, says, speaking of the “Catau- bleue ” (Scarus capitaneus, Cuv. et Val. t. xiv. p. 230), that this species, like its congeners, gnaws the coral, and is consequently looked upon with suspicion in both the Ile-de-France and Bourbon. M. Dussumier, in the MS. catalogues accompanying the fishes brought by him from the Indian seas (Val. Hist. Poiss. t. xiv. p- 252), has noted that the inhabitants of Bombay regard with mistrust another Scarus (Sc. harid), its flesh béing reputed — dangerous when it has fed upon corals. Certam Annelides of the northern seas, hitherto ill-deter- mined, are sometimes so abundant as to give a red tint to the water. They are eaten by the herrings, and are thought to be capable of communicating hurtful properties to their flesh (Cuv. et Wal. Hist. Poiss. t