^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B t:tTiSZl'. . ■^ni^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l ::tn^-jti^^ll>t|^gp:j, ^^BH^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H iriif^^j^^^^^l^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 'tr^L^^HmBHE^: ^^^"III^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H siiu;il P 3 J\[iji j;' _ " ■^M^rTi^^B / S/00 THE ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY, INCLUDING ZOOLOGY, BOTANY, and GEOLOGY. (being a continuation of the 'annals* combined with LOUDON AND CHARLESWORTh's 'magazine OF NATURAL HISTORY.') CONDUCTED BY P. J. SELBY, Esq., F.L.S., GEORGE JOHNSTON, M.D., CHARLES C. BABINGTON, Esq., M.A., F.R.S,, F.L.S., F.G.S., J. H. BALFOUR, M.D., Prof. Bot. Edinburgh, AND RICHARD TA^CMgELF.L.S., F.G.S. VOL. X.— SECOND SERIES LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS. SOLD BY LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS ; S. HIGHLEY AND SON SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.; PIPER, BROTHERS, AND CO.; W. WOOD, TAVISTOCK STREET ; BAILLlijRE, REGENT STREET, AND PARIS: LIZARS, AND MACLACHLAN AND STEWART, EDINBURGH : CURRY, DUBLIN : AND ASHER, BERLIN. 185^. ** Omnes res creatse sunt divinse sapientise et potentise testes, divitise felicitatis humanae : — ex harum usu honitas Creatoris ; ex pulchritudine sapientia Domini ; ex cEconomia in conservatione, proportione, renovatione, po^en^ea majestatis elucet. Earum itaqiie indagatio ab hominibus sibirelictis semper aestimata; k ver6 eruditis et sapientibus semper exculta ; maid doctis et barbaris semper inimica fuit." — LiNNiEUS. " Quelque soit le principe de la vie animale, il ne faut qu'ouvrir les yeux pour voir qu'elle est le chef-d'ceuvre de la Toute-puissance, et le but auquel se rapportent toutes ses operations." — Bruckner, Theorie du Systeme Animal, Leyden, 1767. The sylvan powers 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. Taylor, Norwich, 1818. FLAMMAM. CONTENTS OF VOL. X. [SECOND SERIES.] NUMBER LV. rage I. On the Nervous System of Ommastrephes todarus. By Albany Hancock, Esq. (With two Plates.) 1 II. A few Notes on the Structure of the Belemnite. By Gideon Algernon Mantell, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., President of the West London Medical Society, &c •• 14 III. On a supposed new species of Eleocharis. By Charles C. Babington, M.A., F.R.S. &c 19 IV. On some of the rarer British Gasteropodous Mollusca. By William Clark, Esq 22 V. On the Skeleton of the Great Chimpanzee, Troglodytes gorilla. By S. Kneel'a^d, Juu., M.D., Boston, U.S.A 23 VI. On some genera of the Icacinacece. By John Miers, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S 30 VII. Notes on Chalcidites, and descriptions of various new species. By Francis Walker, F.L.S 45 Proceedings of the Zoological Society; Royal Institution of Great Britain ; Botanical Society of Edkaburgh ; Linnsean Society... 49 — 68 Ornithological Notes, by John Alexander Smith, M.D ; Corfiote Shells, by Sylvanus Hanley, Esq. ; On Littorina palUata, by William Thompson ; New Locality for Tulostoma mammosum, by Matthew Moggridge; On the Preservation of the Fecundated Eggs of Fishes, by M. Coste ; Postscript to Mr. Clark's Paper on Rare *• British Mollusca ; Irish Mollusca, by William White Walpole ; On the Sun Column as seen at Sandwick Manse, Orkney, in April 1852, by C. Clouston; Meteorological Observations and Table. 69 — 80 IV CONTENTS. 1 NUMBER LVI. Page VIII. Notes on the Reproduction of the Campanulariadce ; with a description of a new species of Laomedea. By the Rev. Thomas HiNCKS, B.A. (With a Plate.) 81 IX. Contributions to the Palaeontology of the Isle of Wight. By Thomas Wright, M.D. &c S7 X. Descriptions of some newly discovered species of Araneidea. By John Blackwall, F.L.S 93 XI. Note of the Mollusca observed during a short visit to the Canary and Madeira Islands, &c., in the months of April and May 1852. By R. M'Andrew, F.L.S 100 XII. On some genera of the Icacinacece. By John Miers, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S 108 XIII. Upon the Genus DoUolum and its species. By Dr. A. Krohn. (With a Plate.) 119 XW. On the genus Lepion. By William Clark, Esq 129 New Books : — A History of Infusorial Animalcules, Living and Fossil, by Andrew Pritchard, M.R.I. — A Synopsis of the Family of Naiades, by Isaac Lea 134 — 138 Proceedings of the Zoological Society 138 Observations on the Circulation of the Blood in the Arachnida, by M. Emile Blanchard ; On the Distribution of Coluber matrix, by John Henry Gurney ; Uses of the Stillingia sebifera, or Tallow Tree, with a notice of the Pe-la, an Insect- wax of China, by J. D. Macgowan, M.D. j Nymphcea alba var. major, by J. De C. Sowerby; On the Structure of the Belemnite; Meteorological Observations and Table 150 — 160 NUMBER LVII. XV. On the Form and Structure of the Shell of OpercuUna Arabica. By H. J. Carter, Esq., Assistant Surgeon, Bombay Estabhshment. (With a Plate.) 161 XVI. On some genera of the Icacinacece. By John Miers, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S 176 XVII. A Catalogue of British Spiders, including remarks on their Structure, Functions, (Economy, and Systematic Arrangement. By John Blackwall, F.L.S 1B2 CONTENTS. V , ^ Page XVIII. Contributions to British Palaeontology : — Some new Lower Palaeozoic Mollusca. By F. M'Coy, Professor of Geology and Mine- ralogy in Queen's College, Belfast 189 XIX. On some of the Animals of the Chemnitzice which have not been described. By William Clark, Esq 195 XX. On the Sloughing of the Spider-Crab {Maia Squinado). By P. H. GossE, A.L.S 210 New Books ; — Plantse Javanicae Rariores, descriptae Iconibusque illus- tratae, quas in Insula Java, annis 1802-18, legit et investigavit Thomas Horsfield, M.D. ; e siccis Descriptiones et Characteres plurimarum elaboravit Joannes J. Bennett ; Observationes Struc- turam et Affinitates praesertim respicientes passim adjecit Robertus Brown 213 Proceedings of the Linnaean Society ; Royal Society ; Botanical So- ciety of Edinburgh 216—237 Notice of the Occurrence, on the Durham Coast, oi DiphylUdia lineata, by Albany Hancock, Esq. ; Irish Mollusca, by W. W. Walpole ; On the Irritability of the Leaves of Drosera rotundifolia, by Dr. Milde ; Embryogeny of Orchis, Gesneria, and other Phane- rogamia; Meteorological Observations and Table 237 — 240 NUMBER LVIII. XXI. Observations on the Nidification of Gasterosteus aculeatus and Gasterosteiis spinacMa. By Albany Hancock, Esq 241 XXII. A Catalogue of British Spiders, including remarks on their Structure, Functions, (Economy, and Systematic Arrangement. By John Blackwall, F.L.S 248 XXIII. On some undescribed Animals of the British RissocB. By William Clark, Esq 254 XXIV. On keeping Marine Animals and Plants alive in unchanged Sea-Water. By P. H. Gosse, A.L.S 263 XXV. Notes on the Genus Cyclostoma ; and Characters of some new species from India, Borneo, and Natal. By W. H. Benson, Esq. 268 XXVI. Observations on the Natural History of the Water- Snail and Fish kept in a confined and limited portion of Water. By Robert Warington, Esq 2/3 XXVII. Description of a new species of Wart Pig from the Cama- roons. Bv J. E. Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., V.P.Z.S 280 f VI CONTENTS. Page XXVIII. Description of Sauresia, a new genus of Sc'mcidce from St. Domingo. By J. E. Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., V.P.Z.S 281 XXIX. Some Account of a Dredging Expedition on the coast of the Isle of Man during the months of May, June, July and August 1852. By T. C. Eyton, Esq., F.L.S., F.Z.S 282 Proceedings of the Linnaean Society ; Zoological Society 285 — 309 On a Parasite which is developed under exceptional circumstances on the surface of certain ahmentary substances and causes them to appear covered with blood, by M. Montague ; Irish Mollusca, by W. W. Walpole ; Directions for Making and Preserving Micro- scopical Preparations, by M. Harting ; Arenaria serpyllifolia, by Samuel Octavus Gray ; Note of the Observation of Cilia in Grantia, by William Murray Dobie, M.D. ; Experimental Re- searches upon the Process of Fecundation in Mosses, by M. H. Phihbert; Meteorological Observations and Table 309—320 NUMBER LIX. XXX. On a new Genus of the Family of Volvocinece. By Dr. Fer- dinand CoHN of Breslau. (With a Plate.) 321 XXXI. Notice of an Australian Diplommatina ; and Characters of new East Indian HelicidxB from Darjiling and Sincapore. By W. H. Benson, Esq 348 XXXII. On the Priority of the Term Polyzoa for the Ascidian Polypes. By George Busk, F.R.S. &c 352 XXXIII. Note on a new species of Clionites. By N. T. Wethe- RELL, Esq., F.G.S., M.R.C.S. &c. (With a Plate.) 354 XXXIV. Description of a species of Belemnite, with Observations on Aptychus. By J. Morris, F.G.S. (With a Plate.) 355 XXXV. On some Crustacea dredged by Mr. Barlee in the Shet- lands. By C. Spence Bate, Esq. (With a Plate.) 356 XXXVI. On a new Arrangement of British Rissoce. By H, and A. Adams '. 358 XXXVII. Description of a new Heraipterous Insect forming the type of a new genus. By W. S. Dallas, Esq., F.L.S. &c. (With a Plate.) 359 New Books : — The Natural History of Animals, by Thomas Rymer Jones, F.R.S. — Parks and Pleasure- Grounds, or Practical Notes on Country Residences, Villas, Public Parks and Gardens, by CONTENTS. Vll Page Charles H. J. Smith.— Revue et Magasin de Zoologie, par M. F. E. Guerin-Meneville 362—366 Proceedings of the Zoological Society 366 The Natural-Histoiy Collections at the British Museum ; On the Ni- dification of the Stickleback, by Albany Hancock ; Fossil Pachy- dermata in Canada, by Thomas Cottle ; Remarks on the Mode of Vegetation of European and North American Trees transported to Madeira, by Prof. Oswald Heer ; Colymbus septentrionalis, by Matthew Moggridge ; On the Structure of the Stem of Victoria Regia, by Arthur Henfrey, F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. ; Meteorological Observations and Table 1 392 — 400 NUMBER LX. XXXVIII. On a new Genus of the Family of Volvocinea. By Dr. Ferdinand Cohn of Breslau. (With a Plate.) 401 XXXIX. On the Tongues of MoUusca. By J. E. Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. &c 411 XL. Description of Carterodon sulcidens, Lund. By John Rein- HARDT. Translated from the Danish by Dr. Wallich, F.R.S., Vice- Pres. L.S 417 XLI. Contributions to British Palaeontology : — On some new Bra- c^ioj906fa from the Carboniferous Limestone. By Frederick M'Coy, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in Queen's College, Belfast ... 421 XLII. On a species of Strombus in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow. By Thomas Gray, Esq., Glasgow 429 XLIII. Experiments on the Transformation of the Cystoid Worms into Tfenias. By C. T. Von Siebold 431 XLIV. Some Account of a Dredging Expedition oflF the coast of the Isle of Man during the months of May, June, July and August 1852. By T. C. Eyton, Esq., F.L.S., F.Z.S 434 XLV. Ynrther ^ote on Atelides centrolineatus. By W. S. Dallas, F.L.S 436 XLVI. Descriptions of several new Genera of Reptiles, principally from the Collection of H.M.S. Herald. By J. E. Gray, Esq., Ph.D., F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. &c 437 New Books : — Revue et Magasin de Zoologie, par M. F. E. Guerin- Meneville 440 Proceedings of the Zoological Society; Royal Society; Linnaean Society 444—463 1 Vlll CONTENTS. Page On a Venomous Fly of Southern Africa, by MM.W.OswellandAmaud ; Experimental Researches upon the Temperature of Reptiles, and on the modifications which it undergoes under various circum- stances, by M. Aug. Dumeril ; Late appearance of the Swallow, by G. Bryant; Meteorological Observations and Table ... 463 — 466 Index 467 PLATES IN VOL. X. yj' y Nervous System of Ommastrephes todarus. III. Reproduction of the Campanulariad£e. — Structure of Doliolum. IV. Form and Structure of the Shell of Operculina Arabica. V. New species of Clionites. — New species of Belemnite. — Hippo- lyte Barleei. — Atelides centrolineatus. VI. Structure and Development of Stephanosphsera, a new genus of the Volvocinese. ERRATUM. Page 351, line 11 from top, /or 1844 read 1849. Uoync-och drl ' 1/ -^'VV J.'Bisi.re so A ^'Ul// ArLn..ScMaci. JVat.JlL^t. S.2.Yol.lO.M.I/. A.Sancock del. THE ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF iNATURAL HISTORY, [SECOND SERIES.] •' per litora spargite museum, Naiades, et circiim vitreos considite fontes : Pollice virgineo teneros hic carpite flores : Floribus et pictum, divae, replete canistrum. At vos, o Nymphae Craterides, ite sub undas ; Ite, recurvato variata corallia trunco Vellite muscosis e rupibus, et mihi conchas Ferte, Deae pelagi, et pingui conchylia succo." N.Parthenii Giannettasii Eel. 1. No. 55. JULY 1852. I. — On the Nervous System 0/ Ommastreplies todarus. By Albany Hancock. [With two Plates.] 1 HE Cephalopods are undoubtedly the most highly organized of all the Mollusca ; their external organs, however, are of so abnormal a character, that any attempt to trace their homologies in the lower groups of that subkingdom would at first sight ap- pear almost hopeless. Notwithstanding, numerous efforts have been made with that view by able naturalists ; but apparently without much success, for our knowledge on this subject still remains in a most unsatisfactory state. For the purpose of elucidating this difficult problem, I have recently dissected with much care the nervous system of Omma- strephes todarus — the Loligo sagittata of English authors, and now propose to give a detailed description of it, refraining at present from any attempt to arrive at just conclusions respecting the nature and signification of the organs of these active and voracious animals*. * Before making this attempt, it seems desirable to make a close exami- nation of the anatomy of the neighbouring genera. Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. x. 1 2 Mr. A. Hancock on the Nervous System On laying open the ventral region of the head of Ommastrephes todarus, the suboesophageal ganglions were soon ascertained to hold their normal position. In this Cephalopod, however^ they are divided into three masses, one being placed a little in advance of the other two ; but all above the alimentary tube. The an- terior (PL I. figs. 1, 2, 3 «) is a depressed, irregularly circular mass, giving off from the anterior border, on each side of the median line, five large nerves (o, 6) to the arms, and from the posterior margin on each side two small ones (/, t)y which were lost in the muscular mass in front of the eyes. A commissure (c) running backwards connects this with the second or median mass, and is a very thick cord composed of numerous stout fila- ments, most of which pass over the ventral surface of the anterior ganglion, and becoming united to the brachial nerves accompany them into the arms. Thus each arm receives a nerve from the median as well as from the anterior masses. A central filament was lost in the substance of the anterior mass. As soon as the brachial nerves enter the root of the arms they swell out a little, each forming an indistinct oval ganglion (fig. 2, 3p,p); these ganglions are united with each other by nervous cords, and thus a complete chain of nerves and gan- glions encircles the oral channel. The brachial nerves (o', o') are continued on from the ganglions to the extremity of the arms within a central channel, giving off filaments on either side, several of which pass through the substance of the organ and go to the skin. The surface being thus copiously supplied with nerves is probably highly sensitive. Filaments are given off from the ganglionic chain at the base of the arms ; these fila- ments pass inwards and enter the muscular bands that tie the oral lamina to the arms. This lamina arises from the wall of the oral channel, and advancing embraces the fleshy fringe which immediately surrounds the beaks ; it is then turned back upon itself, and forms a broadish scalloped membrane having points or rays which are rather thick and fleshy. These rays corre- spond to the muscular ties ; and on the nervous filaments from the ganglionic chain entering the bases of the rays, they become united to elliptical ganglions {q, q), from which the nerves {q', §') much enlarged are continued to the extreme points of the rays. These ganglions and nerves distribute numerous filaments which ramify over the oral membrane ; the branches are most plentiful towards the points of the rays. This membrane, which corre- sponds very well with the external and internal labial processes in Nautilus, is probably an organ of taste, the sense being more particularly located in the points or rays ; it is moreover supplied with numerous large oval follicles, mostly associated in pairs, and having one of their extremities opening by several pores on the , of Ommastrephes todarus. 3 surface ; these are probably for the purpose of secreting sahva or mucus. The median mass (PL I. figs. 1, 2, 3 Z») is somewhat depressed, long, narrow, and divided by a median depression in the longi- tudinal direction. At the upper surface two large nerves {i) are given off to the funnel ; the«c nerves spread out in the substance of that organ in a radiating manner. Immediately behind the origin of the funnel nerves the auditory nerves [j) come off; each of these is short and passes at once to the auditory sac, which is protected within a cavity in the cartilaginous cranium. The sac completely fills the cavity, and has the inner surface studded with a few tubercles apparently of soft pulpy matter. The minute calcareous otolithe (PI. II. fig. 4), which also ad- heres to the inner surface of the sac, is depressed, rounded, and enlarged at one end, and produced into a slightly curved point at the other. The median mass gives off from the anterior margin the great commissure (c) that connects it to the an- terior mass, and is united above to a broad nervous collar which closely embraces the oesophagus. On the opposite side of the collar, above the alimentary tube, are developed the optic gan- glions (PI. I. fig. 3 /, & PI. II. figs. 1, 2, 3 i) j they are fused into one, rounded and prominent behind, and produced into an obtuse point before ; a slight depression sufiiciently indicates its bilateral formation. Each half gives off from its outer margin a large, broad, depressed nerve (PL I. figs. 2, 3 A;, & PL II. figs. I, 2, 3^), which, as it approaches the posterior wall of the eye, is sur- rounded by a thick fold (PL II. figs. 1, 2 li) of ganglionic matter; this fold, as well as the nerve, is striated ; the former breaks up into numerous filaments (PL II. fig. 3 ti, w), which, spreading over the back of the eye-ball, supply the retina. The optic gan- ghons are also directly connected with the median nervous mass, as can be seen by laying open the oesophageal collar, and removing the membrane or sheath. Thus we find that the anterior and median are in connexion with all the organs of the senses that have yet been clearly determined in these animals, and the curious mode in which they give off the brachial nerves would seem to prove that they form but one centre. If this be doubted, how- ever, it is only necessary to refer to other species to show that such is really the case. In Cuvier's memoir on the Cephalopods it is stated, and the parts are figured, that the nerves of the arms, funnel, and audi- tory organs are all supplied by a single pair of large ganglions, which by commissures are brought into connexion with the optic centres, evidently much in the same manner as in Ommastrephes. And Professor Owen has shown that in the Pearly Nautilus the arms or tentacles, and funnel, derive their nerves from a single 1* 4 Mr. A. Hancock on the Nei-vous System pair of large ganglions, the anterior suboesophageal of that author; these ganglions are also in connexion with the optic centres, although they are stated to come off from the '^ commis- sure or brain ^^ : the auditory organs were not determined. It may therefore be concluded, that however divided in Ommastre- pheSj the anterior and median masses form essentially only one centre. The position of the optic ganglions is also peculiar. In the Gasteropods, when they exist, they are usually attached to the sides of the cerebroids towards their posterior margins, and give off their nerves upwards — the eyes being invariably placed on the dorsal aspect. In the naked Cephalopods they are also inclined towards the dorsal surface, and the ganglions are directly above the alimentary tube, and they as well as the eyes are enormously developed; had these ganglions therefore retained their usual lateral position, the head must have been inconveniently en- larged. In Nautilus, however, the optic ganglions may be said to occupy their normal position, for they are placed at the sides of the " anterior suboesophageal ganglions," and are apparently connected with them as well as with the dorsal commissure or brain. What are here denominated optic ganglions have been called by some writers rudimentary optic lobes, by others the rudiment of a brain. It is pretty evident, however, that they are homologous with the optic ganglions of the Gasteropods, in which the nervous element of the visual organ is divided into three parts as in the Cephalopods. Thus, in Doris for instance, there is first a minute ganglion, generally closely attached to the ccrebroid ; this is succeeded by a nerve, which, on reaching the back of the eye, is in many Gasteropods, particularly in the Nu- cleobranchs, spread out as an accumulation of nervous matter, which, being the third portion, would appear to correspond to the enlargement of the nerve at the back part of the eye in the Cephalopods. The anterior suboesophageal mass of Ommastrephes gives off from its posterior margin above two nervous cords (PI. I. figs. 1, 3 m, & PI. II. fig. 2^), one on each side of the median line ; these passing upwards and forwards, one on each side of the oeso- phagus, go to be united to the posterior margin of a pair of rather small, depressed ganglions (PI. I. fig. \j, & PI. II. figs. 1, %d) adhering to the outer capsule of the buccal masSj forming the buccal retractors, to which these centres send all their nerves (PI. I. fig. Ij9, & PI. II. fig. 2 e, e), which are numerous, and passing forward spread out in a radiating manner. These gan- glions are fused into a transversely elongated mass comprising two lateral lobes, and are interconnected with another pair of similar ganglions (PI. I. fig. I A:, & PI. II. fig. I e) lying on the of Ommastrephes todarus. 5 buccal mass immediately below the origin of the oesophagus ; the cords (PI. I. fig. 1 /) which unite them pass therefore down- wards inclosing that tube, and are joined to the external margins of both pairs. The under pair of buccal ganglions give to the buccal organ four pairs of nerves ; the pair (r) next the median line go to the tongue and the fleshy laminaj on each side of it, which laminse being in connexion with the salivary glands and themselves glandular, must be looked upon, if not entirely, at least to some extent, as auxiliary to them ; the next pair [q] go to the muscles of the under jaw and anterior part of the buccal organ ; the outer or external pair ( lower ditto ; I, commissure uniting the two pairs of buccal ganglions ; m, commissure uniting upper buccal ganglions to anterior suboesophageal mass ; n, com- missure between the same buccal ganglions and optic ganglions ; 0, o, brachial nerves ; jo, nerves to muscles of outer buccal capsule ; q, q', nerves to muscles of buccal mass and jaws ; r, lingual nerves ; s, oesophageal nerves or par vagum ; t, t, two pairs of small nerves lost in muscles in front of the eyes ; u, u', u", nerves to the mantle and its muscles ; v, v, two pairs of nei-ves to skin of head above and behind ; w,w', nerves applied to the anterior aorta ; x, x, great posterior sleeve nerves ; x', x\ nerves to fin -, y, y, sleeve nerves ; z, visceral nerves. Fig. 2. Enlarged view of anterior and median suboesophageal, visceral, and branchial ganglions : — «, anterior mass ; b, median ditto ; c, under commissure of same ; d, d, upper ditto ; e, visceral gan- glion ; /,/, branchial ditto ; h, h, commissure uniting branchial and stellate ganglions ; i, nerves supplying funnel ; j, auditory nerves ; k, k, optic ditto ; o, o, o', o', brachial ditto ; p,p, ganglionic swellings of same; q', q', nerves to oral lamina, exhibiting gan- glionic swellings q, q ; t, t, two pairs of nerves to muscles in front of eyes ; u, u, nerves to mantle ; z, ditto visceral. Fig. 3. Side view of anterior and median suboesophageal, optic, branchial and visceral ganglions : — a, anterior mass ; b, median ditto ; c, un- der commissure of same ; d, upper ditto ; e, visceral ganglion ; /, branchial ditto ; g, g, oesophagus ; h, h, commissures uniting stellate and branchial ganglions ; i, nerves to the funnel ; j, audi- tory nerves ; k, optic ditto ; Z, optic ganglions ; m, commissure between upper buccal ganglions and anterior suboesophageal; n, ditto uniting optic and upper buccal ganglions ; o, o, o', o', brachial nerves ; p, p, ganglionic swellings of same ; v, two pairs of small nerves to skin of head above and behind. Plate IL FHg. 1. View of splanchnic nervous system seen from above : — a, anterior suboesophageal mass ; b, under commissure uniting same to me- dian suboesophageal ; c, c, upper commissure of same ; d, upper buccal ganglions ; e, under ditto ; /, commissure uniting the two c\4i Dr. Mantell on the Structure of the Belemnite. b9f0-j. pairs of buccal ganglions; g, ditto uniting upper buccal ganglions to anterior subcesophageal -, h, ditto uniting upper buccal ganglions U» to optic ditto ; i, optic ganglions J J, optic nerves ; A:, enlargement of 9111 JJi same at back of eye ; I, small round ganglion attached to optic nerve ; Oflt 8 A rriy two pairs of nerves from same ; n, visceral ganglion ; o, branchial taoi ditto ; p,p, cords or commissures from same to stellate ganglions ; ,. visceral nerves ; q', q', nerves to the mantle ; r, pair of visceral nerves applied to intestine, and tube of ink-bag ; s, small ganglion at origin of this pair of nerves ; t, another pair of visceral nerves ^ J ^''■■^ supplying the anterior vena cava ; u, ganglion on the wall of vena Off J io B~ cava; v, v, branchial nerves, each exhibiting a ganglionic swell- -loM to iiig^'j 'iv, w, genital nerves; x, nerve supplying systemic and c jL } j branchial hearts and posterior aorta; y, cord or commissure uni- , ^, ting gastric ganglion to that on vena cava ; z, gastric ganglion ; 3UJ III V ^^ nerve to spiral stomach ; B, B, B, nerves to gizzard ; C, C, ditto to pancreatic organ; D, ditto to pylorus; E, ditto to cardia; F, F, oesophageal nerves or par vagum. Fig, 2. Under view of anterior subcesophageal and optic ganglions : — a, an- y ^'^ terior mass; b, under commissure connecting same to median; gaamiOO ^^ ^^ upper ditto ; d, upper buccal ganglions ; e, e, nerves supply- onw ^3t i ing the outer buccal capsule ; /, commissure between same and <_nofjid!d lower buccal ganghons ; g, commissure from upper buccal gan- ndi moi S^^^^* ^ anterior subcesophageal mass; h, ditto from optic to .,r. . , upper buccal ganglions; i, optic ganglions; j,j, optic nerves; f I, I, small round ganglions on same ; m, m, brachial nerves ; n, two Dfts o tr> pairs of nerves to muscles in front of eyes. {ji%§&oUpper view of optic ganglions : — i, optic ganglions ; j, j, optic -dahfirfO nerves ; h, k, enlargement of same at back of eye ; I, small round ganglions on optic nerves ; m, m, nerves from same to skin of head above and behind ; n, n, filaments from optic nerve ap- Vns Xfio plied to back of eye ; o, eye. Fig. 4. Otolithe from auditory sac. II. — A few Notes on the Structure of the Belemnite. By Gideon ..^.Algernon Mantell, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., President of the ^,^,^West London Medical Society, &c. ijj To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History, '/ - i;'r^^*Dr. Mantell, who has adopted Mr. Channing Pearce's generic name of Belemnoteuthis for some of these fossils (Belemnites), seems to be disposed to detract from the merit of their anatomical restora- tion, for which the Royal Society awarded the Royal Medal to Pro- fessor Owen in 1848, affirming that the true characters of the animal of the Belemnite have yet to be discovered. But he forgets that a change of name does not change the essence of a thing, and that the essential character of a Belemnite is the phragmocone." — From the Article entitled "Progress of Comparative Anatomy," Quarterly Review, March 1852, p. 383. Gentlemen, The personal imputation, the mystification of the point at issue, and the misstatement respecting the late Mr. Channing Pearce, Dr. Mantell on the Structure of the Belemnite. 15 in the above extract from the extraordinary article misnamed " The Progress of Comparative Anatomy," would not have pro- voked one line from my pen, but for the assertion that " the essential character of a Belemnite is the phragmocone." As the advancement of our knowledge of the organization of the extinct forms of Cephalopods would be seriously impeded were a state- ment so erroneous, and emanating from such high authority, to remain uncontradicted, I beg the favour of being permitted to lay before your readers a concise illustration of such parts of the structure of those two distinct types of the highest order of Mol- lusca — the Belemnite and Belemnoteuthis — which were blended together to form the supposed animal of the Belemnite in the memoir above referred to. The accompanying sketches represent certain fossils from the Oxford clay of Wiltshire, in which the distinctive characters of the two genera are clearly exemplified : the original specimens were examined by many of the eminent foreign naturalists who were attracted to London last summer by the Great Exhibition, and not one of those competent observers dissented from the opinions expressed in my communications on this subject to the Royal Society, and published in the ' Philos. Trans.^ for 1848 and 1850; my statement being merely confirmatory of the original views enunciated by Messrs. Pearce, Cunnington, Charles- worth, &c. I am most anxious, as I have ever been, to abstain from any comments that may lead to controversy, and I therefore restrict myself to a simple description of the specimens, of which figs. 1 and 3 are representations on a reduced scale : the originals in my possession may be seen by any naturalist interested in the inquiry : those in the British Museum are now admirably ar- ranged by the able curator Mr. Woodward*. It is however necessary to state most emphatically, that the essential character of a Belemnite consists, not, as the reviewer affirms, in the pos- session of a " phragmocone " or conical chambered siphunculated shell, which is common to numerous genera of Cephalopods, but of an osselet of a peculiar form and structure which invested the phragmocone, and extended distally beyond the chambered shell in a solid rostrum or guard. It is this mineralized rostrum which was called Belemnite, thunderbolt, or dart-stone, by the ^rly naturalists. ' ^* See my * Hand-book to the Gallery of Organic Remains in the Bri- tish Museum.' The characters of the fossil Cephalopods are succinctly and clearly pointed out in Mr. Woodward's excellent * Manual of the Mol- lusca.' 16 Dr. Mantell on the Structure of the Belemnite. The Belemnite. — In the specimen represented (fig. 1), and in the diagram fig. 2, all the known parts of the structure of the Belemnite are displayed : but slight traces of any portion of the organization of the ori- ginal are preserved, except the sepio- staire, which comprises an external homy capsule, a calcareous osselet of a fibrous structure, and an internal chambered conical shell, termed the phragmocone. 1 . The Phragmocone (fig. 1 b, fig. 2^) occupies the centre of the Belem- nite : this is an inversely conical- chambered shell, composed of a series of shallow concave cells of a nacreous substance, traversed by a siphunculus or tube (fig. 2 c), which is situated on the ventral region of the cone. The phragmocone terminates distally in an elongated apex, and enlarges towards its basilar part, and two elongated flat processes extend from the dorsal mar- gin of the peristome or upper margin, as shown in figs. 1 & 2 «, « : this struc- ture was first detected in a specimen discovered by my son near Trowbridge. The shape of the phragmocone, as it appears when exposed by the re- moval of the part next to be described, is seen in fig. 2 d : the transverse lines indicate the septa of the cells or cham- bers ; the siphunculus which traverses them is shown at c. Belemnites Puzosianus {\ natural size, linear). a, a, the two basilar processes of the phragmocone ; b, the phragmocone, much fractured and collapsed ; c, the rostrum or guard of the osselet, containing within the upper part the distal portion of the phragmocone, as seen in fig. 2. - 2. The Osselet (fig. 1 c, fig. 2h, i). — This body is in the form of a very elongated inverted cone, and surrounds the phragmo- cone throughout its entire length, as shown in section in fig. 2 : the basilar or upper part is extremely thin, and blends with the outer integument or capsule (fig. 2 b,b) : it rapidly increases in thickness as it descends, and closely invests the phragmocone, the delicate elongated apex of which is completely protected by it (fig. 2fjff) : beneath this point it becomes solid, and in most Dr. Mantcll on the Structure of the Beleinnite. 17 species is prolonged into a cylindrical rostrum or beak, which terminates in a conical apex. Yis. 2. Diagram of the known parts of the structure of Belem- nites Puzosianus. a, a, the dorsal basilar processes of the phragmocone. b, b, upward extension of the attenuated osselet. c, siphunculus. d, phragmocone : the transverse lines indicate the septa. e, the capsule or outer investment of the guard. /, the distal part of the phragmocone. ff, the alveolus or cavity in the guard. h, vertical section of the guard. i, the solid part of the rostrum. k, a sulcus or groove on the ventral aspect of the guard. I, shows the continuation of the capsule, in section, continued from e. m, diverging i)arallel striae observable between the dor- sal processes of the ])hragmocone. M, transverse section of half the diameter of the ros- trum, to show its radiated structure. As the solid part of the osselet is generally separated from the upper portion a short space above the apex of the phragmocone, in consequence of the thinness of its walls, the Belemnite is commonly found with a conical cavity in the upper part : this hollow was termed the alveolus, and the solid part the rostrum or guard ; and until shown by the specimen figured in my first memoir on the Belemnites, no one suspected that the osselet was continued upwards, and formed a thin envelope around the basilar termination of the phragmocone*. The osselet of the Belemnite, as is well known, has a radiated structure : it is formed of thin concentric laminae of very minute prismatic trihedral fibres, which are arranged at right angles to the planes of the successive layers : — see the sections, both longi- tudinal and transverse, in fig. 2. The solid part, or rostrum, is * The depression obsei-vable in the specimen fig. 1, midway between the letters b and c, indicates the fracture of the walls of the osselet, and the point where the Beleinnite is usually separated from the other parts. It was by removing large blocks of clay, with the imbedded Belemnites undisturbed, that the instructive examples here figured were obtained. Ann. ^ Maff, N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. x. 2 18 Dr. Mantell on the Structure of the Belemnite. 'ig. very thick and heavy, and invariably mineralized by calc spar : the original structure was probably light and calcareous, like that of the osselet of the Sepia, 3. The Capsule^ or sheath; a thin horny or testaceous case which invested the osselet, and constituted the external envelope of the receptacle ; it is seen partially covering the osselet at c, fig. 1, and in section at e, /, fig. 2. This structure was for the first time demonstrated in my memoir, 'Phil. Trans/ 1848. With the exception of obscure indications of a carbonaceous fibrous structure between the dorsal processes, the above descrip- tion comprehends all the facts re- Yig:. 3. lating to the organization of the Belemnite with which we are at present acquainted : no soft parts, no traces of arms or tentacles, no vestiges- of the eyes or man- dibles, have been discovered. The Belemnoteuthis. — From the extraordinarily perfect state in which some examples of the Be- lemnoteuthis are met with, a brief description will suffice. Fig. 3 (from a drawing with which Mr. Woodward of the British Museum has favoured me) exemplifies the essential parts of the structure of these Cephalopods. The body is of an elongated form, with a pair of lateral fins, two large sessile eyes, eight uncinated arms, and a pair of armed tentacles ; each arm was furnished with from twenty to forty pairs of hooks, placed alter- nately (fig. 4, 4). Like the Sepia it had a pigmental sac or ink-bag, which is generally filled with the inspissated secretion. The inferior part of the body is of a conical form, and contains a brown horny osselet, with a siphunculated phrag- mocone, which terminates in a rostrum of a fibrous structure (fig. 4, 5). The osselet of the a, the uncinated arms and tentacles ; b, remains of the head and eyes ; c, the mantle, with indications of fins ; d, the pigmental sac or ink-bag ; e, the osselet : the transverse lines indicate the septa of the phragmo- cone, which is covered by a horny sheath or capsule ; /, the solid termi- nal apex of the osselet. Belemnoteuthis antiquus (4 natural size, linear). Mr. C. C. Babington on a new species 0/ Eleocharis. 19 Belemnoteuthis appears to have been calcareous, like that of the Sepia. In all essential points of stmcture the Belemnoteuthis is Fig. 4. 1, 3. Detached hooks {natural size). 2. Three hooks with attached horny rings : from a specimen in the possession of Mr. Cunuington. 4. Part of one of the arms, showing four hooked spines. 5. Transverse section of the distal part of the osselet of Belemnoteuthis ^ exposing the apex of the cham- bered shell in the centre, sur- rounded by the radiated osselet, a : {magnified four diameters). Horny rings and hooks of Belemnoteuthis antiquus. related to the Calamaries, but the lateral position of the fins, the presence of a chambered shell or phragmocone, and the peculiar character of the tentacles, establish it as a peculiar type. The distinction between the Belemnites and Belemnoteuthis is too ob- vious to demand further notice ; no one, I presume, will again mistake an osselet of the latter for the phragmocone of the former detached from the alveolus of its guard : and I w^ould fain hope that this attempt to elucidate an important palajonto- logical question, will not again subject me to the imputation of unamiable motives. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, your faithful servant, Chester Square, Pimlico, GiDEON ALGERNON Mantell. June 1852. III. — On a supposed new species 0/ Eleocharis. By Charles C. Babington, M.A., F.R.S. &c.* My attention has been recently directed by Mr. H. C. Watson to the British species of Eleocharis, and, having been led to con- cur with him in the idea that there is an undescribed plant be- longing to that genus which inhabits the western coast of Scot- land, I purpose pointing out in this paper the respects in which it differs from our known species included in the genus, and adding a few remarks upon them. In the autumn of the year 1844, 1 had the pleasure of accom- panying Professor Balfour of Edinburgh in a tour through the district of Cantyre in Argyleshire. At Tayanloan, on the western coast of that peninsula, he gathered two or three specimens of the plant upon which this paper is founded, but did not observe its difference from Scirpus pauciflorus, in company with which it * Read before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, June 10, 1852. 2* 20 Mr. C. C. Babington on a neio species o/Eleocharis. was growing, owing to the similarity of their outward appear- ance. Doubtless plenty of it might have been obtained if it had been looked for. To Mr. Watson we are indebted for the knowledge of this new species, as he received two small specimens from Dr. Balfour, and forwarded the fruit of one of them to me, with a request that I would endeavour to ascertain its identity with any known species. Through the liberality of Dr. Balfour I have had an opportunity of examining all the plants belonging to this group which are contained in his herbarium, but have only succeeded in finding one additional specimen of the Tayanloan plant ; for the permission to retain a portion of it I am much indebted to him. The similarity in outward appearance of the species included in the groups named Eleocharis and Bceothryon renders it neces- sary to pay close attention to the structure and form of their several parts : thus the form of the mouth of the sheaths which surround the base of the stem, the form of the nut, that of the base of the style and of the outer glume, and the length of the hypogynous bristles, have been carefully examined, and found to afford distinctive characters when the more conspicuous organs do not present any describable or constant differences. I propose the following as a provisional name and character for the plant, as I have totally failed in finding any described species to which it can be referred. The name is given in com- memoration of the gentleman to whose acuteness of observation we owe its discovery, and who deserves so well of botanists from his researches concerning the geographical distribution of plants. Eleocharis Watsoni ; spicis terminalibus solitariis oblongis, glumis acutis (?) infima obtusiuscula basin spicee circumcingente, stylo bifido, achenio utrinque convexo oblongo obtusissimo basi paululum atteuuato angulis rotundatis tenuissime punctato-striatOy basi styli persistente late depresso, setis hypogynis 4-6 achenio brevioribus, culmis basi vaginatis, vagina abrupte truncata. Radix ignota. Squamae radicales latse, obtusse, rubescentes. Cidmi 3-4 unciales, tenuissime striati, erecti, nudi, tenues, basi vagina viridi infeme rufescente superne fusco-marginata circumdati. Setse hypogynse breves, retrorsum hispidse, achenio dimidio breviores. ip,. Hab. in palustribus maritimis prope " Tayanloan " in com. " Argyle "j Scotise. .(. It might be allowable to stop here, but I think it desirable to add a few remarks concerning the differences between this and the allied plants. 1. The lowest glume is larger than the others, and surrounds the base of the spike in E. uniglumis, E. Watsoni and E. multi- caulis, but does not do so, and is not larger than the others in E. palustris. Mr. C. C. Babiiigton on a new species of Eleocharis, 21 2. The stigmas are two in all except E. multicaulis, which possesses three. They have not been seen in E. Watsoni, but the lenticular nut renders it nearly certain that they are two in number, • '\rtyyc^v 3. The nut is more or less compressed, but variable in shape, in all except E. multicaulis, in which it is acutely triangular and topshaped. In E. palustris it is roundish, with or without a slight narrowing or stalklike point at the base. In E. uniglumis it is pearshaped. In E. Watsoni it is oblong, but a little nar- rowed at the base. In all of them it is smooth, wdth the excep- tion of E. Watsonij where its surface is closely punctate-striate throughout. 4. The nut is shorter than the hypogynous bristles in E. pa- lustris and E. uniglumis ; equals them in E, multicaulis ; and ex- ceeds them in E. Watsoni, 5. The sheath surrounding the base of the stem is transversely truncate, but having a very obtuse point on one side in all except E. multicaulisj where the point is acute. It is thus seen that there are very considerable differences between the several plants under consideration, and it is with them alone that E. Watsoni is likely to be confounded, since its generic character separates it from the group Baothryon. The other European species of Eleocharis are E. ovata and E, atropur- purea, which form the genus Eleogenus of Esenbeck, where the glumes are all equally large and more densely imbricated than in the typical group of species ; and E. carniolica and E. ucicularis (to which our plant shows some resemblance in its short bristles), which constitute the genus Scirpidium of Esenbeck, where the bristles are deciduous, not persistent, as in E. Watsoni. The Scirpidia also are trigynous, and their nuts are obovate, much narrowed below and trigonous ; E, acicularis has a ribbed and transversely striated nut, and E. carniolica, which closely re- sembles it in appearance, has short subulate leaves terminating the sheaths. It does not seem desirable to extend this paper by discussing the distinctions between E. Watsoni and the North American species of Eleocharis ; let it suffice to state that every endeavour has been made to ascertain if our plant could be identified with any of them, but that none such has been found. It is earnestly hoped that Scottish botanists will not long allow this curious plant to continue in the dubious position of a species, founded upon so small a number of specimens as hardly to justify its separation from its allies ; indeed, could it with any probability have been considered as a state of any one of tbem^* this dissertation would not have been*written. 22 Mr. W. Clark on rare British Gasteropodous Mollusca. IV. — On some of the rarer British Gasteropodous Mollusca. By William Clark, Esq. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Gentlemen, Exmouth, Devon, June 1852. I BEG tlie favour of you to record the discovery of some of the rarer British Gasteropodan Mollusca, which have hitherto either escaped the researches of naturalists, or been mentioned so im- perfectly as to afford little assistance to science. During the present May and June I have met with the animals of the Chem- nitzia fenestrata, Ch. scalaris, Ch. clathrata, Ch. acicula; and seen many specimens of the Ch. elegantissima and Ch. pusilla, men- tioned in the 8th vol. of the 'Annals,^ N. S. p. 112, which con- firm the distinctness of the two, agreeably to M. Philippi. I have likewise reviewed all the Chemnitzice of my two memoirs in the ' Annals,' N. S. vol. vi. p. 451, and vol. viii. p. 108, and ex- amined others of the animals of this genus, which with me in- cludes the OdostomicE and Eulimell(2 of authors, and I can confi- dently state that they do not offer the slightest generic variation ; indeed some of them scarcely present, from their similitude, suf- ficient specific characters. I cannot doubt but the genus Chemnitzia will ultimately com- prise these species and some of those of Aclis. I consider the Chemnitzian family one of the most interesting and classic of our indigena ; nature has stamped it with unmistakeable distinction. I think that a disseverance of its integrity by the distribution of any of its species in other genera, can only be looked on as a disruption of natural affinities. With regard to the Rissocs, I have examined the animal of R. proximo, which has long been a desideratum, to settle the doubts respecting it and Montagu's R. vitrea; and also the R. punctura and R. reticulata of that author : this last discovery solves another difficulty. The R. striata, R. semistriata, R. cos- tata and R. soluta have also been observed. On my return to Bath, I will arrange the minutes of all that are now men- tioned. As these animals have long been sought for, I regret that I cannot at once send the descriptive notes ; but I am so immersed in the examination and acquirement of these difficult minute objects, that I am obliged to solicit this postponement ; and I hope in the interim still further to diminish the number of our rarer desiderata. I am, Gentlemen, your most obedient servant, William Clark. P.S. I may mention that I have taken here a second example Dr. Kneeland on the Skeleton of the Great Chimpanzee. 23 of the Megathyris cistellula, and that Mr. Barlee has met with several. I have also dredged at the same haul^ in the laminarian zone, live Luciiia borealis and L. Jiexuosa, and examined both. June 22, 1852. I have just captured an example of the species known as the Lepton convcxumy which will solve the problem of its distinctness or otherwise from the Lepton nitidum, concerning the animal of which I have full notes. Whilst 1 write, I examine my prize, which is very vivacious, free from rusticity, and I feel confident will aiFord to science the information which has been so long a great desi- deratum. In the same glass I have a live example of the rare Chemnitzia obliqua or C. decorata^ 1 cannot yet say which (if they are distinct), for fear of disturbing the animal, which is a splendid, unrecorded creature, displaying specific characters of more than usual beauty and interest. I will prepare without delay an account of my captures. — W. C. V. — On the Skeleton of the Great Chimpanzee^ Troglodytes gorilla. By S. Kneeland, Jun., M.D., Boston, U.S.A. The Boston Society of Natural History has recently received a valuable addition to its cabinet in a nearly complete skeleton of the Troglodytes gorilla from Western tropical Africa. It consists of a fine skull, with lower jaw and teeth complete ; all the ver- tebrse except the atlas ; the pelvis complete ; both scapulse and clavicles ; the humerus, radius, and ulna of left side, the ulna of right side with humerus and radius broken ; the right femur, tibia and astragalus, the head and upper part of left femur ; all the ribs^ except two on the left side ; the upper part of the ster- num j and a few bones of the hand and foot. The skull is of great size and strength ; the internal capacity is only 27 cubic inches, 8 inches less than in another belonging to the Society. From the great development of the crests, and the massive character of all the bones, this is undoubtedly a male ; the jaws, the complete development and worn appearance of the teeth, indicate an adult, if not an old animal. The sutures are hardly discernible, as usual ; the superciliary ridges and crests are remarkably developed. The specific characters pointed out by Professor Agassiz, in the decreasing depth of the infra-orbitar canal from before backwards, and the projection outwardly of the inner wall of the orbit, are well seen ; there are two infra-orbitar foramina on each side. The nasal bones are united together, in the lower half presenting traces of a median suture, in the upper half a prominent ridge ; the portion of the bone between the inner 24 Dr. Kneeland on the Skeleton of the Great Chimpanzee. orbitar angles of the frontals seems to confirm Dr. Wyman's * opinion that it is an independent piece, having its own centre of ossification ; the foramen existing midway between the incisive foramen of each side and the edge of the alveolus, on the left ^ide is replaced by two as in the Chimpanzee. The zygomatic arches are exceedingly strong, enclosing temporal muscles of immense size. The other anatomical peculiarities of the cranium and face have been sufficiently detailed by Dr. Wyman {op. cit.). The following points are interesting : — the dental formula is the same as in Man ; the median upper incisors are twice the size of the lateral, the reverse of which is the case in the lower jaw ; they are also respectively longer, giving to the upper incisors a convex edge, and to the lower a concave one : in the upper jaw there is an interval of two or three lines between the incisors and canines, and no interval between the latter and the premolars, the reverse being the case in the lower jaw, in which, however, the interval is less : the upper canines extend from the alveolus 1^ inch, the part within the alveolus being at least 2 inches; they are an inch broad and | of an inch thick ; the upper canines are worn anteriorly by the lower, and posteriorly by the first lower premolar, giving to the tooth a triangular shape, with an anterior, a posterior, and an internal cutting edge ; the action of the lower premolar on the upper canine, and of the latter on the lower canine, produces a distinct talon, or heel, at the base of these teeth : the two grooves mentioned by Dr. Wyman as occurring on the inner face are not seen in these canines, probably from the extent of the worn surface ; there is the lower portion of a single groove, however, which is lost in the worn surface beyond : to produce these surfaces there must be some lateral motion of the jaw, which would hardly be expected from the great length of these teeth. The premolars and molars agree with Owen's description in the ' Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology ' (Art. Teeth) ; the first lower premolar is much larger than the second, the anterior cusp being so strongly developed, and the posterior so little, that the tooth resembles an enlarged human canine ; all the lower molars have three cusps on the outside and two on the inside. The lower jaw is of great strength, the ramus being at right angles with the body of the bone ; the condyle is If inch wide and § of an inch thick, projecting much internally : the coronoid process is higher than the condyle. The external face of the ramus is deeply concave for the masseter muscle, which is nearly 3 inches wide ; the ramus inclines very much outwardly at its lower portion, and is grooved internally for the internal pterygoid muscle : the body of the jaw is If inch high, * Boston Journal of Natural History, vol. v. p. 426. Dr. Knecland on the Skeleton of the Great Chimpanzee. 25 and nearly an inch thick ; the height and width at the symphysis is 2 inches, the thickness \^ inch ; the chin is convex and re- treating, its convexity measuring 3| inches. The skull measures from the posterior plane of the occiput to margin of incisors 13i inches ; the diameter of face across zygomata is 6| inches ; from the posterior plane of occiput to fronto- nasal suture 7^ inches ; from this suture to margin of incisors 6^ inches ; breadth of zygomatic fossa 2 inches ; length of bony })alate 3|^ inches ; inter-orbitar space 1^ inch ; lateral diameter of orbit If, vertical If inch. Trunk. — Of the vertebrae, only the atlas is wanting. The odontoid process of the axis, instead of being almost perpendi- cular, as in Man, inclines backwards at an angle of nearly 50° : the spinous process is an inch long, spreading out at its apex to nearly the same width, with an evident disposition to fork as in the human type ; it is also somewhat concave at the end of its under surface. The bodies of all the cervical vertebrse are higher, but narrower than in Man, and received deeply one in the other. The spinous processes are horizontal, long, and (excepting the third, which is sharp-pointed) are swelled or club-shaped at the end ; the fourth is the longest, the third the shortest ; their lengths are, from the posterior face of the spinal canal, as fol- lows : — the third, 2^ inches; the fourth, 3f inches ; the fifth, 3f inches ; the sixth, 3^ inches ; the seventh, 3 J inches : the use of these long processes is sufficiently obvious, being required for the ligamentum nuchse necessary for the support of the ill- balanced head. The transverse processes are very long, the pos- terior an inch in length ; the anterior or cervical ribs begin to be seen at the fourth, increasing to the sixth and seventh, which last are of equal size — there being, as a general rule, no cervical ribs to the seventh vertebra of the mammal neck. All are pierced for the vertebral artery on each side; the transverse processes are directed obliquely downwards. ' i' The dorsal vertebrse are fourteen in number, as in the Chim- panzee (according to Cuvier ; Vrolik gives this last only thirteen). They much resemble the human in shape and size ; the last two are rather larger, and more like human lumbar vertebrse ; the spinous and transverse processes are much more developed. The spinous process of the first is like the cervical, and 2 J inches long; the spinal canal is less in this and the remainder of the column ; the spinous processes of the second and third are com- pressed laterally at the end, and 2|^ inches long. At the fourth the spinous processes begin to descend, as in Man, to the ninth ; below this they resemble the lumbar spines, though pointing more downwards. The last dorsal has its rib on the right side firmly anchyloscd to the body. 26 Dr. Kneeland on the Skeleton of the Great Chimpanzee. The lumbar vertebrse are only three in number, — less than in any of the higher mammals ; but taking in the dorsals, there is in both the same number as in Man. The bodies are larger and thicker than in Man ; the vertical diameter is less anteriorly than posteriorly, making an anterior concavity, and showing that the erect position is as unnatural for this as for the other Quadru- mana. The sacrum, which has a slight lateral deviation to the left, consists of eight bones, firmly joined together, the intervertebral spaces being obliterated except between the first and second. The first bone resembles very much a lumbar vertebra, and on one side its transverse process, though bearing the upper portion of the articulating surface for the right ilium, is not connected with the lateral portion of the sacral wing below ; on the left side the bony union is complete, and the spinous process is conti- nuous without interruption or foramen with the median sacral crest ; this crest at its upper portion is 2 inches high, gradually decreasing, and lost entirely on the sixth bone, where also the sacral canal terminates. The sacrum is long and narrow, having a very decided concavity anteriorly. The articulating surface for the ilium is confined to the first three vertebrae. Whether any coccygeal vertebrae are anchylosed in the sacrum it is not easy to say; from the uncommonly large number of sacral vertebrae, viz. eight, it would seem probable that these also include the coccyx ; the terminal bone ends in a rounded projection, which has some- what the appearance of an articulating surface. In Dr. W. Lewises description of a Gibbon (Boston Journal, vol. i. p. 35) it is stated that the coccyx consisted of a single bone ; in our specimen this single rudimentary coccyx may have been attached to the sacral terminal surface. The bodies of the second and third cervical vertebrae incline backwards ; the direction becomes perpendicular in the fourth, and in the last three a little inclined forwards : at the upper dorsal region the spine is slightly convex, in the lower dorsals and lumbar concave; at the last lumbar and first sacral it is again convex, and in the lowest portion again concave. The whole number of vertebrae is 32, and possibly 33 ; the length of the cervical, dorsal and lumbar regions is 22 inches : from this it would appear that the spinal column is very nearly as long as the human, which it also comes nearer to in its curves than any of the Quadrumana. The pelvis departs widely from that of the Chimpanzee and Orang, and approaches that of Man in the greater spread of the ilium, its deep anterior concavity, and corresponding posterior convexity, on which a well-marked longitudinal ridge indicates the origin of the glutseus maximus ; and a fainter semicircular Dr. Kneeland on the Skeleton of the Great Chimpanzee. 27 line, extending from the sciatic notch to near the rudimentary anterior inferior spinous process, about 2| inches above the ace- tabulum, the probable origin of the gluta3us minimus ; the ante- rior superior spinous processes are fully 6 inches in advance of the plane of the sacrum. The sacrum extends only to the spine of the ischium, about 4 inches from the tuberosities of this bone, so that the pelvis has somewhat of the lengthened narrow form peculiar to the Quadrumana, though it projects far more from the line of the spine than in any other members of the group. The superior aperture has not the narrow elongated shape of the Orang's, the antero-posterior diameter being only half an inch greater than the transverse, these being respectively 6^ and 6 inches ; in the female, according to Dr. Wyman's measure- ments, the difference is 3 inches. The tuberosities of the ischia are very thick and broad, and the rami of the pubes very wide ; the whole lower portion indicates great strength and solidity. It is the portion of the pelvis between the acetabulum and the lower edge of the sacro-iliac articulation which is so much shorter than in the Chimpanzee, and which gives to the pelvis its more human aspect. The length of the sacrum is Q^ inches, the width 4j breadth of pelvis between spinous processes of ilia 16| inches; breadth of ilium 9; length of os innominatum 14|^ inches ; from outside of one tuber ischii to the other 7*15 inches. At first sight the scapula has much the appearance of the human, having very much its shape, but somewhat enlarged ; it more nearly resembles that of the Orang than that of the Chim- panzee, but is more like that of Man than either in its more equilateral form. The spine is nearly in the middle of the bone, making the supraspinous nearly equal to the infraspinous fossa ; after about one-third of its length it ceases to have the broad thick edge of the human spine, reaching nearly to the posterior border, but is continued by a sharp well-marked ridge quite to the edge, as in the Orang ; the spine is also more perpendicular to the plane of the dorsum than in Man, and its direction more that of the axis of the trunk. The acromial process is longer and less curved than in Man, and wants the strong angle on its posterior surface, a little in advance of the plane of the glenoid cavity ; its arch over this cavity belongs also to a much larger circle. The coracoid process has a greater inclination down- wards than in Man and the Chimpanzee ; this direction, in the Orang, Vrolik considers a sign of inferiority. The glenoid cavity is much the same as in Man, the upper half being less narrow in proportion. The subscapular fossa is very deep, and divided by prominent ridges into five or six smaller depressions. There is no deep suprascapular notch as in the human scapula ; but there is a decided concavity at the base of the coracoid pro- 28 Dr. Kneeland on the Skeleton of tJie Great Chimpanzee. cess, without the narrowness of a notch, contrasting strongly with the nearly straight line of the upper border of the bone in the Orang. Length of scapula along the base 10 inches ; broade^^, , part 7\ inches. ^^ The clavicles are shorter and stronger than in Man, and less curved ; the edges are more angular ; their length in a straight line is 6^ inches ; their circumference in the middle 2 inches, thence increasing to each end. The subclavian ridge is well marked. ,,tR The sternum, at its upper portion, is 4 inches wide, and about half an inch thick ; there is a decided semilunar notch, but less than in Man ; the lower portions are wanting. There is no sign of division into lateral halves in this upper portion, which is 3 1 inches long. The articular surface for the clavicles is less curved and more horizontal than in Man. The ribs are fourteen pairs ; of these two are wanting on the left side, at about the middle of the series. . They much resemble, those of Man, and form a very capacious thorax -, they are, how*^/ ever, longer and thicker, and the curves less complicated. Some of them bear marks of old injuries. The angles are very well marked ; the last rib is united both to the body and to the tran^rl J verse process of a single vertebra. V\ The humerm is 3 inches longer than that of Man, and 2 inches greater in circumference at the middle, the latter measurement being 5 inches ; the length is 16^ inches ; around the middle of the head, horizontally, 8^ inches j greatest width at lower extre- mity 4i\ inches. The bone is of very compact structure and very heavy. It resembles that of Man, but is less twisted on itself; the bicipital groove is deep and wide, having on its sides very large tuberosities for muscular insertions ; the ridges for the pec- toralis major and latissimus dorsi are well marked, as is also the insertion of the deltoid ; the anterior face is rather convex than concave, even more so than in Man. Both the condyles and the condyloid ridges are more developed than in Man ; the trochlear portion is less excavated, and the internal ridge less prominent ; there is a deep groove between the trochlea and the surface for the head of the radius, which is very slight in Man. The lower extremity is perforated on the right side, but not on the left ; the cavity for the olecranon is an inch in width and half an inch deep, while that for the coronoid process, on the anterior surface, is hardly sunk beneath the level of the bone : this difference is much less in Man. ...ii The ulna is more curved than the human, as is also the r sniJi Stemonurus. There can exist no doubt that the genus Stemonurus, proposed by Professor Blume in his ' Bijdragen ' in 1826, is the same as the Gomphandra of Dr. Wallich, although they have hitherto been considered as distinct ; but at the same time there is every reason to conclude, that both are again identical with the La- sianthera of Pal. de Beauvois, established as far antecedently as 1805, in his 'Flora Owariensis,' and placed by DeCandolle in his ' Prodromus ' (i. p. 636) as a doubtful genus of the Ampe- lid(E : in such case, the latter name, on account of its priority, ought to claim the preference. As however it is contrary to the rules of science to form a compound generic term from both Greek and Latin roots, the name would necessarily require to be modified into Lasiandra, one that has long been preoccupied. Besides this, we have to consider the confusion likely to arise from increasing a list of consimilar names, already too numerous, as Lasiandra, Lasianthcea, Lasiantha, Lasianthus, and Lasianthera, and also, that in reality the latter name is untenable, because of the incorrectness of its signification, for in the present case it will be seen, that it is not the anther, but the filament which is villous. For all these reasons, 1 strongly recommend the pre- ference to be given to Stemonurus^ the next in priority, as the most appropriate designation of this genus. Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese, 31 Its most marked peculiarity consists in the character of its stamens ; the filaments sometimes shorter, often longer than the petals, are generally very broad, extremely thick and fleshy, obtuse at their summit with a small apical point, to which the anthers are attached, and they have a somewhat prominent in- ternal keel down the middle : the margins of their broad summit and the upper part of the keel are fringed with long transparent white hairs, clavate at their extremity and bent, so as to form a crest over the anthers : from this character both the names of Beauvois and Blume originated. The flowers, sometimes herma- phrodite, are frequently polygamous in the same plant, that is to say, either the anthers are void of pollen, or the ovarium is deficient of any ovules, or both these imperfections occur at the same time : it does not appear to me that they are constantly unisexual, as generally stated. The analysis of the structure of this genus has been attended with much difficulty, because of the frequent abortion of some of its parts, especially the ovarium, which is often deficient of cells or ovules ; and even when the ovules exist, it is not easy to detect their presence, on account of their extreme minuteness, in an early stage of the flower. I was for a long while unable to solve the anomalies of its struc- ture, and almost gave up the matter in despair, but patient exa- mination at length overcame the difficulties : not one in twenty instances exhibits the smallest trace of an existing ovule, nothing but a fleshy mass appearing to constitute the ovarium, which is always comparatively small : indications of the existence of more cells than one are sometimes observable, but these are not large enough to be well defined ; and even in the case where a single distinct cell exists with two suspended ovules, these are so mi- nute that they might readily be overlooked. After the period of fecundation, however, the petals and stamens fall away, when the ovarium attains a rapid growth, and soon displays itself as an oblong cylindrical body of many times its former dimensions, seated on its small persistent calyx and crowned by a large pul- vinate disk : it now unmistakeably exhibits to the naked eye a single cell containing two large suspended ovules and conforming to all the usual characters of the order. With one exception I have never met with flowers in an intermediate stage, and it is not therefore surprising that Stemonurus and Gomphandra should have been so long considered as two distinct genera. The nature of the pulviniform gland that forms so prominent a feature on the summit of the ovarium, and which evidently suggested the name given by Dr. Wallich, is not altogether manifest. On making a longitudinal section of a pistillum in its early stage, when it consists of a very small, 4- or 5-lobed, short cylinder, it will be seen crowned by a fleshy glandular ring of the same 3?l Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinaceae. shape, but of a different colour from the lower and central por- tions, where the ovuligerous cell is seen, whenever discernible : this glandular appendage is sometimes in a small degree conical towards the centre, but more generally deeply umbilicate, and in the middle of this depression is seen a conspicuous prominence consisting of the real style and stigma : this is in the form of a very short hollow tube, crowned by four or five very minute teeth, corresponding in number to the lobes of the ovarium. On the growth of the pistil, in the manner before described, the gland just mentioned also expands, assuming the form of a large pulvinate disk, more or less lobed, which often exceeds in diameter, and therefore overhangs the summit of the ovarium, while the style and stigma become withered into a small central umbilicated depression. This early stage of the ovarium is tolerably well depicted in plate 953. fig. 5. of Dr. Wight^s 'Icones,' while its subsequent clavated appearance is shown in plate 954. fig. 6. of the same work. I have frequently quoted instances of the ex- istence of a similar epigynous gland upon the summit of an inferior ovarium, but I know of no instance in which it forms so prominent a mark as in this case. At one time [huj. op, ix. p. 224) it appeared to me desirable to unite the Phlebocalymna of Griffiths, as well as the Platea of Blume, with Stemonurtcs, which differ in no respect from the last-named genus, except in the absence of the villous fringe that forms such a remarkable crest overhanging the anthers : from Dr. Wight's ^ Icones ' I was at first led to believe that this was only a sexual dif- ference, but careful observation does not confirm this conclusion. I find it a constant character in particular species, and on this account it will probably be better to keep Stemonurus distinct ; but in this case Phlebocalymna and Platea will merge into another separate genus, the preference being given to the latter name on account of its priority : the differences which are observable between them will be discussed when we come to consider that genus. I propose to unite with them a species which I had placed in Stemonurus, under the name of >S^. laxijlorus (Cuming, no. 189, from the Philippine Islands), and also Dr. Wight's variety of S, polymorpha, figured in plate 953 of his ^ Icones.' The structure of the putamen bears much analogy to that of Pennantia : it is covered with a very small quantity of pulp, and is strongly ribbed by several longitudinal irregular lines : it is more coriaceous than osseous, and is of an oblong form, somewhat flatter upon the ventral face, on which side, a little below the summit, is seen a caruncular prominence, beneath which is a foramen communicating with the interior of the cell. On the same side near the base is another foramen ; this however does not penetrate into the cell, but it pierces the substance of the Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 33 shell obliquely by a hole which comes out in the point of its at- tachment to the calyx. Between these foramina is a deep groove filled with a thick chord of fibres : this chord, issuing from the interior of the nut, out of the upper perforation, descends through the basal passage just described, and terminates in the torus of the persistent calyx. By making a careful incision through each side of the shell, the cell is seen filled with an oblong seed, which is suspended from a thick funicular support, continuous with the raphe on one hand and with the chord before mentioned on the other : in Pennantia these parts are attached to one another, but here the bundle of fibres is continuous with the raphe, as well as with the external chord, that terminates in the basal torus. The raphe does not descend along the centre of the dorsal face of the seed, as in Pennantia, but takes a somewhat lateral course towards nearly the bottom, when it makes a sudden turn, and curving in a hippocrepical form ascends the opposite side of the same face, terminating in a caruncular prominence upon the apex of the seed. The thin integumental covering apparently con- sists of two adherent membranes, in which the raphe is imbedded ; but there is no thickening of these membranes at the base, nor any appearance of a chalaza, unless the caruncular swelling at the apex can be so considered. The albumen is fleshy, and its embryo almost divides into two nearly equal portions, interposing a vacant space between them, and leaving on the edges only a very narrow solid rim of its albuminous substance to connect them ; the embryo entirely lines this space, and consists of two extremely thin, almost pellicular cotyledons, which are oblong, nearly the size of the albumen, cordate at the summit, with a short terete radicle in its sinus. I have had an opportunity of examining only a single seed, and I can affirm with confidence that its structure was that above described. A result so greatly at variance with other recorded observations will naturally create a suspicion that the seed so examined may have been a malfor- mation, but there appeared in this case no indication of any ab- normal deformity : how then can we account for the existence of an embryo so different in size and form from that figured by Dr. Wight ? Is it possible that this distinguished botanist, or more probably his draughtsman, can have mistaken the radicle for the entire embryo ? This will appear probable when we care- fully examine fig. 10 of his plate 954 above referred to, which gives a transverse section of the seed, where exactly the same lunated space is shown across the middle, which I found to exist, lined with the two thin membranes above described, and which I conceive can be nothing but cotyledons ; and again, if we com- pare this with fig. 1 1 of the same plate, which is a longitudinal section of the same, we perceive a line or long* space descending Ann. S,; Mag. N, Hist. Ser. 3. Vol.x. 3 34 Mr. J. Miers on some yenera of the Icacinacea;. from the supposed embryo at the summit to the base of the albumen, a fact which precisely accords with what 1 have de- scribed in the preceding analysis. Upon such grounds I am inchned to believe, that what I have detailed above is the real structure of the seed in Stemonurus. In anatropal suspended seeds with a superior radicle, it is usual to observe the raphe ter- minate at the opposite extremity to the point of suspension ; but in this case we find an exception to this general rule, which seems opposed to the established theory : here the direction of the raphe would seem to indicate a double retroversion of the ovule : so singular a fact may be of more frequent occurrence, but I confess that I have never met with, nor seen the record of, any such development. On the other hand, again, we have an ana- lysis given by Blume of the seed of Stemonurus secundiflorus in his ' Mus. Lugd. Bat.,' in which the embryo is small in the sum- mit of the albumen, as represented by Dr. Wight, the radicle being terete and the cotyledons exceedingly small, f- ,The flowers of Stemonurus are sometimes 4-, often 5-merous, but I am not aware whether this can be depended on as a good specific character ; all I can affirm is, that in those specimens I have seen, where 4-merous flowers prevail, I have occasionally met with some that are 5- or even 6-merous. Generally, the inflorescence is so short, as often to appear like a cluster of ax- illary fasciculated flowers; in other species it consists of long branching panicles, in which the flowers are sometimes secundly disposed. The flowers are always glabrous, and each articulated upon its separate pedicel, which is often pubescent. I have seen but few of the species on record, and those mostly imperfect spe- cimens. In the following enumeration the characters are therefore given as described by their several authors ; they require doubt- lessly a more careful revision, for as they generally resemble each other so much in the appearance of the leaves, the shape of which often varies in the same species, it is probable that better and more valid characters may be found in the inflorescence. The outline of generic features here ofi'ered is founded wholly on my own observation. Stemonurus, B1. Lasianthera, Pal. Beauv, Gomphandra, Wall. ' , , — Flores hermaphroditi vel abortu polygami. Calyx parvus, ■ brevissime cupularis, limbo fere integro, 4-5-denticulato, vel 4-5-fido, immutatus et persistens. Petala 4-5, hypogyna, ob- longa, carnosa, summo marginibus mucroneque apicali pro- pendenti inflexis, sestivatione valvata, libera, vel interdum mar- ginibus imo cohserentibus, simulque cum filamentis adhsesis *^;'in tubum cylindraceum sic leviter agglutinatis, e medio liberis et reflexis. Stamina 4^-5, cum petalis inserta, iisdem altema; Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 35 filamenta ssepe aucta et demum exserta, crasso-camosa, lata, - * compressa, incuiTula, summo truncato ac breviter repente ^' acuto, carinaque interna mediana, pilis longis albidis apice clavatis munita j anther ce istis sequilatse^ ovatse, introrsse, plus minusve cordatae, 2-lobse, lobis singulatim 2-locellatis demnm septicidis et longitudinaliter evolutim dehiscentibus. Pollen acute 3-gonum. Ovarium globoso-conicumj 4-5 -sulcatum, disco parvo insitum, glandula crassa sub-annulari aut sub- lobata coronatum, ssepissime sterili_, quandoque fertili et tunc cito multoties elongatum et cylindricum^ l-loculare^ ovula 2 anatropa juxta apiceni loculi subcollateraliter superposita, podospermio crasso suspensa. Stylus brevissimus, conicus, 4-5-sulcatus_, summo cavus, dentibusque 4-5 erectis stigma- tosis terminatus, et simul cum glandula (in ovario fertili) in discum magnum pulvinatum sub-lobatum epigynum demum auctus. Drupa oblonga, parcissime carnosa, olivseformis, in- terdum elongata^ monopyrena, calyce persistente sufFulta, et r^'ipulvino coronata: putamen lignosum, ovato-oblongum, dorso i' convexius, uniloculare, monospermum^ ad faciem ventralem planiusculam infra apicem foramine parvo (loculo attingente) perforatum, hinc extus fere ad imum longitudinaliter profunde canaliculatum, illinc usque ad fundum introitu diagonali (loculo evitante) pertusum. Semen conforme, funiculo infra apicem ■loculi suspensum ; funiculus crassus, fibrosus, e rapheo dorsali / ortus, per foramen apicale loculi trajectus, tunc canalem i> ' externum pervadens, et introitum basalem penetrans, denique *i'^ in toro amissus ; testa submembranacea, cum integumento "anterno cobserens; raphe bippocrepicus in faciem dorsalem •' 'testae immersus, primum ex apice versus latus fere ad imum •'"decurrens, hinc repente deflexus, per latus adversum fere ad ^ '^apicem accurrens, et in carunculam apicalem desitus. Embryo inversus, rectus, cotyledonibus magnis, cordatis, textura tenuis- simis, latitudine curvatis, in medio albuminis camosi fere '^^^quanti immersis, radicula brevi, tereti, supera, 6-plo lon- ' ■ gioribus. [Ex iconibus et descriptionbus clar. Wight et Blume embryo in apicem albuminis immersus, brevis, radicula tereti, fiupera, cotyledonibus minutissimis, compressis.] — Arbores vel '^^frutices Indice Orient alis et Archipelagi Asiatici indigence : folia '^^^klterna, elliptica, vel lanceolata, co7iacea, glaberrima, petiolata ; I flores parvi, flavo-viriduli, odoratissimi, in racemos spicatos scepe '^"■i'lateralesj vel in cymas axillares rarius oppositifolias dispositi, ''^'%nterdum {prcesertim in ovuligeris) fasciculato-aggregati -, fructus ''^^']burpureus. J^^^^^^temonurus pauciflorus, Bl. Bijd. 648 ; — foliis oblongis, acumi- natis, basi acutis, glabris ; pedunculis brevibus apice 2-3-fidis, 2-3-flori8. — Java. 3* 36 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 2. Stemonurus secundiflorus, Bl. Bijd. 649 ; — arbor 10-pedalis ; foliis oblongis, acutis, basi angustatis,, coriaceis, glabris, aveniis, apice spicis 3-4-fidis, floribus secundis, filamentis carnosis, linearibus, petalis sequilongis_, pilis longissimis clavatis ciliatis ; drupa valde elongata, apice attenuata. — Java. 3. Stemonmms Javanicus, Bl. /. c. ; — foliis oblongis, utrinque acu- minatis^ coriaceis, glabris^ venosis ; cymis solitariis geminisve densifloris. — Insul. Nusa Kambanga. /S. foliis ovalibus, utrinque acuminatis^ submembranaceis, glabris, junioribus ad costam infra puberulis; cymis dicbotomis soli- tariis. 4. Stemonurus quadrifidus, Bl. Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. 249 ; — foliis e basi acutiusculis, oblongis v. oblongo-lanceolatis, obtuse acu- minatis_, membranaceis, cymis umbellato-4-fidis, multifloris. — Sumatra. — Folia 3| ad 6 poll, longa, 1-lf poll. lata. 5. Stemonurus prasinus, Bl. /. c. S. Javanicus, Krthls.-, — foliis e basi acutiuscula ellipticis, v. elliptico-oblongis, longiuscule acuminatis, membranaceis ; cymis 3-furcatis, multifloris. — Sumatra. — Folia 4^-6 poll, longa, lf-3 poll. lata. 6. Stemonurus macrocarpus, Bl. /. c. ; — foliis e basi acutiuscula ellipticis, v. elliptico-oblongis, obtuse acuminatis, subcoriaceis ; "^"^pedunculis solitariis paucifloris, fructibus elongato-ellipsoideis. ' — Ins. Borneo. — Folia 4^-6 poll, longa, 2|-3 poll, lata (evi- denter $). 7. Stemonurus macrophyllus, Bl. /. c. ; — foliis e basi acuta ellipticis, obtuse acuminatis, coriaceis; racemis geminis confertisve; fructibus cylindraceis. — In Archip. Indico. — Folia 51-9 poll. 4 longa, 2f-4J poll. lata. 8. Stemonurus parviflorus, Bl. /. c. ; — foliis e basi acuta vel obtusa oblongis vel elliptico-oblongis, acuminatis, membranaceis, cymis brevissimis densifloris, drupis cylindricis. — Sumatra. — - Folia 5-10 poll, longa, 2-4 poll. lata. 9. Stemonurus ? littoralis, Bl. /. c. ; — foliis e basi acutiuscula v. obtusa ellipticis, acuminatis, coriaceis. — Nova Guinea. — Folia 6-9 poll, longa, 31-4 poll. lata. 10. Stemonurust memhranaceus, Bl. I. c, — foliis e basi acuta elliptico-oblongis vel oblongo-lanceolatis, acuminatis, mem- branaceis. — Java. — Folia 6-10 poll, longa, 2^-3^^ poll. lata. 11. Stemonurus Africanvs. Lasianthera Africana, Pal. BeaWo, Fl. Owar. i. 85. tab. 51 ; D.C. Prodr. i. 636 ;— sufFrutex scaiii' Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 37 dens, foliis lanceolate- vel ovato-oblongis, cuspidatis, imo ro- tmidatis, apice longe acuminatis vel cuspidatis, cyma oppo- sitifolia, apice unibellatim ramosa, ovarii stylo brevi, stig- mate obtuso. — Africa tropica; Chama, fl. St. Jago. — Folia 6 poll, longa, 2 poll, lata, petiolus 1-pollicaris : inflorescentia 2-pollicaris, ramis4-5-umbellatis, floribus apice agglomeratis. 12. Stemonw^s coriaceus. Gompbandra coriacea, Wightj III. Tnd. Bat. i. 103 ; — dioicus^ foliis coriaceis, ovalibus, utrinque attenuatis vel obovato-cuneatis, floribus 4-andris, cymis (^ axil- laribus, 4 floris ; ? floribus solitariis vel 2-3, racemosis, fruc- tibus oblongis, cylindraceis, — Ind. Oriental. 13. ^temonurns polymorphus. Gompbandra polymorpha, Wight, III. Ind. BoL i. 103; Icon. PI. tab. 953-954;— glaber, foliis oblongis vel obovato-lanceolatis, acuminatis, membranaceis, subtus glaucis, breviter petiolatis; cymis axillaribus solitariis vel geminis petiolum sequantibus, masculis plurifloris, foemineis 2-5 -floris,- calyce integro minute 4-5-dentatis, petalis 4-5, gla- bris, staminibus exsertis, cristato-pilosis, fructibus ovoideis. — India orientalis. Var. a. acuminata, jS. oblongifolia, 7. angustifolia, S. longifolia, €. ovalifolia. This species is described as being commonly difixised over the whole Peninsula of India, and subject to many varieties of form, but I suspect that if these were more carefully examined, several specific difierences would be found to exist among them. I have copied the character from Dr. Wighf s description, omitting how- ever three features, viz. "dioicus^^ — "petalis basi in corollam tubulosam coalitis '* — and " antheris minute cristato-pilosis." I find in all cases the petals are quite free, although strongly agglutinated by their edges, and that they do not open even at the summits until some time after impregnation, and then they gradually become separated at their edges to the base, after which, in time, they fall ofi^. There seems to have been a general conviction among botanists, that in Gomphandra the anthers are pilose ; this is so stated by Endlicher and Wight, but in every instance I have found the clavate hairs that form a hooded crest over the anthers all spring from the filaments. Dr. AVight, in his ' Icones,' represents the male plant in this species as having beardless stamens (see figs. 1 & 4. tab. 953), and it is worthy of note that the ovarium is here depicted as being ovuligerous (see fig. 6) : the female plant in plate 954 has bearded stamens with a fertile ovarium, the progress of the development of which, to the state of ripened fruit, is here shown : it has hence been inferred by that distinguished botanist, that the occurrence of bearded or beardless stamens constitutes a true sexual distinc- 3S Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. tion. My observation upon dried specimens leads me to an opposite conclusion, for I find in every instance I have examined, that the stamens are bearded even in the male flowers, that is to say, where the ovarium has been quite sterile : and even in what are called female flowers, that is, where the ovarium is ovuli- gerous, the stamens are equally barbed, w^hether the anthers be charged with pollen or filled only with a grumous mass. I am therefore led to the irresistible conclusion, that the plant figured by Dr. Wight as the male plant of Gomphandra polymorpha belongs to a distinct genus, being a species of Blume^s Plateay which will be hereafter described. As additional evidence in favour of this conclusion, I may mention the fact, that Dr. Wight describes the male plant in plate 953 as flowering in the months of March and April, and the female plant in plate 954 as having its fruit ripened in the same months : this would occur probably alone on the supposition that the fruit was the production of a previous yearns growth. Among the Ceylon collection of the late Mr. Gardner (no. 102) is a plant which I take to be the variety longifolius of this spe- cies : it is certainly difierent from the longifolius of Dr. Wallich^s collection, which will be presently described ; the leaves are here of a light pallid green ; two or three short dichotomous racemes grow out of each axil ; the calyx is entire, but the petals and sta- mens have all fallen away ; the ovarium is long and cylindrical, and is terminated by a flattened 5-lobed disk, which considerably exceeds in diameter that of the ovarium; it is 1 -celled, with two large ovules suspended from near the summit of the cavity : on account of the clavate form of the ovarium this afibrds a good illustration of Dr. Wallich's genus Gomphandra, and is well represented in Wight^s ' Icones,^ tab. 954. figs. 6 & 7. The remarks offered upon the development of the ovarium in 8. affinis will equally apply to the present instance*. 14. Stemonurus Gardneri, n. sp. ; — glaber, ramulis teretibus, subflexuosis ; foliis ellipticis, utrinque acutis, apice obtusius- culo breviter lineari-angustatis, glaberrimis, valde coriaceis, uti-inque eveniis, costa nervisque supra impresso-sulcatis, subtus prominentibus, inferne subferrugineis margine revo- luto, petiolo longiusculo, tereti, superne hand sulcato ; racemo oppositifolio, petiolo longiori, floribus masculis paniculatis 5-meris, staminibus in alabastro petalis brevioribus, pilis cla- vatis antheris brevioribus munitis; fructu oblongo, disco 10- lobo umbilicato coronato. — In Mont. Neilgherrensib. The plant here described was sent to me by the late Mr. Gard- ner as the Gomphandra polymorpha^ being collected by him as * The analysis of the structure of the flowers and of the seed of this species will be shown in plate 13 of the * Contributions to Botany,' &c. Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 89 such, in company with Dr. Wight, in the Neilgherry Hills : it might therefore be considered as an authentic sample of this species. Its characters however will be seen to be quite at variance with those given by Dr. Wight of otter plants of this species_, collected by him in the same neighbourhood, where the leaves are said to be membranaceous and shortly petioled : here, on the contrary, they are extremely opaque and thickly coria- ceous : the inflorescence is not only there described, but figured as being axillary ; here, on the contrary, it is always opposite to the leaves. It is not easy to say whether this plant is referrible to any of the varieties mentioned by Dr. Wight, but from the differences here shown, it certainly claims the rank of a species distinct from his Gomphandra polymorpha. The leaves are 2|- 3^ inches long, I^-l^^ inch broad, on a petiole half an inch in length ; the male panicle is branching, nearly an inch in length, with flowers oval in bud, about 1| line long ; both the male and female inflorescence, as in the following species, spring from the side of the stem opposite to the petiole : the calyx is cupshaped, with a 5 -denticulated margin ; the five petals are oblong, with in- flexed margins and apex ; the stamens, shorter than these, have fleshy filaments, with glandular hairs scarcely longer than the anthers : the ovarium is oblong, glabrous, sterile, with a conical hollow style. The fructiferous raceme is f of an inch long, bearing an oblong drupe, 7 lines in length, surmounted by a depressed, umbilicated, lO-lobed disk, and supported upon its minute, persistent calyx. The internal structure of the fruit has been already described in a foregoing page. 15. Stemonurus Penangianus, Gomphandra Penangiana, Wall. ; — ramulis teretibus, pallide ferrugineis ; foliis oblongo-lanceo- latis, imo cuneatis, apice lineari-angustatis, coriaceis, glaber- rimis, subtus pallidioribus margine revoluto, petiolo brevi, crassiusculo, profunde canaliculato ; cyma oppositifolia, sub- umbellatim et 2-3-4-chotome ramosa, floribus hermaphroditis, secundis, cum pedicellis articulatis, valde deciduis, carina interna petalorum in appendice longe propendenti inflexa maxime producta, filamentis longe ciliatis, antheris polliniferis, ovario brevissimo, 5-gono, apice pulviniformi et umbilicato, stylo conico, sub-brevi, tubuloso, dentibus 5 erectis acutis terminato. — Penang. — {v, s, in herb, Soc. Linn. Wall Cat, 7204.) This species is very distinct on account of its singularly branching racemes, with long rows of secund flowers, which are always placed on the side of the stem opposite to the insertion of the petiole. The stems are quite glabrous and of a dull light brown colour. The leaves are about 5^ inches long, lj-1^ inch 40 Mr. J . Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. broad, on a petiole 3 or 4 lines in length. The primary peduncle is 3 to 6 lines long, branching somewhat umbellately into from three to six branches, which are again dichotomously, or some- times umbellately subdivided into lengthened curving branchlets, from 6 to 9 lines long, closely and pectinately beset with pedi- cels, from which the articulated flowers have fallen off, all being quite glabrous and of an ochreous colour. The calyx is small, cupshaped, minutely 5-toothed; the petals adhere by their mar- gins below in a tubular form, the summits being quite free; the stamens are the length of the petals, but the long ciliated crests are far exserted ; the filaments are thick and fleshy, having their margins and apices charged with very long clavate white hairs ; the upper part of the inner keel interposes between the lower part of the two lobes of the anthers, which are oval, deeply separated at their base, the lobes being attached dorsally at their junction to the apical point of the filament ; they are pollini- ferous, the granules of pollen being sharplj^ 3-angular : the ova- rium is distinctly ovuligerous. 16. Stemonurus longifolius. Olax longifolia. Wall.; — ramulis- teretibus, gracilibus, glabris, ochraceis ; foliis valde lanceolatis, utrinque acutis, apice lineari-angustatis, glaberrimis, flavo- virentibus, subtus pallidioribus, petiolo gracili ; panicula pau- ciflora, glaberrima, petiolo vix longiori, floribus glabris, petalis 4, staminibus 4, filamentis crassis, dilatatis, longe ciliolatis, an- theris effcetis, ovario sterili, 4-sulcato, stylo conico tubuloso 4-5-dentato coronato. — Sylhet. — {v. s. in herb. Soc. Linn. Wall Cat. 6782 A. et B.) This species is remarkable for its very long narrow leaves, which are attenuated at their apex into a lengthened linear ex- tension ; they are of a pale colour above, of a glaucous yellowish hue below, about 6 inches long, including the linear apical ex- tension of an inch in length, and ^ of an inch broad, upon a slender petiole 3 or 4 lines in length. The inflorescence seldom exceeds 4 lines in length, several flowers about 2 lines long being almost fasciculated on an axillary peduncle of 2 lines in length, all quite glabrous : the calyx is small, cupshaped and 5-toothed ; petals 4, linear ; stamens 4, with very fleshy filaments nearly the length of the petals, furnished on their margins and apex with a dense fringe of long clubshaped hairs ; the two anther lobes are each 2-celled, sterile, and filled with grumous matter ; the ovarium is smooth, cylindrical, \ ov ^ the length of the stamens, sterile, and terminated by a hollow, tubular, conical style, divided at its apex into four acute erect teeth. 17. Stemonurus Heyneanm. Olax Heyneanus, Wall. ; — ramulis Mr. J. Miers on some genei^a of the Icacinaceae. 41 subflexuosis, glabris ; foliis oblongis, utrinque acutis, apice breviter repente angustatis, glaberrimis, opacis, petiolo gra- cili ; racemo axillaris petiolo sublongiori, bifido, vel subdicho- tome ramoso, floribus secundis, vel subaggregatis ; ealyce cupuliformi, 5-denticulato, petalis 4-5^ linearibus, apicula in- flexa longe propendenti, staminibus 4-5, crassis, demum elon- gatis et exsertis, pilis clavatis antberis fertilibus 2-plo longi- oribus mmii'tis ; ovario sterili, subgloboso, 4-5-sulcato, apice pulviniformi, subumbilicato, stylo brevissimo, fere obsoleto. — India. Orient. — [v. s. in herb. Soc. Linn, et Hook., Wall. Cat. 6780.— Ceylon, Gardner, 102.) This plant bears much the aspect of Stemonurus polymorphus ; the leaves are of a pale green, of nearly the same hue on both sides ; the specimens in the herbarium of the Linnaean Society are oblong, with parallel sides, or sometimes tapering a little towards the base from the upper part, where they are broadest, and then suddenly contracted into a narrow and obtuse point; they are 3 to 3^ inches long, \^ inch broad, on a slender petiole about 4 lines in length. In the Ceylon specimens the leaves taper more regularly to each extremity, and are somewhat nar- rower. The flowers are generally 5-, rarely 4-merous ; sometimes the hairs of the stamens are short and nearly obsolete, at other times double the length of the anthers ; the cells of these are in some specimens replete with perfect pollen, in others filled with grumous matter : the ovarium is generally depressed or globose, and I have never met with a single instance of their possessing ovuligerous cells. 18. Stemonurus axillaris. Gomphandra axillaris. Wall. Lasi- anthera tetrandra. Wall. Flor. Ind. Or. vol. ii. ; — ramulis tere- tibus, flexuosis, substriatis, glabris ; foliis oblongis, utrinque acuminatis, apice angustato-attenuatis, glabris, opacis, subtus pallidioribus, margine revoluto ; panicula ramosa, petiolo pauUo longiori, glabra, flonbus crebris, subsecundis, 4-5-meris, ealyce cupuliformi, 5-denticulato, petalis margine inflexis, apice longe propendenti, staminibus fertilibus, longissime ciliolatis, ovario saepe sterili, interdum ovuligero, oblongo, vel subgloboso, 4-5-gono, stylo conico, tubuloso, apice 4-5-dentato. — Sylhet. — V, s. in herb. Soc. Unn. Wall. Cat. 3718.) As in S. Penangianus, I have observed that in many cases where the ovarium is ovuligerous, the anthers have been charged with perfect pollen, so that such flowers may be said to be truly hermaphrodite : in most instances, however, the ovarium is ste- rile. The leaves are from 3^ to 4i inches long, including a nar- row and almost linear apical point of half an inch in length ; they are 1^ to 1^ inch broad, on a petiole half an incli long: the 42 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. racemes^ f ^o f ^^^^ long, have numerous crowded flowers which do not exceed 3 lines in length : the hairs of the filaments are three or four times the length of the anthers, and arch over them in a very graceful manner : the pollen-grains are acutely 3-gonous. 19. Stemonurus CumingianuSj n. sp. ; — ramulis flexuosis, tereti- bus, ferrugineo vel flavido-tomentosis ; foliis oblongis, utrin- que acutis, apice repente attenuatis, supra glabris, subtus brunneis et sparse pubescentibus, costa nervis petioloque ferrugineo-pilosulis, margine subrevoluto; panicula ramosa, petiolo tenui vix longiore, pubescente, floribus S crebris, sub- capitatis, 5-meris; calyce brevissimo, 5-denticulato, piloso, petalis glabris, oblongis, summo marginibus apiculaque longa propendenti inflexis ; staminibus iisdem brevioribus, latis, crassis, pilis clavatis longissimis ciliolatis; ovario oblongo, piloso, dentibus 5 coronato. — Insul. Philip. — v. s. in herb. Hook, et Lindl. (Cuming, 796) . The leaves here are 5-6i inches long, and 2J-3 inches broad, on a petiole 5-7 lines in length ; the panicle is trichotomously branched, with crowded 5-merous flowers, which are still in bud; the upper margins of the petals are deeply inflected, together with their long apical points, which are all closely agglutinated into a long process that hangs down in the centre of the anthers ; the filaments are rather short and broad, fringed with extremely long glandular hairs ; the ovarium, seated on a short glabrous disc, is cylindrical, and altogether very pilose, growing smaller and more conical towards the summit, where it is hollow and 5 -toothed. 20. Stemonurus Cei/lanicus, n. sp. ; — ^ramulis glabris, ochraceis ; foliis oblongis, utrinque virentibus, subtus pallidis, costa mediana prominenti ; paniculis axillaribus, geminis, dichotome ramosis, petiolo brevi 3-plo longioribus, pubescentibus, floribus in ramis secundis, crebris, calyce 5-denticulato, glabro, petalis linearibus, sicco aurantiacis, staminibus iisdem sequilongis, apice carinaque interna longissime ciliolatis; ovario sterili, glabro, depresso-10-lobato, apice profunde umbilicato, stylo brevissimo in cavitatem incluso. — Ceylon. — v. s. in herb. Lindl. et Honk. (Macrae, 428). This species differs from S. Penangianus in the axillary origin of its inflorescence, in its much shorter and geminate panicles, in which the flowers, though somewhat secund, appear almost aggregated. The leaves, which are thin and almost membrana- ceous in texture, appear when dried of a darkish green above, and of a very pale green beneath, with prominent nervures and veins ; they are about 6 inches long, and nearly 2 inches broad. Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 43 on a petiole barely exceeding 3 lines in length. The panicles are scarcely 9 lines long ; the calyx is small, obsoletely 5 -toothed ; thefive petals are linear, with a long inflected apex; thefive stamens are equal to them in length, with broad, thick, fleshy filaments, the internal keel, upper margins and summit being closely fringed with very long clavated hairs, which are three times the length of the anthers; these consist of two oval lobes, fixed together by a point near the apex, where they are attached to the filaments, the lobes below being separated by the summit of the keel, so that they rest in two cavities in the apex of the filaments, as occurs in most species of this genus ; the ovarium is globular, somewhat 10-lobed, depressed at the summit, and deeply umbilicated in the centre, in the cavity of which, the ob- solete style and stigma, forming a depressed lobe, lie concealed ; the body of the ovarium is fleshy, with no apparent cells*. 21. Stemonurus Walkeri, n. sp.; — ramulis teretibus, subdicho- tome divisis ; foliis oblongis, imo vix acutis, apice valde ob- tuso et hinc subito attenuatis, utrinque glaberrimis fuscis et concoloribus, crasso-coriaceis, supra nitido-opacis, costa sul- catis, nervis immersis, subtus costa crassiuscula nervisque tenuissimis prominentibus, margine subrevoluto, petiolo bre- viusculo ; racemo axillari, brevi, paucifloro, floribus ^ 4-meris, 9 5-meris, filamentis crassis, apice sub-breviter ciliolatis. — Ceylon. — v. s. in herb. Hook. ( ^ Col. Walker, ? Gardner y 101). This species is distinguishable by its much darker and more fleshy, smooth leaves, which are nearly 4 inches long, and 1^ inch broad, on a rather stout petiole, about 4 lines in length ; the calyx is small, and rather deeply 5 -toothed; the male flowers have oblong petals, with an internal longitudinal keel, and a long inflexed apical joint, four stamens equal to them in length, with very broad, thick, fleshy filaments, which are furnished on the upper margin with a row of clavate hairs, scarcely longer than the anthers; the pollen is acutely 3-angular; the ovarium is sterile, oblong, with a rather long, conical, hollow style, toothed at its apex. The female flowers have five thick fleshy petals, and five stamens formed like the others, but the cells are filled with grumous matter; the ovarium is nearly the length of the stamens, somewhat 5 -grooved, globular in its lower moiety, smaller and cylindrical in its upper half, which presents here somewhat excentrically, a single cell with two distinct ovules suspended from near the summit, on the side towards the axis : the apex of the very short ovarium is crowned with a conical, 5-lobed, * A representation of this species, with the details of its floral structure, will be given in plate 13 of the ' Contributions to Botanj',' &c. 44 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. disciform process^ equal to it in diameter, the summit being ter- minated by five very minute teeth*. 22. Stemonurus affinis, n. sp. ; — ramuHs tortuosis, nodosis ; foUis elhpticis, utrinque subacuminatis, apice obtusiusculo attenua- tis, opacisj supra in costam sulcatis, subtus palUdioribus, costa nervis venisque prominulis, margine subrevoluto, petiolo tenui teretiusculo superne sulcato ; panicula axillari, pauciflora, petiolo vix longiore, pedicellis pubescentibus, calyce 5-dentato petalisque oblongis breviter apiculatis glabris, staminibus iisdem vix sequilongis, filamentorum apicibus carinaque interna longissime ciliatis, ovario fertili, longitudine staminum, longe cylindrico, paullulo incurve, apice pulvinato. — Malacca. — v. s. in herb. Hook. (Griffiths). This species is near S. polymorpha, but differs in several particulars. It appears to be a remarkably knotty and scrubby tree; its leaves are about 3|^ inches long, 1^ to If inch broad, on a petiole 4 or 5 lines in length ; its panicles are 6 or 8 lines long, and its flowers offer a very instructive exemplification of the development of the ovarium ; the last-mentioned species ex- hibiting an intermediate stage, between that described in >S'. Pe- nangianus, and this, which offers another manifest instance of Dr. Wallich^s genus Gomphandra. Here the fleshy petals are linearly oblong, with a comparatively short inflexed apex ; the stamens are not equal to them in length ; the filaments exceed the anthers in breadth, but are not quite so thick as in other species ; they are suddenly contracted to a sharp point at the apex, and have a less prominent internal keel, the summit of which, together with the upper margins of the filaments, are fringed with very long clavate hairs; the anthers are 2-lobed and sagittate from near the almost apical point of their attachment ; the lobes are membranaceous, each longitudinally split open and quite void of pollen or other matter, so that it is not apparent whether they have been fertile or sterile. The ovarium is the length of the stamens, is cylindrical, a little curved, and rather thicker towards the apex ; in diameter it is scarcely broader than the fila- ments, quite smooth, and surmounted by a short, compressed, umbilicated, and somewhat 5-lobed disciform process, which partly overhangs the summit ; the body of the ovarium exhibits only a single large cell, of nearly its whole length, from one side of which, near the summit, two ovules, that almost fill the cavity of the cell, are suspended, each from a short cupshaped strophiolef. * A figure of this species, and an analysis of its floral structure, will be shown in plate 14 of the ' Contributions to Botany,' &c. t This species, and the details of its floral structure, will be exhibited in plate 15 of the ^Contributions to Botany,' &c. Mr. F. Walker on some neiv species o/Chalcidites. 45 VII. — Notes on Chalcidites, and Descriptions of various new species. By Francis Walker, F.L.S. [Continued from vol. ix. p. 43.] Perilampus maurus, mas. Ater, antennis apice ferrugineis, t arsis fulvisy alis limpidis. Body black : head as broad as the chest, nearly smooth, slightly shining ; hind part slightly striated across ; front shining, very deeply excavated, extending on each side of the face and of the epistoma which are small and rhomboidal ; epistoma larger than the face : mouth pitchy : feelers nearly filiform, black, ferruginous towards their tips which are conical : chest coarsely and deeply punctured, dull, hairy : abdomen smooth, shining ; ventral plate dull, slightly striated : legs black, clothed with short tawny hairs ; feet tawny : wings colourless, very pubescent ; veins pitchy ; humerus at some distance from the fore-border, less than half the length of the wing ; ulna about one-third of the length of the humerus ; radius rather more than half the length of the ulna ; cubitus full one-third of the length of the radius ; brand small, not furcate. Length of the body 2-i lines ; of the wings 5 lines. Port Natal. In the British Museum. Eupelmus basicupreus, fem. Viridis, axillis et scutello nigris, metathoracis lateribus auratisy abdomine cupreo basi micante, antennis nigris, pedibus fulvis, femoribus viridibus, alis sub- Body green : head very little narrower than the chest, coarsely punctured ; crown black ; channel for the reception of the first joint of the antennae very deep, finely squamous, bright green with a blue disc : eyes large : feelers black, slender, filiform, more than half the length of the body ; first joint green, very long, slightly curved ; second bright green : axillae and scutellum black ; axillae very large, nearly contiguous ; scutellum obcordate, with a very slight longitu- dinal suture : sides of the hind-chest golden green : abdomen cu- preous black, nearly spindle-shaped, depressed above, keeled beneath, bright cupreous at the base, rather less than twice the length of the chest; sheaths of the oviduct black, ferruginous towards the tips, extending beyond the abdomen to - one-fourth of its length : legs tawny ; thighs bluish green ; fore-shanks black at the base ; a ferru- ginous band near the base of each hind-shank : wings slightly tinged with tawny ; veins tawny ; humerus rather more than one-third of the length of the wing, slightly widened towards its tip ; ulna a little shorter than the humerus ; radius much shorter than the ulna ; cubitus about one-fourth of the length of the ulna, slightly curved ; brand very small. Length of the body 2i lines ; of the wings 4^ lines. Para. In the British Museum. 46 Mr. F. Walker on some new species of Chalcidites. Sparasion Sinense, mas. Viridi-cyaneum, ahdomine cyaneo-pur- pureo, antennls pedibusque nigris, femoribus cyaneis^ tibiis tar- sisque anticis piceis, alls subfuscis. Body convex, rather hairy : head and chest dark greenish blue, roughly punctured : eyes and eyelets piceous : feelers black, nearly filiform, shorter than the chest ; first joint long, stout, shining ; second short, cup-shaped ; third very long, subclavate ; fourth and following joints to the tenth short, transverse, nearly equal in size, but gra- dually decreasing in length and breadth towards the tips of the feelers : fore-chest extremely short, forming a narrow line in front of the middle shield, the sutures of whose parapsides are distinct; scutcheon obconical : hind-chest obconical, declining : breast smoother than the chest ; the punctures being fewer and smaller : petiole very short : abdomen long spindle-shaped, thickly striated, bluish purple, bluish green at the tip, narrower than the chest and about twice its length ; sides nearly smooth or having only a few indistinct punctures : legs black, hairy ; hips and thighs shining, the former dark blue ; fore-shanks and fore-feet piceous : wings slightly brown, somewhat darker along the fore-borders from the middle to the tips ; veins brown. Length of the body 4 lines ; of the wings 6 lines. Fou-chou-fou, China. In the British Museum. Smiera torrida, fem. Fulva nigra varia, capite antico fiavo, an- tennis nigris subtus ferrugineis, pedibus fulvis, femoribus an- terioribus flavis, tibiis posticis nigra vittatis, alis ad castam sub- cinereis. Body tawny, roughly punctured, thinly clothed with short tawny hairs : two black spots behind the head ; front and face yellow : feelers black, filiform, ferruginous beneath and at the tips ; first joint tawny : three black stripes on the shield of the middle chest ; the inner one obconical ; the side pair oblique, slightly waved, taper- ing towards the fore-border ; axillae black, parted by near one-third of the breadth of the scutcheon, which has a triangular black spot resting on its hind-border : propodeon smooth, shining : petiole slender, cylindrical, a little longer than the propodeon, with a short black stripe on each side : abdomen spindle-shaped, smooth, shining, punctured towards the tip, more than twice the length of the petiole ; metapodeon large ; octoon about half the length of the metapodeon ; ennaton, decaton and protelum together as long as the octoon ; para- telum and telum of equal length, together longer than the octoon ; ventral segments concealed : legs tawny ; anterior thighs yellow ; a black stripe on each hind-hip ; hind-thighs armed beneath with seven teeth whose tips are black ; first and second very small, the other five large ; a black stripe on each hind-shank : wings very pubescent, slightly gray along the fore-border ; veins tav/ny ; supplementary veins distinct as in other large species ; humerus much more than one-third of the length of the wing ; ulna less than half the length of the humerus ; radius as long as the ulna ; cubitus not more than one-sixth Mr. r. Walker on some new species of Clialcidites. 47 of the radius ; brand very small. Length of the body 4^ lines ; of the wings 8 lines. Para. In the British Museum. Smiera nigro-rufa, mas. Rvfa, nigra varia, petiole nigro, abdomine rufoy antennis nigrisy alis limpidis. Body red, roughly punctured : head black ; sides of the front tawny : mouth tawny : feelers black : breast, hind-chest, paraptera, axillee and sides of the middle chest black : three black stripes on the shield ; the side pair broad and oblique ; a three-lobed black mark on the scutcheon : petiole black, slender, cylindrical, smooth, shining : abdomen smooth, shining, short, globose, less than twice the length of the chest : legs red ; hips black ; anterior thighs black at the base ; middle shanks striped with brown towards the base ; hind-shanks at the base and at the tips and hind-feet black : wings colourless ; veins brown ; humerus near half the length of the wing ; ulna not one-third of the length of the humerus ; radius much longer than the ulna ; cubitus about one-fourth of the ulna; brand rather large, slightly forked. Length of the body 2\ lines ; of the wings 5 lines. East Indies. In the British Museum. Callimome cyaneus, Kollar, fem. Purpureus cyaneo viridique varius, antennis nigris, pedibus fulvisy femoribus purpureis, metatibiis piceis, alis limpidis. 'S^Fem. Body purple, pubescent, varied with green and blue : feelers black, subclavate, a little shorter than the thorax ; first joint fulvous : head and thorax punctured, in structure like the other species of Cal- limome : podeon very short : abdomen purple, smooth, shining, nearly as long as the thorax ; metapodeon blue, green at the base : legs fulvous ; coxae and thighs purple ; metatibise piceous ; tips of the tarsi picepus : wings limpid, rather short ; nervures fuscous ; ulna much shorter than the humerus ; radius very short ; cubitus a little shorter than the radius ; stigma very small ; oviduct fulvous, much longer than the abdomen ; its sheaths black. Inhabits Germany. .gniffiif^ Chalcedectus, n. g. ^ l^upehno affinis, at quoad pedes posticos Chalcidi similis. ^^Chalcedectus maculicornis, fem. Viridis, cupreo cyaneo et pur- pureo varius, antennis nigris, articulo b" supra albo, tarsis piceis, tarsis intermediis nigris basi flams, alis fusco subnebu- if "!Body brilliant green, narrow : head a little narrower than the chest : crown narrow ; front largely and deeply punctured, with a very deep almost smooth bluish green channel for the reception of the first joint of the feelers ; face broad : mouth pitchy : eyes rather large : feelers black, filiform, slender, as long as the chest ; first joint very long ; second linear, long, nearly half the length of the first ; third 48 Mr. F. Walker on some new species of Chalcidites. and fourth indistinct; fifth white above, a Httle shorter than the second; the following linear, very compact, successively decreasing in length: chest spindle-shaped : fore- chest broader than long, rounded in front, much lower than the middle-chest, very finely shagreened : shield and scutcheon of the middle-chest very largely and deeply punctured : shield rather flat, adorned with a broad coppery band whose edges are tinged with blue and purple ; sutures of the parap- sides distinct ; axillae parted by about one-third of the breadth of the chest ; scutcheon obconical, with a coppery spot at its base : hind- chest small, subquadrate, finely punctured, with two or three slight cross ridges : propodeon and podeoi\ short : abdomen lanceolate, longer and a little narrower than the chest, slightly pubescent, trans- versely and very finely striated, almost flat on the disc towards the base, adorned above with coppery purple and blue colour ; metapodeon of moderate length ; octoon shorter ; ennaton longer ; decaton shorter ; the three following segments short ; underside finely punctured, not keeled, dorsal segments approximate beneath, parted only by two linear, parallel, very slender plates which extend along the whole length of the body : legs green, slightly pubescent, adorned with blue and purple colour : fore-thighs rather thick ; fore-shanks purple, armed at the tips with a slender curved spine ; fore-feet pitchy, tawny at the base ; middle thigh long and slender, grooved beneath ; tip of each middle shank armed with a stout straight tawny spine ; middle feet black, pale yellow at the base ; hind-legs formed like those of Chalcis ; hips long ; thighs very large, armed beneath with seven oblique teeth, those towards the tips are small ; shanks very much curved, widening from the base to the tips ; hind-feet pitchy, with a slight metallic tinge : wings almost colourless, fore-wings slightly clouded with brown in the disks and with gray at the tijDS ; veins black ; humerus much more than one-third of the length of the wing ; ulna about one-third of the length of the humerus ; radius nearly as long as the humerus, extending almost to the tip of the wing ; cubitus straight, very slanting, less than one-fourth of the length of the radius, widening from its source to the brand which is small ; a few supple- mentary veins in the disk, as is usual in the large species of the tribe. Length of the body 5 lines ; of the wings 6 lines. Para. In the British Museum. ' '^ This is one of the tropical forms whose characters are more com- pound or complicated than those of any genera which inhabit more temperate regions ; and may be considered either as a connecting link between families, or as a common and governing centre, repre- senting various remote groups, and associating them together. It comes between the PteromalidcB and the Eupelmidce, and is one of the Cleonymidce, and is most allied to Lycisca ; but it has the head of Perilampus, the thoracic sculpture of the PeriIa7npid(E and the Eurytomidce, and the hind-legs of the LeucospidcB and of the ChaU cidce. ~--'i'i^. Zoological Society. 49 PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. November 26, 1850.«— R. H. Solly, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair. An Account of Fishes discovered or observed in Madeira SINCE THE year 1842*. By THE Rev. R. T. Lomte, M.A. Family Zenid^, 1. Zeus conchifer. Lilacino-cinereuSy capife inermi ; thorace pinnaque dorsali analiqiie utrinque scutatis ; spinis dorsalibus anterioribus brevissime Jilamentosis ; pinnis ventralibus 1 -f- 5- radiatis ; caudalilunata. D. 9 V. 10 + 25 v. 26; A. 2 + (1 + 25 v. 26); P. 13 ; V. + 5 ; C. ^"^^-"^^V ; M. B. 7 ; Vertebrae, 13 abd. + 21 caud. = 34. l+I.+VI. An example of this very fine new Dory was communicated, with a short notice, to the Zoological Society in 1845 f. The row of large and remarkable naked bony scutellse on each side, at the base of the dorsal and anal fins, and along the breast or ventral line, afford a very striking character. They resemble the depressed shells of a Fissu- rella seen in profile, and are beautifully radiato-striate, with a bright iridescent rose or lilac lustre, like the inside of a Trigonia. The umbo forms a smooth short strong spine or recurved prickle. The dark thumb-mark on the middle of the sides is present, as in Z. GaU lus, L. Three examples only have occurred, measuring from eighteen inches to a little more than two feet in length. The supposed affinity between Zeus and Oreosoma, Cuv.^, is much corroborated by this fish. 2. Argyropelicus Olfersii. {Sternoptyx Olfersii, Cuv. R. An. (2nd edit.) ii. 316. t. 13. f. 2.) A single example, caught with a boatscoop on the surface of the water in the Bay of Funchal, June 6, 1845. The name of Pleurothysis^ proposed in the * Fishes of Madeira,* p. 64, for this portion of the Cuvierian genus Sternoptyx, has been anticipated by that of Argyropelicus, previously assigned to a Medi- terranean species by the Italian naturahst Cocco, and adopted in the * Fauna Italica * by the Prince of Canino. I have now succeeded in obtaining both the Cuvierian species of Sternoptyx in this part of the Atlantic ; though St. diaphana (Le St. d' Herman, Cuv.) cannot, like Arg. Olfersii, be perhaps fairly claimed at present to belong to the Madeiran fauna §. The Atlantic and Mediterranean species of Argyropelicus may be thus distinguished : 'O' Arg. Olfersii, Cuv. Corpore altiore, altitudine dimidium lon- , * Ann. Nat. Hist. S. 1. vol. xiii. p. 390. t Proc. Zool. Soc. part 13. p. 103. t Fishes of Madeira, Preface, p. xii. § Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. xiii. p. 393. Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. x. 4 60 Zoological Society. . gitudinis {dempta pinna caudali) superante ; parte postica {caudali) ahbreviata ; capite duple altiore quam longo ; sterna JO postice in forcipem^ pr B.M.5; Squamse lin. lat. 42 — 45. In general appearance, shape, and the peculiar straightness of the lateral line, this fine species much resembles CossyphusDarwini, Jen. ; but it is a true Labrus, with the dorsal and anal fins naked, and the preopercle quite entire. Its nearest allies are therefore i. mixtusandi L. Scrofa ; from which however, besides other characters, the nume- rous strong teeth distinguish it. A single example only has occurred, measuring seventeen inches and a quarter in length. 4* 62 Zoological Society. Fam. CHEIRONECTIDiE. Gen. Chaunax, Lowe. Gen, Char. Corpus subcubico-oblonffum, sufflabile^ nuduniy cute prcBsertim ad ilia ventreinqueflaccidissima laxa ; antics obesum, postice nbrupte attenuatum subcompressum. Caput osseum mag- num subtetrahedrum, superne nuchaque latum planatum, utrin- que s. ad genas declive ; oculis lateralibus, spatio interoculari convexo ; ore rictuque amplissimis transversis plagio-plateis s. depressis. Denies intermaxillares vomerinique palatinique parvi scobinati. ^sxes simplices (nee pedicellatcE nee tubulosre). Spi- racula (foramina branchialid) postica s. ad ilia pone pinnarum, pectoralium axillas. Pinna dorsalis unica ; pectoralibus (pedi- cellatis) carnosis J ventralibus jugularibus spathulatis carnosis; analis postica ; caudalis simplex truncata. Cirri, prcjeter uni- cum infossula internasaliy nulli. 9. Chaunax pictus, Lowe in Trans. Zool. Soc. iii. part 4. p. 340. t. 51. D. 11; A. 5; P. 11; V. 4 ; C. ^^^ ^o^\l\ Species adhuc unica. Hab. in mari Maderensi. I have nothing to add to the full account of this curious fish above referred to, except by way of correction to the second paragraph in p. 344, which has been erroneously printed, and should stand thus : ** Whilst Cheironectes seems its most natural, Halieutcea is its near- est technical ally. x\greeing with Lophius in the wide transverse mouth, and in the backward position of the breathing orifices in the flanks, but with Cheironectes more in shape, in the granular or velvety roughness of the skin, and in colour ; it differs from both, and ap- proaches Halieutcea, in the absence of crests or cilia on the back, and in the single dorsal fin. In these last two points, and in the rough- ness of the skin, it agrees with Halieutcea, but differs in its Diodon-like shape, and in the position of the breathing-holes considerably behind, instead of above or before, the axils of the pectoral fins." v,ai&\ Fam. ScoPELiDJS. ,3^u*iiii6»qqB bn& Gen. Ph^nodon. Gen. Char. Caput magnum compressutn, oculis magnis, rostra brevissimo obtuso, rictu magno pone oculos longe diducto, mento subtus ad symphysin cirro barbato. Dentes intermaxillares uni- seriati ; anteriores (5 v. 6 utrinque) validi tenues prcelongi la- niarii subrecurvi remoti distincti, extrorsum supra labia invi- cem claudentes ; ossibus palati dentibus minoribus uniseriatis, lingua biseriatis, armatis, Opercula simplicia plana. Corpus elongatum compressum nudum? s. exsquameum; abdomine punc- tis argenteis (ut in Scopelo) seriatis. Linea lateralis recta pinnceque fere ut in Scopelo, pectoralibus brevioribus. Zoological Society. 53 10. Ph^nodon RiNGENS. (^Scopelus barbatus^ Tkoh.'M.^. oXucL.) imap. 16. 2d3D.O; A. 16; V. 7; P. 9; C. / V'^.r\^'r ? M.B.? 0-t-l' + Vili. Closely allied to Scopelus, but with the head and teeth of Echio- stoma, which it also resembles in its single cartilaginous beard or barbule. A single example occurred in May 1845, and was placed by me in the collection of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, under the MS. name of Scojpeliis harbatus. It was seven inches long, and the above fin-formula is taken from it. I have been favoured by the Due de Leuchtenberg this winter with the opportunity of examining a second individual, procured from a fisherman. It agreed in all important details with the former, but was only from five to six inches long, and had a much shorter barbule. Both these examples were entirely devoid of scales, but from cer- tain appearances I am inclined to attribute this defect to injury. The colour is a uniform brownish or coal-black, except the silver pits, which are disposed in rows along the throat and belly, exactly as in Scopelus. 1 1 . ScoPELUs MADERENSis (Suppl. in Traus. Zool. Soc. iii. part 1 . p. 14). Appears to be distinguished from Sc, Humboldti by the forwarder (medio-dorsal) position of its first dorsal fin, and by the long pec- toral fins, which are contained from four to four and a half times in the whole length, and reach to the end of the base of the first dorsal fin. The anal fin has fourteen rays. Examples have occurred of two other forms or species, with shorter pectoral fins, in one of which the anal fin has fourteen, and in the other twenty-two rays. In the first of these, the length of the pec- toral fin is one-sixth of the whole length of the fish ( P=";^ ) ; in the second it is one-fifth and four-sevenths of the same ( P=tt I ; «'• ^' (-If)' rather longer. But further investigations will be requisite before these can be safely proposed as species. In general habit, colour, and appearance, they agree with S. maderensis. 12. Metopias typhlops (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1843, vol. xi. p. 90). Another example has occurred of this most curious and anomalous little fish. It was brought to me in May 1849, from the same place, -.> Magdalena, at which I obtained the former. It is of much larger size, measuring three inches and a half in length. I find nothing whatever to correct in the account above referred to, except that the .maxillary teeth, instead of being " uniseriate,'* are in a scobinate or g brush-like band in both jaws; narrow in the upper, broader in the . lower jaw. j^ The acquisition of a second example, confirming the peculiar cha- racters before set down, is the more satisfactory, from the former 54 Zoological Society. having been unfortunately destroyed by the wasting of the alcohol in which it was kept. Fam. Gadid^. 13. Phycis furcatus, Flem. (not Bowdich) ; Yarr. Brit. Fish, ed. 1. ii. 201. {Le Merlus barhu, Duham. Cuv. R. An. ed. 2. ii. p. 335.) A single example occurred May 8, 1845 ; not quite agreeing with the figure in the * British Fishes/ yet certainly distinct from the com- mon "Abrotea" of Madeira (P. mediterraneus, Lar.), of which, on the other hand, the P. furcatus of Bowdich (Excurs. p. 122. f. 28) was unquestionably a mere accidentally fork-tailed individual. Fam. ECHENEIDiE. 14. EcHENEis viTTATA, Suppl. to Syuops. in Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. iii. part 1. p. 17, and Hist. Fish. Mad. p. 77. t. 11. The acquisition of an adult example measuring 2 feet Q\ inches in length, has proved the fish above described to have been a young in- dividual of ^. vittata, Riippell (Neu. Wirbel. p. 82). It is fortunate that the happy coincidence of name necessitates no change or con- fusion in rendering justice to my learned friend's prior claim in the establishment of this well-marked species. The lateral dark band or vitta becomes indistinct in adult individuals. In the large full-grown example above mentioned it had disappeared entirely. Fam. MuR^NiDJE. Gen. Leptorhynchus, nob. Gen. Char. Caput scolopaciforme, callo elongato distinctum ; maxillis in rostrum tenue productis, utraque dentibus minutissi- mis limcB instar scabra ; rictupone oculos diducto. Nares oculis contiguce approximatce, simplices nee tentaculatce. Oculi magni. Corpus nudum anguilliforme compressum, gracile, elongatum ; postice longissime attenuato-productum filiforme, apice aeuto. Aperturse branchiales sat magncB, ante pinnas pectorales ob- lique deorsumfissce. YixmBi pectorales distinctcB lanceolatce, sat magnce ; pinna dorsali ad nucham paullo ante, anali ad gulam paullo post pinnas pectorales incipiente ; utraque usque ad api- cem caudce continuata, membranacea^ nee cute cooperta, sed ra- diis sat validis distinctis. ^ 15. Leptorhynchus Leuchtenbergi. {The Snipe-Eel.) I am indebted for an opportunity of describing this interesting new type of Murcenidce to the favour of His Imperial Highness the Due de Leuchtenberg, to whom an example was brought by a fisherman in January last. It approaches the Anguillidce by its well-developed pectoral fins. The prolonged beak-like muzzle also reminds one of that of Leptognathus, Swainson. The unique individual examined, which measured 2 feet 9 inches in length, scarcely half an inch in height, and four lines in thickness, is included in the extensive col- Zoological Society. 55 lections formed with so much scientific ardour and discrimination by His Imperial Highness the Due de Leuchtenberg, during his late six mouths' residence in Madeira. Fam. Balistid^. 16. MoNACANTHUS AURIGA. HispiduSj cttudtt utHnque dense hispido-villosa ; pallide olivaceo-murinus, sublutescens^ fusco- luioso-maculatus v. interrupte longitudinaliter subfasciatus ; fasciis luteis inconspicuis evanescentibus 3 2^. 4 «6 oculis antice.^ oblique radiantibus ; radiis \ v, 2 anticis dorsalis primce all', quando in Jilamentum productis. 1">»D. 1; 2daD. 31; A. 30 V. 31; P. 13 v. 14; C. l + X. + l. From eight to ten or eleven inches long. On each side, towards the base of the caudal fin, is an oblong patch, like plush or velveteen, of close thickset hairs or bristles. The occasional production of the second or first two rays of the second dorsal fin is perhaps sexual. Such examples have the muzzle rather longer and more produced be- fore the eyes than those which have not the elongated dorsal fila- ment. They are perhaps the M. filamentosus of M. Valenciennes, to whose figure and description, however, in MM. Webb and Berthe- lot's * Canarian Fishes,' I regret I have not access. Several examples have occurred, chiefly in the autumn, during the last five or six years, of this previously in Madeira unobserved or un- recorded species. lilteQUALIDiE. Fam. ALOPECiDiE. 17. Alopias vulpes, Buon. {The Fox Sharks Yarr. ii. 379.) An example occurred this spring of unusual size, measuring eighteen feet in length, of which the tail was ten feet. The skin was preserved by the Due de Leuchtenberg. Fam. SpiNACiDiE. 18. Centrophorus squamosus, Miill. und Henle, p. 90, with a figure. The Ramudo or Raimudo of Madeira, not unfrequently taken off the Dezertas at a depth of twelve or fourteen "linhas,'" i. e. from 350 to 400 fathoms, belongs apparently to the above species, the habi- tat of which was unknown to its describers, MM. Miiller and Henle. I have only examined female examples, and the fishermen profipss themselves to be entirely unacquainted with the male, which I have however formerly (March 10, 1838) once seen, though without oppor- tunity for a close or accurate examination, and so perhaps without re- marking any spine near the tips of the claspers or ventral fin-append- ages. The individuals examined were five or six feet long, but the fish is said to grow to a much larger size. Madeira, May 25, 1850. 66 Zoological Society. December 10.— Prof. Owen, V.P., F.R.S., in the Chair. Description of several new species of Entomostraca. By W. Baird, M.D., F.L.S. etc. Genus Lepidurus, Leach. 1. Lepidurus viRiDis, Baird. Body of animal, including the flap of tail segment, about two inches long and one broad. The carapace and whole body are of a fine green colour, the carapace covering about two-thirds of the abdomen ; the edges of the notch in the posterior part of the carapace are strongly toothed, and those of the inferior half of the carapace are very finely serrated ; these teeth are of two sets, the one much larger than the others ; the larger teeth are of a green colour, tipped at the point with dark brown ; they are about eleven in number, and between each there are two or three much smaller ones interspersed. The appen- dages of the first pair of feet are very short and small, scarcely ex- tending beyond the edge of the carapace. The segments of the abdo- men are each studded with a row of stout, slightly curved spines of a green colour tipped at their edges with dark brown. The tail flap is oval, keeled down the centre, the keel being beset with short sharp spines, and the edges of the flap are finely serrated. The long setae of the tail are nearly the length of the whole animal, and are covered with short hairs. Hab. Van Diemen's Land. British Muggu m. Genus Cypris, MtHK 1. Cypris Donnetii, Baird. Carapace valves elongate oval. Anterior extremity narrower than posterior, and considerably flatter ; posterior extremity rounded and very convex ; dorsal edge arched ; ventral slightly reniform. The surface of the valves is smooth and shining, of a brown colour, varie- gated with patches of a darker shade. The pediform antennae are provided with about six bristles of considerable length. Hab. Freshwater ponds, Coquimbo ; collected by — Donnet, Esq., Surgeon R.N. Brit. Mus. ; from the collection of H. Cuming, Esq. 2. Cypris cuneata, Baird. Carapace valves wedge-shaped, much broader at anterior than poste- rior extremity. Dorsal margin highly arched ; ventral deeply sinuated in the centre, giving the shell a reniform appearance. Valves very convex in the centre, and surrounded by a prominent margin, which at the anterior extremity, when highly magnified, is seen to be mi- nutely and finely serrated. The whole carapace is of a deep green colour, and covered with fine hairs. Hab. Duddingston Loch, near Edinburgh; August 1850. Genus Candona, Baird. 1. Candona lactea, Baird. Carapace valves oblong ovate, convex. Dorsal margin nearly Zoological Society. 57 straight ; ventral slightly sinuated in the centre. Anterior and poste- rior extremities of nearly equal size. Surface of valves smooth and shining, and of a dull white colour. This species resembles in shape the Candona reptansy but is only about one-fourth the size, and is of a uniform dull white colour. Hab. Freshwater pond at Charing, Kent ; collected by W. Harris, Esq., to whom I am indebted for specimens. Regent's Park (T. Ru- pert Jonesy Esq.). Genus CytAere, Miiller. 1 . Cythere Tarentina, Baird. Carapace valves obovate. Anterior extremity much broader than posterior, and having a broad flat margin striated on the surface and toothed round the edge ; posterior extremity pointed, having the same margin, but not so broad, and with much fewer teeth. The valves are very convex in the middle, of a greyish colour, with a white patch in the centre, and are slightly pitted all over. Dorsal and ventral margins both somewhat prominent. Hab. Tarentum. In Mr. Williamson's collection. 2. Cythere setosa, Baird. Carapace valves oval. Anterior extremity narrower than poste- rior. Dorsal margin arched ; ventral sinuated about its anterior third. Surface of valves shining white, and studded all over with short stiff hairs. Hab. Moreton Bay, Australia, and Tenedos. Mr. Williamson's collection. Genus Cythereis, Jones. 1. Cythereis australis, Baird. Carapace valves somewhat quadrilateral. Dorsal and ventral mar- gins nearly straight. Anterior extremity broader than posterior, and finely toothed ; teeth numerous. Posterior extremity emarginate on upper or dorsal edge, and toothed on ventral ; teeth few, and stronger than those on anterior margin. Surface of valves roughened with small asperities, and having one tubercle on about the anterior third of its length. A raised margin encircles the whole valve. Approaches very near Cypridina hieroglyphica of Bosquet, Ento- most. Maestricht, t. 3. f. 4. Hab. Moreton Bay, Australia. Mr. Williamson's collection. 2. Cythereis runcinata, Baird. Carapace valves ovate, flat. Anterior extremity broader than poste- rior, and rounded ; posterior extremity emarginate on upper or dor- sal margin. Surface of valves very flat and rugose ; a flat projecting border surrounds each valve, which is serrulated at anterior extremity and toothed on posterior ; a high raised sharp ridge runs across the centre of the valve somewhat in a diagonal direction, which is serru- lated along its whole length, and a smaller similar ridge is seen near the ventral margin. Hah. Tenedos. Mr. Williamson's collection. 58 Zoological Society. 3. CyTHEREIS FISTULOSA, Baird. Oi;-i-; Carapace valves nearly quadrilateral, elongate. Anterior extremity a little more rounded than posterior, and armed with seven or eight small teeth ; posterior extremity armed with five or six larger teeth. Dorsal and ventral margins nearly straight. Surface of valves gra- nular and ornamented by four elevated straight ridges, which are per- forated near their margins with small round holes. Hab. Manilla. Mr. Williamson's collection. 4. Cythereis prava, Baird. Carapace valves subquadrangular. Anterior extremity considerably broader than posterior, rounded, smooth round the edge, and having a broad flat margin beset on inner edge with small round tubercles ; posterior extremity emarginate, and furnished on inferior half with several short teeth. Valves extremely gibbous in centre, and the surface very rough, wrinkled, and tubercled. Hab. Tenedos. Mr. Williamson's collection. 5. Cythereis deformis, Baird. Carapace valves ovate, short and gibbous ; the two extremities of nearly the same size. Dorsal and ventral margins nearly straight. Surface of valves very coarsely granulated and tubercled ; roughly ridged, but the ridges not perforated as in the preceding species. Hab. Manilla. Mr. Williamson's collection. 6. Cythereis senticosa, Baird. Carapace valves flat, ovate. Anterior extremity broader than poste- rior, and rounded. Dorsal margin sloping towards posterior extre- mity; ventral nearly straight. The surface of the valves is very rough, wrinkled, and beset all over, but especially near the margins, with strong spinous lacinise. Hab. Tenedos. Mr. Wilhamson's collection. Genus Cypridina, M. -Edwards. 1. Cypridina Zealanica, Baird. Carapace valves of an oval form, somewhat flattened, but convex in the centre and striated; the striae are numerous, close-set, and of a waved appearance. Surface of valves covered with minute punc- tations, which probably give origin in the fresh state to short hairs, though they are not visible in the dried specimens. The anterior ex- tremity is slightly narrower than posterior. The whole carapace is of a uniform white colour. Natural size one-fourth of an inch long and one-fifth of an inch broad. Hab. New Zealand. Two specimens were sent to the British Mu- seum by the Rev. R. Taylor, of Waimati in New Zealand, along with a collection of marine and freshwater shells, but without any history attached to them. 2. Cypridina interpuncta, Baird. Carapace valves oval. Anterior extremity narrower than posterior ; Royal Institution. 59 the notch near anterior extremity very wide, and its anterior margin blunt and projecting in form of a beak straight upwards ; posterior extremity obtusely rounded, and terminating near the ventral margin in a short blunt point. Dorsal and ventral margins nearly straight or slightly arched. The surface of the valves is of a dull white colour, and is densely and rather coarsely covered with impressed punctations. The carapace is convex, but much less so than in C, M'Andreit and is of a much more oval shape. Hab. Near the Isle of Skye ; collected by R. M* Andrew, Esq., August 1850. 3. Cypridina Marine, Baird. Carapace valves elongate oval, of exactly the same size at each ex- tremity ; extremities rounded. Dorsal and ventral margins nearly plane, or very slightly arched. Surface of valves of a white shining colour, mottled with a few spots of a dull white, and covered with minute superficial punctations. Notch or ventral margin of anterior extremity blunt, leaving the upper and lower margins of the notch very obtuse. Approaches Asterope elliptica of Philippi somewhat in figure of carapace, but is much more elongate, and is one-third larger. Hab. Off the Isle of Skye ; collected by R. M^Andrew, Esq., Au- gust 1850. ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. Friday, May 7, 1852.— W. R. Grove, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. On the Supposed Analogy between the Life of an Individual and the Duration of a Species. By Prof. Edward Forbes, F.R.S. In Natural History and Geology, a clear understanding of the rela- tions of Individual, Species, and Genus to Geological Time and Geographical Space is of essential importance. Much, however, of what is generally received concerning these relations will scarcely bear close investigation. Among questionable, though popular notions upon this subject, the Lecturer would place the belief that the term of duration of a species is comparable and of the same kind with that of the life of an individual. The successive phases in the complete existence of an individual are. Birth, Youth, Maturity, Decline, and Decay terminating in Death. Whether we regard an individual as a single self-existing organism however produced, or extend it to the series of organisms, combined or independent, all being products of a single ovum, its term of duration can be abbreviated, but not prolonged indefinitely, nor can the several phases of its existence be repeated. Conditions may arrest or hasten maturity, or prematurely destroy, but cannot, how- ever favourable, reproduce a second maturity after decline has com- menced. Now, it is believed by many that a species (using the term in the sense of an assemblage of individuals presenting certain constant 60 Royal Institution. characters in common, and derived from one original protoplast or stock) passes through a series of phases comparable with those which succeed each other in definite order during the life of a single indivi- dual, — that it has its epochs of origin, of maturity, of decline and of extinction, dependent upon the laws of an inherent vitality. If this notion be true, the theory of Geology will be proportionately affected ; since in this case the duration of species must be regarded as only influenced, not determined, by the physical conditions among which they are placed ; — and, thus, species should characterize epochs or sections of time, independent of all physical changes and modify- ing influences short of those which are absolutely destructive. Now, geological epochs, as at present understood, are defined by peculiar assemblages of species, and the amount of change in the organic contents of proximate formations or strata is usually accepted as a measure of the extent of the disturbances that affect them. Yet this latter inference, involving as it does the supposition that the spread and continuity of species in time are dependent upon physical influ- ences, is adverse to the notion of a Life of a Species as stated above. If we seek for the origin of this notion, we shall find that it has two sources ; the one direct, the other indirect. It is not an induc- tion, nor pretended to be, but an hypothesis assumed through appa- rent analogies. Its first and principal source may be discovered in the comparison suggested by certain necessary phases in the duration of the species with others in the life of an individual, such as each has its commencement, and each has its cessation. Geological research has made known to us, that prior to certain points in time certain species did not exist, and that after certain points in time certain species ceased to be. The commencement of a species has been com- pared with Birth, the extinction with Death. Again, many species can be shown to have had an epoch of maximum development in time. This has been compared with the maturity of the individual. Between the birth of an individual and the commencement of a species in the first appearance of its protoplast, the analogy is more apparent than real. We know how the former phaenomenon takes place, but we have no knowledge of the latter. Between the maturity of the individual and the maximum develop- ment of a species there is no true analogy, since the latter can easily be proved to be entirely dependent on the combination of favouring conditions, and during the period of duration of a sjjecies there may be two or more epochs of great or even equal development, and two or more epochs of decline alternating with epochs of prosperity. The epoch of maximum of a species may also occur during any period in its history short of the first stage. Geological and geographical re- search equally show that the flourishing of a species is invariably coincident with the presence of favouring and its decline with that of unfavourable conditions. Hence there is no analogy between the single and definite phase of maturity of the individual, and the varia- ble and sometimes often-repeated epochs of luxuriant development in the duration of a species. Between the death of the individual and the extinction of a species Royal Institution. 61 there is an analogy only when the former event occurs prematurely through the influence of destroying conditions. But in their absence, an individual after its period of vitality has been completed must necessarily die ; whereas we have no right to assume that such would be the fate of a species so circumstanced, since in every case where we can either geologically or geographically trace a species to its local or general extinction, we can connect the fact of its disappearance with the evidences of physical changes. [The Lecturer illustrated these points by diagrams and special de- monstrations, selecting for explanation two local cases, the one marine and the other freshwater; the former taken from the geological pheenomena of Culver Cliif and the neighbouring bays in the Isle of Wight, of which a beautiful and original model had been communi- cated by Capt. Ibbetson for the purpose, and the latter from his own recent researches (unpublished) on the succession of organic remains in the Purbeck strata of Dorsetshire, conducted as part of the labours of the Geological Survey of Great Britain.] The second and more indirect source of the notion of the life of a species may be traced in apparent analogies, half-perceived, between the centralization of generic groups in time and space, and the limited duration of both species and individual. But in this case ideas are compared which are altogether and essentially distinct. The nature of this distinction is expressed among the following propositions, in which an attempt is made to contrast the respective relations of individual, species, and genus to Geological time and Geographical space. A. The individual, whether we restrict the word to the single organism, however produced — or extend it to the series of organisms, combined or independent, all being products of a single ovum — has but a hmited and unique existence in time, which, short as it must be, can be shortened by the influence of unfavourable conditions, but which no combination of favouring circumstances can prolong beyond the term of life allotted to it according to its kind. B. The species, whether we restrict the term to assemblages of individuals resembling each other in certain constant characters, or hold, in addition, the hypothesis (warranted, as might be shown from experience and experiment), that between all the members of such an assemblage there is the relationship of family, the relationship of descent, and consequently that they are all the descendants of one first stock or protoplast — (how that protoplast appeared is not part of the question) — is like the individual in so much as its relations to time are unique : once destroyed, it never reappears. But (and this is the point of the view now advocated), unlike the individual, it is continued indefinitely so long as conditions favourable to its diffusion and prosperity — that is to say, so long as conditions favourable to the production and sustenance of the individual repre- sentatives or elements are continued coincidently with its existence. [No amount of favouring conditions can recall a species once destroyed. — On this conclusion, founded upon all facts hitherto '^ Botanical Society of Edinburgh. observed in palaeontology, the value of the application of Natural History to Geological science mainly depends.] C. The genus, in whatever degree of extension we use the term, so long as we apply it to an assemblage of species intimately related to each other in common and important features of organization, appears distinctly to exhibit the phsenomenon of centralization in both time and space, though with a difference, since it would seem that each genus has a unique centre or area of development in time, but in geographical space may present more centres than one. a. An individual is a positive reality. b. A species is a relative reality. c. A genus is an abstraction — an idea — but an idea impressed on nature, and not arbitrarily dependent on man's conceptions. i a. An individual is one. - /3. A species consists oi many resulting from one. y. A genus consists of more or fewer of these manies resulting from one linked together not by a relationship of descent but by an affinity dependent on a divine idea. And, lastly, a. An individual cannot manifest itself in two places at once ; it has no extension in space ; its relations are entirely with time, but the possible duration of its existence is regulated by the law of its inherent vitality. b. A species has correspondent and exactly analogous relations with time and space, — the duration of its existence as well as its geogra- phical extension are entirely regulated by physical conditions. c. A genus has dissimilar or only partially comparable relations with time and space, and occupies areas in both having only partial relations to physical conditions. The investigation of these distinctions and relations forms the subject of a great chapter in the Philosophy of Natural History. That Philosophy contemplates the laws that regulate the manifestation of life exhibited in organized nature, and their dependence upon and connection with the inorganic world and its phsenomena. None teaches more emphatically the difficulties with which man's mind must contend when attempting to comprehend the wisdom embodied in the universe, and none holds out a more cheering prospect of future discovery in fresh and unexpected fields of delightful research. BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. Thursday, 8th April, 1852. — Dr. Seller, President, in the Chair. Dr. Murchison exhibited some curious specimens of Extract of Tea, prepared in the form of lozenges by the Chinese. These lozenges were of various forms, and had impressed upon them mottos in Chinese characters, and the figures of different insects, musical in- struments, and other objects. They had been brought from Pekin in the year 1812, and were stated to be used by the Chinese when Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 68 trarelling ; when introduced into the mouth, they were said to dissolve slowly, preventing thirst, and proving very refreshing. Though it was forty years since they had heen brought from China, they still retained a very perceptible flavour of tea. The following papers were read : — 1. "On the (Economic Uses of Chicory {Cichorium Intyhus, L.)," by Mr. James Fulton. The author, after giving a general account of the history of the Chicory plant, and alluding to the antiquity of its cultivation, proceeded to point out the wide range of oeconomic uses to which it might be made applicable, and urged the importance of extending its cultivation. Its extensive use as an ingredient in coffee is well known. As a forage plant, it forms some of the best meadows in the south of France and Lombardy, succeeding in all seasons; while its use as a salad is likewise extensive. Since 1835, large quantities of the root have been imported from the continent ; it is now cultivated in several parts of England. It had occurred to Mr. Fulton that the bitter of the chicory root might be employed as a substitute for hops, and he had accordingly used it with success, and found that the root not only communicates a pleasant bitter, but that it is likewise in some measure a substitute for the malt by possessing a large amount of saccharine matter. 2. "Analysis of the Sabal umhraculiferay as grown in the Botanic Garden," by Mr. Allan B. Dick. The following is Mr. Dick's analysis : — Organic matter. Inorganic, ft Lamina 91*90 8*10 Petiole 95-00 5*00 Silica 37-00 Sulphuric Acid 11*15 , ,,, Lime 15-90 ;•' *;^ , Potash 8*65 Soda 2*50 Chloride of Sodium 8*45 Phosphoric Acid 1*70 . ' 'f ^ ; ' Oxide of Iron 1*30 . ^ a a » Manganese 1*40 ^mtxit^o Magnesia . , .^ 4*75 '" Carbonic Acid 0*99 Charcoal 5*95 99*74 3. "On Plants found in the neighbourhood of Ripon, Yorkshire, in March 1852," by Mr. James B. Davies. 4. "Report on the state of Vegetation in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, from 10th March till 8th April 1852, as compared with the years 1850 and 1851," by Mr. M'Nab. 5. " Notice of Plants found in flower at Bowhill, Selkirkshire, on 23rd March," by Dr. Balfour. 64 Botanical Society of Edinburgh. May 13th, 1852.— Dr. Seller, President, in the Chair. Dr. Balfour read a letter from Dr. Dickie, mentioning that he had added two mosses to the Flora of Ireland, viz. Polytrichum hercyni-' cum and Hypnum rufescens. The following papers were read : — 1 . " Notice of Chinese Vegetable Products transmitted for the Museum of (Economic Botany," by Mr. Robert Fortune. 2. *' On Plants found in Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and Cumber- land, in April 1852," by Mr. James B. Davies. Mr. Davies gave a complete list of the plants observed by him, with their dates of flowering. Professor Balfour exhibited a young plant of Victoria Regia, from one of the hothouses in the Botanic Garden, showing the remarkable difference in the form of the leaves produced in its early stage of growth from those afterwards formed. The plant showed the first- formed linear leaf, followed by the sagittate form, after which, leaves of a more or less rounded-cordate form are produced. June 10, 1852. — Dr. Seller, President, in the Chair. The following papers were read : — 1. "On a supposed new species of Eleocharis,*' by Charles C. Babington, M.A. This paper will be found in the present Number of the * Annals.' 2. "Analysis of the Fluid (known as Gram Oil) from the leaves of Gram (Cicer arietinum)" by Thomas Anderson, Esq. This paper consisted of an analysis. made by Mr. Russell Aldridge : — " On eva- poration it yielded a black residue which would not dissolve in cold water, but did so readily when heated ; and on cooling it became turbid, showing the presence of oxidizable extractive. To a small portion of the fluid chloride of calcium was added, and a precipitate of oxalate of lime obtained, showing the presence of oxalic acid ; it was then filtered, and to a portion of the filtrate potash was added, no precipitate was obtained, therefore no tartaric acid. To the remainder of the filtrate ammonia was added, which gave no precipitate when cold ; but upon boiling it a slight one was obtained, showing a trace of citric acid. The remainder of the original solution was evaporated down, and the residue taken up with alcohol, a small quantity of gummy matter separated ; on evaporating the alcoholic fluid, it left some sugar ; the residue was then placed in a platinum capsule and subjected to red heat, the ashes (which were of a brown colour) were then taken up with water, and a few drops of hydrochloric acid added, which gave to the fluid a yellow colour, showing the presence of oxide of iron. It was then filtered, and carbonate of ammonia added, which gave a distinct trace of lime, again filtered, and to the filtrate phosphate of soda added, which gave a trace of magnesia. Potash and soda were present in minute quantities. " The results thus are : — " Oxalic acid (copious), citric acid (traces), oxidizable extractive, gum, sugar, lime, magnesia, iron, potash and soda." 3. " Notice relative to the Transmission of Foreign Seeds in Soil," Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 65 by TMr. M*Nab. The author stated that he had been long in the be- Hef that the transmission of fruits and seeds in a fit state for germi- nation would be better accomplished by being packed in soil than by any other known method. This experiment was fully tested by him- self during 1834, when he brought over the seeds of many of the rarer American oaks and other trees in boxes filled with soil, while portions of the same kinds of seeds packed, both in brown paper and cloth bags, were in many instances totally useless. 4. " On a variety of the Orchis mascula (O. speciosa. Host), found in the county of Wicklow," by Mr. D. Moore of Glasnevin. This communication consisted of parts of two letters from Mr. Moore ad- dressed to Mr. N'Nab : — "27th May 1852. — I have just been looking over a proof figure of Orchis speciosa, Host. It was discovered by me and another per- son last year in the county of Wicklow, where I went again a few days ago and found two more plants. Koch makes it a variety of O. mascula, which it probably ought not to be kept separate from ; the difference being more in appearance than in well-defined cha- racters. It is however a noble-looking plant, growing nearly 1 8 inches high." "28th May 1852. — I herewith send you one of the smallest spe- cimens of the Orchis speciosa, Host, which I will thank you to show to Dr. Balfour. Some of the flowers in the rachis are imperfect, wanting the labellum. The specimen figured had also imperfect flowers, which would appear to be characteristic of the species. I confess I cannot find good characters to distinguish it from O. mas- cula, though it differs so widely in general appearance.*' In regard to the Orchis, Dr. Balfour read the following communi- cation from Mr. Babington : — " I see that Mr. Moore has sent you a paper upon the supposed Orchis speciosa of the county of Wicklow, and that it is to be brought before the Botanical Society on Thursday next. He has been so good as to send me a specimen of the plant, and I have informed him very recently that I could not concur in the opinion that it is the O. speciosa of Host. I believe it to be nothing more than a very luxuriant state of the O. mascula. A few days since I found two spe- cimens, exactly corresponding with the Wicklow plant, in the wooded part of the Devil's Ditch, in this county of Cambridge. They pos- sess the remarkable size of Mr. Moore's plant, and the rather acuter segments of the perianth, such as he finds on his specimens. The true O. speciosa (which is itself only a variety of the O. mascula) has very much more attenuated segments of perianth. It is figured by Reichenbach in his recent elaborate volume upon the Orchidacese (forming * Icon. Fl. Germ.' vols. xiii. & xiv.), and I have lately re- ceived a plant which is much more like it than is the Irish plant, from Mr. Keys of Plymouth. Our English O. mascula is noted by conti- nental botanists as an obtuse-petaled form of the species. Mr. Moore's plant is far nearer to the continental type of the species. 5. " On Plants observed in Westmoreland and Cumberland in May 1852," by Mr. James B. Davies. Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. x. 5 6^ Linnaan Society. LINN.EAN SOCIETY. « February 4, 1851. — Robert Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair, The President exhibited specimens of stems of Kingia australis, R. Br., and Xanthorrhoea arbor ea, R. Br., together with drawings of the former, illustrative of its structure, especially of the siliceous covering of the vascular fasciculi of the persistent bases of the leaves ; and in both genera, the means by which the. stems are pro- tected from the scorching fires of the natives. lisd.t in sm X'^^^ Read the following " Notice concerning Linnseus's Iter Dale- carlicum," extracted from a letter of Mr. Charles Hartman, M.A,, to the Secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Stockholm, in which he gives a report of his examination of the collections and manuscripts of Linnaeus in the possession of the Linnean Society of London ; which letter is printed in the Academy's Proceedings at the Meeting on the 12th September 1849 (being No. 7 of the 6th year), p. 185. Translated from the Swedish by N. Wallich, M..iet Phil.D., V.P.L.S. &c. ,3 After mentioning the library of Linnseus, Mr. Hartman proceeds as follows : — But what especially interested me was to find a manuscript of Linnaeus, consisting of 176 folio pages, containing a complete ac- count of his journey in Daleoarlia in 1734, arranged according to the plan adopted in his other published Travels, and enriched with remarks on divers subjects, marginal notes of contents, such as • OEconomica, Geographica, Botanica,' &c. After the proper diary follows a small appendix of the names, and an extremely short but graphic character of clergymen and other persons in the parishes of the Dalas (valleys, Dalecarlia) which were visited ; a faithful chart executed by the geographer to the party ; and lastly, a seem- ingly jocose warrant, issued to their mineralogist, in the handwriting and under the sign manual of Linnaeus himself. As this journey has never, as far as I know, been published, or even noticed, it may not be improper to give here a transcript of its title and pre- face, which will best serve to give an idea of the contents of the MSS., and the plan and object of the journey itself. The writing as well as the whole report being in Swedish, in the not always very legible handwriting of Linnaeus, I have had some difficulty in deciphering it, and have been obliged to omit some words in two places. The title is as follows : — Caroli Linnaei, P.S.R. Iter Dalekarlicum jussu 8r impensis Viri Generosissimi et Excellentissimi Dni Nicolai Reuterholmi Gubernatoris Provincia Dalekarlicce institutum per Dale- karlicam Suecice provinciam quoad orientalem, Alpinam «^ occidentalem partem, observationibus constans Geographicis, Physicis, Mincralogicis, Botanicis, Zoologicis, Domesticis S; Oeconomicis quotidie collectis a mensis Julii die 3 ad Augusti d. 11 Anni 1734. Lanncean Society. 67 The first page contains the following preface, relating to the ex- tent of the journey, &c. "L. B. " Having been charged, last summer, by Governor Reuterholm to make a tour through the Eastern and Western Dalas (valleys) in his province, I proceeded to Fahlun, where I enjoyed that distinguished gentleman's hospitality, and obtained a generous stipend for the journey. As soon as the time and objects of the journey became known, I was visited by some of the cleverest and most zealous Students of the Academy of Upsala, who were anxious to accom- pany me at their own expense. I very thankfully accepted of their prompt offer ; and in order that everything might be properly regu- lated, my companions formed themselves into a Society, with laws and statutes to be kept conscientiously : e. ^.* C. Linnaeus Smoland Praeses publice et privatim. Reinh. Nasman Dalekavl Geographus Pastor. Carl Clenberg Helsing Physicus Secretarius. Ingel. Fahlstedt .... Dalekarl Mineralogus .... MasteroftheHorse. Claud Sohlberg Dalekarl.' .... Botanicus Quartermaster. Eric Emporelius .... Dalek Zoologist Huntingmaster. Petr. Hedenblod .... Dalek Domesticus Aide-de-Camp. Beniam. Sandal Americ Oecouomius .... Accountant. "Thus organized, the journey commenced on the 3rd July, 1734, from Fahlun through the Eastern Dalar, the hills, the Western Dalar, through Biursas, Lexan, Rattvik, Ore, Orsa, Mora, Elfdahl, Serna, Fiell, Roras in Norway, Lima, Malung, Nas, Floda, Gagne, Ahl, ending at Fahlun the 17th Aug. ej. anni. Observations were made daily, as far as possible, according to the subjects assigned to each of our party, by which the duties of the undertaking were facilitated. Thence it may be seen that much remains still unknown in the country and ; that each province possesses its advantages and how they may be developed ; that it would be of incredible advantage to Sweden were all her provinces similarly examined, and that one pro- vince might thus be assisted by another. Should the reader approve, thanks are due to him who originated the journey, without whose aid it could not have been undertaken, and who deserves to be looked to as a pattern to all, who love, pursue and patronize studies, who excels in reasoning powers, and who deserve to To the Great God, who has ordered this world in such an indescribable manner, and has created and preserved us to be its ... . and Spec- tatores, be praise and thanks for our having performed our journey in safety. ** Dabam Fahlu Kongsgard " Carl Linnaeus." 1734 Aug. 25." * Consult Egenhdndiga Anteckningar af Carl Linnaeus (C. L.'s own Annotations), p. 107. 5* 68 Linncean Society. The following list of acquaintances made during the journey, with remarks on each, is placed at the end of the journal : — Biursas Pastor Lundvall, Mr. Joh juvenis, fidus. Rattvik Dean Humblaeus, Mag. Olaus. . sublimis, 6()genarius. ■ Accountant. Olof Laresu simplex, Mineralogus. Cirsa Pastor Schedevin, Mag. Dan. . . doctus, oeconom. Commander Olof Laresu simpl., bonus. Mora Dean Emporelius, Mag. Joh. . . 70genarius. Adjunctus . Wistblad, Mag. Tob sibi sapiens. Elfdahl .... Pastor .... Nasman, Eric hospitalis. Serna Pastor Floraeus, Mr. Gabr adustus. ^'^^ \ . . Director . . Bredahl, Mr. Land | humanissimus Norveg. J ^ omnmm. Hyttskrifv. Irrgens, Mr. Hennig bonus & astutus. Overstigare.Bortgrevin, Mr. Leonh. . . /bonus animus ger> I manic. ^^^l^ Lima Pastor .... Gezelius phlegmat. t j,- ,; {curiosiss. pauperri- m.us, abjectiss. doc- tissimus. ^ . Malung .... Pastor .... Harkraan, M. Vindikt . . phlegmat. Nas Pastor .... Dicander, M. Eric doctus, sapiens. r Floda Pastor .... Rabenius, Mr. Job humaniss., sapiens. Gagne .... Comminist, Biorkman, Mr. Sven .... bonus vir,non hospitalis. Ahl Pastor .... Lundberg, Mr. Joh simplex. Lastly is added a copy of the warrant alluded to above, which is furnished with the seal and signature of Linnaeus: — *• We praeses and membra of the Reuterholmian Travelling Society through Dalecarlia make known by this letter patent to all con- cerned, that we have nominated and appointed our master of the horse, Mr. Ingel. Fahlstedt, at his own request and on account of his science, as our ordinary Membrum Mineralogicum, and as such to be as industrious as is in his power, to attend to his branch of re- searches as regards the province of Halecarlia for the good of the public and the honour of our country, and to consider himself re- sponsible to the Society for the due execution thereof. Done at Fahlun Kongsg. 1734 July 2. Carl - * ? • '^-^ Linnaeus. <^I to fkM (Sigill.) C. Clenberg. '^^ Secret. Societ. - Warrant for Ingel. Fahlstedt, '•''■'^V Mineralogist. ^'^^ ao (L.S.) The cost of Charta Sigillata 1 Rtdr. Speue paid into the Treasury. Ben. Sandel, Account." Miscellaneous. 69 *■" ■^^'""^' '* ^'"' MISCELLANEOUS. Ornithological Notes. By John Alexander Smith, M.D.* 1. O/" Me Woodcock (Scolopax rusticoluy Linn.), breeding in PertJishire and Moray shir Cy ^c. — It is scarcely necessary for me to remind the Society that the Woodcock {Scolopax rusticola) is one of our regular winter visitors, arriving in Britain from the north gene- rally in the beginning of October, and leaving again on its northern journey in March and April. And although this is beyond all doubt the general rule, still a good many instances have occurred from time to time of their remaining to breed both in England and Scotland ; and these have apparently become more frequent of later years, or perhaps from the increased number of observers they are now more carefully watched than formerly. But although we have notes of the occurrence of their nests at various times in Scotland, still the young birds have been very rarely seen by our Edinburgh naturalists, so that I have thought it of sufficient interest to call your attention to the subject by exhibiting this couple of young ^ooc?coc^5 which were taken in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld in the end of the month of April last. Judging from their appearance they seem to be about a month, or perhaps six weeks old ; and they closely resemble the old bird in their mottled plumage : the first primary however has the outer web edged with a very light-coloured brownish stripe, while the others have the triangularly shaped brown spots like the adult ; the bill is rather more than If inch in length, and the whole bird about 9 inches ; whereas the bill of the adult is nearly 3 inches in length, and the whole bird about 14 inches. These birds I have been in- formed were come upon, when the whole family party were busily engaged catering for food ; and on their being disturbed, the parent birds, strange to say, attempted to fly off with their young in their claws, dropping some of them however in their flight, when the young birds were caught by two men who witnessed the whole pro- ceedings : three young birds were caught, but the fourth was believed to have been safely carried off ; they were kept alive for a short time, but they soon pined away and died. The Woodcock has been ob- served to breed at various times in this district around Dunkeld ; it is however by no means a common occurrence. Mr. Muirhead, Queen Street, tells me, that when in Morayshire last summer, about the 18th or 19th of June, one of the Earl of Moray's gamekeepers, at Darnaway Castle, assured him that some of the Woodcocks occa- sionally remained and bred in the neighbourhood, and on Mr. M. (who had never heard anything of the kind before) hinting a doubt on the subject, the keeper offered to show him one of their nests, and remarked that what was far more extraordinary was the fact, that occasionally on coming near a Woodcock's nest, he had seen the old bird rise from it carrying one of her young brood in her claws. And accordingly on going with him to a piece of dry grassy ground, co- * Read before the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, April 7, 1852. 70 Miscellaneous, vered with copse wood, where there was a Woodcock's nest with young birds, and carefully approaching the place, they heard the old bird, as they supposed, give a peculiar cry or '* squeel," and saw it immediately fly up with a young bird in its claws ; and Mr. Muirhead declares he could not have made any mistake, as the bird was not above ten or twelve yards from him, so that he saw it most distinctly ; they then went forward to the nest, and found another fledged young bird still remaining squatted in it, which he was prevented handling, by the keeper informing him that if he did so, it would in all proba- bility be removed, and not brought back again to the nest. He was told that there were generally three or four eggs in the nest. I have the pleasure of also exhibiting an effff of this bird which was taken from a nest near Durris, Kincardineshire ; it is about 1 inch 1 lines in length, and 1 inch 4 lines in breadth ; of a yellowish white, blotched and spotted with gray and various shades of yellowish brown ; the spots being more frequent towards the larger end. We have in these in- stances another detailed account of the curious and extraordinary cir- cumstance of birds attempting to rescue their young from anticipated danger, and in the Woodcock these are by no means to be considered as solitary examples ; some three instances of a similar kind occurring in this country being quoted in Yarrell's * British Birds ' (vol. ii. p. 591), from that valuable storehouse of facts in zoology, the * Ma- gazine of Natural History.' Cases of this kind however seem to be so very strange, that we are inclined to give various explanations be- fore we can persuade ourselves of their possibility, and to one of these I may in passing allude : for example, a bird-fancier told me he had seen instances where the presence of an addled or unhatched egg in the nest of some of his breeding birds, had given rise to the appearance at least of the old bird carrying a young one out of its nest. The bird was sitting very closely on her recently hatched young, the addled egg being accidentally broken, its contents spreading over the breast of the mother as well as over one of the young birds ; and on her rapidly leaving the nest to feed, the young one, having become adherent to its mother's breast, was carried out with it ; the heat of the mother while in the nest helping to dry the albumen, and in this way glue the two together, and in some instances so closely, that he had been obliged to seize the mother for the purpose of removing the young one, while in other instances it dropped off shortly after the bird left the nest : and this he had seen to occur both in pigeons and canaries. I am not aware how far a similar cause may be considered as explaining any of the instances described as occurring among birds in their state of native freedom ; although i» many cases I should suppose it impossible to be perfectly certain how the young bird was carried by the mother, whether accidentally or by manifest design. And I suspect it will require more extended and carefully minute observation before we shall be quite able to ex- plain them ; still in the several instances noticed by Yarrell, as well as in those to which I have alluded, there seems no reason for doubt- ing the fact of the young bird being actually carried off in the claws of the anxious parent bird. From these young Woodcocks being Miscellaneous, 71 hatched so early in the season as the middle of March, if not earlier, and the others in the month of June, one would be inclined to suppose that these birds may occasionally rear two broods in the year (?) ; or it may be explained merely by some accidental circum- stances retarding the nidification of some individuals until such a late period. 2. I also take this opportunity of exhibiting to the Society this very peculiar specimen of the Common or Corn Bunting {Embe' riza miliaria, Linn.), which at first sight has more the appearance, in colour at least, of an overgrown mealy canary. Its whole upper and under parts being of a pale yellow, with the exception of a very few brownish spots or feathers scattered over it ; these spots consist apparently of the darker colour along the quill of the feather, still remaining in a few instances ; the wing-coverts are pure white, but the quills are of the usual brown colour, edged with lighter brown, with the exception of the second quill in each wing, and two or three of the secondaries of one wing, which are also pure white. The tail- coverts are yellowish white, and the lateral tail-feathers are white, the central ones being of a very pale brownish colour ; indeed only three feathers retain their usual colour. The under mandible is also pale yellow ; but the eyes were of their ordinary dark brown or black, con- trasting strangely with its light-coloured plumage. The bird is an adult female, being fully 7 inches in length, and was in plump and well-fed condition. It was shot on the 7th of February last, to the north of the village of Maxton, Roxburghshire. The Common Bunting, as it is called, is by no means a very common bird in this locality, and indeed it would seem to be now much rarer than formerly, as, unfortunately for its peace and safety, the quill- feathers are highly esteemed by the anglers in the district for making a very killing variety of artificial fly for trout-fishing. I have brought with me a specimen of the bird in its ordinary plumage, that those of you who are not very familiar with its usual appearance may see the great contrast exhibited by this pale yellow specimen, where the dark colours are almost entirely obliterated, and the naturally yellowish tinge of the lighter brown parts has become extended over the whole bird and transformed into a pale yellow or yellowish white. 3. I exhibit also a specimen of the Lesser Redpole {Frinyilla linaria, Linn.), shot near Stirling, which has the upper and back parts of the head and sides of the neck pure white, and there are also a few white feathers thinly scattered over other parts of its body. It shows very well the more usual extent in which this accidental white- coloured variety of plumage is generally found. 4. I shall next notice this specimen of the Siskin (Carduelis spinusy Cuv.), which was taken on Arthur's Seat, about the middle of last September ; and my reason for doing so is that some of our natu- ralists seem to me to consider it much rarer in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh than it really is. Our bird-catchers I am informed are in the habit of taking considerable numbers in this neighbourhood by means of their call-birds and nets, all through the winter months ; in 72 Miscellaneous. some seasons however they catch them in much greater numbers than in others ; and although it is one of our winter visitors, still some of them undoubtedly remain to breed, of which indeed several instances have been recorded ; and I have myself seen a specimen of the bird which was shot in this neighbourhood in the end of the month of April. 5. I am indebted to my young friend Mr. "W. Dumbreck for being able to exhibit to the Society a Scottish specimen of a very rare bird, the Black-winged Stilt, or Long-legged Plover {Himantopus melanopterus, Tem.). It is one of the accidental visitors to Britain which are met with now and then at very uncertain intervals, and of which only some two or three instances are recorded of its occurrence in Scotland. This I hope will be a sufficient apology for exhibiting it ; although it was killed a good many years ago, and no notice has ever been given of its capture. It was shot in the breeding season on the south bank of the river Clyde, nearly opposite to Dumbarton Castle, and when seen was squatting on the ground, so that it was at first supposed to be merely a young Lapwing, or some such bird. It is easily distinguished hy its extremely long stilt-like legs, with three toes in front and none behind ; and it appears to be a young bird ; the back part of the head and neck being dusky, the scapulars brownish black, the rest of the wing greenish black ; and the length of the primaries from the carpal joint to their extremity being only b\ inches, instead of 8 inches as in the adult, in which they extend considerably beyond the tail ; whereas in this specimen they do not reach to within 1^ inch or so of its extremity. The tail is ash- coloured, and the rest of the body is white. It measures about 13 inches in length, and from the termination of the feathered part of the tibia to the foot it is 7i inches long. Q k 7. I am also informed that the person who shot this bird was fortunate enough when a young man to capture other two of our rarer birds, which may be worth a passing notice ; the one is the Wryneck {Yunx torquillai Linn.), of which an individual was killed in the neighbourhood of Glasgow ; and the other (which I have seen) is the Rose-coloured Pastor {Pastor roseus), which was shot in a garden near Caldwell, Renfrewshire. I allude to these birds, as I am anxious to impress upon the Mem- bers of the Society the propriety of recording all the instances of the occurrence of any of our rarer birds which may happen to come to their knowledge ; as it is only in this way that anything like a cor- rect idea of the ornithology of a particular district, or of our country itself, is to be obtained. 8. Through the politeness of Mr. Dickson, of the well-known firm of John Dickson and Co., Gunmakers, Princes Street, I am enabled to show this beautiful specimen of the very rare Great-Billed or Surf Scoter (Oidemia perspicillata, Flem.). It is a fine adult male, and was shot in Musselburgh Bay on Friday last the 2nd of April. The Scoters are true sea ducks, seeking among the waves and surf for their varied molluscous diet. Three species are described as being found occasionally on our coasts during the winter months ; MiscellaneoiLS. 73 the Black, the Velvet, and this, the Surf Scoter ; but the last of these is only a very rare visitor. They are dark or black plumaged ducks, the females being brown ; and this species is easily disthiguished from the others by the rounded patch of white on its forehead, between and in front of its eyes ; and the somewhat shield-shaped patch, square above, and pointed posteriorly, on the nape and running down the neck. The rest of the plumage is deep bluish black tinged with brownish on the quills and the wedge-shaped tail. The appearance of the bill is singular: prominent in the middle over the nostrils, which are pervious (and to which point the feathers come down), then sloping with a concave outline to the slightly rounded nail at its point ; and it is also very prominent at the lateral parts of its base. Its colour is of a reddish orange, paler at the sides, and becoming yellowish towards the nail ; and there is a very strongly defined square-shaped black patch on each of the two lateral protuberances, edged with the reddish orange of the bill, except at its superior and anterior angle, and in front, where it is succeeded by a triangularly-shaped spot of bright bluish white, terminating at the nostril. The under mandible is of a much paler reddish colour. The bill measured on the side is nearly 2f inches in length by \^ inch in height, and about the same in breadth across the lateral protuberances at its base. The eyes are placed high on the head, not far indeed from the top, about 1^ inch above and slightly behind the angle of the mouth. The iris was of a beautiful white, reminding one almost of white china ware. The tarsi are of a reddish orange colour in front and dusky behind, and the toes are also reddish orange with dusky spots at the joints, the inter- vening membranes being of a dusky black ; the claws are small and black. The whole bird is about 21 inches in length ; and from the carpal joint to the extremity of the first and second primaries which are the longest, it is 9f inches, the wing reaching only to a very little beyond the base of the tail. Fleming in his * British Animals * mentions that the Surf Scoter is said by Temminck to have occurred in Orkney. And I shall quote a short passage from Sir W. Jardine's interesting ' Ornithology of Great Britain,' part iv. p. 162 (Naturalist's Library), which seems to give the best summary of its occurrence ; he says, — " The Surf Scoter is an extremely rare bird in Britain, and even in Europe ; the coasts of North America (where it is plentiful) being its real habitation. It has been stated by most of our modem British ornithologists, that specimens of this bird occur now and then in the vicinity of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, but we are not aware of any being lately procured there. In the * Birds of Europe,* a specimen is stated to have been killed in the Firth of Forth, and Mr. Yarrell records another instance of a recent specimen coming into the possession of Mr. Bartlett of London : all these in this country have occurred in winter. It is of nearly equal rarity on the continent, and few notices of it occur either in any of the recent works devoted to natural history, or in those books of tours which lately, under the apology of sport, have recorded some interesting anecdotes on the habits of little-known species." So that this beautiful adult male is to be considered apparently as the second instance of the bird's occur- 74 Miscellaneous. ring in the Firth of Forth, and only the third or fourth time that it has been observed in Britain. 9. And in conclusion I may call your attention to a fine specimen of the Pink-Footed Goose (Anser hrachyrhynchuSi Bail.), or Anser phoenicopus, Bart., which seems to be not very uncommon in this district at this time of the year. It was only pointed out as a new species in this country so recently as 1839, and is easily known by its short bill and pink feet, which the names given to it point out, and which distinguish it from the Bean Goose {Anser segetum), which it much resembles. The whole bird measured some 28 inches in length, the narrow bill being (along the side) little more than \\ inch long, and much shorter than the head; its colour is black, except a band across its middle which is bright reddish pink. Legs and feet reddish pink, in some parts brighter than in others, with the claws dusky. I have observed a few specimens of this bird in the poulterers' shops lately, said to have been shot towards the west country. This specimen was killed in the Carnwath district, adjoin- ing this county to tbe south-west. I have had sent me the following note, giving notice of these geese occurring in the neighbourhood of Midcalder (Edinburghshire), by the friend who shot this one on the 4th of this month : this you may perhaps consider of some little interest, as not much appears to be known of the habits of this parti- cular kind of goose ; and with it I conclude : he says, — " At this season yearly, the geese come in considerable numbers for the purpose of feeding on the sown fields, particularly in the moorland districts, where the country is open and they see about them ; they are very shy and easily disturbed ; where they are in numbers today, there are none tomorrow ; they rarely settle near the same place after being disturbed ; the evening about dusk is the time to creep upon them, when they are arranging their sleeping berth commonly at the side of some out-of-the-way bit of water — ^lakes, ponds, not running streams. About a hundred of them passed over this house on Sunday evening a little before 8 o'clock ; they speak much to each other, and very loud, giving ample notice of their approach to bed ; those on Sunday evening were within shot, and must have gone to sleep at some short distance at the Curling Ponds. The bird you got was shot about nine miles from this, in the Carnwath district ; and was one of a con- siderable flock, in the act of taking up their sleeping quarters. They are sometimes got by laying in wait for them about the sown fields. I sent the bird for a roast — the culinary qualities are much prized — mode of proceeding, see * Meg Dodds.' I was on the look-out for them till 9 o'clock last night, but no success. The getting them is quite a matter of chance. — April 6th, 1852." CORFIOTE SHELLS. BY SYLVANUS HANLEY, ESQ. Although the accompanying list of species contains nothing re- markable, yet being, I believe, the only published catalogue of the shells indigenous to that most beautiful island, it m.ay possibly prove not devoid of utility to those who study the geographical distribution Miscellaneous, 75 of the MoUusca. The want of a dredge forbad any extended re- search, and the time of year (January) was most adverse to any suc- cessful search for the land or freshwater kinds : consequently the list is most imperfect, the whole of the marine shells having been col- lected, on the shore, within three miles of the capital of Corfu. Those distinguished by an asterisk were evidently washed up, and were untenanted. As the ' Enumeratio MoUuscorum Sicihse ' of Philippi is in the hands of every conchologist, the names adopted by him, in his second volume, have been accepted, for faciUty of reference. dant under stones in shallow but decidedly salt water). Haliotis tuberculata ! (not our Bri- tish shell, but the laraellosa of Reeve's Monograph). Vermetus gigas*. Trochus articulatus. fanulum. divaricatus. Venus decussata. Cardium rusticum(=edule var. glau- cum). Cardita sulcata*. Spondylus Gaedaropus*. Area Nose*. barbata*. Chiton Siculus. Patella Lusitanica (= punctata of Lamarck). Tarentina. cffirulea. Helix aspersa. striata. Carthusianella. Corcyrensis (of Pfeiffer, Monog. Helic). Bulimus acutus. Achatina acicula. Cochlicopa Algira. Clausilia papillaris. Cyclostoma elegans. tessellatum (as figured in Sower- by's Thesaurus). Rissoa Montagui. costata. elata. Bruguieri. Truncatella truncatula (most abun- varius. Adriaticus. Phasianella pullus. Littorina Neritoides. Cerithium vulgatum. lima. fuscatum. Pleurotoma Ginnanianum. Murex brandaris*. trunculus*. Ranella lanceolata. Buccinum variabile. D'Orbignyi. scriptum. pusio (maculosum of Lamarck). corniculum. Columbella rustica. Mitra Savignyi. Conus Mediterraneus. It is not unworthy of remark, that the plicated and dwarf varieties of Buccinum corniculum are found intermingled with the ordinary form, without any diminution of their varietal peculiarities. ON LITTORINA PALLIATA. BY WILLIAM THOMPSON. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Weymouth, June 6, 1852. Gentlemen, — Messrs. Forbes and Hanley in their account of the Littorime, at page 52. vol. iii. of the ' British MoUusca,' state their conviction that the result of a completed knowledge of this genus would be a reduction of the number of true British species ; and in 76 Miscellaneous. page 53 they feel almost sure that Littorina palliata will fall under L. littoralis. A curious fact has lately come under my observation, which is evidence in favour of Messrs. Forbes and Hanley's opinion. On the 19th of December 1851, whilst searching the region of Fucus nodosus and F. vesiculosus, I obtained several examples of the male Littorina rudis in copulation with Littorina littoralis (formerly Nerita litto- ralis) : in every instance rudis was the male. What will their pro- geny be like ? I think we find it in Littorina palliata ; the characters of the two former are so intimately blended in L. palliata. It may be described as a littoralis with the convex whorls and rounded body, and I may add, the spire of rudis, whilst the smaller size and the nar- rower basal confluence of the lips may fairly enough be considered as the effect of hybridism. From these circumstances I infer Littorina palliata to be the hybrid progeny of L. rudis (male) and a female L. littoralis. The only doubt in my mind as to this inference is, that I have not as yet found any specimens of L. palliata on this coast ; but neither have I found any other shell that might in any way be considered as the produce of rudis and littoralis. I found in all eight couples ; and I think, that the copulation being only chance, the probability of the unfruitfulness of some (which probability is greater than in cases where both are of the same species), and the further probability of the hybrids not being prolific — taking all these together, — will, I think, form just grounds for the rarity of the species. Should this prove to be the case, it will be a question whether L. palliata is entitled to be considered a species or merely a variety. If it be capable of reproducing like MoUusca, I think it should be retained as a species ; it may be a question, however, whether a hy- brid incapable of reproduction is entitled to be considered a species. Gentlemen, yours obediently, William Thompson. new locality for tulostoma mammosum. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. The Willows, Swansea, June 9, 1852. Gentlemen, — Believing the plant mentioned below to be some- what rare, I shall be obliged by your insertion of the following : — Tulostoma mammosum, near Pennard Castle, Glamorganshire. Found only on one spot — not very plentiful there. Your obedient servant, Matthew Moggridge. On the Preservation of the Fecundated Eggs of Fishes. By M. CosTE. I communicated to the Academy, at a previous meeting, the result of an experiment tending to prove that it was possible to preserve the eggs of salmon and trout out of the water a sufficient time to trans- port them to great distances and to make them hatch in places where it was desired to introduce these fish. The following fact shows that Miscellaneous. 77 these eggs can be preserved during more than two months without losing the power of development. If this fact be confirmed, we shall possess the means of procuring species living in distant parts of the globe and acclimatizing them in regions which they have never yet inhabited. This result, obtained by MM. Berthot and Detzem, is evidently of great importance ; the following are the means adopted by these gentlemen. Eggs of salmon artificially fecundated were placed in a deal box in layers alternating with damp sand. The box was then placed, /or two months, in a cold room, the temperature of which, however, was sufficiently high to preserve them from freezing. At the expiration of this time the eggs were shrivelled, and before taking them out of the box they were placed in water so that they might become moistened through the sand with which they were covered ; for when this precaution is neglected, they perish. Some of these eggs were sent to me by MM. Berthot and Detzem. I placed them in my apparatus, where they have since hatched. The experiment has therefore succeeded. — Comptes Rendus, April 5, 1852, p. 507. POSTSCRIPT TO MR. CLARk's PAPER ON RARE BRITISH MOLLUSCA AT PAGE 22. June 23. — The Chemnitzia I mentioned yesterday turned out to be the Chem. obliqua, with a perfectly smooth shell ; and after 1 had despatched my postscript note I met with the Chem. decorata, an animal of more modest pretensions, having the basal volution of the shell finely and superficially striated. This discovery settles the di- stinctness of the two, which I doubted, having stated in vol. vii. p. 394 of the N. S. of the * Annals,' that the C. decorata is the C. obliqua : I make this admission with the reservation that my pre- sent shell is the obliqua, if such a species is in esse. And this morn- ing I captured the rare Chem. insculpta alive. I have notes of the three animals of this peculiar little section of the Chemnitzice. IRISH MOLLUSCA. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Windsor Lodge, Monkstown, co. Dublin, May 22, 1852. Gentlemen, — The following MoUusca have been obtained by me off the Dublin coast, some of which are new to that locality : will you please at your earliest convenience to publish their occurrence ? Teredo megotara, Hanley. Drift wood, Killiney Bay. Xylophaga dorsalis, Turton. Some very fine live specimens were trawled off the Skerrie Islands. Sphcenia Binghami, Turton. In the thick valves of Ostrea edulis : dredged in Dalkey Sound, 14 fathoms. Thracia villosiuscula, Macgillivray. Dredged in about 14 fathoms, Dalkey Sound. T. convexa, Wood. Trawled off Skerries. Solecurtus coarctatus, Gmelin. Same locality as the last. 78 Miscellaneous. Psammobia teUinella, Lamarck. Dredged in Dal key Sound. Tellina pygmcea, Philippi. Same locality as the last. Cytherea Chione, One valve : dredged in about 14 fathoms, Dalkey Sound. Circe minima^ Montagu. Two odd valves : same locality as the last. Astarte sulcata^ Da Costa. Same locality as the last. Cardium nodosum, Turton. Same locality. C.fasciatum, Montagu. Same locality. Lucina spinifera, Montagu. Trawled off the Calf of Man. Leda caudata, Donovan. Two live specimens with some odd valves dredged in 1 3 fathoms, Dalkey Sound. Lima Losc.ombii, Sowerby. Dredged in a live state from 12 to 14 fathoms, Dalkey Sound. Lima Mans, Gmehn. A beautiful live specimen was dredged last month in Killiney Bay in about 15 fathoms. Anomia striata ?, Loven. Dredged in Dalkey Sound. Chiton Icevis, Pennant. Same locality. Trochus exiguus ?, Pulteney. South Bull, Dublin Bay. . T. granulatus, Born. Trawled off the Calf of Man. T. Montaguiy Gray. Dredged in from 12 to 14 fathoms, Dalkey Sound. Fusus propinquus, Alder. Trawled off the Skerries ; but I have obtained much better specimens last summer off the Saltees. Mangelia gracilis , Montagu. Trawled off Skerries, in company with M. turriculay Trophon clathratus and Nassa incrassata. Yours truly obliged, William White Walpole. On the Sun Column as seen at Sandwich Manse, Orkney y in April 1852. By C. Clouston. The perpendicular column of light which appeared repeatedly at sunset and sunrise during April, deserves a more particular account than the usual monthly report contains, as this is the most northern locality in which I have yet heard of its appearance. When seen in the evening, it was generally immediately after the sun had sunk either below the horizon, or behind a bank of clouds there. It was rather wider than the apparent diameter of the sun, and extended upwards for about 15°, widening a little towards the top, and becoming fainter, so that there was no defined boundary ; but it was sometimes much shorter, and could be distinctly seen, when it was less than the semidiameter of the sun above the horizon, either when vanishing by descending, as it generally did, or as it last appeared on the 3rd of May, without rising more than about 1°. Though at first it seemed to be a law that it must descend as the sun descended below the horizon, yet on one occasion, at least (on the 26th), it vanished by ascending, or the base disappeared first. It was generally remarkably perpendicular, but sometimes had a perceptible inclination to one side, and followed the course of the suu northwards. Meteorological Observations. 79 It had periods of greater and less brightness, but for the most part was steady, something Uke a sunbeam among the clouds, and never had any approach to the rapid motion of the aurora. Its colour was pale or whitish in its upper portion, or when it ap- peared contrasted with the dark sky ; but in passing through the red, copper, or orange-coloured sky that prevailed lower down, it partook of its shade, and tinged the thin strata of cloud that lay across it with a brighter hue of their own colour. Fifty-five minutes was the longest period that it was visible any evening. I am told that it also appeared very bright some mornings before sunrise. If the phsenomenon was uncommon, so was the state of the atmo- sphere when it occurred. The drought was unprecedented ; only about J^th of an inch of rain falling in April, which is about yoth of the average quantity in that month in previous years. The atmo- spheric pressure was great, the mercury never being lower than 30*07, nor higher than 30*32. The temperature was also high for the month, being 47°" 64, or more than 4° above the average for April. The atmosphere was very calm, and the sky near the horizon of that red or copper colour which generally indicates dry and warm weather, so that at last we could anticipate its appearance. I do not presume to explain the mode of its production, but these circumstances may assist others in so doing. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR MAY 1852. Chiswick. — May 1. Overcast: cloudy: clear. 2. Cloudy and cold: frosty at night. 3. White clouds : fine : clear and frosty. 4. Dusky clouds : clear and frosty. 5. Densely clouded : clear and frosty at night, 6. Cloudy : clear. 7. Overcast: very fine. 8. Cloudy: fine. 9. Fine. 10. Fine: rain at night. 11. Boisterous, with heavy shovk^er, partly hail. 12. Heavy rain : thunder. 13. Cloudy : overcast : boisterous at night. 14. Showery and boisterous : clear. 15, 16. Very fine. 17. Slight drizzle : overcast : thunder, lightning and rain at night. 18. Very fine: rain at night. 19. Very fine. 20. Hazy: fine: showers. 21. Overcast. 22. Cloudy : clear. 23. Cloudy. 24, 25. Overcast : fine. 26. Rain. 27. Over- cast. 28. Densely clouded. 29. Rain. 30. Fine: cloudy. 31. Fine: cloudy: clear and cold. Mean temperature of the month 51°'45 Mean temperature of May 1851 51 "16 Mean temperature of May for the last twenty-six years ... 54 "07 Average amount of rain in May l'74inch. Boston. — May 1. Cloudy. 2. Cloudy : rain a.m. 3, 4. Cloudy. 5. Cloudy : rain a.m. 6. Cloudy. 7. Fine. 8. Cloudy. 9, 10. Fine. 11. Cloudy. 12— 14. Cloudy : rain a.m. 15, 16. Fine. 17. Cloudy. 18. Cloudy : rain a.m. and p.m. 19. Cloudy : rain a.m. 20. Fine. 21. Cloudy : rain a.m. and p.m. 22 — 25. Cloudy. 26. Cloudy : rain p.m. 27—29. Cloudy. 30. Fine. 31. Cloudy. Sandwick Manse, Orkney. — May 1. Cloudy: fine. 2. Clear: fine. 3. Cloudy : fine: clear: fine. 4. Cloudy: fine. 5. Drops: fine: cloudy: fine. 6. Clear: fine : cloudy : fine. 7. Drops : rain : clear. 8. Drops : showers. 9. Rain : clear. 10. Drops: clear: aurora. 11. Cloudy: showers. 12. Bright: clear. 13. Rain: clear : fine. 14. Bright : showers. 15. Clear: cloudy. 16. Clear. 17. Clear: fine. 18, 19. Clear : fine : aurora. 20—23. Clear : fine. 24. Bright : fine : clear : fine. 25. Clear: fine. 26. Cloudy. 27. Cloudy: fine. 28. Bright: cloudy: showers. 29. Bright : showers : cloudy : hail-showers. 30. Sleet-showers. 31. Sleet-showers : showers. — This month lias been fine, warm and dry. Mean temperature of May for twenty-five years previous ... 47°*88 Mean temperature of this month 50 '49 Average quantity of rain in May for six years 172 inch. 1 o o t< ; to to N r ? : s* ." M : p» to to . W to M t» Ti- ' H : ^ : ^ : C» VO VO t^ to 1 •uo^soa O O . o : o • O 1- o o 'i- O ^ "-> ON to H n : to w o M to w to to M : '4- •JlDtAVsiqO p p p _t< p p : to tH r r' ? ? t^ ? ' a •JfDmpOBS -i ii sii^ii«^iii«^««s-- \a Uiii •uo^soa ^a^^aiiiiii.iii.iiiiiiiiiilaiil •ui'd I '^iiiiii'iii^im^i^si^i'iiiiiiii S m|(hH=' -^I" '^te' '^iN -^iis VO "M o. VO t-. lo M f< li^oo M ON O t^ r^OO v£) o O M O 0> OsOO rnvo 00 OO m m u-, ro u-,vo OO fi ^ •io.^Tl-Ti-^ to 5^ s «i« He" He r-|«-<|« .H|ei to ci O O f^ O •H w->o >^cOTl-t^ M t^ONO w rh-- to 1 t^ 1 •ra-B f 8 W-> IT) lO U-l •uo^sog f-. ■* t^OO O w li^ en t^OO vi-,vr,M ■+vr>OSTl-M ovo O <-> H rJ-NO O fJ NOO M to to .3 ■* tr^oo r-. O Ti-OO to O to^O On M OO O, t-. «>- vr, tv^oo VO l^ W-, ON ON 0\ t^vO irioo ■+ On t< 1 rot^ c< H cocomTt-ri-- vo i/^ lO r^vo t^vO VO NO vovO vO t^^O t~^ t^VO VO VO vovo VO w-> vri w-i u") lovo ^ VO s 00 Vi-iOO ONtJ-O C» t^O ovo O rOOO O VO to to C» »i- w-iOO moo i-iOOOO COfOOVO M VO .M ON 11 t« M c» OnOO m t-. cl H. rj- ri- Ti-VO T^VO OOWMt^cliirjMOON t-^VO VO o. OnO O O O OnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOsOnOnO O O O O O O O O O 0>OnOnOn S^ 1 ^ tJtocococoMMHc)erO OnVO On tJ- rJ-VO t^OO OO VO 00 O On M OO VO OOONNNMOOVO TJ-VO M to tJ- Tj> t^ to tooo OO'-'Mt^'-lMi-.i-i OnOO tovo o a ON b b b b b On b\ On ON On OS On C> ON On On On O O O O O O O O O On On Ox On ON i o» t»rototncotncJc^c- r^vo toT^tocJ M 11 ONtocototi roioio vovo VO to'^ri-'^torj to 9 OnOnOnOnONCnOnOnOnOnOnON OsOO OnOnOxOnOnOxOnOnOnOxOnOnOnOSOnOnOn ON , 1 c»t«t«cNtrf ai Thomas HiN€^fiSaie atftc^feja^tnioq amoa esiic^i'r 'iiBytdBsiq P.S. — In a paper entitled ^' Notes on British Zoophytes,'^ which was published in the ^ Annals' for November 1851, I de'-;^ scribed a species of Farrella as new, under the name of F. pro- ducta. Since that time Mr. Wyville Thomson has directed my attention to Van Beneden's figure and description of Laguncula elongata, which I had not previously seen, and I have now no doubt of the identity of the two species. The name F. producta must therefore be cancelled, and I w ould substitute for my former note under this heading, a record of the occurrence of the Laguncula elongata of Van Beneden {Farrella elongata it should be) as a British species. v -liv Dr. T. Wright on the Palceontology of tlie Isle of Wight. 87 EXPLANATION OF PLATE III. Fig. 1. Vesicle of Campanularia Syringa. ^vii iifodfi feiix&Juoo aloifeiiv — 2. The same in an earlier stage. ^ — 3. The same, highly magnified, to show the details of structure. — 4. " Compound vesicle " of Sertularia argentea from Sir J. G. Dalyell. — 5 a, Medusoid of Campanularia volubilis. b. Two of the tentacles and the intermediate tubercles, c. A tentacle and its bulb. •—6; Laomedea laceruta (highly magnified),' '«; The same in the young 'ill r state. ^ii ot h' IX. — Contributions to the Palceontology of the Isle of Wight. By Thomas Wright, M.B. &c.* >"* ' It has been supposed that the tertiary beds of England/ when compared with those of the continent of Europe, are deficient in mammalian remains ; this opinion, like many other hasty gene- ralizations, if it be not entirely fallacious, requires modification. The valuable series of mammalian remains obtained from time to time from the lacustrine strata of Kyson, Hordwell, and the Isle of Wight, lead us to believe that if similar facilities existed in these localities for working the beds from whence mammalian bones and teeth are obtained, as is the case in the neighbour- hood of Paris, the richness of the English tertiaries in these re- mains would no longer be a doubtful question. We have been led to this conclusion from facts which have come under our observation during the two consecutive summers we were en- gaged in drawing up a description of the coast sections of Hamp- shire and the Isle of Wight, and which have already appeared in the pages of this Journal. Until last summer no remains of the new genus Dichodon had been found, except in one spot in the Hordwell section, when T had the good fortune to discover, near Alum Point, Isle of Wight, a portion of the lower jaw of this singular genus with the true molars " in situ " in beautiful preservation. This jaw fortunately supplies some points in the anatomy of this rare mammal, which were absent in the only specimen hitherto found, and which it is the object of this note to furnish. Dichodon cuspidatus, Owen. The dental formula of the lower jaw of Dichodon cuspidatus, according to Professor Owen, consists of three incisors, one ca- nine, four premolars, and three true molars, arranged in a con- tinuous series in each ramus, and it is inferred that these were * Read at Cheltenham at a Meeting of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Club, May 4, 1862. 88 Dr. T. Wright on the Palaeontology of the Isle of Wight. opposed by the same number of teeth in the upper jaw. " There are wanting therefore to establish ex visu the entire dental series, only the first and second premolars of the upper jaw and the last true molar of the lower jaw, the germ of which had not been sufficiently calcified at the time of the animaFs death to yield satisfactory evidence of its true form*.^' Having recently dis- covered a portion of the left ramus of the lower jaw of this rare mammal in the low er freshwater formation of the Isle of Wight, containing the three true molars in an admirable state of pre- servation, I am enabled to supply a description thereof. ,^ The crowns of all the true molars exhibit a double series of sharp conical lobes ; the teeth are fixed obliquely in the jaw, their crowns having a direction forwards, inwards and upwards, the obhquity of the inclination increasing from before back- wards j the first and second molars are nearly alike in size, form and structure ; the first, however, is somewhat smaller than the second ; the crown of each tooth rises high above the ramus of the jaw ; it consists of four semiconical-shaped lobes, two ex- ternal and two internal, separated from each other by a deep transverse and a shallow longitudinal valley; the two external lobes are sharply lanceolate ; each has a median ridge of enamel and two sharp supernumerary processes or cusps, situated at the external sides of the base of each lobe ; the inner surface is con- vex and smooth, and as the apices of the lobes are not worn, the double fold of enamel, with its intermediate dentine, is beauti- fully shown in our specimen. The internal lobes are larger and more fully developed than the external pair, but their apices do not attain the same height as those of the external lobes ; their internal surface is smooth and convex, their external surface is moderately concave, and inclined to a high angle ; at the base of the external surface of each of the internal lobes there are two small tubercles or rudi- mentary cusps : the posterior marginal surface of all the lobes is slightly polished by dentrition, whilst their sharp lanceolate points are not worn, from which circumstance it may be logically inferred, that the lobes of the teeth of the lower jaw locked into corresponding spaces in those of the upper jaw, as in the hedge- hog {Erinaceus europcBus), the mole [Talpa vulgaris), and other Insectivora. The third true molar differs from the first and second in pos- sessing six instead of four lobes ; the four anterior lobes are of the same form and structure as those of the second molar, only they are somewhat larger ; the third or posterior pair are smaller than either of the others, and they have a more xudi- - to Klium/ * Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. iv. p. 42. ■^^^'^k I Dr. T. Wright on the Paleontology of the Isle of Wight. 89 mentary form ; the anterior cusp is absent at the base of the external lobe, and the posterior cusp is a small process which rises between the external and internal lobes. Locality. — I found this rare fossil in a bed of greenish tough tenacious clay, being No. 35 of my section*, and which stratum I have shown to be the equivalent of No. 14 of my section of Hordwell, Beacon, and Barton Cliffs f, from whence Mr. Falconer obtained the specimen which formed the subject of Professor Owen^s paper. It is important, therefore, to note that these mammalian remains have been found in precisely the same geo- logical horizon on both shores of the Solent sea ; thus affording another link in the chain of evidence which proves the former union of these tertiary beds. I have promised the loan of this specimen to Professor Owen, who will figure it in the forthcoming new edition of his ' British Fossil Mammalia / for this reason I have not figured it here. -^ • ■• ym Tooth of an unknown Saurian. '^^^^ ^* ^ ^H ^'^^ I had the good fortune to meet with a very perfect reptilian tooth in the Wealden clay of Brixton Bay; the accompany- ing figure, of the natural size, was drawn on wood by Mr. W. H. Baily, as it is important that palaeontologists should possess a faithful drawing of its singular form, to enable them to com- pare future discoveries with the subject of this note, and even- tually to determine the genus of Saurians to which it belonged. I had the pleasure of showing this tooth to Professors Forbes, Ger- vais and Owen, Dr. Mantell, and Messrs. Waterhouse and Wood- ward, who were all unacquainted with the form. Dr. Mantell thought it had some resemblance to a tooth found in the Wealden of Tilgate Forest, and which he imagined belonged to the Hy- laosaurus. " These teeth,^' he observes, " are about 1^ inch in height, and commence at the base with a cylindrical shank, which gradually enlarges into a crown of an obtusely lanceolate form, convex in front, slightly depressed, and terminating in an angular rounded apex, the margins of which are generally more or less worn, as if from dentrition. The crown is solid, but the fang encloses a small pulp- cavity ; the surface is enamelled, and covered with very fine longitudinal strife ; the base in every spe- cimen appears broken transversely, and has not a smooth sur- face, as if it had been loosened by absorption and shed natu- rally J. ^^ The Doctor has given a figure of this tooth which dif- * Dr. Wright, Geology of the North-West coast of the Isle of Wight (Annals of Nat. Hist. S. 2. vol. vii. p. 14). t Annals of Nat. Hist. S. 2. vol. vii. p. 433. X Hand-Book of the Fossils of the British Museum, p. 326. 90 Dr. T. Wright on the Palceontology of the Isle of Wight, fers so much from our specimen, that we cannot suppose .(i^jv belonged to a reptile of the same genus. Description. — Our new tooth is divisible into the crown and the root : the line of demarcation between these parts is clearly defined by the terminal undulation of the enamel. The crown is somewhat of a bayonet-shape ; from the frontier line of the enamel to the apex, it measures in front 1 inch and |^f ths ; behind % inches and g^Qth ; the antero-posterior diameter at its widest part exceeds 1 inch, and its transverse diameter is -jj^ht/ ■01'I3Jnj8 -XXHib X f.qqij \diu 10 gwoi /idbnooaa vfljsxibBig .r8£iiffloiq m bsifgia The crown [d, h, c) is unequally convex in front and concave (a) behind. The general form of the crown is shown in a,b,c; the anterior side thereof {a, h) is convex and sabre-shaped, and the posterior border (a, h) is slightly concave ; the external Dr. T. Wright on the Paleontology of the Isle of Wight. 91 convex surface [b) is covered with smooth enamel, which forms four blunt ridges on its most prominent part, and terminates inferiorly in a delicate rugous structure, forming a well-de- fined arch (6), the convexity of which is directed towards the apex ; the posterior surface of the crown [a) is flat below and con- cave above ; the enamel is smooth above and rugous below, as on the anterior surface, but it extends much farther down the crown (nearly half an inch) and forms an arch, the convexity of which is directed towards the root ; the internal surfaces of the anterior and posterior borders (a) are abruptly truncated, appa- rently by dentrition, and near the base of the posterior border there is an oblique fold or depression, close to which are marks of abrasion by dentrition : the unequal extent of the enamel on the external and internal surfaces of the crown proves that the external plate of the ramus of the jaw was deeper on the external than on the internal side. The root («, b, c, e) is nearly cylindrical ; from the external ter- minal fold of enamel to its fractured part, it measures 1 inch and Y^oths ; its surface is much concealed by the matrix, and has masses of pyrites adhering thereto ; it forms a hollow cylinder [e) which inclosed a pulp-cavity ; the structure and form of the root is that of a tooth which was implanted in a distinct alveolus of a large and powerful jaw. Part of the apex is broken off, the position of which we have indicated by dotted lines ; there can be no doubt that it was sharply pointed, and that this tooth was an instrument destined to pierce the soft structures of other ani- mals, and consequently that it belonged to an extinct genus of carnivorous reptiles. Diadema Autissiodorense, Cotteau. Syn. Diadema Autissiodorense, Cotteau, Cat. Method, des Echi- nides dans I'^tage Neocomien, p. 5. Test pentagonal, depressed ; interambulacral tubercles a little larger than those of the ambulacral areas, more especially as they approach the ovarial disc ; interambulacral areas with two rows of primary tubercles, and two incomplete series of secondary tubercles at the ambulacral sides thereof, which gradually disappear on the upper surface ; ambulacral areas prominent, with two rows of primary tubercles much dimi- nished in size at the upper surface. Pores in a double series near the ovarial disc and at the circumference of the mouth. .Height y%ths of an inch ; transverse diameter ^§ths of an inch. l Description. — In its general outline this beautiful Urchin re- sembles D, depressum of the Inferior Oolite, but the details of its 92 Dr. T. Wright on the Paleontology of the Isle of Wight, structure are very distinct from that form. The circumference is pentagonal from the convexity of the ambulacral arese, and the base and summit are much depressed. The interambulacral areas are one-third bl-oader than the ambulacral ; two rows of primary tubercles occupy the centre of the plates ; there are about ten pairs of tubercles in each area, which are of a moderate magnitude, and gradually diminish in size from the circumference to the base and summit ; the mani- millary eminences are small, their summits are deeply crenulated, and the tubercles, of proportional size, are deeply perforated; at the circumference six rows of granules separate the tubercles from each other, but towards the upper surface the four central rows are absent, which leaves a naked space in the middle of the area ; three rows of granules in like manner separate the tubercles from the poriferous valleys ; at the base of the area, and extend- ing as far as the circumference of the test, are incomplete rows of secondary tubercles ; these gradually diminish in size and dis- appear at the upper surface, which is occupied with an unequal- sized, close-set granulation about three rows deep ; the ambu- lacral areas are one-third narrower than the interambulacral, they are however very prominent and convex, and are occupied with two rows of primary tubercles about ten in a row ; the lower six pairs of tubercles are nearly as large as the corresponding tubercles in the interambulacral areas, but the upper four pairs are much smaller, so that whilst there is a great uniformity in the size and form of the tubercles on the base and circumference of the test, there is a very marked difference between those of the ambulacra and those of the interambulacra in the vicinity of the ovarial disc ; the intertubercular space is occupied by a zig- zag band of granulation, which is narrow below where the tu- bercles are large, but becomes broader above where they are small. The pores are arranged in double pairs near the summit and mouth, but in the other part of the avenues they are in single pairs ; the apical disc is absent in our specimen, and the mouth is large and decagonal. Affinities and differences. — This species nearly resembles D. Bourgueti, Ag., but differs from it in the rudimentary condition of the upper tubercles of the ambulacra, and in having the pores in double pairs above and below ; the intermediate granulation is likewise less homogeneous than in J). Bourgueti. ,'\ X, [-.Locality. — I collected this Urchin from the lower greensand at Atherfield, in No. 4 of the Cracker group of Dr. Eitton^s section : it must be very rare, as none of the cabinets of Atherfield fossils hitherto examined by me contain a specimen of this Diadema. It has been collected by M. Cotteau from the Neocomien stage at Auxerre, where it is likewise very rare. Mr. J. Blackwall on newly discovered species of Araneidea. 93 History, — Discovered by the author in the Isle of Wight in 1850, and by M. Cotteau in France in 1851, but first described by the latter in his ' Catalogue Methodique des Echinides recueillis dans Fetage Neocomien/ and which brochure I received since I read this communication. As there is no figure of this Urchin extant, I intend giving one of the beautiful specimen before me, along with some other new forms of that group which I hope shortly to publish in the ' Annals of Natural History/ ,hrKti>iif' X. — Descriptions of some newly discovered species o/ Araneidea. By John Blackwall, F.L.S. In November 1850, Francis Walker, Esq., of Amo's Grove, Southgate, afforded me an opportunity of inspecting an exten- sive collection of spiders made by him in England and Switzer- land in the summer of the same year ; and a request that I might be permitted to describe the following species comprised in the collection, which appear to be new to science, was most obligingly complied with by Mr. Walker. Tribe OCTONOCULINA. •gfiibiiCi Family LycosiDiE. Genus Lycosa, Latr. 1. Lycosa calida. Length of the male Jth of an inch ; length of the cephalo- thorax -^^ ; breadth y^^j ; breadth of the abdomen -^-^ ; length of a posterior leg /-g- ; length of a leg of the third pair y^^ . Cephalo-thorax large, convex, glossy, compressed before, with a slight longitudinal indentation in the medial line of the pos- terior region ; its colour is dark brown, approaching to black at the anterior part ; a broad band of reddish brown extends along the middle, another occurs on each side, and a narrow one of the same hue is situated immediately above each lateral margin. Four of the eight eyes are minute and form a transverse line in front, the two intermediate ones being somewhat larger than the lateral ones ; the other four are large, and are situated on the sides and in front of the cephalo-thorax, constituting a quadri- lateral figure, whose anterior side is rather the shortest ; the anterior eyes of the quadrilateral are the largest of the eight. Falces conical, perpendicular, armed with a few teeth on the inner surface, and of a pale reddish brown colour, with two ob- scure, longitudinal streaks of dark brown in front. Maxillae strong, short, straight, somewhat enlarged and rounded at the 94 Mr. J. Blackwall on newly discovered species of Araneidea. extremity, and of a pale yellowish brown colour. Lip nearly quadrate, dark brown at the base, but paler at -the apex. Ster- num almost circular, with blackish spots on the margins, and a longitudinal streak of the same shade extending from its anterior part, on each side of the medial line, more than half of its length. Legs long, slender, provided with hairs and sessile spines ; they are of a pale reddish brown colour, the femora of the anterior pair being dark brown at the base ; each tarsus is terminated by three claws ; the two superior ones are curved and pectinated, and the inferior one is inflected near its base. The humeral joint of the palpi is dark brown ; the cubital and radial joints are red- dish brown, the latter, which is much the stronger, being abun- dantly supplied with black hairs ; the digital joint is brown, of an oblong oval form, convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are moderately developed, not very complicated in structure, rather prominent, with a short, projecting, pointed process near the outer side, and are of a brownish black colour tinged with red. The concavity of the digital joint does not extend to its termination, which is compact. Abdomen slender, oviform, convex above, projecting a little over the base of the cephalo-thorax ; it is of a light orange-brown colour, with an irregular band of black on each side of the me- dial line ; these bands converge towards the spinners, where they meet, and on the anterior part of the light orange-brown space comprised between them there is a narrow oval figure of orange- brown circumscribed by a fine black line ; the sides are spotted with brownish black, and a longitudinal line composed of con- fluent spots of the same hue occurs on each side of the under part, the intermediate space being densely covered with white hairs. _ '^^ This species was captured in June at Interlacken in the c^t-^ ton of Berne. ...-h^.^. ^o^d. -, ., c, n0a 98i9Y8nfiTt owi ^^^^ly Salticid^. ^^ .^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^.^ "h Genus Salticus, Latr. ''^^^^i ^^^ .^b-isdn* fi ^01 loiistnfi 9ffi 2. Salticus notatus. f,-, yn ..-rvn o^-jsl Length of the female ^^th of an inch ; length of the cephal(^^ thorax ^^ ; breadth -^-^ ; breadth of the abdomen -^-^ ; length of #^ posterior leg -g- ; length of a leg of the second pair ^. '^ ^uoIb Legs robust, provided with hairs and sessile spines ; they are of a pale yellow colour, the coxae of the posterior pair having a black spot on the upper side ; the fourth pair is the longest, the first and third pairs are equal in length, and the second pair is the shortest ; each tarsus is terminated by two curved claws, below which there is a small scopula. The palpi resemble the^^ Mi^^ J« Blackwall on newly discovei'ed species 0/ Araneidea. 95 legs in colour. Cephalo-thorax nearly quadrilateral, and spa- ringly clothed with black and whitish hairs ; it slopes abruptly in the posterior region, and is prominent in front, projecting be- yond the base of the falces, which are small, vertical, and armed with a few teeth on the inner surface : the sternum is oval. These parts, with the maxillae and lip, are of a brown-black colour, the last two, which are the palest, having a reddish tinge, particularly at their extremities. Eyes disposed in three rows, constituting three sides of a square, in the front and on the sides of the cephalo-thorax ; the intermediate eyes of the an- terior row are greatly larger, and the intermediate eye of each lateral row is much smaller than the rest. Abdomen oviform, pointed at its posterior extremity, convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax ; it is of a brown-black colour, with short whitish hairs thinly distributed over its surface ; a pale yellowish brown band, broader in the posterior than in the anterior region, extends along the middle of the upper part, and an obscure, narrow band of whitish hairs is curved round the anterior part and produced on the sides nearly to the spinners;, the sexual organs are reddish brown. ibnofg xiacciobdA An adult female Salticus notatus was found isd.JiiaeeaBaioxi^it herbage in a wood at Southgate. I'.'^Tn an ihvu .^iuoIod piij Dioiivv ^ 389f{i J anil Ijsib soeqa nwo-j' Family Thomisid^. -^^ ^0 ^hb ^issra -s^HBio ^o 9'[0.git if]7 I bagiiqinoo b9itoq« 9T« 8obi. ^l^enus Thomism, Walck. y^iio nwoid -noo lo bsaoqn 3. Thomisus umhratilis, irrfroid dibfr ^^Jicngth of the male 2%ths of an inch; length of the cephalqjj^j thorax y^ ; breadth -^^ ; breadth of the abdomen y^^ ; length ofj an anterior leg j- ; length of a leg of the third pair |. Eyes disposed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax in two transverse curved rows, forming a crescent, whose convex side is in front ; the eyes of each lateral pair, which are seated on a tubercle, are much larger than the intermediate ones, those of the anterior row being the largest of the eight. Cephalo-thorax large, convex, abruptly sloping behind, compressed before, glossy, and of a brownish black colour, with a longitudinal band of red- brown on each side, and a broad one of the same hue extending along the middle. Falces short, strong, subconical, vertical, of a dark brown colour, with reddish brown extremities, and an ob- scure spot of the same hue in front. Maxillae convex near the base, pointed at the extremity, and inclined towards the lip ; they are of a pale reddish brown colour, and have a dark brown spot at the base on each side. Lip triangular and reddish brown, the apex being the palest. Sternum oblong, heart-shaped, approach- 96 Mr. J. Blackwall on newly discovered species of Araneidea. ing to oval ; it is of a pale reddish brown colour^ with dark brown spots on the margins, opposite to the insertion of the legs. Legs robust, provided with hairs and spines ; they are of a pale red- dish brown colour, the entire femora of the anterior pair, the anterior extremity of those of the other pairs, a spot on each side of the genual joint, and one on each side of the tibiae of the pos- terior legs being brownish black ; the first and second pairs are decidedly longer and more powerful than the third and fourth pairs, the first pair being the longest, then the second, and the third pair the shortest ; each tarsus is terminated by two curved pectinated claws. The palpi are short; the humeral joint is brownish black, and the cubital, radial and digital joints are of a pale reddish brown colour marked with a few dark brown spots ; the radial joint is stronger than the cubital, and projects two apophyses from its anterior extremity ; one on the outer side, which is long, slender and pointed, and the other, which is strong, prominent, obtuse, with a protuberance at its base, on the outer side, is situated underneath ; the digital joint is oval, con- vex, and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs; they are moderately developed, rather complicated in structure, and are of a dark reddish brown colour. Abdomen depressed, corrugated on the sides, broader at the posterior than at the anterior extremity, the latter, which appears as if cut in a straight line across, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax ; its colour is dark brown tinged with olive and freckled on the upper part with minute yellowish brown spots, those on the pos- terior part, being confluent, form a few obscure transverse bars ; five circular yellowish brown depressions occur on the upper part ; the three anterior ones are much the most conspicuous, and describe a triangle whose vertex is directed forwards ; imme- diately before this vertex there is a small yellowish white spot ; a narrow band of the same colour, spotted with brown, extends along each side, and a short, obscure, curved, yellowish white line is situated near the outer side of each branchial operculum. This spider was taken at Interlacken in June. Genus Philodromus, Walck. 4. Philodromus vivax. Length of the female ^th of an inch ; length of the cephalo- thorax jQ ; breadth -^^ ; breadth of the abdomen ^ ; length of a leg of the second pair f ; length of a posterior leg /^. Cephalo-thorax short, broad, slightly compressed before, con- vex and glossy ; it is of a dark brown colour, with a large yel- lowish brown oval in the cephalic region, comprising an oblique ^ro,^n,l^ne directed backwards from each lateral eye of the pos- ^Mr. J. Blackwall on newly discovered species of Araneidea. 97 terior row ; these lines converge towards the posterior extremities of two fine and nearly contiguous lines of the same hue origi- nating immediately behind the intermediate eyes of the anterior row, the four lines presenting the form of a small anchor ; on each side of the medial line of the posterior part of the cephalo- thorax there are several short, oblique, yellowish brown streaks, and the lateral and frontal margins are yellowish white. Falces short, subconical, vertical, and yellowish brown in front, except at the base, which, with the outer side, is dark brown. Maxillae gibbous at the base, inclined towards the lip, convergent at the extremities, and of a pale yellowish brown colour. Lip oval, dark brown, \\dth a yellowish tinge at the apex. Sternum heart- shaped ; it is of a yellowish brown colour, the lateral margins and an obscure, narrow, longitudinal line in the middle being dark brown. Legs long, moderately robust, provided with a few sessile spines ; they are of a yellowish brown colour, with spots and longitudinal streaks of dark brown ; the second pair is the longest, then the first, and the fourth pair is the shortest ; each tarsus is terminated by two curved claws, and has a climbing apparatus on its under side. The palpi are short and resemble the legs in colour. Eyes disposed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax in two curved, transverse rows, forming a crescent whose convexity is directed forwards ; the lateral eyes of each row are seated on distinct prominences, and the intermediate eyes of the anterior row, which are nearer to each other than those of the posterior row, are rather the smallest of the eight. Abdomen somewhat depressed, broader in the posterior than in the an- terior region, but rather pointed at the spinners, projecting a little over the base of the cephalo-thorax ; on the upper part and sides it is of a dark olive-brown colour, spotted with numerous irregular, yellowish white spots; those on the sides are the largest, several small ones, forming a row immediately above the spinners, being angular, with their vertices directed forwards; the under part is yellowish white, three brown bands extend- ing along the middle and uniting in a point at the base of the inferior pair of spinners ; the sexual organs are of a deep reddish brown colour. This interesting Philodromus was captured at Interlacken in Family DRASSiDiE. dj Genus Drassus, Walck. . . . ; ' -olfidqaJ 5. Drassus reticulatus. •- ' "" Ijength of the female, not including the spinners, |ths of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax ^ ; breadth ^ ; breadth of the Ann. &^ Mag. N. Hist, Ser. 2. Vol.x, 7 98 Mr. J. Blackwall on newly discovered species of Araneidea. abdomen j- ; length of a posterior leg y% i length of a leg of the third pair j^-^. I The eyes are rounds and are disposed on the anterior part ^- Of marine shells, between what were collected on the shore 102 Mr. R. M<^ Andrew on the Mollmca observed during a and those dredged, I got ninety- eight species ; of which fifty-four - are common to the British seas, ninety are known to inhabit the Mediterranean, one [Psammobia rugosa) the south coast of Por- tugal, one (a Kellia or Galeomma, but genus not ascertained) the coasts of Algarve and Asturias, one {Marginella glabella) Senegal and the Canaries, five (two small MarginellcB, a Chiton, a Buc- cinum, and Mitra zebrina) I met with in the Canaries, and one (a Turbo) is new to me. '' LaminaricE are as abundantly developed in Mogador harbour as on our own coasts, the prevailing species apparently identical with the common tangle, but of a paler colour j numerous speci- mens of Patella pellucida are found upon it. * Two days^ sail from Mogador brought us to Lancerote, one of the Canaries. Among these islands we spent exactly a month, which allowed time for only a partial examination of a small, portion of the coasts of Lancerote, Grand Canary and Teneriife, and I appropriated a full fortnight to the latter island. 1 have reason to think that Fuerteventura, and the smaller islands of Graciosa, Alegranza, and Monte Claro, which I did not visit, would have furnished results of greater interest. \ The marine MoUusca described in the costly work of Webb and Berthelot on the Natural History of the Canaries, comprise 138 species, of which eight are Cuttle-fishes, and six naked Mol- lusca, leaving 124 species of marine shells, of which a list was furnished to me by my friend Prof. Edw. Forbes. Of these I did not succeed in taking Argonauta Argo. Scissurella Berthelotii. Planaxis laevigata. Mytilus elongatus. Conus betulinus, Prometheus and Area Nose. ''tnoljofqiO guinaicus. Cardium costulatum. m\['>^ Cymba Neptuni, porcina and pro- Cardita corbis. oiboM boscidalis. Crassatella divaricata. Marginella lineata. Lutraria rugosa. Cassis flammea and testiculus. Mitra ebenea. Cerithium nodulosum. Trochus, two or three species Murex trunculus. doubtful. But as several of these are known African shells, and were re- ceived from fishermen, it is possible that some may have been^ obtained from the coast of Africa, the great Canarian fishing-^ ground. .„,..,. ,y ^iB-^sji lereao . i , . vrtslfi. hue ,«^Mm-j Gastrochsena .1 ^ / a /r Saxicava .... 1 . . arctica. '^< "'''" "' ^'^'"^ Veiierupis . . 1 . . irus. Corbula *.:.w I .. nucleus. Neaera. .-xroiaffl/i 2 .. cuspidata and costulata. '^^^^ Pandora .... 2? .. obtusa, rostrata? . a^m Thracia .... 2 . . phaseolina, pubescens. ay^b owT Solecurtus . . 2 . . candidus, coarctatus. " .mO qAI Solemya .... 1 . . mediterranea. i: rfoidw Psammobia . . 3 . . vespertina, costulata, ferroensis. j^q Tellina .... 4 . . depressa, distorta, balaustina, serrata«-j^jp ^""l?? } ■ • ^'"f ""« ■ tfiriJ iln.'d3 oi noa«9i Ervillia .... 1 .. castanea. ,.„.,.>, ^/ .. .;.w 1 Mactra .... 2 .. subtruncata ?, stultorumr " "'>«ii Cytherea .... 3 . . chione, one new?, one undescribed. ,'^!^^^ Venus 3 . . verrucosa, casina, and one? ^'^-*- Circe 1 . . minima. -"^^ bflB Astarte .... 2 or 3 . . incrassata, compressa?, triangularis. H8 1 Cardita .... 1 . . calyculata. cul Cardium .... 5 or 6 . . echinatum, rusticum, papillosum, Isevitf't gatum, fasciatum, and one? ^o-. Lucina .... 8 . . Adansoni, leucoma, flexuosa, divaricata, pecten, spinifera, transversa ?, and one, (minute). '^^} Diplodonta . . 2 .. rotundata, apicalis. ^ Kellia 2 . . rubra?, suborbicularis. ^^ ,^ Modiola .... 2 . . tulipa, and one (costulata of W. ^ JSff,^ but nearer M. petagnse of Scacchi ; inhabits masses of nullipore, pre- serving its communication with the j>4« 3eti external world by means of a trumpet- shaped prolongation of the epider- f( hiih .- mis). Crenella/fifl.vR!, 2 .. rhombea, marmorata. Chama I .^j^^'j.^^, 1 .. gryphoides. Area ...... 4 . . lactea, tetragona, antiquata, imbricata. Pectunculus. . 1 . . glycimeris. Avicula .... 1 . . tarentina. Pinna ...... 1 . . rustica. Lima 3 . . squamosa, hians, subauriculata. Pecten . Pi^XX 7"*'' 8 . . Jacobfcus or maximus, opercularis ?, co- 1 f^^* ' 'f rallinoides, pusio, pes felis, gib bus. and another. '''''^ 104 Mr. R. M^ Andrew on the Mollusca observed during a Species. .aaiosqg Spondylus .. 1 .. Gsedaropus. ^ .. Ostrea 1 or 2 . - not identified. iiifxjJL Orthis 4 . . truncata, and three not identifiedyoii/j3 Hyalsea .... 3 . . trispinosa, and two others. rgqoiilihaO SpiriaUs .... 1 uj r.j;vwjiij- ^LfonuH Cleodora .... 3 \'.s«»Cl Atalanta .ytiiin .jilinBwb3! ^8«niI[Bto;j g -.u » /onrIA Cuvieria io .Qwt icA siio bus ,8i{iiB Chiton 4 . . fascicularis, canariensis, and two others. Patella .... 4 . . crenata, guttata, Lowei, and one new ? Dentalium .. 3 .. dentalis,rubescens,andoneundescribed. Umbrella vO'.^f.'W 1 . . (small). *Lottia .... 1 Calyptraea . . 1 . . vulgaris. Fissurella .. 2 .. reticulata, gibba. iffifoQ Emarginula . . 2 . . elongata, reticulata ? Haliotis .... 1 .. tuberculatus. id'j^oT Trochus .... ^12or 13 .. exiguus, striatus, magus, conulusi'grd- 3ao bfiB ^l aiffSOBJna ^STB^iiq jnoTiulatus, ziziphinus, Sauleyii, and fi^e .'Hfuffi.T .Rjfifohia .ii^^oit'id or six species not identified. ^ MonodonlwiuinumfKl ^ro^h Berthelotii. Solarium . ;• ;; • ' 2' . . *luteum, and another. Bifrontia .... 1 . . zanclsea. ^mioioiuot*! Turbo 2 ? . . rugosus, and another ? ... B'ltiM Phasianella . . 1 . . pullus. •IlydiiujloO lanthina 2 .. fragilis, and one (small). iisnoO Littorina .... 3 . . striata, affinis, neritea. '^'^m^ Jiissoa 14 .. canariensis, costata, parva?, purpurea, elata?, textilis?, striata?, punctata, i)-jiid L and about six species not identified. Jeffreysianmnrtf ^ 1 ? J Skenea , 1 Turritella. ... 1 . . triplicata. HflirH Caecum ^u>i^ u^j i2 Jit* '>^>- Cerithium . . 5 , . vulgatum, fuscatum, perversum, Uma, and another. /^i Scalaria .... 10 ., pseudoscalaris, Webbii, cochlea?, eti- nata, clathratula, and five not id^ii- tified. .: _ IjlJ Aclis ? 2 ^ ^^jyii'j anhsi^A Eulima 3 . . distorta, nitida?, and one. ^-^"isimoD Stilifer 1 v)^&dA Chemnitzia . . 4 or 5 .. rufa, elegantissima, pusilla?, 'fefli- stincta ?, and one undescribed. Odostomia . . 5 or 6 . . conoidalis, and four or five. . ... Eulimella. ... 1 . . scillse. ^' ^^' ^^ ' ^^B. ^"^^ .ii'^«^"' Truncatella . . 1 ' ' " ^ ^'"'^'""^ Natica 5 . . porcellana, millepunctata, sericea, bical- losa ?, and another. short visit to the Canary and Madeira Islands, ^c, 103 Species. Neritina .... 1 . . (marine) viridis. ' xj^i Lamellaria . . 1 or 2 i-O Cancellaria .. Lor 2li bisn . iM) Ceritliiopsis . . ' i' f^ h'n (hip tuberculatus. 'IT Ranella .... 1 . . abbreviata 1 o^ W. ^^ B. — leevigata, Lam.1 Murex 4 or 5 . . corallinus, Edwardsii, *Brandaris, *sax- atilis, and one or two of doubtful (>wj hn& jfei8irjniJii«o ,7/(31 ,j^jiiUnjb8ema8toma, viveratoides, andone? .^I Buccinum 2 . . minus, and one new ? Nassa 7 . . reticulata, incrassata, mutabilis, varia- bilis, canariensis, prism atica, scalari- formis ? Dolium .... 1 . . *perdix, and fragments of species not identified. Terebra .... 1 .. senegalensis. nil Fusus .iiiu;. , Mi;> )3 .. maroccauus, rostratus, pulchellus. '^ Triton .,iiv;»Liir>8 ,^(4 .. nodiferum, pileare, cutaceum ?, and one. Mangelia . . . . 9 or 10 .. purpurea, Lefroyii, striolata, Vauque- lina, lineata, Ginniniana, gracilis, teres, and one or two more. ,^. Pleurotoma . . 2 . . elegans, balteata. ifl Mitra 4 . . columbellaria, nigra, zebrina, littoraliS? Columbella . . 2 or 3 . . rustica, cribrella, and another ? ; I Conus 2 ,. mediterraneus, papilionaceus. s-A Cypraea .... 6 . . spurca, *lurida, pyrum, *moneta, lul- lex?, candidula? isoeaiH Ovula 1 . . spelta ? Marginella . . 5 . . glabella, guancha, and three others. Cylichna .... 5 . . cylindracea, truncata, mammillata,-inie imdescribed, and one new 1 fl9n9Jl8 Bulla 2 .. ampulla, hydatis. i^jrnuT Aplysia .... 2 or 3 . . hybrida, and one or two (large)r«iJ0980 Auricula 1 ..uiffiriaO Spirula 1 loHjo/Peronii. Octopusiwvj . ,M ,.r,l/ ,ehu\&:^^ "^nfaoB Ditrupa a/ii J)iri5 Ai^imdiRh . Echinus 6 Asterias .... 3 or 4 . , canariensis, &c. Comatula . . 1 >_: Acasta 1 i-j\\i-'.^:- Pollicipes. ..,i[ li.^l r.iijmmuiIJ In the foregoing list the species marked * were not found by myself, but given to me as native ; those mentioned as " unde- scribed '' I had previously obtained in the Mediterranean. It is to be remarked that the genera Nucleus and Leda are,iK>t represented in the Canary or Madeira Islands. 106 Mr, R. M^ Andrew on the Mollusca observed during a Marginella glabella and "1 are common in Lancerote and Grand Ca- Conus mediterraneus J nary, but were not observed in the mofft i westerly island of Teneriffe. aills^ Of land and freshwater shells fifty- seven are enumerated in the. work already referred to ; — of these I did not procure above ^^.}i they are generally of a peculiar and interesting character. , i,r>f-/A Of Vitrina I believe there are two species ; one of them, the smaller, found under stones in dry situations ; the other I met with living in moist wood of laurel-trees not far from Laguna. An adult specimen of the animal measured fully 1^ inch in length when living. In the same locality I found dead a very; thin, pellucid shell of a green colour, and carinated like a Cara^ colla. It differs from any that I am acquainted with. * On our way from Teneriffe to Madeira we landed for some hours on the Great Salvage, an island of about a mile in extent in either direction, uninhabited, except for a few weeks in thei year, when it is visited for the collection of barilla, feathers, &c. ^ We found upon it a few goats, and rabbits in vast abundance, i so that our people were able to catch some in their hands ; also \ sea fowl, which quietly allowed themselves to be taken from under', the ledges of rock, and innumerable lizards. After diligent search I could only find one species of land moUusk, a snail allied to Helix pisana, but apparently distinct from it. On the rocks of the shore were Littorina striata, three or four species of Patella, and a Trochus, all of large size, and in great abundance. 16th May. — Arrived at Madeira: dredged three times in* Funchal roads and once in the bay of Porto Santo : obtained » Gastrochsena Saxicava . Venerupis Neaera . . . Poromya . Lyonsia . Thracia . Solecurtua Tellina. . . Psammobia ErviUia . . Cytherea . . Venus . . . . Circe .... Cardium . . Cardita . . Lucina . . Species. 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 5 1 1 2 2 1 5 1 4 arctica. , riiilB-jg irus. funilua costulata, cuspidata. iusiixirnddO granulata. i\\hmi\a'3i striata. ix-nUVi phaseolina. ibifsK candidus, coarctatus. i >ofrBr) depressa, distorta, donacilla, balaus4iJiitt/L and another. ?h^n'^ costulata. .^ uoioDna castanea. , GSSfiTI chione, and one undescribed. , uih-^nRV verrucosa and casina. minima, echinatum, rusticum, papillosum, leevi- gatum, and another ? calyculata. ; spinifera, divaricata, pecten, and another. short visit to the Canary and Madeira Islands, ^c. 107 2 1 Diplodonta . Kellia Modiola , , . . 1 ^ Area ..,;'r?""'°r" . Pectunculus. . 1 Avicula .... 1 Lima 1 Pecten . . . . , . 9 .fiiin^fiJ moi'i Tfil Jo •• ■•• ■- ir ^M f)'».. - Ostrea . .\^ly Brmol 1 vjj Argiope ^^[ j),,l or 2 Hyalaea ...^+;,„ 4 Cuvieria .... Chiton .... Patella Dentalium Calyptrsea Fissurella . . Emarginula Trochus . . Solarium . . Bifrontia . . lanthina .... 3 Turbo 1 Phasianella . . 1 Rissoa 4 or 5 Cerithium . . 3 Turritella . . 1 Scalaria .... 3 or 4 Eulima .... 3 Chemnitzia . . 3 Eulimella . . 1 Natica 2 Neritina .... 1 Cancellaria . . 1 Murex 3 Cassis 1 Bucciuum . . 1 Nassa 3 Mangelia .... 5 or 6 Mitra 2 Cyprsea .... 2 Columbella . . 1 or 2 Marginella . . 1 Ringuicula . . 1 vulgaris, reticulata. ai flommoo sn& J boa R\h6&[-% flllani^TBM rotundata, apicalis. 'iBnoiibaaf buaoO rubra. gtydmerij;^" '' ' ' ^^^^'^^7 tarentina.''""'^^ ' ''^^ ^^^ squamosa. maximus or Jacobseus, pusio, simili^'^ coralloides, polymorphus, pes felis, opercularis ?, gibbus, and another. . . xof tridentata, trispinosa, and two others.; ^^., / IJiO llC) id^ no 811X0x1 's ifloiladiif) I9if;)i9 m : M.jjigiv 81 :ti xtodw JB9Y j1 « il jfioqiJ hmioi aW iiuft 08 crenulatus, laevigatus, ziziphiiiui/''iiH?5l'i%jd'i ^IdfiJo-iq ai ifoiilw ^ijjoIoo pa angus . . b^j^iijjjfg^g £)aB jnaiBqenjsii aioin tfidwamoa s'ib DitruDa ^^'^^^^"^ y«Dfri:f8iI) aiom «i x^Ibo Sffi ^^vs-^mioiw^^^ ni nsdi Of the foregoing species (about 125) 58 inhabit Britain, 98 to 100 the Mediterranean or coasts of Portugal (including all the British species) ; of those remaining, 16 are common to the Ca- naries, 1 (a Tellind) to Mogador, leaving 3 species of Rissoa, 2 of Emarff inula, 1 of Scalaria, 2 of Argiope, and 1 of Turrit ella, sup- posed to be new. ii o>^ jum The land shells of these islands having been well worked out by other parties, it is unnecessary to say anything upon them. I was much stru^ by.tl^pir great abundance \ix,ih^Jh^^tm\Wi'^ Porto Santo. poro-MfB bn: [b J/bixfl omi^^ 3iYY Beaumaris, Julys, 1852f.^'^''^'^' '''i -^^ ijduiji odi gr, iiooa 8B lol iji bai ' ijjj r ju tjvfii:] io[.t?fifi nSmmttir^^ ^^^^ ^ewera of the Icacinacese. By John Mier^, , ■Mi '\: xnjjiu4>..c ^^^^ r.R.S., F.L.S. ^^.,,^,j ^^,^^1 \^^ 89ob ii daidw lo , r^ .■ j i- ^.« i ^'^f hbo ifiBras-i r, rOontmued irom p. 44. J .^ . ~oiq nmu o'lo ^ f j ,;(|j iBoqqf? Jon 8tni3- ..• ^^^^^^ .It ^Bdl 9fdBd dan. rd b'jonUi In- commenting upon the genera of the Icacinacea, I "kmk fre- quently spoken of Phlebocalymna, a manuscript name proposed by Mr. Griffiths for a plant collected by him in the Malacca Peninsula, but as I am unable to discover that any of its cha- racters are appreciably distinct from the Platea of Blume, the former must necessarily merge into the latter genus, which was first established by that distinguished botanist in his ' Bijdra- gen,' and more lately recorded in his ^Mus. Bot. Lugd.,' where he enumerates another new species. In describing the characters of Stemonurus, I have stated {ante, p. 32), that the chief or perhaps only feature that can distinguish Platea, is the absence of the glandular hairs, that form a beautifully fringed crest over the anthers in the former genus, and as this was believed only to be a sexual difference, I had considered Platea as identical with Stemonurus. In the former, as also occurs in many species of the latter genus, the filaments are said by Blume to be short and broad (whence probably the generic name from irXareia, amplus), while in Phlebocalymna, although when in bud they are short and broad at base, they become afterwards long and Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinaceae. 109 linear: the differences in regard to their relative length and breadth are probably only specific, as we find them to occur in Stemonurus. After desiccation, the flowers oiPhlebocalymna appear of ah orange colour, which is probably retained from the living state ; they are somewhat more transparent and agglutinated at their edges than in Stemonurus, the calyx is more distinctly 5-lobed, and the segments are imbricated in aestivation, a feature also recorded by Blume in his character oiPlatea : in Griffiths's plant from Mergui, the calyx is furnished at its base, at the point of its articulation with the pedicel, with a distinct bract. In this plant, and in another from Moulmein, the flowers are axillary, and almost fas- ciculated in a very short raceme, but in Cuming's plant from Manilla, the inflorescence is in a spreading panicle, with numerous flowers upon lengthened pedicels. Blume, in his generic cha- racter of Platea, states that the flowers are dioecious, and that in the female flowers the corolla and stamens are altogether wanting. The same might almost be said of several species of Stemonurus^ for as soon as the fertility of the ovarium is clearly discernible, the petals and stamens will be found to have fallen off, and from analogy we may safely conclude the same to have occurred in Platea. Mr. Griffiths in his manuscript note on Phlebocalymna says, " genus novum Icacinearum, familia singularis ob albumen in lobos divaricatos et tegumen seminis vasculosissimum : " this remark can hardly apply to his proposed genus, of which it does not appear that he had seen the seed, and it is more than pro- bable that the allusion was made to Bursinopetalumy a genus placed by Dr. Wight (Icon. tab. 956) in the Olacacede, of which the Icacinece had been universally held to be a tribe : in that genus, by the growth of the placentary column of the abortive cells, and its protrusion into the cavity of the fertile cell, the albumen becomes hippocrepically folded, and somewhat divided into two lobes, in the manner clearly demonstrated in the figure referred to. I have elsewhere shown that Bursinopetalum belongs to the Aquifoliacece. Blume in his ' Mus. Bot. Lugd.^ gives a new generic character of Platea : this will require some modifica- tion, if we include in it Phlebocalymna, and with this view I now offer the following diagnosis : — ^»4\vo^<^ 'io giyJOB'ifiii'j Platea, Blume. Phlebocalymna, Griffiths. — Flores hermaphro- diti vel saspissime abortu polygami : an unquam vere dioici ? Calyx brevissimus, cupularis, 5-dentatus, dentibus in prseflora- !, tionem imbricatis, persistens, sed non augescens. Petala 5, linearia, carnosula, sestivatione valvata, apice propendenti in- > flexo, marginibus rorido-glandulosis, imo in tubum laxe ad- ,; haji'eotibus, e medio hbera et reiiexa, in flor. fern, fertil. cito decidua. Stamina 5, cum petalis inserta, iisdem alterna, ///a- 110 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. : menta interdum brevia, ssepe petalis fere sequilonga, linearia, compressa, imo cum petalis laxe adhserentia : antherce ovato- oblongse, basi breviter bifidai_, dorso affixse^ 4-loculares, S-lobae, lobis singulatim 2-locellatiSj demum septicidis^ et longitudina- liter evolutim dehiscentibus. Pollen globosum^ reticulatum. Ovarium sterile disco 5-gono 10-striato piloso immersum ; fer- tile liberum^ conicum, pilosulum, disco annulari glabro insitum, abortu 1-loculare, ovula 2 juxta apicem loculi sub coll ateraliter suspensa. Stylus brevis^ sulcatus, pilosus^ dentibus 3 stig- matosis erectis terminatus^ demum in discum magnum sessile pulviniforme fructus coronans auctus. Drupa baccata^ mono- pyrena, putamen oblongum, lignosum^ angulato-rugosum, i*^^l -sperm um. Semen structuram Stemonuri semulans ? — Arbores '^ Asia tropiccB, folia elliptica, coriacea, glaberrima^ vel juniora interdum subtus lepidota, breviter petiolata, flores perpauci in cymas vel racemos breves axillares dispositij interdum fasciculati, sicce aurantiaci : fructus atro-purpureus. l,.JPlatea excelsa^ Bl. Bijdr. 646; — arbor 80-100 ped., foli|^ ^. pblongo-lanceolatis, acuminatis, integerrimis^ subtus cinere^r, gjyirentibus. — Java. %\^matea latifolia, Bl. Bijdr. 646 ;— arbor 40-60-ped., foliis ^^6valibus, acuminatis^ basi parum attenuatis, integerrimisj, '^^eostatis, subtus griseo-lepidotis. — Java. 3. Platea Sumatrana, Bl. Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. 249 ; — foliis e basi obtusata vel rotundata elliptico-oblongis, acuminatis, sub- coriaceis, venosis, subtus cinereo-virescentibus. — Sumatra. 4. Platea Griffithianay n. sp. ; — ramulis substriatis, subrugosis^ foliis oblongo-ovatis, e medio inferne pauUo angustioribus, apice obtusiusculo breviter ac lineari-angustatis^ coriaceis, utrinque pallidis et concoloribus^ nervis inferne prominentibus, margine revoluto, petiolo brevi, canaliculato, racemo axillaris petiolo vix longiori, pedunculo pedicellisque aspero-pilosulis, floribus cum pedicellis articulatis, et bine bracteatisj calycis glabri lobis ciliatis, petalis carnosulis, glabris, filamentis line- aribus, compressis, imo latioribus, ovario brevissimo, sterili, disco pentagono immerso, stylo conico, piloso, dentibus tribus stigmatosis pnbe celatis. — Mergui. — v, s. in herb. LindL et Hook. (Griffiths, 849). '- - The leaves are 5| inches long, nearly 3 inches broad, to & deeply channelled petiole 4-5 lines in length; the raceme is about 7 lines long, few- flowered ; the lobes of the calyx are di- stinctly imbricated; the petals conjoin by their margins in a tubular form, leaving the upper portion free and reflexed ; the Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinaceae. Ill filaments for half their length adhere to the petals, but are easily separated, they are narrow^ linear, compressed, and three- fourths of, tha length of. tha petals; the anthers are filled with pollen, jaol is ^fubMq^?^ mnmab ,^ . .. ,. i,.!,. .,\\.-..a 5. Platea Lobbianttj n. sp. ; — ramulis angulatis; foliis ellipticis ^,i^mo subacutis, apice obtusiusculo subito attenuatis, glaber- -j^y^imis, coriaceis, supra lucidis, utrinque pallidis et concolo- ,,ribus, costa supra sulcatis, nervis utrinque prominulis, venia .^i^imniersis, margine valde revolutis, pagina inferiori minute ^Qi^avo-punctatis, petiolo brevi, tereti, flavescenti, transverse ru- iiigoso, superne paullo canaliculato ; racemo brevissimo, axillari, ^^.petiolo vix longiori, floribus subfasciculatis, sicce aurantiacis, jj.^Jiermaphroditis, calyce piloso, petalis linearibus, glabris ; ovario „\piloso, ovuligero, disco annulari glabro insito. — Moulmein. — ^\^ .5. in herb. Hook, et Lindl. (Lobb, 385). The leaves in this species are 4{ to 5| inches long, and If to 2J inches broad, on a rather slender terete petiole about ^ inch in length : the flowers are hermaphrodite ; the lobes of the calyx are imbricated; the petals adhere by their margins in a tubular form, leaving the upper portions free and reflexed ; the filaments for half their length cohere to the petals, but are easily separated, they are narrow, linear and compressed, nearly the length of the petals ; the pollen is globular and reticulated ; the style is hollow, terminated by three erect obtuse teeth ; the ova- rium is conical, hairy, seated on an annular glabrous disk ; it is 1 -celled, with two ovules collaterally suspended from near the summit of the cell. 6. Platea Wightiana. Gomphandra polymorpha, var. Wight, Icon. tab. 933;— foliis oblongis, apice obtusiusculo repente attenuatis, glabris ; panicula axillari, divaricatim dichotomo- ramosa, folio 4-plo breviori, floribus aggregatis, staminibus exsertis, filamcntis linearibus, apice latioribus. — Coonoor in Mont. Nielgherrensibus, This is the plant to which I alluded when speaking of Ste- monurus {ante, p. 37) : although figured as the male plant of Gomphandra polymorpha, it would seem to be hermaphrodite, for the ovarium, as shown in the section given in fig. 6, is repre- sented as ovuligerous. -, sdjiiir 7. Platea laxiflora, olim Stemonurus laxiflorus, n. sp. ; — ramis flexuosis, nodosis, ramulis teretibus, subglabris, rugoso-stri- atis ; foliis oblongis, utrinque acutiusculis, apice repente atte- nuatis, utrinque glabris et concoloribus, venis subtus promi- nulis, petiolo subtenui canaliculato; paniculis solitariis vel 112 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinaceae. geminis, axillaribus, 3-cliotomo-ramosis, et laxe divaricatis, pedunculis pedicellisque gracilibus parce pubescentibus, calyce corollaque glabris. — Ins. Philip. — v. s. in herb. Hook, et Liadl. (Cuming, 891). ;-l The leaves are about ^~ inches long and IJ inch broad, ori*li petiole 5 lines in length; the panicles are about 1^ inch long, the peduncle and its widely spreading branchlets being long, slender, and nearly glabrous ; the persistent calyx is smooth, with five small teeth ; the petals are linear and thin in texture ; these in the greater number of instances, together with the sta- mens, are wanting, having fallen away, as almost universally oc- curs in the female flowers of Stemonurus found in herbaria ; and it is probably owing to this circumstance, that Prof. Blume, in his generic character of Platea, states that the female flowers are deficient of corolla and stamens. The stamens are the length of the petals, the filaments being quite free, very compressed and broad at the base, tapering above, thin, and almost mem- branaceous in texture, somewhat inflexed at their summit, where they are terete and afiixed near the dorsal sinus of the anthers, which are oblong, 2-lobed, bifid and sagittate at base, and emar- ginated at the apex; the lobes are membranaceous, opened by a longitudinal fissure, the cells being quite void. The ovarium is cylindrical, as long as the stamens, and crowned with a sessile 5-lobed pulvinated disk, which is slightly umbilicated in the centre, where a short prominence is seen, this being the withered style and stigma : its single cell contains two large suspended ovules. It is worthy of remark, that in all the flowers retaining the corolla, I could find no instance in which the petals presented any appearance of opening, so that it is very probable that these, together with the stamens, in falling away retain the cylindrico- cupular form they present in the bud. Sarcostigma. 'vThe following obseiTations on the structure and afiinities of Sarcostigma were completed in readiness for the press, when the last part of the ' Plantse Javanicse Rariores ' made its appearance : in that important work we are favoured with an interesting ac- count and an excellent figure of a new species of this genus from Java. The remarks there off'ered, in regard to the afiinities of Sarcostigma, will be seen to be greatly at variance with my own deductions ; and hence it becomes necessary that I should ofier a few explanatory words on the subject. It would be pre- sumptuous in me to attempt to contravene the inferences there deduced by the most profound botanist of our time, showing the relation which that genus bears to Phytocrene, Nansiatum, and Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 113 lodes ; but fully acknowledging all that is there affirmed, I may venture to show, that a yet stronger and much closer extent of analogy will be found to exist in the structure and deve- lopment of the floral parts, as well as a greater approximation in habit, to what we find in Stemonurus and Pennaniia. From the facts shown below, it will be seen that Sarcostigma accords with nearly all the essential characters I have endeavoured to establish in the preceding series of memoirs, as the leading fea- tures of the IcacinacecBj viz. trees with alternate, glabrous, coria- ceous, petiolated, exstipulate leaves ; an axillary racemose inflo- rescence, with small flowers, more or less polygamous, and di- stinctly articulated on a short pedicel ; a small cupshaped, per- sistent calyx supporting the fruit, and unchanging with its growth ; a corolla of four or five fleshy, linear petals, with val- vate aestivation, arising from the hypogynous or stipitated sup- port of the ovarium; free stamens, equal in number to, and alternate with the petals ; introrse 2-lobed anthers ; an ovarium presenting a similar form, the same internal structure, and the subsequent development of that seen in Stemonurus and Pen- nantia, and a fruit, in all appearance, closely analogous to that existing in those genera. Hence it seems evident from the facts here shown, that wherever Pennantia, Stemonurus^ and Platea are placed in the system, Sarcostigma should follow in juxta- position with them, unless the evidence now wanting, of the structure of its seed, should tend to a diff'erent location. If therefore Sarcostigma be found to hold a relation with the Phy- tocrenecBy the questions will naturally arise, whether this hitherto dubious family should not be brought into a more proximate position in the system with the IcacinacecBj or whether I have been in error in referring the genus under consideration to the latter family. The group of the Phytocrenea was first proposed by Endlicher as a suborder of the Menispermacece, a family with w*hich they hold little relationship. Prof. DeCaisne, if I mistake not, first pointed out the identity of Phytocrene with the Gyno- cephala of Blume, a genus placed among the Artocarpacece : hence Phytocrene and Nansiatum were removed by Prof. Lindley and other botanists to that family. This conclusion appears to me to have been too hastily drawn, for the Artocarpacece differ from them essentially in their stipular leaves, the presence of only a single floral envelope, which is often imperfect or altogether wanting, in their having fewer stamens than the number of the lobes of its perianthium, in their bifid style, which is often basilar, in their ovarium, with only a single suspended ovule, which is amphitropal or orthotropal, and an exalbuminous seed, often erect, though sometimes pendulous, with a thickened testa, and thick, fleshy cotyledons, often unequal in size. Phytocrene is Ann.^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol.Ji. 8 ri4 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. very different in habit from any of the Artocarpacecey having ex- stipulate leaves, flowers with a regular and symmetrical calyx and corolla, stamens equal in number to the petals, an ovarium with two anatropal ovules, suspended from the summit of the cell, and a seed with a considerable quantity of albumen, en- closing an embryo with large foliaceous cotyledons, and a small inferior radicle. In regard to the structure of the seed of Phyto- crenSj our evidence is yet quite uncertain. Prof. Lindley (Veget. Kingd. p. 274) describes and figures an albumen of a very gra- nular, or rather ruminated texture, enclosing two large foliaceous cotyledons, with a very small inferior radicle ; and Mr. Brown, in his generic character, greatly confirms this view, by stating it to possess an embryo with large foliaceous cotyledons, enclosed in albumen. Prof. Blume, on the contrary (Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. p. 41. tab. 7), describes and figures the embryo as being quite exalbuminous, with large foliaceous crumpled cotyledons of a rugosely granular texture, possessing a short superior ra- dicle : he here acknowledges Fhytocrene to be identical with his Gynocephala, the fruit of which he describes as consisting of an aggregation of several elongated drupes, upon a fleshy receptacle, forming a globe as big as a man's head. It must at the same time be acknowledged, that the extremely villous habit of Phy- tocreney the peculiar structure of its woody stem, its closely ag- gregated flowers in globular heads, the membranaceous texture of its calyx and corolla, both clothed externally with very dense long hairs, and its peculiar stamens, present characters to which little resemblance can be traced in Sarcostigma. I urge these reflections, however, with extreme hesitation, in deference to the conclusions of an authority, whose determinations all botanists will regard with the highest consideration. It is to be regretted, however, that Mr. Brown has not favoured us with his views, and the reasons on which they are based, in regard to the real affinities of the Phytocrenece ; but he says decidedly that Sarco- stigma, which in his opinion " so obviously belongs to " this group, bears no relation to Hemandiacece, to which family that genus had originally been referred by Drs. Wight and Arnott. We may, however, infer something more tangible on this point from his admission of '^its near relationship" to Pyrenacantha, a genus with a single floral envelope, and other characters, that have led to its position near the Antidesmea. The genera Phy- tocreney Nansiatum, and lodes form a very natural group, pos- sessed of consimilar features, offering constantly a regular calyx and corolla, divided into segments equal in number to the sta- mens, all alternating with each other in distinct series; they have therefore every claim to rank among the Dialypetalae of Endlicher j but this disposition does not exist in Miquelia, a ge- Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 115 nus carefully figured and described by Prof. Blume {loc, ante citat.), and placed by him and Mr. Brown among the Phyto- crenecB'. this genus^ with a very different habit, offers only a single floral envelope, with stamens alternate with its segments, and a 1 -celled ovarium with two suspended ovules, characters similar to those of Pyrenacanthaj from which it differs in its ex- albuminous seeds : these two genera are therefore clearly refer- able to the Apetalce of Endlicher, which are nearly equivalent to the MonochlamydecB of DeCandolle. If Sarcostigma then be related to the Phytocrenea, — an affinity which, if we accept, we must admit has not yet been demonstrated, — it is clear that it cannot bear any relation to the two genera before mentioned, which appear to have been associated with that group upon very insufficient grounds ; and if, as above indicated, the Phytocrenece be allowed to rank among the Dialypetal(je., it appears to me their position would not be far from the Tiliacece or DipterocarpecBf to which families they offer many analogous characters : from Prof. Blume^s analysis, they would much resemble the latter in the structure of the seed ; under Prof. Lindley's view, they would more nearly approach the former. The observations that now follow were written several months ago, and as they are confined wholly to the description of facts, there is no occasion to retract anything there advanced in coQr sequence of what is said above. The genus Sarcostigma, to which I have alluded [huj. op. ix. p. 223) as belonging to the SarcostigmecBy one of the tribes of the Icacinacece, was founded in 1832 by Drs. Wight and Arnott, on an Indian plant collected by Dr. Klein, and described by them in the 14th volume of the ' Edinburgh New Phil. Journal.' Like Desmostachys, it is somewhat scandent in its habits, but it has large oblong leaves upon very short petioles, and, as in that ge- nus, it has an extremely long and slender spicated inflorescence, studded at close intervals with fascicles of small flowers, which in drying retain their bright yellow colour, and are very deci- duous, being articulated upon very short and almost obsolete pedicels. The flowers, in the only case I have seen, are all female, and their stamens, which are sterile, are alternate with the petals; the internal structure of the ovarium corresponds with the usual character of the order : in the form of its epigy- nous stigmatoid summit it resembles Stemonurus, and what I have stated concerning the nature of this part in that genus ap- pears confirmed by the circumstances that occur here : in some cases this appears like a flat, glabrous, fleshy disk, with a depres- sion in the centre, as in the following genus Discophora, but it seems afterwards to attain the form of a somewhat conical um- braculiform process, overhanging the ovarium, with a crenated 8* |.jl6 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. margin, and hollow in the centre. This process therefore, as in Stemonurus, would seem to be a growth subsequent to the period of impregnation : it will be remembered that a somewhat analogous succeeding development on the summit of the ovarium has been described in the case of Apodytes. In the rugous sur- face of its putamen, as recorded in the manuscript of Dr. Klein, it resembles Mappia and Stemonurus. Dr. Vogel collected another species, now iirst described, at Cape Palmas, on the Guinea coast of Africa ; in its general appearance, the size and shape of its leaves, and in its singularly long, slender, spicated inflorescence, it bears a striking resemblance to Dr. Klein^s plant and to that from Java, and although all the flowers have fallen off at the articulations with the pedicels, the identity of the genus cannot be mistaken. The following generic character has been derived, partly from my own observations as far as the specimen I have seen has afforded evidence, partly from Dr. Klein^s original notes, and I have since added other features from Mr. Brown's de- scription : — ......... ,,. , ^ . .. „. r.-'^. -iiaa 6xiJ fbiflwm) iKif tot 3ti=^oqqo ffl^ , . Sarcostigma, w, & A. — Flores polygami. Calysc mmimus, breviter cupulatus, obtuse 5-dentatus, persistens. Petala 5, lineari-oblonga, glabra, imo disci stipitati adnata, sestivatione valvata, sub anthesi patentim reflexa, marcescentia et persis- tentia. Stamina 5, cum petalis inserta, iis alterna et sequi- longa, in flor. fern, sterilia et subbreviora ; filamenta linearia, - compressa, in sterilibus apice antheris fere obsoletis 2-loba, (in fertilibus antherce ovales, versatiles, loculis parallelis, ap- proximatis, longitudinaliter dehiscentibus, sec. eel. R. Br.). Ovarium in flor. masc. parvura, sterile, pubescens, in flor. feii|. cylindricum ventricosum pubescens, disco seu gynophoro breyi tereti stipitatum, 1-loculare; ovula 2 ex apice loculi subcolla- teraliter superposita, podospermio carnosa suspensa: {stylus brevis crassus et stigma capitatum sec. Klein) : in ovario ado- lescente, stylus nullus, nisi id quod videmus in discum sessilem stigmoideum umbraculiformem margine crenatum centro ca- > jvum demum mutatum, et stigma verum centrale proinde obso- .onietum. Drupa oblonga, compressa, monopyrena; put amen ^ofq^ugosum ; csetera ignota. — Frutices Asia meridionalis, Java, et 'iRoAfrica tropicce, subscandentes ; folia majuscula, altei-na, oblonga, ^'^"iGoriacea, glaberrima, breviter petiolat a ; racemi longissimi, gra- ciles, simplicite?' spicati e fasciculis \-4i-floris alternis ; flores [^rx;Jiqii8 iJOiyJ 2. Sarcostigma Vogelii, n. sp. ; — sufirutex glaberrimus, ramulis teretibus, subrugosis; foliis majusculis, oblongis, utrinque acuminatis, apice acute et breviter attenuatis, coriaceis, gla- berrimis, supra pallidis, subtus flavescentibus, nervis venisque reticulatis et transversis prominentibus, petiolo brevissimo, canaliculato, rugoso ; racemo spicato, extra-axillari, longissimo, gracili, floribus subaggregatis, articulatis, caducis ; di'upa car- nosa, inibra, pendula. — Guinea ad Cap. Palmas. — v. s. in herb. , Hook. (Vogel, 25, 27 et 68). ' This plant was collected in the Niger Expedition by Dr. Vb^el, who describes it as a shrub [strauch) : it bears very much the .t^iti^i^^. appearance of the^fonn^r ^epiesy but the leaves are ,f, * A drawing of this plant, with details of the structure of its female iSowers, will be given in plate 18 of the ' Contributions to Botany,* &c. 118 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. d'\ not quite so thick in texture ; they are smooth, somewhat undu- lating on the margins, 7 to 10 inches long, and 3 to ^~ inches broad, on a very short, channelled and rugous petiole, about 3 lines in length ; the raceme is distantly extra-axillary, and in- serted on the opposite side of the stem, as in the former species ; it is 12 or 13 inches long, very slender, slightly pubescent and angular at base, for the length of about 3 inches, and in the remainder is glabrous and beset with alternate nodules, consist- ing of single or aggregated, very short pedicels, left bare by the falling away of all the articulated flowers. The fruit, according to Dr. VogeFs notes, is red, fleshy, oval and pendulous, and from his rough sketch of a transverse section it would appear to be somewhat compressed and to contain two seeds : if this be the case, it would bear out a still stronger analogy to the in- stance I have recorded in Pennantia *. 3. Sarcostigma Horsfieldii, R. Br. PI. Jav. Rarior. 241. tab. 47. ' — Java. ^ ; DiSCOPHORA. ^; The characters that warrant the estabhshment of this genus are few, but when taken in conjunction with the peculiar habit of the plant and the difierent country of its origin, they serve to mark its place. The specimen upon which it is founded is a native of Guiana, with ovuligerous flowers which are far ad- vanced, for the petals and stamens are fallen away, leaving only the calyx and ovarium, which is crowned with a discoid process : in the internal structure of the ovarium, and the form of its per- sistent calyx, articulated on its pedicel, it is strictly conformable with other genera of this family; and in the peltoid disk that crowns the ovarium it resembles Sarcostigma, Pennantia, and StemonuruSy all of Asiatic origin ; but in this case this process is much smaller and somewhat reniform. In one instance 1 found a single petal remaining, just sufficient to mark its character. As it cannot be referred to any one of the genera above mentioned, I propose to call it Discophora, from hlaKo^, discus, (f>ep(o,fero. The few characters known may be designated in the following manner : — 'o '^-^b DiSCOPHORA, gen. nov. — Calyoc minimus, brevissime cupuli- formis, fere integer, obsolete 5-denticulatus, persistens. Pe- tola 5, linearia, glaberrima, textura tenui, nervo mediano lon- gitudinali notata, cito caduca. Stamina ignota, mox decidua. Ovarium liberum, cyhndricum, glabrum, 1-loculare; ovula 2, juxta apicem loculi superposita, podospermio crasso subcolla- * This plant will be figured in plate 19 of the ' Contributions to Botany,' Dr. A. Krohn on the genus Doliolum and its species. 119 teraliter suspensa, anatropa. Stylus cum stigmate confusus, ' demum subreniformi-discoideus, parvus, subconcavus. Fructus t. ignotus. — Frutex Guianensis -, folia alterna, oblong a, majv^cula, glaherrima, petiolata-, racemi axillares, divaricatim ramosi; Hores parvi, cum pedicellis articulati. L Discophora Guianensis ; — omnino glaberrima, ramulis tere- tibus, substriatis ; foliis oblongis, utrinque acuminatis, apice lineari-angustatis, coriaceis, supra nitidis, nervis sulcatis, venis immersis, subtus fuscis, nervis rubentibus cum venis transversis prominentibus, punctis minutis resinosis notatis, margine revolutis^ petiolo incurvo canaliculate ; racemis axil- ' laribus petiolo 2-3-plo longioribus, dichotome et divaricatim < ramosis, pedicellis bracteatis, bractea oblonga obtusa crassi- uscula pubescenti, floribus cum pedicello articulatis. — Deme- rara. — v. s. in herb. Hook. {Parker). The branches are terete with a smooth bark ; the axils are 1 ^ to 2 inches apart ; the leaves are quite smooth, thick, and coria- ceous, 8 inches long, 2^ inches broad, on a petiole of |^ to f inch in length : a raceme about 1^ inch long springs t)ut of each axil, sending out from the base upwards several alternate branches at nearly right angles, which are again divided ; the branchlets and pedicels are slightly pubescent and furnished at their base with a short, obtuse, fleshy bract, covered with short fine hairs ; the ovarium is 4 lines long, 1^ line diameter ; the stigmatiferous disk is about one-third of the diameter of the ovarium ; the calyx and petals are quite glabrous; the latter are linear, submembranaceous, marked with three parallel nervures, and are of a reddish yellow colour when dry*. ban .y> ' ___ . XIII. — Upon the genus Doliolum and its species. . , By Dr. A. Krohn f. " ^^'"''•'^'^"'' [With a Plate.] QuoY and Gaimard describe and figure in their work, the ' Voy- age of the Astrolabe' (p. 599. pi. 89. figs. 25-28), a small cry- stalline Tunicary not 2 lines long, which they first discovered at Amboyna, and subsequently found again on the coast of Vani- koro. For this animal they created a genus, to which they gave the very appropriate name of Doliolum, placing it in the near *''*'^A representation of this species, with analytical details, will be seen in plate 20 of the * Contributions to Botany.' t Wiegmann's Archiv fur Naturgeschichte, 1852. — Translated by Thomas H. Huxley, F.R.S., Assistant Surgeon R.N. 120 Dr. A. Krohn on the genus Doliolum and iU species, neighbourhood of Salpa. The species was called D. denticulatum. J am not aware whether this animal has been since examined by other naturalistSj although it occurs not unfrequently in the Mediterranean. Once_, on a previous occasion, 1 found it at Messina ; but in the course of last spring I took it frequently at Naples, and per- suaded myself that not only in point of structure (not very per- fectly made out by Quoy and Gaimard), but also in development^ it is decidedly an Ascidian. It is a free swimming Ascidian, which in many respects closely resembles the Salp(2, and so far forms an interesting transition between the two orders of the Tunicata. The genus, however, is not limited to this one species, as I discovered three other kinds at the same place and time. Before proceeding to describe the different species, it. will. he desirable to consider what they all have in common, ii noqU The genus Doliolum is mainly characterized by the ' cireum- istance, that the body of the animal (as the name indeed indi- cates) resembles a cask open at each end. The anterior some- what broader end is prolonged into a very short, often hardly j)erceptible tube, which answers to the ingestive or respiratory siphon of other Ascidians, and, like this, has its lip divided into a number of segments. These lobes, generally about ten in number, are somewhat pointed. At the opposite end, whose aper- ture represents the cloacal aperture of other Ascidians, the body becomes gradually narrower*. The mantle is relatively very thin, and contains scattered gra- nules in its substance. The second layer of the body {Leibes- schicht) is, as in all Tunicata, that which supports the nerves and muscles. ; The nervous centre consists of a round ganglion placed in the middle of the dorsal surface ; from it three anterior and as many posterior branches proceed. Two of these pass divergingly to the sides of the body, the third runs along the median line. The muscular apparatus closely agrees with that of Salpa in its ar- rangement. It consists, according to the species, of either eight or nine fiat bands, which, like hoops, encircle the body at tole- rably regular intervals, and ^ftigiYfliitjftStiU' stronger resemblance to a little cask. nrv)H(|i * The anterior band surrounds the t)ase of the respiratory siphon, the posterior immediately encircles the margin of the posterior aperture. Both are less strongly marked than the other bands. With regard to the internal organs, the respiratory apparatus - . * The two apertures are diametrically opposite likewise in the Pyroso- mata ; and here also the cloacal aperture, which opens into the cavity of the common mass, has a smooth edge (see Savigny, Mem. sur les Anim. sans Vertehres)! r>'>ti?rin isTrff^ s^o ^*Wli«« »h ftOfjii b'iAmm gaiad /d amh Dr. A. Krohn on the genus Doliolum and its species. 121 presents the most striking deviation from the ordinary arrange- ment. Instead of a sac, it forms a partition stretched across the cavity of the body, flat in one species, bent at an angle in another ; and dividing the space into an anterior and a posterior compartment. Its structure is much simpler than that of the compound Ascidians, since it is pierced by only two series of symmetrical, transverse, or somewhat oblique clefts {" stiff mates branchiaux" Milne-Edwards), the edges of which are, as in all Ascidians, beset with ciha. In the median portion of the branchial membrane the clefts are wider, beyond it they narrow again. - "^^ k- Description of Species. u mVi^ 4''8' Al "Species with eight muscular bands and the gemmarium j ventral. , jp • >VT, 1. Doliolum denticulatum^ {Q.8iD G.), AC, V. ',Ai ni The branchial membrane is bent into a sharp angle projecting backwards, and extends further than in the succeeding species. Its upper half reaches as far as the second muscular band, and at times beyond it ; the lower half extends as far as the third muscular band only. The mouth is placed upon the lower half of the branchial membrane ; from it the oesophagus passes in a curved direction backwards and downwards to the deeper- seated stomach. The intestine describes a wide arc, passing at first backwards and * This specific denomination is unfitting, since in the other species the anterior aperture is toothed. I propose therefore for this species the name of D. Ehrenhergii. ,,^j tog-^ff^ris •/ Dr. A. Krohn on the genus Dolioluin and its species. 123 eventually upwards upon the right side of the cavity of the body. I?/7£!'3'iO 9i;2,fTi« ii'^fV^ •>1 b'JV/Oljji In the sexual individuals of this sped^S I have only befetr able' to discover the males, and I thence presume that the sexes are separate. The male apparatus lies upon the left lateral wall of the posterior cavity, and consists of a testis and a relatively long and wide seminal canal. This canal is commonly distended with spermatozoa, and extends as far as the fourth muscular band. The testis is composed of single rounded lobes, which, like the folioles of a rosette, are grouped round the commencement of the seminal canal. As to the asexual individuals, the change in the arrangement of their muscular bands produced by the development of the gemmarium, consists in the separation of the ends of the penul- timate band ; the narrow and pointed extremities of which run for some distance upon the base of the gemmarium. Fully de- veloped individuals of this kind attain the length of 5i lines w-a little more. 'T '^^^ '!<> '^cro x^ ♦ ;, 2. Doliolum Millleri (Krohn). '\o This species is wider in the middle, and thence resembles a more squat cask. The mantle is very soft and almost mucila- ginous, so that foreign bodies readily become imbedded in it. The branchial membrane has the form of a vertical' partition placed in the posterior part of the cavity of the body and slightly convex behind ; there are about twelve pair of clefts. The mouth seemed to be nearer the lower half. The alimentary canal, on the other hand, is in the middle of the cavity, remote from either wall. The oesophagus descends towards the stomach, to which the short intestine succeeds, descending at first and then curving upwards in a loop. The sexual individuals of this species are hermaphrodite. Close to the stomach and intestine we distinguish three structures closely applied to one another. The largest, the testis, is pyri- form, and lies with its narrower end near the anus. The two other bodies are spherical ; the one is filled with clear nucleated vesicles, which I consider to be germs ; whence the whole must be regarded as an ovarium. The other body is unquestionably a fully developed ovum, in which we easily recognize the outer investment, the granular yelk and the germinal vesicle with its spot. In some individuals I found it free, in the posterior cavity of the body. With regard to the asexual individuals I will only observe, that their penultimate muscular band is arranged similarly to that of the preceding species. Varieties of this very common species, which is often met with 124 Dr A. Krolin on the genus Doliolum and its species. in swarms in March and Aprils have a red-spotted body, and the aUmentary canal blue or pale red. \-^"^y\* a Fully grown individuals reach the dimensions of l^ltine'in length. cis^oAc^•<>'« 'fij m uimoi iyfV ^vff.t *>o 3?vra{ od:^ ni iedi gjiii fiviiii 31!) 3. DoUolum Troschelii (Krohn). no xib 8b tgijssq inaveiDut rarely observed this species. It is liiuctf ftti^r than that just described, as I have met with individuals more than 3 lines in length. Upon the whole it resembles D. denti- culatum and Nordmanni, only that the body is more elongated. It is especially remarkable from its singularly broad muscular bands*. The alimentary canal is quite similar to that of the preceding species ; but of the branchial membrane I can say nothing, since it was accidentally absent in all the specimens, having been probably injured and torn off in some manner. J * Upon superficial examination, this species, on account of its broad muscular bands, might readily be taken for a very yoxm^ proles solitaria of Salpa punctata (Forskahl). Among the Salpce observed by me at Messina (Annales des Sciences Nat. 1846), this solitary Salpa-form is the only one all whose muscular bands form complete and relatively very broad circles. Dr. A. Krohn on the genus Doliolum and its species. 125 Sexual individuals were not seen. In the asexual ones the aiite-penultimate muscular band has the same arrangemeiit as in D. Nordmanni * . Development and Metamorphosis, .df^tiQi "fi The development of the buds was observed in D. MUlleri, but presented no remarkable feature. The buds shoot one after another, as it seems, from the gemmarium, for the outermost is always the largest, and often already changed into a young Ascidian, whilst the others are far behind in their development, and indeed the more, the greater their distance from it. Buds which are so far developed as to allow the majority of the organs, and among the rest the swiftly pulsating heart, to be distin- guished, are placed vertically (like those of the Compound Asci- dians and Clavelinidse according to Milne-Edwards), with the anterior extremity forwards, and are attached to the gemmarium by a short pedicle. This pedicle is inserted upon the abdominal surface close below the alimentary canal ; when the bud is de- tached it falls with it, and subsequently wholly disappears. Such recently detached budded forms may be so far confounded with young asexual individuals, inasmuch as their pedicle may be readily taken for the little-developed and as yet budless gemma- rium, which has the same form and position. More close exa- mination, however, will eliminate this error, since all free bud- forms already exhibit the rudiments of the sexual organs. The asexual individuals developed from ova are born, as has been said, in the form of Cercaria-like larvae, and therefore un- dergo a metamorphosis. This metamorphosis is characterized, however, by many peculiarities, whose explanation is only to be found in the mode of life of the adult animal. It is well known that in the larvae of the fixed Ascidians, the tail very soon disap- pears, as an organ which has become useless, when the larva has found a fitting locality in which to fix itself. Only after this has taken place does its body become gradually changed into the perfect animal. In Doliolum, on the other hand, which, as we have seen, is a free swimmer, there is no need for the tail to disappear so soo^j-; * I must leave it undecided whether the cask-like Tunicary with eight muscular bands, but much larger than D. denticulatum, which is described by Quoy and Gaimard as D. caudatum {I. c. p. 601, pi. 89. fig. 29. & 30), really belongs to this genus. In the figure the one end of the body is indeed siphon-like, but its lip is without lobes. From the opposite extremity a dense pyramidal process projects, like the processes of many associated SalpcB. I should be inclined to regard the animal rather as a Salpa than as a Doliolum, especially since the completely circular muscular bands which it possesses;, are,^as we haye seen abov^, no ^^cisiye c^kmc^ qf the eenus 126 Dr. A. Krohn on the genus Doliolum and its species. it persists during almost the whole period of development of the new creature, serves as an organ of locomotion, and begins to wither away only when the young has reached its perfect deve- lopment and independence*. The tail, however, dies aw^ay quite as Milne-Edwards has already observed in the course of metamorphosis of Amouroucium proliferum, and as I a short time since observed in larvae of Phal- lusia mammillata obtained by artificial fecundation. The contractile central portion or axis of the tail, composed of a simple series of rectangular, nucleated cells, is gradually re- tracted from its sheath into the body of the young animal and^ so becomes gradually shorter and shorter. Soon the young ani- mal casts off its larval investment, and only slight traces of the tail are left upon its ventral surface, close under the digestive canal, in the form of a round body which soon disappears. The following observations will afford more detailed evidence of the above view ; they were made upon separate, not yet fully developed individuals of D. Nordmanni. To all these individuals the tail was still attached ; in some it remained in all its integrity, while in others it had begun to dis- appear. The whole, tail and animal, was surrounded by the lar- val tegument, a very thick, glassy membrane, which must not be confounded with the mantle, which is closely applied to the body of the young animal. This could be readily distinguished from the homogeneous larval tegument by the granules imbedded in its substance. The larval tegument was about a line long, and drawn out at each end into a tolerably acute point. The rela- tively short and very thin tail, or rather its wasted axis, appeared articulated from the presence of the above-mentioned cubical cells, and external to these a thin muscular layer was perceptible, whose fibres ran longitudinally from the root to the point f. The root projects far into a vesicular appendage attached close under the intestinal canal, and filled with a clear fluid, which is pro- bably only a dilatation of the second tunic {Leibes-schicht), and diminishing pari passu with the tail, collapses, and at length dis- appears. The young animal appears in most specimens to be already so far developed, that all the organs and the lobes of the anterior aperture (which are at first turned inwards, and only * The animal described by Joh. Miiller as Vexillaria flabellum (Archiv, 1846), and considered by him to be probably the larva of Amouroucium. proliferum, is, according to my observations, an incompletely developed Ascidian, whose tail, as in Doliolum, appears to persist until the perfect form is nearly assumed. The perfect, as yet unknown animal will probably be found to agree with Doliolum in its mode of life. t This layer of fibres seems to be wanting in no Ascidian larva. In the tail of the Vexillnrice it has been already quite correctly described by J. Miiller, It perfectly accounts for the rapid movements of the tail. ='ii'>;' Mr. T. H. Huxley on the genus Doliolum. 127 subsequently unfold themselves and project) are visible. Upon the dorsal surface the rudimentary gemmarium had already made its appearance in the form of a conical projection. The young animal was not capable of any independent movement, and its tail was only seen at intervals slightly twitching and vibrating. Final Remarks, In the course of the preceding observations, the analogies which connect the genus Doliolum with the Salpa have been re- ferred to. These analogies consist not only in the similar mode of life, the similar diametrical opposition of the apertures, and especially in the similar muscular apparatus of each, but also, as I have endeavoured to show, in the similar mode of propagation, according to the laws of the Alternation of Generations, by which, as in the Salpa^ sexual and asexual generations occur in regular succession. Yet, in the genus Doliolum the typical cha- racters by which the Ascidian is separated from the Salpa pre- dominate ; such are distinctly seen in the absence of the respi- ratory siphon, in the structure of the respiratory apparatus, and in the metamorphosis. By their approximation to the SalpcB, and by the simpler struc- ture of their branchiae, however, Doliolum seems to me to stand lower than the Compound Ascidian s ; although, like the higheif' Ascidians, it is solitary, and, unlike them, it is free. r^ The Ascidians then, according to their mode of life, may be divided into fixed and free. To the former belong the numerous genera of simple and compound or aggregated Ascidians, to the latter the solitary genus Doliolum and the aggregate genus ~ )ma. ®^J '"' Note by the Translator. ' '' ■ •' ■ ^ ,0" Dr. Krohn does not appear to have met with a memoir uptai* Doliolum and Appendicularia ( Vewillaria) published in the ' Phi- losophical Transactions ^ for 1851. I have there described and figured D. denticulatum, and I am delighted to find that in all essential points, what 1 have stated is confirmed by one of th^e. most accurate and careful of the German observers. f ^ Dr. Krohn does not seem to have been more successful than myself in making out the ovaries of D. denticulatum ; but I should hardly be inclined to adopt his supposition, that this species, iri opposition to its immediate congeners, is dioecious ; the explana- tion I have suggested {loc, cit. p. 601) seems to me still to be the more plausible. !^!lt will be observed that Dr. Krohn considers what I hajye called the testis to be the vas deferens, and vice versd. 1 feel quite 12S Mr. T. H. Huxley on the genus Doliolum. sure, however, that in the specimens I examined the relations of the organ were as I have described and figured them. From the excellent description of the development of Doliolum given in Dr. Krohn's memoir, it seems highly probable that my guess as to the nature of the " shrivelled tubular process,^' p. 601, is correct, viz. that it is the remains of a pedicle of attachment. In common with all previous observers, Dr. Krohn appears to have confounded what I have called the '' endostyle " with the true " dorsal folds ^^ of Savigny. Recent careful examina- tions of many species of Ascidians have convinced me that the distinction which I drew between these structures (on Salpa and Pyrosoma, 'Phil. Trans.' 1851, p. 572) is well founded. The " endostyle '^ invariably exists at the base of the " dorsal folds " in ordinary Ascidians, and consists essentially of a band of thick, cylindrical, elongated cells, arranged round a common axis. Two similar accessory bands are in the ordinary Ascidians developed upon the folds on each side of the " endostyle.^' Dr. Krohn does not seem to have noticed the ciliated sac, or the peculiar manner in which the anterior ciliary bands termi- nate at this part. I have described similar bands in Salpa and Pyrosoma {loc. cit, § 17-52), and I find that such exist in all Ascidians. The " accessory part of the same apparatus " men- tioned by Dr. Krohn is the " tubercule anterieure '' of Savigny. It is not, as Dr. Krohn supposes, a mere appendage of the ciliated bands, but it is a very peculiar structure placed in the space be- tween the ciliated bands and the tentacular circlet (in ordinary Ascidians), and is always in more or less close connexion with the ganglion. It is the same organ as the "ciliated sac" of Salpa, Pyrosoma, and Doliolum, and is, I think, very probably an organ of sense. I have found it varying very remarkably in shape and size in species of Boltenia, Cynthia, Molgula, and Phallusia. The existence of a well-developed testis in Appendicular ia (Vexillaria) [loc. cit. § 84) appears to me to present an insu- perable difficulty to Dr. Krohn's hypothesis, that this creature is an incompletely developed Ascidian ; and in addition to this cir- cumstance, there is the absence of a cloaca (the anus opening directly on the dorsal surface (§ 82)), which stamps the form as altogether peculiar. With regard to the muscular apparatus of the tail of Ascidian larvae, I may here state as a fact, which I believe to be alto- gether new, that it is composed of a layer of large, elongated, thick walled cells applied end to end. The cells contain a large clear nucleus with a nucleolus. Their walls present a delicate fibrillation^ which is continued from one cell to another, so that it appears at first as if the cells were inclosed within a bundle of Mr. W. Clark 07i the genus Lepton. 129 fibres ; resembling exactly the embryonic muscular fibres of the frog described by KoUiker. The larvae in which I observed this belonged to a very peculiar small Cynthia, in the Collection of the British Museum. Contrary to the usual course, the larvae had attained a very considerable degree of development in the space between the inner tunic and the outer wall of the branchial sac, and had so become preserved with their parent. Another point of great interest about the larvae may be men- tioned here. The integument of the tail and of the body of young larvce, in which the body contains nothing but a mass of cells, and offers no trace of any organs or apertures, presents clear and un- mistakeable signs of the presence of cellulose. The determination of this point is one of the desiderata left by Lowig and KoUiker (Annales des Sciences, 1846), and it shows, I think, very clearly that the Ascidians do not necessarily get their cellulose, as they suppose, from the Diatomacea or other ingesta. Do the cells of the tail of the foetal Ascidian secrete cellulose as the " Primordial- schlauch " in plants secretes it ? If so, they must fix carbon ; and the physiological distinction between animals and plants will; disappear, as the anatomical ones have already disappeared. -a In referring to the analogies between the Salpce and Doliolunt', Dr. Krohn appears to uphold the doctrine of the fundamental difference between the Salpce and other Ascidians. In the me- moirs referred to, I have endeavoured to show, on the contrary, that there is but one type of Ascidian structure, and that the variations upon this type pass insensibly into one another. Sub- sequent investigations, which I hope to make public at no distant period, have to my mind demonstrated the truth of this propo- sition. The great difficulty I have found among the Ascidians has been^ indeed, to discover any good anatomical distinctions among the genera. DESCRIPTION OF PLATE III. B. Fig. 1 . DoUolum Miilleri, asexual individual, from the ventral side : a, gem- miferous tube or " gemmariura ;" b, penultimate muscular band with its ends inserted into the gemmarium. Fig. 2. Larva of D. Nordmanni : c, larval tegument ; d, young DoUolum ; e, vesicular appendage ; /, axis of the tail. Fig. 3. The same further developed and more magnified. Letters as before. — — lju:»^j[ r^fiJi-'^^o l i g XIV. — On the genus Lepton. By William Clark, TTsq.; To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Gentlemen, Exmouth, July 5, 1852. I HAVE stated in the July 'Annals' for 1852, that the discovery of the animal of the Lepton convexum has put it in my power .|Ojj Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. x. 9 130 Mr. W. Clark on the genus Lepton. settle the disputed identity or distinctness between it and L. ni- iidum, and that after due examination I would communicate the result. I redeem my pledge by presenting a short memoir on the genus Lepton. Though the L. squamosum, the type, has been mentioned by authors, I have thought that it would be desirable to give my account of the animal, with some additions and a few observations on the natural position of the genus. Lepton, Turton. '^ Lepton squamosum, auct. ; Solen squamosus, Mont. Animal inhabiting a very flat, subrhomboidal, white, porcel- lanous, punctured shell ; its ground colour is a clear white : the mantle is very large, having the margins sinuated, often puckered into two or three folds at the will of the animal ; they extend be- yond the shell more than one-third of the vertical measure at its centre, from which spring a row, on each side the middle of the ventral range, of twenty-five rather long, slender, milk-white ten- tacular pointed filaments ; but the mantle thus clothed is only pro- truded largely beyond the shell, from the middle of the anterior side, throughout the ventral range, to the same level at the pos- terior end j from these points to the umbones it is never seen, being either closed or not protruded, but its suture or edges are furnished with about forty long, strong, blunt, frosted white, rather close-set cirrhi varying in length ; a part of these range at the posterior side of the beaks, above the sessile anal orifice, which occupies a small space without cirrhi, between the termination of the protrusion of the margin and the commencement of the larger filaments on the broader, larger, and posterior side ; of that part of the filaments at the anterior side of the beaks, one is thicker, broader at the base, and double the length of the others; this is the last of the larger ones, which at one time I thought was tubular and might be an oviduct, but further exa- mination seemed to disprove this idea. None of the filaments show much motion ; the long one only, when the animal ad- vanced a step, made an arcuated contraction, similar to that of the fore-finger in extenso when quickly brought down to the palm of the hand ; it then resumed the straight position to await another step : all the other cirrhi are either retractile or con- tractile, separately or en masse. The foot is hyaline azure, with a broad longitudinal medial line of intense snow-white, and a still intenser flake at the ante- rior end ; it is fixed to the centre of the body by a moderately long pedicle ; on first protrusion it takes a vertical position, and Mr. W. Clark on the genus Lepton. 131 has a linguiform tapering aspect, but this part almost imme- diately, after feeling about, ranges itself anteriorly and hori- zontally ; and at the same time, on the other side of the pedicle, a bevelled, attenuated, pointed portion issues, somewhat shorter than the first ; this is longitudinally cloven as far as the pedicle, and can form a sort of oval disk, but on the march it is rarely expanded : at the base of the cleft is the byssal gland, which oc- casionally pours out a glutinous red filamentous matter, that in confinement is copious, and discharged anteriorly, which at first I thought was faecal matters, and was puzzled to account for such an issue anteally, but the subsequent view of the single sessile posteal anal conduit and the ejection of pellets cleared up the difficulty. This foot is in every respect similar in miniature to that of the Pedunculus pilosus and of the Arcadce. The animal is vivacious, and allowed itself to be examined many times daily ; it marched with quickness, but I only once saw it progressing in a vertical position ; the usual posture of the shell is to rest on one of the disks, which is frequently changed for the other ; the adductors did not appear to allow of a greater opening of the valves than the ordinary extent. The animal, when placed at the bottom of a glass, always crawled up and moored itself by a filament at the side ; sometimes, however, it slipped its moorings and floated free on the surface of the water with the umbones downwards, and after an interval refixed itself by spin- ning a byssal thread. I cannot speak at present of the branchiae and palpi, as the animal and shell are in my collection, and are thus preserved to show that the shell, though usually described by conchologists as gaping, can, in consequence of the flexibility of the thin laminar valves, be completely closed. There is no branchial siphon ; but there are mantellar folds, which, with the great ventral opening, amply provide for the admission of the water. The animals of this interesting group exhibit, in the tentacular filaments and curious foot, as well as in the sculpture of their shells, very considerable variation from Kellia rubra and Kellia sub orbicularis ; the types of one of the genera of the family in which they have been located by authors, doubtless from the want of knowledge of the animal. Taking into consideration that the Leptons have many of the attributes of the Arcada, and especially giving due weight to the remarkable similarity be- tween the foot of Lepton squamosum and the Pectuncnlus pilosus, I am almost induced to believe that it is in a false position, in connection with the Kelliada, and that it ought to follow or pre- cede Galeomma, which, with me, is an undoubted genus of the Arcada. The punctures of this species and of L. conveomm are in the 9* 132 Mr. W. Clark on the genus Lepton. test ; with respect to its congener, the L. nitidum, it has been stated that it is smooth and without punctures : this is a mistake, as I can show fifty specimens not only well-marked on the greenish epidermis, but in the substance of the shell. I have the satisfaction to state, that I have observed another live L. squamosum, and also obtained full notes of the animal of one of our great desiderata, the L. nitidum, from a most lively animal, which for several days gave me every facility for exami- nation. The jL. squamosum, just alluded to, was kept thirty-four days in a glass of sea-water, changed daily, and was apparently as vigorous as when first placed in captivity ; it thus appears that the Conchiferse can exist for a long time in pure sea-water, on the animalculse it contains, though that aliment may not be their sole resource in freedom. I may observe, that the habitude of crawling and swimming with the foot uppermost in Lepton, and in several other minute bivalves, perhaps in all, shows the close alliance of the Acephala with the Gasteropoda, all of which, in their minute condition, have precisely the same peculiar system of dorsal natation. I ought to have mentioned that the liver is light green and mixed up with a flake-white ovary ; but from the extreme tenderness of the branchiae, I cannot speak of them and the palpi with certainty as to form and number. July 2nd. — As I had just finished the above, a lively specimen of this species was met with, which, on being placed in water, at once unfurled its long and beautiful fringes, and exserted the ample niveous mantle and foot. This is certainly the Prince of British bivalves ; the snow-white colour of both animal and shell sheds over this interesting creature the inexpressible charms of purity and elegance. It now lives in the same vase with its pigmy congener, the L. convexum. Lepton nitidum, Turton et auct. The animal inhabits a light greenish yellow or pure white, subrhomboidal, moderately convex, more or less punctured shell. The mantle is frosted white with the margins plain, but as much proportionately protruded beyond the edge of the shell as in L. squamosum', it is in like manner clothed with cirrhal filaments of about the same length, and of pruinose white, but unlike that species, they are rather less developed dorsally than ventrally ; each filament at its terminal edge is studded with four or five white points or cilia, so sharp and minute as to require a powerful lens to see them. There is no conspicuous leading pro- cess, as in the preceding species, but the mantle, at the same anterior point, forms a visible projection or fold. In this spe- Mr. W. Clark on the geniLS Lepton. 133 cies, and contrary to L. squamosum, the longer and broader end is anterior, but the beaks are so central, that there is little dif- ference in the sides ; the single sessile anal tube is exactly as in the last species ; there is no branchial siphon, — the water enters at the extensive ventral aperture. The foot is almost in every respect similar to that of its congener ; it is perhaps larger in proportion, of pale azure hue, marked with intense but irregular flake-white minute blotches ; the posterior extremity is as long as the portion anterior to the pedicle; its termination is per- fectly aciculate, and like its congener deeply grooved as far as the junction with the body, at which point is the byssal gland, and the superabundant filamentous matter is similarly discharged. The L. squamosum is a lively creature, but this, not one-third of the size, is far more active, creeping up a glass as easily as a Gasteropod ; but the posterior portion of the foot is not expanded ; perhaps in freedom it is deployed on the march ; in confinement both shell and foot are carried laterally. The liver is light green, united to a flake-white ovarium, now, in June, full of ova. Transverse length ^, vertical y^^, diameter y^ of an inch. It would appear that this species in every essential is identical with the L. squamosum, and it settles the position of the yet undis- covered L. conveocum. This is the first record of this rare animal that has appeared. Exmouth, June 20, 1852. I have this day the pleasure to state, that the problem is solved as to the identity or distinctness of the Lepton nitidum and L. conveocum by the capture of a live specimen of the latter, having the shell sculptured with the rough and intensely marked characteristic punctures of that species. On putting the animal into water it instantly deployed its organs ; and for their descrip- tion I have only to refer to the preceding account of the L. niti- dum, which in future will take the appellation of a variety of its old associate. The two are so identical, that after ten days' exa- mination I can make no alteration in the minutes, except the having seen the animal march on the disk of the foot, more than once, with the shell in a vertical position ; it has all the same habitudes as the L. squamosum, and of course differs in no re- spect from its smoother variety, the late L. nitidum. It is now alive, and probably by changing the water daily it will live as long or longer than the L. squamosum mentioned above. It is therefore evident that the punctures of this species are very variable, ranging from the most minute granules that scarcely interrupt its smoothness to the coarsest sculpture. As the specific appellation of nitidum is obviously improper, the more significant one of convexum ought now to be adopted. 134 Bibliographical Notices. ''^' Exmouth, July 18. Since the above was written I have taken two examples, one this morning, of the smoothest variety of the ' convexum/ late the 'nitidum^ ; both are in the vase with the highly punctured one captured 20th June last, now quite vigorous, in company with the L. squamosum alluded to as taken 2nd July ; this capture has given me the advantage of a live examination of the two completely opposite conditions of the ^ conveccum/ whereas the one above was only referable in comparison with an account of a live ' nitidum ' taken last year. And I can again state that the two varieties are identical. Lepton Clarkia (nova species). Annals Nat. Hist. New Series, vol. ix. pp. 191 & 293. The above references give every particular of the shell of this new species, of which it is probable I may detect the animal ; but the hinge is so completely identical with that of the L. convexum, that it may be presumed its organs will not greatly differ from it. : . I am, Gentlemen, your most obedient servant, '^^'^'' William Clark. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. A History of Infusorial Animalcules, Living and Fossil. By Andrew Pritchard, M.R.I. 8vo, pp. 704. Whittaker & Co. A NEW edition of the only English version of the laborious investi- gations which have made Prof. Ehrenberg's name famous among micro-naturalists (if we may for the nonce coin a word as good as micro-mammalogists), must be looked upon as a praiseworthy and creditable undertaking. So far as mere facts are concerned, so many have accumulated during the fourteen years that have elapsed since the publication of the great work, to which we have been indebted for the first im- pulse to investigation, and for the first guidance in the confused and difficult task, that the gathering them into one place, and making them all accessible to the English reader, is a service of no small merit. Again, however much Prof. Ehrenberg may condemn them as heretical, it is indubitable that a large body of Fathers of greater or less authority have added their writings to his Canon. Indeed, they have not unfrequently ventured to impugn and protest against the statements of the head of the church microscopical himself. Mr. Pritchard has with a laudable eclecticism gathered all these, wheat and tares, poppy and clover, into one sheaf (a very consider- able sheaf too) ; but thrashing and winnowing is evidently in his view Bibliographical Notices. 135 no part of the editorial duty ; or to speak without a metaphor, the book has been collected, not edited at all. We by no means make these remarks in a spirit of detraction. The book is a very useful one, and will be of great service to those who are at work upon the Infusoria. To publish such a book at all involves a great risk to any one who undertakes it, and our sole regret is, that such a risk having been incurred, the opportunity should not have been seized for building an edifice, instead of merely filling a large cart with materials ; some of them very rough stones indeed, as for instance the following : — " It will be sufiicient therefore to say, that since the time of their discovery (1676) up to the present period, all that we know of the true spermatozoa of animals is, that they are not distinguishable from Cercaria found in the liver of snails, the animal organization of which has been made out by Bauer, Wagner, and Ehrenberg." (p. 4.) '* 28. The power of infusorial organization is instinctively shown by the strong chewing apparatus with teeth which they possess, and their exhibition likewise of a complete mental activity." (p. 7.) A tap or two with the editorial hammer would, we think, have shown Mr. Pritchard that these two blocks are very much cracked and quite unfit for his purpose. In fact, the former statement is formally repudiated at pp. 61 and 177 of his own work. "Ih almost all ages of the world there has been evinced a restless desire within us to pry into the nature or principle of life, and the precise conditions on which it is retained ; and notwithstanding that our bodies, its present abiding-place^ are confessedly frail and perish- able, the unravelling of an invisible and immaterial agent has been sought for by a reference to them." (p. 26.) We quite agree with the author, that those who have been trying ^^ to unravel an invisible and immaterial agent ^^ might have been better employed. The occupations of Sisyphus and the Danaides were encouraging in comparison. Mr. Pritchard tells us in the preface that the work has been pre- pared in conjunction with Mr. Arlidge. There is internal evidence enough indeed, without this assurance, to show that two heads have been employed upon it. It is no business of ours to draw invidious comparisons, but as we have given a Specimen of the productions of the one head, we must in justice lay before the reader a more cre- ditable sample, evidently the work of the other. *' It would be but an exercise of the imagination to seek after re- semblances between the majority of the Infusoria and higher animals ; the resemblances could be but fanciful, existing only in external form. In studying the Infusoria, the mind should be unbiassed by a know- ledge of the organization of the higher animals ; we ought not to set out with the assumption, that such living atoms must be furnished with the organs of superior existences, and then indulge the imagina- tion by accommodating appearances observed to our preconceived notions ; but we should rather endeavour to learn under what simple conditions and contrivances animal life can be manifested and con- tinued." (p. 60.) 136 ^ Bibliographical Notices, No one who regards the modern progress of zoology can fail to agree with the view here expressed ; but how does it harmonize with Prof. Ehrenberg's main and fundamental doctrine, that organization has no relation to size, and that the Infusoria have all the organs which characterize the higher animal ? Indeed, while we can conscientiously recommend the present work as a very useful assistant to those who are working for themselves, we must caution our readers against the very unphilosophical sub- servience to the authority of a name which it too often exhibits. Thus, after a discussion of the polygastric theory of Ehrenberg, we find it said of subsequent observers — " With Van der Hoeven, all coincide in denying the existence of an inclosing wall to the vesicles, and of an intercommunicating tube be- tween them ; and all assert the ever- varying number and disposition, as well as the movements (even rotatory) of these supposed stomachs." And yet we are told further on — " From the preceding conflicting opinions and observations no satisfactory deduction can be made ; Ehrenberg's opinions, however, are entitled to great respect, although the theory of a polygastric structure may not admit of demonstration." We have every respect for Prof. Ehrenberg, but we are really at a loss to imderstand why his opinions, if they be '* incapable of demon- stration," are more " entitled to great respect " than those of any one else, especially when these opinions are at variance with those of an unanimous host of at least equally competent observers. Authoritative assertion in science, it is well to remember, is not evi- dence ; it only affords a presumption, better or worse founded ac- cording to the real value of your authority, that evidence may exist. Great authority may be a good ground for a temporary suspension or judgement when opposed to less authority, but it is valueless when opposed to good evidence. A great authority, whose " opinions are incapable of demonstra- tion," is a sort of scientific balloon, brilliant to look at and much gaped at of the multitude ; but containing nothing but gas and sand, and liable to come down with a crash at the touch of the first critical penknife. A Synopsis of the Family of Naiades. By Isaac Lea. Third edition, greatly enlarged and improved. Philadelphia, 1852. 4 to. By the title of this work we might be led to suppose it would afford the conchologist the means of determining the species of this very interesting family of freshwater bivalve shells, or at least give a re- ference to the books where the species are figured and described, and the countries they inhabit. Unfortunately the author has not thought this desirable. The work simply consists of a list of 7^7 species, each followed by the names by which other authors have described it, accompanied by an abbreviation of the name of the author. Then follows a list of the species of each subgenus, arranged in alphabetical order, under Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, and New Holland, as they happen to inhabit. Bibliographical Notices. 137 The author, who has been studying these shells for many years, appears to have set out with the determination to make the * Synopsis ' afford the collectors of these shells as little assistance as possible Thus, he does not mention in which of the works of the various authors cited for the names, the shell under consideration is described or figured, or refer to any general work on the subject in which they are described, nor even to the very numerous species which he has himself described and figured for the first time (more than half the species in the * Synopsis ') in the Transactions of the American Aca- demy, which have been collected together into five quarto volumes, under the title of * Observations on the genus Unio.' He merely adds "Lea" after the name, without making any reference to the volume or page or plate of the * Transactions ' or * Observations * in which they are figured and described, so that the student has to look out each species through the various volumes, where the shells are arranged without order as they occurred to hand. In the same manner the names in the " Geographical Distribution of the Species " are not accompanied by a reference to the page in which the species occur in the * Synopsis.' Their place in the Syste- matic List can only be found by turning to the *' Index of Spe- cies," which carefully abstains from referring to the place where the species can be found described in the ' Transactions ' or ' Observa- tions,' though this edition of the ' Synopsis ' is now printed of the same size as those works, and may be regarded as a sixth volume of the * Observations.' We had hoped that as the author became more acquainted with the difficulties of the subject, he would have obliterated the ill-natured observations he had made on Rafinesque, Say, Barnes, Conrad, Deshayes, and other authors, but his dislike appears to have increased with his knowledge, and in every page we have some special pleading why Mr. Lea's name should be adopted, and that of some other author rejected, forgetting that his successors, not having these per- sonal feelings, will examine the question for themselves and do jus- tice to his predecessors and contemporaries. Mr. Lea informs us in this edition, that he has doubled the number of species in his * Synopsis ' by the new species he has described : if only a tithe of the 300 species which he has described as new prove good, which we venture to doubt, knowing how exceedingly variable these shells are in our European rivers, Mr. Lea's name will be handed down to posterity as an active collector and describer of these mutable shells. Mr. Lea appears to have no other idea of arranging the spe- cies, than by taking some leading character, as the general form and kind of surface, and applying it artificially for the divisions of the species of each of the subgenera : — the result is most unsatisfactory and artificial. If the shells do not afford good sectional characters, we believe it would have been preferable to have arranged the species in each sub- genus geographically, dividing the numerous American species ac- cording to the two sides of the continent they inhabited, and subdi- viding them according to the great river-system to which they be- 138 Zoological Society. longed ; at any rate it would have been putting to the test the geo- graphical characters of the species, and this arrangement can only be made by an American acquainted with the branches and creeks of the different rivers. Mr. Lea uses this test for the European species, and reduces all the Anodons to a single species, but believes that a very little stream in America affords at least one, and often many, distinct species of these animals! — J. E. G. PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. December 10, 1850.— -Prof. Owen, V.P., F.R.S., in the Chair. Observations on the destructive species of Dipterous Insects known in Africa under the names of the Tsetse, Zimb, and Tsaltsalya, and on their supposed connexion with the Fourth Plague of Egypt. By J. 0. Westwood, F.L.S., Pres. Ent. Soc. etc. The species of insects which attack the larger of our domestic qua- drupeds may be divided into two chief classes ; first, those which do so in order to obtain a supply of food for their own support ; and second, those which do so with the object of depositing their eggs in such a position, that the larvse, when hatched from them, will be cer- tain of finding a proper supply of food derived from some part of the animal, either external or internal. The insects composing the first of these two classes require for the performance of their dreaded functions an organization of the parts of the mouth especially fitting them to pierce the skins and hides of the quadrupeds upon the blood of which they subsist, and we accord- ingly find that it is precisely these insects which have the mouth- organs most fully developed in the different families to which they respectively belong. The Stomoxys calcitrans, and especially the different species of Tahanus, are pre-eminent in this respect ; and the formidable array of lancets in the mouth of one of the latter insects is not to be met with elsewhere among the whole of the flies composing the order Diptera, to which they belong. The effects of the attacks of these insects upon the horse are perceived by the drops of blood which flow from the orifices caused by their bites, and sometimes these wounds are so numerous, that the beasts " are all in a gore of blood." A still smaller species, named by Linnaeus the Culex equinus, also infests the horse in infinite numbers, running under the mane and amongst the hair, and piercing the skin to suck their blood. This insect, although given by Linnaeus as a Culex ^ appears from his description to belong to the genus Simulium, to wliich genus also belongs an insect of fearful note, which attacks the horned cattle in Servia and the Bannat, penetrating the generative Zoological Society. 139 organs, nose, ears, &c. of these animals, and by its poisonous bite de- stroying them in a few hours. A species of the same genus of minute TipulidcB is common in marshy districts in England, and I have often experienced its attacks, which have resulted in the raising of a tu- mour on the part of the flesh which has been attacked, attended by a considerable amount of local inflammation ; and hence we may readily believe the well-authenticated efi^ects produced upon the cattle above described. There are various other insects which attack the horse and ox, such as the Hippoboscce, various species of ticks, Anthomyice, &c, ; and if these do not, from their smaller size, cause a discharge of blood like the large Tabanidce, it is certain that the irritation which they produce not only by their presence upon the skin, but also by the sharpness of their bite, must be very irritating to the quadrupeds which they infest. The insects which do not themselves feed upon our cattle, but simply infest them for the purpose of depositing their eggs in some convenient place or other upon their bodies, are in no instance that I recollect provided with an increased development of the mouth organs ; on the contrary, the (Estridce are either entirely destitute of a mouth, or have only very small rudiments of some of the ordinary parts of the mouth, so as to be entirely unfitted for biting or wound- ing cattle. The effects however which some of these species pro- duce are as annoying as those caused by the bites of the Tabani. The female fly of the common horse hot, (Estrus Equi, it is true, instils no dread into the horse round which she is intently engaged in flying, depositing her eggs here and there in particular spots where the horse is certain to lick the hairs, by which means the eggs are introduced into the mouth and pass into the stomach. So little indeed is the horse afl'ected by the presence of this insect, that I have often stood close to one round which the (Estrus Equi has been flying, until the latter has come within reach of my hand, when I have caught it with- out trouble. Another species, (Estrus hcemorrhoidalis^ is however much more troublesome ; depositing her eggs on the lips of the horse, and producing in her endeavours to eff'ect this such an excessive titil- lation, as to cause great uneasiness to the horse, which tosses its head about to drive off its enemy, gallops about, and as a last resource takes refuge in some neighbouring water, where the (Estri never fol- low it. The same kind of effect is also produced in rein deer by the (Estrus Tarandi *, and in oxen by another species of (Estrus, (Est. Bovis, respecting which however much difference of opinion has arisen. At certain seasons, the whole terrified herd, with their tails in the air, or turned upon their backs, or stiffly stretched out in the direction of the spine, gallop about the pastures, finding no rest till they also get into the water. This (Estrus is asserted by some writers to make a strong humming noise, and hence it has been supposed that the herd of cattle are alarmed at the noise ; but this must surely be an ineor- * At the present time (April 1851) some of the rein deer in the Gardens of the Society, which were imported last autumn from Lapland, are infected to a re- markable extent with the tumours of this species; there must, I think, be from fifty to a hundred tumours on one of these animals. 140 Zoological Society. rect conjecture, as the CEstri, if they make any hum at all, are far out- stripped in this respect by many other insects which instil no dread into oxen. Neither are they alarmed in consequence of being sub- jected to the same kind of attack upon so sensitive a part as the lips, as is the case with the horses attacked by (Estrus hfBmorrhoidalis. It is however asserted by some writers, that the dread is produced by the pain inflicted by the (Estrus in depositing her eggs, her ovipositor being represented as constructed like an auger or gimlet, only having several longer points it can wound with more effect. When it is stated, however, that the female CEstrus Bovis does not occupy more than a few seconds in depositing each egg, we may fairly doubt whether, with her long, fleshy, tubular ovipositor, she has been able to pierce the hide of an ox ; or whether, as Mr. Bracy Clark suggests, she only makes use of this long instrument to thrust the egg down to the sur- face of the skin, which she does not pierce, but only glues its eggs to it, the young larvae when hatched burrowing into the flesh. If this be the case, the act of oviposition must be unattended with pain, as in the case of the deposition of the eggs of CEstrus Equi, and we must search for the cause of the alarm of the herd, either in an instinctive knowledge that a certain insect flying around them is the parent of a grub which at a future time will be a torment to them, or in the attacks of some other insect ; and I confess that I am inclined to consider that Virgil's beautiful description of the annoyance caused by '* Myriads of insects fluttering in the gloom, {(Estrus in Greece, Asilus named at Rome,) Fierce and of cruel hum " — has a Tabanus rather than an (Estrus for its origin. The larva of the (Estrus Equi resides beneath the skin of the back of the ox, causing large tumours, and having the extremity of its body constantly placed at the orifice of the wound, where it was in- troduced as an egg, or introduced itself as a grub, the openings of its respiratory apparatus being placed at that part of the body. These introductory remarks on the different modes in which insects attack our horses and oxen, and the different effects which they pro- duce, will enable us the better to estimate the effects produced by an insect, or several species of insects, of tropical Africa upon the horses of travellers who have lately returned from that part of the world, where their enterprising researches have been rewarded by the disco- very of the great central lake Tchad. Captain Frank Vardon, a gen- tleman who has travelled far in the interior of Africa, has placed in my hands some fragments of Dipterous insects which attacked his horses, causing the death of one of them. The following is an ex- tract from his note to me in reply to my inquiry as to the mode of its attack : — " 33 Oxford Terrace, Hyde Park, May 1850. "Dear Sir, — I had always heard that the fly of South Africa so destructive to cattle was a large gad-fly, the size of a bee or hornet. This is quite erroneous : it is not very much larger than the common house-fly, but a longer and more 'rakish '-looking insect, and easily distinguished by the transverse black bars on its body. Zoological Society. 141 " I fancy it is not met with south of the Tropic of Capricorn. It is usually found on hills, plains being free from it. I have ridden up a hill and found the Setse increasing at every step, till at last forty or fifty v^^ould be on my horse at once. The specimens you saw cost me one of the best in my stud. He was stung by some ten or a dozen of them, and died in twenty days. I myself have been bitten by the Setse ; you would almost fancy it was a flea biting you. Some parts of South Africa are, I should say, rendered inaccessible by the presence of this pest ; I mean of course to a man who travels in the usual way, with his oxen and horses. " How far the Setse extends in the interior is of course as yet un- known, but I have certain information as to its being 200 miles north of the *Great Lake' recently discovered by my friends, Messrs. Living- ston, Oswell and Murray. " Yours faithfully, "Frank Vardon." *'J. O. Westwood, Esqr The various specimens forwarded to me by Captain Vardon have enabled me to determine that the insect is a new species of Wiede- mann's genus Glossina, which may be thus characterized : — Glossina morsitans, Westw. Luteo-albida, thoracis dorse subcastaneo, griseo subtomentoso, vit- tis quatuor longitudinalibus in medio interruptis nigris, scutelli apice punctis duobus parvis fuscis ; abdomine pallide lutescentiy segmento basali utrinque macula parva laterali nigra, singula segmentorum quatuor proximorum ad basin fascia nigricanti, in medio interrupta, notatis ; alis parum infumatis. Long. Corp. hn. 5 ; expans. alar. lin. 8^. The head is of a dirty buff colour, narrower than the thorax, vdth large eyes ; the epistoma is paler coloured and clothed with whitish hairs ; the proboscis is rather longer than the height of the head ; it consists of a slender, horny seta or compound bristle, chestnut- coloured in its chief length, but dilated at the base into a large oval bulbous horny lobe, and upon maceration I was enabled to withdraw from the upper side of the seta (which is consequently grooved), two very delicate styles as long as the proboscis ; the sides of this instru- ment are defended by a pair of elongated, slender setose palpi, as long as the proboscis itself; these are concave on the inside and blackish at the tips, and the setse with which they are clothed are also black, as well as the branched setse with which the arista of the antennae is furnished; the outer surface of the arista itself, under a powerful microscope, is evidently villose. The antennae are inserted in a de- pressed obconic space between the eyes, rounded above, and there are two dark spots on the upper part of the epistoma ; the two basal joints of the antennae are dark in front, and the large third joint is dirty buff-coloured. The thorax is chestnut-red, clothed with a very delicate grey tomentosity and finely punctured ; it is impressed across the middle of the dorsum, and is marked with four longitudinal broad 142 Zoological Society. black bars, abbreviated in front and behind, the two central ones being longest in front, and the two lateral ones longest behind ; the two former are united in front by a black streak from the front margin. The scutelhim is dirty buff, with two dark dots at its extremity, from which, as well as from various dark dots at the sides, arise long black setae ; the hal teres are nearly white. The wings are slightly stained with dusky ; the veins black, except at the base of the wing, where they are dirty-buff. The legs are dirty-buff, with the outside of the thighs stained with dark brown. The last two joints of the tarsi are black, with large pul villi. The abdomen is flat, oval in outline, and dirty fulvous buff in colour, clothed above with numerous minute black setae, which are greatly elongated at the base of the abdomen and the extremity and sides of each segment ; the first segment is marked at each side close to the anterior angle with a round black spot, and each of the four following segments has a broad basal fascia of dark brown, interrupted in the middle. The sides and under sur- face of the thorax are varied with black patches ; the abdomen is pale-coloured beneath, with a large terminal oval plate, down the middle of which runs a pale longitudinal line, preceded by two small oblique oval patches, thickly clothed with minute black setae. The peculiarities of the genus Glossina, whereby it is at once distin- guished from Stomoxi/s, to which it is nearly allied, consist in the dilata- tion of the extremity of the discoidal cell, the rounded horny bulbous base of the proboscis, which is not angulated at its base, and the long and slender flattened palpi, which together form a sheath protecting the proboscis. Wiedemann's typical species (which has remained unique to the present time), Glossina longipalpis, (subsequently de- scribed by Robineau Desvoidy under the name of Nemorhina pal- palis,) is a native of Sierra Leone, where it was collected by Afzelius. M. Macquart, judging from the structure of the mouth, considers it probable that it does not live upon the blood of animals, like Sto- moxgs, but upon the nectar of flowers ; the two setae which are en- closed in the proboscis and compose the sucker being so slender, that it is diflicult to conceive that they can pierce the skin, the palpi being also elongated so as to form a protection to it, and thus further indi- cating its weakness. There is however so great a difference between the structure of the proboscis in these insects and Stomoxys, that I do not doubt that they are able to pierce the skin of a horse, the proboscis of Glossina being a long, straight, horny, needle-like instrument, and not elbowed, with fleshy lips, as is that of Stomoxys. Moreover, the bulbous dilated base of the proboscis must evidently play an import- ant part in the economy of the insect, either by giving additional support to the proboscis when in the act of piercing the skin, or by containing powerful muscles for the action of the enclosed setae ; or, as suggested to me by Prof. Owen, this dilated base may be analogous to the dilated base of the sting of the Scorpion, and like it contain a reservoir of some powerfully poisonous liquid. The account of the irritating powers of the Glossina given by Cap- tain Vardon is, it is true, not so detailed as could have been desired, but we learn suflicient to arrive at the conclusion that its effects are, Zoological Society. 143 to a certain extent, exactly like those of the Tahanidce ; how far the attacks may be attended with tumours, similar to those produced by the Simulium, and whether a tropical climate may not extend the effects of the attack, producing inflammatory action upon animals perhaps never before in those latitudes, are questions which have yet to be answered. One thing however appears to me evident, that the Setse is no other than the Zimb of Bruce, (an insect respecting whose real family and even existence so many doubts have been expressed,) or at least that that insect is a larger species of Glossina, to whose real habits Bruce has added those of a species of CSstrus. With the view of establishing this assertion, as well as of clearing up what I consider the inconsistencies of Bruce' s account, I shall beg to intro- duce his description of the Zimb. "Nothing was more opposite than the manners and life of the Cushite and of his carrier the shepherd. The mountains of the Cush- ite and the cities he built afterwards were situated upon a loamy black earth, so that, as soon as the tropical rains began to fall, a wonder- ful phenomenon deprived him of his cattle. Large swarms of flies appeared wherever that loamy earth was, which made him absolutely dependent in this respect upon the shepherd ; but these affected the shepherd also. This insect is called the Zimb * in modern or vulgar Arabic ; it has not been described by any naturalist. It is in size very little larger than a bee, of a thicker proportion, and the wings, which are broader than those of a bee, are placed separate, like those of a fly. They are of pure gauze, without colour or spot upon them ; the head is large ; the upper jaw or lip is sharp, and has at the end of it a strong pointed hair of about a quarter of an inch long ; the lower jaw has two of these pointed hairs, and this pencil of hairs, when joined together, makes a resistance to the finger nearty equal to that of a strong hog's bristle; its legs are serrated on the inside, and the whole covered with brown hair or down. As soon as this plague appears and its buzzing is heard, all the cattle forsake their food and run wildly about the plain till they die, worn out with fa- tigue, fright and hunger. No remedy remains but to leave the black earth and to hasten down to the plains of Atbara, and there they re- main whilst the rains last, this cruel enemy never daring to pursue them farther. " What enables the shepherd to perform the long and toilsome journeys across Africa is the camel, emphatically called by the Arabs the ship of the desert. Though his size is immense, like his strength, and his body covered with a thick skin defended with strong hair, yet still is he not capable to sustain the violent punctures the fly makes with his pointed proboscis. He must lose no time in removing to the sands of Atbara, for when once attacked by this fly, his body, head and legs swell out into large bosses, which break and putrefy to the certain destruction of the creature. Even the elephant and rhino- ceros, who, by reason of their enormous bulk and the vast quantity of food and water they daily need, cannot shift to desert and dry places as the season may require, are obliged to roll themselves in * " See Appendix. It is the same name as Zebul in Hebrew. — E." 144 . Zoological Society. mud or mire, which when dry coats them over hke armour, and en- ables them to stand their ground against this winged assassin ; yet I have found some of these tubercles upon almost every elephant and rhinoceros that I have seen, and attribute them to this cause. All the inhabitants of the sea- coast of Melinda, down to Cape Gardefan, Saba, and the south coast of the Red Sea, are obliged to put them- selves in motion and change their habitation to the next sand in the beginning of the rainy season, to prevent all their stock of cattle from being destroyed. " Of all those that have written upon these countries, the prophet Isaiah alone has given an account of this animal and the manner of its operation (Isaiah, vii. 18, 19) : ^ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt .... and they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.' " (Travels, ii. pp. 314-317.) " Tsaltsalya, or Fly. — We are obliged with the greatest surprise to acknowledge that those huge animals, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the lion and the tiger, inhabiting the same woods, are still vastly this fly's inferiors; and that the appearance of this small insect, nay, his very sound, though he is not seen, occasions more trepidation, move- ment and disorder, both in the human and brute creation, than whole herds of these monstrous animals collected together, though their number was in a tenfold proportion greater than it really is. Provi- dence from the beginning it would seem had fixed its habitation to one species of soil, being a black fat earth, extraordinarily fruitful. " We cannot read the history of the plagues which God brought upon Pharaoh by the hands of Moses, without stopping a moment to consider a singularity, a very principal one, which attended the plague of the fly. The land of Goshen, the possession of the Israelites, was a land of promise which was not tilled or sown, because it was not overflowed by the Nile. But the land overflowed by the Nile was the black earth of the Valley of Egypt, and it was here that God confined the flies. — I have magnified him about twice the natural size. — He has no sting, though he seems to me to be rather of the bee kind ; but his motion is more rapid and sudden than that of the bee, and resembles that of the gad-fly in England. There is something par- ticular in the sound or buzzing of this insect. It is a jarring noise, together with a humming, which induces me to believe that it pro- ceeds, at least in part, from a vibration made with the three hairs at his snout. ** The Chaldee Version is content with calling this animal simply Zebub, which signifies the fly in general as we express it in English. The Arabs call it Arob in their translation, which has the same gene- ral signification. The Ethiopic translation calls it Tsal tsalya, which is the true name of this particular fly in Geez, and was the same in Hebrew. The Greeks have called this species of fly Cynomyia, which signifies the dog-fly ; in imitation of which, those I suppose of the church of Alexandria that, after the coming of Frumentius, were cor- recting the Greek copy and making it conformable to the Septuagint, Zoological Society. 145 have called this fly Tsal tsalya Kelb, in answer to the word Cynomyia. Salal in the Hebrew signifies * to buzz ' or ' to hum/ and as it were alludes to the noise with which the animal terrifies the cattle ; and Tsal tsalya seems to come from this by only doubling the radicals : t'Tsalalou*, in Amharic, signifies *to pierce with violence/ " — Ajppendixy vii. 284 et seq. From this account we learn that it is the sound of this insect which produces a great amount of trepidation in the cattle of Abyssinia. This accords with Bracy Clark' s ideas of (Estrus Bovis. Bruce' s description of the position of the wings clearly indicates a Dipterous insect, and his figure shows a bee-like insect, with a long straight porrected pro- boscis exactly like that of Glossina. Bruce adds, that the insect punctures the thick skin of the camel with its proboscis, the parts attacked breaking out into large bosses, which are also occasionally found upon the rhinoceros and elephant. It will be observed how- ever that Bruce merely supposed these tumours to arise from the attack of the Zimb. I think we have suflScient grounds for believing that Bruce has here jumbled together the notion of the buzzing of the Oestrus instiUing dread into a herd of cattle, his knowledge of the piercing powers of the proboscis of the Setse, and his knowledge of the tu- mours caused by the presence of the larvae of (Estri under the skin of the camel f , rhinoceros and elephant. The College of Surgeons possesses a specimen of the larva of the (Estrus of the rhinoceros, and the camel is also subject to the attacks of a species of the same genus ; whilst I consider that Bruce' s figure is made up from memory, taking the statement of its resemblance to a bee and its possession of a proboscis together:}:. No instance, in fact, is known of a spe- cies which attacks these animals with its proboscis, forming tumours upon their backs such as are described by Bruce, which agree on the whole with the tumours caused by the larvae of (Estrus Bovis ; and we have already seen that no (Estrus is capable of inflicting a wound with the organs of the mouth, of which in fact all the known species are destitute, whilst the boring powers of their ovipositors are very questionable. The accounts given by Mr. R. Gordon Camming of the destructive powers of the Tsetse fully confirm the opinion here advanced, and prove that although "its bite is certain death to oxen and horses," it causes no dorsal tumours like an (Estrus. "This hunter's scourge," he says, " is similar to a fly in Scotland called Kleg §, but a little smaller ; they are very quick and active, and storm a horse like a * *' The name of this fly is undoubtedly derived from a word signifying ' to buzz * in Hehrew and Ethiopic. t Pliny was aware of the attacks of (Estri upon the camel, and he informs us that the merchants of Arabia were in the habit of anointing their camels witli whale- and fish-oils. (Hist. Mund. lib. xxxii. p. 302, et lib. xi. cap. 16. p. 36. edit. Pancoucke.) I It is evident from the note added by the editor of the 8vo edition, from which the above extracts have been made, that the drawing of the insect was not a bond fide one made on the spot, but was manufactured at home. § Kleg is the local name for the Hcsmatopota pluvialis. Ann. &^ Mag. N, Hist. Ser. 2. Vol.x, 10 146 Zoological Society. swarm of bees, alighting on him in hundreds and drinking his blood. The animal thus bitten pines away and dies, at periods varying from a week to three months, according to the extent to which he has been bitten.'* . . . . " The next day one of my steeds died of the ' Tsetse.' The head and body of the poor animal swelled up in a most distress- ing manner before he died ; his eyes were so swollen that he could not see, and in darkness he neighed for his comrades who stood feed- ing beside him *." The Marquis di Spineto, in a memoir published " On the Zimb of Bruce as connected with the Hieroglyphics of Egypt f," endeavoured to ascertain the characters of this insect, and came to the conclusion that it belongs to the order Diptera, notwithstanding Bruce says that it very much resembles the Bee genus, and that it has " several of the properties of the Bombylius, the Tabanus, the (Estrus, and the Hip- pobosca, without belonging to any of them. In some of its generic and even specific characters it is like the Bombylius and CEsh'us, in others like the Hippobosca and the Muscidce, in a few like the Taba- nus and the Dog-fly, whilst in the aggregate it differs from every one of these insects." The Marquis points out the various relationships which the insect, as described by Bruce, presents to these different genera, considering that the porrected hairs or bristles foi^ming the mouth "perform the office of suckers, simply because it does not lay its eggs in the flesh of animals ; for according to the account which Bruce gives of the evils attending the attacks of this fly, the bosses which are produced swell, break and putrefy, but never exhibit any larvae or maggots," thus differing from the habits of the (Estri ; to which however he adds, by some curious misconception, that " the larvce of the (Estrus live in wood, which does not seem to be the case with the Zimby The Marquis however identifies the Zimb with the \\.vv6\ivia or * Dog-fly' of the Greeks, the *Tsal tsalya Kelb' of the Alexandrian Church, the *Af an ouhor' of the ancient Egyptians, the *Arob' or *Oreb' of Exodus viii. 21, and the * (Estrus' of Aristotle; and con- siders that it is the precise species of fly which caused the fourth of the plagues of Egypt J. As such, he also regards it as the insect represented on the Egyptian monuments at the head of the cartouches which enclose the hieroglyphical titles of the Pharaohs, and as a sym- bol of Lower Egypt (where only the insect occurs), the preceding figure being intended for a sceptre, in contradiction to the opinion of M. ChampoUion, who regards the figure of the insect as that of a bee ; and consequently the signification of the two symbols as that of "King of an obedient people." I can by no means however agree with this opinion of the Marquis Spineto, since an examination of various Egyptian monuments in the British Museum and elsewhere * Five Years of a Hunter's Life in the Far Interior of South Africa, ii. pp. 220, 227. t Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. 1834, vol. iv. p. 170. X In the Article "Musquitoe" (Brit. Cyclop. Nat. Hist. iii. 299), I have sug- gested various reasons for supposing that the fourth plague of Egypt was caused by some species of Culicidee, which, although not disproved, are certainly weakened by the knowledge now obtained of the real habits of the I'setse or Zimi. Zoological Society. 147 (in all of which the insect is represented under precisely the same form) has convinced me that it is intended to represent a Hymeno- pterous insect, and not one of the Diptera. It is in fact more like the figure of a common Wasp than any other ordinary insect ; the appendages of the head, which are obliquely porrected, are evidently intended for antennae, and not for a bipartite proboscis ; the wings, it is true, are only represented as two in number, but as the two on each side of the body in the Hymenoptera are hooked together, they would, by common observers, be regarded as but one ; while the con- tracted form of the base of the abdomen is precisely that of some of the Vespidce figured in the great French work upon Egypt. The Polistes represented in pi. 8. fig. 2 J", of that work indeed might al- most be considered as the identical species intended to be represented on the monuments. Mr. S. Birch indeed informs me that there is a coloured represen- tation of this hieroglyphic figure on one of the Egyptian monuments in the British Museum, and that the banded colours of the abdomen leave no doubt that it is intended for a Wasp. Moreover the Egyptian name of this insect was the same as that of Upper Egypt, whilst the preceding figure was intended for a reed as emblematical of Lower Egypt, and consequently the two figures indicated the power of the monarch over both these parts of the empire. To render this article more complete, I have added descriptions of two more tropical African species of Glossina, from the Collection of the Rev. F. W. Hope, together with that of another remarkable hitherto undescribed genus allied to Glossina, but distinguished by the very singular recur\^ed proboscis and long styliferous abdomen, also from tropical Africa. Glossina Tachinoides, Westw. Cinerea, faciei striya longitudinali media fulva, epistomate ar- genteo-sericeo, thoracis dorso brunneo-maculatOy scutello griseo maculis diiabus brunneis punctisque duobus minutis apicalibus nigris, abdominis dorso carneo-griseo segmento singulo maculis duabus maximis fuscis, pedibus luteo-albidis, tarsis supra nigris. Long. Corp. lin. 4 ; expans. alar. lin. 8^. Hab. in Africa occidentali tropicali. (Mus. D. Hope.) This species is smaller than the preceding and differently coloured. The terminal joint of the antennae is more lunate in form and dusky coloured in front ; the palpi are dusky coloured at the tip and clothed with black hairs. The upper surface of the thorax is ash-coloured, divided across the middle by an impressed line ; the anterior half is marked on each side towards the fore angles with an oval brown spot, extending laterally and backwards into a lunate line, enclosing a smaller oval spot on each side towards the hinder angles : in the middle are two slender abbreviated brown lines, and two minute spots resting upon the transverse impressed line over which they are extended and dilated into a pair of somewhat larger spots in the middle of the upper surface of the thorax, each with a slender transverse line 10* 148 Zoological Society. extending from it to the sides of the thorax, where it meets a curved lateral brown Une enclosing a fainter oval spot, the hind extremity of each of which nearly joins, at the hinder angles of the back of the tho- rax, a straight line running forwards into the disk, where it vanishes. The upper side of the abdomen may be described as of a brown colour, with the lateral and posterior edges and an ill-defined longitudinal central band of fleshy ash : it is thickly clothed with minute black hairs on the disk, and wdth long ones at the base and sides. The wings and their veins are coloured as in Gl. morsitans. Glossina Tabaniformis, Westw. Griseo-fusca epistomate sericeo, thorace fusco-maculato, abdomine fusco-rufescenti apice sensim ob/uscato, pedibus fusco-luteis tibiis tarsisque nigra lineatis alls f usee infumatis. Long. Corp. lin. 6 ; expans. alar. lin. 13j. Hab. apud httus aureum Africse tropicalis occidentalis. (Mus. D. Hope.) This species is very much larger than either of the preceding. The head is comparatively much smaller and the wings much larger ; the front of the head is dusky ; it, as well as the basal joints of the an- tennae, is rather thickly clothed with black hairs ; the arista of the antennae is luteous, with a dark line behind, and the branding setse with which it is furnished are black ; the palpi are thickly clothed externally with short black setse ; the thorax is dark greyish brown, also very thickly clothed with short black setSe and long curved lateral bristles ; the back of the thorax is marked with a dark central lon- gitudinal line, having a less distinct one on each side of it, between which and each side are two large brown spots, one behind the other ; the scutellum is paler, and marked with two ill-defined dusky spots ; the wings are stained brown ; the legs are dirty luteous buff ; the tibiae marked with one, and the tarsi with three very delicate longi- tudinal black lines ; the tibiae are compressed, and the black line occu- pies the superior compressed ridge. Tribe Myopari^, Macquart, Hist. Nat. Ins. Dipt. ii. 29. Genus Stylomyia, Westw, {Stylog aster, Wlk. nee Macq.) Corpus subelongatum capite thorace" parum latiori, facie antice dimidio super o carinato, dimidio infer o valde concavo. An- tenncB porrectcB articulo basali minimOy 2do obconico, 3tio sub- ovali prcecedentis longitudine, vel prcecedenti multo longiori compresso parum curvato, arista versus apicem marginis superi insert a, porrecta. liaustellum capite et thorace conjunctim triplo longius, porrectum, in medio geniculatum, dimidio basali parum dejlexo et ad ejus apicem crassiori, dimidio apicali valde incurvato. Thorax brevis quadratus. Abdomen supra subconvexum parum curvatum, apice pone segmentum 5um in sty- lum elongatum (longitudine quinqne articulorum prcecedentium cequaleni), defexum valde angustum, contractor hujus styli apice supero in uno sexu, oblique truncato ; seta elongata supra hirsuta, lobo breviori compresso filamentisque duobus Zoological Society. 149 elongatis simplicibus in cavitate tifuncata irmdentibus. Alee breves cellula \ma postica clausa pediculata et postice dila- tattty vena obliqua cellulam postice contiguam claudente sub- obsoleta ; cellula anali brevissima vix pone pseudalvlum ex- tensa vena brevissima transversa clausa. Pedes elongati gra- cillitnif calcaribus duobus tibiarum parum elongatisy tibiis posticis difformibuSy unguibus pulvillisque minutissimis. This genus is very close to the American genus Stylogastery but especially differs from the description given thereof by M. Macquart, in the very minute condition of the anal cell of the wings. The form of the head and the unequal division of the haustellum, as repre- sented in M. Macquart' s pi. 13. fig. 15, are also characters at variance with those of the insects of which I have composed the present ge- nus. The anal cell is of small size in Stachynia, Mcq. {Dalmannia, Rob. D.), but it is still more minute in Stylomyia. The long slender legs and minute claws and pul villi are also unlike those of all the other Myoparice. Stylomyia Leonum, Westw. Rufo-fulva, facie argenteo-sericea antennis rufo-fulvis arista nigra, vertice subplano macula ovali nigra ocellos postice includente, haustello nigro basi subtus parum pallidioriy thorace scutello abdomineque rufo-fulvis stylo concolori fascia lata fere apicali nigra^ pedibus fulvis tarsis apice fuscis, tibiis duabiis posticis dimidio basali fusco, apicali albido ; tarsis nigris. Long. Corp. lin., stylo excluso, 4 ; expans. alar. lin. 6. Hab. in Sierra Leona, Africae. (In Mus. D. Hope.) The facets of the middle portion of the inner margin of the eyes are rather larger than the posterior ones. The wings are but slightly tinged with grey, and the veins are blackish. The extremity of the anal style with its filaments are fulvous coloured. The two posterior tibiae are very slender at the base ; the apical half is dilated on the upper edge, the under edge not being quite straight. — Note. All the details are taken from the species figured. Stylomyia confusa, Westw. Fulva, facie argentea, vertice om- nino nigro; antennis fulvis articulo Stio antennarum longitu- dinem 2di vix superanti, ovali-conico, arista tiigra; tuberculo antennifero pallide fulvo, haustello nigro basi fulvo ; thorace supra nigro marginibus lateralibus angulisque anticis distincte et irregulariter luteis setis longis nigris. Scutello fusco setis duabus longis terminalibus nigris^ pedibus quatuor anticis om- nino luteo-albidis tibiis apice obscuris, femoribus duobus posti- cis fascia angusta ante alteraque pone medium fuscis ; tibiis dimidio basali fusco fascia lata media alba^ tertia parte api- cali fusco ^ tarsis fuscis ; abdomine fulvo segmentis 2do — hto margine postico tenui obscuro ; styli dimidio basali fulvo-rufo ; apicali nigro, genitalibus exsertis fulvo-rufis ; corpore subtus fulvo-albido. Prcecedenti e tertia parte minor. Hab. ? (In Mus. Brit.) 150 Miscellaneous* Although in general form and proportion of its parts, especially of the terminal style of its abdomen, the specimen of this species in the British Museum agrees exactly with ^S*^. Leonum, yet the short third joint of the antennae, and the extraordinarily enlarged size of the middle facets of the inner margin of the eyes, might indicate it to be the opposite sex of the preceding. The second segment of the abdo- men is furnished on each side with a small fascicle of elongated black hairs. This species is introduced by Mr. F. Walker into his ' List of the Dipterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum' (part iii. p. 680), under the name of Stylogaster stylatus ; but it appears to me that it neither accords with Macquart's generic characters oi Sty- logaster y nor with the concise Fabrician specific description of Conops stylata (Syst. Antl. 177), nor yet with Wiedemann's more detailed observations, especially with reference to the sexual difference in the form of the antennae (Auss. Eur. Zw. Ins. ii. 245). MISCELLANEOUS. Observations on the Circulation of the Blood in the Arachnids. By M. Emile Blanchard. Until very lately the circulatory apparatus of the Arachnida re- mained nearly unknown. It was supposed, indeed, that the pulmo- nary Arachnida would resemble the Crustacea in their mode of cir- culation, whilst the tracheary Arachnida, on the other hand, would resemble insects ; but observations on this subject are still almost en- tirely wanting, and all the peculiarities belonging to the type remained unknown. The question, however, made a great step, as far as regards the ScorpionidcB, in consequence of the researches of Mr. Newport ; and in a memoir published three years since, I described the course of the principal arteries in the AraneidcBy in which they had not as yet been traced. Notwithstanding the appearance of these works, many points remained to be cleared up. A new examination of this circu- latory apparatus has recently led me to ascertain its details in a tole- rably complete manner. I had made my previous researches on spe- cies found in France, which are of very small size ; but, during last autumn, a very lively specimen of a Mygale of the largest dimensions {M. Blondii), which inhabits South America, having been received at the museum, I have derived considerable assistance from it, in the investigation which I have long been pursuing, on the anatomy and physiology of the Arachnida. I injected this Mygale, intro- ducing the injection by the heart, and succeeded by this means in following, and isolating by dissection, all the arteries distributed to every organ, even to their most delicate ramifications. In this short abstract of my labours, I abstain from describing the course of these numerous arteries in detail, as the description will ap- pear shortly in my work entitled ' L' Organisation du Regne Animal.' I content myself here with indicating the general result; a result which does not apply only to the species which has served me in a Miscellaneous. 151 special maimer in my researches, b^t equally, to ajl the Araneidce, as I have since convinced myself. r .if jKroijifR ,t, i,. ,; / , In these Articulata, the heart, usually divided into five chambers, offers four pairs of auriculo- ventricular orifices; the aorta, which springs from the anterior chamber, penetrates into the thorax and furnishes two arteries on each side, the branches of which are distri- buted to the posterior diverticula of the stomach and to the thoracic muscles. Beyond this the aorta divides into two great trunks, which above give off the arteries of the first diverticula of the stomach and of all the muscles of the anterior portion of the thorax. The oph- thalmic arteries spring from the inner part of each of these trunks. Below, they are prolonged to form the arteries of the mandibles {antennes pinces), and about their median portion they furnish a voluminous artery which divides immediately to form the arteries of the legs and of the ventral portion of the abdomen. All these vessels present a number of branches and ramifications not inferior to those which are generally seen in vertebrated animals. Besides these, each of the chambers of the heart furnishes a large artery on each side, the branches of which are distributed to the liver and intestines. For the return of the blood the circulatory apparatus is much less perfect ; in general there only exist canals, the walls of which are in- capable of being isolated by dissection. Nevertheless, the legs and the mandibles {antennes pinces) are penetrated by a very distinctly limited venous canal ; but in the thorax the principal passages are merely circumscribed by the bundles of muscles. On the other hand, in the liver, we observe, at various points and principally on the sides, vestiges of membranous walls. All the venous blood collected from the different parts of the body is conducted into the lower region of the abdomen, where it is intro- duced into the respiratory organs, by means of two large pulmonary canals formed by a delicate membrane ; arrived at the organs of re- spiration, the nutritive fluid soon passes into the pulmono-cardiac ves- sels, which are equal in number to the auriculo-ventricular orifices of the heart, into which they empty themselves. These vessels, of a very delicate consistency, are always adherent to the inner walls of the abdominal teguments. Thus the circulation of the blood in the Arachnida is executed by means of an arterial system of the most complete description ; and a venous system, which, although no doubt very imperfect when compared with that of the Vertebrata, offers, nevertheless, in the re- gularity of its course and the well-circumscribed limits of most of its passages, a degree of complication of which naturalists hitherto could have formed no idea. — Comptes llendusy March 15, 1852, p. 402. ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF COLUBER NATRIX. Referring to Mr. Gray's article in the June Number of the * An- nals of Natural History,' on the distribution of the Coluber natrix, I beg to state that it is a mistake to suppose that this reptile is not found in Norfolk. I have seen specimens from two localities in East Norfolk, and I have heard of them in West Norfolk. I have also 1^3 Miscellaneous. heard of them at Fritton m East Suffolk, where I am informed that they are frequently observed in summer to swim across a lake from a quarter to half a mile in breadth *. — John Henry Gurney. Easton, Norfolk, July 5, 1852. XJses of the Stillingia sebifera, o?- Tallow Tree, with a notice of the Pe-la, an Insect-wax of China-^. By J. D. Macgowan, M.D. The botanical characters of this member of the Euphorbiacese are too well known to require description ; but hitherto no accurate account has been published of its varied uses, and although it has become a common tree in some parts of India and America, its value is appreciated only in China, where alone its products are properly elaborated. In the American Encyclopaedia it is stated that this tree is almost naturalized in the maritime parts of South Carolina, and that its capsules and seeds are crushed together and boiled, the fatty matter being skimmed as it rises, hardening when cool. Dr. Roxburgh in his excellent * Flora Indica,' says : — " It is now very common about Calcutta, where, in the course of a few years, it has become one of the most common trees. It is in flower and fruit most parts of the year. In Bengal, it is considered only an orna- mental tree ; the sebaceous produce of its seeds is not sufficient in quantity, nor its qualities so valuable, as to render it an object worthy of cultivation. It is only in very cold weather that this substance becomes firm ; at all other times it is in a thick brownish fluid state, and soon becomes rancid : such is my opinion of the famous vegetable tallow of China." Dr. Roxburgh was evidently misled in his experiments by pursuing a course similar to that which is described in the * Encyclopaedia Americana ' (and in many other works), or he would have formed a very different opinion of this curious material. Analytical chemistry shows animal tallow to consist of two proxi- mate principles — stearine and elaine. Now what renders the fruit of this tree peculiarly interesting is the fact that both these principles exist in it separately, in nearly a pure state. By the above-named process, stearine and elaine are obtained in a mixed state, and conse- quently the mass presents the appearance described by Dr. Roxburgh, Nor is the tree prized merely for the stearine and elaine it yields, though these products constitute its chief value : its leaves are em- ployed as a black dye ; its wood being hard and durable may be easily used for printing-blocks and various other articles ; and finally, the refuse of the nut is employed as fuel and manure. The Stillingia sehifera is chiefly cultivated in the provinces of Kiangsi, Eougnam, and Chehkiang. In one district, near Haugchan, the inhabitants defray all their taxes with its produce. It grows alike on low alluvial plains and on granite hills, on the rich mould at the * Two other friends have made the same correction of Mr. F. Edwards's- observations. — J. E. Gray. t Drawn up for the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India. Miscellaneous. 1 53 margin of canals, and on the sandy sea-beach. The sandy estuary of Haugchan yields little else ; some of the trees at this place are known to be several hundred years old, and though prostrated, still send forth branches and bear fruit. Some are made to fall over rivulets, forming convenient bridges. They are seldom planted where any- thing else can be conveniently cultivated — in detached places, in corners about houses, roads, canals, and fields. Grafting is performed at the close of March, or early in April, when the trees are about three inches in diameter, and also when they attain their growth. The * Fragrant Herbal ' recommends for trial the practice of an old gardener, who, instead of grafting, preferred breaking the small branches and twigs, taking care not to tear or wound the bark. In mid-winter, when the nuts are ripe, they are cut oif with their twigs, by a sharp crescentic knife, attached to the extremity of a long pole, which is held in the hands, and pushed upwards against the twigs, removing at the same time such as are jfruitless. The capsules are gently pounded in a mortar to loosen the seeds from their shells, from which they are separated by sifting. To facilitate the separation of the white sebaceous matter enveloping the seeds, they are strained in tubs, having convex, open wicker bottoms placed over caldrons of boiling water. When thoroughly heated they are reduced to a mash in the mortar, and thence transferred to bamboo sieves, kept at an uniform temperature over hot ashes. A single operation does not suffice to deprive them of all their tallow, and the steaming and sifting is therefore repeated. The article thus procured becomes a solid mass on falling through the sieve, and to purify it, it is melted and formed into cakes for the press. These receive their form, from bamboo hoops a foot in diameter and three inches deep, which are laid on the ground over a little straw. On being filled with the hot liquid the ends of the straw beneath are drawn up and spread over the top, and when of sufficient consistence are placed with their 'rings in the press. This apparatus, which is of the rudest description, and constructed of two large beams placed horizontally so as to form a trough, is capable of containing about fifty of the rings with their sebaceous cakes ; at one end it is closed, and at the other adapted for receiving wedges, which are successively driven into it by ponderous sledge-hammers, wielded by athletic men. The tallow oozes in a melted state into a receptacle below where it cools ; it is again melted and poured into tubs, smeared with mud to prevent its adhering. It is now marketable, in masses about 80 pounds each — hard, brittle, white, opake, without taste, and without the odour of animal tallow; under high pressure it scarcely stains bibulous paper ; it melts at 104° Fahrenheit. It may be regarded as nearly pure stearine ; the slight difference is doubtless owing to the admixture of oil ex- pressed from the seed in the process just described. The seeds yield about eight per cent, of this vegetable stearine, which sells for about five cents per pound. The process for pressing the oil, which is carried on at the same time, remains to be noticed : it is contained in the kernel of the nut, the sebaceous matter which lies between the shell and husk having 154 Miscellaneous. been separated in the manner described. The kernel and the husk covering it are ground between two stones, which are heated to prevent clogging from the sebaceous matter still adhering. The mass is then placed in a winnowing machine, precisely like those in common use in other countries. The chaiF being separated exposes the white oleaginous kernels, which after being steamed are placed in a mill to be mashed. This machine is formed of a circular stone groove, twelve feet in diameter, three inches deep and about as many wide, into which a thick solid stone wheel, eight feet in diameter, tapering at the edge, is made to revolve perpendicularly by an ox harnessed to the outer end of its axle, the inner turning on a pivot in the centre of the machine. Under this ponderous weight the seeds are reduced to a mealy state ; they are then steamed in the tubs, formed into cakes, and pressed by wedges in the manner above described, the process of mashing, steaming, and pressing being repeated with the kernels likewise. The kernels yield above thirty per cent, of oil, and it sells for a little more than three cents per pound. It is called Tsing-yu, and answers well for lamps, though inferior for this purpose to some other vegetable oils in use. It is also employed for various purposes in the arts, and has a place in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, because of its quality of changing gray hair black, and other imaginary virtues. The husk which envelopes the kernels, and the shell which incloses them with their sebaceous covering, are used to feed the furnaces, scarcely any other fuel being needed for this purpose. The residuary tallow cakes are also employed for fuel, as a small quantity of it remains ignited a whole day. It is in great demand for chafing dishes in the cold weather. And finally, the cakes which remain after the oil has been pressed out are much valued as a manure, particularly for tobacco fields, the soil of which is rapidly impoverished by the Virginia weed. Artificial illumination is generally procured in China by vegetable oils, but candles are also employed by those who can afford it, and for lanterns. In religious ceremonies no other material is used. As no one ventures out after dark without a lan- tern, and as the gods cannot be acceptably worshiped without candles, the quantity consumed is very great. With an unimportant exception, the candles are also made of what I beg to designate as vegetable stearine. When the candles, which are made by dipping, are of the required diameter, they receive a final dip into a mixture of the same material and insect-wax, by which their consistency is preserved in the hottest weather. They are generally coloured red, which is done by throwing a minute quantity of alkanet root {An- chusa tinctoria), brought from Shangtung, into the mixture, which forms the coating of the candle : verdigris is sometimes employed to dye them green. The wicks are made of rush, coiled round a stem of coarse grass, the lower part of which is slit to receive the pin of the candlestick, which is more economical than if put into a socket. Tested in the mode recommended by Count Rumford, these candles compare favourably with those made from spermaceti, but not when the clumsy wick of the Chinese is used. They cost about eight cents per pound. Miscellaneous, 155 Prior to the thirteenth century, bees' -wax was employed as a coating for candles ; but about that period the white insect-ivax was dis- covered, since which time that article has been wholly superseded by the more costly but incomparably superior product of this insect. It has been described by the Abbe Grassier, Sir George Staunton, and others ; but these accounts differ so widely among themselves, as well as from that given by native authors, as to render further inquiry desirable. From the description given by Grassier, entomologists have sup- posed the insect which yields the Pe-la, or white wax, to be a species of Coccus. Staunton, on the contrary, describes it as a species of Cicada {Flatalimbata). As described by Chinese writers, however, it is evidently an apterous insect ; hence the inference, either that there are two distinct species that produce white wax, or that the insect Staunton saw was falsely represented as the elaborator of this beautiful material. This, hke many other interesting questions in the natural history of this portion of the globe, must remain unsolved, until restrictions on foreign intercourse are greatly relaxed, or wholly removed. In the mean time, native writers may be consulted with advantage ; and from the chief of these, the Pun-tsau and Kiunfangpii, two herbals of high authority, the subjoined account has been prin- cipally derived. The animal feeds on an evergreen shrub or tree, Ligustrum lucidum, which is found throughout central China from the Pacific to Thibet, but the insect chiefly abounds in the province of Sy'Chuen. It is met with also in Yunnan, Hunan, and Hupeh. A small quantity of a superior description is produced in Kinhwa, Chehkiang province. Much attention is paid to the cultivation of this tree ; extensive districts of country are covered with it, and it forms an important branch of agricultural industry. In planting, they are arranged like the mulberry in rows about twelve feet apart, and l?oth seeds and cuttings are employed. If the former, they are soaked in water in which unhusked rice has been washed, and their shells pounded off : when propagated by cuttings, branches an inch in diameter are recommended as of the most suitable size. The ground is ploughed semi-annually, and kept perfectly free from weeds. In the third or fourth year they are stocked with the insect. After the wax or insect has been gathered from the young trees, they are cut down, just below the lower branches, about four feet from the ground, and well manured. The branches which sprout the follow- ing season are trimmed, and made to grow in nearly a perpendicular direction. The process of cutting the trunk within a short distance of the ground is repeated every four or five years, and as a general rule, they are not stocked until the second year after this operation. Sometimes the husbandman finds a tree which the insects themselves have attained, but the usual practice is to stock them with the nests of the insect, which is effected in spring. These nests are about the size of a "fowl's head," and are removed by cutting off a portion of the branch to which they are attached, leaving an inch each side of the nest. The sticks, with the adhering nests, are soaked in un- tiusked rice-water for a quarter of an hour, when they may be sepa- rated. When the weather is damp or cool, they may be preserved in 156 Miscellaneous. jars for a week ; but if warm, they are to be tied to the branches of the trees, to be stocked without delay, being first folded between leaves. By some, the nests are probed out of their seat in the bark of the tree without remo\ing the branches. Xt this period they are particularly exposed to the attacks of birds, and require watching. In a few days after being tied to the tree, the nests swell, and in- numerable white insects, the size of ''7iits," emerge, and spread themselves on the branches of the tree ; but soon with one accord they descend towards the ground, where, if they find any grass, they take up their quarters. To prevent this, the ground beneath is kept quite bare, care being taken also that their implacable enemies, the ants, have no access to the tree. Finding no congenial resting-place below, they re-ascend and fix themselves to the lower surface of the leaves, where they remain several days, whence they repair to the branches, perforating the bark to feed on the fluid within. From nits they attain the size and appearance of ''pediculus ko7mnis." Having compared it to this, the most familiar to them of all insects, our authors deem further description superfluous. Early in June they give to the trees the appearance of being covered with hoar frost, being changed into wax ; soon after this they are scraped oif, being previously sprinkled with water. If the gathering be deferred till August, they adhere too firmly to be easily removed. Those which are sufl^ered to remain to stock trees the ensuing season, secrete a purplish envelope about the month of August, which at first is no larger than a grain of rice ; but as incubation proceeds, it expands, and becomes as large as a fowl's head, which is in spring, when the nests are transferred to other trees, one or more to each, according to their size and vigour, in the manner already described. On being scraped from the trees, the crude material is freed from its impurities, probably the integuments of the insect, by spreading it on a strainer covering a cylindrical vessel which is placed in a caldron of boiling water ; the wax is received into the former vessel, and on congealing is ready for the market. The Pe-la or white wax in its chemical properties is analogous to purified bees' -wax, and also spermaceti, but difl'ers from both, being in my opinion an article perfectly sui generis. It is purely white, transparent, shining, not unctuous to the touch, inodorous, insipid, crumbles into a dry inad- hesive powder between the teeth, with a fibrous texture, resembling fibrous calc-spar ; it melts at 100° Fahr., is insoluble in water, dis- solves in heated essential oils, and is scarcely affected by boiling alcohol, the acids, or alkalies. The aid of analytical chemistry is needed for the proper elucidation of this most beautiful material. There can be no doubt it would prove altogether superior in the arts to purified bees' -wax. On extra- ordinary occasions the Chinese employ it for candles and tapers. It has been supposed to be identical with the white lac of Madras ; but as the Indian article has been found useless in the manufacture of candles*, it cannot be the same; it far excels also the vegetable wax {Mytica cerifera) of the United States. * Dr. Pearson's Philosophical Transactions, vol. xxi. Miscellaneous. 157 Is this substance a secretion ? There are Chinese who regard it as such, some representing it to be the saliva and others the excrement of the insect. European writers take nearly the same view, but the best authorities expressly say that this opinion is incorrect, and that the animal is changed into wax. I am inclined to believe that the insect undergoes what may be styled a ceraceous degeneration, its whole body being permeated by the peculiar produce in the same manner as the Coccus cacti is by carmine. Its cost at Ningpo varies from 22 to 33 cents per pound. The annual produce of this humble creature in China cannot be far from 400,000 pounds, worth more than ^100,000. — Silliman's American Journal, July 1851. Ningpo, August 1850. NYMPHiEA ALBA VAR. MAJOR. Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, July 21, 1852. Dear Sir, — A white Water Lily, found growing somewhere not far from London, has been brought to me as a new species. I have doubts about its being any more than a large variety of the Nymphcea alba, but I inclose you a description of it, which, if you think it worth while to draw the attention of botanists towards it at this season, you will oblige me by inserting in the ' Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' It was brought to me quite fresh by Mr. Rich. About a month ago the flowers were imperfect and small, some having five sepals to the calyx, and being more or less irregular ; but a perfect one brought on the 17th was at least 7 inches in diameter, and Mr. Rich has had larger. I remain, dear Sir, yours truly, Wm. Francis, Esq. J. De C, Sowerby. NijmpTicea alba var. ? major. Flower large, all its parts more elongated than in the ordinary form of N. alba. The disk of the stigma very concave ; the appen- dages of the radii cylindrical, three times as long as wide. Petaloid stamens broad-lanceolate, attenuated towards the apex, much longer than the next row of stamens. Anther-cells diverging at the base. Petals numerous, rather pointed, the innermost longer than the sta- mens. Sepals of the calyx ovate-elongated. Leaf broad ovate, nar- rowed towards the point. Ribs or primary veins ten on each side of the central one ; on the back of the leaf they are narrow, raised and rigid ; the secondary veins also are raised and firm. In other points it agrees with the ordinary N. alba : they both grow in the same piece of water. In the common N. alba the disk of the stigma is nearly flat ; the appendages to its radii are ovate, only one and a half times as long as wide. The petaloid stamens are ovate-lanceolate, the same length as the next stamens, with the anther-cells parallel. The inner petals are shorter than the stamens, ovate and obtuse. The sepals oval. 158 Miscellaneous. pointed. The leaves broad oval, not narrowed towards the emargi- nate apex ; the primary veins nine on each side the central one ; on the back of the leaf convex, soft ; secondary veins concave on both sides.— J. De C. S. ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE BELEMNITE. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Gentlemen, — When a disputant affirms a statement ' most em- phatically,' it may be suspected that the emphasis is added to supply the want of inherent truth. This is the case with Dr. Mantell when he so affirms that the " phragmocone is common to numerous genera of Cephalopods," — a statement which is made to appear true only by attaching to the term * phragmocone ' a meaning peculiar to the asserter. iV * conical chambered siphunculated shell ' is no doubt com- mon to numerous genera of Cephalopods : before Owen's anatomy of the Nautilus, Belemnites, and Spirula, it was deemed to characterize all that section of the class which Cuvier grouped together under the wide Linnaean term of Nautilus, and with which the " Sipho7iifera" of F^russac and D'Orbigny is synonymous. The term ' phragmo- cone ' was first proposed by Professor Owen, and applied by him to a particular modification of the * conical chambered siphunculated shell ' ; to that viz. in which the cone is short and straight, the chambers very shallow, and rapidly enlarging, uniformly concave to- wards the outlet, with the siphuncle marginal and ventral, and the whole invested by a partly horny, partly calcareous layer continuous with the sheath protecting the more advanced parts of the Belemnite (Phil. Trans. 1844, pp. 68, 69). This modification of the * conical chambered siphunculated shell ' is common to all the subgenera into which the * Belemnites ' of Cuvier have since been divided, and it is 'peculiar' to them. The most variable and therefore least important part of their com- plex shell is the ' dart,' * guard,' or * osselet ' ; its different forms and proportions afford, indeed, the characters of most of the species, and in the Bel. hrevissima, Duv., e. g., it is reduced to the size of the similarly solid calcareous terminal mucro of the shell of Beloptera, Sepia, &c., to which, according to Cuvier, Buckland, and other emi- nent naturalists, it is answerable. So much, therefore, for Dr. Man- tell' s other affirmation that the part which he chooses to call * osselet ' is the essential part or character of the Belemnite. I shall not tres- pass on your space by any notice of Dr. Mantell' s views of the value of Professor Owen's researches on the extinct Cephalopods possessing the * phragmacone,' or of my own opinion of the influence of the Pro- fessor' s works in general on the progress of Comparative Anatomy : and I limit myself to a single sample of the nature of the discoveries to which Dr. Mantell vaunts his peculiar claims. The part, e. g., which he calls the capsule or sheath is the part so called by Buck- land, together with other parts subsequently pointed out by Owen. The author of the 6th Bridgewater Treatise (p. 372) describes — *' A conical thin horny sheath, or cup, commencing from the base of Meteorological Observations. 159 the hollow cone of the fibro-calcareous sheath, and enlarging rapidly as it extends outwards to, a considerable distance. This horny cup formed the anterior chamber of the Belemnite, and contained the ink-bag and some of the viscera.'* Owen subsequently traced a similarly organized membrane continued backwards from the margin of the alveolus, where Buckland's * capsule ' commences, " to line the alveolar cavity of the spathose guard," and to cover the exterior sur- face of the guard itself ; the first description of which latter struc- ture we find in the following words of his memoir, * Phil. Trans.' 1844, p. 69 : — "The exterior surface of the spathose guard of the Belem- nites of the Oxford clay, though smoother than in some other spe- cies, is minutely granular, and occasionally presents faint traces of vascular impressions, proving it to have been invested by an organized membrane of the living Cephalopods." With his usual cautious ex- actitude he forbears to extend to this investing organized membrane the term ' capsule,' which his predecessor had correctly restricted to that part which, so far as it truly performs the function of a capsule, commences, as Dr. Buckland describes, where the fibro-calcareous sheath terminates. Every fact has its value ; but this varies inde- finitely, and does not become greater, when, by an abuse of terms, a small particular is laid claim to by a self-asserted discoverer. I am. Gentlemen, your obedient servant, The Quarterly Reviewer. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR JUNE 1852. Chiswick. — June 1. Clear and fine. 2. Cloudy : fine : rain. 3. Cloudy. 4. Overcast : fine : clear. 5. Very fine : slight rain. 6. Rain : clear at night. 7. Constant rain. 8. Thick whitish haze : low fog in the evening : heavy rain. 9. Excessively heavy rain throughout. 10. Rain: cloudy: clear. 11. Overcast. 12. Slight rain: overcast. 13. Fine: rain at night. 14. Showery. 15. Fine: showery: clear. 16. Rain: uniformly overcast. 17. Cloudy throughout. 18. Rain : showery : heavy rain. 19. Heavy clouds : clear and fine. 20. Overcast : rain. 21. Rain : cloudy. 22 — 24. Fine. 25. Uniformly overcast : fine : rain at night. 26. Rain: heavy showers. 27. Overcast: heavy showers. 28. Fine: densely overcast. 29. Overcast : cloudy : clear. 30. Fine : rather windy : clear at night. — More rain fell on the 7th, 8th, and 9th, than on any three consecutive days for at least twenty-six years near London. Mean temperature of the month 58°-01 Mean temperature of June 1851 59*21 Mean temperature of June for the last twenty-six years ... 60*61 Average amount of rain in June 1*77 inch. Boston. — June 1. Fine. 2. Fine: rain p.m. 3. Cloudy: rain a.m. 4. Fine rain a.m. 5. Fine. 6. Rain : rain a.m. 7, 8. Cloudy. 9. Cloudy : rain a.m: 10, 1 1. Cloudy : rain a.m. and p.m. 12. Cloudy : rain a.m. 13. Cloudy : rain p.m. 14, 15. Cloudy : rain a.m. and p.m. 16. Rain : rain a.m. and p.m. 17. Fine . rain a.m. and p.m. 18, 19. Cloudy : rain a.m. 20. Cloudy : rain p.m. 21. Rain : rain a.m. 22. Cloudy : rain a.m. and p.m. 23—25. Fine. 26. Cloudy : rain a.m.: 27. Cloudy. 28. Cloudy : rain p.m. 29, 30. Cloudy. Sandwick Manse, Orkney. — June 1, 2. Showers. 3. Rain: showers. 4,5. Bright : clear : fine. 6. Hazy. 7. Hazy : clear : fine. 8. Bright : fine. 9. Cloudy : damp. 10. Drizzle. 11. Drizzle: showers. 12. Damp: bright. 13. Clear: fine : cloudy. 14. Showers: cloudy: fine. 15. Bright: fine: clear: fine. 16. Bright : fine : cloudy. 17. Clear : fine : cloudv. 18. Damp : fog. 19. Bright: clear : fine. 20. Damp. 21. Damp : fog. 22, 23. Rain. 24, 25. Bright : showers. 26. Bright : rain. 27. Bright : showers : fine. 28. Clear : fine : drops : fine. 29. Clear : fine : cloudy : fine. 30. Rain. •uo^sog VO OO 00 H f< »0 lO CO •Jiomsiqo •ijOT.\ipnBS •uojsoa ^ « ^ ^ (U ^ cnvo oovo tJ-hoo t^l^CNCoO c^vo w O O Ooovooo cnr^ voc< iooncom vovo ri-t^ONONO ONf-vVO lOVO Ti- rj- u-i •+ vo t^OO lo -^i- M vooO tr--VO vo vo CO •^ •TO'B ?8 •uo;soa O I'^vo vo vo t^ CO CO O »ovD r~»0 coon^Ooo •«4-0 ^ CO M c< ,'!*■ c< _»-< M *■< o p^^^^p^p^pp^y^ 0^o^0^0^0^0^0^o^o^ ovoo On Ovoo oooo ctvOnOvOiOvononOnonOnOnCTvCvon c^Ne0nOv0nOvOn0v t4-'>^t~^'+>-< noooo co 00 OO OO On OvOO vovo vovovoc^t^covo^j-'^vot^ r--vo t^OO O O 00 oo t^ t-^ On 0\0'\0\0\0\OsO^O'\0>i^\0\0\0\^\0\0\OsO^^\0^0\OsO\0 O 0\ o\ o\ o^ o^ «c the septa nor on the margin of the shell. The large papilla? appear to be imperforate, while the small ones appear to present each a puncture in the centre. The septal spaces, as well as the central cell, are semitransparent, and the former have a single, beaded line of semitransparent papillae along their course. The internal surface of the chambers merely presents the small 170 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Form and Structure papillse with their puncta ; there are no large papillae on it, and their cavities are otherwise complete, with the exception of the channels of intercameral communication, and some minute vas- cular apertures which will be presently mentioned. The septa (fig. 5 b, b) occupy, transversely, about l-6th of the breadth of the chambers, and each septum incloses within its walls two calcareous tubes or vessels, one on each side, some little distance below the contiguous surface of the shell (fig.7«,«); these we shall call interseptal vessels. They are irregular both in their size and course, though generally about 1-1 900th of an inch in diameter, in the last-formed septa of a shell having the dimensions of the one described, and diminish in calibre back- wards or towards the first- formed whorls. Each vessel com- mences in the centre of an intricate network of smaller ones, spread over its own side of the margin of the preceding whorl, and under the layers of the shell (/,/,/) ; these networks, which are joined together, we shall call the marginal pleomis. In its course each interseptal vessel gives off two sets of ramusculi, and the marginal plexus one set. Of those coming from the inter- septal vessel, one set terminates on the surface of the shell, par- ticularly about the borders of the septum {d,d) ; the other goes into the walls of the shell, and through the septum, to open probably on the inner surface of the chamber {e, e, e) ; while the set from the marginal plexus opens on the margin (^, g^ g). As this vascular system appears to extend throughout every part of the shell, and must be for the cii*culation of some fluid, we will call it the interseptal circulation. It would have been more pro- per to have commenced with the ramusculi, as we shall see here- after that they appear to absorb the fluid which is subsequently transmitted into the larger vessels, but at this period of our de- scription it would not have been so intelligible. We have now to examine the internal structure of the shell, and commencing with that part forming the walls of the cham- bers, we observe, that it is pierced by innumerable tubes, which pass directly downwards from the small papillse on the external, to the small papillse on the internal, surface of the chambers (fig. 3 djd). I could see no tubes passing down from the large papillse, which I have before stated to appear imperforate, like those over the septal spaces. These tubes are about l-9000th of an inch in diameter, and about the same distance apart ; they are vertical over the centre of the area of the chamber, and slope outwards at its boundaries, but do not pass through or extend over the margin of the shell, neither over the septal spaces, nor over the central cell; hence the semitransparency of the two latter, and the fringy, beaded appearance which the tubes pre- of the Shell of Operculina Arabica. 171 sent at these parts, particularly around the central cell, where they assume the form of rays. Besides these tubes, a vertical section of the shell presents a series of horizontal lines 7-8 or more in number, parallel to each other, but not equidistant (fig. 3 c, c) ; these appear to be the lines of contact of the layers of which the shell is composed. Lastly we come to the margin, which exhibits a very curious and interesting structure. It is almost entirely composed of calcareous spicula, arranged parallel to, but overlapping each other (fig. 4). These spicula are l-237th inch long, and l-900th of an inch broad, transparent, apparently hollow, and pointed at each extremity; they appear to be straight, although from their position one would be inclined to think that they must be a little curved. When a transverse section is made of the margin, we observe that it consists of upwards of 100 of these spicula, which form a triangular bundle or cord (fig. 6 a)y the apex of which is directed inwards or towards the chambers, and the base {a) outwards to form the free, rounded margin of the shell ; while its sides are overlapped by an extension of the walls of the chambers, which open as it were to receive it. Its base presents a regularly wavy outline (when viewed in the trans- verse section) from the longitudinal arrangement of the spicula, which do not appear to be covered by a layer of the shell ; and parallel to its sides run the papillary tubes of the chambers (5), becoming more vertical as they increase in distance from this position ; while towards its apex appear the divided large vessels of the marginal plexus (c). In the transverse section also, when reduced to a thin layer, transparent intervals appear in the form of zigzag lines radiating from the apex to the circumference of the cord, which would seem to indicate that the spicula were arranged in it in more or less horizontal planes, dipping towards the apex. It will naturally now be asked, how this spicular cord (fig. 5 hj h)y which commences with the first cell, terminates; but I regret that there is not a single specimen in my possession to afford the information. This arises probably from the extreme thinness of the last-formed chamber ; for with the two or three preceding ones, it is almost always broken or absent. All I can state in connection with this is, that there are always more or less vessels of the marginal plexus cut through or broken in a transverse section or fracture of the spicular cord, and frequently a large one close to its apex, which, after the shell has been filled with a solution of carmine and then laid in pure water, purges it almost completely from the colouring matter with which it had been filled ; — a broken interseptal vessel will also do this. Hence it is not impossible, that a natural opening of the 172 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Fo?'m and Structure kind may exist at the termination of the spieular cord, for this purpose ; but, then, it has nothing to do with the spieular cord itself, of the natural termination and uses of which I am equally ignorant. It should here also be mentioned, that when a thoroughly empty shell, which may be known by its pearly whiteness, is gently laid on the surface of a solution of carmine, so as to float there, the latter is seen, first to colour the margin, then the interseptal vessels become filled, and lastly the walls of the chambers; none of the semitransparent parts of the shell become colom'ed. This will take place sometimes in a few hours, but with some shells it requires a day or two for its completion. By keeping one side of the shell dry the air is enabled to pass out of it, while the solution enters the depending side, and in this way the whole of the hollow structure of the shell becomes coloured. When the shell is washed and dried in this state, the carmine is seen to be chiefly in the interseptal vessels, and this is perhaps the best way of tracing out the terminations, or rather origins, of the ramusculi. On the other hand, when the shell is placed in pure water and watched with a magnifying glass, a stream of carmine particles will be seen slowly issuing from the vessels of the marginal plexus, at the broken end of the spieular cord, or from any other part of the large whorls, where an inter- septal vessel may have been broken ; and after a time, according with that which the shell has taken to imbibe the colouring matter, it will become perfectly white again. Whether this be owing to the watery distension of the gummy fluid suspending the carmine, or a natural consequence of the structure of the shell itself, further observation must determine. The fact of the carmine accumulating at the orifices of the ramusculi, as it would in a filter, seems also, with what has just been stated, to point out the course of circulation in them ; and if we may be allowed to carry out the analogy still further, which is now seen to exist so strikingly between Foraminifera and Porifera, we might compare the interseptal circulation in the former to the aqueous circulation in the latter, and thence might infer, that the water entered by the ramusculi or small pores, and came out by the larger ones, gathered together into one vessel, opening in its natural state at the end of the spieular cord ; but, until a perfect specimen be obtained to determine this, all must of course re- main conjectural. Growth. — From what I have stated respecting the existence of a substance, resembling the cuticle of shells, over the external surface of Operculina Arabica, and the presence of innumerable puncta, which appear to be connected by tubular communica- tions with the chambers beneath, it is not unreasonable to infer, that by this arrangement successive additions may be made to of the Shell of Operculina Arabica. 173 the external surface of the shelly and the laminated structure, which it presents on a vertical section, thus formed ; while the addition of chambers would appear to commence from the open- ing in the septum close to the preceding whorl, and an inter- septal vessel, arising as before described from its marginal plexus, to extend outwards, on either side, pari passu with the chambers to the circumference, which it may fall short of or not, as already stated. Again, it would appear that this addition does not take place singly, but that there are always two or more chambers (fig. 8 b, by b) in process of formation, the last being the smallest, and that, one after another, they gradually reach the margin. I have come to this opinion, not from the recent specimens of Operculina in my possession, in which, as before stated, all the last-formed chambers are broken, but from having observed the ochraceous casts of microscopic nautiloid species of Foraminifera which have been fossilized, to present this form, when dissolved out from their matrix. Analogy to Porifera. — When Dujardin, guided by the sug- gestion of Bory St. Vincent, was struck with the analogy which exists between the filamentous prolongations of Foraminifera and those of the Amoeba or Proteus, he could have little thought, that however nearly the latter might be allied to the Sponges, the former would be found so similar to them in their compact structures. Who, indeed, looking at the nautiloid form of a foraminiferous shell and an amorphous piece of sponge, would say, that they bore the least resemblance to each other ? Yet they are, as we have seen, most intimately allied, both in their fleshy and their compact structures. It must be now generally allowed, that the rhizopodous nature of Foraminifera is identical with that of the Amoeba or Proteus, and through the latter with the sponge-cell ; and in addition to this, we have the former, at least the genus Operculina, still more nearly allying Foraminifera to the Sponges, by possessing a spicular structure, if not a cir- culating system also, like that of sponges. It is curious too, that without any reference to the use of the pores in these two orders of animals, they should have received names of the same signi- fication, as if the intimate relationship which is now found to exist between them was instinctively anticipated, before it was proved by demonstration. The genus of Porifera to which Operculina comes nearest is, of course, the calci-sponges, that called Grantia, after their distinguished discoverer Dr. Grant ; and of this genus, it would seem to approach nearest to the tubular species, which have but one vent. Structure of the Shell of Operculina compared with Nummulites. — It will be very gratifying to those whose investigations of the structure of Nummulites must have been attended with so much 174 Mr. H. J. Carter on the Form and Stmdure labour, difficulty and doubt, to see, how satisfactory the exami- nation of a recent foraminiferous shell, so nearly allied to Num- mulites as that of Operculina, confirms and elucidates their ob- servations. The vertical tubes passing from the surface of the shell to the interior of the chambers (see Dr. Carpenter's illus- trations, fig. ] 5, loc, cit.) ; the intercameral communication [id. fig. 7 b) ; the linear markings or grooves immediately under the latter {id. fig. 7 c), which appear to have been produced by the previous existence of a spicular cord in this position ; and the radiating lines {id. fig. 15 6, Z>), caused by the arrangement of the spicula in horizontal layers inclined towards the apex of the cord, with the sloping papillary tubes on each side of it. — The " mi- nute apertures " (id. fig. 7 «), which only penetrate one layer of the septum, and others which open on the internal surface of the walls, are probably the orifices of the ramusculi of the interseptal vessels which go in this direction. — And the "perforations of considerable size, which pass directly downwards from the exte- rior through the superposed investing layers of the successive whorls " " until they reach the floor of the chambers of the cen- tral plane which they do not penetrate ^' {id. fig. 8 a) ; — the ver- tical interseptal vessels, or an enlargement and union into one tube of the ramusculi^ which pass upwards and downwards from the horizontal interseptal vessels as seen in Operculina. The latter, that is, the union of the vertical with the horizontal interseptal vessels, I have been able to make out in some speci- mens of Nummulites acuta, Sow. (Geol. Trans. 2nd Ser. vol. v. pi. 24. fig. 15), which have had their cavities thoroughly infil- trated with ochraceous oxide of iron ; as well as everything else mentioned by Dr. Carpenter ; and with the exception of the spi- cula themselves, everything that I have seen in Operculina. MM. Joly and Leymerie seem to me to have described one thing and to have figured another. They describe the papillary tubes, and seem, from the distance between them, to figure the orifices of the vertical interseptal vessels (pi. 11. op. cit.), which Dr. Carpenter has particularly described. The columns represented by Sowerby in Lycophrys ephippium (Geol. Trans, loc. cit. fig. 15), and to which Dr. Carpenter has alluded [loc. cit. p. 26), appear, to me^ to be made up of the pa- pillary tubes which descend from chamber to chamber (fig. ^ g,g), and which in purely calcareous fossils are filled with a white opake matter, but in those infiltrated with oxide of iron, with ochraceous matter; while the intervening parts are composed of the septal substance, through which the interseptal vessels pass to the surface and margin in Orbitoides as well as in Num- mulites. The same system of circulation would also appear to be car- of the Shell of Operculina Arabica. 175 ried on in Orbitolites, where the mass is made up of spheroid or ovoidal cells : for if the nearly flat Indian species, which has a papillary eminence in the centre of the convex side, be rubbed down, the latter presents a ramification of transparent substance like that filling the septal spaces of Nummulites and Orbitoides ; which, radiating upwards and outwards from this eminence, passes into the general structure of the shell. The transitionary forms of the chambers in Operculina, through Nummulites and Orbitoides to Orbitolites, would, when viewed in a vertical section, appear to be thus : — In Operculina there is a single plane of spear-head shaped chambers ; in Nummulites a central plane of conical chambers with layers of compressed ones above and below it ; in Orbitoides, a central plane of quadran- gular chambers with numerous layers of compressed ones above and below it ; and in Orbitolites, a mass of circular or ovoidal cells more or less definitely arranged. Hence, if these be their respective peculiarities, Orbitoides Mantelli will, from Dr. Car- penter^s illustration (fig. 31, loc. cit.), belong to the latter, and would therefore be now more properly named Orbitolites Man- telli. One other observation I would here make with reference to geology, viz. the natural union which now seems to be pointed out between the Chalk and the Nammulitic series, by the great prevalence of the same class of animal remains in each — that is to say, the abundance of flints which indicate the previous ex- istence of siliceous sponges in the former, and the myriads of Foraminifera which are closely allied to the calci-sponges in the latter. Bombay, May 12, 1852. EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV. Fig. \. Operculina Arabica, natural size. Fig. 2. Large and small papillae on the external surface of the shell, highly magnified. Fig. 3. Vertical section of the shell over the chambers, highly magnified, showing : — a, a, large papillae ; b, b, small ditto ; c, c, horizontal lines indicative of the layers of the shell ; d, d, vertical tubes. Fig. 4. Spicula in situ, highly magnified. Fig. 5. Diagram of horizontal section of three large chambers of the shell, showing the interseptal vascular system and spicular cord : a, a, a, chambers ; b, b, b, septa ; c, c, c, interseptal vessels ; d, d, d, ra- musculi coming to the surface of the shell ; e, e, e, e, ditto, going to the walls of the shell, &c. through the septa, the dotted lines indicating those branching out into the former; /,/,/, marginal plexus ; g, g, g, ramusculi of margin ; h, h, spicular cord ; i, half- formed septum with termination of interseptal vessel. Fig. 6. Diagram of vertical section of the shell to show the form of the spi- cular cord : a, margin or free surface of spicular cord ; b, vertical 176 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinaceae. or papillary tubes, here sloping outwards on each side the cord ; c, truncated vessels of the marginal plexus ; d, d, small channels of intercameral communication ; e, grand semilunar or crescentic channel of ditto ; /, septum. Fig. /• Diagram of vertical section to show the situation of the interseptal vessels : a, a, interseptal vessels ; h, septum ; c, grand channel of intercameral communication ; c?, part of spicular cord. Fig. 8. Enlarged view of first-formed chambers of Operculina Arabica : a, central cell or chamber ; b, b, b, probable forms of last cham- bers in process of development. Fig. 9. Diagram of vertical section of Nummulites acuta, Sow. : a, spicular cord ? ; b, truncated vessels of marginal plexus ; c, c, chambers of central plane; d, d, vertical interseptal vessels (the "perforations," &c. of Dr. Carpenter) ; e, e, horizontal interseptal vessels ; /, /, /, chambers on each side the central plane ; g, g, g, vertical tubes. XVI. — On some genera of the Icacinacese. By John Miers_, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. [Continued from p. 119.] Emmotum. This neglected genus was proposed by Desvaux in 1825 upon a plant from Guiana. By Endlicher it was referred to Leretia of the ' Flora Fluminensis/ with which it neither accords in the appearance of the leaf nor the mode of its inflorescence : Hamil- ton's character as given in his ' Prodromus/ notwithstanding its brevity, is sufficiently well marked to show that it does not differ from Poffopetalum, founded by Mr. Bentham in 1840 ; indeed the Emmotum fagifolium J Desv., corresponds with Pogopetalum acu- tuMj Benth., both from Guiana, so as to leave no doubt of their identity : according therefore to the austere rule of science, the latter name must give way to the former. Mr. Bentham in establishing his genus recorded two species, and has since de- scribed two others, and I have now to add a fifth. All the spe- cies, which are from Guiana and intertropical Brazil, seem to form good-sized trees, with very thick coriaceous leaves of a peculiar appearance ; their inflorescence is in axillary crowded fascicles of rather small flowers, which are distinguished by having petals densely beset on their inner face with long red silky hairs arising from an elevated costal nervure. Their chief peculiarity, however, consists in the unusual structure and sin- gular mode of dehiscence of their anthers, which are formed of two opposite, unilocular, valveless, and separate cells, the pollen being discharged extrorsely through a fissure arising from the secession of the dorsal margin of each boat-shaped cell from the very fleshy connective, features that have hitherto escaped obser- Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinaceae. 177 "vation. Emmotum offers also another peculiarity in its ovarium with three radiate cells, placed excentrieally on the somewhat gibbous and anterior side of the ovarium. These points of struc- ture are so different from the development met with in other genera of the Icacinacece, as naturally to lead to the suspicion that Emmotum may not belong to this family; but we must remember that in other respects it accords, viz. in its exstipulate alternate leaves, small flowers with a persistent unchanged calyx, petals with valvate aestivation, alternate stamens, simple style, and suspended collateral ovules. I have therefore retained the genus doubtfully, as a separate tribe of the Icacinacea {ante, S. 3. vol. ix. p. 223), until its true place in the system can be ascertained, which will be determined by a knowledge of the structure of the fruit and seed and the form and position of its embryo. The name, I presume, has been derived from £v and jjbOTo^j linteum, on account of the densely intertwined hairs that line the petals, a character that also suggested the name of Pogopetalum. These hairs, when examined under the microscope, appear flattened and covered with numerous promi- nent transparent glandular dots as in Lereiia, The following is sxi outline of its generic features : — Emmotum, Desv. Pogopetalum, 5ew#A. — F/ores perfecti. Calyx brevissimus, 5- rarius 4-dentatus, liber, fructifer immutatus. Petala 5, rarius 4, lineari-oblonga, carnosula, intus ad cari- nam longitudinalem pilis rufis ssepius longis et crispatis den- sissime barbata, sestivatione valvata, mucrone apicali introflexo. Stamina 5 vel 4, petalis alterna, iis vix breviora, omnino libera ; filamenta carnosula dilatata, incurva, apice repente acuta ; an- ther ce 2-loculares, connectivo crasso, interdum loculis utrinque sejunctis breviores, vel ssepe in mucronem subulatum incur- vulum ultra loculos subantrorsim positos producto, imo cor- dato affixee, loculis membranaceis, cymbseformibus, evalvibus, margine posteriori a conjiectivo omnino soluto hinc extrorsim dehiscentibus. Pollen ovale, longitudinaliter sulcatum. Ova- rium liberum, oblongum, subgibbum, pilosum, disco hypogyno parvo sistens, 3-loculare, loculis excentrice radiantibus ; ovula in quoque loculo 2, juxta apicem appensa et subcoUateraliter superposita. Stylus excentricus, erectus, teres. Stigma e den- tibus 3 brevissimis erectis minutum. Drwpa globosa, abortu 1-locularis; csstera ignota. — Frutices Guianenses et Brasi- lienses sempervirentes ; folia alterna, exstipulata, coriacea, In- tegra, nitida, subtus tomentosa ; cymse fasciculatce, axillares, multiflorce ; flores parvi, aggragati, cum pedicellis brevissimis articulati, bructeati. Ann. ^ Majg, N. Hist, Sen 2, Vol x. 12 178 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 1. Emmotvm orhiculatum. Pogopetalum orbiculatum, Benth. Linn. Trans, xviii. 685. tab. 43 ; — arbor 2-orgyalisj ramulis cinereo- vel fulvo-tomentosis_, foliis ovato-orbiculatis^ apice bre- vissime ac obtusissime acuminatis, coriaceis, nitidis, supra lucidisj rachi tomentoso, nervis parallele incurvo-divaricatis, venis creberrime transversis immersis, subtus cum petiolo crasso profunde canaliculate incano- vel fulvo-tomentosis ; ovario hispido, fructu globoso, calyce immutato suffulto. — In Guiana Brasilia3 ad fluv. Padauri, confl. fiuv. Nigri. — Schom- burgk. — [v. s. in herb. Mus. Brit, et Hook, fructu immaturo^ Rio Preto, Prov. Pernambuco. — Gardner, n. 2941.) This species is remarkable for the shape of its leaves, which are almost orbicular at the base and summit, are 2f to 3J inches long, 2~ inches broad, on a deeply grooved petiole 6 or 7 lines in length ; they are thick and coriaceous, very polished above, with a finely shagreened surface, and densely covered beneath with short yellowish tomentum : the simple racemes with a few immature drupes are about f inch long. 2. Emmotum acuminatum. Pogopetalum acuminatum, Benth. he. supr. cit. 685 ; — arbor 5-orgyalis, foliis ovatis oblongisve, apice longissime et anguste attenuatis, mucronulatis, coriaceis, fusco -rufulis, supra lucidis et glaberrimis, in costam sulcatis, nervis paucioribus vix prominulis, venis transversis immersis, subtus pallide ferrugineis, glandulis minutis creberrime punc- tatis, pube rara instructis, petioloque sulcato leviter pubescen- tibus, demum glabris; racemis geminis, fioribus aggregatis griseo-pilosis, petalis ovali-oblongis, intus in carinam pilis longis rufis lanatis, marginibus utrinque glabris ; ovario pilis destitutis et e glandulis minutissimis asperis glauco-pruinoso, disco glabro insito ; stylo excentrico elongato, stigmate obso- lete 3-dentato. — Rio Negro, Brasilise (Schomb. 970). The branchlets are somewhat compressed and angularly striated : it is however distinguished from the other species by the long attenuated summit of the leaves, which are also of a remarkably dark copper or reddish colour when dried ; they are about 4 or 4| inches long, including the suddenly narrow apex of half an inch in length ; they are If to 2|^ inches broad, on a petiole 5 lines long ; the nervures, about seven pairs, are parallel, very divergent, curving, with finely reticulated transverse veins ; the upper surface is polished and finely shagreened ; beneath they are of a ferruginous hue, dead, almost glabrous, and when viewed under the lens seem covered with minute raised glandular dots : generally two racemes spring out of each axil, from g^ to f Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 179 inch long, which, when younger, appear Uke a crowded globular axillary fascicle. The anthers in structure resemble those of the following species. The long red hairs that densely spring from the inner keel of the petals under the lens appear marked by large prominent glands in two uneven series, so that they seem almost torulose. 3. Emmotum fagifoliumy Desv. in Ham. Prodr. Fl. Ind. Occid. p. 29. Pogopetalum acutum, Bcnth., Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. ii. 377; — ramis angulatis, rufo-tomcntosis ; foliis oblongis, ovatisve, apice repente lineari-attenuatis, basi rotundatis vel truncatis, valde coriaceis, supra sublucidis, glaberrimis, nervis divaricatis, pubentibus, approximatis, incurvo-parallelis, sul- catis, venis transversis immersis, subtus prsesertim in nervis sparse sericeo-pubescentibus, nervis tenuibus subprominulis, petiolo canaliculato tomentoso; racemis geminis, axillaribus, petiolo vix longioribus, floribus aggregatis, aurantiaco- vel cano-tomentosis, petalis lineari-oblongis, intus pilis longis rufis in carinam lanatis, lateribus glabris, tilamentis tenui- oribus, dilatatis, antheris ovatis, vix mucronulatis, loculis op- positis, complanatis, ovario pilis longis hispido (nee glabro), stylo elongato, gracili. — Guiana Gallica, Desvaux. — v. s. in herb. Hook. (Leprieur et Martin). There can be little doubt that this is the plant described by Desvaux as the " Bois d'Agoitti," and which is identical with the Pogopetalum acutum of Mr. Bentham : the leaves in form much resemble those of the preceding species ; they are from 3| to 6| •inches long, and 2^ to 3| inches broad, on a slender petiole half an inch in length ; the apex is very suddenly acuminated by a linear point, half an inch in length, and often little more than a line in breadth. The flowers are closely aggregated, each being articulated on its short pedicel ; the calyx is cupuliform, pubes- cent, and cleft into five ovate, fleshy and somewhat acute lobes, which are slightly imbricated in aestivation, as in Flatea; the petals are clothed outside with short gray adpressed hairs, and the prominent internal keel is furnished with a line of very densely-set long red spreading woolly hairs, which are flattened and marked with glandular dots ; the stamens are nearly as long as the petals ; the filaments are fleshy, compressed and broader at the base, somewhat terete and subulate above, and suddenly bent back at the apex, where the point is afiixed to the front of the red fleshy connective, just above its short basal sinus ; the anthers are therefore strictly extrorse ; the connective is almost terete, somewhat compressed, erect in position, and about one- sixth of the length of the filament; the two anther-cells are di- 12* 180 Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. stinctly separate, thin, membranaceous, white, flattened, boat- shaped and vnlveless, fixed one on each side of the connective; they are longer both above and below, so that the anthers are emarginated at the apex and base ; they generally open extrorsely by the separation of the posterior margin of the cells from the connective, or they sometimes, though rarely, separate by both margins. The ovarium has been described as being glabrous, but I have constantly found it clothed with long, erect, setaceous, shining, white hairs ; the lower part is invested by a glabrous, adnate, cupshaped disk : the style is erect and somewhat bent, glabrous, rather subulate, slender, and of the length of the sta- mens : there is no apparent stigma, but the apex of the style is hollow and crowned with three very minute teeth : the ovarium contains three radiate, excentric cells, each showing two ovules suspended from near the apex. 4. Emmotum affine, n. sp. Pogopetalum affine. Planch. MSS. ; — foliis ovalibus e basi rotundato gradatim angustioribus apice fossulato et deflexo longe attenuatis, subconvexis, supra niten- tibus, costa sulcatis, nervis subprominulis, venis creberrime transversis immersis, subtus ferrugineis, et glauco-pruinosis e pilis brevissimis adpressis sub lente visuris, margine valde re- flexo, petiolo subtenui sulcato rufo-glaucescente ; racemis axil- laribus, floribus aggregatis cano-pilosis, petalis intus in cari- nam pilis longissimis rufis dense lanatis lateribus glabris : sta- minibus spec, prseced. : ovario piloso, disco glabro insito. — Brasilia. — v. s. in herb. Hook. (Sellow.) This species comes very near E. acuminatum ; the leaves are very shining above as in that species, and ferruginous beneath, but the hairs that clothe its under surface are so minute as to be seen only under a strong lens ; they are somewhat convex above and the margins are very revolute, the attenuated apex being deeply channelled and curved downwards ; they are about 4J inches long and 2 inches wide, with a somewhat slender and almost terete petiole, which is often suddenly deflexed. The in- florescence is axillary in a few of the upper leaves, but is mostly terminal in branching alternate racemes, each about three- quarters of an inch long. 5. Emmotum nitens. Pogopetalum nitens, Benth. loc. citat. ; — ramis striatis ; foliis oblongis, acuminatis, coriaceis, supra gla- berrimis, pallide glaucis, sub-nitentibus, subconvexis, nervis subprominulis, venis transversis immersis, subtus pube sericea adpressa densa incana aut fulva vestitis, nervis valde promi- nentibus, margine reflexo, petiolo elongato cano-tomentoso Mr. J. Miers on some genera of the Icacinacese. 181 canaliculate saspe deflexo ; paniculis racemosis, temis, axilla- ribus, petiolo sublongioribus, floribus dense aggregatis, grisco- pilosulis^ pctalis lineari-lanceolatis, acutis, sum mo patcntim reflexis, intus ad carinse basin apicemque fascicule pilorum donatis, pilis brevibus albidis ; staminibus incurvis crassius- culis, connective tereti, imo cordato, in mucronem obtusura incurvum longe protenso, antherarum loculis sejunctis, antice contiguis, subparallelis, margine dorsali dehiscentibus ; ovario pilis brevibus micantibus adpressis vestito, disco glabro insito ; stylo brevissimo valde excentrico. — Brasilia intertropica; — v. s. in herb. Hook. — Pj^ov. Goyaz, Minas Geracs et Pemambuco (Gardn. n. 294 J, 3309, 4451); Rio S. Francisco (Blanchet, 2889). In this species the leaves, in the dried state, present a re- markably pallido-glaueous and lurid aspect above, and are co- vered below with yellow, very short, adpressed and bright tomen- tum ; the upper surface is shining, with prominent nervures, and under a lens appears marked with numerous minute impressed dots, between which are seen still more numerous raised resinous spots ; they are generally about 4 inches long and 2 inches broad, on a longer and more slender petiole, about 9 lines in length. One, two or three short branching racemes, about the length of the petioles, crowded with numerous flowers, spring from each axil ; the stamens are incurved, about the length of the petals, the anthers being nearly as long as the broad fleshy filaments ; the thick, fleshy, almost terete connective is slightly cordate at its base, is somewhat incurved and subulate, and ter- minates in an obtuse point that much exceeds the length of the anther-cells; this is affixed just in the angle of its sinus in front, to the obtuse apex of the filament, so that the anthers, though at first sight apparently basifixed, are in reality also extrorse in position : the anther-cells are white, of thin texture, linearly boatshaped, quite separate, nearly parallel, and fixed extrorsely upon the sinus of the inner face of the connective, and they dis- charge their pollen by the secession of the exterior margins from the body of the connective. The pollen is oval, marked by three longitudinal lines. The ovarium is shorter than the stamens, covered with short erect hairs, and seated on a small fleshy glabrous disk ; it is 3-celled as in the last- described species ; the style is very short, very excentric, hollow at its apex, and termi- nated by three very minute teeth. 182 Mr. J. Blackwall on the Structure, Functions, (Economy ^ XVII. — A Catalogue of British Spiders, including remarks on their Structure, Functions, (Economy, and Systematic Arrange- ment. By John Blackwall, F.L.S. [Continued from vol. ix. p. 471.] 186. Epeira signata. Epeira signata, Blackw. Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. Second Series, vol. vi. p. 341. This distinctly marked spider was taken at Broadstairs in Kent in the month of September, and occupies a place in Mr. Walker's cabinet. It is an immature male which had to undergo its final change of integument, as indicated by the tumid state of the digital joints of the palpi. 187. Epeira umbratica. Epeira umbratica, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. Q& -^ Sund. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1832, p. 238; Hahn, Die Arachn. B. ii. p. 24. tab. 46. fig. 112 ; Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 2 ; Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 127 ; Koch, Die Arachn. B. xi. p. 128. tab. 389. fig. 930, 931. umbraticola, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, torn. i. p. 105. Titulus 9, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 44. tab. 1. fig. 9. Epeira umbratica is much more abundant in various parts of England and Wales than it is generally supposed to be, its ap- parent scarcity being attributable to its nocturnal habits and the care with which it conceals itself during the day. In June the female constructs, under the exfoliating bark of trees and in crevices in old rails, a subglobose cocoon of white silk of a slightish texture, measuring f ths of an inch in dia- meter, in which she deposits about 160 spherical eggs of a yel- lowish brown colour, agglutinated together in a lenticular mass. On the exterior surface of the cocoon small pieces of bark, wood, and other extraneous materials are distributed, which serve to assimilate it to surrounding objects. This spider spins a large net, having wide intervals between the radii and the circumvolutions of the elastic spiral line, and preys chiefiiy on moths. 188. Epeira solers. Epeira solers, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 41. agalena, Hahn, Die Arachn. B. ii. p. 29. tab. 47. fig. 115; Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 126. Atea sclopetaria, Koch, Die Arachn. B. xi. p. 134. tab. 390. fig. 934, 935 ; Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 4. and Systematic Arrangement of British Spiders. 183 In a catalogue of spiders, published in the ' Transactions of the Linnsean Society/ vol. xix. p. 113, this species is included under the name of Ejj'e'ira agalena ; the mistake originated in copying the appellation from M. Hahn^s work, ' Die Arachniden,' where it is connected with a figure and description of Epeira solers. The sexes pair in June, and in that and the succeeding month the female fabricates a subglobose cocoon of yellowish brown silk of a loose texture, about ^ an inch in diameter, and deposits in it 140 or 150 dark brown spherical eggs, agglutinated together in a globular form. This spider occurs, but not abundantly, in pastures near Llanrwst, spinning among coarse plants and low bushes a net of moderate extent, between the centre of which and a slightly con- cave cell of white silk, constructed at a short distance from it, a communication is established by means of a strong line; con- cealed in this retreat, the vibrations of the connecting medium speedily convey intelligence to the watchful owner of the snare that a victim is involved in its meshes. 189. Epeira similis. Epeira similis^ Blackv^. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xiii. p. 186. The first specimen of Epeira similis which I had an opportu- nity of inspecting was an adult male taken at East Lodge, En- field, and obligingly forwarded to me by Miss Gertrude Buller Elphinstone. I have since received specimens from Hampshire ; and a collection of living spiders, transmitted to me in September 1843 from Ellesmere, in Shropshire, by Miss Margaret B. Lewis of Cichle, Anglesey, contained a young male of this species, which, as the digital joints of its palpi were very tumid, had to undergo its final change of integument before it arrived at ma- turity. Epeira similis and Epeira calophylla are very closely allied; but the males may be distinguished from each other without dif- ficulty by differences in the structure of their palpi and palpal organs. 190. Epeira calophylla. Epeira calophylla, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 70 ; Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, tom. i. p. 108 ; Sund. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1832, p. 252. Zilla calophylla, Koch, Die Arachn. B. vi. p. 148. tab. 216. fig. 538, 539. Eucharia atrica, Koch, Die Arachn. B. xii. p. 103. tab. 419. fig. 1030, 1031. Titulus 10, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 47. tab. 1. fig. 10. 1-84'- Mr. J. Blackwall on the Structure, Functions y (Economy , This common spider, which is widely distributed in Great Britain, frequents shrubs, buildings, and crevices in rocks and walls. It pairs in autumn, and the female constructs a subglo- bose cocoon of soft pale brown silk of a loose texture, measuring J an inch in diameter, in which she deposits 80 or 90 spherical eggs of a brown colour, slightly cemented together in a subglo- bose mass. The cocoon is attached to walls and the inferior surface of stones by a thin covering of whitish web. 1 have ob- served that the female changes her integument five times before she arrives at maturity, once in the cocoon, and four times after quitting it. In December 1842 and March 1843 I procured several co- coons of Epeira calophylla comprising larvse of two distinct spe- cies of insects belonging to the family Ichneumonid(S, which fed iipon the ova contained in the cocoons and increased rapidly in size; on being converted into pup^e, the females were observed to have the ovipositor turned over the posterior extremity of the abdomen. In the spring of 1843 both sexes of each species, in the imago or perfect state, issued from the cocoons, which I had placed in closed phials. These insects are very dissimilar in size and colour, and the eggs deposited by each in a single cocoon differ in number inversely as the dimensions of the females which produce them ; occasionally I have noticed the larvse of both species in the same cocoon, but I have never detected them in the cocoons of any other spider, however favourable the circumstances might be as regards time, condition, and locality under which they were examined. Epeira calophylla usually employs a radius as a medium of communication between its net and a small tubular cell of white &ilk which constitutes its retreat, instead of spinning a separate line for that purpose ; and this peculiar appropriation, whether the radius be in the plane of the net or whether it be withdrawn from that plane, as is frequently the case, imparts an unfinished appearance to the snare, as it prevents the spider from giving a spiral form to the elastic line on which the viscid globules are disposed, though this is sometimes attempted with a greater or less degree of success. No sooner does the spider arrive at one of the radii adjacent to that in connexion with its cell than it returns, traversing the framework of the snare till it arrives at the adjacent radius on the opposite side, when it retraces its steps, and thus, oscillating between the two, spins a number of curved, viscid lines or arcs of circles diminishing in length from the circumference of the net towards the centre. Lister was well acquainted with this peculiarity, so common in the snare of Epeira calophylla, but has fallen into the error of supposing that it occurs invariably. See his ' Tractatus de Araneis,' p. 48. and Systematic Arrangement of British Spiders. 185 Sometimes this species places its net in situations not entirely surrounded by objects to which it can immediately proceed to attach boundary-hnes. In such cases its operations are deserving of attention. After connecting several radii with the most ac- cessible points, it fixes a filament to that extremity of one of them which is furthest from the centre of its net : along this radius the spider proceeds, drawing out the filament from the spinners and guiding it with the claws of a posterior leg, till the point of union with one of the adjacent radii is attained ; upon this radius it steps, and passing to its other extremity there makes fast the filament, by this simple process connecting with marginal lines distant objects between which no direct commu- nication previously existed. Epeira calophylla presents a striking example of the insufii- ciency of the characters employed by M. Koch in distributing the Araneidea into genera and families : though connected with the EpeiridiB by the closest relations of affinity, yet he has placed it in his genus Eucharia, which he includes in the family The- ridiidce (IJebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 7). 191. Epeira cucurhitina. Epeira cucurhitina, "Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 7^ ; Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, torn. i. p. 107; Sund. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1832, p. 245. Miranda cucurhitina, Koch, Die Arachn. B. v. p. 53. tab. 159. fig. 371, 372. Titidus 5, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 34. 1. 1. fig. 5. In well-wooded districts this species is not uncommon. The sexes pair in June, and the female attaches to the stems or leaves of shrubs, in the vicinity of her snare, a subglobose cocoon of bright yellow silk of a loose texture, measuring frds of an inch in diameter, which usually contains 150 or 160 spherical eggs of a yellow colour, cemented together in a subglobose mass, and enveloped in fine, soft, yellow silk. , , Arachnologists affirm that the small net spun by Epeira cucwt'^ hitina is always placed horizontally ; but this is a mistake, as t have frequently seen it in an inclined position. 192. Epeira ornata. Epeira ornata, Blackw. Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. Second Series, vol. vi. p. 342. A specimen of this showy Epeira is in Mr. Walker's cabinet. It was taken in April 1848, but in what locality is not stated. 186 Mr. J. Blackwall on the Structure, Functions, (Economy, 193. Epeira fusca. Epeirafusca, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 84 ; Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 127. Menardi, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, torn. i. p. 108. Met a fusca, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 7 ; Die Arachn. B. viii. p. 118. tab. 285. fig. G85-687. Caves, cellars, overhanging banks and other obscure places constitute the principal haunts of Epeira fusca in North Wales. In autumn the female fabricates a large oviform cocoon of white silk of so delicate a texture that the eggs, connected together by silken lines in a globular mass |^th of an inch iu diameter, may be seen distinctly within it. Its transverse axis measures about ^^ths, and its conjugate axis y^ths of an inch, and it is attached hy numerous lines, generally forming a short pedicle at one ex- tremity, to the walls or roofs of the places it inhabits. The eggs, which are yellow and spherical, are between 400 and 500 in number. In transferring this species and Epeira antriada, included in the genus Meta (Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 6), from the Epeiridce to the Theridiidce, and thus widely separating them from a species so closely allied as Epeira inclinata, which is suffered to remain in the former family, M. Koch appears to have lost sight of those principles of affinity and analogy which aflford the only safe guide in the classification of natural objects. 194. Epeira antriada. Epeira antriada, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 83 ; Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 128. Meta muraria, Koch, Die Arachn. B. viii. p. 125. tab. 288. fig. 693, 694. Obscure damp situations are generally resorted to by this spider, which is plentiful in many parts of England and Wales. It spins an extensive net with an open circular space at the cen- tre, which it usually occupies when watching for its prey ; from this station it drops quickly to the ground on being disturbed, regaining it when the danger is past by means of a line drawn from the spinners in its descent, and previously attached to the circumvolution of the unadhesive line bounding the central aper- ture. Like Tetragnatha extensa, it has the habit of extending the first and second pairs of legs in a line with the body. Immature individuals of the species Epeira antriada, Epeira. inclinata, Epeira cucurbitina and Epeira diadema, and adults of the species Limjphia minuta and Linyphia tenuis, are frequently infested by the Polysphincta carbonaria of Gravenhorst, which and Systematic Arrangement of British Spiders. 187 feeds upon their fluids and ultimately occasions their death. Since the publication of my account of this parasite in the ' An- nals and Magazine of Natural History/ vol. xi. p. 1, I have ob- served that the colour of the larva, after its final change of inte- gument, becomes dark brown streaked and spotted with white, particularly on the sides, and that a series of dorsal prolegs is developed on the segments of its body comprised between the third and tenth, both inclusive. These dorsal prolegs are short, and, with the exception of that on the tenth segment, are more or less bifid at the summit ; on their extremities are disposed numerous fine curved processes or claws, with which the larva, when about to fabricate its cocoon, attaches itself to the lines spun by its victim. Only two instances are noticed by Messrs. Kirby and Spence in their ' Introduction to Entomology,^ sixth edition, vol. ii. pp. 227, 228, of the larva; of insects having pro- legs situated on their backs. 195. Ep'eira celata. Epeira celata^ Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xviii. p. 668. M. Walckenaer has disposed of Epeira celata as a synonym of Epeira fusca (Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. iv. p. 471) ; but it difi^ers materially from that species in size, structure, colour and oeconomy, and has a much closer aflinity with Epeira antriada. It inhabits damp caverns and hollow banks in Denbighshire and Caernarvonshire, to the sides of which the female, in the month of May, attaches a subglobose cocoon of whitish silk of a loose texture, measuring about ^ an inch in diameter ; in it she depo- sits between 200 and 300 spherical eggs of a yellow colour, ag- glutinated together in a lenticular form. 196. Ep'eira inclinata, Epeira inclinata, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 82 ; Sund. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1832, p. 250. Zilla reticulata, Koch, Die Arachn. B. vi. p. 142. tab. 214. fig. 532, 533. Titulus I, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 24. tab. 1. fig. 1. Epeira inclinata abounds in many parts of Great Britain, but seems to prefer districts which are well-wooded. It spins in the intervals between the branches of trees and shrubs a net similar in design to that consti'ucted by Epeira antriada, and like that species drops quickly, on being disturbed, from its station in the circular aperture at the centre of its snare, drawing from the spinners in its descent a line which enables it speedily to regain its former position. 188 On the Systematic Arrangement of British Spiikrs. In autumn the female attaches to the under side of stones, fragments of rock, and Hchens growing on old trees, several glo- bular cocoons of whitish silk of a loose texture, measuring, on an average, f ths of an inch in diameter ; each contains from 80 to 140 spherical eggs of a pale yellow colour, cemented together in a globular mass. T captured an adult female of this species in August 1842, which was entirely destitute of the left intermediate eye of the posterior row, and the right intermediate eye of the same row had not half of the usual size ; and in another adult female, re- ceived from the Rev. Hamlet Clark in the autumn of the same year, the right intermediate eye of the posterior row had not one-eighth of the natural size, being merely rudimentary. 197. Epeira diadema. Epeira diadema^ Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 29 ; Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, tom. i. p. 106 ; Sund. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1832, p. 235 ; Hahn, Die Arachn. B. ii. p. 22. tab. 45. fig. 110; Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 2; Die Arachn. B. xi. p. 103. tab. 384. fig. 910. '. lutea^ Koch, Die Arachn. B. v. p. 62. tab. 161. fig. 378 ; Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 3 ; Die Arachn. B. xi. p. 123. tab. 388. fig. 926, 927. Titulus 2, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 28. tab. 1. fig. 2. This spider is plentiful in Great Britain, constructing an ex- tensive net, without any circular opening at the centre, among gorse, heath and bushes. Its tarsi, like those of Epeira qua- drata, Epeira apoclisa, and other species belonging to the same genus, are supplied with several small, curved, pectinated claws at their extremity, in addition to the three larger ones common to them all. There is, besides, a strong, moveable spine, in- serted near the termination of the tarsus of each posterior leg, on the under side, which curves a little upwards at its extremity, and presents a slight irregularity of outline at its superior sur- face when examined under the microscope. These spines, which have been denominated sustentacula (Transactions of the Lin- nsean Society, vol. xviii. p. 224 note^), subserve an important pur- pose : by the contraction of their flexor muscles they are drawn towards the foot, and are thus brought in direct opposition to the claws, by which means the spider is enabled to hold with a firm grasp such lines as it has occasion to draw from the spin- ners with the feet of the hind legs, and such also as it designs to attach itself to. As the Epeira, when occupying a position at the centre of their snares, are supported chiefly by the susten- tacula and a line connecting the spinners with their station, the Prof. F. M'Coy on some neiv Lower Palaozoic MoUusca. 189 reason why their heads are always directed downwards on such occasions is apparent. Epeira diadema and some of its congeners envelope their prey in a sheet of web by the following curious process. Causing the victim to rotate by the action of the third pair of legs and the palpi, the first pair of legs also being frequently employed in a similar manner, they extend the spinners laterally, and apply- ing to them alternately the sustentaculum of each posterior leg, they seize and draw out numerous fine lines in the form of a fillet, which they attach to their revolving prey, and thus involve it in a dense covering of silk from one extremity to the other. By means of this stratagem they are capable of overcoming for- midable and powerful insects, such as wasps, bees, and even large beetles. In October the female of this species attaches to the inferior surface of stones a subglobose cocoon of yellow silk of a loose texture, measuring frds of an inch in diameter, in which she de- posits between 700 and 800 spherical eggs of a yellow colour, agglutinated together in a lenticular form. Withered leaves and bits of dry fern are frequently distributed on the exterior surface of the cocoon. After deserting this nidus, the young spin a few lines on which they group themselves into a compact mass, some- what resembling the granulated fruit of the Rubi. XVIII. — Contributions to British Paleontology : — Some new Lower Palceozoic MoUusca, By F. M^Coy, Professor of Geo- logy and Mineralogy in Queen's College, Belfast. Sanguinolites decipiens (M^Coy). Desc. Elongate-oblong, dorsal and ventral margins subparallel -, beak incurved, small, depressed, about one-fifth the length from the anterior end ; hinge-line long, not elevated (the in- flected edges forming a nearly horizontal posterior lunette ex- tending its entire length) ; cardinal angle about 115°; anterior end rounded, narrowed by an elongate, elliptic lunette; a strong sigmoidally contorted diagonal ridge extends from the beak to the respiratory angle; posterior slope steeply inclined; posterior end slightly oblique, subtruncate, rounded ; ventral margin with a wide, rather deep sinus in the middle, from which a wide concavity extends nearly to the beak, and from the diagonal ridge to the anterior end, which is convex an- terior to the beaks ; surface marked with sharp concentric wrinkles from the anterior lunette to the diagonal ridge. Length 8 lines ; in proportion to the length, greatest width 190 Prof. F. M^Coy on some new Lower Paleozoic Mollusca. (from beak to opposite margin) y%%; length of anterior end -f—^, from the beak to end of hinge-line -^^^ ; greatest depth of one valve (about middle of diagonal ridge) j^^-^. I have seen numerous specimens of this species from the Upper Ludlow rocks, usually confounded with the so-called Cypricardia cymbiformis (Sow.), which it strongly resembles at first sight, although the anterior end is considerably longer. That fossil, however, has simple erect dorsal margins, and belongs to the genus Orthonotus, while the distinctly inflected dorsal edges forming the elongate, concave, posterior lunette show the pre- sent sj)ecies to belong to the genus Sanguinolites. Not uncommon in the Upper Ludlow rock of Benson Knot, Kendal, Westmoreland ; and in the micaceous grits of Lleche- lawdd Myddfai, near Llandovery, S. Wales ; greenish schists of Balmae shore, Kirkcudbright. {Col. University of Cambridge.) Capultis ? Euomphaloides (M^Coy). Desc. Depressed, spirally inrolled, whorls rounded; spire de- pressed, of one and a half turns ; surface apparently smooth, or faintly marked by broadly undulated wrinkles of growth (in- dicating the waving of the right lip). Diameter 1 inch, pro- portional diameter of body -whorl y^^^^, height ^^q. This curious species is so much depressed, that were it not for the small size of the spire and the undulation of the lip, as revealed by the flexuous lines of growth, it might be taken for a Euomphalus. I at one time thought it might be desirable to form a particular genus for those palaeozoic species, such as the Nerita Haliotis (Sow.), Pileopsis neritoides (Phill.), &c., having the form of Nerita, but an undulating lip and lines of growth ; on examining carefully the recent Pileopsis intortus and allied species, I found so gradual a passage from them to the ordinary cap-shaped forms, that I prefer leaving them altogether for the present. None of my specimens of that type of shells show the mouth clearly, so that it is possible they may want the inner lip, in which case the genus would be a very good one, and only found I believe in the older rocks. Rare in the Lower Ludlow limestone at Green quarry, Leint- wardine, Shropshire. {CoL University of Cambridge.) Pleurotomaria crenulata (M^Coy). Desc. Obtusely trochiform, length and width nearly equal ; apical angle 85° ; spire of four obtusely rounded whorls, most con- Prof. F. M'Coy on some new Lower Palaozoic Mollusca. 191 vex below the middle ; band broad, depressed, bounded by two delicate prominent keels, the upper edge being a little below the middle of the whorl ; a space equal to the band in width is visible below it on the turns of the spire ; base flattened, gently convex, slightly umbilicate ; surface with close, sharp, irregular, interrupted strife, slightly arched backwards from the spire to the suture, and in the opposite direction beneath it ; the oblique striae faintly crenulated by very minute spiral striae, the band with coarse, irregular, backward arched lines only. Length 6 lines, proportional width j^^^^ , length of body- whorl -J^Q^Q. This bears some slight resemblance to the Turbo carinatus (Sow.) of the Upper Ludlow, but is generically distinct by its striae arched backwards to the band; its spire is also shorter, and there are no spiral ridges on the base. In the Upper Ludlow rock of Brigsteer, Kendal, Westmore- land. {Col. University of Cambridge.) Murchisonia cancellatula (M'Coy). Besc. Conic ; apical angle about 50° ; spire of four whorls, ob- tusely angulated a little below the middle ; the part above the keel oblique, slightly convex near the sutures, slightly concave near the keel ; portions below the keel convex ; body whorl of moderate size ; base apparently imperforate (but imperfectly seen) ; mouth obscurely rhomboidal, a little wider than high. Length 1 inch 2 lines, proportional width -f-^-Q, height of body- whorl Y-Q-^ ; entire surface above and below the keel reticulated by nearly equal spiral and backward curved, oblique, trans- verse sulci, eight or nine in one line. Mr. Salter, on a casual examination of some of our specimens of this species, supposed them to belong to his Murchisonia sca- laris (Geol. Journ. vol. v. t. 1. fig. 2), which he there says is a common Bala species, recognized by its elongate shape, &c., and imperfect specimens of the exterior of which he says show the fine striae curving back to the keel ; but as the carinated species I have seen from Bala are quite different from the present, and agree with the above figure in the elongate form, so diff'erent from the present shell, which also has strong spiral strise, not said to exist in the M. scalaris, nor in the Bala forms which I have seen, I conceive this to be a perfectly distinct species. In the Upper Bala rock of Allt yr Anker, Meifod, Mont- gomeryshire j abundant in the sandstone of Mullock quarry, Dalquorhan, near Girvan, Ayrshire. [Col, University of Cambridge.) 102 Prof. F. M^Coy on some new Lower Palceozoic Mollusca, Murchisonia gyrogonia {M^Qoy). Desc. Acutely conical ; apical angle 45° ; spire of three and a half whorlsj very strongly angulated in the middle by the pro- jection of an acute carina^ the upper and under sides of the volution being flat and steeply inclined ; sutural angle 70° to 75°; body- whorl rounded below, with an additional fine keel about halfway between the principal one and the anterior end, which is almost hid by the suture on the spiral whorls ; sur- face (when preserved) marked with sharp striae, w^hich, on the upper part of the whorl, extend from the suture obliquely backwards to the keel, curving in the opposite direction below the keel. Length 4| lines, proportional length of last whorl 5 5 Tvirli-Ti 7 This is most allied to the Murchisonia perangulata (Hall) of the Bird's-eye limestone of the New York series, but is distin- guished by the shortness of the spire in proportion to the body- whorl, and by the additional keel below the band on the last turn. It is also closely allied to the M. pulchra (M^Coy, Sil. Foss. Irel. t. 1. fig. 19), but is on comparison found to be di- stinct by the fewer, longer, and more produced whorls of the spire. Very abundant in the fine sandy schists of Ysputty Evan, N. Wales ; also in the calcareous strata W. of Llanfechan, Mont- gomeryshire. [Col. University of Cambridge.) Murchisonia simplex (M^Coy). Desc. Acutely conical; apical angle 55°; spire of about four or five whorls, angulated in the middle by the projection of an obtuse thick keel, another keel a little smaller between the suture and the keel above, and a third nearer the suture be- low on each turn ; surface marked with fine strise of growth, arched back to the keel at a moderate angle above, and nearly vertical below ; base imperforate. Width of small specimens 6 lines, length of last turn 5 lines (imperfect specimens double this size). The more elongate form and imperforate base distinguish this species from some of the " Trenton limestone '' varieties of the Pleurotomaria umbilicata (Hall) ; and the same characters and the absence of the spiral strise on the base distinguish it from the Euomphalus triporcatus (M^Coy). I should have supposed the M. scalaris (Sow. and Salt.), Geol. Journ. vol. v. t. 1 . fig. 2, Ayrshire, belonged to this species, but that one, instead of five, keels are indicated in the figure and text Prof. F. M^Coy on some new Lower Palaeozoic Mollusca, 193 Limestone of AUt yr Anker, Meifod, Montgomeryshire ; also in the sandstone of Dalquorhan, near Girvan, Ayrshire ; greenish trappean sandstone of Glenquhaple, Ayrshire. [Col. University of Cambridge.) Murchisonia torquata (M'Coy). Desc. Acutely conic ; apical angle about 26° ; whorls six, having a thickened prominent suture, below which the upper portion of each is slightly concave, becoming very convex in the lower half; band narrow, below the middle on the most convex part of the volutions; striae sharp, strongest on the thickened edge of the suture, arching obliquely backwards to the band. Length 6 lines, proportional length of last turn -^-^^y width 50 Too- As neither the collar-like thickening of the upper edge of the suture, nor the greater projection of the lower part of each whorl, are indicated by Mr. Sowerby in his figure or description (in the Sil. Syst.) of the P. Coralliij I suppose the present species to be distinct. Common in the Upper Ludlow of Spital and Benson Knot, Kendal, Westmoreland ; tilestone of Storm Hill, Llandeilo, Caer- marthenshire. (Col. University of Cambridge.) Euomphalus lyratus (M'Coy). Desc. Spire only slightly elevated, of two very convex turns, each with three narrow spiral ridges, one at the upper suture, one considerably above the middle of the body-whorl and corre- sponding to the lower suture on the spire, and the third half- way between these two ; surface crossed by slightly oblique, thin, cord-like ridges, nearly twice their thickness apart. Diameter about 6 lines, proportional height about -^-§-^. Only one imperfect specimen has occurred of this obviously distinct species, not allowing of the characters of the base or spire being completely ascertained. Rare in the Bala schists at Llansaintfraid, Glyii Ceiriog, Den- bighshire. Euomphalus triporcatus (M'Coy). Desc. Obtusely conic ; apical angle about 95° ; spire of about three or four flattened whorls, each bearing three nearly equal and equidistant, thick, obtuse carinse, one of which is at the suture, which it renders canaliculate, one in the middle, and Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol.x, 13 194 Prof. F. M*Coy on some new Lower Palceosoic Mollusca, one forming the circumference of the basal whorl, and par- tially concealed by the suture in the spiral whorls ; base con- vex, with three smaller spiral carinse and a minute umbilicus ; surface crossed by sharp, scaly, delicate, transverse strise. Width 1 inch, proportional length about -^-^q, length of last whorl ^\%. Col. Portlock has, I think, figured this species (Geol. Rep. t. 30. fig. 3) as the E. subsulcatus of Hisinger, which has double the number of spiral keels on the upper surface. I should have referred those specimens to the E, cornu-arietis (His.), but that seems to have four large ridges to each whorl, and no indication is given in the figure or description of the spiral carinse on the base. It much resembles some of the varieties of the Pleuroto- maria umhilicata (Hall) from the Bird's-eye limestone of New York, but is certainly distinguished by its smaller umbilicus, and the three additional spiral keels on the base ; those latter are ge- nerally best seen in the concavity left when the upper whorls of a specimen are broken away (described from internal casts) . Common in the Bala slates of Cyrn-y-Brain, Wrexham, Den- bighshire ; and in the schists of Golden grove, Llandeilo, Caer- marthenshire. {Col. University of Cambridge.) Madureia macromphala (M'Coy). Desc. Discoid, sinistral, usually elliptical, of about three and a half rapidly enlarging whorls ; spire depressed below the level of the outer turn, which bears an obscure, obtusely rounded angulation, bounding the slightly oblique upper plane of the shell ; circumference obtusely rounded ; under side having the middle of the whorls obtusely angulated, thus defining a wide, shallow umbilicus. Diameter 10 lines, proportional diameter of last whorl -y^q, height of last whorl -^^q, diameter of umbi- licus -f^-j^. Surface crossed by minute, thread-like lines of growth, extending obliquely backwards from the suture, and then crossing almost directly into the umbilicus. This little species is easily distinguished from the M. magna by its very wide umbilicus (resembling that of the carboniferous Euomphalus pentangulatus) , and by the more rapidly enlarging whorls, which also separate it from the imperfectly known M. matutina and M, sordida (Hall), from the calciferous sand- stone of New York. In the concretionary and schistose limestone of Craig Head near Girvan, Ayrshire. (Col, University of Cambridge.) Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. 195 Eccyliomphalus Scoticus (M^Coy). Desc. Discoid, flat, of one and a half gradually enlarging, widely separated, spiral whorls ; back obtusely subcarinate, rounded, lower side rounded, upper side with a flat space, bounded on each side by one obscure keel, the outer one most distinct ; sur- face crossed by rather distant sharp lines of growth, each pair with four or five much finer intermediate striae. Diameter 1 inch 5 lines, proportional diameter of last whorl j^^^^j, height 32 This species is more regularly involute than the E. Bucklandi (Portk.), and has the principal keel on the upper side nearer to the beak. There are three or four of the larger strise in the space of 1 line about the middle of the under side of last whorl. Not uncommon in the schistose Chazey limestone of Knock- dollian quarry, three miles from Ballintrae ; also in the calcareous schists of Mullock quarry, Dalquorhan, near Girvan, Ayrshire. {Col. University of Cambridge.) XIX. — On some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise which have not been described. By William Clark, Esq. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History, Gentlemen, Exmouth, July 20, 1852. I BEG to present, agreeably to a notice in the 'Annals,' N. S. vol. X. pp. 22 and 77, an account of several animals of the Chem- nitzi(2 that have not occurred to naturalists or been very slightly alluded to. My former papers and this will contain descrip- tions of about twenty species, a number more than fourfold greater than has yet been recorded, and most of which I have this summer re-examined : I propose to follow up the accounts of those that have just been met with by a few short additions and corrections to the several species enumerated in the ' Annals,' N. S. vol. vi. p. 451, vol. vii. p. 380, and vol. viii. p. 108. Before I enter on the descriptive matter, it will be proper to say a word or two in explanation of some of the organs of this very singular genus, which, in my method, includes the Odo- stomice and EulimellcBj and a few of the species of Aclis. With respect to the organs of the animal, I will first mention the peculiar anterior process styled by most authors the mentum, which I think ought to be considered the muzzle or rostrum, as it is a continuation of the neck, over which a bridge is thrown, formed of the eyes and tentacula ; and close under them, but on 13* 196 Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitziae. the upper part of the base, or hinder portion of the rostrum, is the proboscidal orifice, from which, though a circumstance of the rarest occurrence, I have in three species seen the evolution of that organ, in the Chem. pallida, C. acuta and C. plicata ; the animals kept it exserted from half a minute to three minutes. Mr. Alder's figure in the 'Annals,' N. S. vol. vii. p. 464, from a sketch of M. Loven, gives a very good representation of it ; the remaining or terminal portion of the rostrum appears to be mute, and is more or less of its length attached to the animal's foot; in other words, it is less free than the muzzle of the RissocBj of which I consider it the representative and remnant, and which it will be seen has entirely vanished in Eulima. Though authors speak of a mentum in that genus, I can find none ; they have, I think, mistaken for it the upper margin or flap of the foot, which in front is divided by a narrow groove : this separation is more or less apparent in most, if not in all, spiral Gasteropoda; it has however little resemblance to the rostrum of the Chemnitzice, which is a long, narrow, thick, di- stinct, and otherwise variable organ, proceeding from the neck as its continuation, and has much the aspect of a mute rissoidean muzzle ; whilst the margins of the foot of the Eulima and other Gasteropoda, and they are generally present in the Chemnitzice, are to assist flexibility on the march, in the same manner as the digitations of the feet of all animals assist progression. Loven, who has described the mentum in his genus Turbonilla, our Chemnitzia, has not, though he has described the animal of Eulima, mentioned the presence of a mentum or rostrum in that genus. The point of issue of the proboscis, from the upper part of the rostrum, is more advanced and visible in Chem. plicata than in any other species I have yet examined ; it was from this animal that it continued evolved more than three minutes, afi'ording me a sight that falls to the lot of few malacologists. I believe I speak within compass, when I state that I have examined more than a thousand live Chemnitzice of twenty species, yet, except on the three occasions alluded to, I never witnessed its exsertion. All the ChemnitzicB have a semitubular fold more or less deve- loped in the mantle, which, though it issues at the upper angle of the aperture, close to the debouchure of the rejectamental orifice, appears more like a branchial one than for faecal func- tions. In the true C. acuta it is largely exserted and very con- spicuous. Can this fold be analogous to the process I have de- scribed at the same point in many of the Rissoce ? Can it have the double, though apparently incompatible, duties of depura- tion, and to supply the animal, when the operculum on certain exigencies is required to be nearly closed, with the branchial Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. 197 fluid ? Can all the Gasteropoda, at the upper angle of the aper- ture on the right side, have branchial conduits independent of the reception of the water into the respiratory vault, under the lax mantle, by the protrusion of the neck and head of the animal ? The presence of a proboscis brings this genus very near to the Canaliferce ; but the Eulimce arc still nearer, as they have no head or rostrum, and the proboscis issues nearly at the fork between the tentacula, as in the Muricidal families. This state- ment renders it necessary to cancel that part of one of my papers wherein I doubt the evolution of a strict proboscis, but after what I have seen that question is set at rest. The rostrum varies greatly in the proportions of its arcuations, scissions, and points of attachment to the foot ; in the Chem. uni- dentata it is plain and truncate, in C. acuta it forms an open subcircular channel with a cochleariform termination, and in Chem. conoidea it is cloven nearly to the base, simulating a second pair of tentacula. I have omitted to remark that the orifice of the rostrum is not precisely in the position of the proboscidal fissure of the Muri- cida ; it is not quite so low in the fork, though exactly under the tentacula at the point of the invasion of the neck, and its con- tinuation, the rostrum, by those organs ; this position is proved by the proboscis when evolved lying upon the rostrum, and by its breadth equalling that of the neck, a point I formerly doubted, and entirely hiding that organ from view. This leads me to say, that for the fourth time, a few days since, I witnessed the emis- sion of the proboscis from a specimen of one of the slender varieties of Chem. acuta : I had an excellent view, as the animal exserted and withdrew it several times, which was not the case before ; it was not quite so slender at the point, nor so much arcuated as in Mr. Alder's figure ; its orifice was perfectly seen. From the above remarks and the descriptions that follow, together with those recorded in former papers, which com- prise animals of the genera Chemnitzia, Odostomiay and Euli- m£lla of modern authors, I submit to naturalists the propriety of merging the two latter in Chemnitzia, an appellation that fortunately has no other significancy than that of compliment to a laborious author in this branch of natural history. The simi- larity of the organs of the animals of the three genera, so far from affording essential generic characters, does not suffice with- out the assistance of the shell for specific distinction. Surely the Chem. rufa and C. elegantissima should not be separated from the smoother Chem. Scilke and C. acicula, merely because the one is smooth and the other ribbed : if so, to be consistent, it would be necessary to separate the smooth Chem. pallida from 198 Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. the ribbed Chem. decussata and interstincta. As to the spiral fold, all the Chemnitzice have it, though in many it does not come into the limits of visibility ; but is that a reason to separate precisely congeneric animals ? The tooth or fold, according to the species, is as often absent from view in the aperture as pre- sent, and it is curious that this condition is not unfrequently seen in the same species. I would ask then, are the inhabitants of such shells to be consigned to Chemnitzia or Odostomiat Chemnitzia, even including the Odostomice and Eulimella, is not so abundant in species as to supply an excuse for dividing them, to assist arrangement into genera that have names, but no di- stinct generic qualities. I think that in the most numerous tribes, judicious grouping would be more scientific than the for- mation of effete genera. It is necessary to offer a remark which is applicable to all the MoUusca, especially to the minute ones, and peculiarly so to the ChemnitzicB. Great care must be taken to distinguish between bond fide specialties and those apparent ones brought on by an uneasy condition of the animal, which ought always to be de- scribed on the undisturbed march, when all the organs are na- turally deployed, as at rest they are contracted ; and violent ex- ertion, which often arises when the animal in creeping arrives at the level of the water in the glass in which it is confined, or meets with an impediment, has the effect of producing unnatural forms : for example, the foot is often made to appear deeply emarginate or hollowed out by the excessive protrusion of the auricles, and the termination of the rostrum is in like manner distorted by the right and left points being exserted beyond nature; but all these forced positions vanish on the deliberate march. A neglect of these maxims has occasionally led me into errors, which will be noticed under their respective heads ; I will not call them trifling, as perhaps on such, the distinctness of a particular species might hinge. Chemnitzia acicula. JEulima acicula, Philippi. Eulimella acicula, auct. Eulimella affinis, nonnull. The animal inhabits a smooth, bluish white, subhyaline shell of eight flat volutions, and has the reflexed apex, the constant characteristic of the Chemnitzia. The mantle is even with the shell, with the exception of the small fold I have alluded to above ; the body does not nearly equal half the entire length of the shell. The general colour of the animal throughout is subpellucid frosted white, mixed with minute snowy flakes. The Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. 193 head or rostrum, called by some naturalists the mentum, is, when fully extended, rather long, very broad, square in front, slightly emarginate in the centre, and on the march is always in advance of the foot, as is usual with the muzzle of the Rissocs ; it is grooved the whole length, and the groove is continued towards the neck, just separating the tentacula at their basal centre ; at its upper surface, close to the base, is the orifice of the proboscis. The tentacula diverge to almost right angles, and resemble short, broad, minute leaves, each with an opake white stripe or stamen through the centre ; they bevel to a fine edge, and with their large flexible margins can, like all the ChemnitzicPy simulate the ear-shaped folds characteristic of those organs, which in this species are conspicuous, but the proteiform tips are only slightly developed. The eyes are very black, not quite close to each other, and immersed a little posterior to the internal bases of the tentacula. The foot is rather long, extend- ing to two volutions, very thin, in front bluntly auricled, termi- nating, when in full march, in an acute point, and carries, on a simple lobe at the junction of the foot with the body, a pyriform light corneous operculum marked with arcuated oblique striae of growth. The animal is free, creeps with rapidity, and dwells in muddy ground mixed with shelly spoil in 14 fathoms water, off Teignmouth, Devon. Malacologists will perceive that the organs of this animal are in every respect generically the same as those of Chemnitzia rufa and Ch, elegantissima. This species has never before been observed alive. I have examined several live specimens of that variety of the present species termed by authors Eulimella affinis, and I find that the animal of the two is identical ; the only difference is in the shell, which in the ' affinis ' is more taper, and has the whorls more rounded and better defined by the divisional lines. Chemnitzia clavula. Eulimella clavula^ Brit. Moll. The animal inhabits a pearly white, but not glossy shell, of five rather rounded volutions, including the moderately reflexed apex ; the body is about half the entire length of the shell, with a narrowish, elongated, oval aperture, quite free from angularity. The animal is clear frosted white. Rostrum very narrow, rouaded at the end, not bilobed nor grooved, and carried just before the foot ; neck greatly protruded, on the march showing an open canal formed of two parallel longitudinal lines. Mantle even, no fold visible. Tentacula short, broad, swelling out behind like a minute wide leaf; the auriform folding nearly disappears on the march ; they are not divergent ; indeed, I may say, they are 200 Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitziae. borne so close and straight as almost to hide the rostrum and proboscidal fissm-e ; they may be termed small, short, triangular, and terminate each with two white inflations, that is, one com- pletely apical, the other close below it quite lateral, subsemicir- cular, and as if soldered to the external sides of the points. I do not recollect having before observed this tentacular peculiarity. The eyes are at the internal bases, not very close together. The foot is a very deceptive organ, from its quality of exhibiting dif- ferent appearances; it is very little concave in front, and has long tentacular auricles ; the margins are thin, often reflexed up- wards towards the shell, and it posteally assumes a form varying from the needle point to an obtuse termination, carrying on a simple lobular eminence of the main foot, at its junction with the body, a minute delicate pearl-coloured obliquely striated operculum. The animal is very active and free. Taken with the Chem, acicula in the same locality. The animal of this species has hitherto escaped observation. I stated in the 7th vol. of the 'Annals,' N. S. p. 391, that I considered the Ch. clavula a variety of Ch. acicula, and confi- dently predicted no animal would ever be discovered of such va- riety which would exhibit decided specialties. I believe this error has originated from having had varieties of the Ch. acicula sent me for examination instead of the true ' clavula.' I appre- hend this must have been the case, as no one with the true shells can confound the two. Whether T am right or wrong in this conjecture, the acquisition of eight living examples of the Ch. clavula proves, that as regards both the shell and animal it is veiy distinct from Ch, acicula. Chemnitzia scalar is, Philippi. Chemnitzia rufescens, auct. Animal subhyaline white, sometimes of a pale red muddy brown, aspersed with minute opake snow-white points, inhabiting a white plicated shell of seven or eight volutions, with transverse striae between the ribs, having the body marked with two or three narrow spiral light reddish brown bands, and two on the penultimate volution ; the apex is intensely reflexed on its next neighbour. Mantle even, except emitting a small cloven fold at the upper angle of the aperture. Rostrum deeply notched in front, with the segments gently arcuated. The tentacula are moderately long, strong, and divergent, and exhibit the usual folding auriform phases of their margins, but the varying infla- tions of the tips are less developed than in many other species ; the eyes are black, not very close together, and fixed at the in- ternal bases of the tentacula, which do not entirely coalesce. Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. 201 being divided by a distinct groove, that is the continuation of one on the rostrum from the point where the cleft terminates. The foot is short, very slightly auricled, and on the march does not extend much beyond the body volution, posteally declining to an obtuse termination, at a little distance from which is the almost simple upper lobe carrying the usual pyriform elliptically striated operculum. Habitat : shelly mud, in 10 fathoms water, six miles from the shore, off Teignmouth, Devon. This animal has scarcely been observed, and the only obser- vation as to colour does not quite accord with the live specimens I have examined. I am now inclined to think, contrary to my opinion in the 'Annals,' N. S. vol. vii. p. 387, that there are two varieties of this species : the one scalar, or with turreted sub- angular volutions, which is considered the type, under the title of Chemnitzia scalaris ; the other, with rounded volutions, has the specific appellation of C. rufescens. I have taken both alive, and could detect no difference in the animals, except in colour; the C. scalaris being sometimes subhyaline frosted white, at others pale red-brown, and the same variations attend the so- called C. rufescens. I may be in error as to the identity of the two, but that is my present impression. Aug. 10th. — I this day took at the same haul two shells, one of which proved the typical C. scalaris, the second was the form termed by authors C. rufescens ; they were both put in a vase, and being lively, I again saw that their organs were identical. Chemnitzia fenestrata, auct. Animal inhabiting a longitudinally plicated and spirally ridged white shell of eight rather flat volutions which bevel from their bases to the sutural lines ; the apex has the usual reflexion of the tribe. The general colour of the external organs is a sub- hyaline frosted white, the internal posterior volutions are a deep red-brown. Mantle even with the aperture, except a small shoot at the upper angle. Rostrum slender, long, flat, barely hollowed at its termination. The tentacula are comparatively long, slender, and fold after the characteristic manner of the race, and have the white inflated tips ; they are united at the bases, on which, close together, are imbedded at the internal angles the conspi- cuous black eyes. The foot in slow march is short, broad and obtuse, but when the pace is accelerated it attenuates and ex- tends to the bottom of the second basal volution ; anteriorly it forms a concave sweep, ending on the right and left in very slight auricular points, and posteriorly in a moderate lanceolate shape, carrying on a simple lobe, close to its junction with the 202 Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. body, a light, corneous, pyriform, obliquely striated operculum. This elegant little creature is very vivacious, and free from shy- ness. Habitat : muddy ground, in 10 fathoms water, six or seven miles from the land, off Exmouth. It is one of the unrecorded species. b Chemnitzia obliqua. Alder. Odostomia diaphanay nonnulL The animal inhabits a very pale yellow-white smooth shell of four rather tumid volutions, besides the apical reflexion, which is less than usual, the divisional lines are by no means oblique, and the body exceeds the length of the spire ; its colour is a brilliant frosted subhyaline white. The mantle is even, except a conspi- cuous tubular fold at the upper angle of the aperture. The rostrum is short and cloven in the centre almost to the eyes ; each segment forms an arcuation to each side equal to an angle of 40°. The tentacula are strong, rather long, without much auriform folding, subrotund and taper, terminating with minute circular snow-white spots or inflations on the tips ; the eyes are close together at the internal basal angles ; the great peculiarity attached to the tentacula is, that instead of a moderate diver- gence on each side the rostrum, they form large arcuations and are carried at right angles with the axis of the shell. Foot thin, rather concave in front, slightly auricled, long and broad, and when fully extended reaches beyond the body whorl, terminating in a distinct bifurcation, which is very apparent in slow march, but on a quicker pace being attained, the fork in some measure decreases in consequence of the greater extension of the foot ; on a small simple lobe, close to the junction of the foot with the body, is fixed an elongated, narrow, corneous, delicate light yel- low operculum with close-set oblique striae of growth. Taken at Exmouth from a shelly bottom, six miles from shore, in 12 fathoms water. It has hitherto escaped the re- searches of authors. I have thought the " ohliqua,^ if unconnected with the Ch. Warrenii (the C. decor ata of authors), a doubtful species, but the above description removes all doubts^ of its not being in esse, Chemnitzia insculpta, Montagu. The animal occupies an ivory-white shell of five moderately rounded volutions, with well-marked but not oblique sutural lines ; the three lower whorls at the basal portions have very fine distant either concentrically circular or spiral striae. The colour Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. 203 is opake frosted white, with a rather large patch of dull claret- red on the neck. The mantle has the usual fold at the upper angle of the aperture. The rostrum is short, cloven to the eyes, with the segments arcuating as in C. obliqua. The tentacula coalesce at their bases, and are very broad and short, which con- dition may, in some measure, be owing to the margins not being folded in the auriform fashion on the march ; they termi- nate in very small white slightly inflated tips ; the eyes are close together at the internal bases. The foot appeared short and broad as the animal moved in slow march, but perhaps, if the pace had been accelerated, it might have been somewhat ex- tended ; in front it is gently concave with blunt auricles, close under which it becomes a little constricted, and terminates in a deep regular emargination carrying on a plain lobe a remarkably thin, light, horn-coloured, narrow, subelongated, obliquely stri- ated operculum. It inhabits six miles from shore at Exmouth, in a shelly hot-' torn of 14 fathoms water. It has not been examined before. Chemnitzia Warreniij Brit. Moll. Chemnitzia decorata, nonnull. Animal inhabiting a white subturreted shell of four compressed volutions, with oblique sutures ; the basal part of the body whorl being finely, superficially, and irregularly spirally striated. The mantle is even with the shell, but has the power of relaxing itself so as to produce a small conduit at the upper angle of the aperture. The rostrum is short, cloven as far as the eyes, having the segments curved to the right and left; the tentacula are short, triangular, bevelled, not broad, attenuating to a fine point, and armed with small white inflated tips; they are carried in front of the head with an angular divergence of about 75°; the eyes are close together at the internal united bases. The foot is short, concave in front, slightly auricled, posteally terminating obtusely with a light, horny, thin, obliquely striated operculum, seated on a simple lobe that is scarce distinct from the upper part of the foot near its junction with the body. Habitat as in the two preceding species. This animal is now noticed for the first time. Chemnitzia inter stincta, Mont, et auct. ; Annals, N. S. vi. 458. Animal inhabiting a closely plicated white shell of five and a half flattish volutions, the body not being half the length of the shell ; the apex is less reflexed than usual ; the aperture has generally a visible tooth, and there are one or two rows of crense 204 Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitziaef. or lattice-work on the base, between the ribs, of the three lower volutions. The general colour of the animal, as regards the por- tion contained in the body whorl, is a frosted rather opake white. The mantle is even with the shell, scarcely showing a fold at the upper angle of the aperture. The rostrum is very slender, not cloven, but truncate at the end, and as usual on the march pre- cedes the foot. The tentacula are rather long, slender, not par- ticularly divergent, and have but narrow margins for the auri- form folds j they are taper, bevelled, and terminate in prominent white tips ; the eyes are not very close together at the internal bases. Foot short, narrowish, rarely extending when fully de- ployed much beyond the body volution, truncate in front or very little concave, with short auricles, and a little contracted below them, carrying on a simple upper lobe, at the junction of the foot with the body, a thin, pear-shaped, light, corneous, ob- liquely striated operculum ; the foot has a rather obtuse though lanceolate termination. I have reproduced this species, already described by me in the * Annals,' partly with the view of correcting some slight errors, but principally to place it in immediate view for comparison with its tumid variety, and with the next species, the Chemnitzia in- distincta, and its variety that has been named Ch. clathrata, all of which have been strangely jumbled together ; but very large series of both species and their varieties have, I think, enabled me to unravel various misapprehensions. "With respect to the shell of the present species, it has only one well-marked tumid variety, which, as regards the animal, differs in no respect from its chief, as the posterior volutions of both, in the shell, are of a dark lead-colour ; but the variety is invariably of larger size ; the whorls, though the same in number, are more tumid, and the body volution is more than half the whole length of the shell j there is rarely on the body and next turn more than one well-pronounced row of crenje, and a tooth is always visible in the aperture. I have a fine series of more than twenty examples of the variety, and 100 of the type, all of which have been exa- mined alive. It is difficult to say whether Montagu's figure represents the shell with the flat or tumid volutions, but as far as the indiffer- ent engraving will allow one to judge, I should guess it to be the tumid variety. I believe, however, all collectors consider the flatter shell the type, it being by far the most abundant. As I find the animals of both absolutely identical, I cannot hesitate to consider the differences of figure as of mere varietal value. The true Ch. interstincta has usually a fold in the aperture, but it is not uncommon without it, and these exceptions are mul- tiplied in most collections by an admixture of some half-grown Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. 205 typical indistincta and the variety ' clathrata^ which are inva- riably without the tooth; it never exceeds 5| volutions. The type is very common in the coralline district, but the tumid variety is oftener met with in shelly mud. Chemnitzia indistincta, Mont, et auct. Chemnitzia clathrata, Brit. Moll. The animal inhabits a white subopake shell of six or seven, sometimes eight, rounded volutions, with close-set waved longi- tudinal plicae that have 3-5 rows of short lines forming a lattice- work between the ribs, sometimes on them, at the bases of the three or four last whorls ; the body is not near half the length of the entire shell ; the aperture is always destitute of a tooth. The animal in the body volution is pale yellowish subhyaline white, aspersed with minute snow flakes, but the posterior volu- tions are dark lead-colour, visible through the shell. When the neck is greatly protruded, two parallel longitudinal lines are seen forming an open canal, perhaps for branchial purposes. The rostrum is long, rather narrow, and just rounded at the termination. The tentacula are very short, united at the bases, with their thin margins unfurled on the march, which gives them, instead of the usual auriform figure, a very large, subtri- angular, broad, leafy aspect; they terminate in large inflated white tips, and are often delicately powdered with a pale, thin, cloud-like suff'usion of excessively minute lemon-coloured points ; the eyes are very black, distinct, and close together at the in- ternal bases. The foot is large, thin, subhyaline, either trun- cate or concave in front, dependent on the will of the animal, with very large auricles, which in progression are used as feelers ; the margins of the foot are often reflexed, as if to em- brace the sides of the shell ; it is long, and when fully extended reaches to the third basal volution, and ends in a needle point ; sometimes on each side there is a row of small flake-white spots ; it carries on a simple upper lobe, scarcely distinguishable from the mass of the foot, a light corneous, thin, obliquely striated pyriform operculum. The animal marches with rapidity, and is far more active than the Ch. interstincta. It inhabits, with the variety ' clathrata/ a peculiar district of shelly mud, between the laminarian and coral- line zones in 10 fathoms water, ofi" Teignmouth. That this is Montagu's Turho indistinctus is scarcely doubtful ; he says that his examples have six volutions, and no fold in the aperture — that is the number of the ordinary run of specimens ; but both the type and variety, when very fine, have Q^ to 8 turns, as our magnificent series will show. 206 Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. There can be no doubt of the Ch. indistincta being distinct from the Ch. inter stincta ; we, in oar first accounts, thought other- wise ; but the greater number of volutions, the invariable absence of a tooth, the much more difi'used lattice- work of the former, and the specific difierences of the animals, afibrd decisive marks of distinction. We have examined more than twenty live specimens of the typical species, in comparison, often in the same vase, with forty of the variety ' clathrata/ which only difiers from the type, as regards the animal, in having the posterior volutions pale pink, that gives the shell the appearance of being of a still paler pink hue, but in fresh shells the colour is a dull pearly white ; this dif- ference in the animals is probably dependent on food : another variation, perhaps the eff'ect of the same cause, is, that the contour of the variety is somewhat less slender than the type ; but the similar number of the volutions, the character of the lattice- work, and of the want of the tooth in the aperture of both, together with the identity of the animals, forbid the differences I have noticed to be considered of more value than of mere and not uncommon variations. Chemnitzia pallida, Mont, et auct. C. eulimoideSy Ann. Nat. Hist. N. S. vol. vi. p. 452 ; vol. vii. p. 389. C. rissoidesy Ann. Nat. Hist. N. S. vol. vi. p. 455. Odostomia notata, O. albella, O. dubia^ O. alba, O. nitiday O. m- soidesy O. eulimoides, O, glabratal auct. variorum. There is nothing to add to the description in the ' Annals ' of the above species, of which several are now alive before me ; I have only to observe, that having examined the animals of the annexed so-called species, I am bound to add them to the syno- nymy of Chemnitzia pallida ; one, as the papers referred to above will show, of the most variable species as regards the shell ; but the animals of all these spurious articles have the unvarying di- stinguishing character of C. pallida, which is absent from all the other Chemnitzia that can in any way be confounded with this group, — I mean the liberal, though irregular aspersion of many of their organs with minute sulphur-yellow or gold-co- loured spots and points; and above all, the organs of their animals are similar. This species is an inhabitant of all the zones, and receives that impress as to form and size which results from the incidents of the respective localities ; these causes have doubtless led to the formation of the pseudo-species, which I think only in some cases can claim even the distinction of varieties. Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. 207 Chemnitaia acuta, mihi, Ann. Nat. Hist. N. S. vol. vi. p. 452. Odostomia acuta^ auct. O. conspicuaj Alder ? O. turritUy nonnull. O. striolattty Alder ? Animal inhabiting a glossy shell of 5-6 rounded volutions of a more or less pale livid red^ pinkish, or pearly hue ; the apex is greatly reflexed, and the aperture furnished with a conspicuous tooth. The ground colour of the animal is a sordid white, mixed with clouded pale yellow, red, or brown patches and points, which are irregularly distributed on many of the organs ; the tissue of the skin is smooth, rarely frosted or breaking into a mottled flaky aspect. The mantle is even, except that at the upper angle of the aperture, there is a very evident folded tubular canal, which I have alluded to in the preliminary obser- vations on the genus. I will only add, Mr. Lowe writes, " pallio ecanaliculato ;'^ M. Loven says, "processus pallii dexter canali- culatus ;" from which it may be inferred that the canal is some- times present, at others not, or not visible. The rostrum is slender, deeply channelled, or hollowed out its whole length, having a cochleariform termination, and at the upper surface of its base emits the proboscis. The tentacula are moderately long, divergent, subtriangular, bevelled, with the margins only slightly folded, and the tips are less white and inflated than usual ; the eyes are rather close at the internal angles. Foot short, opake white, often aspersed on both surfaces with the varying hues I have spoken of above, deeply hollowed out in front, forming with the angles long auricles, which, when drawn together by the animal, have the appearance of a second pair of tentacula ; its posteal termination, at the will of the animal, assumes the varying phases of the pointed and obtuse forms, carrying at the junction of the foot with the body, on a simple eminence, a pyriform red- brown or yellowish obliquely striated operculum. There being some inaccuracies in my account of the Ch. acuta in the ' Annals ' referred to above, I have reproduced it, as it is an important species embracing several others of doubtful pa- rentage, and some varieties, which latter produce the three fol- lowing distinct forms. The slender subcylindrical variety passes in all collections for the coralline zone Ch. plicata ; this is an error : an examination of the animal shows it to be a Ch. acuta, differing materially in its organs from the true ^plicata* which is essentially a littoral animal, rarely, if ever, found beyond that limit : I have hundreds of examples taken alive. The next form is that of the common livid flesh or pearl-coloured glossy shell 208 Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. of 5-6 volutions, with a cone of broader basal dimensions ; this is the type, and though usually smooth in the aperture, is sometimes furnished with transverse crense in the throat; I have four which were examined alive in comparison with the smooth ones, and they are, both in shell and animal, iden- tical ; it is difficult to account for the occasional presence of di- stinct crense in the same species. The third form is of the larger size of 6-8 volutions with white shells ; these are smooth, though sometimes furnished with striae in the throat of the aperture ; I have several of each, which are so exactly repre- sented by the figure of Mr. Alder's O. conspicua in the ' British Mollusca,' that I am induced to consider that species as a large crenated Ch. acuta ; and it is not improbable that the O. striolata of the same author, like the Ch. turrit a, of which I have spoken largely in the ' Annals,' N. S. vol. vii. p. 392, may be a striated Ch. acuta, which are all more or less furnished with spiral striae on the volutions. I must observe, that the crenated examples of Ch. acuta must not be confounded with any variety of Ch. co- noidea, as the animals of the two are very different ; and as re- gards the shell, the cone of the one attenuates suddenly, whilst in the Ch. conoidea it diminishes more gradually and tumidly. The Ch. acuta is by far the most abundant Chemnitzia of the South Devon coasts, and is taken in the coralline and muddy shelly districts. Independent of the three principal varieties, each varies greatly in the contour and colour of its individuals ; it is, after the Ch. pallida, the most variable of the Chemnitzia. Chemnitzia unidentata, Mont. ; Annals, N. S, vol. vi. p. 453. I have lately examined many live examples of this species, and have only to request that for " head proboscidif arm'' — 'Nostrum truncate in front, not cloven/' may be substituted. Chemnitzia conoidea, Annals, N. S. vol. vi. p. 453. Odostomia conoidea^ nonnuU. A splendid series of all sizes of this beautiful species has been examined, and I have little more to observe, except that I find it has a slender and tumid variety. Chemnitzia plicata, Mont. ; Annals, N. S. vol. vi. p. 457. Two hundred live specimens of this, I believe, strictly littoral animal have occurred; and I beg that the following sentence, "but I believe it also inhabits the laminarian and coralline districts," may be erased. Mr. W. Clark on some of the Animals of the Chemnitzise. 209 Chemnitzia rufa, auct. ; Annals, N. S. vol. vi. p. 457, & vol. vii. p. 386. Chemnitzia formosa, nonnuU. ; and Annals, N. S. vol. vii. p. 387. I have seen several large specimens in the present month, June 1852; the only correction I offer is for, "The head or muzzle proceeds from the coalescing tentacular membrane, forming a sort of head-veil a little beyond the foot,^' read '^ the rostrum, is long, flat,'' &c. &c. Chemnitzia fulvocinctay Annals, N. S. vol. vii. p. 387. The above reference explains all I know of this species, which, with most authors, is a synonym of Ch. rufa, Chemnitzia spiralis, Mont. ; Annals, N. S. vol. vi. p. 457. Odostomia spiralis, nonnuU. I have no additional observations to make on this species. Chemnitzia Sandvicensis, Walker, Test. min. rar. ; Annals, N. S. vol. vii. p. 388, and vol. viii. p. 110. Odostomia dolioliformisy nonnuU. I have nothing more to offer on this species. Chemnitzia decussata, Mont.; Annals, N. S. vol. viii. p. 111. Odostomia decussata, nonnuU. Chemnitzia elegantissima, Mont. ; Annals, N. S. vol. viii. p. 112 ; Brit. MoU. I request that the following sentence may be added to the de- scriptive matter : — The Ch. degantissima is never marked with purple streaks as in Ch. pusilla, and the tentacula are carried more in a line with the body than in that species ; the shell is also more taper and of a more opake sordid texture, but recent examples must be compared to see the value of this distinction. Chemnitzia pusilla, Philippi; Annals, N. S. vol. viii. p. 113. The addendum to the preceding species will apply to this ; I have only to observe, that the constant variations in colour, con- tour, and texture of the shells have been verified by the exami- nation of near twenty live individuals of this species. Chemnitzia Gulsona, Annals, N. S. vol. vi. p. 459, and vol. viii. p. 108. 1 have searched in vain for a second example of this rare ani- mal ; 1 am anxious to review it ; however, I do not despair of again meeting with it. Ann. S$ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. x. 14 210 Mr. P. H. Gosse on the Sloughing of the Spider-Crab. The only other British Chemnitzus which I have not seen alive are the Ch. Barleei, Ch. excavata, Ch. Scillce {Ch. nivosa, which is the Ch. cylindrica (juv.), and Ch. truncatula of authors). Though in a former paper I have included the Aclis unica amongst the Chemnitzice^ it may possibly turn out to be of a different type : — this observation is made without further know- ledge on this point ; I know pretty nearly its habitat from ha- ving found recent shells, but with the animal so collapsed as not to emit the organs. I will make no remark on the Aclis ascaris and A. nitidissima, as the animals still elude our researches. I have now stated all that I know, agreeably to my views, of this difficult and interesting genus, and corrected some popular errors as well as those of observation, and particularly many of my own ; for however greatly our amour propre may suffer by such admissions, there is absolutely no other alternative but to submit to them, which, if omitted, or not made at the proper moment, would leave us pretty much in the same position as the Chancellor of the Exchequer's regiment of conscience-money payers, which curious public fact, illustrative of one of the mysterious operations of the human mind, if properly pondered on, will suggest to us all, in respect of the present and the here- after, many salutary, important, and high considerations. I am, Gentlemen, your most obedient servant, yiU him ,jiju iu;ii my> William Clark. 0>il/l3j9*i3W YQiii il )01i ■ '. .,,,.. ■',..•. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ XX. — On the Sloughing of the Spider- Crab (Maia Squinado).// By F. H. Gosse, A.L.S. m ■>t An opportunity having just occurred to me of witnessing the sloughing of a large Crab, I put down the principal points that I observed, hoping that they may throw light upon a subject that has always appeared so full of difficulty ; namely, the man- ner in which the limbs are withdrawn from the exuvise. As I was out this morning searching for algse and zoophytes at low water, in the little cove of Hele near this town, I looked into a crevice that formed a small tide-pool beneath a huge overhanging rock. In the remotest corner crouched a Spider-Crab {Maia Squinado), face outwards, as is the custom with crabs in such circumstances. On pulling it out, I was astonished and delighted to observe how completely the carapace and the limbs were covered with parasitical zoophytes and algse. A delicate Ceramium was conspicuous among the latter, and the former consisted of Antennularice and Plumularice in great profu- Mr. P. H. Gosse on the Sloughing of the Spider-Crab. 211 sion, and in the highest possible condition ; many of them loaded with ovigerous vesicles. While in the act of securing the crab in my collecting-basket, esteeming it only on account of the zoophytes it carried, I felt the body fall away from the carapace, which hung for an instant by the frontal part and then gently detached itself, with a feeling to my fingers as if it had been torn away. On looking at the crab I saw the new carapace perfectly formed and coloured^ with no marks of injury where the slough had parted from it. The whole of the limbs and the under parts still remained in- vested with the old skin. My collecting-jar was not large enough to receive the animal, which I was therefore compelled to bring home dry in the basket. But I immediately covered it with sea- water on my arrival, after it had been exposed about three-quarters of an hour. It was very inert and seemed exhausted. My attention was taken up with one of the zoophytes, which was new to me, and I did not look again at the crab for about a quarter of an hour. It was then in the very act of sloughing the remainder of its exuviae. The whole of the limbs, the abdominal segments, the sternum, with all the members of the mouth, came off entire, being con- nected by the common integuments. When "I looked at it, the first thing that struck me was the pulling of the legs out of their sheaths. The posterior ones were freed first ; the anterior pairs were about half out, and the animal pulled first at one, then at another, until they were quite drawn out, as if from boots. The joints, as they came out, were a great deal larger than the cases from which they proceeded. It was evident that in this instance, neither were the shells split to afford a lateral passage for the limbs, nor were the limbs reduced to tenuity by emaciation. It seemed to me that the parts, which had an almost jelly-like softness when extruded, were compressed as they were drawn through the narrow orifices by the fluids being forced back, these returning through their vessels, and distending the liberated portion of the limb, as it was freed. The enlargement of the whole animal was as immediate and imperceptible in its progress as that of a caterpillar in the act of moulting. I measured some of the dimensions soon after the completion of the process, and found them as follows : — In the slough. In the crab. Length of the carapace to the tip of frontal spines ... 3|^ in. 4f in. Width of the carapace at the lateral spines 3-]-^ „ ^i >» Diameter of thigh of first true leg x\ „ -^^ „ The claws of the anterior feet, and the black horny points of 14* 312 Mr. P. H. Gosse on the Sloughing of the Bpide7'-Crab. the ambulatory feet, were increased in size more than propor- tionally, as were the abdominal foot-processes. The whole of the branchiae were represented in the most beau- tiful order in the exuviae, with the crescentic flabellum laid over each series perfectly in situ. They were enveloped in an ample and most delicate mucous membrane, which was attached to the margin of the crust all round, and was evidently the lining mem- brane of the branchial cavities. The coats of the stomach, with its minute teeth, were also there in the form of a membranous bag, attached to the mouth by the lining of the oesophagus. The coats of the antennae and of the eyes remained attached to the carapace; and the glassy cornese of the latter were not reversed. On opening a joint of one of the legs of the exuviae, I found the thin shelly plates that afford attachment to the muscles still in situ. I was struck with the beautifully regular though minute ser- rature of the opposing edges of the claws in the renewed ani- mal, the teeth closing accurately into the intervals of the oppo- site series when appressed. Scarcely a trace of any such struc- ture could be discerned in the slough ; the teeth having been probably worn smooth by use. I did not see any of the struggling that is sometimes spoken of; it seemed to be a very easy and simple matter. The new integuments were perfected, though soft, before the old were thrown off, and the immediate cause of the separation of the crust appears to me, the sudden growth of the animal within, forcing asunder the upper and lower crusts at the posterior margin : then the pulling out of the limbs presents no more difficulty than what depends on the enfeebled condition of the muscular energy. The great claws of the common crab and of the lobster, of course, suggest a more difficult operation. But the congruity seen in the operations of nature makes it unlikely that one mode of procedure would obtain in these and another in a species so affined as the Spider-Crab. Hence, I presume that even these members, bulky as they are, are drawn through their narrow joints, not by being emaciated, but simply by being softened, and by their fluids being displaced in detail. • i""j' nfracombe, Devon, August 14, 1852. ' ^oiJ^->'Jl lummoO' ■Rfft JffJ Bihliographica I Notices. 213 BIBLfOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. Platitce Javanicae Rariores, descriptce Iconibusque illustratce, quas in Insula Java, annis 1802-18, leffit et investiyamt Thomas Hors- FiELD, M.D. ; e siccis Descriptioties et Characteres plurimarum elaboravit Joannes J. Bennett; Observationes Structurarn et Affinitates prcesertim respicientes passim adjecit Robertus Brown. FoL Lond. Part 4, 1852. We are glad to announce the publication of the fourth and conclu- ding part of this valuable work, the earlier parts of which are noticed in the second and fourteenth volumes of our * Annals.' The acknowledgements there made to Dr. Horsfield for his emi- nent services in science, and to the Hon. Court of Directors for their liberal patronage of tbem, render it unnecessary for us to say more than that the ' Plantse Javanicae Rariores ' will ever be considered a record cere perennius of the merits of the one (associated as he here is with his friends Mr. Brown and Mr. Bennett, to whom the pre- sent work owes its existence), and, among other splendid publications equally due to the liberality of the East India Company, of the mu- nificent character of the other. To this concluding part Dr. Horsfield has added a very valuable map of Java, on which the routes in his different journeys are traced, a geographical preface illustrating the map, and a very interesting postscript, in which he gives a rapid sketch of his excursions, with observations, especially on the volcanos of the island. Dr. Horsfield' s labours in Java began and ended under the pro- tection of the Dutch Government, to the officers of which he grate- fully acknowledges his obligations. His first visit to Java was in 1 800, as a surgeon on board a vessel from Philadelphia, and it was during this voyage that he was so struck with the beauty of the island, that he felt an irresistible desire to study its productions. In the next year he therefore returned to Java, and entered the Dutch service, re- ceiving the appointment of surgeon in the Colonial Army. His first Report to the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences led to a more liberal appointment, which enabled him to extend his researches. From 1800 to 1811 Java was in the possession of Holland, and it was restored in 1816. It was in the five intervening years that Dr. Horsfield enjoyed the patronage of Sir Stamford Raffles, and formed that friendship which ever after constituted the pride and charm of his life. It was through the influence of this eminent man that his labours were made known to Sir Joseph Banks : and a col- lection of plants sent to him in 1814 was the occasion of the first communication from Mr. Brown, who eventually, on Dr. Horsfield's arrival in England in 1819, examined and arranged the herbarium, containing 2196 species. The present work is the joint production of that great botanist, and of his friend and associate Mr. Bennett, and must be considered the most important contribution to our botanical knowledge that has been made in this country of late years. 214 Bibliographical Notices. We copy Dr. Horsfield's closing passage of his postscript :^'««^"^f» " I have the pleasing duty," he says, " to acknowledge the ability and assiduity with which Mr. Bennett has performed the task he has undertaken. The minuteness of detail and extent of research with which he has elaborated the articles he has contributed, elucidate clearly and satisfactorily the characters and habits of the subjects as well as the history of their discovery, and the labours bestowed on their investigation by preceding botanists. Mr. Brown has, agreeably to his original intention, contributed his remarks on the affinity and structure of the subjects described ; he has also afforded many valu- able suggestions in the progress of the work, and the whole has received his examination and revisal. I embrace with pleasure the opportunity now afforded me of publicly expressing my great obliga- tions to Mr. Brown. The examination and arrangement of my her- barium, the laborious duties connected with the superintendence of the figures contained in this work, the preparation of the illustrative details, and the time devoted to the description of the subjects, are by no means the only marks of friendship which I have received from that distinguished botanist, who, ever since my arrival in England, has afforded to me his advice and assistance in my researches con- nected with natural history, and on many other important occasions." Of the plants contained in the concluding part, five in number, nearly all are remarkable for such singularities of structure as to render the determination of their affinities a task of considerable dif- ficulty ; and the elaboration of the whole part is due to Mr. Brown. The plant least removed from ordinary forms is Actinophora fra- gransy a genus indicated in Dr. Wallich's list and there referred to Buttneriacece ; with respect to which Mr. Brown observes, that " it certainly does not belong to ButtneriacecB as I originally defined it, but this may equally be said of several genera included in that order, and which, like Actinophora, are more obviously referable to Tili- acecB ; at the same time, as I observed in proposing the separation of Buttneriacece y these two families gradually pass into each other." The more remarkable characters of Actinophora are its " enlarged subfoliaceous spreading calyx, accompanying a crustaceous evalvular monospermous pericarpium." The two succeeding articles are dedicated to a new species of ^ar- costigma (S. Horsjieldiiy R. Br.), and lodes ovalis of Blume ; two genera referred by Mr. Brown to the natural family of Phytocrenece of Amott. He discusses the question of the value of their floral en- velopes, and comes to the conclusion that they are properly to be regarded as calyx and corolla. He notices also the views of different authors as to their affinity, and gives a synopsis of the characters of the family Phytocrenece and of the genera belonging to it, viz. Phytocrene, Wall., Sarcostigma, Wight and Am., lodes, Blume, Nansiatum, Buch. Ham., andMiqueliayMeisn. {inclndmg Jen/dnsia, Griff.). As a genus " Phytocreneis affine," he enumerates also Py- renacantha, Hook., properly united by M. Planchon with Adelanthus of Endlicher. While removing Sarcostigma from Hernandiacece in which Messrs. Wight and Amott had placed it, Mr. Brown inci- Bibliographical Notices. 215 dentally observes that the two genera, Hernandia and Inocarpiia, of which that family has been composed, do not appear to be very nearly related to each other. The fourth species figured in this part is Cardiopteris lobatUy Wall. List, which is identified with Cardiopteris Javanica of Blume. After tracing some curious points in the botanical history of the ge- nus, Mr. Brown proceeds to notice the more remarkable peculiarities of its structure, and discusses the questions of its hermaphroditism, the position of the micropyle of its seed, and the singular arrange- ment of its perfect and imperfect stigmata. In illustration of the latter point we quote his description of the pistillum. " The external structure of the pistillum is very singular. In an early stage of the flower, immediately before or even at the time of expansion, there are apparently two stigmata : of these the more obvious is capitate, undivided, fleshy, but not papillose, and is supported on a distinct style ; the second is quite sessile, much shorter in this stage than the capitate branch, and having its upper or inner surface distinctly stig- matic or papillose. In the next stage, the latter, which I regard as the efficient stigma, gradually enlarges, becoming longer than the capitate organ, which in my opinion is an imperfect stigma, and as in this stage the ovarium though enlarged has not perceptibly increased in diameter, this capitate stigma has the appearance of being lateral. The perfect stigma, which continues to lengthen, its upper surface becoming more evidently hispid or papillose, not unfrequently re- mains crowning the samara even when ripe, but frequently also it is then deciduous, while the imperfect capitate stigma, which has undergone no change either in size or surface, more generally remains after the real stigma has^ fallen." With respect to the affinities of this curious genus, Mr. Brown does not regard any of the approxi- mations hitherto made as satisfactory ; and although aware of several important objections to the view, is "inclined to consider Cardio- pteris as an isolated genus or family to be placed at no great di- stance from Phytocrenece, chiefly through lodes.'*' The concluding article contains a monograph of the genus Ben- nettia, established by Mr. Brown in Dr. Wallich's List in 1847, and recently published by M. Tulasne under the name of Cremostachys. Mr. Brown regards Bennettia as bearing " the same relation to Anti- desma (for Antidesmece contains at present no other well-established genus) that the polypetalous bear to the apetalous genera of Euphor- hiacecB^ In the present case he states that " the presence of petals may even be regarded as of more than ordinary importance, their usual form in the male flower being necessarily connected with the aestivation of stamina." This remarkable peculiarity is thus described in the species figured, Bennettia Javanica^ R. Br. : — " Stamina decern distincta. Filamenta brevissima, latiuscula, sepalis et petalis oppo- sita. Antherse biloculares, loculis connective lato distinctis longitu- dinaliter dehiscentibus ; omnes cucullis petalorum semi-inclusse, ita ut duse petalo singulo oppositse esse videantur (exterior interiorque), sed dum exterior ad filamentum petalo oppositum pertinet, interior e loculis respondentibus filamentorum duorum petalis alternautium formata est." Mr. Brown adds, that " the affinity between Euphor- 216 Linruean Society. biacetB and Antidesmece is rendered more obvious by the addition to the latter of Bennettia ; but the structure of ovarium and the mono- spermous drupaceous pericarpium readily distinguish them. lodes and Sarcostigma also agree with Bemiettia in several important points, particularly in their unisexual minute flowers, ovarium with two pendulous ovula, monospermous drupa, and in most respects in the structure of seed ; they differ in habit, being twining or scandent shrubs without stipules, in their monopetalous persistent inner peri- anthium or corolla, in aestivation and reduced number of stamina, in structure of antherse, and in the embryo being inverted, not trans- verse." The number of species of Bennettia described is seven, "chiefly distinguishable by minute, but,*' as Mr. Brown believes, " constant differences in their male flowers and in the form of their fruits." With the exception of the Javanese species, they are all from Tavoy, Singapore, and Pulo-Penang, where the genus was first discovered by Jack, who referred it, with doubt however, to Limonia. In treating of this genus Mr. Brown incidentally refers to the prin- ciple which he laid down in 1810, when proposing and characterizing the family of Comhretacece^ which he placed among Polypetalae " non solum propter petalorum in pluribus existentiam, sed quia vera natura partium affinitatesque ordinum, ex contemplatione generum in quibus structura magis evoluta, quam ex iis in quibus aliqua pars suppressa, tutius erui queant ;*' a principle in conformity with which he in 1814 also "placed among Polypetalse EuphorbiacecBy 2i family to which the same reasoning is still more strikingly applicable." Preparing for Publication. An Elementary Introduction to the Study of Palaeontology ; with numerous Figures Illustrative of Structural Details. By F. M*Coy, Professor of Geology and Mineralogy, Queen's College, Belfast. : ' Also, by the same Author, A Manual of the Genera of British Fossils ; comprising Systematic Descriptions of all the Classes, Orders, Families, and Genera of Fossil Animals, found in the Strata of the British Isles ; to be completed in four or five Parts, forming one volume, 8vo, of about 500 pages, with nearly 1000 Wood Engravings. J .^, PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. LINN^AN SOCIETY. - -J/'x bl!;. Feb. 18th, 1851.— W. Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in thelShair! Read "A Catalogue of Recent Land and Freshwater Mollusca found in the neighbourhood of Nottingham." By Edward Joseph Lowe, Esq., F.R.A.S. &c. Water Shells {Univalves). Neritina jluviatilis . Abundant in the river Trent near Beeston and near Nottingham, and in the river Soar near Thrumpton. Linncean Society, 217 Paludina achatina. Common at Thrumpton in the river Soar, in the river Trent below Nottingham, and in the Lenton Canal. Bithinia tentaculata. Swarms in a stagnant ditch near Lenton Priory, common in most ditches at Lenton, in a clear brook at Bees- ton and another at Attenborough, in the river Trent and tributaries to that river near Beeston and Sawley, and also under the Seven Arches in Nottingham Meadows. B. ventricosa. Only found in a narrow ditch near the railway at Lenton, where it is tolerably abundant, and under the Seven Arches in Nottingham Meadows. Valvata piscinalis. Abundant in brooks at Beeston, Lenton, and Bui well, and in the river Trent near Beeston. V. cristata. In rare numbers in a brook on Bulwell Bogs. Succinea putris. Rather abundant at Thrumpton. S. Pfeifferi. Common at Sawley and near Highfield House, and found between Beeston and Attenborough. Limneus auricularius . Abundant in the Musco-Sic dike near Highfield House ; found at Lenton, Beeston, Attenborough, and Sawley. L. pereger. Very abundant at Lenton, Beeston, Attenborough, Sawley, Bulwell, Thrumpton, Highfield House, and Nottingham Meadows. L. stagnalis. Abundant in a dike at Lenton, a dike at Atten- borough, a mill-dam at Bulwell, a backwater at Sawley (called the * Old Trent'), .and in few numbers in the river Trent near Beeston, and a stagnant ditch between Beeston and Attenborough. L. palustris. Abundant on moist mud at Sawley and near the railway at Thrumpton, and very large in a stagnant ditch between Beeston and Attenborough. L. truncatulus. Rare in a ditch at Lenton and under the Seven Arches in the Nottingham Meadows. Ancylus Jluviatilis . Tolerably abundant in clear dikes at High- field House, Attenborough, Bulwell and Oxton, and at the mouth of a well at Newstead Abbey. Valletia lacustris. Tolerably abundant in a small ditch at Lenton near the railway, and under the Seven Arches in Nottingham Meadows. Physa fontinalis. Abundant in dikes at Lenton and Attenborough, the canal at Lenton and a pond at WoUaton, and in small numbers in the Musco-Sic brook near Beeston. P. acuta (of Sowerby). Abundant in the river Trent at Beeston and Attenborough, rare in a brook on Oxton Bogs, in the canal at Lenton, and in a ditch between Beeston and Attenborough. J plexus hypnorum. Abundant in a dike at Beeston and rare in a ditch near the Beeston railway station. Segmentina lineata. Rare in a brook on Oxton Bogs. Planorhis corneus. Very abundant in brooks at Lenton, Beeston, Bulwell, Sawley, Attenborough, &c. P. carinatus. Very abundant in brooks at Lenton, Beeston, Bul- well, and Attenborough, in the river Trent at Beeston, and under the Seven Arches in Nottingham Meadows. 016 Linncean Society. P. marginatus. Abundant in dikes at Beeston, and of large size in a stagnant ditch between Beeston and Attenborough. P. vortex. Very abundant in the river Trent, and in dikes at Beeston, Lenton and Attenborough, and under the Seven Arches in Nottingham Meadows. P. spirorbis. Abundant in the river Trent at Beeston, and in dikes at Beeston, Lenton, and Attenborough. P. albus. In few numbers in the river Trent near Beeston. P. contortus. Not common on the bogs at Bulwell, and rare in a ditch at Lenton. P. imhricatus. Not common on dead leaves in the lake at High- field House. P. nitidus. Rare in the lake at Highfield House and in a pond at Wollaton. (^Bivalves. ^ Cyclas rivicola. Rather abundant in the river Trent near Bees- ton and in the river Soar at Thrumpton. C. cornea. Very common in the river Trent near Beeston, and in brooks at Lenton, Beeston, Attenborough, Bulwell, and Highfield House, and under the Seven Arches in Nottingham Meadows. C. lacustris. Very abundant in a brook at Beeston and another at Highfield House. Pisidium amnicum. Abundant in the river Trent at Beeston, in a ditch near Beeston railway station, and in a brook at Beeston. Anodon cygneus. Abundant in the lake at Highfield House, in the Old Trent at Sawley, and in mill-dams at Bulwell. A. cellensis. Abundant in the lake at Highfield House and in the river Trent near Beeston. A. anatinus. Abundant in the lake at Highfield House, a stream and canal at Lenton, and the rivers Trent and Soar. A. avonensis. Rare in the river Trent near Beeston. A. anatinus, var. (very ventricose). In the lake at Highfield House. Unio pictorum. Common in the lake at Highfield House, the river Trent at Beeston and Sawley, and the river Soar at Thrumpton. U. tumidus. Not uncommon in the river Trent near Beeston, and rare in the lake at Highfield House. U. ovalis. Found in the lake at Highfield House and in the river Trent at Beeston. U. Deshayesii (if a var.). Not common in the river Trent near Beeston. Dreissena polymorpha. Very common and large in the lake at Highfield House, common in the canal at Lenton (where it is small), the river Soar at Thrumpton, and a pond at Wollaton, and in few numbers in the river Trent near Beeston. Land Shells. Helix aspersa. Very common at Beeston and around Nottingham. H. hortensis. Rare at Bulwell. H. nemoralis. Very abundant in most hedges. H. hybrida (if a var,). Rare at Highfield House. H. arbustorum. Rare at Thrumpton, Sawley, and Highfield House. Linnaan Society. 219 H. pulchella. Tolerably abundant at Highfield House, rare at Beeston and Oxton. H. fulva. Not uncommon at the foot of a hill at Thrumpton, rare at Highfield House, Oxton, and Stanton-on-the- Wolds. H. hispida. Common at Nottingham Castle, Beeston, Bulwell, Saw- ley, Oxton, Highfield House, Thrumpton, Stanton-on-the- Wolds, &c. H. concinna. Tolerably abundant at Highfield House, and found at Stanton-on-the-Wolds. H. depilata. Found in small numbers at Stanton-on-the-Wolds. H. sericea. Rare at Bulwell, Oxton, and Stanton-on-the-Wolds. H. virgata. Rare at Stanton-on-the-Wolds and at Highfield House. H. ericetorum. Abundant at Stanton-on-the-Wolds. H. rotundata. Very common at Highfield House and Nottingham Castle, and found at Bulwell. H. alliaria. Not abundant at Sawley and Thrumpton. H, cellaria. Abundant at Nottingham Castle, Sawley, and High- field House. H. aculeata. Rather rare under decayed leaves at Highfield House and Stanton-on-the-Wolds. H. caperata. Very abundant at Stanton-on-the-Wolds in one field, but not found elsewhere. H. crystallina. Not abundant at Highfield House, Bulwell, and Oxton. H. granulata. Rare on Bulwell Forest. H. lucida. Not common at Bulwell, Oxton, Highfield House, and Stanton-on-the-Wolds. H. nitidula. Rare at Bulwell and Oxton. H. pura. Rare at Oxton. H. pygmcea. Rare at Highfield House and Stanton-on-the-Wolds. Vitrina pellucida. Common at Oxton both on the warren and on the bogs, less abundant at Highfield House, Beeston, Bulwell, and Stanton-on-the-Wolds. Carychium minimum. Tolerably abundant under leaves at High- field House, Bulwell, Beeston, and Stanton-on-the-Wolds. Bulimus obscurus. Abundant at Nottingham Castle and Highfield House. B. luhricus. Common at Highfield House, Sawley, and Thrump- ton, and found at Bulwell, Oxton, and Stanton-on-the-Wolds. Azeca tridens. Rare at Highfield House. Pupa umhilicata. Very abundant at Nottingham Castle and at Highfield House. Clausilia nigricans. Exceedingly common at Thrumpton, BulweU,i and Highfield House. : . The following MoUusca are to be found associated together in the same localities. A dike running at the foot of Beeston and passing behind the lake at Highfield House contains, where it passes through Mr. Barker's field, the following shells : Planorbis corneus, P. marginatus, P. cari- natus, P. vortex, P. spirorhis, Limneus pereger, and Aplexus hypnorum. The dike is choked with weeds and filth from the village, and warm water from a neighbouring mill here runs into it ; P. corneus is found 220 Linncean Society. much larger in this warm dike than elsewhere in this neighbourhood. 200 yards lower down the dike contains (where it runs through the Rev. J. WoUey's fields), besides the above Planorbis tribe, Cyclas lacustris, Limneus auricular ius , L. pereger, Pisidium pulchellum, and Valvata cristata. A few hundred yards beyond this the water becomes free of weeds and clear, and the whole tribe of Planorbis are left be- hind. From Broadgate, all through the Highfield House estate, the dike only contains Limneus pereger, and in one or two places Ancylus fluviatilisy and on the moist mud on its banks Succinea Pfeifferi and Limneus truncatulus. The Musco-Sic brook branches out from it at Broadgate and joins it again at the east extremity of the Highfield House estate ; this brook at first contains Planorbis marginatus, P. vortex, P. carinatus, P. corneus, Bithinia tentaculala (very large), Val- vata piscinalis, Limneus pereger, Cyclas cornea, Pisidium pulchellum, and Limneus auricularius. A very clear brook at Attenborough with Algae growing in it, contains Planorbis corneus, P. carinatus, P. marginatus, P. vortex, P. spirorbis, Ancylus fluviatilis, Bithinia tentaculata, Limneus pereger, L. auricularius, L. stagnalis, and Physa acuta. A similar brook at Lenton near the railway contains Planorbis corneus, P. vortex, P. spirorbis, P, carinatus, Limneus stagnalis, L. auricularius, L. pereger, Physa acuta, P. fontinalis, Valvata piscinalis, Cyclas cornea, and Bithinia tentaculata. A small ditch some fifty yards from the last-named locality con- tains : — Bithinia ventricosa, B. tentaculata, Limneus truncatulus, L. pereger, Valletia lacustris, Planorbis vortex, P. spirorbis, P. carinatus, and P. contortus. The lake at Highfield House contains : — Anodon cygneus, A. cel- lensis, A. anatinus, A. var. of anatinus, Unio pictorum, U. tumidus, Dreissena polymorpha (very large), Planorbis nitidus, P. imbricatus, and Limneus pereger. The river Soar at Thrumpton contains : — Cyclas rivicola, C. cornea, Unio pictorum, Dreissena polymorpha, Anodon cygneus, A. anatinus, Limneus pereger, L. stagnalis, and Paludina achatina. The river Trent near Beeston contains : — Pisidium pulchellum, Anodon anatinus, A. avonensis, A. cygneus, Cyclas cornea, C. rivicola, Bithinia tentaculata, Limneus pereger, L. stagnalis, Physa acuta, Neritina fluviatilis, Planorbis carinatus, P. vortex, P. spirorbis, P. albus, Unio pictorum, U. tumidus, U. ovalis, Limneus palustris, Valvata piscinalis, and Dreissena polymorpha. Under the Seven Arches in Nottingham Meadows are, Planorbis carinatus, P. spirorbis, P. vortex, Bithinia ventricosa, B. tentaculata, Valletia lacustris, Cyclas cornea, and Limneus pereger. In the river Lean at Bui well there are Valvata piscinalis, V. cris- tata, Planorbis carinatus, P. contortus, P. vortex, Bithinia tentaculata, Limneus pereger, Anodon cellensis, and Ancylus fluviatilis. A moist mud-bank left by the Trent floods at Sawley contains Limneus truncatulus, L. palustris, L. pereger, and Helix alliaria. A dry bank near has Helix nemoralis, H. arbustorum, H. hispida, and Bulimus lubricus. A cool bank at Thrumpton contains Helix nemoralis, H. arbustorum. Linncean Society. 221 H. hispida, H, fulva, Clausilia nigricans, Bulimus lubricus, Succinea Pfeifferi, S. putris. Helix cellaria, and H. alliaria, A sand-bank in the lane at Highfield House has Helix nemoralis, H. hispida, H. concinna, H. virgata, H. arbustorum, H. rotundata, H. cellaria, H. pulchella, Bulimus lubricus, B. obscurus, Azeca tridens. Pupa umbilicata, and Clausilia nigricans. The Nottingham Castle-yard contains Helix aspersa, H. hispida^ H. nemoralis, H. cellaria, H. rotundata, Bulimus lubricus, B. obscurus, and Pupa umbilicata. Oxton Bog and Warren has Helix fulva, H. lucida, H. pura, H. pulchella, H. hispida, Bulimus lubricus, Vitrina pellucida, Physa acuta, and Segmentina lineata. The Hill Farm at Stanton-on-the-Wolds has Helix hispida, H. sericea, H. depilata, H. concinna, H. fulva, H. aculeata, H. pygmcea, H. caperata, H. ericetorum, H. nemoralis, H. virgata, Bulimus lubri- cus, Carychium minimum, and Vitrina pellucida. Read further, a memoir " On the Aquilaria Agallocha, Roxb., the Agallochum or Aloe-wood Tree of Commerce." By the late William Roxburgh, M.D., F.L.S. &c. Communicated by the President. The memoir, which appears to have been written in 1810 or 1811, fiontains a detailed description of this important tree, as well as much other information in addition to that published in the posthumous * Flora Indica' of the author. The plants described were sent to the Calcutta Botanic Garden by Mr. Robert Keith Dick, Judge and Magistrate at Silhet ; and an extract is given from a letter addressed by that gentleman to Dr. Roxburgh, in which he states that the wood is brought for sale from the country of Kuchar and from the southern parts of the zillah of Silhet, particularly the divisions of Puthureea and Lunglah, where the tree is known by the Bengal name of Tuggur. Its extreme height is from sixty to seventy cubits, and the trunk from two to two and a half cubits in diameter. No part of the wood, except that which is used for the extraction of the Uttur, is applied to any useful purpose. Few trees contain any of this precious perfume, and such as do, have it very partially distri- buted in the trunk and branches. The people employed in its col- lection, however, cut down all the trees indiscriminately, and then search for the Aggur by chopping through the whole tree, and re- moving such portions as are found to contain the oil or have the smell of it. In this state Mr. Dick describes four different kinds, of which the first, called Ghurkee, sinks, and sells at from 12 to 16 rupees per seer of 2 lbs. ; the second, called Doim, produces from 6 to 8 rupees per seer ; the third, Simula, floats, and is sold at from 3 to 4 rupees ; and the fourth, Choorum, in small pieces, which also float, at 1 to 1^ rupees per seer. The oil is obtained by bruising the wood in a mortar, and then infusing it in boiling water, when the Uttur collects on the surface. Neither root, leaves nor bark yield any Uttur. Some trees will produce a maund (80 lbs.) of the four sorts. So far Mr. Dick. Dr. Roxburgh thinks that there is a wonderful agreement between the various but imperfect accounts of the trees Linnaan Society. said to produce the Calambac or Agallochum of the ancients and that which he describes. He notices the descriptions given by Lamarck and Cavanilles, which he thinks, as far as they go, agree well with the plant of the Botanic Garden ; as do those of Rumphius, making some allowance for the imperfection of his figures. Ksempfer's figure and description also exactly correspond with young specimens in the Botanic Garden sent from Goalpara by Dr. Buchanan and from Silhet by Mr. Smith ; and a description of the fruit by Mr. James Cunningham is quoted as very exact. Dr. Roxburgh gives his reasons for believing that not only the Ophispermum Sinense of Loureiro, but also the Aloexylum Agallochum of that author, are both of the same genus, if not the very same species, with the plant from Silhet. There runs indeed so uncommon a coincidence through the whole of these notices as to induce him to believe that they all relate to the same identical object. He concludes by retracting what he had previously said, in his account of Amyris Agallocha, as far as relates to its yielding Calambac, which he acknowledges to have been founded on erroneous information. Dr. Roxburgh's memoir was accompanied by some remarks by the late H. T. Colebrooke, Esq., F.L.S., consisting chiefly of refer- ences to and extracts from various Oriental authors, in relation to this fragrant wood, the countries in which it is found, the tree from which it is derived, its various kinds, and the processes used in ex- tracting the oil. On the subject of the etymology of the word Agal- lochum,, he observes that it is not right to derive it from the Arabic, which on the contrary is confessedly borrowed from the Greek, that is to say, from the Agallochon of Dioscorides. Neither is its origin to be sought in the Hebrew Ahalim and Ahaloth, as proposed by Salraasius, since it is more obvious to deduce it from the language of the country whence the drug was brought ; and the Indian name Aguru, or with the Sanscrit pleonastic termination ca, Aguruca, is much nearer to the sound of the Greek term. The Portuguese Pao de Aquila, he adds, is an undoubted corruption either of the Arabic Aghdluji or of the Latin Agallochum ; and it is by a ludicrous mistake that from this corruption has grown the name of Lignum Aquila, whence the genus of the plant now receives its botanic appellation. The paper was accompanied with a coloured drawing of the young plant, and of a flowering branch, together with a detailed ati^ftly^is of the parts of fructification. »o {^? \ March 4^ — N. Wallich, Esq., M.D., Vice-President, in the Chair. Read " Notes on Bdellium." By B. A. R. Nicholson, Esq., M.D., of the Bombay Army. Communicated by the Secretary. Dr. Nicholson states that the tree which he identifies as producing the Bdellium of Greek and Roman authors, occurs in the hilly districts of North-western India, where it is known to the natives by the name of Googul. He extracts the account of Bdellium from Ainslie's * Materia Indica,' and comments on some of the statements therein contained. Thus, for example, Ainslie says that " all of this gum-resin found in India is brought from Arabia, where the tree is Linruean Society, 223 called Dowm ; " but Dr. Nicholson states that wherever the tree is found in the North-western provinces, the bazaars are supplied with the gum from it ; and that he never heard the tree called Dowm in Arabia, although he has been in many parts of that country, where he has seen the Googul. Dr. Ainslie again quotes Sprengel, who erroneously states that Dowm is the Arabic name for Borassus fla- belliformis, and cites Ksempfer and Rumphius in proof that Bdellium is procured from that tree ; but Dr. Nicholson believes the Arabic name Doom to be exclusively applied to the dividing-stemmed Palm (Hyphcene Thebaica, Gsertn.), which is common on the banks of the Nile, in the Thebaid and Upper Egypt, two or three trees of which he has seen growing at Mocha, and a single tree at the west end of the native village opposite to the Portuguese settlement in the Island of Diu in Kattiawar. He has frequently examined this Palm without detecting any gum ; -and it is well known in India that the Tari, Borassus flabelliformis, does not produce gum. Another Palm, Cha- mcerops humilis, L., has been also affirmed to produce Bdellium, and Matthiolus is quoted as having witnessed the fact at Naples ; but Dr. Nicholson states that he particularly examined this Chamcerops at Girgenti in Sicily in all stages of its growth, in flower, in fruit, and without either, and never observed anything like gum. After refuting these erroneous notions as to the origin of the gum, Dr. Nicholson proceeds to state that he met with the Googul plant for the first time in 1832 on the Hills of Balmeer, in the Chotee Thur or Little Desert, on taking and sacking which town large quantities of the gum were found in several of the Banyan houses. The bush is also plentiful about Joolmaghur, thirteen miles south- west from Balmeer ; and the author has observed it on the Kulinjur Hills in Parkur, as w^ell as on those of several parts of Kutch and Wangeer. Having been shipwrecked in 1836 on the southern coast of Arabia, about 200 miles east of Cape Furtash, and being carried by the Arabs to the town of Geda, about three miles distant from the coast, he observed that large quantities of the gum Googul, there called Aflatoon, were brought to Geda by the Bedouins from the interior, where he was informed that the tree producing it was very plentiful, and that the gum is annually carried thence to Mocha on camels, and exported from Mocha to Bombay and other places. He subsequently found the Googul bush on the hills of Yemen, and in 1841 on the hills above Wankaneer in Kattiawar. The gum is chiefly used as a frankincense ; but the natives of Guzerat, and pro- bably of other provinces where the tree is found, collect and bruise the recent berries and twigs, boiling the juice out in cauldrons, and having mixed it with their chunam (lime), to which it imparts in- creased tenacity, commence all their dwellings with lime thus mixed, it is said from a religious motive. The gum is found most abun- dantly after the rains, when it is collected in pieces as it exudes from the tree, and is often very dirty from the careless way in which it is gathered, being mixed with the bark and twigs, and sometimes even with the subjacent soil. The harder and nearly transparent drops are picked out by the Banyan merchant, and fetch a higher price than the rest. 224 Linmsan Society. The author states that he is indebted to the late Dr. Charles Lush, F.L.S., Superintendent of the Honourable East India Company's Botanical Gardens at Darpoorie, who in 1842, from the sketches and specimens then in the author's possession, identified the plant as the Amyris Kataf of Forskahl, and assisted in identifying the gum with the Bdellium of the ancients. He believes that if at all known to Roxburgh, it must be under the names of Amyris nana or of Bos- wellia. The paper concluded with a description of the plant, and with some remarks on the geological character of the localities in which it is found ; and was accompanied by a sketch of a branch, and bv specimens of the gum in its pure and mixed states. * ' ■V » May 6. — R. Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. Ah Read some " Notes on the Leaf of Guarea grandifolia, Dec." By^ R. C. Alexander, Esq., M.D., F.L.S., as follows :— In the enclosed specimens of a Guarea from Jamaica, the G. gran- difolia, Dec, it will be seen that the lower leaflets have fallen off, while younger ones are being developed at the extremity of the same petiole. At the time of flowering, the number of leaflets varies from a single pair to eight or ten pairs ; but as these fall ofi^ in the course of a few months, the petiole elongates, and at each successive rainy season, of which there are two in the year, throws out from the end a fresh foliage of several pairs. The lower and older part of the petiole in the meantime remaining attached to the stem, be- comes completely ligneous and 'round, and acquires a rind distinct from the wood, and covered with lenticelles and a resemblance to pith in the centre; — takes on, in short, the character of a branch, from which it is only to be distinguished by the axillary inflorescence, the absence of buds in the axillae of the leaflets, and the analogy with the closely-allied genus Trichilia, in which the same phsenomenon is seen in leaves deciduous after the second development. In Guarea, at least in this species of it, the leaf seems to be continuous with the branch, without articulation, and to have no definite term of life, hanging on till overtopped and killed by other leaves. Its usual^ length at that period is from a yard to four and a half feet. ■ ' In Adrien de Jussieu's Memoir on the Meliacea are the following remarks : — *' The resemblance of the leaflets borne on the same petiole tou leaves borne on the same branch becomes more striking still in cer- tain genera, as Guarea, where the extremity of the petiole, after a series of leaflets perfectly developed, presents some which are not yet so, and which appear to belong to another shoot. It would be interesting to ascertain what becomes of them, a thing that I have not been able to do, having had none but dried specimens to examine." This shrub usually grows at the base of large timber trees, such as the Eriodendron anfractuosum, in the pasture districts of St. Ann's parish, establishing itself between their elevated buttress-like roots, and with its leaves hanging down to the grass, forms natural arbours, or rather stables, in which the cattle repose during the heat of the Royal Societij. 225 day. The negroes use them to wattle the walls of their huts, and call the hush " Alligator Tree," prohably from the two Spanish words '*« Ugar," to tie with. Where it stands free, it attains the size of a full-grown ap])le-tree ; hut it invariably, I believe, grows within shelter of some other and larger one. Except this genus and Trichilia, I found no other in Jamaica that had the character of leaf above described. The President exhibited numerous specimens of recent and fossil Cycadece. Among these was a fine specimen of a new species (Cy- cadites Saxhyanus, R. Br.) found in the Isle of Wight by Mr. Saxby of Bonchurch. The President remarked that all the specimens of Cycadites hitherto found in the Isle of Wight agreed in having an elliptical outline, unaccompanied with any inequality in the woody ellipsis, and also in having a bud in the axilla of each leaf ; in these respects differing from the Cycadites of the Isle of Portland and from all the recent species of Cycadea with which we are acquainted, which have a circular outline and only scattered buds. ROYAL SOCIETY. March 4, 1852. — A paper was read, entitled, *' On the Anatomy of Doris." By Albany Hancock, Esq., and Dennis Embleton, M.D., Lecturer on Anatomy and Physiology in the Newcastle-on-Tyne College of Medicine, in connection with the University of Durham. Communicated by Professor E. Forbes, F.R.S. The authors have proposed to themselves to describe the anatomy of the three genera typical of the three groups of the Nudibranchiate MoUusca. An account of the structure of J^olis has already appeared in the ' Annals of Natural History.' A detailed description is given of the anatomy of Doris, the fol- lowing species of which have been examined, and are referred to in the paper: D. tuberculata, Auct., D. tube7'culata,V eramy, D.Johnstoni, D. tomentosa, D. repanda, D. coccinea, D. verrucosa, D. pilosa, D. bilamellata, D. aspera, and D. dcpressa ; but D. tuberculata of English authors has been taken as the type of the genus, and the standard of comparison for the rest. Digestive System. — The moutli in all the species is a powerful muscular organ, provided with a prehensile tongue beset with siliceous spines, which when the tongue is fully developed, are arranged in a median and two lateral series. Certain species possess, besides, a prehensile spinous collar on the buccal lip, occasionally associated with a rudimentary horny jaw. The mode of development of the lingual spines is shown to be the same as that of the teeth of the Vertebrata. The oesophagus varies in length ; in some it is dilated at the top, forming a crop ; in others it is simply enlarged previously to enter- ing the liver mass. The stomach is of two forms ; one, as in Z). tuber- culata, is very large, receiving the oesophagus behind, and giving off the intestine in front, and lying in advance of the liver ; the other i^ Ann. ^ Mag. N, Hist, Ser. 2. Vol.x. 15 226 Royal Society. received within the mass of the liver, and is very small. The liver in all is bulky, mostly bilobed, and variously coloured, and pours its secretion by one or more very wide ducts into the cardiac end of the stomach. A small laminated pouch — a rudimentary ^awcrea^, is attached in some species to the cardiac, in others to the pyloric end of the stomach. The intestine is short, of nearly the same calibre throughout, rather sinuous in its course, and terminates in a nipple-formed anus in the centre of the branchial circle. The Reproductive Organs are male, female and hermaphrodite. The male organs consist of penis and testis ; the latter is connected with the former and with the oviduct. The female organs are, ova- rium, oviduct, and mucus-gland. The ovarium is spread over the surface of the liver in the form of a branched duct with terminal ampullae. The oviduct terminates in the mucus-gland. The an- drogynous apparatus is a tube or vagina opening from the exterior into the oviduct, having one or two diverticular spermathecae com- municating vidth it in its course. On the right margin of the body near the front is a common opening, to which converge the three parts of the reproductive organs. The spermatozoa are developed within large and fusiform spermatophora, and are observed in the spermathecae, oviduct and ovary. Organs of Circulation and Respiration. — The circulatory organs are, a systemic heart, arteries, lacunae and veins. The existence of true capillaries in the liver-mass seems probable. A second heart — a ventricle, having a portal character, is also described. The systemic heart lies immediately beneath the dorsal skin, in front of the respi- ratory crown, and comprises an auricle and ventricle enclosed within a pericardium. In the systemic circle the blood is returned to the heart without having passed through the special respiratory organ. It is that blood only which is returned from the liver-mass that circulates through the branchiae. The authors conclude from their observations, that in the Mol- lusks there is a triple circulation : first, the systemic, in which the blood propelled along the arteries to the viscera and foot is returned, with the exception of that from the liver-mass, to the heart through the skin ; there it becomes partially aerated, the skin being provided with vibratile cilia, and otherwise adapted as an instrument of re- spiration ; second, the portal, in which venous blood from the system is driven by a special heart to the renal and hepatic organs, and probably to the ovarium, where it escapes, doubly venous, with the rest of the blood which has been supplied to these organs from the aorta, and which is therefore only singly venous, to the branchiae ; third, the branchial circulation, in which flows only the more dete- riorated blood brought by the hepatic vein, but in which also that blood undergoes tlie highest degree of purification capable of being effected in the economy, namely in the special organ of respiration. This triple circulation has not yet, as far as the authors are aware, been described as existing in the MoUuscan Subkingdom. From the fact of the blood in Doris being returned to the heart in a state of partial aeration, it is clear, they say, that this animal is, in this Royal Society. 227 respect, on a par with the higher Crustaceans ; and from the blood arriving at the heart in the same condition, according to the re- searches of Garner and Milne-Edwards, in Ostrea and Pinna, the great Triton of the Mediterranean, Haliotis, Patella and Helix, it can scarcely be doubted that this arrangement will be found throughout the Mollusca. From a consideration of the facts cited in the paper, it may be deduced that the skin or mantle is in the Mollusca the fundamental organ of respiration, and that a portion of that envelope becomes evolved into a speciality as we trace upwards the development of the respiratory powers. Upon the dorsal aspect of the liver- mass is a branched cavity, that of the renal organ, lined with a spongy tissue, and opening externally at the small orifice near the anus. Organs of Innervation. — These are in two divisions, one corre- sponding to the cerebro-spinal division, the other to the sympathetic or ganglionic system of the Vertebrata. The existence of the latter, it is stated, is now for the first time fully established. The centres of the first system are seven pairs and a half of ganglia. Of the seven pairs, five are supra-oesophageal, two, infra- oesophageal : the single ganglion belongs to the right side and has been named visceral. There are three nervous collars around the oesophagus, one of which connects the infra- with the supra-oesophageal. The total number of pairs of nerves from the oesophageal centres is twenty- one, and there are also four single nerves. The sympathetic system exists, and is more or less demonstrable, in the skin, the buccal mass, and on all the internal organs. It consists of a vast number of minute distinct ganglia, varying in size and form, the largest quite visible to the naked eye, of a bright orange colour, like the ganglia around the oesophagus, and inter- connected by numerous delicate, white nervous filaments, arranged in more or less open plexuses. This beautiful system is connected with both sets of oesophageal ganglia. The authors having found the sympathetic nervous system in several species of Doris, in Eolis papiUosa, and in Arion ater, believe it to exist in all the more highly organized Mollusca. The supra-oesophageal nervous centres in the Mollusca are in some instances so concentrated as to have led to the idea that they form only one mass ; in others the ganglia are more or less distinct, and separated from each other. Doris has been taken as the repre- sentative of one class, Aplysia of the other, and on a comparison of both the supra- and infra-oesophageal ganglia of these with each other, there has been found a close correspondence between them, with the exception of the visceral ganglion. The single one in Doris is re- presented in Aplysia by a pair of ganglia, situated in the posterior part of the body near the root of the branchiae. The supra-oesopha- geal ganglia in the Lamellibranchiata appear homologous with those of Doris. Having determined the existence of a true sympathetic or organic nervous system in Doris, the authors feel themselves more in a position to trace a parallelism between the oesophageal nervous 15* 22S Botanical Society of Edinburgh. centres of these MoUusca and the cerebro-spinal system of the Ver- tebrata, and accordingly they find there is a strict analogy between them, even to the individual pairs of ganglia of which they re- spectively consist, the general result being that the v^^hole of the ganglia, grouped around the oesophagus in these Mollusca, answers to the encephalon, and a small portion of the enrachidion, of the Vertebrata. Organs of the Senses. — The auditory capsules are microscopic, composed of two concentric vesicles, tlie inner enclosing numerous, oval, nucleated otolithes. The eyes are minute black dots, beneath the skin, attached by a pedicle to a small ganglion. They are made up of a cup of pigment, receiving from behind the nerve, and lodging in front a lens, having in advance of it a cornea, the whole enclosed by a fine capsule. The authors believe they have shown the dorsal tentacles to be the olfactory organs. The organs of touch are, the general surface of the skin, but more particularly the oral tentacles or veil. Taste is most probably located in the lips and channel of the mouth, the tongue being a prehensile organ, and ill-adapted as the seat of such a function. In conclusion, the authors comment on the high organization of the Dorida, and express their belief that the genus, as at present understood, will require to be broken up into several groups. .j^aiiioH r)m)^{^- BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. July 8, 1852.— Dr. Seller, President, in the Chair. The following papers were read : — 1 . " On the presence of Fluorine in the stems of Graminese, Equi- setacese, and other Plants, with some observations on the sources from which vegetables derive this element," by George Wilson, M.D. The author commenced by stating, that the earliest observer of the presence of fluorine in plants was Will of Giessen, who found traces of it in barley, the straw and grain of which were analysed together. The author reported to the Botanical Society, some four years ago, the results of his earlier researches into the distribution of this ele- ment throughout the vegetable kingdom, which were not very nume- rous or very encouraging. One reason of this was the small extent to which fluorine occurs in plants ; another, and practically as serious a reason, was the difliculty of separating and recognising fluorine when accompanied by silica. The presence of this body in a plant, besides greatly complicating the investigation, rendered the employment of platiua vessels essential, and thus limited the amount of material which could be subjected to examination, besides making it difficult or impossible to observe the progress of an analysis. The author then stated, that, in the course of some recent investi- gations into the presence of fluorine in siHceous rocks, he had suc- ceeded in devising a process which was also applicable to plants, and could be carried on in the ordinary glass vessels of the laboratory. The process in the case of plants was as follows : — The plant under examination was burned to ashes as completely as possible. The Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 229 ashes were then mixed in the cold with oil of vitriol, so as to secure the decomposition of the salts of volatile acids present. The mixture was then transferred to a retort, or flask, provided with a bent tube dipping into water, and the liquid raised to the boiling-point, when fluorine, if present, was evolved in combination with the silicon of the silica, as the gaseous fluoride of silicon, which dissolved in the water with separation of some gelatinous silica. The resulting solution was neutralized with ammonia and evaporated to complete dryness, when the whole of the silicon passed into the condition of insoluble silica, and water dissolved the fluoride of ammonium. The solution of this fluoride could then be dried up and moistened with sulphuric acid, when hydrofluoric acid was evolved, which might be made perma- nently to record its presence by causing it to etch glass in the usual way. * The author has in the meanwhile applied this process almost solely to the stems and trunks of plants, especially to those containing silica, reserving for subsequent investigation their other organs, espe- cially their seeds and fruits. The following were the results ob- tained : — ol Table of Plants examined for Fluorine. The numbers represent grains of ashes, except in the case of Tabasheer and Jf^pod Opal. The blanks imply that the weight was not ^^^^^^^'^ |Ty7 bootet^bni; Ashes in grains. Name of plant. 200 Equisetum litnosum Distinct etching. Bambusa arundinacea Ditto. Charcoal (derived chiefly from Oak, and to a smaller extent from Birch) Ditto. ,,, €oal DittoJ '^^^ Barley straw Ditto. Hay (Ryegrass) Ditto. 35 Equisetum variegatum Faint etching. 19 hyemale Ditto. 255 palustre .. Ditto. p<-o^4 Dactylis ccespitosa Ditto. '^ ^^\^ 99 Elymus arenarius Ditto. 495 Saccharum officinarum Ditto. i040 African Teak Ditto. Smilax latifolia No etching. Rosmarinus officinalis Ditto. ^35 Bambusa Nepalensis Ditto. ^ibih^u , 'Polypodium vulgare Ditto. f \"';;'S37 Tree Fern Ditto. ii>. -.^24 Thalaris arundinacea Ditto. nHU\ ''^' ■' ^40 Malacca Cane Ditto. ^ ''- ' 50 Cocoa-nut shell Ditto. 127 Tectona grandis Ditto. Y"' ■ '80 Tabasheer Ditto. ' '' 1680 Wood Opal Ditto. On this table the author remarked, that the siliceous stems which iie had found to abound most in fluorine, were exactly those which •fiontained most silica. In particular, deep etchings were procured 230 Botanical Society of Edinburgh. from the Equisetacese and from the Graminese, especially the common Bamboo. The last was known to contain silica in such abundance that it collected within the joints in white masses, nearly pure, and had long, under the name of Tabasheer, been an object of interest to natural philosophers. The horse-tails were scarcely less remarkable for the amount of silica contained in their stems, which had led to the employment of one of them (^Equisetum hyemale) in polishing wood and metals. The African Teak, which like the Bamboo is known sometimes to secrete silica, was also found to contain fluorine, though much less largely than the plants named ; whilst the strongly siliceous stems of Barley and Ryegrass also yielded the element in marked quantity. The Sugar-cane, however, gave less striking results than might have been expected, and the same remark applied to the Malacca- cane. Two specimens of silicified wood and one of Tabasheer gave no evidence of the presence of fluorine. So far, however, as the plants named in the preceding table are concerned, the author does not wish it to be inferred from the negative results which are detailed, that the plants in question are totally devoid of fluorine. With larger quantities of their ashes, positive results would, in all proba- bility, be obtained. The author's general conclusions were as follows : — 1st, that fluo- rine occurs in a large number of plants ; 2nd, that it occurs in marked quantity in the siliceous stems of the Gramineae and Equisetacese ; 3rd, that the quantity present is in all cases very small ; for although exact quantitative results were not obtained, it is well known that a fraction of a grain of fluoride will yield with oil of vitriol a quantity of hydrofluoric acid suflicient to etch glass deeply, so that the pro- portion of fluorine present, even in the plant-ashes which contain it most abundantly, does not probably amount to more than a fraction per cent, of their weight. The proportion of fluorine appears to be variable, for different specimens of the same plant did not yield con- cordant results. In this, however, there is nothing anomalous, for some Bamboos yield Tabasheer largely, whilst others are found to contain none. It seems not unlikely that soluble fluorides ascending the siliceous stem of a plant, on their way to the seeds or fruits in which they finally accumulate, may be arrested by the silica, and converted into inso- luble fluosilicates (fluorides of silicon and of a metal) ; and a Bamboo, for example, secreting Tabasheer, may eff^ect this change where one less rich in silica cannot determine it. The slow or quick drying of a stem may also afi*ect the fixation of fluorides in the stems or trunks of plants. The sources of the fluorine found in plants may be regarded as preeminently two, — 1st, simple fluorides, such as that of calcium, which are soluble in water, and through this medium are carried into the tissues of plants ; and 2nd, compounds of fluorides with other salts, of which the most important is probably the combination of phosphate of lime with fluoride of calcium. This occurs in the mineral kingdom in apatite and phosphorite, and in the animal king- dom in bones, shells and corals, as well as in blood, milk, and other fluids. Botanical Society of Edinburgh* 231 A recent discovery of the author, communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, has shown that fluorides are much more widely distributed than is generally imagined, and that the trap rocks near Edinburgh, and in the neighbourhood of the Clyde, as well as the granites of Aberdeenshire, and the ashes of coal, contain fluorides, so that the soils resulting from the disintegration of those rocks cannot fail to possess fluorides also. All plants accordingly may be expected to exhibit evidence of their presence in the following portions of their tissues or fluids : — 1 . In the ascending sap, simple fluorides. 2. In the descending sap, in association with the albuminous vege- table principles, and in the seeds or fruits, in a similar state of asso- ciation, fluorides along with phosphates. 3. In the stems, especially when siliceous and hardened, fluorides in combination with silica. The investigation is still in progress. 2. " On the presence of Iodine in various Plants, with some re- marks on its general distribution," by Mr. Stevenson Macadam. The present paper owes its origin to some observations lately made by M. Chatin of Paris, and communicated by him to the French Academy of Sciences. Chatin is of opinion, that in the atmosphere, in rain-water, and in soils there is an appreciable amount of iodine ; that the quantity of this element present in one district difl^ers from that in another ; and that the relative amount of iodine in any one locality determines to a great extent the presence or absence of certain diseases. For in- stance, in the district of country which he classifies under the general title of the " Paris zone," the quantity of iodine present in the atmo- sphere, in the rain-water, and in the soil is comparatively great, and to this he ascribes the absence of goitre and cretinism ; whereas in the zone corresponding to that of the '* alpine valleys," the amount of iodine has diminished to one-tenth of that found in the " Paris zone," and to this scarcity of the element he attributes the prevalence of goitre and cretinism, which in that zone are endemic. Considering that the subject was one of great importance, more especially if the conclusions arrived at by Chatin (in reference to the functions fulfilled by iodine in preventing the occurrence of the diseases referred to) could be legitimately deduced from the experiments which he per- formed, the author has this summer undertaken a series of analyses in reference to the general distribution of iodine. Mr. Macadam's researches have as yet been mostly directed to the atmosphere and to rain-water, and he considered that a notice of the results obtained might be interesting to the Society, alike from the intimate connexion which exists between the plant and the atmosphere, and from the fact, that he has been led to seek, and to detect, the presence of iodine in a department of the vegetable kingdom in which it has not hitherto been observed. Chatin has not published a detailed account of the processes adopted by him ; but from the manner in which he speaks of the good effects produced by the addition of potash to substances under examination, which, to use his words, " arrested the complete decomposition of the 232 Botanical Society of Edinburyh. iodine compounds whilst the waters were evaporating/' and by the addition of carbonate of potash and carbonate of soda, which " ren- dered the iodine present in soils much more easily extracted," the author was led to believe that the fixed alkalies had been largely em- ployed by him. Accordingly, in the first experiments, the alkalies were used in their caustic condition, for the purpose of fixing any free iodine, and retaining any compound of iodine which might be encountered. Mr. Macadam commenced with an examination of the atmosphere^ By the arrangement he employed, the air was made to traverse, — 1st, a tube containing slips of paper, which had been previously dipped in a solution of starch ; and 2nd, a double-necked gas bottle, containing about 3 oz. of a dilute solution of caustic soda. A con- tinuous stream of air was drawn through the arrangement for some hours. This experiment was conducted in the morning, and in the afternoon a stream of air was for several hours drawn through the same arrangement, caustic potash being substituted for the caustic soda. The starch-papers did not exhibit the slightest coloration, even when moistened with distilled water. The solutions of potash and soda, however, on being treated with starch and nitric acid, at once exhibited the rose colour characteristic of the presence of iodine in small quantity. So far the experiments seemed to lead to the de- sired conclusion ; but when portions of the original alkaline solutions, which had not been subjected to a current of air, were carefully tested, it was found that iodine was present in them, in quantity to all appearance as great as it was in those portions which had been used in the experiments. Wishing to trace back the iodine to its source, samples of the carbonate of potash, carbonate of soda and lime, which had been employed in the preparation of the caustic solutions, were analysed, and in all three iodine was present in perceptible quantity. Desirous , of making certain that the reagents used in the investigations were as pure as other commercial substances of the same kind, various speci- mens were procured from different sources, and in every sample which was subjected to examination the presence of iodine was detected. So far then as the determination of iodine in the atmosphere is con- cerned, the experiments were of no value. The alkalies through which the air had been drawn undoubtedly contained iodine origi- nally, and therefore no certain conclusion could be drawn as to the probability of their being more highly iodized by contact with the atmosphere. To the presence of iodine m potashes, or, to use words more strictly botanical, in the ashes afforest timber, further refer- /' ence will be made in a subsequent part of this paper. ' ^^^' Tn the next experiment the alkalies were dispensed with, the air /^ ibeiflg drawn through — , ^ 1. A tube with slips of starched paper, kept somewhat damp. '^ ■ 2. A gas-bottle immersed in a freezing mixture ; and .■!,<.! .u \ ^ h ^'^ -^ g^'^-bottle containing a solution of nitrate of silvewiu «iiw . ! , ''a continuous current was kept up for fully five hours, commencing V^at*nrid-day. At the conclusion of this experiment, the papers were Botanical Society of Edinburglu 233 not altered in the slightest degree ; the gas-bottle (2) contained about a quarter of an ounce of liquid, and the nitrate of silver (3) had not been perceptibly changed. The condensed liquid was neutral to test- papers ; a drop of starch was added to it, and subsequently nitrite of potash and hydrochloric acid, which together form a most delicate means of detecting iodhie ; the result was negative. The nitrate of silver solution was cautiously evaporated to one half-ounce ; sulphuret- ted hydrogen added to precipitate the silver, and liberate as hydriodic acid any iodine which might be present ; the liquid raised in tempe- rature, carefully avoiding ebullition, and filtered. The filtrate, on the addition of starch, nitrite of potash and hydrochloric acid, did not exhibit the shghtest trace of iodine. Mr. Macadam therefore concluded, that in the large volume of air which he had drawn through the arrangement, there had not been an appreciable amount of iodine. The experiments as yet referred to were made at different heights on Arthur's Seat, and their negative results led to arrangements being made for a trial on a scale much more extensive. Through the kind- ness of the proprietor of Kinneil Iron Works, the author was enabled to proceed to Borrowstowness, and attach his apparatus to the re- ceiver from which the air under great pressure is forced into the blast-furnaces. By means of a stop -cock fixed in the receiver and a long flexible tube, the air was conducted to the following arrange- ment : — 1 . A wide tube containing slips of paper dipped in starch. 2. A condensing worm, surrounded by a freezing mixture and attached to a receiver. 3. A tall jar containing chips of pumice-stone and a few iron filings, with sufficient water to cover them. 4. A similar jar with pumice-stone, scrapings of clean lead and a solution of acetate of lead. 5. A condensing worm immersed in a freezing mixture and attached to a receiver. The air, under a pressure of 3 lbs. on the square inch, was allowed to traverse the arrangement for fully four hours, when the apparatus was taken asunder, and the contents of the vessels being placed in stoppered bottles, the whole was brought to Edinburgh for examina- tion. The slips of paper (1) were not sensibly altered in tint, and did not betray the slightest indications of even a rose colour when moistened with distilled water. The condensers (2 and .5) contained each a veiy small quantity of liquid, which, on being tested, did not show a trjice of iodine. The small quantity of liquid in the con- densers may be accounted for by the comparatively high temperature possessed by the air rushing through so quickly as it did. The con- tents of the jar (3) were thrown on a filter, and washed with cold water. To the filtrate was added half an ounce of a solution of car- bonate of potash, and the whole evaporated to a quarter of an ounce ; no iodine was present. The carbonate of potash used in this trial was prepared by calcining cream of tartar, and was so far free from iodine, that none could be detected in 2 oz. of the solution, of which half an ounce was employed. There was therefore no likelihood of iodine being added in the alkali used, even though the analysis of the 234 Botanical Society of Edinburgh, contents of the jar had shown its presence. The jar (4) with the lead solution was treated in the same manner as described in a former part of this paper, when referring to the employment of silver, and the result was also negative. Notwithstanding the large scale on which this experiment was conducted, a volume of air of not less than 4000 cubic feet having been forced through the arrangement, Mr. Macadam has been unable to verify the results of Chatin, yet he feels disinclined to pronounce those results unwarranted, and has therefore resolved to make another trial on a still larger scale. It is proposed to fit up an apparatus of a stronger and more durable nature, and to allow a volume of air of not less than 1 00,000 cubic feet to pass through. Whilst the experiments on the atmosphere were proceeding, Mr. Macadam was also examining large quantities of the rain-water which fell in Edinburgh for the last two months. For this purpose, he added to 3 gallons of the water some ounces of a solution of acetate of lead. On standing twenty-four hours, a precipitate had fallen to the bottom, from which the liquid was drawn off. The precipitate was treated as formerly described, and no iodine was detected. As the iodide of lead is slightly soluble in water, and as it might be pre- sent in the liquid which had been removed from the precipitate, the whole was evaporated to 1 oz., and afterwards tested for iodine, but none was present. A second experiment was tried with a similar volume of rain-water, viz. 3 gallons, substituting nitrate of silver for the acetate of lead ; a precipitate was observed after standing for twenty-four hours, but neither it nor the liquid contained a trace of iodine. Another experiment, made with 3 gallons of rain-water, which had been collected at Unst in the Shetlands, and to which acetate of lead was added, gave the same negative results. Mr. Macadam is well aware, that, consequent on the evaporation of water from the surface of the ocean, portions of the salts contained in it are carried up and disseminated through the atmosphere, ready to be rained down upon inland places, and that in this way iodine, most probably as iodide of sodium, will be present in the air. Accord- ingly at first he was confident that he should succeed in verifying Chatin's observations in a district so near the sea as that around Edinburgh, and more especially in the water obtained from Unst, which had fallen in the immediate vicinity of the ocean ; but when we consider what a very small per-centage of iodine is present in the water of the ocean, many gallons being required to give even a faint indication, equal to that exhibited by 55^-5^ th of a grain of an alkaline iodide, and if, further, we suppose that when the water rises in va- pour from the sea, it carries up the salts in the same proportions as they exist in sea-water, it is evident that it would be requisite to eva- porate some hundred gallons of rain-water, before even a minute trace of iodine could be obtained. At a former part of this paper reference was made to the presence of iodine in the potashes of commerce. The samples first tested were those usually to be purchased in Edinburgh, but subsequently genuine and authenticated specimens of both crude and refined potashes were Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 235 procured from Glasgow. It is to Canada and the United States that we owe our suppUes of these materials. As imported into this country, they are contaminated with many foreign ingredients, and amongst the rest the author has detected iodine. The most ready means for separating and recognising this suhstance is to heat a considerable quantity of the salt with a minimum of water. On cooling the solu- tion, the greater portion of the carbonate of potash, as well as the impurities, falls to the bottom of the vessel, whilst the iodide of potassium remains dissolved in the water. When testing for the iodine in the potashes, this solution was evaporated to dryness, treated with alcohol, boiled and filtered. The filtrate, on being evaporated to dryness, left a residue, which on resolution in water acted distinctly with the starch-test for iodine. The presence of this element in potashes leads the author to believe that iodine will be found more generally distributed in the vegetable kingdom than it has formerly been supposed to be. The potashes from the States and from Canada are principally the dried lixivium of the ashes of forest-trees ; but whilst by much the greater portion is so, the parties in charge are not very scrupulous about what plants they employ, and occasionally everything which comes in the way, and which will burn, is added to the pile. It may therefore be ob- jected to the statement, that forest-trees contain iodine, that the iodine found in the ashes may be derived from the succulent herbs and shrubs, and not from the trees themselves ; but this objection will be at once removed when it is stated, that in the lixivium of charcoal the author has obtained very distinct traces of iodine. Now the charcoal sold and used in this country is principally oak, with a little birch, elm and ash. The amount of iodine in forest-trees must be comparatively small. When experimenting with the potashes, one is apt to forget the small bulk into which a large quantity of timber falls when the organic matter is expelled, and the saline ingredients are alone left. So far as can be estimated from the present qualitative experiments, the relative quantity of iodine in forest-trees is much less than that in succulent plants growing in marshy places. In conclusion, it was mentioned that the presence of iodine in some freshwater plants was now generally recognised, and that the author is at present engaged in testing the various plants growing in the lochs in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. The method employed in their analysis is to dry the plants, and burn them cautiously ; indeed the burning should be rather termed charring ; the ashes are reduced to fine powder, digested in water and filtered ; the clear liquid evaporated, and subsequently treated like the potashes. In every case the pro- cess used for the liberation of iodine is that suggested by Dr. Price, viz. nitrite of potash and hydrochloric acid ; and in many cases where no indications of iodine could be obtained by the ordinary methods, good results were procured with Dr. Price's process. In the following plants, hitherto not known to contain iodine, Mr. Macadam has detected that element : — Myosotis palustris Duddingstonc Loeh. Mentha sativa Ditto. 236 Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Menyanthes trifoliata .... Duddingstone Loch. Equisetum limosum Ditto. Ranunculus aquatilis Dunsappie Loch. Potamogeton densus Ditto. Char a vulgaris Ditto. The author has also confirmed the presence of iodine in the fol- lowing plants, in which it had been previously found by other ob- servers ; the specimens, however, are from diiferent localities : — Iris pseud-acorus Duddingstone. Phragmites communis Ditto. And in the ashes of coal. As having some connexion with the subject treated of, the author intimated that he had obtained distinct indications of the presence of bromine in the crude potashes. It is unfortunate that our tests for bromine are so much inferior in delicacy to those of iodine, that it is necessary to operate upon very large quantities before the tests are distinct. There is no doubt that from its presence in trees, it will be found in greater abundance in the more succulent plants ; but the few trials yet made have been unsuccessful in determining its presence in any but the crude Canadian and American potashes. The experiments (excepting those pursued in the open air) were conducted in the laboratory of Dr. George Wilson, to whom the author feels deeply indebted for the kind manner in which he has afforded him every assistance in his power during the whole course of the investigation. 3. Dr. Balfour read the following letter by Mr. Richard Fryer to Dr. Pappe of Cape Town, relative to a case of poisoning by the bulbs of Homcria collina, specimens of which were exhibited to the meeting : — ** On perusing your ' Flora Capensis Medica,' the circumstance stated at page 26 of the poisonous effects of the bulb of the * Cape Tulip,' brought to my recollection a dreadful accident which occurred in Hantam, in this district, many years ago, and, as I was called upon at the time in a judicial way to examine some of the bodies and take evidence upon the causes of death, I can vouch for the accuracy of what I shall here relate. It appears that one of the shepherds of a farmer residing there, brought home in the evening a bundle of bulbs, which the Dutch call ' Mutjes' ; that towards dusk these were put under the ashes to roast, and when the other servants assembled in the kitchen they were taken out and eaten amongst them ; the party consisting of three hottentots, two women, and one male slave. About half an hour after they had partaken of them they were all seized with dreadful nausea, followed shortly afterwards by severe vomiting, and a speedy prostration of strength. The farmer being called, ascertained immediately, from some of the bulbs still uncon- sumed, that they had been eating the * Homeria collina,' of the yel- low sort * Wilde Dagga.' Sweet oil, milk, and everything thought good were immediately administered, but before midnight the three hottentots and one woman had died in excruciating agonies. The Miscellaneous, 237 male slave recovered, but for a year afterwards he looked like a ske- leton, and the surviving woman ascribed her safety to only having eaten one bulb.'* MISCELLANEOUS. Notice of the Occurrence, on the Durham Coast, of Diphyllidia lineata. liy Albany Hancock, Esq. In the early part of last year, the Rev. G. C. Abbes brought to me a small mollusk which he had obtained from the boats at Whitburn. On examination, this creature proved to be Diphyllidia lineata, a most interesting addition to the marine fauna, not only of the di- strict, but of England. It has occurred only once before in the Bri- tish seas ; in September 1849, a single specimen having been dredged off Shetland by Mr. Barlee. These two, the only British examples, are much smaller than those obtained in the Mediterranean, and are more attenuated in form. Thinking, therefore, that our specimen might possibly be a distinct species, I was induced to examine its internal structure ; and Mr. Alder having kindly supplied individuals of the true D. lineata, a strict comparison was instituted, which has resulted in determining that the two forms are identical. — Trans, of Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, vol. ii. p. 128. IRISH MOLLUSCA. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Windsor Lodge, Monkstown, co. Dublin, August 5, 1852. Gentlemen, — The following Mollusca are the results of three days' dredging in Birterbuy Bay, co. Galway. The first day I was accompanied by my friend Dr. Battersby of Torquay, who being pressed for time had to return to Dublin sooner than he expected, leaving me to pursue the conchological research in that delightful locality. July 21. — Gastrochatna modio- Chiton Asellus \ very large. Una ; the scarcer variety found Trochus Montagui. in cases composed of broken Odostomia eulimoides. shells, &c. Mangelia gracilis ; dead. Pandora obtusa. purpurea; dead. Lyonsia norvegica. striolata. Thracia pubescens ; one valve. septangularis. Psammobia tellinella. Cylichna conulus. vespertina. • cylindracea ; dead. Cardium fasciatum. • truncata ; dead. nodosum. July 22. — Some of the shells found Circe minima, of the most beauti- on the 2 1 st, as also Thracia con- ' ful marking. vexa ; dead. Lepton squamosum. Thracia pubescens. Area tetragona. Solen pellucidus. Modiola tulipa. Cardium pygmceum. Lima Loscombii. Lucina spinifera. Dentaiium Tarentinum. flexuosa. 238 Miscellaneous. July 23. — Many of the species Natica Montagui. obtained the first day, together Manyelia teres. with Lima subauriculata. purpurea. Chiton Icevis. Bulla Cranchii ; very fine. All the above shells were procured alive, except those specified as otherwise, and some of them are new to that locality. I remain, yours most truly obliged, W. W. Walpole. On the Irritability/ of the Leaves of Drosera rotundifolia. By Dr. Milde. Towards the end of June I placed on the middle of a strongly vegetating leaf of a plant of Drosera rotundifolia which I had had for a short time in a cup of moss in my room, four small flies of about the size of a pin's head. The insects remained nearly motion- less upon it, and their efforts to escape from the sticky matter were ineffectual. After about five minutes I again looked at the leaf, when to my astonishment I saw that the glandular hairs of the anterior margin of the leaf, which had been previously extended horizontally, had turned back towards the surface of the leaf and partially covered the flies. I had no time until the following day to observe the leaf again carefully, when I found that the anterior margin and the sides of the leaf had turned over towards its middle and thus completely enveloped the flies. It was only after the lapse of five days that the margins of the leaf and hairs had returned to their places, so as to leave the dead flies lying free on the surface. — Bot. Zeitung, x. 540. EMBRYOGENY OF ORCHIS, GESNERIA, AND OTHER PHANEROGAMIA. Dr. Cobbold laid before the Edinburgh Physiological Society a brief account of some investigations into the embryogeny of Orchis, Gesneria, and other Phanerogamia. These observations, together with a preliminary account of the labours and opinions of Schleiden, Amici, Brown, Geraud, Griffith, Hofmeister, Meyen, Mirbel, Mohl, Dickie, and about forty others, formed the subject of an essay, written in the summer of 1849. Dr. Sanderson, who at the same time inves- tigated this subject, has since published in the * Annals of Natural History,' an admirable memoir on the embryogeny of Hippuris vul- garisj the facts there recorded being strikingly confirmed by what the author of this paper observed as occurring in the above genera. From a review of the whole matter, the following conclusions are to be drawn : — 1st. That, prior to impregnation, the ovule always contains an embryo-sac. 2nd. That the embryo- sac is commonly formed at the apex of the nucleus. 3rd. That in the interior of the embryo-sac there exists a fluid, more or less granular. 4th. That the sac frequently protrudes beyond the exostome (ovule tube,— Griffith). 5th. That in the interior of the sac, prior to impregnation, one or more cytoblasts, or embryonic vesicles, are formed. Meteorological Observations. 239 6th. That their formation takes place by the aggregation of mole- cules (Amici, Meyen). 7th. That the eytoblasts, or embryonic vesicles, also contain a fluid more or less granular (globulo-cellular cambium, — Mirbel). 8th. That the pollen is always necessary for fertilization (apparent exception given by Smith). 9th. That the pollen, when applied to the stigma, sends out one or more tubes (prolongations of the intine), which contain granular matter (fo villa). 10th. That in most cases the union of the pollen-tube with the apex of the embryonic sac constitutes the very act of impregnation. 1 1th. That the result of this union is the formation of an embryo. 12th. That this formation takes place, either by the metamor- phosis of one of the pre-existing germinal or embryonic vesicles under the dynamic influence of the fovilla (acting catalytically ?) ; or, as is more probable, by the union of the contents of the pollen-tube with that of a germinal vesicle, similar to what occurs in the conju- gation of Confervae. When two or more vesicles exist, as in Orchis y one only becomes fertilized, the remainder abortive. — Proc, Edinb. Phys. Sac. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR JULY 1852. Chiswick. — July 1. Fine: cloudy: slightly overcast. 2. Cloudy and fine. 3, 4. Very fine. 5. Excessively hot : thermometer higher in the shade than it has been for at least twenty-six years : lightning at night. 6. Very hot. 7. Cloud- less : hot and dry. 8. Dry haze : sultry : clear at night. 9. Very hot. 10. Very fine. 11. Hot and clear. 12. Sultry. 13. Fine : lightning, with distant thunder at night. 14. Overcast : thunder: very hot : lightning, with rain at night. 15. Cloudy and fine : clear. 16. Slight haze : very hot : excessively heavy and con- stant rain at night. 17. Rain : cloudy and warm : clear at night. 18. Very fine : heavy clouds : clear. 19. Very fine. 20. Overcast. 21. Light clouds : very fine : clear. 22 — 24. Very fine. 25. Overcast : thunder : rain. 26. Cloudy and fine : clear. 27. Slight haze : very fine. 28 — 30. Very fine. 31. Heavy dew : very fine : cloudy. Mean temperature of the month 67°*37 Mean temperature of July 1851 60*71 Mean temperature of July for the last twenty-six years ... 63 '40 Average amount of rain in July 2*37 inches. Boston. — July 1, 2. Fine. 3. Cloudy. 4. Fine: thermometer 84° at 5 p.m. 5. Fine : therm. 91° at 2 p.m. 6. Fine : therm. 86° at 3 p.m. 7. Fine : therm. 81° at 3 P.M. 8. Fine. 9. Fine : therm. 89° at 2 p.m. 10, 11. Fine. 12. Cloudy. 13. Fine. 14. Cloudy. 15. Cloudy: rain, with thunder and lightning early a.m. 16. Fine: rain, with thunder and lightning p.m.: therm. 86°. 17. Cloudy: therm. 86° 3 p.m. 18. Fine. 19—22. Cloudy. 23. Fine. 24. Cloudy. 25. Fine : rain P.M. 26. Cloudy : rain a.m. and p.m. 27, 28. Fine. 29. Cloudy. 30. Fine. 31. Cloudy. Sandwich Manse, Orkney. — July 1. Bright: cloudy. 2. Rain: cloudy. 3. Bright : cloudy : fine. 4. Cloudy : clear : fine. 5. Bright : clear : cloudy : thunder and lightning. 6. Rain : cloudy : fine. 7. Hazy : fine. 8. Bright : fine : fog. 9. Hazy: showers: thunder and lightning. 10. Bright: cloudy. 11. Bright: clear: fine. 12. Bright: fine: cloudy: fine. 13, 14. Bright: fine : clear : fine. 15. Bright : fine : cloudy : fine. 16. Hazy : fine : clear : fine. 17. Cloudy : rain. 18. Bright : cloudy : clear : fine. 19. Hazy: cloudy: clear: fine. 20. Bright: cloudy: rain: fine. 21. Rain: cloudy: fine. 22. Bright: hazy: fine. 23. Bright : fine : cloudy : fine. 24. Drops : fine : cloudy : fine. 25, 26. Cloudy : damp. 27. Damp. 28. Cloudy : fine : cloudy : damp. 29. Fog. 30. Rain : fog. 31. Damp : cloudy : damp. — This month has been remarkably fine and warm. Mean temperature of July for twenty-five previous years 54 '79 Mean temperature of this month 61°-36 Average quantity of rain in July for six years „ 2'71 inches. O w^ i-i o vf) JS P w : on • 11 ': o VO : ci ''r^"? 'oo O 00 ' •uo^sog o : CO • CO p CO O oo b •jloiAisiqo o : o "-I : d :^ p : 11 p VD O CO w 00 N T3 a •jpmpuTss «i3U5[JO ^^is • i,l ^ ii^ii \i^i^iii^^^^^ \ •uojsog s; ^ i " s s « ^ ^ a s i i « i| " * i i » »• i ^ - s i s i if •ra-d I •jlDmsiqo i|coo:o5a3a5t*iOriN'-"i-ii-ioNOooO'-''-it--r-. onOOnO s^ ^ u^ li-) w^vo VO "O VO vO i^ lO w-^vo vo s£> vo ^ <0 vO vO >^\0 i^^ VO VD u-i u-i lr^vo v^vo ^TS • 1 r>0 t-~vo v£>v£>vOvOVOvci^ovO\OVOvO w-i ir^v© <0 vo vo NO 1 •ra-B f 8 u-i U-, y^ y^ v^ y^ m u-% u-> lo CN •uojsoa vo vo i~^vo t^ t^ t^vo t-^ t^vo r^vo t-^ r--vo r^ t-^ t^vo vo vo vo t^ t-. t~^ t^vo vo vo t-> ■o .2 r^Owt^OwOM ■* CO t^vo oo r^rt cJ OvO tJ--^ rJ-N r>.oo 0\ f1 Cn t-.vO tJ- ^ '^ S CO g S r^ c^O r^t^o O r--M r^M ONM M t^t^rooNi>.Ti- t^oo o\oo •+ t-- OS r^ ■+vo ►- 8 t^ r^oo o\ o\ a\ onoo onoo oo r-«oo oooooo t^t-.t^r^t-^t^t^t--r^c-si-vr>.t-^ t^oo 00 s M irsoo lo M •^vo c^oo w t^c>i«^ voo t^H 0\ ■+ O r^ O tJ- r<^ 1>< 1 1 o. t^vO OOOOOnOOOOOmwOOOn OvOO t--00 oo oo t^ O ONOO 00 w r< M >-i O ON On OsOnOsOnOnO O O O O O O OsOsO\OnO\OnO\CnO OnOnOsO O O O O On Ov 00 c»c t^OO CO .^ COVO 00 On t^ On t^ t^OO t^M hi m t>.cotOU-,ONO ^ O t* CTnNO t^ NO ON -a vo tJ-00 0000 ono ooo Onm o O ooooooo i>-oo 0O00O0O000OO«mOOOn OO o ON On "on on on On O O On b\ "o O O ON ON On On On On On On On O On On O O O O O On On fcoO rot^O M O •^t-^roONt^t~^u^ioONO t^vo O f^ c< t-^NO -.^oo N r}->o O •«i- w-ivo »o CO CO ■+ u-i -^ ^i-vo w-vu-iTi-roroN c< CO'^^ ^VO ■■d-N "-i couiioiovo ri- o •ra-B f8 'l- •ao^sog ONOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnONOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOvONOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOn ON cq r»r»ctIHc+>« "^ ■+ O OnvO cooo r-^ 00 O'J^copli-tfjt^voOpJ*'^ "^OO OO NO • OnOnm •4- *^ O i-< -1 CNCor--^t^ r^ ON-^coc^ rJ-r-^-^t-^iO'+i^ ^vo PJ co co ro CO .S ON O M ONOO OOOnOOnOOOO Onoo t^ h^OO OnOnOnOnOOOVONOOO O O O O ON S OnO O OnOnOnOnO ono O O O OnOnCTnCTnOnOnOnOnOnO OnOnOnCnO O O C ON ?i cJcocoNcJcclclClcJMNcoNNclclcorococo r4 t-^MOO t^c^'^^XSNO O t-^t^O O CO CNND M o CO rj- cooo 00 M cooo CO rh rh O N ^ O M 11 HI o OnOO OOOii-ii-iOCTnCn OnOO OOOOONi- O d C4 COCOd COCOCJ c> c< d cocococo o CO 'S i (N >, w c5 CO ^S- *^vo t^oo On d »■< ri CO t}- lONO t^oo On c3 w rJ co tJ- mvo r^oo on d ►^ ii > s4 ^ MMHIMMWMWWMflfJr^HC5Cl«N«C»t<>CO Q s o ^ • « o THE ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY, [SECOND SERIES.] No. 58. OCTOBER 1852. XXI. — Observations on the Nidification o/Gasterosteus aculeatus and Gasterosteus spinachia. By Albany Hancock *. It is only within the last few years that naturalists have clearly determined that some species of fish make nests for the recep- tion of their spawn ; though Aristotle was actually acquainted with the fact about twenty-two centuries ago. Five or six kinds are now ascertained to nidify ; and of these, two belong to the genus Gasterosteus, — one, G. aculeatus, the Three-spined Stickleback ; the other, G. spinachia, the Fifteen- spined Stickleback. The former is a well-known, active, and pugnacious little fish, inhabiting almost every pool and rivulet in the kingdom ; the latter is much rarer, and is a denizen of the sea. Mr. Jonathan Couch states, in his interesting work entitled ' Illustrations of Instinct,' that the first detailed notice of the nest-building of the Three-spined Stickleback occurs in a little magazine, ' The Youth's Instructor,' for the year 1834. This notice is ifrom the pen of Mr. T. Crookenden, a gentleman un- known as a naturalist ; but who has given a very faithful account, so far as it goes, of the nidification of this species. It contains all that is at present known on the subject, and its accuracy can be verified by any one who will take the trouble to look into almost any pool of water during the summer months, — the breeding season of the Stickleback. At this time, these fish will be ob- served near to the margins, busily engaged in building and guarding their nests ; and shoals of the fry may be seen, in dif- ferent stages of development, swimming about in all directions. But if we wish to study, to advantage, the nidification of this * Read before the Tyneside Naturalists* Field Club, August 11, 1852. Ann. S^Ma^.N. Hist, Ser.2. Vol.x. 16 242 Mr. A. Hancock on the Nidification of species, a few specimens should be placed in confinement about May or June ; and then all their movements can be narrowly watched and accurately observed. Care must be taken, however, that they be left unmolested, and that their new abode resemble, as much as possible, their usual haunts. I have lately had an opportunity of noticing the habits of this fish, during the breed- ing season, under the above favourable conditions. We have, for some time past, kept a glass trough filled with aquatic plants and animals ; the bottom of this vessel is covered with mud, and the rock-work, piled up in the centre, is over- grown with a delicate hair-like Conferva ; a few floating plants spread over the surface of the water, and innumerable Entomo- straca and other small Crustaceans, as well as various animal- cules, swarm in all parts ; the minute, but deadly, poison-armed Hydra also prevails where food is so plentiful ; and a solitary individual of the great water beetle, Dytiscus marginatus, rambles over its watery domain, lord and master of all. Several of the freshwater Mollusca also people the trough, which on the whole has much the appearance of a miniature pond. Into this new home were put four or five sticklebacks last May ; and they, at once, made themselves perfectly at ease. One, without the least hesitation, took possession of a certain spot, which it guarded with the greatest pertinacity, attacking vigorously any of its companions that might happen to approach the chosen locality. The beetle too, which sometimes came slowly paddling by, was pounced upon and unceremoniously tumbled over ; but secure within his scaly armour, as the knights of old, he little heeded the onslaught of his naked assailant ; so overpowering all oppo- sition he scrambled onward in his undeviating path. This fish was rather small, had the throat of a bright red colour, and the eyes of a brilliant bluish green. At first, all the others were pale ; but, in the course of a few days, one of them gradually assumed the rich hues of that just described, and soon afterwards it also became attached to a spot, taking up its abode in one of the corners of the trough. On examining attentively the two selected localities, a nest was found in each, composed of a collection of delicate vegetable fibres, resting on the bottom of the trough, and matted into an irregularly circular mass, somewhat depressed, and upwards of an inch in diameter ; the top being covered over with the same materials, and having, in the centre, a large hole. The fishes scarcely ever strayed from their nests, but were constantly on guard, defending or repairing •them ; they were perpetually prying into the hole at the top and thrusting their heads right into it. On one occasion, one of them entered by this hole, and slowly forced itself right through the side of the nest : as it gradually moved onward, its Gasterosteus aculeatus and G. spinachia. 243 body had a peculiar, lateral, vibratile motion. They would fre- quently seize hold of the nest and give it a violent tug, shaking and tearing loose the vegetable matter of which it was composed ; at other times they would carry to it, in their mouths, fine Con- ferva-stems, and press them with considerable force into the walls of the nest, or thrust them into the hole, which, by this means, was sometimes partially concealed. Occasionally, each was ob- served hovering over its nest, with the head close to the orifice, the body being inclined upwards, at an angle of about 45°, fanning it with the pectoral fins, aided by a lateral motion of the tail. This curious manoeuvre was apparently for the purpose, so to speak, of ventilating the spawn, which could be distinctly seen through the orifice at the top ; at least, by this means, a current of water was made to set in towards the nest, as was rendered perfectly evident by the agitation of particles of matter attached to it. This fanning or ventilating process was repeated, at short in- tervals, during the day, and every day until the spawn was hatched, to accomplish which took between two and three weeks. Only one nest contained spawn ; the other was torn in pieces, and the materials scattered about, in the hope that we might have the pleasure of seeing it reconstructed. In this we were not disappointed ; the fish immediately began to form a new nest in exactly the same spot, and by the following day it was more than half completed. It took a mouthful at a time, and was at some pains in adjusting each load, spreading the mate- rials out, and pressing them down with its mouth ; it then drew its body slowly over the whole, vibrating, all the time, in the same peculiar manner as when it forced its way through the nest, as before stated*. On the 13th of June the hole at the top of the fruitful nest was found to be much enlarged, so that the entire mass of spawn was exposed to view ; and, on looking attentively, a few of the newly hatched fry were seen flitting about the walls of the nest. The assiduity of the parent was now greatly increased ; it never left the spot ; by night it rested either on the nest or by its side, and during day nothing was allowed to approach. It fiercely seized a quill that was passed down towards the ob- ject of its solicitude, with such vigour that the shock of attack was distinctly felt by the hand. Combats with its companions became more frequent ; but its ire was chiefiy directed against its neighbour, which, like itself, was engaged in parental duties. This having also a nest to defend never shrank from the confiict, * It is probable that it is the male fish which builds and guards the nest ; and, if so, it might, perhaps, be shedding the milt when dragging its body over and through the nest in the manner described. 16* 244 Mr. A. Hancock on the Nidification of and the encounters were therefore fierce and prolonged ; but, nevertheless, conducted with all due caution, and apparently with much science, as the gentlemen of the ring would express it. The sparring was very wary, and generally lasted a few seconds before the combatants closed. The attack was usually com- menced by one quietly creeping up, watching its opportunity ; on this, the other, acting on the defensive, would turn its broad side to the enemy and raising the ventral spine wait to receive the onslaught ; the assailant, intimidated by this formidable de- monstration, would then slowly retreat, and in its turn had in the same manner to defend itself. After thus advancing and retreating for a few times, one, taking advantage of an unguarded moment, would rush in upon its opponent and butt at it with its head, apparently endeavouring to bite ; the other, rallying, returned the compliment, and after dashing at each other in this way two or three times, with extraordinary rapidity, the round would terminate, and each fish retreat to its nest to recommence its more immediate nidimental duties. The fry were, at first, so minute and transparent that they could scarcely be discerned as they lay partially concealed amid the meshes of the nest : every now and then a slight fluttering motion betrayed their position, otherwise it was almost impos- sible to distinguish them. As I was closely watching their mo- tions, at this time, one of the newly hatched fishlings, with in- trepidity beyond its experience, ventured to pass the limits of its cradle: in an instant the watchful parent was there, and with gaping mouth seized the little wanderer, which immediately dis- appeared, the jaws having closed upon it. Seeing this, I at once gave up the fry for lost, deeming that here was an instance of instinct at fault, and that all the affectionate solicitude of the parent was to end in its devouring its offspring. Tn this I was mistaken : the old fish, quietly returning, dropped the straggler into its nest lively and uninjured. During the whole of this day none of the fry were permitted to ramble beyond the pre- cincts of their fold ; when any attempted to do so — and many did attempt — they were invariably brought back in the mouth of the parent : none escaped its vigilant eye, and it was amusing to see with what a hurried, fluttering motion the little things dropped almost perpendicularly down into the nest, so soon as they were released from the jaws of the parent. It was three days before all the eggs were hatched, and the attention of the parent, during all this time, was unremitting. On the second day I marked its manoeuvres for five minutes, and found that, in this short period, it ventilated the nest eight times, warded off an attack of the neighbouring fish, and brought back to the nest a straggler or two. During this day Gasterosteus aculeatus and G. spinachia. 245 the spawn was frequently examined by the parent, who would occasionally seize hold of it and give it a good shake ; appa- rently for the purpose of throwing off adherent matter, that the water might freely circulate about the eggs. The parent would then dive, head foremost, into the nest and bring out a mouth- ful of mud, which it would carry to some little distance and discharge with a puff. The third day was passed much in the same manner, only as the eggs were now all hatched, the nest was less frequently fanned or ventilated ; and the fry, about forty in number, were allowed greater liberty; the strongest being permitted to re- create themselves among the Confervse that grew on a stone about 2 inches from the nest. On the fourth day the fanning had ceased altogether, and the rambles of the young were less restricted. They were not yet, however, permitted to pass be- yond certain limits ; when any transgressed these bounds they were immediately seized, as heretofore, and carried back to the nest ; into which they were always veiy glad to escape from the clutches of their ardent parent. Notwithstanding all her vigi- lance, one contrived, on the fifth day, to escape her eye, and pass- ing the fatal boundary was immediately devoured by the other fish, which now seemed always on the watch, neglecting its own barren nest, being intent only on appropriating to itself the nestlings of its fruitful neighbour. In this act of cannibalism we see the reason for the parent's anxious care and its jealousness of its kind ; and it is evident from Mr. Crookenden's account, previously quoted, that they greedily devour each other's spawn. The young fry, however, have other enemies as well as their own species. One day a favourite Hydra [H.fusca) was observed to be distended in a most extraordinary manner; on examination it was found to have swallowed the head and shoulders of one of the young fish many times larger than itself ; and the caudal extremity, which was too much for it, and which was projecting out of its mouth, had been seized upon by another Hydra. Thus, it would appear that these low organized, but powerful and vo- racious animals occasionally regale themselves on the flesh of the Vertebrata. This happened when the fry were three or four weeks old. All the old fish, with the exception of that with the young, were, in consequence of their cannibal propensities, turned out of the trough ; and danger being thus removed, the fry were no longer restricted in their rambles, but enjoyed the whole range of their crystal abode. Henceforth the parent's assiduity gra- dually relaxed, though for days afterwards it was its custom to take the young occasionally into its mouth, and after carrying them a Uttle distance to let them drop out again. I took one of 246 Mr. A. Hancock on the Nidification of the fry out one day for examination with the microscope; on returning it to the trough, it was in so sickly a state as to be scarcely able to leave the vessel, which was held in the hand. The old fish, perceiving the helpless condition of its offspring, came up to the surface of the water, and seizing hold of the ex- hausted young one carried it off almost from amidst my fingers, and taking it to some distance puffed it out of its mouth into a tuft of Confervse. This courageous act of our little fish would seem, in some measure, to give credence to the assertion, so fre- quently made, that some of the sharks protect their young by receiving them into the mouth on the approach of danger. Other facts might be related evincing parental attachment ; but perhaps enough has been said to satisfy those, who take an interest in such matters, that in this respect the Three-spined Stickleback is scarcely, if at all, inferior to the hen, whose affec- tionate regard for her offspring has ever been the theme of ad- miration. Incubation, with the fish, is out of the question ; it attends its nest, however, as diligently as any of the feathered tribes, keeping it in constant repair, fanning it with its fins, and removing anything that might obstruct the free action of the water upon the eggs ; it defends its young with the same un- daunted courage, and though it cannot gather them under spreading wings as the hen gathers her brood, yet all those which stray are brought back to the nest, that they may be under the protection of their ever-vigilant and courageous parent. The nest of the Fifteen-spined Stickleback {Gaster-osteus spi- nachia) was first noticed by Mr. Jonathan Couch on the Cornish coast in 1842. Since then it has been observed two or three times on the coast of Northumberland. It is composed of pen- dent seaweeds bound together, by a silk-like thread, into pear- shaped or fusiform masses : the spawn is deposited in the centre of the mass. Mr. Couch says, " One of these nests was visited every day for three weeks, and the old fish was found invariably guarding it ; it would examine the nest on all sides, and then re- tire for a short time, but soon return to renew the examination. On several occasion s,^^ continues this gentleman, " I laid the eggs bare by removing a portion of the nest, but when this was dis- covered great exertions were instantly made to recover them. By the mouth of the fish the edges of the opening were again drawn together, and the other portions torn from their attach- ments and brought over the orifice till the ova were again hid from view. And as great force was sometimes necessary to effect this, the fish would thrust its snout into the nest as far as the eyes, and then jerk backwards till the object was effected. While thus engaged, it would suffer itself to be taken in the hand, but Gasterosteus aculeatus and G. spinachia. 247 repelled any attack made on the nest, and quitted not its post so long as I remained/^ Mr. Richard Howse, who found three or four of these nests in a pool among the rocks at Tynemouth, a year or two ago, informs me that each was attended by a fish, and that they scarcely ever left their nests, but kept hovering about, atten- tively examining them, and thrusting their projecting muzzles amidst the seaweeds of which they were composed; the fish would occasionally poise themselves close to the nests, and fan them with the pectoral fins in the same manner as the Three- spined species. And, indeed, it is quite evident, from the ac- counts given by these two gentlemen, that the habits of both species, in all that concerns nidification, perfectly coincide ; both guard the nest with the same unwearied perseverance, drive off enemies, make all necessary repairs, fan or ventilate the nest, and keep it in all respects in good order. It is satisfactory to observe this exact similarity of habits, for Mr. Couch has changed his opinion, apparently upon insufficient grounds, respecting the nest, which he attributed to the Fifteen- spined Stickleback. He now considers it to belong to the com- mon Shanny {Blennius pholis), arriving at this conclusion after having examined the young hatched from ova taken out of one of the nests. '^ Being from the first,'' says this gentleman, " impressed with the conviction that they were the young of the Fifteen-spined Stickleback, I was much surprised to notice the great difference of their shape from that of their supposed parent, more especially in the parts before the eyes, which, instead of being elongated and slender, were short and round. In consequence of this they were closely examined with glasses, and drawn with the aid of a microscope of low power; and though I failed to detect satisfactorily the ventral fins of that fish (chiefly perhaps from their slender form and transparency), yet, from the declivity of the head, protuberance of the belly, the pectoral fin, and the length of the dorsal and anal fins, which in some specimens were continuous with the caudal, and in others separated by a slight notch, I had no hesitation in referring them to the common Shanny.'' Now, the young of the Three-spined Stickleback differ just as widely from the mature fish as the young of the Fifteen-spined species are stated to do ; and what is of still more importance, the differences are of exactly the same kind. In the former, as well as in the latter, the parts before the eyes are short and round, and can scarcely be said to project at all in front; the declivity of the head is consequently great; the belly is pro- tuberant, and the dorsal and anal fins are long and continuous with the caudal. The young of the Three-spined Stickleback 248 Mr. J. Black wall on the Structure j Functions, (Economy , would therefore appear also to possess, at first, the characters of the Shanny ; but as development goes on, the jaws are pushed out, the belly is reduced in comparative size, and the dorsal and anal fins are shortened, and become ultimately separated from the caudal. Thus, in course of time, the young gradually as- sume the form and characters of the parent. And there can be little doubt that this would have been found to be the case with the young of the Fifteen-spined Stickleback, had Mr. Couch watched their development a little longer. The obtuse form of the head, on which that gentleman places much stress, is the embryonic condition of all fishes ; the elongation of the jaws is always an after-development. In conclusion it may be remarked, that of the three or four other species of fish, described to nidify, one, a native of Deme- rara, is stated to remain by the side of the nest with as much solicitude as the hen guards her eggs ; the same is said respect- ing another species inhabiting the Black Sea : but in none, so far as I am aware, has parental attachment been observed to equal that evinced by the Three- spined Stickleback. Yet we must not, therefore, conclude that it does not exist to the same extent in others of the finny tribes. The habits of these animals are very little known j and who can say what time may bring to light respecting the ceconomy of the inhabitants of the deeper regions of the sea ? It is only, as it were, the other day that nothing was known of the nidification of the Three-spined Stickle- back, — a resident of almost every pool, river, and rivulet in the kingdom. XXII. — A Catalogue of British Spiders, including remarks on their Structure, Functions, (Economy, and Systematic Arrange- ment. By John Blackwall, F.L.S. [Concluded fi-om p. 189.] 198. Ep'eira bicornis. Epeira bicornis, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 1 24 ; Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 126 ; Koch, Die Arachn. B. xi. p. 92. tab. 382. fig. 902, 903. arbustoruniy Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 3. In the wooded parts of Denbighshire this rare species occurs on the trunks of trees. It pairs in June, and in July the female constructs a subglobose cocoon of light brown silk of a loose texture, about ^rd of an inch in diameter, which includes her eggs. and Systematic Airangement of Bntish Spiders. 249 199. Epeira conica. Epeira conica, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 138 ; Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, torn. i. p. 109 ; Sund. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1832, p. 248 ; Hahn, Die Arachn. B. ii. p. 45. tab. 57. fig. 130. Singa conica, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 6 ; Die Arachn. B. xi. p. 145. tab. 392. fig. 943-945. Titulus 4, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 32. tab. 1. fig. 4. I have seen immature individuals of this remarkable spider which were captured in Middlesex, and in 1852 I received from Mr. Meade an adult male which was sent to him from that county. Lister states that he has frequently found Epeira conica in lofty and umbrageous woods in Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire. 200. Epeira tubulosa, Epeira tuhulosa, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 86. Singa hamattty Koch, Die Arachn. B. iii. p. 42. tab. 88. fig. 197, 198 ; Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 6. melanocephala, Koch, Die Arachn. B. iii. p. 44. tab. 88. fig. 199. Titulus 7, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 40. tab. 1. fig. 7. According to Lister, Epeira tuhulosa is sometimes met with in great abundance in moist situations ; it is one of the few native species, however, which I have not yet succeeded in obtaining. Genus Tetragnatha, Latr. 201. Tetragnatha externa. Tetragnatha extensa, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 203 ; Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, tom. i. p. 101 ; Sund. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1832, p. 256 ; Hahn, Die Arachn. B. ii. p. 43. tab. 56, fig. 129 ; Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 5. gibba, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 5. Titulus 3, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 30. tab. 1 . fig. 3. This is the only species belonging to the genus Tetragnatha which has been found in Great Britain. It frequents damp localities, constructing among bushes and plants in the vicinity of brooks, ditches and pools a slight net having a circular aper- ture at the centre. The specific name extensa has reference to its habit of extending the first and second pairs of legs forwards and the posterior pair backwards in a line with the body. In June the female attaches to some object near her snare, a subglobose cocoon, about ^th of an inch in diameter, composed of fine silk of a loose texture, which is either whitish with small tufts of a dull green colour on its exterior surface, or else is of a 250 Mr. J. Blackwall on the Structure , Functions , (Economy, dull green colour with whitish tufts. The eggs deposited in dif- ferent cocoons vary greatly in number ; but I have never noticed fewer than 60 nor more than 214 in a single set ; they are sphe- rical, of a pale yellow colour, and are agglutinated together in a subglobose mass. Tribe Senoculina. Family DysderidcB, Genus Dysdeea, Latr. 202. Dysdera erythrina. Dysdera erythrina^ Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. i. p. 261 ; Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, tom. i. p. 90 ; Hahn, Die Arachn. B. i. p. 7. tab. 1. fig. 3 ; Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 20; Die Arachn. B. v. p. 7^. tab. 165. fig. 389 ; Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 128. Specimens of Dysdera erythrina have been taken under stones in the central parts of the city of Manchester ; others have been transmitted to me from Cambridge by Professor Potter and Mr. Alfred Bishop, and from Oxford by Mr. W. H. Baxter ; and Mr. Walker informs me that he has met with this spider on the south coast, near the seashore. 203. Dysdera rubicunda, Dysdera rubicunday Koch, Die Arachn. B. v. p. 79. tab. 165. fig. 390, 391 ; Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 129. The only individual of this species which has come under my observation was an adult male, contained in a collection of spi- ders sent to me from Cambridge by Charles C. Babington, Esq., M.A. M. Walckenaer is certainly mistaken in supposing that Dysdera rubicunda is merely a variety of Dysdera erythrina (Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 444), as well-marked differences in the structure of the palpal organs of the males prove to demon- stration that they are distinct. 204. Dysdera Hombergii. Dysdera Hombergii, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. i. p. 263 ; Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 129 ; Koch, Die Arachn. B. x. p. 95. tab. 351. fig. 819, 820. Latreillii, Blackw. Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. Third Series, vol.i. p. 190. gracilis, Wider, Museum Senckenb. B. i. p. 200. taf. 14. fig. 1. punctata, Koch, Die Arachn. B. v. p. 84. tab. 167. fig.395, 396. Distinguished arachnologists have mistaken Dysdera Horn- and Systematic Arrangement of British Spiders. 251 bergii, first briefly described by Scopoli (Entomologia Carniolica, p. 403, No. 1119), for the young of Dysdera erythrina, from which it differs in colour and organization. Being convinced of its spe- cific distinctness by a careful examination of specimens captured in 1832, in the same year I gave a description of it in the ' Lon- don and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine,^ under the appel- lation of Dysdera Latreillii ; but the trivial name, of course, is superseded by that originally given to it by Scopoli. The tarsi of this species, unlike those of its congeners, have three claws at their extremity, and are destitute of scopulse. Crevices in rocks and walls and the under side of lichens growing on trees are the favourite resorts of Dysdera Hombergii, which is plentiful in the wooded districts of Denbighshire, Caer- narvonshire and Lancashire; and in the spring of 1849 I re- ceived an immature female from Mr. J. Hardy, who took it in Berwickshire. The sexes pair in May, and in the succeeding month the female envelopes herself in an oval cell of white silk of a slight texture, on whose exterior surface are disposed minute pebbles, small pieces of indurated soil, and other heterogeneous materials; in this cell she deposits between 20 and 30 sphe- rical eggs of a pale pink colour, which are not cemented together. Genus Segestria, Latr. 205. Segestria perfida. Segestria perfiday Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. i. p. 267. florentina, Hahn, Die Arachn. B. i. p. 5. tab. 1. fig. 1 ; Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 20 ; Die Arachn. B. v. p. 72. tab. 164. fig. 385, 386. cellaria, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, torn. i. p. 88. The claim of this fine species to a place among our indigenous spiders rests on the authority of Dr. Leach, who has recorded an instance of its capture at Plymouth, in the Supplement to the 4th, 5th and 6th editions of the ^Encyclopaedia Britannica,^ article Annulosa. 206. Segestria senoculata. Segestria senoculata, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. i. p. 268 ; Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, torn. i. p. 89 ; Sund. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1831, p. 145 ; Hahn, Die Arachn. B. i. p. 6. tab. 1. fig. 2 ; Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 21 ; Die Arachn. B. v. p. 75. tab. 164. fig. 388. Titulus 24, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 74. tab. 1 . fig. 24. Segestria senoculata is of frequent occurrence in many parts of England and Wales, and in December 1848 a young indivi- dual was transmitted tome from Berwickshire by Mr. J. Hardy. 252 Mr. J. Blackwall on the Structure, Functions , (Economy, It spins a long tube, which serves for a domicile, in the crevices of rocks and walls, and under lichens growing on trees. Towards the end of May or the beginning of June the female deposits between 80 and 90 spherical eggs of a yellowish white colour, not agglutinated together, in a lenticular cocoon of white silk of a fine but compact texture, measuring \\h. of an inch in diameter, which is inclosed in a silken cell, attached to objects near her retreat, and covered with particles of earth and the refuse of her prey. This species, when in captivity, does not complete its several changes of integument and arrive at maturity in less than two years, and I have ascertained that its existence sometimes extends through a period of four years. Only three spinning tubes are connected with each intermediate spinner of this spider ; they are situated at its extremity and are of large dimensions. Genus Schoenobates, Blackw. 207. Schoenobates Walkeri, Schoenobates Walkeri, Blackw. Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. Second Series, vol. vi. p. 343. An adult male of this very interesting spider was captured at Broadstairs in Kent in the month of September, and is in Mr. Walker's cabinet. It is preserved in Canada balsam, and has suffered from compression, circumstances which render an inves- tigation of its structure difficult. After a most careful inspection under the microscope, I could not ascertain that it had more than six eyes ; but even should it ultimately be found to possess eight of those organs, it must still, by its other essential characters, constitute a new genus. Genus Oonops, Templeton. 208. Oonops pulcher. Oonops pulcher, Templeton, Zoological Journal, vol. v. p. 404. pi. 17. fig. 10; Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 129. Deletrix exilisy Blackw. Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. Third Series, vol. x. p. 100. Dysdera pulchray Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. iv. p. 382. In the ' London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine,' I proposed the genus Deletrix for the reception of this minute spider, which I described, under the specific name of exilis, from immature females whose colours had been injured by captivity. At that time I was not aware that I had been anticipated by Mr. Templeton, whose genus Oonops, founded on the organic peculiaiities of this species, has the claim of priority. and Systematic Arrangement of British Spiders. 253 M. Walckenaer does not admit the validity of the well-defined genus Oonops (misprinted Conops), but has placed this spider in the genus Dysdera. See the synonyma. Oonops pulcher occupies interstices in rocks and walls, and among lichens growing on trees, in Lancashire, Denbighshire and Caernarvonshire, being abundant in the wooded parts of the last two counties. By the agency of a small scopula, connected with the extremity of each tarsus, it is enabled to move with celerity and security on dry objects having polished perpendi- cular surfaces. In May the female fabricates near her retreat several contiguous subglobose cocoons of white silk of a delicate but compact texture, measuring about y^^th of an inch in dia- meter, in each of which she usually deposits two spherical pink eggs, not cemented together. Family Scytodida. Genus Scytodes, Latr. 209. Scytodes thoracica. Scytodes thoracica, Walek. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. i. p. 270 ; Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, tom. i. p. 99. tigrina, Koch, Die Arachn. B. v. p. 87. tab. 167. %. 398. Dr. Leach has stated in the Supplement to the 4th, 5th and 6th editions of the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' article Annulosa, that Scytodes thoracica has occurred twice near Dover ; but that both individuals were females. Genus Savignia, Blackw. , 210. Savignia frontata. Savignia/rontata, Blackw. Lend, and Edinb. Phil. Mag. Third Series, vol. iii. p. 105 ; Research, in Zool. p. 312. pi. 2. fig. 1, 2. The male of this small and interesting species was discovered on iron rails at Crumpsall Hall in the autumn of 1832, and has since been met with, at different seasons of the year, in various parts of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire and Caer- narvonshire. As regards its oeconomy, I can merely state that it is active during the day, decidedly aeronautic, making frequent ascents into the atmosphere, and that it can exist for a long period immersed in water. Though the male is far from being uncom- mon, yet I have not succeeded in capturing a single female. By the conical protuberance on the anterior part of the ce- phalo-thorax, the relative length of the legs, the converging maxillse and semicircular lip, Savignia frontata is connected with the spiders belonging to the genera Walckena'era and Neriene. 254 Mr. W. Clark on some undescrihed Animals XXIII. — On some undescrihed Animals of the British Rissose. By William Clark^ Esq. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Gentlemen, Norfolk Crescent, Bath, Sept. 1862. It is stated in the ' Annals/ N.S. vol. viii. p. 48, that I had examined some unrecorded animals of the British Rissoce, and when the minutes were reduced I would communicate the result ; I now fulfil tliat engagement ; and to show that an account of these minute species is considered a desideratum, I need only quote the learned authors of the ' British Mollusca,' who, speak- ing of the Rissoa striatula, remark, " The animal of this, as of too many other Rissoa, is yet unknown.^' The following ob- servations were taken in 1851, but in the present summer I have reviewed, at Exmouth, the several species alluded to, and added some new ones; I may therefore speak with increased confidence of their descriptive accuracy as far as regards the external organs, but I apprehend that a correct anatomy of such minute creatures is a vain expectation ; we must therefore rely on analogy, for at least the general characters of their interior organization. It is necessary to mention that the almost microscopic organs of these diminutive species require the aid of good glasses to see their true forms and attributes ; the present descriptions are the result of the organs being viewed through Coddington lenses of as high powers as were consistent with distinctness : inferior means give false appearances, and are often the cause of discre- pancies between observers of the same animal. Rissoa striata, Montagu. Animal inhabiting a white shell of 5-6 rather tumid, semi- plicated, spirally striated volutions ; it is hyaline white in most parts ; an exception is the upper and under surface of the rostrum and buccal fissure, which are of a sordid light red brown. Mantle even with the shell, except that a minute cirrhal filament, very difficult to be seen, issues from it at the upper angle of the aperture, as in the type R. parva, in which it is never absent. The head is a long flat muzzle deeply grooved above and below, with minute lappets on the upper surface near its termi- nation, and on the march is carried a little in advance of the foot : the tentacula are moderately long, divergent, strong but flattened, very little setose ; they do not attenuate to points like the type, but are of the same breadth throughout, and of opake of the British Rissose. 255 snow-white ; in progi'ession they are extended considerably be- yond the head : the eyes are conspicuously black, and placed on minute scarcely projecting external offsets. The foot is truncate in front, grooved so as to form a labium, and slightly auricled ; it is altogether stronger than in R. parva^ and like it rarely ex- tends to the limit of the body volution, and terminates poste- riorly in a moderately pointed lanceolate shape; there is very slight trace of a longitudinal line in the centre of the sole ; the operculigerous lobe has the margins laterally so lax and dis- united as to form wings, which, on the march, at the will of the animal, continually change their appearance; on it, near the junction of the foot with the body, is the light horny oval oper- culum of three spires, the two first minute and scarcely trace- able; the last enlarges rapidly, and shows distinct striae of growth. There is no caudal cirrhus on the opercular lobe, which is nearly coextensive with the main foot, and so pointed as to appear like one, and in some specimens is unequally emarginate at the sides. The animal is not shy, and marches with vivacity ; it has been remarked that it is disproportionately small for the shell, and the tentacula very short ; I do not think our southern examples confirm this view : it inhabits all the districts. The records of this common species are so scanty, that it may almost be looked on as undescribed. Rissoa semistriata, Montagu. The animal occupies a shell of six moderately convex volu- tions, each partially striated, the middle portions being smooth. Its colour is nearly white, with the palest tinge of yellow. The mantle is even with the shell, except a short minute filament that is protruded by the animal from the portion which lines the upper angle of the aperture, like that I have mentioned in the Rissoa parva above, and in the R. ulvce, in the 'Annals,' N.S. vol. vi. p. 33. The head is a short muzzle, not so long as in the type, but similarly grooved in the centre above, and cloven at the extremity and below. The tentacula are flattish, rather long, divergent, frosted, pale yellow or white, with the tips slightly clavate ; the eyes are on gently raised prominences at the external bases. The foot is nearly the shape of the type, contracted in the middle, pointed behind, and sometimes emar- ginate, but it is proportionately longer, larger, and thicker; there is no groove or longitudinal line on the sole ; the upper lobe anteally expands into narrow white wings, and temninates behind with three caudal processes, whereof the middle is the longest, and writing of it to Professor Forbes I termed it a bashaw of three tails ; it carries the light corneous suboval oper- 256 Mr. W. Clark on some undescribed Animals culum at some distance from the end of the foot, but the two first turns of the spire are nearly obsolete ; the third occupies the greater portion of the plate, and is well marked with oblique lines of growth. I have lately examined many lively specimens, and can con- firm the fact of the operculigerous lobe terminating in three filaments, as well as the presence of the short mantellar process that is produced and retracted, at the will of the animal, from the upper angle of the aperture. What are the functions of this organ is doubtful ; it has not the aspect nor is in the position of a reproductive element ; it has more the resemblance of a ten- tacular instrument ; but in some Rissoce it acquires an imperfect tubular appearance, as in the Chemnitzia, in which, particularly Ch. acuta, it seems to perform the office of the branchial siphon of the Canaliferce. I believe that this appendage has scarcely been noticed by authors; it appears to exist in many of the Rissoce, but if in all is doubtful ; it has no connexion with the operculigerous lobe, or its wings or caudal cirrhi, but is a strictly mantellar process. The animal is free, unusually rapid on the march, inhabits all the zones, and has not before been observed. Rissoa costata, Montagu. Animal inhabiting an elaborately sculptured, costated, spi- rally striated, basally ridged pale yellow shell of 5-6 rounded volutions, hyaline white, except the large black eyes and pale red buccal disk. Head a long proboscidiform muzzle finely cor- rugated in quietude, cloven vertically at the orifice as in R. parva, but showing more partially than in that species the corneous jaws and buccal apparatus. The mantle is plain and even. The tentacula are long, flat, not filiform, rather thick at the base, tapering gradually to a rounded extremity ; they are not setose : the large eyes are fixed on prominences at the external angles. The foot at rest is short, on the march it extends to the middle of the antepenultimate volution ; it is labiated in front, but not auricled, constricted above instead of in the middle, as is more usual in Rissoa, and then expands and tapers to a narrowish attenuated rounded termination. The operculigerous lobe di- lates into subcircular lateral alse, bearing close at the junction of the foot with the body, a suboval corneous faintly spiral oper- culum with the turns rapidly increasing, as in the paucispiral Littorina and typical Rissoa. It has a distinct caudal cirrhus. Malacologists, from the curious sculpture and entire flat stri- ated broad margin of the peristome of the shell, have thought that this hitherto unrecorded animal would display singular features ; that is not the case ; it is a very simple creature, and of the British Rissose. 257 scarcely differs from the R. parva, except in having the tips of the tentacula rather flatter, more rounded, and in the different posi- tion of the constriction of the foot. The animal is active, marches up a glass with uncommon rapidity, and displays a freedom be- yond the usual habits of the tribe. It is found in all the zones. Some live examples of this species having occurred, I add to the above account, that the front part of the foot is marked with an intense snow-white flake of the figure of the letter V, visible in consequence of its transparency above and below ; I have also to remark, that the anterior terminal line of the foot is unusually deeply incised, so as to form two labia ; the lower, or that of the sole, at the centre part, on the march is produced much beyond the upper lip. I have never before seen this feature so exten- sively developed in any Rissoa. And lastly, I state, that I failed to detect satisfactorily the small pendent process in the mantle at the aperture, which is so conspicuous in R. parva and jR. semistriata ; yet it may exist : I had the same difficulty in R. striata, but afterwards I saw it in several examples. Rissoa reticulata, Montagu. Rissoa Beanii, nonnull. Rissoa sculpt ay nonnull. The animal occupies a spiral, cancellated, pale yellow or brown shell of 5-6 tumid volutions; its ground colour is yellowish white. Mantle even with the shell, except the filamentary pro- cess at the angle of the aperture. Head proboscidiform, fur- nished with the usual cloven disk and buccal appendages; the rostrum near its termination at the upper surface appears to have attached to it two very small similar shields, one on each side, independent of the terminal minute subcircular flat lobes. The tentacula are compressed, slender, rather long, rounded at the extremities, not setose ; the eyes are at the external angles, on short light yellow or orange pedicles. Foot subrotund, scarcely auricled, but grooved in front sufficiently to form a shallow labium, slightly constricted anteriorly, at one-third the length, gently tapering to a rather obtuse lanceolate but not emarginate termination ; the operculum is carried on an upper plain mode- rately alated lobe, at nearly the point of the junction of the foot with the body ; it is pyriform, with indistinct rapidly increasing paucispiral gyrations; the terminal part of the lobe, like the JR. semistriata, is furnished with three blunt, cylindrical, short cirrhi, and occasionally one of the sides of the main foot is emar- ginate. The branchial plume is composed of 12-15 single, pale yellow, short strands, which are visible when the neck is greatly Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. x. ] 7 258 Mr. W. Clark on some undescribed Animals exserted. The animal is active and freely shows its points. Common in the coralline zone, but rather rare alive. This is the true Turbo reticulatus of Montagu ; it is, however, subject to considerable variation of the contour and quality of the cancellations, which have led to the fabrication of some spu- rious articles. This species has not before been described. The specific ap- pellation of 'reticulata' must be substituted for 'Beanii-/ — a complimentary term ought not to take the place of the long- accredited and not doubtful one of the admirable Montagu. Rissoa punctura, Montagu. This species has been confounded with the preceding, but having met with many live specimens, it will be seen that Mon- tagu has properly distinguished it. The animal is lively and freely shows its organs, and in this instance I have it in my power to efi'ect a concentrated description ; it is in every respect identical with the R, reticulata, with the exception of a parti- cular-seated and constant variation of colour ; the operculigerous lobe is a very pale muddy reddish brown, but it is marked, on each side close to the junction of the foot with the body, with an irregular rather large dark smoke-coloured stripe, which is inva- riably wanting in R. reticulata. Though differences of colour are not generally to be received as good specific characters, yet, when we see certain markings in an animal in a particular position, which are always absent in one that resembles it in almost every other point, we are entitled to consider them as fair specific differences ; and in this case di- stinctness is corroborated by a considerable variation in the con- tour of the two shells, the R. punctura being much smaller, with more rounded and less tumid volutions, as well as having the sutures more deeply impressed than in the R. reticulata. Since these observations I have taken many of this and the preceding species, and in the present animal have always found the dark lead-coloured marks on the operculigerous lobe, with the addition under the neck, near the eyes, of a small red dot ; but these particulars are absent in the R. reticulata, the same parts being pure white. Both inhabit the coralline zone, and at Exmouth the R. reticulata is strictly confined to a coralline area, whilst the R. punctura occupies the interstitial grounds of that district, in muddy patches, mixed with comminuted shelly spoil. I cannot doubt the distinctness of the two. Rissoa soluta, Brit. Moll. The animal occupies a simply elegant minutely spirally stri- ated almost microscopic pale yellow shell of 3-4 rounded volu- of the British Rissose. 259 tions. The mantle does not extend beyond the aperture. The colour is hyaline white with a trifling exception. Head probos- cidiform, having its terminal pale red disk vertically cloven, in which the buccal organs are distinctly visible. The tentacula are moderately long, rounded at the tips, very pilose, the setse springing from them horizontally, but only visible with high powers j eyes at the external angles on small scarcely raised pale sulphur-coloured eminences. Foot subtruncate, slightly auricled, labiated or grooved anteally, and long and narrow. Operculi- gerous lobe small and not much alated ; no caudal cirrhus was detected ; the light corneous operculum is suborbicular and pau- cispiral, fixed nearly at the extremity of the foot. The animal is exceedingly vivacious and free, marching up a glass with sin- gular rapidity. It is very abundant alive in the coralhne zone, in 14 fathoms water, off Budleigh Salterton, Devon. Rissoa proximttj Brit. Moll. The animal inhabits a thin sordid white shell of four rounded, deeply separated, rather oblique volutions, which are, particularly the body one, closely but superficially spirally striated; the caducity of the strise renders this species very liable to become glabrous from attrition. The general colour of the external or- gans is a brilliant subhyaline white, but, though aspersed with minute opake snow flakes, the transparency is scarcely impaired. The mantle is even, and does not emit a process from the por- tion that lines the upper angle of the aperture. The head when quiescent is a short subcylindrical rostrum, quite smooth and rounded at the termination ; it is not tunicated, lobed, grooved, nor vertically cloven on the upper part, and on the lower area it forms a disk, which has not a distinct vertical fissure as in R. parva, but shows a fine crosial incision, which is the ali- mentary orifice, and within it are probably the corneous jaws and buccal apparatus, but I could not detect them, perhaps from being of the hyaline colour of the rostrum, which is so pellucid as to allow the intenser white canal or oesophagus leading to the stomach to be seen through the walls. When the animal is on the march it often suddenly evolves the rostrum to double its usual length, at the same time expand- ing the termination into a large disk or finely dentated flattened rose, which it throws back on the margin of the upper point of the aperture, and then as quickly withdraws the extension to its usual limits ; whether this curious manoeuvre is part of the ani- mal oeconomy, or of the nature of that which is .sometimes seen in the typical Rissoce when disturbed, I cannot determine until more specimens are observed; at present, I think the action peculiar to this species. 17* 260 Mr. W. Clark on some undescribed Animals The tentacula are flat, strong, rather short, flake-white, smooth, gently attenuating and becoming minutely claviform at the tips, which are each clothed with six comparatively long, intensely aciculate setae ; the eyes are unusually large, black, and fixed on minute demi- semicircular lateral excrescences at the external bases, and are so amalgamated with them as scarcely to present a prominence. The foot is a curious organ, being large, fleshy, anteriorly grooved, so as to form a slight labium, deeply indented in the centre, and produced into large, long, arcuated, pointed auricles ; posteally it becomes divided into two long, distinct tails or streamers, nearly coextensive with the shell in its axial ad- measurement ; close to the bifurcation is a small opercular lobe without a caudal cirrhus, on which is fixed a beautiful white horny suboval operculum of 4-5 spires ; the two or three first are small and concentrated, the last suddenly enlarges and closes the aperture, and is marked with delicate oblique strise of growth. The neck when greatly protruded is blotched at the sides and on the top with a claret-coloured red : these marks and the eyes also, when not exserted, are conspicuous through the tenuity of the shell. This rare animal, of which I have taken seven live examples, dwells in a muddy-bottomed shelly district of the coralline zone jiji Exmouth Bay, eight miles from shore, in 15 fathoms water. y. This species has occasioned a difi'erence of opinion ; some na- turalists have thought it distinct, others have considered it the Montaguan R. vitrea in a perfect condition, and looked on his shell as a specimen denuded of its strise by attrition ; they say that many of the so-called R. vitrea of the cabinets, when placed under the microscope, exhibit traces of the strise of the ' proxima' : in this fact they are probably correct, because these smooth examples may really be that species ; but they are wrong in their conclu- sions that it is Montagu's shell, as will appear by the discovery of a perfect specimen and lively animal of a species, which, I think, whatever doubts may still exist, must now be considered the " smooth shell '^ of that author, long known as the Turbo vitreuSy and which has not the slightest traces of spiral strise. The present difficulty has arisen from Montagu's description either suiting a worn ^ proxima' or the shell I propose to regard as the ^ vitrea.^ If I had not made the present capture, I should, like others, have judged the two to be different conditions of the same species ; but in the next article I think it will appear that even the shells of the ^ proxima ' and ^ vitrea ' exhibit a slight but constant variation, and that the animals are very distinct. August 14. — 1 have just taken another lively example of this species, and I need only remark, that the peculiar gait above mentioned was less apparent than in the animal already de- of the British RisB02d, 261 scribed ; I therefore am inclined to consider it of that nature which may be observed in the Rissoa, when in creeping they arrive at the level of the water, and commence exserting and retracting with rapidity the buccal apparatus. In the animal just discovered the curious tails of the foot were well developed, the angle of separation being about that of the fore and middle finger of the hand when placed as far apart as possible. In all the animals I have observed I never met with a similar termination of the main foot. Rissoa vitrea, Montagu. The animal occupies a pale yellow essentially smooth shell of 4^ tumid, though less rounded and more taper volutions, with shallower sutures than the R, proxima. The general colour of the animal is very pale dirty white. The mantle does not protrude beyond the aperture. The head or rostrum is subcy- lindrical, double the length of the ^proximay invested with a tunic to near its extremity, grooved above, emarginate at the end, forming two minute, flat, symmetrical, arcuated, terminal lobes, vertically cloven beneath as in R. parva ; the colour on both surfaces is a moderately suffused pink, through which the buccal apparatus is visible ; and when the neck is much exserted it will appear coloured with pale pink hues. The tentacula are flat, much longer than in the 'proxima/ but not clavate like it at the tips ; they have however the same fine sharp setae at the extremities ; the eyes are at the centre ,of the bases of the ten- tacula, not raised, nor half the size of those of its congener. The foot is truncate in front, very slightly labiated, with un- usually short obtuse auricles ; not bifurcated posteriorly, but has an entire somewhat taper and rounded termination not extend- ing beyond the second volution : the operculum is fixed on a simple lobe scarcely distinguishable from the upper part of the foot ; it is rather more circular than in the last species, but, though paucispiral, the turns are less distinct, the oblique striae of increment coarser, and the colour instead of being clear white is a dull yellow. All this is different in the 'proxima* The examples now described are the only two that have occurred of this rare animal ; it and the 'proxima ' were placed in the same glass, and being lively I had good opportunities for comparison ; the animals are organically different, but I think the 'proxima* is a greater departure from the rissoidean type than the ' vitrea * ; still it will probably remain with the Rissocp, though some of the specialties are on the verge of generic deviation. In the remarks on these species I fear that conciseness is neglected, but the confusion in which they have long been enveloped must be the 262 On some undescribed Animals of the British Rissose. apology, as without the present close examination, the doubts of their identity or distinctness would still have remained, and the slight though constant difference of contour in the two would by many be considered accidental. It may be useful to the shell collector, to the younger student, and as a memorandum of the remaining desiderata of this genus, to offer a few short remarks on all the British Rissoce not enu- merated above. The Rissoa parva, the type, has been described in the 5th volume of the 'Annals,' N. S. p. 359; I have there mentioned that the R. rufilabris, R. costulata, and R, interrupta are varieties of the type, to which I believe I may add the R. labiosa. The R. inconspicua has been spoken of by Mr. Alder in the ' British MoUusca -/ I will therefore only say, that having examined the animals of numerous specimens of its varieties, I find no marked variation ; they all have the lead-coloured stripes on the alae and sides of the foot. I have also stated in the ' An- nals,' N. S. vol. vi. p. 33, that I thought it a coralline zone va- riety of R. parva ; I withdraw that opinion, as I am satisfied of its distinctness. The animal of the elaborately sculptured R. striatula, the most elegant of the Rissoce, if it be one, still escapes observation. I have this summer taken some delicate specimens in the coralline district, and yet hope to see the inhabitant. The R. lactea of Michaud I do not know, but from the figure in ' Brit. Moll.' I should have judged it a variety of the R. reti- culata, one of the large, short, tumid shells, and would have said the same of the R. abyssicola, if it had not been considered distinct by Professor Forbes. The R. crenulata is the well- known Turbo cimex, as the R. calathus is the old ' calathiscus ' of authors : neither of the animals are recorded. The R. Zetlandica is a well-established northern species, but the inhabitant is un- known. The R, rubra is very common alive in certain localities ; I have never seen the animal, and can scarcely believe it to be a true Rissoa, as the semitestaceous operculum and its apophysis are more like those of a Chemnitzia. An account of the R. cingilla has appeared in the ' British Mollusca.' The R. pulcherrima, nonnull., is a dwarf, nearly rib- less R. inconspicua, which is one of the most variable species in form, size and markings. In comparison, care must be taken not to examine what is called an adult R. pulcherrima with a young ' inconspicua ' of the same size, but of larger growth, as it may lead to false ideas of distinctness ; adult shells, of whatever growth, and in like manner, young shells, must be compared together, as the aperture in the two conditions is very different, there being in the young ones always a subangularity, but in those with completed peristomes it is nearly orbicular. The On an Aquarium for Marine Animals and Plants. 268 R. littorea, Delle Chiaje, is an apocryphal British species ; and the so-called R. eximia is an undoubted Chemnitzia allied to C. excavata ; 1 have described the shell, the animal being undis- covered, under the title of C Barleei. The R» ulvce and its varieties have appeared in the 'Annals/ N. S. vol. v. p. 358. I cannot speak of the R. anatina and R. ventrosa, not having met with them ahve. The account of the animal of R.fulgida is published in the 'British Mollusca' from my notes; it differs much in the proportionate dimensions of its organs, but there is no sufficient generic variation to remove it from this genus. At Exmouth it is abundant on the algae of the half-tide littoral levels. The Turbo subumbilicatus of Montagu is still in obscu- rity ; it is perhaps a variety of one of the species of the estu- aries, and if it could be identified, its position would probably be in this genus. I mention the Jeffreysia diaphana and /. opa- Una, because they have recently been styled Rissoa; they ap- pear from several characters to form the passage to the Chem- nitzia. I think 1 have now named every Rissoa, I conclude this still imperfect monograph by calling on the naturalists of this branch of science to make it more complete, by searching in their respective localities after the animals which continue to elude our view ; as without the inhabitants of shells, the essential part of this portion of nature is hidden from us. Conchology as a science is little better than the toy of the shell- fancier; we can only admit that these persistent forms, inde- pendent of the animal, are useful as objects of comparison with some of the antediluvian relics of our globe, as they prove that nature, at least a part of it, existed in the palseontozoic epochs as at the present time. I am. Gentlemen, your most obedient servant, William Clark. XXIV. — On keeping Marine Animals and Plants alive in un- changed Sea-water. By P. H. Gosse, A.L.S. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Gentlemen, In a recent Number of ' Chambers^ Edinburgh Journal ' (July 1852) a paper has just been pointed out to me, on maintaining the balance between animal and vegetable life in an aquarium. Mr. Warington, whose experiments are there alluded to, has 204 Mr. P. H. Gosse on keeping Marine Animals and succeeded in keeping living plants and animals together in fresh water, and announces that he is " attempting a similar ar- rangement with a coniined portion of sea-water, employing some of the green sea-weeds as the vegetable members of the circle, and the common winkle or whelk to represent the Limnece" which in the former case he had found useful in consuming the slime produced by the decay of the vegetable matter. Priority of publication is universally acknowledged to give a title to whatever honour attaches to a new discovery, and this I shall not dispute with Mr. Warington. I may be permitted to state, however, that I have for some considerable time been pur- suing experiments on the same subject. - . Por several years past I have been paying attention to our native Rotifera, and in the course of this study had kept fresh water in glass vases unchanged from year to year, yet perfectly pure and sweet and fit for the support of animal life, by means of the aquatic plants, such as Vallisneria, Myriophyllum, Nitella and Chara (but particularly the former two), which were growing in it. Not only did the Infusoria and Rotifera breed and mul- tiply in successive generations in these unchanged vessels, but Entmnostraca, Planarice, Ndides and other Annelides, and Hijdra, continued their respective races ; and the young of our river fishes were able to maintain life for some weeks in an apparently healthy state, though (perhaps from causes unconnected with the purity of the water) I was not able to preserve these long. The possibility of similar results being obtained with sea- water had suggested itself to my own mind, as it has to that of Mr. Warington ; and the subject of growing the marine Algae had become a favourite musing, though my residence in London precluded any opportunity of carrying out my project. But in the course of last winter, ill-health drove me to the sea-side, and gave me the opportunity I had been long desiring. My notion was exactly that of Mr. Warington, that as plants in a healthy state are known to give out oxygen under the stimulus of light, and to assimilate carbon, and animals on the other hand consume oxygen and throw off carbonic acid, the balance between the two might be ascertained by experiment, and thus the great circular course of nature, the mutual dependence of organic life, be imitated on a small scale. My ulterior object in this speculation was twofold. First, I thought that the presence of the more delicate sea-weeds (the Rhodosperms or red families especially, many of which are among the most elegant of plants in colour and form), growing in water of crystalline clearness in a large glass vase, would be a desirable ornament in the parlour or drawing-room ; and that the attractions of such an object would be enhanced by the Plants alive in unchanged Sea-water. 265 curious and often brilliant-hued animals, such as the rarer shelled Mollusca, the graceful Nudibranchs, and the numerous species of Sea-anemones, that are so seldom seen by any one bufcthe professed naturahst. ''J^ ^bot.Y/-ijj« iwDi^ vi't \'> But more prominent still was the anticipation ' that by this plan great facilities would be afforded for the study of marine animals under circumstances not widely diverse from those of nature. If the curious forms that stand on the threshold, so to speak, of animal life, can be kept in a healthy state, under our eye, in vessels where they can be watched from day to day with- out being disturbed, and that for a sufficiently prolonged period to allow of the development of the various conditions of their existence, it seemed to me that much insight into the functions and habits of these creatures, into their embryology, metamor- phoses and other peculiarities, might be gained, which otherwise w^ould either remain in obscurity or be revealed only by the wayward '^ fortune of the hour/^ Nor were these expectations wholly unrealized. My experi- ments, though not yet entirely successful, and needing much more attention and time to complete them, have yet established the fact, that the balance can be maintained between the plant and the animal for a considerable period at least, without dis- turbance of the water ; while my vivaria have afforded me the means of many interesting researches, the details of which I am preparing for the press. :^'^ i \;i'iimr yiij Iv The first thing to be done was to obtain the Algse^ift'ia gtbw- ing state. As they have no proper roots, but are in general very closely attached to the solid rock, from which they cannot be torn without injury by laceration, T have always used a ham- mer and chisel to cut away a small portion of the rock itself, having ready a jar of sea-water into which I dropped the frag- ment with its living burden, exposing it as little as possible to the air. The red sea-weeds I have found most successful : the Fuci and Laminaria, besides being unwieldy and unattractive, discharge so copious a quantity of mucus as to thicken and vitiate the water. The Ulvce and Enteromorphce on the other hand are apt to lose their colour, take the appearance of wet silver-paper, or colourless membrane, and presently decay and slough from their attachments. The species that I have found most capable of being preserved in a living state are Chondrus crispus, the Delesserice, and Iridea edulis. The last-named is the very best of all, and next to it is Delesseria sanguinea, for main- taining the purity of the water, while the colours and forms of these render them very beautiful objects in a vase of clear w^ater, particularly when the light (as from a window) is transmitted through their expanded fronds. Many of my friends, both sci- 266 Mr. P. H. Gosse on keeping Marine Animals and entific and unscientific, who have seen my vases of growing Algse at various times during the present year, both at Torquay and at this place, have expressed strong admiration of the beautiful and novel exhibition. I have not as yet been able to preserve the water to an inde- finite period. Sometimes the experiment has quite failed, the plants decaying and the animals dying almost immediately ; but more commonly, the whole have been preserved in health for several weeks. The following notes from my journal give the particulars of the most successful of my efibrts. On the 3rd of May I put into a deep cylindrical glass jar (a confectioner's show- glass) 10 inches deep by 5^ inches wide, about three pints of sea-water, and some marine plants and animals. On the 28th of June following, I examined the contents of the jar as carefully as was practicable without emptying it, or need- lessly disturbing them. It had remained uncovered on the tables in my study, or sometimes in the window, ever since, a little water only having once been added merely to supply the loss by evaporation. The water was perfectly clear and pure. A slight floccose yellow deposition had accumulated on the sides of the jar, but there was very little sediment on the bottom. I had taken no note of the plants or animals when I had put them in ; but as none of them had died, and none had been either abs- tracted or added, the following enumeration gives the original as well as then present contents. There were at this time in the jar the following Algae all in a growing state, and attached to the original fragments of rock : — Two tufts of Delesseria sanpuinea, each with numerous leaves. Two of Rhodymenia juhata, one small, the other a large tuft. A small Ptilota plumosa, growing with one of the last-named. A Chondrus crispusy with An Ulva latissima, growing parasitically on one of its fronds. These seven plants had supplied for eight weeks the requisite oxygen for the following animals, which were at this time all alive and healthy : — Anthea cereus. Actinia bellis, a large specimen. bellis, a half-grown one. anguicomay large. ^ anguicomay small. nivea (MS.). rosea (MS.). rosea, a small specimen. mesembryanthemum, young. . mesembryanthemum, young, another variety. Plants alive in unchanged Sea-water. 267 Crisia denticulata, a large tuft. Coryne ?, young. Pedicellina Belgica, two numerous colonies. Membranipora pilosa. Doris {bilineatat). Polycera 4i'lineata, very small. Phyllodoce lamelligera, about 11 inches long. A coil of small Annelides. Several Serpulce, Acaridce. Entomostraca. Infusoria. Grantia nivea. And other smaller zoophytes and sponges which I could not identify. Soon after this examination I went on a journey, and did not return till the 7th of July. The weather had set in very hot : whether this, combined with the closeness of the room, had had any effect I do not know ; but on my return I found the water beginning to be offensive, a sort of scum forming on the surface, and the animals evidently dying. Some were already dead, but most of the others recovered on being removed to fresh sea- water. This result, though it put an end to my experiment at that time, I do not regard as conclusive against the hypothesis ; for of course animals are liable to death under any circum- stances, and the corrupting body of one of these in so limited a volume of water would soon prove fatal to others, even though there might be no lack of oxygen for respiration. It is possible that one of the large Actinia may have casually died during my absence, the timely removal of which might have averted the consequences to the others ; but this is only conjecture. Perhaps there was too large an amount of animal life in proportion to the vegetable ; but the maintenance of all these in health and acti- vity for nearly nine weeks seems hardly to agree with such a supposition. I have always found one of the most unpleasant phsenomena in the experiments to be the appearance, in the course of a few weeks, of greenish or yellowish matter about the sides of the jar, hindering their transparency. This I have reason to think is the early state of Confervoid plants, for filaments of green Confervse soon begin to shoot from this accumulation, and would probably choke up the water in time. Mr. Warington's suggestion of employing the phytophagous Mollusca to get rid of the accumulating vegetable matter, had not occurred to me ; it is ingenious, and might perhaps obviate this inconvenience. I had myself observed that the presence of some of the Trochi 2^68 Mr. W. H. Benson on the germs Cyclostoma, seemed to be helpful in keeping the water pure, but I did not know how to account for it. Should these experiments be perfected, what would hinder our keeping collections of marine animals for observation and study, even in London and other inland cities ? Such a degree of success as I have attained would admit of so desirable a con- summation, for even in London no great difficulty would be ex- perienced in having a jar of sea- water brought up once in a couple of months. I hope to see the lovely marine Algae too, that hitherto have been almost unknown except pressed between the leaves of a book, growing in their native health and beauty, and waving their delicate translucent fronds, on the tables of our drawing-rooms and on the shelves of our conservatories. • -^ I remain. Gentlemen, your obedient servant, ^^^"^^^ ' P. H. GossE. 'ilfracombe, Sept. 10, 1862. XXV.— iVb^g^ on the genus Cyclostoma ; and Characters of some new species from India y Borneo, and Natal. By W. H. Benson, Esq. 1. Cyclostoma Nilagiricum, nobis, n. s. Testa umbilicata, depresso-turbinata, solida, liris spiralibus 8-9 ma- joribus, quibusdam parvis obsoletis inaequidistantibus interjectis munita, castanea, ad periphseriam albido-articulata, infra fascia latissima saturatiore, superne strigis radiatis angustis undatis al- bidis frequentioribus, subtus rarioribus ornata ; spira ad apieem exsertiuscula, obtusata ; anfractibus 5, conYexiuscuUs, ultimo ad pe- riphseriam subfaniculato-carinato, superne angulato, circa suturam late planato, subtus circa periomphalum excavatum laevigatum compresso, umbilico mediocri profundo, subcylindrico ; apertura obliqua, pyriformi-rotundata, aurantiaca, fauce caerulescente, pe- ristomate expanse, incrassato, reflexiusculo, aurantiaco, breviter adnato, prope umbilicum leviter sinuato, superne angulato, pro- ducto, intus sulco intrante impresso. Diam. major 43—45, minor 34-36, axis 22-24 mill. Hab. ad latus occidentale Montium " Nilgherries " teste Jerdon. This shell was at first supposed to be C. Indicum of Deshayes, but proved to be widely different. It is allied to C. Jerdoni, nobis, and to C. Ceijlanicum, Pfeiffer. Cyclostoma Indicum is placed by the last-mentioned author between C. validum and C. linguiferum, being provided with a linguiform process to the lip, near the umbilicus, of which feature, however, no notice is taken by Deshayes either in his specific character or in his ex- tended description. The remark in vol. viii. of the ' Annals/, toith descriptions of some new species. 269 p. 193, that C. Indicum extended its range to the Nilgherries, requires to be expunged^ having reference to the present speciea, while C. Indicum is not at present known to extend beyond the vicinity of Bombay. The young of C. Nilagiricum preserves its distinctness from C. Jerdoni in the same condition by its sculpture, colour, the depression of the spire, the broad flattening observable above the shoulder of the whorl, the angulation of the shoulder, the exca- vation of the periomphalum, its compressed angulated edge, and by the blue colour of the interior, which is bordered with chest- nut in the young, but gradually gives place to the orange of the peristome in the adult example of C. Nilagiricum, while the whole of the interior is white in both states of C. Jerdoni, The spiral striae are not very conspicuous on the underside of C. Nila- giricum, and are entirely discontinued at a short distance from the periphery, the region of the umbilicus being smooth. In most of the allied species the umbilicus and its neighbourhood are pale, but in this species the dark chestnut ground colour of the shell extends over the whole exterior surface where not broken by flecks or streaks of whitish. Dr. T. Jerdon procured it from the forest on the western edge of the Nilgherries, while C. Jerdoni was found by him to inhabit the north-east face of the same mountain group. 2. Cyclostoma Malayanum, nobis, n. s. f V; , T^J Testa depresso-turbinata, laevigata, spiraliter exilissxme obsolete stri- ata, supra castanea, albido undulatim strigata, -interdum plurifas- ciata, subtus albida, castaneo anguste fasciata, infra periphseriam fascia latiuscula saturata, albido sparse articulata, ornata; spira exsertiuscula, apice acutiuscula ; anfractibus quinque subconvexis, ultimo rotundato, subtus convexo ; apertura vix obliqua, magna, circulari, albida; peristomate duplicato, leviter adnato, externo plane expanso, superne areuato, labio angusto ; umbiUco mediocri, pervio, subp^rspectivo. Diam. major 43, minor 32, axis 29 mill. Hab. in montibus vallibusque Insularum Penang et Lancavi, necnon in Peninsula Malayana. Teste Dr. T. Cantor. This shell, collected by Dr. Cantor, is one of the group which contains C Pearsoni, Siamense, Tuba, &c. The peculiarly flat- tened double peristome will at once serve to distinguish it from any of the allied species. The colouring also is of a particularly sober character. 3. Cyclostoma Anostoma, nobis, n. s. Testa perforata, turrita, tenui, exiliter striata, pallide castanea, apice acutiuscula albida ; anfractibus septem convexis, ultimo antice bre- 270 Mr. W. H. Benson on the genus Cyclostoma, viter ascendente, basi rotundato ; apertura ampla, vix obliqua, leviter sursum spectante, subcirculari, fauce castanea, margine rufo; peristomate duplicate, teuui, interno continuo, subito ex- panse, exterao plane dilatato, praecipue ad partem columellarem, vix reflexiusculo. Axis 23, diam. anfr. penult. 10, diam. apert. extern. 9, alt. apert. 7\ mill. Hab. in Insula Borneo. In form much resembling C. altum of the Philippines, but shorter and more rapidly tapering from the base to the summit, dijffering also in tenuity, in the pale apex^ the absence of a funi- culate keel at the base, the more convex whorls, and the more coarsely striate ultimate volution. The penultimate whorl is not broader than the last, as it is in C. altum ; at the same place where the channel occurs on the inner lip in that shell there ap- pears a very slight indentation. The summit and succeeding whorl are white, as in C. Guildingianum, Pfeiffer. Two slightly impressed lines traverse the last whorl spirally in the only spe- cimen received through Dr. Bacon. They appear to be accidental, and have therefore been omitted in the specific description. 4. Cyclostoma quadrifilosum, nobis, n. s. Testa umbilicata, globoso-turbinata, sub epidermide hispida, et crebro oblique lamellata, nitida, spiraliter 4-lirata, interstitiis striis minu- tissimis spiralibus, alias obliquas decussantibus, munitis, castanea, superne strigis pallidis distantibus ornata ; sutura impressa ; spira conica acutiuscula ; anfractibus 5 convexis, ultimo liris 4 Hliformi- bus instructo, prima supera, secunda ad periphseriam, tertia infe- riori, quarta laasali ; umbilico angusto pervio ; apertura vix obliqua, subcirculari, fauce castanea; peristomate duplicate, interiori ad dextram recto, vix porrecto, ad sinistram expanso, sinuato, intus leviter incrassato, albido, exteriori expansiusculo, nigrescente, an- tice superne prorsum arcuato. Diam. major 6, minor 5, axis 5 mill. Hab. in Insula Borneo. The fourth filiform carina, which is present in both specimens received (the other three being situated as in C Z-liratum, Pfr.), the lamelliform epidermis, the spiral striae, the duplication of the peristome, and the other characters of the aperture, seem to jus- tify the distinction of this species from C. S-liratum, which in- habits the same island, but which I only know from Pfeiffer's description. C. Ai-filosum is a little smaller than that species. The outer lip is separated from the internal peristome by a slight sulcus. The two upper threads are continued on the penulti- mate whorl, as in S-liratum. with descriptions of some new species. 271 5. Cyclostoma Wahlbergiy nobis, n. s. Testa mediocriter umbilicata, depresso-turbinata, scabre et acute ra- diato-striata, luteo-glauca, epidermide fusca; spira vix elevata, acutiuscula ; anfractibus 4 convexis, ultimo rotundato ; apertura ampla, alta, rotundata, peristomate acuto ; umbilico aperto, pro- fundo. f Diam. major 14, minor 11, axis 7 mill. / \ (■ ;■ ^ ■:-■ ^ i^ This is probably the species which Wahlberg got at Natal, and which, by some misconception, was attributed to the fauna of South Africa, by Krauss, as C. translucidum, a South American shell possessed of a calcareous operculum ; whereas that of the present species is thin and horny. The example described was collected at Natal, with Bulimus Kraussi, and transmitted to Mr. S. Stevens with other specimens of a smaller size. Cyclostoma Phcenotopicum, Benson, Annals, vol. viii. p. 190. The following characters require to be added to the previous description of the shell, of which I have received an adult speci- men from Darjiling : — Peristomate verticali, integro, expansiusculo, subreflexo, supeme du- plicate, lamella exteriori ibidem subangulata. Diam. major 13, minor 10, axis 6\ mill. Besides the figure of C. spiraculum, Sowerby, No. 272 of the ' Thesaurus,' which is Pterocyclos hispidus [Spiraculum hispidum of Pearson), Sowerby added No. 273, a figure of a small shell, also from India, which he referred to the same species. It was, however, destitute of the spiracle and with a different aperture, and was so clearly distinct that it has been referred by several authors to other species. In the 'Conchylien Cabinet' Pfeiffer assigned it, at first, with a mark of doubt, as well as C. Papua, Quoy, to C. helicinum, Chemnitz; although he afterwards saw reason to distinguish C. helicinum from C. Papua y which he now refers, together with C. Distomella, Sowerby (a very different shell ?), to C. Hebraicum, Lesson. Gray also attributes fig. 273 of the * Thesaurus,' with a mark of doubt, to C. Papua, A glance at the figure. Conch. Cab. pi. 28. f. 14-15, would at once dis- pose of this reference ; while I have no hesitation in referring the stray form in the ' Thesaurus ' to an uncoated specimen of C. Phanotopicum, with which its size, form, zigzag markings, and conformation of the mouth exactly agree. Cyclostoma constrictum, Benson, Annals, vol. viii. p. 188. Another specimen of this shell from Darjiling confirms an ad- ditional character for this species, tending still further to show 272 Mr. W. H. Benson on some species of Cyclostoma. its relation to the more Westerly Himalayan species, C. strangu- latum, which was alluded to in my former remarks. The follow- ing character should be added : — " Callo suturali retroyerso, poue constrictionem posito (ut in C. strangulato). Cyclostoma funiculaturriy Benson, Journ. Asiat. Soc. 1838. Specimens received of the young of C. funiculatumy in differ- ent stages of growth, show very different forms, which might cause the shell to be assigned to other species, or even to a dif- ferent genus, if unaccompanied by the thin horny operculum. In the young state, with 5^ whorls, the shell is pale horn colour, with a slight rufous tint, the periphery of the last whorl is an- gular, the base slightly convex, nearly planate, the mouth oblong- quadrate, the right and left lip nearly parallel, and forming a right angle, somewhat rounded, with the horizontal base. In this state, moreover, the shell is perforate. In the next stage, with six whorls, the shell has become thicker and more opake, the epidermis reddish olive, the periphery of the last whorl more acutely angular, the base concave, while the umbilicus is filled up, the mouth is elliptical, and the square base of the aperture has given place to an angular inferior termination. In the adult the aperture is rounded, the peristome reflected and thickened with an orange enamel, and the periphery of the last whorl is rounded, and has a funiculate border round the impervious rimation. The adult C, funiculatum is figured in plate 31 B. of then* Thesaurus,' f. 316-7. ■ fc* Cyclostoma Aurora^ Benson, Annals, vol. viii. p. 186. The shell described was an uncoated and worn specimen. The following addition will represent the species when perfect : — '' Carinarum interstitiis striis elevatiusculis spiralibus obductis, rubente, supra strigis castaneis fulguratis, subtus fasciis plu- ribus, mediana latiori, variegata; epidermide tenui fugace ob- tecta. Operculo ut in C. Involvulo.'^ The specimens which have enabled me to make the above cor- rections were collected for me, at Darjiling, by Mr. Robert Trot- ter, of the Bengal Civil Service, together with some new forms of Helix, and a new Clausilia, the third species which has been found in Northern India, where the genus is confined to the mountain ranges, and appears to have been debarred, by the in- tervention of the Gangetic plain, from penetrating to the moun- tains of Central or Southern India, whereas in ultra Gangetic India the continuous mountain ranges have enabled species to descend to a low latitude in the Malayan Peninsula. On the Habits of the Water- Snail and Stickleback. 273 XXVI. — Observations on the Natural History of the Watei'- Snail and Fish kept in a confined and limited portion of Water, By Robert Warington, Esq. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Gentlemen, The accompanying observations were thrown together with the intention of laying them before the Members of the Natural History Section of the British Association at their late Meeting in Belfast, but from sudden and unexpected business engage- ments I was prevented from attending, and thus, most unwill- ingly, obliged to forego the pleasure I had anticipated of dis- cussing the details of the subject with so many of our leading practical naturalists as are generally assembled on such occa- sions. My time also was so much occupied as to prevent my copying them, in a readable form, before the Sections closed: should you, however, consider them worthy of a place in your vahiable Journal, their insertion will much oblige. Yours very truly, Robert Warington. Apothecaries' Hall, Sept. 10, 1852. My object in bringing the accompanying observations before the public is to endeavour to direct, more in detail than I have hitherto been able to do, the attention of naturalists, and those who take a delight and pleasure in the study of Nature's won- derful and glorious works, to a very simple means of easily in- vestigating the habits and oeconomy of all those numerous classes of animal and vegetable life that are capable of being brought within the limited precincts of the small water-cases I have elsewhere described*. And when I state that these observations have been made by one most ignorant on the subject of natural history, and a perfect tyro in this field of research, as the details of this communication will fully demonstrate ; when I mention also that they have been made at leisure intervals of very short duration, snatched as an amusement and as opportunities oc- curred from the weightier matters of professional business ; — I hope that it may encourage others to follow in the same most interesting course of investigation, when, aided by a little perse- verance, they may ensure for themselves an abundant reward. The matured naturalist I am sure will agree with me in the ar- gument, that if such observations can be made by those unac- quainted with the subject, and without trouble or inconve- * Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society, vol. iii. p. 52 j and Garden Companion for January 1852. Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist, Ser. 2. Volx, 18 274 Mr. R. Warington on the Habits of the Water-Snail nience, it does offer a means of researcli which should de- velope some most interesting and important results, and that the same principle is capable of being extended to a much larger scale; a demonstration of which I believe will be very speedily exhibited. As regards the growth of the plants employed in these miniature ponds, I have already briefly treated in the ' Garden Companion ^ for January last, and shall therefore confine myself in the present communication to the two other members of the circle ; and first — The Water-Snail. This important element in all the cases where the removal of the decaying vegetable matter, or the growth of Confervse, is necessary, to enable the generality of fish to live healthily, as must arise in most stagnant waters and ponds, offers to our consideration some very interesting phsenomena. In commencing my experiments in the early part of 1849, I had employed the Limnea stagnalis for this purpose, but was soon obliged to substitute some less voracious inhabitant for my small domain, for I found that as it grew in size its appetite increased to an enormous extent, and the plants were punished most severely, the leaves of the Vallisneria spiralis being bitten quite through ; and if the snails were in too large a number, the whole of the vegetation was rapidly removed; other varieties of the Limnea were consequently introduced at an early period, namely L. auricularia and L. glutinosa, as also Physa fontinalis, Bithinia tentaculata, Planorhis corneus and P. carinata. These last two varieties have been found highly serviceable, as from the cor- nuated formation of their shell and small mouth, the fish can- not so readily get them out to feed upon. With the L. auricu- laria and L. glutinosa this is easily effected in consequence of the large aperture of their shell; and if the fish fails in his en- deavours by a sudden attack to shake the snail out, he will attempt to suck it from its retreat, as is the case with the gold-fish ; with the minnow (Leuciscus Phoxinus), however, it is different, as the smallness of its size renders this manoeuvre impossible, unless the snail be very minute; it has recourse therefore to another and quite as efficient a means of obtaining its object, and I have seen these beautiful little fellows seize on their prey and shake it, as a terrier dog would a rat, between a piece of the rock- work and the glass, until they have broken its thin and delicate shell to pieces, and having effected this to their satisfaction, quietly consume their victim. It will be seen from these facts, that the snails will require to be renewed at intervals, particularly as I have previously shown that the increase of the snail by its eggs, which are deposited in very large quantities, is entirely prevented from the fish con- suming them the instant they exhibit signs of locomotion. and Fish kept in a limited portion of Water. 275 These water-snails have the extraordinary power of moving along the surface of the water with gi'eat rapidity with their shells downward, the foot being attached as it were to the atmo- spheric air. The Planorbis also can fix itself, without any appa- rent means of attachment, by its side to the flat surface of the glass, and will remain thus for several days. /jixruii j^^^tft In watching the movements of the Limnea, I was for sOm6 time under the impression that they had a power of swimming or sustaining themselves in the water, as they would rise from the bottom of the pond, a portion of the rock-work, or a leaf of the plants, and float for a considerable period, nearly out of their shells, without any apparent attachment, and by the contortions and gyrations of their body and shell, move some little distance, in a horizontal direction, from the point which they had left. On more carefully watching this phsenomenon, however, I found they were attached by a thread or web, which was so transparent as to be altogether invisible, and which they could elongate in a similar way to the spider; they also possessed the power of returning upon this thread by gathering it up as it were, and thus drawing them- selves back to the point which they had quitted. These facts were clearly proved in the following manner : — A Limnea stag- nalis had glided its way along a young and short leaf of the VaU lisneria which terminated below the surface of the water, and having reached the extremity launched itself ofi* from it ; after moving about with a sort of swimming or rolling motion in a horizontal direction for some time it lowered itself gradually, and in effecting this the long flexible leaf of the Vallisneria was bent with an undulating motion, corresponding exactly with every movement of the snail, clearly showing that it had a firm attach- ment to the extremity of the leaf. On another occasion a L. glu- tinosa gradually rose from the surface of a piece of submersed rock, and when at the distance of about 3 or 4 inches from it stayed its progress, floating about in a circumscribed horizontal direction for some time ; at last it rose suddenly and rapidly to the surface, evidently from the rupture of its thread of attach- ment. The most convincing proof, however, of this fact that I can perhaps adduce, and one that I have often repeated with all the before-mentioned Limnea, is that when the snail has been some inches distant from the supposed point of attachment, a rod or stick has been carefully introduced, and slowly drawn on one side between them in a horizontal direction, and by this means the snail can be made to undulate to and fro, obeying exactly the movement of the rod : this requires to be done very gently, as, if too much force is used, the web is broken, and the snail rises rapidly to the surface. 276 Mr. R. Warington on the Habits of the Water-Snail ^f The next subject of interest which I wish to call attention to is — J The Stickleback, Gasterosteus leiurus. This most beautiful little creature has afforded a subject for much interesting obser- vation for some time past, and I fear that what I have to offer will prove very much a repetition of what has already been pub- lished on the subject. As however the proceedings and obser- vations of those who dare not rank themselves in the class of naturalists, sometimes from their want of knowledge cause circum- stances to arise which would not otherwise occur, so in the pre- sent case my failures through my own ignorance may develope some new points in the oeconomy of these small fry. Mr. Edwards of Shoreditch, whose London garden pond has afforded much interesting matter to many microscopists, informs me, in a note dated August 27, 1852, that it is about fourteen years since he first noticed the fact of the stickleback building a nest, guarding the spawn and defending the young ones : no publication, how- ever, of these observations seems to have taken place. Since this period, the facts have been published by M. Coste in France in 1847, and quite lately by Mr. Kinahan*, in a paper laid before the Dublin Natural History Society. My observations in the miniature ponds commenced in May 1851, when, having received from a friend at Mitcham several of these little fish, male and female, the latter being full of spawn, they were introduced to their new abode. A curious scene followed : the male fish immediately took up certain posi- tions, the strongest apparently having the first choice, which they maintained against all intruders, and a species of border warfare was continually maintained across the proscribed boundaries of each, and although at times driven out by a fierce attack from a stronger fish, yet, immediately the battle had ceased, they re- turned to their previous position, which they defended most vigorously. These battles were at times most desperate, for these puny combatants would fasten tight on each other for several seconds, tumbling over and over, until their strength appeared completely exhausted. If there were more fish present than there were positions for, they fared most grievously, being driven altogether into one corner of the pond, and from which they ventured forth only to be driven back again on all sides, where they were continually exposed to the attacks of their com- panions. The day after they had been placed in their new dQinain, the strongest of the male fish was observed most busily employed gathering small ligneous fibres from different parts of the pond, * Zoologist for July 1852. m£iiv:t^\i iiifio eij ^^^a«tiio ^iiiigii^ eiwoiuj u tsisd ^^'^^^flwfl? Fish kept in a limited portion of Water. 277" and carrying them in its mouth to one particular spot, where he appeared to force them into the sand and gravel with his nose. Being perfectly unacquainted at the time with the fact of this little creature building a nest, I watched him more attentively. He had selected a spot behind a piece of rock-work, almost hidden from view at the front of the case and towards the room ; but on looking down from the top of the water I could perceive that he had already constructed a small hole as round as a ring and with a good broad margin to it, formed of the materials he had been so industriously collecting, and on which he appeared to have placed numerous particles of sand and small pebbles. This spot he guarded with the utmost jealousy, continually starting forth from his position and attacking the other fish with most extraordinary fury. The desperate ferocity with which this fish attacked the others, and the continued turmoil the whole pond was kept in, determined me to do a most absurd act, which I instantly afterwards regretted, and my want of know- ledge of the subject at the time had prevented my foreseeing, namely to remove this fish from the pond. I therefore caught it in a small muslin net, and without the slightest trouble, as he attacked the net the instant it was introduced. But what was the consequence ? No sooner was he removed from the water than the other fish darted to the spot he had been protecting, pulled forth a mass of eggs which had been deposited there, and which I had not previously seen, tore it to pieces among them, and devoured it before I had time even to shake my prisoner out of his confinement ; however, it taught me a fact in natural history, and it may perhaps be novel to others. So ended my experience of 1851. Now I think it will be evident from what I have stated that these eggs must have been deposited by the female fish, and the nest made around them afterwards ; and this I think was also the case with the fish experimented on this year by my friend Mr. Gratton, who had a fine brood of young sticklebacks hatched after fourteen or fifteen days, the nest being formed immediately after the in- troduction of the fish. The appearance of the male fish during this spawning period is beautiful beyond description. The eye is of the most splendid green colour, having a perfectly metallic lustre like the green feathers of some species of humming-bird. The throat and belly are of a bright crimson, the back of an ashy green, and the whole fish appears as though it were somewhat translucent and glowed with an internal incandescence : his ferocity during this period is extraordinary. How so small a creature can bear up so long under such a state of apparent excitement appears marvellous. Later in the year the colours slightly change, the back becomes 278 Mr. R. Warington on the Habits of the Water-Bnail more of a green tint, tlie throat and belly of a paler red, and all the glowmg appearance subsides. The female fish is of a bro\|[ii colour on the back, the eye also brown and the belly white, m^ I now pass on to the present year, when I had the plea- sure of seeing the nest built from the very commencement and through all its stages. The place selected for the nest was the bare flat top of a piece of oolite where it formed a right angle by resting against the glass partition which separated two of these ponds, in one of which were kept four minnows and two small eels, and in the second the sticklebacks which form the subject of this observation. In this the male fish commenced gradually to deposit and accumulate his materials. I will endeavour to give in detail the exact description of his proceed- ings while I had the opportunity of watching him, avoiding as much as possible the repetition of his operations ; for as each loose fibre or small piece of material was brought singly to the chosen spot, the same routine would be gone through over and over again : — Now he arrives with a large fibre in his mouth, deposits it, rearranges the whole of the materials, already accumulated, with his mouth, removing one fibre to this place and another to that, and departs on his search for more. Now he returns carrying a small piece of gravel, which is carefully placed on part of the fibres as it were to keep them down ; he then draws him- self slowly over the whole and is off again. Now he brings another fibre, w^hich he dibs in with his snout so as to make it interlace with the others ; then he attempts to interlace in the same way the fibrous rootlet of a Lemna which is growing above his head, but which the instant he thinks he has fastened and loosens his hold of, rises again by its expanded lobe to the sur- face j this fibre appears to be well fitted for his purpose, for he repeats his attempts to fix it among his gleanings over and over again. Now he is busy making a circular hole in the middle of the accumulated materials with his snout ; a piece of the fibre is next taken out from the mass, projected from his mouth, watched as it falls very slowly through the water ; then, as it proves too light for his purpose, it is again seized, carried to some distance, and projected away, and he is off to rearrange the remainder, care- fully tucking in the ends with his snout ; he then draws himself slowly across the whole and is off again. Now he catches a sight of the female fish, pursues her with great rapidity, seizes her by the tail and by the lateral spine, but she escapes his grasp and conceals herself behind the rock-work. Again he conveys more material to the nest^ and the next journey is again laden with another small piece of gravel ; the whole is then slightly shaken, then compressed, and he is off again ; thus he conveys without (Cessation decayed rootlets, grave^l, sand; and whatever materialJie Vj»i\^ and Fish kept in a limited portiori of Water. 279 can find that will answer his purpose. But I must observe that their specific gravity is continually tested : thus, having found what ap- pears a suitable fibre, it is carried a little way, then projected to a short distance from his mouth and watched as it falls; if it falls rapidly, it is again seized and carried direct to the nest ; if more slowly, it is tried again in the same manner ; and if it then proves too light, it is abandoned altogether and another selected. If a piece is found better fitted for his structure than what he has already obtained, it is rapidly conveyed to the spot ; much altera- tion in the arrangement of the materials takes place, so as appa- rently to dispose of the new prize to the best advantage, and it is only after continued and indefatigable perseverance that he succeeds in rearranging them to his wishes. If there should be any strong fibre which he has a difiiculty in causing to remain in the position he requires, a small quantity of sand is brought in his mouth and adroitly placed on the top of it to keep it down ; if this does not effect the purpose desired so as to please him, the refractory piece is taken out and rejected altogether. At times he hangs or hovers close over the surface of the nest and throws his whole body into a curious and rapid vibratory motion, by which he causes a rapid current of water to be projected on the materials as though it were to prove their stability ; and when this operation is performed, the lighter particles and light mud are as it were fanned or winnowed out by the generated current, and may be seen floating away : this operation will also explain the reason for testing the gravity of the materials before they are used. Another very curious operation is the action of di'aw- ing his body slowly over the surface of the materials which form the nest. I believe that at this time he excretes a glutinous matter which acts as a species of cement, and tends to keep the materials together, at the same time that the pressure of his body may render them more compact. Or it may be that the whole surface of the nest is by this action charged with the milt, and thus the impregnation of the eggs more perfectly ensured, as precisely the same motion is employed after the eggs are deposited, and from the appearance of the fish it seems to be attended with pleasurable sensations. These two last-described operations iii!e very frequently repeated. '\(\ If during this time any other male fish makes his appearance, he is chased with the utmost ferocity and driven to conceal himself in any cranny which he can find; should, however, another fish be also building, desperate battles ensue whenever they approach each other^s position, or chance to meet while collecting their materials. The whole time occupied in accumulating these materials for the nest was about four hours, during which interval a goodly quantity had been obtained ; and a small opening appeared to be 2||^ Dr. J. E. Gray on a new species of Wart Pig, ,ff carefully constructed near each end of the mass, the use of which will be now explained. All having been apparently arranged for the female fish to spawn, and the operations of fanning out the light particles, the improving their order, the dibbing in the ends, the loading them with additional sand, and the consolidation of them as described fully effected, and the whole reviewed carefully for several days in succession, as it were awaiting the coming of the female, on her appearance the following curious scene ensued. The female fish came out of her hiding-place, her attention being fixed apparently on the nest, when immediately the male became as it were mad with delight ; he darted round her in every direc- tion, then to his accumulated materials, slightly adjusted them, fanned them, and then back again in an instant ; this was repeated several times ] as she did not advance to the nest, he endeavoured to push her in that direction with his snout ; this not succeeding, he took her by the tail and by the side spine and tried to pull her to the spot, then back to the nest, and having examined the two small openings alluded to, he thrust his nose in at the lower and gradually drew himself under the whole of the materials, making his exit at the opposite one, as though to prove to her that everything was prepared for her spawning. These manoeuvres, however, failed in their purpose ; she examined the nest several times; but the appearance of the minnows, &c. moving about on the other side of the glass partition against which the nest had been formed, I believe deterred her from depositing her eggs there, and she afterwards spawned elsewhere. The nest which had cost so much trouble was ultimately abandoned and neglected, and was gradually dispersed by the snails. There are several other interesting particulars regarding the habits of the several fish, &c., which I have had the opportunity of experimenting with, and which may form the subject of some future memoranda. I would merely remark in conclusion, that I have after many difiiculties and failures succeeded in keeping sea-water perfectly clear for upwards of six months, and that I have for the last five weeks had several sea-anemones living in it which at present appear extremely healthy, and the water has not been disturbed for the last fourteen days. My great dif- ficulty in the midst of London has been to obtain materials to xnrork witii ~ " • ' i^^^ r.^,,^..^., mM ni ^nwoail Jiioaoiq is oiin:i ^adi "io m^aQ-g odi 11& ■■■'■ "? grrnrf ,y;rft y;"-- ' - — ' — -.t ,trn^ iffiiw XXVII. — De$c?Hption of a new species of Wart Pig from ths> b Camaroons. By J. E. Gray, Ph.D., V.P.Z.S. The Zoological Society has recently received, from the Camaroon Eiver in West Africa, a new, and, for the family, a very beautiful species of Pig, which appears to be undescribed. It belongs to Dr. J. E. Gray on Sanresia, a new genus of Scincidse. 281 the genus Choir opoiamus, which is characterized by the males being furnished with a large bony protuberance on each side of the face, about middle distance between the end of the nose and the eyes; both sexes have elongated, rapidly attenuated ears, ending in a pencil of long hairs ; the tail is thick, long and placed high up the back. The position of the tail and the lengthened form of the ears at once distinguish these animals from the true Pigs {Sus), which always have a slender tail, and small, hairy, rounded ears. The Choiropotami are confined to Africa, while the species of Bus have only hitherto been found in the European and Asiatic quarters of the world. > m < . .> .... . The Camaroon Wart Pig, Choir opotamus pictus. Uniform red brown ; the face, forehead, ears, and some large blotches on the legs black; the edge of the ears, whiskers, streak over and under the eyes, and a continued, rather crested streak along the; middle of the back, pure white. .fyr, ilfims owl Hab. The Camaroon River, West Africa. A maleirrrf o-r., r^r,c ,t This is immediately known from the Choiropotamus larvatus of South Africa by the brightness of the colour, the latter being black, whitish washed, white on the side of the face, with a large black spot under the eyes. Sus Koiropotamtis of Desmoulin without the protuberances on the face is the female of this species ; the African Hog of DaniePs ' African Scenery,' t. ii., b^ing the adult male. ,^^ , , .,,,,„, ,;,,i,,.,,. t r » f r J XXVIII. — Description o/Sauresia, a new genus of Bcincidsd from St. Domingo. By J. E. Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. This genus is described from a specimen brought from St. Do- mingo by M. Salle intermixed with other reptiles. Though imported by a French collector and bought from Paris, I do not find any description of it in the second part of the Catalogue of Lizards lately published by M. Dumeril and his nephew M. Auguste Dumeril, which contains the species of this family. It belongs to the well-marked tribe of Diploglossince, charac- terized by the hard, minutely striated scales ; but it differs from all the genera of that tribe at present known, in having very weak feet with only four rudimentary toes, being in fact the re- presentative of the genus Seps in the other tribes, and forming a good passage between Diploglossus and Ophiodes. — -IlVXiC Sauresia. Body and tail cylindrical elongate; limbs four, short, weak, far apart ; toes 4*4, anterior toes very short, two middle longest, subequal, interior shorter ; hinder very unequal, 2SSI Mr. T. C. Eyton's Account of a Dredging Eocpedition interioi* reiy short, indistinct, second longer, third longest, fourth moderate, far back. Scales rather thick, broad, 6- sided, longitudinally striated. Rostral plates rounded, erect; supra- nasal plates two pair j frontal plates two, anterior broad, 6-sided, posterior elongate, 6-sided ; supercilial shields 3'3. Ears open, rounded -, nostril lateral ; loreal shield 3*3 ; lower eyelid opake, with a series of erect band-like scales. Sauresia sepsoides. Gray brown (in spirits), with a broad dark brown streak, edged above by a narrow pale line on the upper part of each side of the body and tail. , i jm Hab. St. Domingo. J>fiBd-fbI XXIX. — Some Account of a Dredging Expedition on the coast of the Isle of Man during the months of Mag, June, July and August 1852. By T. C. Eyton, Esq., F.L.S., F.Z.S. Having been staying at Douglas, Isle of Man, for a period of nearly four months during the past summer, and having a small yacht, I have been out dredging, chiefly from off Douglas Head to Maughold Head, weather permitting, pretty constantly during that period ; it may not therefore be uninteresting to the readers of this Magazine to know what the products have been, more especially to those who may follow me over the same ground. Professor Forbes has investigated the fauna of the sea off the island, but his labours have been confined chiefly to the S.W. coast, while mine, on the contrary, have been on the N.E. side of the island. The beds I have been working upon extend nearly continuously from about a mile and a half off Douglas Head to Maughold Head ; the depth varies from 16 to 27 fathoms. The greatest portion of the bottom is covered with Nullipore ; on some portions scarcely a live shell is found ; other parts, especially off Douglas Head, Laxey Point and Maughold Head, abound in scallops and oysters; the former are chiefly dredged by the fishermen to set the deep sea line with, and fur- nish an excellent bait for many kinds of fish, especially haddock. The fishermen generally bait their lines with the scallops ob- tained the first haul, while the dredge is down for another, throwing the shells overboard, which will account to a certain extent for the large number of dead shells on the beds. The following is a list of the fish I observed while on the island : — The Haddock, Morrhua ^glefinus, Cuv. Taken with the long . ilaes : is in best season in the winter and spring. The Cod, Morrhua vulgaris, Cuv. Taken in the same manner as the last. «. ^ilyii a; a^AtiX auia. ^vu\\>s "S^*>v-r> M'.'unac- 'OjV^^^vVs^^ o;i the coast of the Isle of Man) .1 .jU 283 - The Bib, Morrhua lusca, Flem. Taken with hand lines in ^pouglas Bay. itiMjiuxi, ,; Whiting, Merlangus vulgaris, Cuv. Douglas Bay. ! * Whiting Pollack, Mei'langus Pollachius, Cuv. Taken with hand lines in Douglas Bay and other places round the island; it is called by the fishermen the Callack. The Ling, Lota Molva, Cuv. Taken with long lines. Rock-Ling, Motella vulgaris. Also taken with the long lines. The Plaice, Platessa vulgaris^ Flem. Taken with the long lines and also trawling. The Flounder, Platessa Flesus, Flem. Taken as the last : the left-handed variety is not uncommon. Dab, Platessa Limanda, Flem. Taken as the last. Band Fluke, Platessa Limandoides, Jenyns. This fish is taken trawling on a sand bed between the Calf and the Irish coast, and is called on the island the Sand Sole. Turbot, Rhombus maximus, Cuv. Found of a very large size in the Calf Sound ; one was taken while I was on the island 90 lbs. weight, with a long line set at the turn of the tide in the Sound ; it is also taken trawling. '^oi vhuori to Brill, Rhombus vulgaris, Cuv. Taken in the same manifer «s the preceding. Sole, Solea vulgaris, Cuv. Taken trawling. Cornish Sucker, Lepadogaster cornubiensis, Flem. Taken com- monly among the rocks in Douglas Bay. Conger, Conger vulgaris, Cuv. Taken with long lines in abundance. ivii oil:r ito ssa Sand Eel, Ammodytes Tobiantcs, Cuv. Common; ' W.f!J odi Red Gurnard, Trigla Cuculus, Linn. '^^a M.M. Grey Gurnard, Trigla Gurnardus, Linn. Both of the last are taken with lines commonly. Armed Bullhead, Aspidophorus europcms, Cuv. Taken in a seine set for salmon. Father-lasher, Coitus Bubalis, Euph. Common. <^-J ^^i•iii({ Sea Bream, Pagellus centrodontus, Cuv. Common roiiiid "flle island : taken with hand lines. Mackerel, Scomber Scomber, Linn. Common during July and August. Dory, Zeus Faber, Linn. Not uncommon. Spotted Gunnel, Muranoides guttata, Lacep. Common in puddles among the rocks on the coast. Ballan Wrasse, Labrus maculatus, Bloch. Taken commonly with lines; it is called by the fishermen the Bolland. Red Wrasse, Labrus cameus. Taken occasionally with hand hues, but not so common as the last species. Salmon, Salmo Salar, Linn. Taken in nets at the mouth of rivers at Ramsay, Peele and Douglas. 284 On a Dredging Expedition on the coast of the Isle of Man, Salmon Trout, Salmo TYutta. Taken in the same manner as the last species. 1 Herring, Clupea Harengus, Linn. The Isle of Man is cele- brated for its herrings, which appear generally on the Peele side of the island in June ; towards August they are chiefly found on the Douglas side, but are not considered such good-eating theix^ as they are when taken on the Peele side. A very large number of fishing smacks, or luggers, as they are called on the island, are employed in the herring trade ; I have counted upwards of ninety within sight at one time from the Calf; there are also several carrying-boats employed to take the herrings off for sale to Liverpool and elsewhere. ' Skate, Raia Batis, Linn. Common. ' ^ namw aifira Sand Ray, Raia maculata, Mont. Not uncomii6fi|Rjj2i; liw so frequent as the last. ^^" ^ ^^^^ Worm Pipe-fish, Syngnathus lubriciformis, Jen. One speci- men taken under stones in Douglas Bay. >ia[iTaioo8 aazjiA )oh*i The following is a list of the Mollusca dredged up : — Cyprina islaudica. ^.^^^,^.5 . Cardium serratum. Venus seotica. "a/i ..paH a^lsno . casina. " ^di oi bpa^aibbis 1 galUna. nogsag insaaiq si' ovata. RfismonssdSL l£iijir> Tapes Virginea. '^^i' X^ ^- Pectunculus Glycimeris.'^''' .aaio Pecten maximus. "tiHM oAi - . opercularis. -'^i^fiT-^"^"! lalal ■ varius. ytdw ah'iid 61-gnh Tigrinus. ^^"f ^'^^'f^ saorlt o"J n Pusio. bneifs 'iJiBoy Psammobia ferroensi!4^''=J^q ,aS"^^n Saxicava rugosa:"] "Ji^T .i^xfJ^s-v, Lima Loscombiii '-'''■''^ irjinr?/ b, Osteodesma corbuloides. Mytilus edulis. Anomia ephippium.-'o ^moa ' striatum. -Is 3^^^* Ostrea edulis. 'p i->^i^ ^'>'_Ji Dentalium entalisv "i '^f^ ^---^ Pileopsis hungarica.'ft y^^-^ s^ ^'^^' Patella pellucida; - ^ W9> i? ai b .. •■ vulgata. ^o f.i'idmun. liBstr) Acmeea virginea. >^b1 I^^^ sbw Emarginula reticulatfeia X"^ "^^ Fissurella reticulata. Trochus tumidus. '— — striatus. ziziphinus. granulatus. magus. :^OuL G biJsH '.unH. mcii 'A tidi Trophon muricatum. ^^ ^^^ Strombus pes pelecani. & -'JidW Cyprsea europsea. Ii5w8 &di Var. diaphana. orti^tsBvsB Bulla lignaria : only one broken specimen. Murex erinacea. ' * ic):taio'i .iQ Fusus islandicus. = ^^oi^tioqoiqsib antiquus. '" ^^^^^ boinsq Buccinum undatutiy/^^'^^qss ae^d Tornatella fasciatai "i boiedmem Natica monilifera. f^^^^yq ^dJ IIb Nerita httorahs. '^^^'M ^o sadiTf Turritella commuriiW^ ,6on9uftni Chiton fascicularir?^^^^^ souboiq asellus. '^^^T .erBoiiaB marmoreus. ^^^>^m1I1 odi oaia — — . ruber. - - ^^^o^s 9ff;t savlsa — — albus. ^^ «i "fto S"ioS ^bad Eolis angulattir arenicola. bauot-g sdl iii 3di is ioa bed bud ijku- ;nv.iJt'. iil8J 3di no Dyfinu ywwiiVjW) woIIbw8 The following Crustacea were also capturecb;-^jo.jT nomlB8 Inachus doryrhynchus. Pagurus cuanensiS'Jjioaq^-ieBl 9if^ tenuirostris. . ... ^ levis. "^ ,:2am3H Pisa tetraodon. !bnoiio§ l£3([ Munida Rondeletii. lol bstJGid Gibbsii. f[j jgjjgi;' Galathea squamififrftxiijlj^ifedlll^ Ebalia Pennantii. h-ymhi^i shore. ^ . .la eBlsi/oCI 5ii Hyas coarctatus. Pala^mon squilla. j-f^/ s'ib v^d^ ais Portunus pusillus. ^^P^^^^^ P^^^"^^* >Bm8 •omdaH lo Acheus Cranchii. * Idotea tricuspidatap. -^ r Pilumnus hirtellus. ^"^ »J«^^ Oniscus oceanicus/^*^^/ ^^^(oiq^^ Pinoitheres pisum. ' ' ' '' Praniza cserulata. " ^^^^ nifliiw -jfiod-^mifiiBO Besides the above lists, I have specimens of m&ny cfhh&p em^ mals which I propose to add in another paper, not having been ahle to name some of them very satisfactorily at present; and also a list of Sponges. Kp'i 1111 // PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. LINNiEAN SOCIETY. June 17, 1851. — Robert Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. Read a Letter from Thomas Forster, Esq., M.B., F.L.S., dated from Bruges, May 21st, 1851, and addressed to the Secretary, con- taining some observations " On the present season in relation to the Migration of Birds and other Natural Phaenomena." Dr. Forster commences his letter by referring to a passage in White's ' Natural History of Selborne,' where it is remarked that the Swallow-tribe, and particularly the Martins, must sufler great devastation in the course of their winter migrations, inasmuch as, in certain seasons " the numbers of single birds which return in the spring bear no manner of proportion to those who retire in autumn." Dr. Forster's Journal, now of forty years' standing, shows that this disproportion is greatest in late springs, particularly when accom- panied with much wet and windy weather. The present season has been especially remarkable. After a winter the mildest ever re- membered in Belgium, the spring was cold and showery, and nearly all the periodical phaenomena were later than usual; while many tribes of plants suffered severely from some obscure atmospherical influence, apparently referable to the same class of causes which produce epidemics in the human subject and epizootics among animals. The Hyacinthus plumosus died off in most gardens, and also the Muscari racemosus. As soon as the flowers showed them- selves the stock began to wither and in a few days died away, whole beds going off in the same way. Great numbers of Tulips perished in the ground ; the leafing of trees was very late ; and the Mulberry had not at the date of the letter shown any signs of budding. The Swallow {Hirundo rustica) arrived on the 1 8th of April, and had 286 Linnaan Society. become pretty numerous. The Swift {Hirundo Apus) came on the 7th of May, in less numbers than usual. Dr. Forster had not yet (on the 21st of May) seen the Sand-Martin (^Hirundo riparia), which is usually found in April ; and even of the Martin (^Hirundo urbica), i usually plentiful at Bruges in the first week of May, the most care-^ ful search had not enabled him to detect a single bird. The Night- ingale and Black-cap came to their time, but the Grey Wag-tail was not seen until the day of the date of the letter. The remarkable scarcity of flying insects, the usual food of the swallows, caused them to seek for other species, and a naturalist of the neighbourhood had assured Dr. Forster that he saw them hunting for their prey on walls and trunks of trees, like the Creeper, a fact which Dr. Forster considers as tending to support his opinion of the reasoning powers of animals. Up to this time the Cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris), although usually abundant, had not made its appearance ; nor had another constant inhabitant of the gardens, Buprestis nitens, yet been seen. The large black Cockroach had increased to an alarming extent in many of the old houses and on the premises of the bakers. Some foreign newspapers had erroneously spoken of the weather as fine in Belgium, but there had been only three tolerably fine days since the 21st of March, and the average temperature since the 25th of that month had been 8° Fahr. below the mean. jftead also, a Memoir " On the position of the Raphe in Anatropal Ovules.'* By Benjamin Clarke, Esq., F.L.S. &c. Mr. Clarke believes that this character, which has hitherto at-i J tracted but partial attention, is a character of much constancy in the several families, and therefore deserving a more complete examina- tion He states the most usual position of the raphe, when each of the carpellary margins bears a single row of anatropal ovules, as in Pceonia, to be lateral and turned towards the raphe of the ovules of ^ the opposite row ; and the curvature of the ovule has the same di^^ rection even in cases where the ovule is not anatropal, as in Colutea arborescens. ' The position of raphe with reference to placenta is less regular where the ovules are more numerous, but in some cases, a^- in Gomphocarpus, it is observed to be always next the placenta," the ovules being pendulous with long funiculi ; and in Cuphea and Reaumuria also next the placenta with the ovules erect. It is, however, when the anatropal ovule is single that Mr. ClarkS" believes the position of the raphe afibrds the most important cha^''* racters, and he proceeds to consider the various relations which 'i^^ bears to the placenta under six different heads, as follows : — .v't 1. Ovule pendulous ; raphe turned away from the placenta." f'^w^ 8^ 2. Ovule pendulous ; raphe lateral. ^«9l io . 3. Ovule pendulous ; raphe next the placenta. '> bnB I^qoxtBHi? 4. Ovule erect ; raphe turned away from the placetrtai-i '^*^'^ -^ 6. Ovule erect ; raphe lateral. 'O :rxi'3rjp9il i'6. Ovule erect; raphe next the placenta. ' "^A "III The pendulous ovule, loith the raphe turned away from the plat^"^ eenta, was first observed by Mr. Brown, and afterwards figured and Linnaan Society, 287 described by Dr. Schleiden as " ovulum spuria pendulum anatropum, raphe aversa." Mr. Clarke finds it to be of more frequent occur- rence than is generally supposed ; it is found among Endogenous plants, not only in Typha and Sparganium, but also in ChanifBdorea elegans (the ovule of which is, however, not completely pendulous) ; and Zannichellia and Potamogeton show a decided tendency towards it by the direction to which the ovule curves. He considers it a principal argument in favour of its being frequent at least, if not constant, in Endogenous plants, that it occurs in those groups by means of which the Endogenous and Exogenous divisions approach each other, as in Aroidece and Piperacecp., and in Ranunculacece and Alismacea. As Exogenous plants, in which the raphe is averse, he - instances, — 1. Ranunculacece (when the ovule is pendulous); 2. Ne- lumbium; 3. Malpighiacem (in those genera in which the funiculus is next the dorsal rib of the carpel) ; 4. Coriaria ; 5. Rhus Toxico- dendron^ and not improbably Anacardiacece generally ; 6. Euonymus ; 7 . Visnea ; 8. Pennantia, which he thinks should perhaps be referred to Olacinea; 9. Chenopodiacece ', 10. AmaranthacecB -, 11. Parony- chia capitata (in the three last cases the ovule is not completely in- verted, being campylotropal, but the direction of the curvature is such, that were the inversion complete, the raphe would be averse) ; 12. Plumbaginea ; 13. Laurinete ; 14. Aucuba ; 15. Calycanthus (m>\ which the ovule at the base is erect with the raphe next the placenta, and the upper one or two ovules are bent away from the placenta so as to become nearly horizontal, showing a tendency to raphe aversa) ; 16. Belvisiea } ; 17. Dipsacus sylvestris ; 18. Galenia and Tetra- gonia; 19. Fumaria officinalis (which shows at least a decided ten- dency to the same structure in having the radicle beneath the hori- zontal seed and turned to the hilum). Mr. Clarke adds, that he has examined numerous cases where the carpel when single is anterior, and has not yet met with any examples of this character, except in the instances of Dipsacece, TetragonicB and Fumaria, He notices some remarkable variations in the position of the raphe in the ovules of Visnea Mocanera, both when solitary and when there are two ; > and concludes this section by some observations on the question whether the campylotropal ovule of Amaranthacece, &c. (in which the embryo subsequently formed is turned towards the placenta) is a character equivalent to the pendulous anatropal ovule with raphe aversa. That it is so, he thinks proved by the examples of Statice and Plumbago, the structure of which he describes and compares with that of Gomphrena and Philoxerus ; and he adduces the instances of Trianthema on the one hand, and Galenia and Tetragonia on the other,r, as well as certain genera of Sapindacece, in which the embryo is more or less curved, to show that there is no absolute distinction between anatropal and campylotropal ovules. 2. The pendulous ovule, with the raphe lateral, is a character of frequent occurrence ; it was particularly noticed and accurately figured in Cornus and Marlea, in Sir W. Hooker's ' Journal ' for May 1850. Mr. Clarke has hitherto observed it in only two in- stances in which the carpel may be considered as anterior, viz. in . 288 Linnaan Society. Goniocarpus and Valeriana ; but it is nearly so in Trichocladus, and probably also in Morina. He has not yet observed it among Endo- genous plants. Of its occurrence among Exogenous plants, he enu- merates the following instances: — 1. Maipighia, and other genera of Malpighiacece, in which the funiculus (representing the raphe) is constantly lateral ; 2. Suriana, as figured by Prof. Lindley ; 3. Ilea^ ; 4. Halesia; 5. Viburnum', 6. Jcrotricke ; 7. Mj/oporum; 8. Loni- cera (sp. loculis uniovulatis) ; 9. probably in the 1 -seeded fruits of Oleinee; 10. Thesium. This section concludes with some observa- tions on the variation from raphe aversa to raphe lateralis, which sometimes occurs in the same family, as in Cornea and Malpighiacece, which Mr. Clarke believes to offer an explanation of the variable re- lation of the ovule to the funiculus, which is common to both Ille- cehrece KXid Chenopodiaceee. "' 3. The raphe next the placenta is well known as the most ordinary' position in pendulous anatropal ovules, and Mr. Clarke only suggests the inquiry whether solitary ovules having this character ever occur among Endogenous plants. • ** 4. Of the erect ovule, with the raphe turned away from the placenta} ■ Mr. Clarke has met with only three instances, two of them occur- ring in cases where there are two ovules. These are Pencea fruti- culosa and Calytrix virgata, in the latter case less completely averse than in the former. The principal instance, however, is that of Composite, where the raphe in four or five genera examined was always found to correspond with the anterior angle of the ovary. That the anterior is the fertile carpel in Compositce Mr. Clarke thinks is shown (in addition to the arguments previously adduced by him) by the fact that in Aster Sibiricum, he has always found the ovule to arise more or less distinctly from the posterior side of the ovary, and that the same circumstance occurs, although less distinctly, in Centaur ea nigra. In such Cichoracea as he has examined, he has found the raphe for the most part or always lateral ; but as he re- gards the carpella of this division of Composite as being right and left of the axis, he concludes that the position of the ovule might be expected to be different. The position of the raphe in Berberis vul- garis is occasionally next the placenta, but more frequently tends to be averse from it. 5. The character of ovule erect, with the raphe lateral (first ob- served by Mr. Bennett in Rhamnea, and by him attributed to a torsion of the funiculus), obtains to a considerable extent among Exogenous families. It occurs regularly in Stilbe pinastra, and generally in one-seeded fruits of Berberis vulgaris; but in two-seeded fruits of the latter the raphe is removed from the placenta and placed nearer to the dorsal rib of the ovary. In Vitis, on the contrary, whether with one- or two-seeded cells, the raphe is always next the placenta. In a species of Justicia, with two ovules, placed one above the other and quite erect, the raphe is lateral ; but in Mendozia, with a similar placeutation, it is apparently next the axis. As other instances of lateral raphe with erect ovules Mr. Clarke cites Elceagnus orientalis. Calamus viminalis, and Trianthema decandra, the direction of the cur- Linnaan Society, 281^ vature in the embryo of the latter being regarded as analogous to the position of the raphe in the two former. 6. The position of the raphe next the placenta is well known to be the ordinary condition in erect anatropal ovules, and on this head the author enters into no details. Mr. Clarke then proceeds to consider the causes by which these differences in the position of the raphe may be produced. 1. He adopts the opinion (first demonstrated by Mr. Brown) that a single ovule pendulous with raphe aversa is the result of an erect ovule pressed or growing downwards from the elongation of the cavity of the ovarium in that direction, while its upper part remains stationary ; but suggests that it is only when an erect ovule has the raphe properly next the placenta that it has raphe aversa, when it thus becomes pendulous. And looking to their affinities, he thinks it not improbable that all pendulous orthotroj)al ovules should be referred to the same cause. 2. He believes that a single pendulous ovule with the raphe lateral is an ovule originally extending horizontall)^ from the placenta with the raphe lateral, as in Ranunculacete and Cucurbitaceee, and sub- sequently pressed downwards as in the former case. 3. He maintains that a single pendulous ovule with the raphe next the placenta is the only true pendulous ovule, with the exception of j)endulous campylotropal and amphitropal ovules with the foramen (and subsequently the radicle of the embryo) turned away from the placenta. 4. He conceives that one or two erect ovules with the raphe turned away or obliquely away from the placenta result from pendulous ovules pressed upwards by the elongation upwards of the cavity of the ovarium ; and adduces in support of this opinion the pendulous ovules of Geissoloma contrasted with the erect ovules of Fencea, the erect ovules of Calytrix compared with the pendulous ovules of the neighbouring families, and the pendulous ovules of Calycerece com- pared with the erect ovules of Compositce, provided further observa- tion should substantiate his belief that in the last-named family the raphe is really turned away from the placenta. Such ovules he would term spurie erecta, in contradistinction to the opposite case to which Sprengel has applied the term spurie pendula. 5. He considers that a single ovule erect with the raphe lateral is a horizontal ovule spontaneously growing or pressed upwards by the corresponding development of the ovary ; in proof of which he cites the fact that Trianthema micrantha has two seeds in a horizontal position, with the radicle lateral, while T. decandra has two erect seeds one above the other, with the radicle also in both cases lateral. 6. He considers one or two erect ov^ules with the raphe next the placenta (which seems general in Endogenous plants, and is frequent in all the divisions of Exogenous) as for the most part truly erect ; although this position may sometimes be derived from horizontal ovules pressed upwards or spontaneously growing crept, the funi- Ann, ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. x^^-^ jiaj, j^^iSUtti wma\^ 290 Linnaan Society, cuius becoming at the same time twisted so as to bring the raphe into relation with the placenta. Mr. Clarke then proceeds to illustrate the importance of these characters in a systematic point of view, as regards different families usually regarded as nearly related. He states that Thymelece differ from Laurinece in having the raphe next the placenta, and that the same difference of relation occurs in Sanguisorbece and Amygdalea. In all the Urtical Orders with pendulous ovules the raphe is next the placenta, or if campylotropal the direction of the curvature is equiva- lent, and the radicle of the embryo is turned away from the placenta ; while in the Chenopodal Orders with pendulous ovules the radicle is either turned towards the placenta or placed on one side of it. The characters thus indicated may also, he thinks, tend to a more natural distribution of the Orders related to Rhamnece, Rutacece and Sapin- dacece. He refers also to the differences in this respect existing be- tween Berberis and Ranunculacece, Hedera and Cornus, Cinchonacece and Composite. He states that Erythrowylon differs from Malpighi- acea in having the raphe next the placenta ; and Selago in a similar manner from Myoporum and Stenochilus, in which the raphe is lateral. Scleranthus also differs both from Illecebrecs and TetragonicB in having the radicle turned directly away from the placenta. In conclusion, Mr. Clarke observes that while raphe aversa and raphe lateral occur in several instances in the same family and pos- sibly in the same genus (as the vertical and horizontal positions of the seed in Chenopodium appear to be equivalent characters), yet raphe aversa, or even raphe lateral, and raphe next the placenta are not known to occur in the same family — pendulous ovules only being understood. And also, that as far as his inquiries go, raphe next the placenta in pendulous ovules is unknown in Endogenous plants. November 4. — R. Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. Read a communication from J. Couch, Esq., F.L.S., recording the discovery on the Coast of Cornwall of a species of Onchidium allied to O. Celticum, Cuv. These mollusca were found by Mr. Couch in great abundance on a confined space of rocks at West Coombe, in Lantivet Bay, between Polperro and Fowey, congregated in small groups about a foot or two from the surface of the sea, where the waves break over them, ascending and descending with the tide so as constantly to maintain nearly the same relative position. When wholly immersed (in an attempt to preserve them alive) in a bottle of sea- water, they did not survive the day. Read an Extraqt from a Letter addressed to the President by W. K. Loftus, Esq., the Naturalist attached to the Turco-Persian Boundary Commission, dated at Kerrind, Persia, August 6th, 1851. In this locality, the neighbourhood of which abounds in plants pro- ducing foetid gums, Mr. Loftus, acting on Mr. Brown's recommen- dation, had procured several different kinds, of which, and of the Linncean Society. 291 plants producing them, he gives some particulars in his letter. Two of these belong to the genus Dorema, Don ; and a third, de- rived from a plant, which Mr. Loftus regards as belonging to the tribe Silerida, is called in Kurdish "beeje." The three gums have the same general properties, and grow on a limestone soil, at the elevation of from 5000 to 7000 feet. Large quantities of gum are also produced by the wild Almond, a species of Astragalus, and the Pistacia vera, which grow abundantly in the same neighbourhood ; and there is, moreover, a kind of thistle, which exudes honey, espe- cially from the bud, on being pierced by a species of Rhynchophora. Mr. Loftus proposes to resume his observations, as his party pro- ceeds northward, in the course of the ensuing summer. November 18. — R. Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. Mr. Adam White, F.L.S., exhibited, on the part of J. H. Gilbert, Esq., Ph.D., of Harpenden, near St. Albans, a portion of a wooden cistern hned with lead and perforated with numerous holes by the Anohium striatum, in relation to which he entered into a detailed ac- count of the circumstances in wiiich it had occurred. In this case the cistern, which belonged to Mr. Curtis, a brewer of Harpenden, was made from an old fermenting tub, which had become much worm-eaten on the outside. In 1838 it was lined with thin lead (of 5 lbs. to the square foot) ; but in little more than three years it began to leak, when some small holes were discovered in the lead and were soldered over. In 1842, however, the leakage had increased to such an extent that the leaden lining was removed, and a thicker one (of 18 lbs. to the square foot) was substituted. Five or six years afterwards, however, the leakage again commenced ; and in 1850 it had proceeded to such an extent that the cistern was entirely removed to make room for one of iron. On taking out the lining it was clearly ascertained that the perforations from which the leakage arose were the work of an insect, which, after boring through the wood, had made its way also through the leaden lining. A spe- cimen sent by Dr. Gilbert to the British Museum was determined by Mr. White to be the Anohium striatum ; and similar instances of injury to wooden cisterns lined with lead were referred to as detailed in Mr. Westwood's ' Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects,' in the * Zoologist,' and in the ' Proceedings of the Ento- mological Society.* Read the commencement of a memoir " On two Genera of Plants from the Cordillera of Chili." By John Miers. Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. December 2. — William Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. Read the conclusion of Mr. Miers's memoir " On two Genera of Plants from the Cordillera of Chili." ! Both these plants were collected by Mr. Miers in his rapid journey over the Cordillera in 1825. The first belongs to the tribe of Erio- gonece, from all the known genera of which it is distinguished by its 19* Linncean Society. very slender ramifications, which are in every axil dichotomously divided, the solitary involucre on a lengthened capillar)^ pedicel springing from the middle of each bifurcation, and by the proportion of its floral parts. The author gives his reasons for regarding the floral envelopes in Polygone^ as constituting a calyx and corolla, which, in all described EriogonetB, have a ternary arrangement with 9 stamina and 3 styles ; but the present genus differs in the quater- nary disposition of the envelopes, accompanied by 8 stamina and 4 styles. He had at first regarded it as entirely undescribed, the characters of Oxytheca, as given by Mr. Nuttall in the ' Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,' 2nd series, vol. i. p. 169, deviating widely from those observed by himself on the Chi- lean plant ; but the examination of a specimen of Oxytheca from Mr. Nuttall himself, in Sir W. J. Hooker's Herbarium, has convinced him that, notwithstanding these apparent discrepancies, his plant is referable to the same genus, the characters of which he is compelled to .laodify as follows : — AWSI ^fAPihtiUi.Ot ft*^K\'viM5i .bQxytheca, Nutt. jjChar. (jen. tnvolucrum 3-5-floi'um, tubulosum, subtetragoninn, ad me- r_jj dium 4-5-partitum ; laciniis subsequahbus, acutis, longissiine aristatis. g^^l Flores hermaphroditi cum masculis interdum intermixti, pedicellati, ^,y, bracteati, subexserti, demum cernui. SepalaS-4^, petaloidea, sequalia, ^^„, oblonga, unguiculata, valde imbricata. Peiala 3-4, sepalis alterna et _j^g, subsimilia, tenuiora, glabra, imbricata, et cum illis persistentia. Sta- j^jjj,^ mina 6-8, e summo gynophoro orta, inclusa, 3-4 alterna breviora _j^, sepalis opposita ; j^/amf «/a filiformia, apice inflexa; anther (B rotun- ^^jj, datas, cordata?, dorsifixae. Ovarium ovatum, 3-4-gonum, stipitatum, .jj(^,l petalis tertio brevius, 1-loculare: ovulo basilari, erecto. Styli 3-4, ^^^. breves, erecti, demum divaricati ; stigmata capitata. Achaniiiim 1-sper- ."^^^. mum, ovale, 3-4-costatum, sepalis pelalisque emarcidis arete tectum. Semen loculum implens ; testa membranacea. Embryo spiralis, anti- tropus, intra albumen farinaceum inclusus ; cotyledonibus cochleato- ^j, rotundis, foliaceis, accumbentibus ; radiculd illis triple longiore, tereti- subulata, hemicyclica, apice recto verticem spectante. — Herbae svjfru- ticuloscB Californiccp et Chilenses, Andicolte, sesquipalmares, valde rn- ii ' wosi^'-v glanduloso-pilosis, foliis radicalibus congestis spathulato-liuearibus utrinque pilis eglandulosis asperis, pedunculo axillari capilJaceo, invo- -yo lucri dentibus 4 arista acuformi longissima armatis, floribus 4- meris, -UJ- staminibus 8, petalis rubentibus apice patentibus. Hab. in Andium Chilensium descensu Ovientali, inter Mendoza et Acon- ,,. . cagua, circa rivulum S**^ Mariae, altitudine 8000 ped. j t' .o\v'\ •■'The other genus described by Mr. Miers is a nearly ftpli'3'llous shrub, with straight, erect, virgate branches, terminating in spines, and belongs to the family of Bigtioniacea, from some of the usual characters of which family it ofi^ers, however, a striking deviation, the ovarium being simply bilocular, with a few ovules suspended on Linruean Society. the two faces of the dissepiment, and the fruit forming a small oval drupe, containing a single osseous indehiscent nut, which is 1 -celled by abortion, and contains only a single pendulous seed entirely filling its cavity, and consequently quite apterous, oval, with a small thick superior radicle and two plano-convex fleshy cotyledons. This was discovered by Mr. Miers on the skirts of the eastern declivity of the Andes, near Mendoza, on the margin of the desert tract called •' La Travesia," where it was also found by Dr. Gillies, Its cha- raqt^jc&iu'e as follows : — .... ^^ ;.■.... ... . _ :0 IfifflOof, „ ,,. : BJ5 .RO-^S^^yn-O ^O 873:tOB'LerlO Char. Gen. Ca^^/a; gamophyllus, 5-dentatus, persistens. CoroZ/a gamo- petala; tubo cylindrico, calyce 2-3-plove longiore, vix gibbo ; limbo J brevi, .5-lobo, subbilabiato, lobis rotuudatis; labio inferiore 3-lobo, lobis paululo majoribus, siiperiore bilobo, in aestivatione imbricativ{\ semper exteriori. Stamina 5, coroUae lobis alterna, quorum 4 didynama, quinta superior brevissima ananthera ; 2 inferioribus longioribus fancem attingentibus, 2 lateralibus illis tertio brevioribus ; fdamenta paulld supra basin tubi iriserta, filiformia, glabra ; anthercs rotundatas, reni- formes, cordatse, 2-loba?, connectivo dorsali cordiformi adnatae et huic in medio loborum anticifixse, lobis ovalibus divaricatis antice lon- gitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Ovarium oblongum, pilosum, glandula ■ annulari brevi 5-lob^ glabr^ cinctum, 2 loculare ; ovalis in quoque loculo circiter 6, superne per paria collateralia, e dissepimenti nervo longitudinaH seriatim appensa. Fructus subbaccatus, calyce immutato clausus. Nux ovata, acuta, 4-sulcata, apice 4-denticulata, 1-locu- laris, 1-sperma. Semen loculo confonrie, latere superiori fuiiioulo brevi appensum ; testa chartacea, favoso-i*eticulata ; endopleura mem- branacea. Ejnbryo exalbuminosus ; radiculd superiori, crass^, apice mamillajformi ; cotyledonibus illd triplo longioribus, ovatis, plano-con- vexis, valde crassis. — Arbuscula Mendozensis, vix non aphylla, sjnnosa, rarnosissima, glaberrima ; ramis nitidis, erectis ; fioribus paucis, aggre- ' gatis, parviuscidis; corollvc ccerulescente. • - ■ OXYCLADUS APHYLLUS (v. V.). "'^ UynilKlk B'lJni ,80qOX) Hab. prope Mendoza, ad pedem Oriehiia^ 'S^aili^^^'^Hfl^ium. ■^" Vernac. Ala. ' '^^"1*^ ji)iic>{OJi(i^d ^ijicludnr^ For the reception of this curious genus, Mr. Miers has found it necessary to constitute a new tribe of the Order to which it belongs, which he subdivides as follows : — ' ,'isv^3\ ,Vi >yr< BiGNONIACEiE. , ; ■^,Tfi^*.iiv^ BiGNONiE^. Capsula dehiscens, 2-locularis, 2-valvis; seminibus . , numerosis alatis compressis, dissepimento utrinque affixis. Embryo ., , cotyledonibus complanatis foliaceis. ^Trib.2. Crescentie^. jP/mc^?/s drupaceus, lignosus, 2- vel plurilocu- laris; seminibus numerosis alatis v. compressis. Embryo cotyledoni- u bus compressis carnosis. Trib. 3. Oxyclade;e. Fructus drupaceus, nucem unlearn 1-locularem j.|j,,ilindebiscentem includens ; semine solitavio suspenso rotundato. Em- »/:),i^rj/o radiculS, superiore; cotyledonibus magnis fere hemispbaBricis car- ' riosis. Figures of both genera with detailed dissections accompamed the paper. *tJ4*iJ»«ij{ij^v> wot u kiiii/ ai^iujoliii {.iqturi mii'dd uiuh&io oiU dOS Linnaan Society. December 16. — R. Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. Read a Letter from Mr. Hogg. F.R.S., F.L.S. &c., to the Secre- tary, recording the capture of two species of Pipe-fish {Syngnathus) during the last summer, the one near the mouth of the river Tees, the other in that river near Middlesborough, by the same person, a fisherman of Stockton. The first of these, Syngnathus Typhle, L., measured ISJ inches in length, and the formula of its fins, which differs in the descriptions of Donovan and Jenyns, was as follows : — D. 39 ; C. 10 ; A. (rubbed off^) ; P. 13 ? The second, S. (Bquoreus, L., was 17;J inches long; its dorsal fin had thirty-nine rays ; and the caudal fin was obsolete, or rather rudimentary, the rays to the number of three (or perhaps four) being inclosed within the skin of the body ; the tail was flattened at the extremity. Read also, a " Note on the Natural History of Shetland." By Adam White, Esq., F.L.S. &c. In this note, after referring to Dr. Hibbert's researches into the mineral riches of Shetland, to Dr. Fleming's contributions to its zoology, to Mr. Dunn's interesting work on its birds, and Mr. Hewit- son's investigation of their eggs, and to the fruitful results of the dredgings of Mr. Barlee, Mr. M*' Andrew and Professor Forbes, by which so much has been done to increase our knowledge of the living inhabitants of its surrounding seas, Mr. White expresses an opinion that the zoological riches of the coasts of Shetland will be found to equal, if not to surpass, those of the Firths of Forth or of Clyde, and even of the coasts of Dorset, Devon and Cornwall them- selves. He refers to the two principal rarities in the flora of these islands (the Arenaria Norvegica, Gunner, and Ajuga pyramidalis, L.), and concludes by announcing the discovery by himself of a Lapland species of Humble-bee, new to the British fauna, which occurs not uncommonly in his brother's garden at Lerwick, is still more fre- quent in that of Mr. Bruce of Sandlodge opposite Mousa, and seems even more abundant in Unst. This was immediately recognized by Mr. Frederick Smith as Bomhus arcticus of Dahlbom ; but as a species of Bomhus had been described by Kirby^ under the same specific name in the Appendix to Capt. Parry's First Arctic Voyage in 1822, and consequently ten years before the publication of Dahlbom's species, Mr. White proposes to name the latter Bomhus S?mthianus. He adds that, in accordance with Kirby'srule in his 'Monographia Apum Angliae,' he would have preferred the specific name of Smit Melius, as indicating that it was named after a describer and not merely a collector, but he has felt himself compelled to adopt the name of Smithianus to prevent the possibility of confusion with another species of the family of Apidcs to which the name Smiihella has been applied. Read further a memoir " On the Forest- Trees of British Guiana and their Uses in Naval and Civil Architecture." By Sir Robert H. Schomburgk, Ph.D. &c. This memoir had been read at the meeting of the British Associa- Linneean Society. SOft tion at York, in October 1844 ; but as only a simple notice of this reading had appeared in the Reports of the Association, the Secre- tary (in whose hands Sir Robert Schomburgk had placed it) thought it desirable to read it again before the Linnean Society in order that an abstract might be published in the Society's * Proceedings.' The trees are mostly indicated by their colonial names, but to many of them Sir R. Schomburgk has been enabled to add their scientific designation. Souari, Sewarri or Sewarra (Pekea tuberculosa, Aubl.). Of large size and very abundant ; excellent for ship-building, mill-timber and planks, and may be obtained from 20 to 40 feet long, and from 16 to 20 inches square. Siruaballi, Sirwahalli, Siverballi. There are four varieties or per- haps species of this tree, which belongs to the family of Laurinea. They are distinguished as black, brown, yellow and white Siruaballi. Its spicy smell and bitter taste preserve it from the attacks of worms, either in or out of water, on which account it is in great request for planking colonial crafts. Dakumballi. Grows on the side of rivers, and is not much used. Marsiballi or Accuribroed. A tall straight tree, but not of large size. Wood hard and strong, but not very durable when exposed to alternations of wet and dry weather, for which reason it is only used in house-framing and inside work. When dried it is frequently used for torches. Turanira or Bastard Bully-tree. Tall, straight, of large size, and abundant on the banks of the Demerara River. Makes good planks and framing- timbers for inside work, but is not durable when ex- posed to the weather. Suradani or Suridani. Plentiful and of large size ; principally in request for planks and timbers of colony crafts. It is of a light red colour. Kautaballi or Kutaballi. Grows chiefly on the sand-hills which form the first elevations on receding from the sea-coast. Very hard, and much used for beams and inside work, but not durable when exposed to the weather. Cakaralli or Kukaralli. Mostly found on rising ground along the banks of rivers, and belongs to the tribe of Lecythidece. Its straight- ness and large size (from 30 to 40 feet long and from 6 to 14 inches square) would qualify it for masts or spars for colony crafts ; but its heaviness militates against this use. It is very durable and chiefly used in house -framing ; but as it is said that barnacles do not attack it, it is also employed in wharfs, &c. The bark is easily stripped ofi^, and consists of numerous layers, which the Indians separate by beat- ing with a stick, and the author has counted as many as seventy of these layers in a strip of bark. When separated they have the ap- pearance of thin satin paper ; they are dried in the sun, and used as wrappers for cigars. Simaruba, or Sumaruppa (Simarouba amara, Aubl.). Grows on hill-sides to the height of 50 feet, branching and somewhat crooked^ ^^S Lirmcean Society. The wood resembles white pine, both in colour and quality, and makes good boards for inside work. A decoction of the bark, which is intensely bitter, is considered an excellent remedy in dysentery and other complaints of the bowels, and is much used among the Indians. Yahou. Grows in valleys in rich soil, and is much used for the staves of casks, &c. Wallaba (Eperua falcata, Auhl.). In great abundance along the banks of rivers, reaching 40 feet in height, and being often 2 feet in diameter. Bark reddish brown, with a thin white sap, enclosing a wood of a deep red colour frequently variegated with whitish streaks. It is hard, heavy and shining, and impregnated with an oily resin, which makes it very durable both in and out of water. It splits very easily, and is consequently generally used for palings, shingles and vat- staves, and also for posts and uprights in framing. The bark, which is somewhat bitter, is a good emetic, which is much used by the Arawak Indians in a decoction. Curahuri or Kuruhuru. Tall and straight. Wood used for framing, boards and planks. Curana, Samaria, Acuyari, Mara, or Cedar-Wood (Icica altissima, Aubl.) ; two varieties, as they are considered by Aublet, one having red wood and the other white. The Red Cedar is found only in the interior, growing to 60 or 70 feet and even higher, and from 4 to 5 feet in diameter. It has a strong aromatic smell, and is much in request for inside furnishing, bookcases and shelves, as it is found to preserve books and papers from injury by insects, and is also light, easily worked and not liable to split, its great height would qualify it for masts, and the Indians prefer its trunk to that of any other tree for preparing their canoes. One of those employed by the author during an expedition into the interior, which was 42 feet long and 5^ feet wide, was hollowed out of a single trunk of this tree, and was found at the end of four years' service, having pre- viously been much used, to be as sound as when bought for the ex- pedition, although it had been in both fresh and salt water, and hauled over land and cataracts in the interval. Itaballi or Copai-ye of the Macusi Indians (Vochy Guianensis, Auhl.). From 50 to 60 feet high, and from 2 to 2y feet in diameter. Wood hard, but not very durable when exposed to the weather ; chiefly used for inside work, staves for sugar hogsheads, boat-oars, &c. Plowers of a beautiful yellow, highly odoriferous and very ornamental. White Siruahalli. A tall tree ; wood much lighter than the browti Siruaballi previously mentioned, but not so much esteemed. Curata-ye of the Macusis (Curatella Americana, L.). A crooked tree, seldom more than 12 feet high, with crooked and tortuous branches, and a thick rough bark which frequently peels off in large flakes. The crooked branches are much used by the Indians for their canoes, and might serve for military saddles. It grows only in the Savannahs of the interior. The leaves, which are scabrous, Linnaan Society. »94^ are used by the Indians like sand- paper to polish their blow-pipes, bows, war-clubs, &c. ; and the blow-pipe being called Cura^ the tree has thence received the name of Curatakie. Burracurra, Paira, Letter-wood, or Snafcewood (Piritanera Guia- nensis, Auhl.). This tree, which is very scarce within several hundred miles of the sea-coast, is often from 60 to 70 feet high, and from 2 to 3 in diameter. The bark is of a dark grey, and when wounded exudes a white milk. The outer part of the wood is white and very hard ; the heart (which in the largest tree scarcely exceeds 6 or 7 inches in diameter) is of great vi'eight, hardness and solidity, of a beautiful deep red, variegated with black s])ots of different size and figure, which give rise to its name. It is susceptible of a bril- liant polish ; but the small size of the mottled part, and its great value even in the colony, limits its use almost entirely to veneering, to picture-frames, to some smaller pieces of furniture, and to walk- ing-sticks. The Indians form it into bows more for ornament than use. At the foot of the Canuku Mountains near the river Rupu- nuni, at the Upper Essequibo, and Corentyn, it is still plentiful ; but all these places being several hundred miles from the sea-coast, it is both difficult and expensive to convey it to the colony. There ap- pears to be a variety, the heart of which is not mottled, and this the Indians are said to prefer to the other for their bows. = '•' >''' bi)i Wamara. A scarce tree, attaining a great height, but the only part used is the heart, which is dark brown and often streaked. Its hardness and weight cause it to be preferred by the Indians for their war-clubs : it may be had from 6 to 12 inches square, and from 20 to 40 feet long. -"' Cuppa, Ruye (Clusia sp. }). A tree of large size, with a hardwood used for inside work. '^ '^'^u i;>:ij(t Curahara or Kurara. Plentiful and of large size; attd' Ife'drffkt- bility, and not being liable to split, recommend it chiefly for timbers, knees, &c. for schooners. It is also much in request for mill-rollers, mill-timbers and planks of every description. ;' * "' /iJiolv Yarura, Porreka-ye, or Paddle-wood (Aspidosperm^^ e^ceWtiitl, Benth.). The lower part of the trunk juts out in tabular projections, forming cavities or compartments like the Mora, which serve the In- dians as ready-made planks, principally for the construction of their paddles. The trunk itself has the appearance of being fluted, or as if it consisted of numerous slender trees grown together along their whole length. The author states that he knows only of one other similar instance among the forest-trees of British Guiana ; in this latter case the tree produces berries, while the fruit of the Yarura is a follicle containing several suborbiculate winged seeds, attached by a long funiculus. The wood of the Yarura is light, elastic, and not apt to splinter ; it might prove useful for gun-carriages, bulwarks of vessels of war, &c. ; and might also, on account of its lightness, be employed in floats or paddle-wheels of steam-vessels. It is much in request for rollers in the cotton ginning machines, for which' pur- pose it is superior to any other wood in the colony. ' > " Purple heart, or Mariwayana (Copaifera pubiflora, Benth., and 298 Linnaan Society. Cop. bracteata, Bentk.). Rather scarce in the Coast Region, being found in the mountainous tracts above the Cataracts. There are several varieties or species, but all much alike, possessing great strength and elasticity, and used for furniture, on account both of their colour and durability. Used also for mortar-beds, being supe- rior to any other wood in sustaining the shocks produced by the discharge of artillery. The author was assured by Col. Moody, R.E., that the Black Green-heart and the Purple-heart were the only woods that stood the test as mortar-beds at the Siege of Fort Bourbon, in the Island of Martinique. One variety (Cop. bracteata) is very common in the Savannahs near the rivers Rupununi, Takutu and Branco ; but this is of small size compared with the others. The natives use the bark taken off entire with the ends sewn together, and strengthened by a slight frame-work for river canoes. Mapurakuni or Maipaye. The bark is used by the Indians for colouring their arrow-points and pottery, as it produces a fine red colour when steeped in water and mixed with Curraweru. It is a large forest-tree. Burueh, Bully, or Bullet-tree (Mimusops sp.). A tree of the largest size, often 6 feet in diameter, and having the trunk destitute of branches nearly to the top. Leaves, branches and trunk pro- ducing a whitish milk ; fruits the size of a coffee-berry, and when ripe very delicious. Wood extremely solid, heavy, close-grained and durable ; dark brown, variegated with small white specks ; chiefly used in house -framing, for posts, floors, &c., as the weather has but little influence on it, but also esteemed the most valuable timber for the arms, shafts, &c- of windmills. It squares from 20 to 30 inches, and may be obtained from 30 to 60 feet long. In salt or brackish water it is sure to be attacked by the worms. A tree cut down by the author at Cuyuni, measured 67 feet to the first branches, and thence to the top 49 feet — in all 116 feet. Payou-yeh (Etaballia Guianensis, Benth.). A tree growing only nelar the Upper Essequibo and very abundantly along the Rupununi and Takutu, the heart of which is highly ornamental, but not more than 6 inches in diameter, and very subject to holes. Maipuremu (Vantanea Guianensis, AubL). Wood very subject to worms, and not likely to become of much use ; but the tree presents a beautiful appearance with its large clusters of pink flowers, and is even more remarkable for its drupaceous fruit, which is furrowed like our peaches and almonds, and is cut in half by the Indians to form ornaments, chiefly for the children. Camara, Camacusack, Makoripong, or Ackawai-Nutmeg (Acrodicli- dium Camara, Schomb.). Timber most like the Siruaballis, aromatic and bitter, and consequently resisting worms and insects. Trunk 40 or 50 feet high, with a circumference of 8 to 10 feet, and apt (like the Yarura and Mora) to form tabular projections at the lower part. Chiefly prized for its aromatic fruit, which is considered one of the most eflUcacious remedies in colic, diarrhoea and dysentery. Greenheart, Sijnri (Nectandra Rodisei, Schomb.). The brown Greenheart is one of the most useful timber-trees of the colony, and Linncean Society. 299 is found in great abundance within 100 miles of the Coast Region. It grows to the height of about 60 feet, and is generally used for house- frames, wharfs, bridges, piles and planks. Within the last twenty- years a large quantity has been imported into Liverpool and Green- ock ; and it has been even asserted that in strength and durability it is superior to English oak, than which it commands a higher price. In times of scarcity the Indians obtain from its fruit, grated and macerated in water, a fecula which is mixed with the rotten wood of the Wallaba-tree, pounded, sifted and baked into bread, in like manner with the Cassava. In the bark and also in the fruit. Dr. Rodie of Demerara has discovered a substance which forms an excellent substitute for quinine, and to which he has given the name of bebeerine. The black greenheart appears to be a mere variety. Cartan-yeh of the Macusi Indians, Pao da Rainha of the Brazilians. Apparently restricted to the Savannahs in the neighbourhood of the rivers Rupununi, Takutu, Branco, &c. The Brazilian name is de- rived from the red colour of the wood, which resemliles that of the Brazil-wood of Pernambuco, to which the same name (Queen's- wood) is applied. It reaches a height of 80 to 100 feet ; and being easily worked and of a handsome colour, promises to become of great interest to cabinet-makers. It was used by the author during his sojourn in Pirara for temporary tables, and the large size of its planks induced the military commandant to construct of it a tem- porary bridge across the river. The leaves are impari-pinnate, the flowers papilionaceous, and the fruit a samara with a prickly capsule, the wing being from 4 to 5 inches in length*. Sarabadani. Much used for furniture. It grows to a large size, and is chiefly found in swampy soil and along the banks of rivers. Ducaballi, or Guiana-Mahogany, is very scarce, and is almost re- garded as superior to mahogany, whence it is chiefly employed for furniture and commands a high price. Waranana, or Wild Orange. A large timber-tree, which grows chiefly along the banks of the rivers Pomeroon, Supinama, &c. Much used for boat-oars and staves for sugar hogsheads. Its fruit resembles an orange, but is not eatable. Ducaliballi. Grows to a pretty large size, but is not plentiful ; the trunk is about 40 feet high, but seldom exceeds 20 inches in diameter. Wood deep red, finer, more equal and more compact than mahogany, and like the Ducaballi much used for furniture. Takes a fine high polish, and resembles or perhaps is identical with the Brazilian Beef-wood. Haiawaballi, or Zebra-wood (Omphalobium Lamberti, Dec). Grows to a large size, but is very scarce. Wood of a light brown with darker stripes, and considered the handsomest furniture- wood of the colony : it is easily worked and makes beautiful bed-posts. Hubaballi. A light brownish wood, beautifully variegated with black and brown streaks ; easily worked, takes a fine high polish, * From this description of the leaves, flowers and fruit, the tree is probably Centrolobium robustumj Mart. — Secr. j,.) 300 Linnoian Society. and makes beautiful furniture, and cabinet-work of every description. May be had from 6 to 15 inches square and from 20 to 35 feet long. It is by no means scarce, but is much subject to holes, which fre- quently render it useless. Simeri, or Zocws^-^ree (Hymenaea Courbaril, L.). A tree of large size and plentiful throughout Guiana, often attaining from 60 to 80 feet in height and 8 to 9 feet in diameter. Trunk destitute of branches nearly to the top. Wood close-grained, of a fine brown, streaked with veins, and well adapted for mill-timbers, as it does not split or warp. A good deal of it is sent to England to be used as trenails in planking vessels, and in beams and planks for fitting up steam-engines : it has also been found to answer well for the frames, wheels, &c. of spinning machines. The Indians and Negroes are fond of the farinaceous saccharine pulp enveloping the seeds. The gum, which resembles Copal, and produces an excellent spirit- varnish, is found about the roots of the old trees a few inches under the surface of the ground, and occasionally also exuding from the, trunk. MLi- oar oil Yari-Yari 6t Lance-wood {DngnQtm Quitarensis). Is abundant in the interior ; but the trees are seldom above 20 feet high clear of the branches, or more than 5 inches in diameter. It is considered by the coach-makers, in consequence of its elasticity and tough- ness, the best material for chaise or gig shafts. ? Black Greenheart is only distinguished from the common Green<^i heart by the colour of the wood, but is so scarce in proportion to the brown, that not more than one in twenty of the trees cut down are found to belong to this variety. The wood is in great request in the island, being preferred to all others, on account of its well-known durability, for windmill-shafts, spindles and mill- work in general, ji Itaka or Itekitibourahalli (Machserium Schomburgkii, BenthJ)i\ Wood much used for furniture : it has streaks of black and brown throughout, the outer part being pale yellow. It is not scarce, but rarely squares to more than 14 inches, and is very subject to heart-i* shakes. Its purple flowers have the odour of violets. ?fr Ebony, or Batiya. A large tree of fluted surface and uneven growth, the heart of which (seldom more than 8 to 10 inches square) is alone used : it is black, heavy, hard and strong, and generally used by the Indians for their war-clubs. Mora (Mora excelsa, Benth.). The most majestic tree of the forests of Guiana, towering over ail the rest and often reaching the height of 120 feet. It is abundant along the rivers of the Coast Region, and extends as far south as lat. 3° N. The wood is close, cross-grained, and difficult to split : it is considered by the most competent judges to be superior to oak (as it is not subject to dry- rot) and the very best wood that can be procured for ships' timbers. It may be obtained from 10 to 20 inches square, and from 30 to 40 feet long ; and its branches having a tendency to grow crooked it affords natural knees, while the trunk may be used for keels, beams and planking. A full account of this useful tree was published by Mr. Bentham in the Society's ' Transactions,' vol. xviii. p. 207^ ">^j,7 Linnaan Society. 301 January 20, 1852. — Robert Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. TWr,i Yarrell, V.P.L.S., communicated the following particulars of the growth of a Cedar in the garden of E. B. Johns, Esq., at Bishop's Stortford, Herts, and planted by him in the year 1832, when it was turned out of a 32-sized garden-pot. It is growing in a mild brick earth, and its present measurements (December 1851) are as fol- roa -Height .i.^.^:iJiAl'^^..mW. 51 e/3 l)-)fGirth at the base 8 6to Jilqg qu ^f,T five feet from the ground 6 .^pJi/jnaii .89mj5T ten feet from the ground Sv:T^ -mtiSii 9-fj5 '^A fifteen feet from the ground '^-^.ebadw ,rp TLength of branches from the trunk to the points 22 p\ hnf> 'Read a " Note on the occurrence of an Eatable Nostoc in the" Arctic Regions and in the Mountains of Central Asia." By J. D, Hooker, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. Accompanied by a communicai tion from the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, F.L.S., on the same subject. 'U'^'^ Dr. Hooker states that on the return of Captain Penny's Expe- dition from the Arctic Regions, Sir W. Hooker received from Mr. Sutherland a small collection of Cryptogamic plants, among Mhich was one, apparently referable to Nostoc commune, which he de- scribed as being found in great abundance upon the floating and fixed ice in Wellington Channel, occurring in detached masses drifted about by the wind, forming the only vegetable production of any im- portance over many square leagues, and aflTording shelter to Podurce, with other Crustacea and some insects. In the neighbourhood of their winter quarters on Cornwallis Island, lat. 75^^ N., long. 95° W., it was so plentiful that it might be taken advantage of as food, and prove a material addition to the resources of the country in cases of extreme want. Mr. Sutherland added that he had eaten handfuls of it on several occasions, without any inconvenience ; and although it was generally infested with swarms of the larvae of flies and gnats, as well as with myriads of very active Podurce, he considered it much more nutritious and agreeable than the " tripe de roche," and per- haps not inferior to "Iceland Moss." On showing the plant to Dr. Thomson, he drew the attention of Dr. Hooker to a very similar plant which occurs in great abundance in Western Thibet, floating in large masses on the surface of pools and lakes in soils impregnated with carbonate of soda, and of which heaps are drifted by the winds upon their banks. It occurs as high up as 17,000 feet, and is of a green or pale purple colour ; and this too appeared to Dr. Hooker to belong to Nostoc commune. Samples of both were forwarded to Mr. Berkeley, whose notes to the following efi^ect were also laid before the Society. Mr. Berkeley states that he has been unable to find any account of the chemical constituents of Nostoc. The chemical condition of such species as he has been enabled to examine, under the influence of iodine and sulphuric acid, seems to vary not only in the diflTerent species, but in individual specimens, and even in parts of the same 302 Lirmaan Society. specimen. In some the gelatinous matter and the chains of spores assume a more or less deep tint of violet, indicating that the greater portion consists of cellulose, perhaps in some cases partially- changed to dextrine by the action of the sulphuric acid ; while in other cases the prevailing tint is yellow-brown, indicating rather bassorin. No purple tint occurs where merely iodine is used, and the change therefore is not due to the presence of amylum. In fresh specimens of Nostoc commune, the spores assume a beautiful green tint, which is probably due to the combined tint of the yellow pro- tein contents of the cells and the blue cellulose of which their wall is formed. In the Arctic specimens and in English Nostoc commune the bassorin tint prevails, while in specimens from Thibet (probably Nostoc salsum, Kiitz.), gathered by Dr. Thomson, in pools of water where the soil is covered with an efflorescence of carbonate of soda, cellulose is indicated, but with every intermediate shade. Mr. Berke- ley has, however, found that in woody fibres which in bleaching have been exposed to salt water, a deeper purple tint is assumed than when they have been bleached by rain water, so that something may possibly be due to the peculiar place of growth of the Thibetan species. In Nostoc edule the yellow-brown tint is stronger than in any other specimen examined ; but it is scarcely probable that any very constant chemical characters will be found to prevail in the different species. In either case there would be a very nutritious food, and one from its gelatinous condition probably easily assimi- lated. The habit of the Arctic species is exactly that of Nostoc commune, and Mr. Berkeley would not hesitate to regard it as iden- tical, if there were no other difference than a little increase in the relative size of the threads of spores ; but in parts of the fronds the chains are surrounded by a distinct gelatinous envelope, presenting an appearance somewhat similar to that of toad-spawn, which is very visible in a transverse section. At a later period, when the chains are ready to break up at the connecting joints, no trace of this en- velope is to be detected, and the plant then exhibits the true cha- racters of Nostoc. It appears indeed, from the remarks of Thuret, that when the threads of Nostoc are first generated from the large connecting bodies, there is really such an envelope ; but this exists in Nostoc, as far as is at present known, merely in the infant state ; and consequently if the genus Hormosiphon is to be retained, the Arctic species must be regarded as belonging to it, for no such ap-- pearance has been detected by Mr. Berkeley either in dried or freshly- gathered specimens of Nostoc commune. It is possible that more extended observation may show that this character is not of the consequence attributed to it by Kiitzing ; but in the mean time Mr. Berkeley characterizes these specimens as — Hormosiphon arcticus, foliaceo-plicatus viridis vel fuscescens, filis de- mum (gelatina diffusa) liberis. Fronds foliaceous, variously plicate, sometimes contracted into a little ball. Gelatinous envelope at length effused ; connecting cells at first solitary, then three together ; threads (which are nearly twice Linmean Society. 303 as thick as in Nostoc commune) breaking up at the connecting cells, so as to form two new threads, each terminated with a single large cell, the central cell becoming free. Of these threads and of their gelatinous envelope Mr. Berkeley gives figures. With regard to the Thibetan Nostoc, Mr. Berkeley adds that a species of this genus, as is well known, is a native of Tartary and is eaten abundantly in China. There is a box of it, sent by Mr. Tra- descant Lay, in the Museum of the Linnean Society ; and mention is made of it by M. Montague in the ' Revue Botanique,' ii. p. 247, as having, in the form of a soup, made part of a dinner given by the Mandarin Huang at Macao, to several members of the French Em- bassy. The Mandarin described it as a freshwater plant, growing in Tartary in streams and running water, and sold at Canton in small boxes : it is highly esteemed by^the Chinese, and not very ex- pensive. At this time M. Montague regarded the species as Nostoc cceruleum, but specimens sent him by Mr. Berkeley proved it to be distinct, and it was afterwards published in the ' Revue Botanique ' under the name of Nostoc edule, Berk, and Mont., and figured by Kiitzing in his ' Tabulae Phytologicse.' In the last-named author's ' Species Algarum,' it is said to have been gathered by Gaudichaud, who, although a great traveller, was certainly never in Tartary. The Thibetan Nostoc, like the Arctic, is probably quite as good as the Tartarian. After some further notes on the chemical changes produced in this plant and in Nostoc commune when treated with iodine and sulphuric acid, and a reference to a passage in Kiitzing's * Grundziige der Philosophische Botanik,' where he speaks of these plants as consisting in great measure of gelacin (a substance belong- ing to the same category as bassorin, and perhaps a modification of it), Mr. Berkeley concludes by stating that a thin slice of gum tra- gacanth, treated with iodine and sulphuric acid, assumes after a time the same tint as the Nostoc. He believes, however, that starch is often present in gum tragacanth, which is not likely to be the case with the Nostoc ; and thinks we may safely assume the jelly of Nostoc to be a state of bassorin, passing into cellulose or dextrine. February 3. — Robert Brown, Esq., President, in the Chair. Read a Paper entitled " Further Observations on the genus An- thophorabia, Newp." By George Newport, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. The author stated that having had the good fortune, in September last, to rediscover, at Gravesend, the parasite Anthophorabia, which, twenty years ago, he found in the nests of Anthophora, at Rich- borough in Kent, and an account of which is given in a former paper ('Proceedings,' March 20, 1849, vol. ii. p. 24), he felt it necessary to offer a few additional observations on this genus ; since one of the most remarkable peculiarities of the male sex, the possession of three stemmata on the vertex, and of a single stemmatous eye on each side of the head, instead of the usual compound one of perfect insects, had been repeatedly denied to be a fact ; the denial being printed in the ' Proceedings ' of the Society for May 1, 1849, vol. ii. p. 37. 304 Linnaan Society. At the time the author described this genus it was well known that he possessed only delineations of the insect, which he had made in the year 1831 ; at which time the insect occurred in great abundance, and as he then expected to have been able to obtain it at pleasure, he neglected to preserve specimens of it. He now showed in the in- sect itself the stemraatous eyes which he originally stated it to pos- sess, and consequently that the denial which had been given to this fact had been uncalled for. He felt it but right, however, to mention that there were points of minor importance in the description origi- nally given of the genus which admitted of some revision. These referred to the number of joints in the antennse, the club of which is formed of a plurality of closely united rings, instead of being but a single joint. The tarsi, too, of both sexes, may be regarded either in the way usual with entomologists, as being formed only of four joints, or, if anatomically considered, as he had originally described them, as of five joints, the terminal joint being short, soft and pad- like, and usually discarded by entomologists as a distinct joint, which, nevertheless, it is. With respect to the asserted identity of Anthophorahia with another parasite, Melittohia, described in the * Proceedings ' for May 1, 1849, vol. ii. p. 37, the author showed that this could not be the case, if the latter insect has been described correctly, as the account there given of Melittohia differs greatly from the facts exhibited by Antho- phorabia. The characters of this genus he now proposed to revise as follows : — Fam. ChalcididjE. Gen. Anthophorabia, Neivp. Fern. Caput latitudine thoracis. Antennts 9articulatse, pilosae ; artinulo 3tio ad 6tum subaequalibus ; reliquis clavam solidam ovaleni efforman- tibus. Thorax abdomenque asquales. Tarsi (4-?) 5-articuIati in utro- que sexu; articulo 5to minimo, molii, pulvillo simili, fere obsoleto. Mas. Caput magnum. Oculi stemmatosi. AnienncB lO-articulatas; articulo Imo globoso, minutissimo ; 2do arcuato, magnopere dilatato, dimidio anteriore subtus excavate ; 3tio magno ; 4to adhuc inajore, globoso v. subangulato; 5to 6to 7mjque minimis, cyathiformibus ; 8vo 9no lOmoque auctis, clavam solidam ovalem efFormantibus. AI(b abbreviatae. As the specimens found at Gravesend present some specific cha- racters which were not observed in the insects formerly obtained at Ilichborough, the author proposed to name those which he now possesses, provisionally, in the event of their proving to be a new species : — A. FAsciATA. Mas. Fulva, fasciis 5 transversis abdominalibus satui'a- tioribus, antennarum articulis anterioribus oculis prothoracis margine posteriore maculaque subalari utrinque in mesothorace nigrescentibus, pedibus subarcuatis robustis ambulatoriis, trocliantere femoruinque paris secundi parte terminali subtus spinalis minutis dense bavbatis, tibils tarsisque onmibus fovtiter spinosis. — Long. lin. 1. Fem. Nigro-aenea nitida, lineis 2 longitudinalibus in mesothorace scutello- que albidis, abdomine ovali elongato acuto fasciis transversis satuva- Zoological Society. 305 tioribus pilis albidis margin atis, oculis rufescentibus, pedibus flavescen- tibiis, femoribus saturatiQribus, tibiis rectia elongatis pilosis, tarsis pi- losis fortiter spinosis. Hah. in nidis Aiithophorce refuses apud Gravesend in Comitatu Cantiano. The author then gave some account of the habits of the males and females, which he had seen emerge from the nymph state, and re- marked that out of about one hundred and fifty specimens of perfect insects and nymphs obtained from one bee's nest, he had only found eleven males. Having placed about one hundred females in a small glass tube closed, as he thought, securely with a cork, he was sur- prised at the end of a fortnight to find that nearly the whole had escaped, by insinuating themselves into slight fissures in the sides of the cork, between this and the glass. From this circumstance he is now disposed to think that the habit of the female is to penetrate into the bee's nest, after this has been closed, and deposit her eggs on the nearly full-grown larva within; as a few weeks after the escape of these females he discovered three individuals in an open cell of AnthopJiora which contained a nearly full-grown larva, and which had remained nearly close to the glass tube from which the Anthophorabia had escaped. Two of these individuals now appeared tj be in the act of oviposition. He noticed also on the same bee- larva some larvae of the parasites in different stages of growth ; so that he regards the species as an external feeder, like the larva of Monodontomei'us . Specimens of the male and female insects were exhibited at the meeting. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Dec. 10, 1850.— Prof. Owen, V.P., F.R.S., in the Chair. On the Marine Mollusca discovered during the Voyages of the Herald and Pandora, by Capt. Kellett, R.N., AND Lieut. Wood, R.N. By Professor Edward Forbes, F.R.S. etc. Out of 307 species of shells collected by the voyagers, 217 are ma- rine Gasteropoda, 1 is a Cephalopod, and 58 marine bivalves. The genera of which species are most numerous are — Murex, Purpuray Trochus, Terebra, Strombus, Conus, Columbella, Littorina, Olivtty CypreBUy Natictty Patella^ Chiton^ Venus, and Area. Among the more local genera represented in this collection are, MonoceroSy Pseudoliva, Cyrtulus, Saxidomus, and Crassatella. The specimens are usually in very fine preservation. Many of the species are rare or local. The localities at which they were chiefly collected were the coast of southern California, from San Diego to Magdalena, and the shores of Mazatlan . Unfortunately the precise locality of many of the individual specimens had not been noted at the time, and a quantity of Poly- nesian shells, mingled with them, have tended io render the value of the collection as illustrative of distribution less exact than it might Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Volx.. 20 306 Zoological Society. haye been. A few specimens of considerable interest were taken by the * Herald ' at Cape Krusenstern. The new species are all from the American shores. There are no products of deep-sea dredging. As many of the following new forms are from the coast of Ma- zatlan, Mr. Cuming, whose experience and advice have been taken, and magnificent collection consulted in drawing up this report, has considered it desirable that some undescribed shells contained in his collection, from that region, should be described at the same time. Trochita spirata, sp. nov. T. testd conicd, fusco-purpured, longitudinaliter radiato-sulcatd, sulcis numerosis, prominentibus , suhrugosis ; anfractihus 6, angus- tis ; lamind internd spirali, depressd, magna, margine undulate. '^Biam. 2^^^, alt. l/^- unc. 'A very handsome species of this group, allied to CalgpfroBa sor- dida of Broderip, and diifering from the well-knovm T. trochiformis in having very much narrower and more numerous whorls, as well as in its internal colouring. It was procured at Massaniello, in the Gulf of California. , • ■ . Trochus castaneus. Nuttall, MSS. T. testd lafh' conicd, crassd, Icete castaned, spiraliter flavo-lineatd, anfractihus 6, convexiusculis, omnibus spiraliter sulcatis, sulcis numerosis, ultimo lato, basi suhangulato, convexo, imperforato, aperturd subquadratd, margaritaced, suturis impressis. Oper- culum ? Alt. yV lat. yV» long, apert. -^^ unc. The number of sulcations in the second whorl is about six ; the cavities are always rich chestnut, the elevations yellowish. The ge- neral form is intermediate between that of ziziphinus and alahastrites. The shell has long been known under Nuttall's manuscript name, but never, so far as I am aware, described. It is from Upper Cali- fornia. 1 A3ITaM ^Trochus (Monodonta) gallina, sp. nov. j^^T. testd obtuse pyramidali, crassd (adultus ponderosus) , spird magna, ^^, anfractibus 5, glabris, obsolete oblique striatis, convexiusculis, ^^^ albidis, fasciis angustis numerosis purpureis ornatis, anfractu 1^^ ultimo prope suturam subcanaliculato, basi lateribus rotundatis, umbilico albo, imperforato, impresso, aperturd subquadratd, labro externa subpatulo, margine acuto, Iccvi, nigrescente, labro colu- .. mellari bidentato, albo , faucibus margaritaceo-albis, operculo cir- gj, culari, corneo, fusco, spiris numerosissimis, confertis. Testa ji junior spird depressiusculd. ;.jj„..;^A iiU to ,^ Alt. I3-V, lat. max. 1^^- alt. apert. 0^^ "nc. .M.ff'io no9^iu8 b). Probably from the Mazatlan coast. . ,,.3^^, .nB^amM I0 Trochus (Monodonta) AUREO-TiNCTus,*spI"fioVV"^ f-'robiTBH * T. testd obtush pyramidali, crassd, spird mediocri, anfractibus 4 vel ^\'i-\\.<^k convexiusculis, obtus^ angulatis, subcanaliculatis, spiraliter l- Zoological Society. 307 2 late sulcatis, striis spiraUbus mimitis, longitudinalibus minutis- simis sculptis, colore nigro obscure minutissimeque griseo-Uneato, ultimo anfractu bast subplanato 4-5 sulcis profundis spiraUbus sculpto, margine obtuse subangulato, umbilico profunde perforato, ,i lati aurantio, aperturd subrotundd, labro externo tenui, nigro eiit marginato, labro columellari albo l-2-de7itato, dentibus incequali' »' bus munitis, dente inferiors minimo , fauce albo-margaritaceo, Alt. 0^-^, lat. max. 1, alt. apert. 0^^^ unc. Variat costis obliquis transversis. With the last ^""^ "^ .ATA^Wfe ' 2 Trochus (Margarita) purpuratus, sp. nov. T. testd turbinatd, spird depressd, prominuld, anfractibus 5, con- vexiusculis, nitidis, Iccvigatis, striis incremenii minutissimis, ro- . . seolis fasciis spiraUbus Icete purpureis cinctis, suturis impressis, hasi margine subrotundato, umbilico imperforato, albo, aperturd gj^> subrotundd, labro externo tenui, labro interno Icevi, obsolete un- g^i dulato, albo-margaritaceo, faucibus purpureo-margaritaceis. Alt. 0/^, lat. max. Oy^, alt. apert. Oy^ unc. ^ ,^^^ %^, -j^^^^ A beautiful little species. W. coast of N. America? Trochus (Margarita) Hillii, sp. nov. T. testd late turbinatd, heliciformi, spird obtusd, pardd, depressd, '''' anfractibus 5 convexiusculis, lavigatis, politis, ad suturas appres- »^ sis,flaveo-albidis, ultimo anfractu maximo, basi convexo, margini- "'^ ' bus rotundatis, centraliter excavato, imperforato, aperturd oblique- subrotundd, labro externo tenui, columellari leviter arcuato, albo ; .. faucibus albo-margaritaceis. ®^'Alt. 0/2^, lat. max. Oy^, alt. apert. O^j unc. "^-From the northern shores of the W. coast of N. America ? I have dedicated this species to — Hill, Esq., Master of the * Herald.* Natica Pritchardi, sp. nov. N. testd subglobosd, spird brevi, anfractibus 5, nitidis, sub lente striatis, flaveolis, fasciis transversis fusco-purpureis, angulato- undulatis fiammulatis, in adulto obsoletis seufascias obscuras spi- rales simulantibus ; aperturd ovatd, superne obsolete angulatd, co- *' lumelld costd callosd albd spirali in umbilicum oblique intrante, umbilico superne perforate ; faucibus fasciato-fuscatis. Operculo ^^" calcareo, albo, leevi, polito, sulco angustissimo props margine ex- * terno, margins interno recto, crenulato. Alt. 1 unc. ; long. anfr. ult. ^^q, lat. -^^ unc. ; long, apert. y'^- unc. ' Mazatlan. I have dedicated this pretty shell, which reminds us of the Atlantic intricatUy to my friend Dr. Pritchard, Assistant- Surgeon of H.M.S. Calypso, who assiduously collected on the coast of Mazatlan, where he, as well as the officers of the * Herald' and * Pandora,' met with this species in abundftiv:efr-j, <;•/ ) ^ ju lOJil Planaxis nigritella, sp. nov. ^v;,5;,;5.>-t;\^v^ ^^^si5o b1i?M .T N. testd ovato-lanceolatd, crassiusculd, fusco-nigridd, spird brevi, acutd, anfractibus 6, spiraliter sulcatis, intersiitiis latis, planis, 20* ,aiT 308 Zoological Society. fii ^^\^\s^lcis in medio an/r acids uUimi ohsoletis, aperturd ovatd, patul4, superne unidentatd, lahro externa tenui, margine interna obsolete crenulato, labro columellari, superne striata, inferne abbreviato, IcEvi ; canali brevissimd,/aucibus atropurpureis. "' "^i '^'^-' >■ "Long, -j^, lat. y\, long, apert. ^unc. \i\Ma h^^'^% .^ Straits of Juan del Faaco. The operculum is preserved in some of the numerous specimens, and has a subspiral nucleus. Planaxis pigra, sp. nov. .*.~.vi^, ^>.A..uv*.i^u ,..;^ii)aii ^ Q^f^- testd ovatO'lanceolatd, crassd, flatkotd, spira meUidcrr, acutd, anfractibus 6, planatis, Icevigatis, aperturd breve-ovatd, patuld, ~mV ^^P^^^^^ obsolete unidentatd, labris incrassatis, marginibus Icevibus, i canali brevissimd, faucibus albis. Long. y\, lat. y^^, long, apert. ^ unc. Its surface is invested vs^ith a soft yellow epidermis. The operculum is corneous, of subconcentric elements, with a lateral subspiral nucleus. .8 Pitcairn s Island. ;.\i oSiiioo ,«Vi»}Vfcui~ut;c.iUin).iN ^iiiwU^ww ^t\\Vi' Q^^Nassa COOPERT, S^m&i^ -n^-^-sx^-'- -^-'r^t-^-, :^^.>:^^^7, ^^s^'K^ *.^iy". testd lanceolatd, turritd, crassd, anfractibus 6, convexiusculis, t.\^ . spiraliter sulcato-striatis, longitudinaliter Scostatd; costis di- stantibus, for tib us, distinctis ; anfractu ultima \ longitudinis testae (Equante^ aperturd ovatd, canali brevi ; labra externa crassa, sim- plici; labro columellari reflexo, albo ; caudd albd; anfractibus -J fuscis, obscure albo-fasciatis. ■ '"'"'.'j^"^' :Vtong. A unc, lat. anfr. ult. yV, long, apert. ^^*"^Vf^^^., Marked from the Sandwich Isles. Dedicated to Lieiit. Cfoojier, R.N., of the ^Herald.' m Nassa Woodwardt, sp. nov. ^-^^^ 9iiT ,qil ig\[\(\ ^ff'iV". testd lanceolatd, turritd, crassd, albd, rufo-fasciatd, 'anfractt- i"?' bus sex convexiusculis, spiraliter sulcatis, longitudinaliter dense- -1^^. costatis, spird vix longitudinem ultimi anfractds cequante ; aper- I3;t ^x.^'in^ i ii*-'^^' CvCOSOte SolutlOU. - ;,;'; ,ut!/; ?;^--';n liVi. This fluid may be prepared either by distillation with water, or by filtering a saturated solution of creosote in one part of alcohol of s. g. 867, after mixing it with twenty parts of water. It is useful for all preparations of muscle, cellular tissue, tendon, ligament, car- Miscellaneous, 313 tilage, sections of bones and teeth which have been treated with acid, the fibres of the crystaUiue lens, &c. For the preservation of adipose tissue, of the ultimate nerve-tubes, and of the blood-corpuscles, it is not well adapted. Objects put up in it, after a certain time, usnally acquire a brownish-yellow tint. - - -i - - biiB ^rroiJeJgrrrnni • / lo albw-llaa 980ilw i.,,,..ort,. . , . IV. Solution of Arseniou^Aoid.] ii'^^Aj YjsY odB &i To prepare this solution an excess of arsenious ftiJd^Mbl^8'ft^^^W& water, which is then filtered and diluted with twic^ai milch" W^ler. This fluid is one of the most suitable preservatives for preparations from the animal kingdom ; all the tissues mentioned under the last head, and also the adipose tissue, may be kept unaltered in it ; and as they acquire no yellow colour, or a far slighter tinge, during their immersion, I have of late years accorded a general preference to the arsenical over the creosote solution. - '*'J ^^'i ^^^'^^ '■'^^^^^ ^^'^ ^^^^ Jrrfn;i of(,t "tO qoib 15 3o "f^ 8Bfl nunojif/Jj-i V V. Solution 0/ Corrosive Sublimate. Hrv briii ^sbila 33ot|f<^>»gT jg: prepared by dissolving one part of corrosive' Jfiuflli^J ^ 4iiercury in from 200 to .500 parts of water. The strength of the solution must be varied according to the nature of the object to be preserved ; hence it is well, when the required degree of concentra- tion is not ascertained, to put up several preparations with solutions of diiferent strengths. This procedure is especially applicable to blood-corpuscles, which can be preserved unaltered in no other fluid with which I have experimented. Thus the blood-corpuscles of the frog require a fluid containing ^(jth of corrosive muriate ; those of birds a solution of ^^o*^ * those of mammalia and man g^uo^^- These solutions are likewise useful for keeping the elementary parts of the brain, spinal cord, and retina, although all these structures, m whatever fluid they are put up, undergo some alteration. Cartilage, and the fibres of the crystalline lens, keep well in these fluids ; but other fibrous tissues lose too much of their transparency when in contact with them. They may be used, however, for preserving 'ifauscular fibre, whose cross markings they render more distinct. » '^ ' For preparations of delicate vegetable tissues, and, in general, of all tender organs in which it is desired to retain the starch globules and chlorophyl unaltered, for freshwater Algse, Diatomacese, Coufervae, Infusoria belonging to the division Rotifera, &c., a solution containing :^()th or 3^0*^ ^^ corrosive subUmate is the best preservative with which I am acquainted. li^w oo ^I' Solution of Carbotiate of FotaskinnUsm oHT This may be made of various strengths, with orife pfttt of tfie gait dissolved in from 200 to 500 parts of water, and is the best material for preserving the primitive nerve-tubes. Other fibrous tissues may be kept tolerably well in it, but become more transparent than in the fresh condition. This is sometimes advantageous, as, for example, when we wish to display the respiratory apparatus of insects with the ramifications of the air-tubes. iUia ^^iiJ^uin io auoiijj'ifiqsrq Ik loi . Sr4^ Miscellaneous. VI VII. Solution of Arsenite of Potass. 9rii rrfHlrvsr I have, in a few instances, made use of a solution of arsenite of potass in 1 60 parts of water, to preserve the primitive nerve-tubes. It has been found as effectual as the carbonate of potash solution. ^^ In employing the chloride of calcium solution * and Canada Balsam, it is unnecessary to take measures to prevent the evaporation of the fluid. The first remains always fluid, — chloride of calcium being a deliquescent salt ; and as the outer surface of the balsam hardens, the escape of the liquid portion is prevented. But it is otherwise with the last-mentioned preservative fluids (Nos. III. to VII.). To prevent their evaporation, it is necessary to employ a cement or luting to prevent air from having access to the fluid. Different compositions have been recommended for this pur- pose ; but I have found none more serviceable than that employed by gilders to make gold-leaf adhere to mirror and picture frames. The following is the receipt for the preparation of this so-called gold- ground or gold-size : — Let twenty-five parts of linseed oil be boiled for three hours wit^i one part of red lead (menie) and one-third of a part of umber, and then poured off. Next take white lead and yellow ochre, well pounded and divided, and mix them together in equal proportions. Successive portions of this mixture must be added to the oil, and well rubbed up and mixed with it, till a tolerably thick fluid is formed, which must be once more thoroughly boiled. -i If now a preparation has been made, which it is wished to preservfe in the chloride of calcium, or any of the five last-mentioned fluids, and if it can, without injury, bear a little pressure, the following manipulation is recommended : — If the specimen is moistened with water, which during the preli- minary examination is frequently the case, all superfluous fluid is in the first place removed with a little roll of bibulous paper, or with a camel-hair pencil, such as I have elsewhere recommended. The fluid at a little distance from the object may be wiped off with a cotton or linen rag, and the surface of the glass there made perfectly dry. A certain quantity of the preservative fluid is then placed upon the specimen, and this is most conveniently effected by using a dropping- flask. The amount of fluid should be such that it should afterwards perfectly fill the space beneath the covering plate ; the proper quantity is soon learned by a few trials. Next a (square ?) covering- plate, about two millimetres (^th of an inch) narrower than the object-slide, should be laid under the centre of the latter, — i. e. im- mediately beneath the part which it is destined to cover. A pencil is next dipped in the cement, and a square drawn with it upon the glass around the fluid containing the specimen, so that the cement shall extend from one. to two millimetres (aV^^ ^^ tt^^ ^^ ^^ inch) * The author has renounced the practice of putting up preparations in this fluid, and permitting the access of air, for reasons given at p. 312. —Trans. : j;^ >.;, ^..,, , ,^^ ■^,;^, ,;,i^.,.. ,j,.j;^ ■,^, ,ji,,j ^n/iKa, Miscellaneous. 315 within the margins of the covering-plate. The latter is now to be placed upon the specimen, and its margins finally covered with the cement. If there is too much fluid beneath, the superfluity finds a channel for escape ; an opening then takes place in the cement, below the cover, but is again closed, if care be taken to renew the application of the cement to the edges of the cover, when the superfluous fluid has been removed, or has dried up. In about two days, the outer layer of the luting will have become dry, but the inner layer remains soft for many weeks and even months. This is just what constitutes the excellence of the cement, for it never bursts and permits evaporation ; and a great number of preparations which I have put up in this manner are at the present time, after the lapse of several years, quite unaltered. It is, however, of importance that the cement shall occupy a portion of the space between the object-plate and its cover ; a mere anointing of the edges of the latter is never sufficient. > t If the specimen be one which will not bear pressure without injui*^;? it must be put up in some kind of cell, the depth of which must be regulated by the thickness of the object. The covering-plate must in this case be always smaller in diameter than the space between the outer margins of the cell. First, some preservative solution is placed in the cell, and then the object is laid in it ; the upper edges of the cell are then touched with a little of the gutta-percha luting"^. The cell is then completely filled till the fluid even forms a convexity above its margins ; if now the cover is applied, the superfluous moisture escapes, and no air remains in the cell. Finally, when the edges are dry, they must be covered with a thick layer of the luting, and with a second a few days afterwards. The method last described is especially applicable to the preserva- tion of injected specimens in a solution of arsenious acid. — Vol. ul p^; 350-355. ■ {. Preparation of Caoutchouc Cells. In commerce we now obtain caoutchouc plates of difl^erent thick- nesses. The thinnest measure about one millimetre (aV^^h of an inch), and out of these plates of any required thickness may be formed, as their surfaces adhere perfectly together, especially if pre- viously slightly heated. In a square piece of suitable thickness an opening may \)q made by means of scissors, or the centre may be cut out of a disc-shaped piece by means of a hammer and ring-shaped punch. To fasten the caoutchouc ring to the object-slide we use the following luting : — One part of finely cut gutta-percha is mixed with fifteen parts of oil of turpentine, and dissolved in it by gently heating, and constantly stirring, the mixture. The solution is then poured through a cloth, to separate some impurities which are always to be met with in raw gutta-percha. To the purified solution there is added one part of shell-lac, which, by the aid of gentle heat and constant stirring, must be dissolved in it. The heat is then kept up until a drop of the solu- * The reader will find the receipt for this composition, and directions for making cells of gutta-percha and caoutchouc, at the end of the present article. — Trans. S16 Miscellaneous. tion let fall upon a cold surface becomes nearly hard. The cement is then ready for use. If it is afterwards found requisite to melt it again, a little oil of turpentine should be added before applying the heat. To attach the caoutchouc ring to the glass, proceed as follows : — Lay the ring upon the table, and above it place the glass object-slide, so that the ring occupies the centre of the slide, and a free margin of glass is left around it. A pencil is now to be dipped in the warm luting, and carried over the portion of the glass through which the ring is seen, care being taken to spread the luting in a thin layer, as the superfluous fluid would otherwise flow out from the edges. The ring is now removed from beneath the slide, and laid upon the spot marked out for it with the cement. The plate is next warmed by holding it over fire, and then laid, ring downwards, on a cold piece of mirror elass till the cement has become cool and hard. , , »• An/.' ° : 31S00& gor^iq «^ X Gutta-Percha Cells. '^ -^^^"^^ ^^* ,. .(Jujkjfc^-percha, which, like caoutchouc, resists the action of almosit all chemical agents, has, besides, the property of becoming soft and plastic in warm water, and can thus be fashioned into any required shape, which it retains on cooling and resuming its former consistence. Gutta-percha sheeting may be procured in commerce, like caoutchouc sheeting, of any thickness, and will be found very useful for micro- scopical purposes. Plates of this substance may be provided of various thicknesses, according to the required depth of the cells, — for example, from Yo^h. of a millimetre to three millimetres (2 jyth to ^th of an inch) in thickness. These plates must then be cut into square pieces, a little narrower than the glass slides on which they are to be fastened. The openings may be cut out with scissors, or struck out with a punch and hammer, the plate being laid upon a piece of cork. To fasten gutta-percha rings to the glass plates the cement recommended for caoutchouc is employed, and the process conducted in the same way, with this difference, that, after the last heating, which makes the gutta-percha soft again, pressure should be made upon it for a few seconds with a cold piece of mirror glass. The upper surface of the cell is thus rendered quite flat and smooth, so that the glass cover, when applied, is everywhere in contact with it. In this respect the gutta-percha cells are preferable to those of caoutchouc, the upper surface of which, especially about the edges, has always some degree of convexity. — Vol. ii. pp. 125-127. — Monthly Journal of Medical Science, April 1852. -9iq T(;.tifiO}ioqqo TodJFTi/t 0/ t Jbn^ ^^^hin&q ARBNARIA SERPYLLIFOLIA. ^^ i 4„.„ Messrs. Hooker and Arnott observe (Br. Fl. p. 67) : '*Mr .W.Wilson finds a var. at Bangor with five stamens and the petals only a quarter as long as the calyx, which has prominent ribs." Mr. Babington copies the observation, * Manual,' 3rd edit. p. 49. Specimens agreeing with this description are not uncommon at this season on the sandy commons of Surrey ; they appear to be only the autumnal state of the common plant. — Samuel Octavus Gray. Miscellaneous. 31 7 Note of the Observation of Cilia in Grantia. By William Mur- ^i RAY DoBiE, M.D., Annual President of the Royal Medical Society 9/bf Edinburgh. The present somewhat dubious position of the Sponges in the systems of naturalists, leads me to hope that the following isolated observation may not be without its value, as an additional proof of tj^e distinctly animal nature of these organisms. i >'r{'c At the end of last February, while residing for a short tii)cuEf.al Marshal meadows, near Berwick-on-Tweed, I had an opportunity of examining perfectly fresh specimens of a species of Grantiuy in which very distinct and vigorous currents were in constant operation. Having scraped a portion of the gelatinous covering from the interior wall, and laid this on a piece of glass, and covered it with a thinner piece, I viewed the specimen through an achromatic microscope, am- plifying about 150 diameters. The field of view was crowded with the minute granular cellules of the sponge, which, although they do not always show a distinct nucleus, are, I have no doubt, of the same nature as nucleated particles in general. These cellules were in a state of active and independent motion, and, when aggregated into masses, very much resembled some of the Compound Monads. When a single particle was seen isolated, the motion was of a jerking cha- racter, suggesting at once the existence of cilia, if they could have been seen. I now proceeded to a more accurate scrutiny. Another specimen was selected ; a portion of the gelatine was diluted with water pressed from the interior of the sponge, and the whole covered with a film of glass of 1-1 20th of an inch in thickness. This I viewed with a very excellent l-8th of an inch lens, by Smith and Beck, m^ag- nifying 450 diameters. The size and apparent motion of the cellules being thus greatly increased, I now could, without much difficulty, detect extremely attenuated cilia attached to every particle in the field of view, and lashing wdth considerable vigour. When the light and focus were adjusted with great care, I was able to sketch a con- siderable number of the individual particles. The average length of each cilium was equal to three times the diameter of the cellule to which it was attached. No perceptible difference in thickness could be observed throughout its entire length. Each cellule very strongly resembled some species of Monads. The motion ceased in all the particles very soon after separation from the general mass. I was able to repeat' this observation several times in the Grantia. In the Halichondriay which I found at the same time, no currents could be seen. Only in one example could 1 find anything resembling ciliated particles, and that very imperfectly. No further opportunity pre- sented itself for continuing these observations. From this it seems evident, that in the Grantia the whole inner surface is lined, with a ciliated epithelium, and that the current* iwft produced by the motion of these filaments. f >, I have little doubt that cilia will eventually be found to exist in all marine sponges, where currents are in operation, provided .iwfficifnt dih \iao 90 oj iBfjqqB yorti , ysrwid to afiommoo xbaae oAf no nogBog 318 Miscellaneous, care be taken to examine the cellules, in perfectly fresh specimens, with first-rate instruments. The evidence for the animality of the Porifera is, I think, more conclusive than some naturalists of the present day are inclined to admit. I feel assured that few botanists would be disposed to claim for these organisms a truly vegetable nature. The following pecu- liarities taken together seem sufficient to establish their true animal nature : — The existence of distinct currents in definite directions ; vibratile cilia ; ciliated locomotive gemmules ; peculiar animal smell of burnt gelatinous matter. I may also mention the observations of Milne-Edwards and Audouin on the Irritability of Tethea"^. Dr. Johnston informs me, that some very recent observations on a large foreign species tend remarkably to confirm the statements of Audouin and M.-Edwards. Dujardin's interesting observations on Spongilla also tend to prove the sponge an animalf . He noticed the remark- able property which detached portions of the granular matter of Spongilla possess, of spreading into " Expansions variables en lobes arrondisy comme certaines amibes.*^ Both Dujardin and Professor Allen Thomson have observed cilia in the freshwater sponge ; but the existence of cilia in marine sponges has, so far as I am aware, been always denied. In conclusion, I will only allude to Mr. J. A. Carter's interesting observation of species of Spongilla in the water-tanks in Bombay;};. Mr. Carter confirmed and considerably extended Dujar- din's observations, but did not detect cilia. All these circumstances being considered, the animality of the Porifera will not, I think, be so equivocal as the following concluding sentence of Professor Rymer Jones's late article on the Porifera seems to intimate : " The admis- sibility of sponges into the animal series is indeed extremely problem- atical, and we doubt not, that among naturalists of the present day, the balance of opinion would be unfavourable towards retaining them in the rank, which they at present occupy in zoological classifica- tion §." — Proceedings of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, Experimental Researches upon the Process of Fecundation in Mosses. By M. H. Philibert. The author in concluding his memoir gives the following resume of his conclusions : — 1. The archegonium of Mosses is a true ovule. 2. The external envelope, which has been called epigonium^ and which afterwards becomes the calyptra, is analogous to the nucleus of the ovale of the Phanerogamia. : ■a * Hist. Nat. du Litt. de la France, vol. i. p. 78. ^' t Dujardin, Hist. Nat. des Infusoires, p. 305. '^^ X Notes on Sponges. Trans. Med. and Phys. Soc. Bombay, No. 8; Reprinted in the * Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' New Series, April 1848. A second paper on the same subject appeared in the third volume of the 'Annals,M849. ^ \^'^ § Cyclopaedia of Anat. and Phys. vol. iv. p. 70. . .» i',sia7A Meteorological Observations. 319 S. The membranous envelope which is concealed by the epigonium and which had not hitherto been observed, represents an embryo- sac. 4. The internal body, which afterwards becomes the seta and urn, is a true embryo. 5. In the Mosses, the embryo, instead of detaching itself from the parent plant to originate a new plant, is developed in its place and gives rise to a capsule filled with spores. 6. The organs called antheridia are true male organs, inclosing a fecundating matter. 7. This fecundating matter is introduced by the tubular neck of the epigonium. — Comptes Rendus, xxxv. 13/. ^V METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR AUG. 1852. Chiswick. — August 1. Very fine : uniformly overcast. 2. Very fine : densely clouded. 3. Partially overcast : slight shower. 4. Fine : clear. 5. Fine : slightly overcast. 6. Showers: heavy rain. 7. Cloudy: clear. 8. Fine: clear. 9,10. Very fine. 11. Constant heavy rain. 12. Heavy rain: cloudy. 13. Very fine : clear. 14. Very fine : heavy rain at night. 15. Foggy : clear at night. 16. Heavy dew: fine : overcast. 17. Densely overcast : frequent vivid lightning and distant thunder: chiefly sheet lightning till 11 p.m., then forked hghtning, with heavy thunder and rain in torrents. 18. Very fine : cloudy, with lightning at night. 19. Very fine: clear at night. 20. Overcast. 21. Light clouds: uni- formly overcast. 22. Overcast : clear. 23. Cloudy and fine. 24. Overcast and mild : rain at night. 25. Cloudy and fine. 26. Slight haze : \exy fine : clear. 27. Very fine. 28. Foggy : remarkably dusky and dark about 9 a.m. : very fine. 29. Very fine : densely overcast : light clouds. 30. Cloudy : very fine : clear, ai. Clear : very fine. 3, Mean temperature of the month 63°'67 Mean temperature of Aug. 1851 62*79 Mean temperature of Aug. for the last twenty-six years ... 62 '12 Average amount of rain in Aug 2*44 inches, Boston.— k\x%. 1. Cloudy. 2. Fine. 3. Cloudy : rain p.m. 4. Fine. 5. Fine: rain p.m. : thunder and lightning. 6. Fine : rain p.m. 7, 8. Cloudy : rain p.m. : thunder and hghtning. 9. Cloudy: rain p.m. 10. Fine : rain p.m. : thunder and lightning. 11. Rain: rain a.m. and p.m. 12. Cloudy: rain a.m. and p.m.: thunder and lightning. 13. Fine. 14. Fine : rain and hail p.m. : thunder and lightning. 15. Cloudy : rain a.m. 16. Fine. 17. Fine : rain p.m. : thunder and lightning. 18. Cloudy : rain early a.m. 19. Cloudy. 20. Cloudy : rain early a.m. 21 — 23. Cloudy. 24. Cloudy : rain a.m. and p.m. 25. Cloudy : rain a.m. 26, 27. Fine. 28. Cloudy : rain p.m. 29, 30. Fine. 31. Fine : rain and hail p.m. : thunder and lightning. Sandwich Manse, Orkney. — Aug. 1, 2. Cloudy. 3. Cloudy: rain. 4. Bright: clear : fine. 5. Clear : fine : aurora. 6. Clear : fine. 7. Drops : clear : fine. 8. Bright : clear : fine. 9. Clear : fine. 10. Bright : fine : clear : fine : aurora. 11. Bright : fine : clear : fine. 12,13. Bright: fine: cloudy: fine. 14. Bright: fine : clear : fine. 15. Clear : fine. 16. Cloudy: drops. 1 7. Fog : cloudy. 18. Drizzle : showers : clear. 19. Drizzle : bright : fine. 20. Showers : bright : fine. 21. Clear: fine: fog. 22. Fog: fine: fog. 23. Bright: fine: cloudy: fine: aurora. 24. Cloudy : fine : clear : fine. 25. Clear : fine : aurora. 26. Clear : fine: cloudy: fine. 27. Cloudy: fine. 28. Bright: fine: cloudy: fine. 29. Damp: clear: fine. 30,31. Bright: fine: clear: fine. — This month has been yery fine, warm and dry. Mean temperature of Aug. for twenty-five years 54 '75 Mean temperature of this month 60°*64 Average quantity of rain in Aug. for six years , 3'05 inches. ♦/3U51JO •3iaiAiisiq3 i^ ^1 U-l-'^ • • 'w -I d H 63 oj QJ « CO ^ SJ : S <" M -§ -3 <»; « «| -s "S ^ •uo^soa •ra-d I •J[31AVSUI3 •uo^sog 00 -iOOOOiot^cr\t^ooaoooMONOvovOMrtwoooot~-> U-» lO »/^ U-. ONO\CNO\C7NaNONO\ONO\ONC?soa\asosO\ONO o o o o ovononO oonoo\ O tovr)ij^roiy-if4 tJ- 'i-vo rovo w rjvo vnp} CT\rt-K~irocorO'^'«4-r-^ONmT}-t^av ON r- r» w to CO r4 w CO -ch »/->•<:*■ u-> t~^ t~^ 00 >p vp O O P< f^ f^ P ?** 9° P^ P '^ S^'i^ On OS *a\ ON a\ b\ bs *a\ 'o\ 'a^ hs h\ as 'o\ 'o. 'as 'a\ 'a\ o o b b b b 'cn ctn 'o\ b 'on *os *on f»c<«c. r^*p On OnOO oo oo 00 oo 00 'as O\00 oo 0\ 'o\ "on *0\ on On on On on On On On on on On On On On on fc^cJ-irl ONVO t^ p> On « 0\ ON On On On On 0\ On ON CT> ON On On ON On On On On On On O O O On On On O On Cn O O c-< On On O O 1-^ •-" T^ OnOO OOVO t-~cOM w t^O "-"NO O ■+?< O tJ-u-ic5 OOO u-iuir-vO •^ONt^ CONO NO I-" i/^ONCOt~->cJ COIOONOOOVO cowvo cor--.0 'i-^O VO'-<^l-l'^Nl-lC^ OOO ■+'<:}-rJ-cocO'5i- w-iNO CO u-i t^ r-,00 On OnOO On O cJ _N pJ « On O ^ O O O O b On On On On On On On On On On On On "on On On On On On b O O b O On O 'q O 'o 'o 'o rortc4fc«clr ««»i«^»jij^« adi 338 Br. F. Cohn on a new genus of the family 0/ Volvocineae. VI. Comparison of Stephanosphsera with Chlamydococcus. If we now compare the conditions of organization of Stepha- nosphcera with those of Chlamydococcus which we have just in- dicated, we find the most essential agreement. In the first place the envelope-cell of Stephanosphcera corresponds exactly to that of the moving macrogonidia of Chlamydococcus ; it is composed of a delicate colourless membrane and contents resembling water. Chemical actions to which I subjected the envelope-cell of Ste- phanosphcsraj bear witness of this agreement in the most minute particulars. The envelope-cell is indifi*erent to acids and alkalies and is not dissolved in them ; but it suffers a peculiar thickening by sulphuric acid which causes it to apply itself more closely to the primordial-cell_, and present itself very distinctly and clearly defined. In general the application of dilute sulphuric acid is often the best means of making clear delicate vegetable mem- branes which would otherwise be readily overlooked, especially when iodine is added, which then ordinarily colours the mem- brane yellow. The cilia also are rendered more distinct by sul- phuric acid. The envelope-cells of Pandorina, Chlamydococcus and Volvox behave in exactly the same way. With regard to the chemical composition of the envelope-cell of Stephanosphcera, I have succeeded in demonstrating in it also the most decisive criterion of a vegetable membrane. Since Nageli, in his comparison of the Unicellular Algae with the simple animal cells, arrived at' the result, that all distinctions hitherto proposed between the lowest forms of the two kingdoms are fallacious, and that the only decisive criterion must lie in the nature of the membrane, which belonged in animals to the proteine series, and in plants to the group of hydrates of carbon ■ — since that epoch attention has necessarily been directed, in all amphibolic structures, to the investigation of the chemical com- position of their membrane. I have succeeded in demonstrating the characteristic reaction of vegetable cellulose, the blue colouring hy iodine and sulphuric acid, in the envelope-cell of Stephano- sphaera. For this purpose it is requisite to allow a drop qI pretty concentrated sulphuric acid to act upon the swarming Stephano- 5pto'«-globes until the green primordial-cells in the interior are decomposed, by which time the proper transformation of the envelope-membrane has taken place, and a drop of solution of iodine (iodine in iodide of potassium), sufficiently diluted to pre- vent the sulphuric acid precipitating it in crystals, then produces a coloration of the envelope, which appears at first violet, gradually becoming more intense, and at last beautiful indigo blue. Thus the chemical behaviour of the envelope-cell in Stephanosphara, as Dr. F. Cohn on a new genus of the family of Volvocinese. 339 in Chlamydococcus, is the most evident proof that the organisms to which they belong cannot be regarded as Infusoria, but are simply Algae. Moreover this behaviour of the envelope-cell of Stephanosphcera shows that the latter is bounded by a true cellulose membrane, and not, as is assumed almost universally of the Volvocinece-, and by Nageli even of all Algse, of secreted mucus or jelly*. The direct observation of the envelope-cell of Stephanosphcera likewise shows that this is completely closed in its normal condition, and only perforated by orifices in the spots where the cilia of each primordial-cell pass out. Not until a later stage, when the primordial -cells singly leave the envelope or have begun to progagate, does the membrane of the envelope teai', gradually collapse and become dissolved, so that the included globes can make their exit freely. It is obvious that the eight green globes of Stephanosphcera correspond exactly to the primordial-cell of Chlamydococcus. The primordial-cells of Stephanosphcera consist in like manner of nitrogenous protoplasm, in itself colourless, which is coloured brown by iodine and almost wholly dissolved by caustic potash and ammonia. The protoplasm is coloured by the universal colouring matter of vegetables, chlorophyll-, for alcohol and sether bleach the green globules, and concentrated sulphuric acid changes the green colour into a verdigris-green or blue — a re- action which, from my observations, is characteristic of chloro- phyll (vide my essay on Loxodes Bursaria, Siebold and Kolliker's Journal, iii. 264). The chemical nature of the fine granules in the primordial- cells which with age multiply, so that the primordial-cells at length lose their transparent green colour and appear dull, opake and olive-brown, is difficult to determine on account of their small size ; they are eiihev protoplasm-granules, or, as a bluish colour given by iodine might lead one to conclude, perhaps starch-granules. On the other hand, the two darker nuclei in each primordial-cell are undoubtedly the same structures which occur in Chlamydococcus, and in like manner not only in all the Volvocinece, but also in most of the Algse of the orders of Pal- mellece, Desmidiecs, Confervece, &c. Nageli has called these chlo- rophyll-utricles, and demonstrated their universal occurrence in the vegetable kingdom by comparative descriptions (Gattungen einzelliger Algen, ii.). Ordinarily there exist only two in Ste^ phanosphcera, which may be distinguished in the earliest stages, while among other VohocinecB, for instance, Gonium contains only one chlorophyll-utricle. It is difficult to settle anything definite * The common envelope of Gonium is certainly composed of a gelatinous substance without a hounding cellulose membrane. 32* 340 Dr. F. Colin on a new genus of the family of Volvocinese. concerning their structure and function ; they must not be re- garded as cell-nuclei, although they resemble them very much, especially when only one is present. Caustic potash, which de- stroys the rest of the contents of the primordial-cells, makes the chlorophyll-utricles of StephanosphiBra show themselves more distinctly as hollow rings, surrounded by a membrane which is rather granular; iodine colours them deep violet, which leads to the conclusion of the presence of starch *. Ehrenberg thought the chlorophyll-utricles were to be recognized as the testes of the Volvocinem ; it is certain, however, that these structures may be seen in greater or less number, in exactly the same way, in undeniable plants, such as Hydrodictyon^ CEdogonium, Mougeotia and others (vide, among others, II. von Mohl's Treatise on the Vegetable Cell, in R.Wagner's Hand worterbuch der Physiol, pi. 1. figs. 20-24, and in the English Translation ditto). I have already shown that the primordial-cells of Stephano- sphcera as well as those of Chlamydococcus are destitute of a spe- cial rigid membrane ; consequently they do not correspond to perfect cells, but on the whole only to primordial-utricles. In like manner the curious colourless mucous filaments which ex- tend out from the extremities of the primordial-cell of Stepha- nospihara, are evidently analogous to the rays which make one condition of the Chlamydococcus-celh look hairy (var. setiger, V. Flotow). They are merely prolongations of the colourless protoplasm forming the substance of the primordial- cells, and correspond pretty well morphologically to the reticulated branch- ing filaments of protoplasm, the sap- currents as they are termed, which maintain the nucleus suspended freely in the interior of the cells of the articulations of Spirogijra, or of the hairs of the anthers of Tradescantia. Alcohol and acids cause these pro- longations to be retracted into the substance of the primordial- cells ; the same thing takes place during the course of the deve- lopment. Ehrenberg has called these peculiar mucous rays, which also occur in some other Volvocinea, in some eases a tail {Syn- ura, Uroglcena), in others connecting canals or indications of a vascular system (in Volvox and Gonium). These protoplasm- filaments naturally present a different aspect according to the shape and arrangement of the primordial-cells : while they ap- pear as a wreath of cilia in the globular Chlamydococcus-ceW, in the more spindle-shaped Stephanosphara they rather resemble * It is well known that the chlorophyll-utricles of most of the Algse, as well as the analogous chlorophyll-globules occurring in the cells of almost all Phanerogamia, secrete starch. Alex. Braun indeed has called the corre- sponding structures in Chlamydococcus pluvialis simply " Amylon-glo- bules," in which may be detected an envelope and a nucleus (Verjungung, 222). Dr. F. Cohn on a new genus of the family of Volvocincee. 341 bundles of rays passing out from each end ; in Volvox, if seen only from above, they give the individual primordial-cells a polygonal, radiating aspect, and form threads of communication between them : Focke has wrongly considered them as intercel- lular passages between the individual animalcules. The con- necting threads in Gonium, on the other hand, are something quite different, and do not belong at all to the domain of the protoplasm-filaments, as I shall explain more fully at another opportunity. Thus the microscopic analysis, like the chemical investigation of Stephanosphara, in exact analogy with Chlamydococcus and the swarming-cells of the other Algae, has enabled us to distinguish all the characters of a plant, but not one mark of a true animal organization, in particular not a trace of a mouth, stomach, and sexual organs. But the genus Stephanosphara is thereby pre- eminently important for the decision of the question of the limit between the animal and vegetable kingdom, because the history of its development affords the most convincing proof of the vegetable nature of this genus, and thus of all the other Volvocinese. VTl. Development 0/ Stephanosphsera. Both the very delicate envelope-cell and the widely distant, transparent green globular primordial- cells of the young Ste- phanosphcera are of a relatively small size. Both grow so much as to double their dimensions during their vegetation ; the former acquires a tough membrane ; the latter fill up the greater part of the envelope-cell, advance towards each other so as to touchy develope thicker, denser contents, and assume most curious forms through the ramification of the protoplasm-filaments. Finally the process of propagation shows itself in the primordial- cells. The radiating ends retract all their prolongations, and become rounded into a perfect sphere ; the primordial-cells are now merely attached to the envelope-cell by their cilia, and thus are readily moved from their normal corresponding positions, and then appear devoid of any definite arrangement in the envelope- cell (fig. 8). These changes take place in the course of the afternoon; towards evening more influential metamorphoses make their ap- pearance. The primordial-cell, namely, extends itself predomi- nantly in one direction in the axis perpendicular to the equatorial plane, consequently in the position which fig. 2 represents from above downwards. The two chlorophyll-utricles respectively re- pair to the two ends ; the green contents likewise flow chiefly to the two sides, and leave a broad colourless zone visible in the middle, such as we observe somewhat in the same position in 342 Dr. F. Colin on a new genus of the family of VolvQcinese. Closterium (fig. 8). Finally the primordial-cell becomes con- stricted, gradually from the periphery to the centre, in the middle line, and is thus divided into two secondary cells, the septum of which, in the position above assumed, runs from right to left (in the diagrammatic figure 21 from a through m to b and n). Each of the halves cut off by the division then expands somewhat in the direction from left to right ; a new constriction soon presents itself in the direction from above downwards (in the diagram fig. 21 from c through m to d and n) ; when this is complete, the originally globular primordial-cell is divided into four quarters (figs. 8, 9). This process of constriction and cutting ofi" is repeated once more, each secondary cell becoming divided by a new septum into two equal halves (fig. 10). The division takes place through two of the largest circumferences, passing from before back- wards, and cutting the points m and n through which the two preceding septa passed : on the diagram fig. 21 these are repre- sented by the circles e, /, m, n, and g, h, m, n. Since the origi- nally globular primordial-cell has meanwhile only expanded in the direction of the two axes going from above downwards and from right to left, and is not enlarged in the third direction, from before backwards, the whole presents the form of a flattened spheroid, somewhat of the shape of one of our loaves (the shape of a turhan, or of the bowls used on the bowling-green), which is divided into eight equal segments, meeting in the middle, by four ellipses distant 45^^ from each other, and intersecting in the axis of rotation (vide figs. 10, 13 & 21). This process of division, by which each primordial-cell pro- duces in the first generation two, in the second four, and in the third eight secondary-cells, is completed in the course of the night, so that early in the morning, in the long summer days even by 3 o^ clock, we perceive each of the eight primordial-cells divided into eight in the manner described (figs. 10, 11). The generations produced in each case by this triple subdivison vary in the duration of their lives and in their capacity of develop- ment j the first two rapidly divide again, and therefore are, ac- cording to Nageli^s expression, mere ^ transitional generations' ; the third alone arrive at complete development and persist a long- time as such; these form the 'permanent generation.' The process of division does not always take place simulta- neously in all the eight primordial-cells of Stephanosphcera ;^we not unfrequently find inside the same envelope-cell some pri- mordial-cells still wholly unaltered, while others are already pre- paring to divide into two, a third perhaps already into four, and a fourth has already resolved itself into its eight secondary-cells (vide fig. 8). Very often most of the primordial-cells are found Dr. P. Cohn on a new genus of the family o/" Volvocinese. 343 already completely separated into eight, while one or other of them is still wholly unaltered. When the act of division has gone on favourably up to the point to which we have followed it above, some hours elapse be- fore the young families of cells escape completely from the enve- lope. The process which precedes their birth consists principally in the more complete isolation, in a centrifugal direction around their common centre, of the secondary-cells produced by each primordial-cell. Since the parting off of the secondary-cells ad- vances gradually from the periphery towards the centre, they are already completely individualized and separated by intercellular spaces at the periphery, while all eight remain still connected in the centre into a common colourless mucous mass filled with protoplasm-granules (fig. 11). But the flow of the contents from the centre to the borders, which continues up to this time^ at length causes the constriction of the central mass of protoplasm also into eight parts ; the eight secondary-cells then appear of a deep yellowish green externally, passing internally into colourless green towards finely granular beak^ which are all connected in the centre, but become gradually attenuated, torn away and re- tracted (figs. 10, 11, 13, 14). Then the young primordial-cells become rounded into short cylinders and stand in a circle, with- out organic connexion, but placed closely beside one another : seen from above (in the polar view), under the microscope, they resemble a wheel with eight notches ; from the side, examined in the equatorial view, we see four or eight short cylinders lying side by side, so that the whole is not unlike a small Scenedesmus obtusus (fig. W a). The primordial-cell undergoing division behaves as a whole towards external things, until the parting off into eight is quite completed ; that is to say, its two cilia move uninterruptedly, and consequently the entire Stephanosphara-glohe still rolls through the water according to the known laws, even when most of its primordial-cells have already become more or less com- pletely divided into four or eight secondary-cells. Only shortly before the completion of the division do the cilia of the parent- cell lose their motion and disappear, it may be by being retracted or by being thrown off; but the orifices through which the cilia previously passed out into the water, may now be observed in the common envelope-cell, as minute points surrounded by a thick- ened border. Immediately after that, it is seen that the newly-formed secondary-cells have developed their own cilia; for the young generations formed in the interior of the parent-envelope now begin to move and to roll over like a wheel, so far as the con- fined space allows of this (figs. 11, 12). Inconsequence of this 344 Dr. F. Colm on a new genus of the~ family of Volvocineee. movement of the eight small wheels rotating in the interior of the common envelope-cell, which constitutes a very pretty object, the parent-cell soon becomes enlarged and attenuated at certain points ; the cellulose of which it is composed appears to be trans- formed into soluble jelly, and soon afterwards one after the other breaks through out of the common envelope and revolves freely and independently in the water, according to the same laws as the old spheres, but more actively and energetically. The young Stephanosphara exactly resembles a green wreath composed of eight small cylinders, upon w^hich by itself no envelope and cilia can be detected (fig. 13) ; but if killed with iodine, the eight primordial" cells are seen to be surrounded by a common envelope- cell in the form of an exceeding delicate membrane ; only this lies in all parts almost immediately upon the green globes, so that it follows the waved outline they produce, and in its total form resembles a flat spheroid with eight notches on its border ; it is perforated by the cilia, which go off in pairs from each of the primordial-cells ; and two chlorophyll-utricles are already distinguishable in the latter (fig. 14). By degrees the envelope- cell is lifted up by the endosmotic absorption of water ; its sur- face becomes smoothed out, and it appears circular in the polar view ; on the other hand, it retains for a longer time the form of an almost tabular spheroid, and hence presents an ellipse in the equa- torial view (fig. 15); finally it expands uniformly in all direc- tions and thus acquires its normal spherical form, while at the same time it becomes considerably thickened. This whole pro- cess of propagation is completed during the night, and on bright days StephanosphcBrcB are rarely seen in course of division at sun- rise ; on dull days they may be observed in this condition in the first part of the morning. The primordial-cells, however, not unfrequently come to a standstill in the stage of division of the second generation, so that they only separate into four secondary-cells ; these at once develope cilia and an envelope- cell, without dividing a third time, and make their exit from the parent-envelope in this condition. Here therefore only the first generation of each })rimordial-ccll is a transitional generation, the second already a permanent gene- ration. Hence arises the circumstance that we often find among other eightfold Stephanosphai^a-glohes, some in which the en- velope-cell encloses only four primordiaKcells standing at equal distances, which in other respects behave in the ordinary man- ner (fig. 7). It is still more frequently observed, when the primordial-cells have already become constricted into four secondary cells and are beginning to divide again into eight, that this process of division is not perfectly completed in all four portions, but that Dr. F. Cohn on a new genus of the family of Volvocinese. 345 tlic young Stephanosphara already becomes free and developes the envelop e-cellj although one or other of the four quadratic segments of the sphere has become constricted but not parted off. Hence originate monstrous forms, since the general envelope-cell then encloses only seven primordial-cells ; but in these cases it is always observed that one of them is distinguished by most curious prolongations or mucous filaments, that it appears twice as large as the rest, that it contains four chlorophyll-utricles in- stead of two as is usual, and that it is also more or less con- stricted in the middle. All this furnishes proof, that here one secondary-cell of the second generation has not been divided the third time like the rest, but occupies by itself the space which is ordinarily filled by two. Very often only six (fig. 6), or even no more than five primordial-cells are found in one envelope- cell; but then two or three of these are twice as large as else- where*. In like manner Alex. Braun figures a Pediastrum com- posed of fifteen instead of sixteen cells, wherein one however is twice as large as the rest (Verjungung, t. ii. 20). On the whole, it is obvious that the mode of propagation of Stephanosphcera already examined corresponds completely to that we are already acquainted with as formation of macrogonidia in Chlamydococcus. In both cases it depends upon the envelope- cell remaining unaltered, while the primordial-cells become divided, first into two secondary cells, and then so on in a lower power of two, each of the secondary-cells immediately developing two cilia, and secreting over its whole surface, as do all primor- dial-utricles of vegetable cells, a delicate cellulose membrane, which however becomes gradually removed further from the secreting primordial- cell through absorption of water. The only distinction between Chlamydococcus and Stephanosphcera arises from the formation of a special envelope-cell to each individual secondary-cell in Chlamydococcus, w^hile in Stephanosphara all the generations produced by division form one primordial- cell, become enclosed by a common envelope, and move away as families of cells. On the contrary, the developmental history of * Only such imperfect division of a transitional generation gives the possibility of the green cells occurring otherwise than in a power of two, in Stephanosphara, as in all the other VolvocinecB, in which the same law holds good ; at most the normal number might be rendered imperfect by the emission of one or other of the cells which occurs sometimes. On the other hand, definitions like that of Kiitzing's Botryocystis Morum, which is pretended to be composed of six secondary- (primordial-) cells, evidently have their origin merely in imperfect observation and misapprehension of the law of division. In like manner, Ehrenberg's statement that the number of individuals in his Trochogonium varies from six to twenty-one, may de- pend upon a neglect of the proper character. In general, the earlier ob- servers have frequently overlooked the constant numerical relations in the structure of the Volvocine^. 346 Dr. F. Cohn on a neio genus of the family of Volvocinese. Gonium, Pandorina and Volvox agrees in all essential particulars with the laws of propagation, which I have just described in Stephanosphcera, as will be shown elsewhere. We may call the mode of multiplication of the Volvocinece by the general name oi propagation by macrogonidia. Another process is met with in Stephanosphara, besides the above, and which I have observed more rarely, viz. propagation by microgonidia. In this mode of multiplication the introductory processes are exactly like those of the formation of macrogonidia ; in particular each prim or dial- cell is at first divided into two, then into four, and lastly into eight secondary-cells. But instead of this third generation being permanent and becoming free, as is usual, it not unfrequently happens that the process of division is not arrested with the separation into eight; that the original primordial-cell becomes parted off a fourth, fifth, and even a sixth time, in the same manner, and at length is broken up into a large number of cells (16, 32, 64), which naturally are so much the smaller the greater number of times the subdivision into two has taken place (fig. 16). While, moreover, in the formation of macrogonidia, the secondary cells become surrounded by a com- mon envelope, and are not free as an -entire, connected family of cells, arranged according to a definite law, in the mode of pro- pagation now described the little secondary cells finally become totally separated from one another, without secreting an envelope- cell, and in this way each of the eight original primordial-cells is broken up into 32-64 independent, green, elliptical or spindle- shaped corpuscles, which then separate from one another, com- mence an independent and active motion, and fill i^p, in great numbers (as many as 256-512), the common parent-envelope- cell. These little cellules — I shall follow the example of Alex. Braun and call them microgonidia — exhibit a very active and energetic motion inside the envelope-cell, hurrying very rapidly up and down in all directions in its cavity ; producing by their great number that curious swarming which Alex. Braun has very aptly compared with the intermingling of a crowd of people in a confined area, where every one is constantly changing his place, while the whole together constantly occupy the same space. This crowding in among each other of the microgonidia of Stepha- nosphaera presents a picture fixing the attention in the highest degree; sometimes the cellules are scattered in a few large masses ; then they unite again into a knot in the middle ; every moment the general aspect varies (figs, 17 & 18). At length the common envelope is ruptured here also ; then the microgo- nidia emerge one after another or in large masses, but free and singly, into the water (fig. ] 9 «) . Their true form may be then readily detected by killing them with iodine ; they are spindle- Dr. F. Cohn on a new genus of the family of Volvocinese. 347 shaped aud acuminated at both ends, bright green in the middle, and run out into a colourless beak at each end, on the whole not unlike young Euglence, without trace of an envelope-cell; the extremity which goes first in their swimming bears delicate cilia ; the number of the cilia is four (fig. 19). When the microgonidia reach the water they move most actively in all directions, and in a short time all the corpuscles emitted from an envelope-cell are scattered and disappear in the wide surface of the drop of water. I have not been able to make out what becomes of the micro- gonidia subsequently, since they are ordinarily decomposed on the object-holder after a brief swarming ; but it may be con- jectured that they also serve for propagation, and probably pass into a condition of rest. At least the latter has been observed in the microgonidia of Chlamydococcus pluvialis by Alex. Braun and myself : the history of the development of the latter agrees wholly with those of the Stephanosphcera ; they originate also by the division of the primordial-cell in a higher power, are distin- guished by their minute size and more active, peculiarly Infu- sorioid movement, and never develope an envelope-cell during their movement. The microgonidia of both therefore are true primordial-cells; that is, primordial-utricles resembling cells, or- ganized exclusively of coloured protoplasm, without any cellular membrane*. The only distinction between them is, that the microgonidia of Chlamydococcus, like their macrogonidia, possess two cilia, while in those of Stephanosph(jera I observed four. That the microgonidia of Stephanosphara correspond perfectly in morphological respects to the macrogonidia, and only depend upon a higher power of division, is proved by a case in which seven out of the eight primordial- cells in one envelope-cell were broken up into microgonidia, while one divided merely into eight secondary-cells ; the latter were developed as macrogonidia and formed a connected wreath surrounded by an envelope-cell, which rolled slowly about in the parent-envelope, surrounded by the swarm of free, rapidly moving microgonidia (fig. 18 a). Alex. Braun has also observed a formation of microgonidia in Chlamydornonas obtusa ; probably all the rest of the Volvocineae have a formation of small isolated microgonidia which become free, as well as the ordinary propagation by large macrogonidia arranged in families of cells. * In these, and generally speaking in most swarming-cells of Algae, we have structures which in their development and independent individualiza- tion, their vital processes and their mode of movement, behave exactly as cells, but are composed solely of cell-contents, without cell-membrane ; a proof that in the vegetable khigdom even the definition of the cell must be in many cases conceived in a more extended sense than might be assumed from the schemata of our manuals. [To be continued.] 348 Mr. W. H. Benson on an Australian Diplommatina, XXXI. — Notice of an Australian Diplommatina ; and Characters of new East Indian Helicidse from Darjiling and Sincapore, By W. H. Benson, Esq. 1. Helix CycloplaXj nobis, n. s. Testa late umbilicata, orbieulato-depressa, supra confertim et un- datim radiato-striata, striis spiralibus decnssata, granulata, rufes- centi-cornea, subtus leviori pallida, fascia mediana castauea cir- cumdata; spira convexiuscula, apice planato, sutura obsoleta, demum impressa. Anfractibus 5 planatis, ultimo subcarinato (aetate juvenili acute carinato) antice dilatato, prope suturam antice tumidiusculo, subtus tumido. Apertura subquadrato-lunari, ob- liqua, intus interdum albido sublabiata, peristomate simplici, acute, margine columeilari non reflexo, cum basali angulum obtusatum formante. Umbilico profundo, perspective. Diam. major 42, miner 34, axis 17 mill. Hab. ad Darjiling, Himalayse Sikkimensis mentem. Teste R. Trotter. I am indebted for this fine and interesting shell to Mr. Robert Trotter of the Bengal Civil Service, who collected it, with some other new shells, during a short visit to the Sanatarium of Dar- jiling, together with a single specimen of the scarce Helix Orobia, nobis, and some Cyclostomata previously described. Darjiling is situated at an altitude of more than 7000 feet above the sea level. The shell is nearly related to H Oxytes, nobis, an inhabitant of the mountain group south-east of the Burhampooter river, but it is at once distinguished from it by its sculpture, less acute periphery in the adult, the formation of the last whorl anteriorly, the more tumid base, &c. H. Oxytes will be found figured in Reeve^s ' Conchologia Iconica ' at plate 23 of Helix, species 734. In the same and two following plates, many of the Helices de- scribed in former Numbers of the * Annals ' are represented, besides some other Indian species. It should be remarked, however, that the figure of H. crinigera being magnified, and a greater vertical depth being assigned to the mouth than it actually exhibits in proportion, the shell is made to resemble too closely H. Guerini, another species from the same quarter, with which I compared it, but from which it is quite distinct. The other figures are very characteristic, particularly those of H. Ampulla, Cysis, Thyreus, solata, Cestui, and radicicola. 2, Helix Tugurium, nobis, n. s. Testa perforata, depressa, tenui, supra exilissime radiatim costulato- striata, striis spiralibus decussatis, subtus laevigata, lutee-cornea, spira depresse-conoidea, apice acutiuscule. Anfractibus 6 planius- and on some new East Indian Helicidse. 349 culis, ultimo ad periphseriam subcarinato, subtus convexiusculo ; apertura obliqua, late lunari, intus remote albido-sublabiata, peri- stomate simplici, acuto, margine columellari breviter subreflexo. Diam. major 19, minor IG, axis 10 mill. Hah. ad Darjiling. Teste R. Trotter. The sculpture of this species is peculiarly delicate and beau- tiful. The labiation near the aperture forms exteriorly a yellow band similar to those observable in several other Himalayan Helices, and in the species H. verticillus and Smyrnensis of Southern Europe and Asia Minor. 3. Helix Castra, nobis, n. s. Testa mediocriter umbilicata, depressissimo-conica, tenui, exiliter ob- lique acuto-striatula, cornea ; spira ad apicem obtusa, suturis mar- ginatis. Aufractibus 5^ planulatis, ultimo ad periphoeriam acu- tissime carinato, subtus planiusculo ; apertura oblique subquadrata, margine acuto. Diam. major 12, minor 10^, axis 4 mill. Hab. ad Darjiling. Teste R. Trotter. This shell, approaching in form to H. Cyathus, Pfr., figured in the 'Conchologia Iconica' at no. 139, bears much resem- blance to the Javanese species H. Zollingeri of the same author, represented in ^ Conchologia Iconica ' at no. 605, but differs in sculpture, marginate suture, less obtuse spire, and colour. 4. Helix Lychnia, nobis, n. s. Testa imperforata, valde depresso-conica, tenui, translucente, polita, fusca ; spira conica, obtusiuscula, suturis marginatis. Anfrac- tibus 6^ angustis, planiusculis, ultimo vix latiori, ad periphseriam acute compresso- carinato, subtus convexhisculo, medio excavato ; apertura vix obliqua, angusta, securiformi, peristomate simplici acuto, margine inferiori arcuato, versus periomphalum leviter in- crassato. Diam. major vix ,12, minor 11, axis 5imill. Hab. in Insula Sincapore. Teste Dr. J. F. Bacon. This ]n'etty species, remarkable among the depressed conic forms for its imperforate base and closely wound spire, was found by Dr. J. F. Bacon at Sincapore, where it does not appear to be scarce. A small specimen of H, Janus, Chemnitz, accompanied H. Lychnia from the same locality, to which it had not pre- viously been assigned, the recorded habitat being Mount Ophir, near Malacca. 5. Helix luhrica, nobis, n. s. Testa perforata, depressa, obsolete radiato-striata, politissima, luteo- fulvescente vel olivacea ; spira planiuscula, apice vix prominulo. 350 Mr. W. H. Benson on an Australian Diplommatina, obtuso, sutura leviter subcanaliculata. Anfractibus 5, ultimo ro- tundato, basi convexo ; apertura late lunari, vix obliqua, peristo- mate acuto, intus interdura subremote albido-labiato, margine columellari oblique descendente, subsinuato, leviter incrassato, su- perne reflexiusculo. Diam. major 24, minor 20, axis 1 1 mill. Hab. ad Darjiling. Distinguished by the proportion of the whorls and other cha- racters from H. resplendens, Philippi_, and from H. vitrinoides also by the greater depth of the last whorl, and the characters of the mouth. I have long possessed the pale-coloured variety from Darjiling ; the acquisition of a second dark-coloured specimen from Mr. Trotter has confirmed the distinctness of the species. Pfeiffer has ascribed his handsome reversed species, Helix Ba- jaderaj to Bengal, on the authority of Ouming's collection. I have always held this habitat as more than doubtful ; no speci- men having ever been detected in any quarter of the Bengal Presidency by myself or my fellow-labourers in this field. I am now enabled to announce the true habitat as Bombay, a small, but characteristic specimen having just been transmitted to me by Mr. T. Jerdon from that locality. The habitat of Helix vitel- linttj Pfr., is recorded as unknown; a shell received from the same indefatigable naturalist, from the base of the Nilgherries, belongs, without doubt, to that form. 6. Clausilia Ids, nobis, n. s. Testa vix rimata, fusiformi, oblique costulato-striata, pallide cornea, spira gradatim attenuata, apice obtusiusculo ; anfractibus 8-9, vix convexiusculis, ultimo ad basin rotundato, antice fortius remo- tiusque costulato ; apertura pyriformi, lamellis subsequalibus, in- feriori furcata ; plicis palatalibus duabus, 1""" Lmgissima, a sutura remotiori, 2"^^ obliqua, brevi, a lunella, satis distincta, interdum vix divisa, subcolumellari immersa ; peristomate continuo, superne soluto, undique breviter reflexo. Long. 13, diam. 3 mill. Apert. long. 3, lat. 2 mill. Hab. ad Darjiling. Teste R. Trotter. This is the third species which has been discovered in the Northern Dependencies of the Bengal Presidency, and the second only from the Cis-Gangetic Territory. The others are CI. loxo- stoma, nobis, described in 1836 from specimens obtained from the Khasya Hills to the south-east of the river Burhampooter, and CI. cijlindrica. Gray, discovered by Capt. Hutton at Simla, near the Sutlej in the Western Himalaya, and found subsequently by myself ranging through the mountain chains of Sirmore and Kemaon towards the river Gagra. None of the species of this genus are to be met with in the Gangetic plain, nor have any yet been obtained to the south and and on some new East Indian Helicidse. 351 west of the Ganges, although the conditions under which several fine species thrive on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, and even across the equator in Java, are equally present in Southern India. Under these circumstances, it seems that the vast alluvial country which stretches from the mouth of the Indus, in an im- mense arc, to the Delta of the Ganges, has proved an impassable barrier to this genus, which delights in a moist mountain cli- mate, whether in cold or warm latitudes. It may not be irrelevant to notice in this place an interesting fact in the geographical distribution of the terrestrial Mollusca. In 1844 I established in this Journal the genus Diplommatina for two small shells with a peculiar animal from the Western Himalaya. Captain Hutton has a third sinistrorse species, with a tubercle in the aperture, from the same quarter. I know not if it be identical or not with Diplommatina Huttoni of PfeiiFer, also from India, described in the unpublished Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1851. In July last I had the satis- faction of detecting a fourth species among the East Australian collections of Mr. Strange, by whom it had been considered to be a Pupa. It is also sinistrorse, and has all the characteristics of the genus, including the double peristome. I referred the genus to the Carychiada, with reference to the absence of an operculum, which neither Capt. Hutton, Dr. Bacon, nor myself had been able to detect in the living animal. Dr. J. E. Gray, in his CyclophoridcB of the British Museum, has placed Diplom- matina among the operculated land-snails, and describes the oper- culum, in specimens of D. folliculus from Capt. Boys' collection, as being thin and shelly, with few whorls and prominent lamellae on their outer edges. Mr. Strange failed to observe any oper- culum in the species which he found on the promontory of Point Danger, where it occurred, like its Himalayan congeners, under damp decayed leaves. This is not to be wondered at when that accessory piece evaded the examinations which both Capt. Hut- ton and myself instituted on living specimens with the view of discovering its existence, assisted, in my own case, by glasses of moderate power. Dr. Pfeifibr, in his amended conspectus, follows Gray in con- sidering Cyclostoma minus of Sowerby, a Philippine shell, to be a Diplommatina ; and in referring the genus to the Cyclostomacea. Neither Sowerby nor Pfeifi'er appears to have seen the operculum of D. minor. Its larger size, although not so great as in Sowerby's magnified figure, would show the operculum plainly if present, Pfeiffer, in the ' Conchylien Cabinet,' noticed the anomalous cha- racter of this species. It wants, however, the double peristome of the typical species. Malvern, September 16, 1852. 352 Mr. G. Busk on the Priority of the Term Polyzoa XXXII. — 0/i the Priority of the Term Polyzoa /or the Ascidian Polypes. By George Busk, F.R.S. &c. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Gentlemen, From the published Reports of the discussions, in the Zoological Section of the British Association at Belfast, it would appear that there is still some difference of opinion among naturalists as to the proper appellation of the Ascidioid Zoophytes. As, however, questions of this kind cannot be too soon definitively settled, and as, in a Catalogue of the Marine Species in the British Museum Collection, I have, not without consideration, adopted the term ' Polyzoa,' you will perhaps allow me to say a few words in justification of the use of that term instead of 'Bryozoa.' The question, at least as I understand it, appears to be of a very simple nature and to admit of a very easy solution. Mr. J. V. Thompson's memoir, constituting the 5th Part or Number of his 'Zoological Researches,' in which the term 'Polyzoa' is for the first time employed, and its explanation given, was published in December, probably on the 1st of De- cember 1830 — of this there can of course be no doubt. Ehrenberg's paper on the Corals of the Red Sea, in which the term ' Bryozoa ' is first proposed, was read, or rather was in part read, before the Berlin Academy on the 3rd of March 1831. It was not, however, completed till December 1833, nor published till February 1834. The former date, however, only is of con- sequence here, because in June 1831, that Part of ' Symbolse Physicse' containing the "Animalia evertebrata '' may be said to have been published; — though it was probably not really published till long afterwards. The evidence upon which these dates rest is short and satis- factory. 1. With respect to the Paper on the Red Sea Corals. This paper is given in the volume of Berlin Reports, professing to contain those papers which were read before the Academy in the year 1832, and which volume was published in 1834. It appears somewhat remarkable that Ehrenberg's paper is the only one in the whole volume which was not read in 1832. It has for its title, " Beitrage zur physiologischen Kenntniss der Corallen- thiere im Allgemeinen, und besonders des Rothen Meeres, nebst einem Versuche zur physiologischen Systematik derselben," and bears the prefix, " (Gelesen in der Academic der Wissenschaften, am Marz 3, 1831 — mit Zusatzen, gedruckt am 1 Dec. 1833)." Allowing, therefore, the earliest date for the quasi publication of for the Ascidian Poli/pes. 353 this paper^ it is at least three months later than that of Mr. J. V. Thompson. This, however, appears to me a mode of stating the point far too favourable to Ehrenberg. From the prefix above quoted, and still more from intrinsic evidence, it is clear that part at least, and probably a very great part of the paper as it now appears, was not written till 1833, as it was certainly not published in a complete state till after February 1834. From the paper itself it is impossible to say what part was read in 1831, and what added or altered afterwards; and I cannot avoid the remark, that it appears not a little discreditable to the pub- lishing management of the Berlin Academy, that such a con- fusion of dates should be allowed to exist in memoirs published under their direction. The fact is, that with respect not only to this paper, but also to a second by Ehrenberg in the same volume of Reports*, which was read on the 22nd of March 1832, but not "revidirt und gedruckt'^ till February 1834, as no means exist by which it can be determined what part was really read at the times specified, and what subsequently added oi? altered, the only just and safe way of applying them in questions of date would be to take that of their final and real publication, viz. 1834. 2. With respect to ^ Symbolse Physicse,' no difficulty whatever exists in our assigning the date of 1831 to the Part with which we are here concerned, viz. that containing the ^^ Animalia ever- tebrata, exclusis Insectis.^^ For in the first place, that is the date given to it upon the cover in which it is stitched ; and in the second place, Ehrenberg himself in the former paper above referred to, p. 254, gives the date of that Part of ' Symbolse Physicse' as June 1831. Moreover, though the further citation of evidence is supererogatory, in the commencement of the same paper read March 3, 1831, he styles it a precursor " Vorlaufer,^' to the further details which he intended to give in ' Symbola? Phy- sicse ' ; and again in the latter work itself, he adverts to the above paper as having been read before the Academy ^' some months previously,'' " abhinc aliquot menses.'' With reference to the other portions of ' Symbolse Physicse,' (leaving out of the question that or those containing the Insects, by Klug) as they are not concerned in the present inquiry, I would merely remark, that in them, as in the papers read before the Berlin Academy, such a confusion of dates appears to exist, that notwithstanding the title-page and preface, both of which are dated 1828, it would seem from intrinsic evidence that a consi- * " Ueber die Natur und Bildung der Corallenbanke des Rothen Meeres/* &c. Ann. S^Ma^.N. Hist, Ser. 2. Vol.x. 23 354 Mr. N. T. Wetherell on a new species of Clionites. derable part, if not tlie greatest part, cannot have been published before 1833 or 1834. Having thus endeavoured to show that the term ' Polyzoa ^ has a priority over ' Bryozoa ' of at least three, or more correctly perhaps of six months, I cannot conclude without an additional observation upon the former term, which after all does not ap- pear to be used at present with strict propriety. It seems to have escaped notice that the word ^ Polyzoa ' is employed by Mr. J. V. Thompson in the singular number, with the plural ^Poly- zose,^ which latter term ought in strict right therefore to be em- ployed as the appellation of the Ascidioid Polypes. As, however, the word has come to be generally employed, and, as far as regards rules of construction, much more correctly employed, in the plural sense, it may probably now be allowed to remain in peace and to claim universal adoption. I am, your obedient servant, George Busk. XXXIII. — Note on a new species of Clionites. By N. T. Wetherell, Esq., F.G.S., M.R.C.S. &c. [With a Plate.] During a recent visit to the Isle of Wight, I obtained among other interesting fossils a specimen of ilint which had evidently formed a cast of a large species of Inoceramus, probably Inoce- 7'amus Cuvieri. The specimen is about 10 inches in length, the fibrous part of the shell having decayed away, with the exception of some small portions. The cast itself exhibits a numerous but very irregularly dis- posed series of small siliceous oviform bodies with a granulated surface, and most of which were joined together by small threads of flint. These bodies were unquestionably the casts of some parasitic animal which perforated the test of the Inoceramus, and which may possibly be due to a species of Clionites (C. Cony- bearei), as they appear to resemble those generally referred to that genus, described and figured in the ' Annals,^ vol. viii. pi. 4, for August 1851, but from which they differ in form, as will be seen by comparing the figures. Mr. Morris informed me that he had previously seen some small specimens of the species in the collection of Dr. Mantell, but he rather doubted their specific value. The large specimen now discovered, of which only a fragment is figured, and the uniformity of the character would lead us to infer a specific dif- ference, which I have much pleasure in dedicating to my friend Dr. Mantell, who long ago noticed these singular bodies. Mr. ARRlMag. Wat. Hut. S.^.ToUOJ'lT. W.S.J) alias ieUn. J-JJe C.Scweriv scP Mr. J. Morris on a new species o/Eelemnite. 355 Morris has also directed my attention to the fact, that Colonel Portlock, with his usual acumen, had described similar bodies as occurring in the flints of the Irish chalk, and that the species described by him under the name of Entohia cretacea (and ar- ranged among the Annelides) is probably the same as the Clio- nites Cony bear ei before adverted to. Clionites Mantelli. PL V. C. figs. 1 & 2. Cells small, oviform, numerous, more or less closely aggre- gated, connected together by minute slender canals. External openings rather large. Locality. In the substance of the shell of aninoceramus from the Upper Chalk of the Isle of Wight. Highgate, Sept. 29, 1852. XXXIV. — Description of a species o/Belemnite, with Observa- tions on Aptychus. By J. Morris, P.G.S. [With a Plate.] The following species of Belemnite, obtained by M. Bouchard of Boulogne from the lias of France, appears to be sufficiently distinct from any species figured by M. D'Orbigny in the ^Paleon- tologie Fran9aise,^ and to differ somewhat from the Belemnites usually found in the lias, and may be described as follows : — Belemnites Bouchardi. PI. "V. E. figs. 1, 2, 3, 4. Testa brevi, conica, subcompressa, unisulcata ; apice obtuso, ru- goso, alveolo magno, apertura subquadrata. A Belemnite with a very short, conical and slightly compressed rostrum, the apex obtuse and marked by numerous granulose ridges (fig. 4 «); the fibrous substance of the shell is extremely thin ; the alveolar cavity is large, and occupies nearly the whole length of the rostrum ; the ventral furrow is very distinct, and is prolonged from the apex to the aperture, which is subquadrate. The posterior side is slightly compressed by two rather obscure furrows, which become obsolete towards the opening. This species in the general form and large alveolar cavity re- sembles Bel. brevirostris, D'Orb. ; it is however less conical, and the broad continuous furrow and rugose apex will readily distin- guish it from that species. Locality. From the Upper Lias of Vieux Pont, Calvados. Length 1^ inch, aperture 6 lines. 23* 356 Mr. C. Spence Bate on some Crustacea dredged Note on Aptychus. Through the kindness of the Rev. A. Griesbach of Wollaston_, I have lately received an interesting specimen of Ammonite {A. Walcottii) obtained by him from the lias of Northampton- shire, containing the remains of the anomalous body Aptychus or Trigonellites, By a fortunate fracture, the Aptychus, of a corneo-calcareous nature, was found imbedded in the matrix filling the last chamber, about 6 inches from the aperture; the two lobes are semi-elliptical in form, about 1^ inch in length by 1 inch in breadth, and exhibit the concentrical striated sur- face or lines of growth. PL V. D. fig. 1. The comparative rarity in England of these bodies in direct connection with the Ammonite, of which they are presumed to be the opercula, has induced me to record the above fact. Mr. Strickland has described the occurrence of similar bodies in the Ammonites from the lias of DefFord (Geol. Proc. iv. p. 45 J), and Mr. Moore in those from Ilminster. Bronn enumerates about forty species of Aptychus from the Jurassic and Cretaceous strata, a small proportion to the nume- rous Ammonites found in these formations. XXXV. — On some Crustacea dredged hy Mr. Barlee in the Shet- lands. By C. Spence Bate, Esq. [With a Plate.] Through the kindness of Mr. Barlee (whose indefatigable in- dustry has been of such benefit to conchology), I received the following Crustacea dredged by him off the Haaf, Shetlands, during the fall of 1851. Hyas coarctatus. Inackus Dorsettensis. Portunus pusillus. Ebalia Pennantii. Lithodes Maia. Crangon spinosus. Hippolyte Sowerbei. Barleei (new species). Nymphon gigantea. The distant locality from which these come make them worthy of being recorded, at a period when research is endeavouring to illustrate the fauna of particular districts. by Mr. Barlee in the Shetland Islands, 357 It is rather curious to remark, that in the two standard works on British Crustacea, Dr. Leach's ' Malacostraca Podophthalmata Britanuiae/ and Prof. BelFs ' Hist, of the British Crustacea/ the artists employed have incorrectly figured the female abdo- men in the genus Ebalia by the omission of the seventh and ultimate ring, — an articulation so peculiar as to have been classed by each author among the generic characters, — while in the text it is correctly described by the respective authors. This circumstance, together with the peculiar manner in which it is imbedded between the base of the pedipalps, has induced me to forward a figure of the underside of Ebalia Pennantii as well as the unattached abdomen (PI. V. B. figs. 2 & 3). Scarcely knowing which to trust, the more so since it is omitted in the description of the genus in Prof. Milne-Edwards's ' Hi- stoire des Crustaces/ I communicated, for the purpose of being certain, with Mr. Gray of the British Museum, where I believe the original specimens of Dr. Leach are preserved, who with courtesy immediately replied, and thus strengthened me upon the point. The only other of the above list to which it is at all necessary to allude, is that which I have taken upon myself to name Hip- polyte Barleei, after him to whose labours we are indebted for the discovery. (See PI. V. B. fig. 1). It has the rostrum one-third the length of the carapace, the front slightly turned up ; the lower margin smooth, the upper armed with four teeth, the two centre of which are partially confluent. Unfortunately the specimen is not too well-preserved as a whole, the sixth pair of legs being lost when I received it, and also one of the anterior pair, together with the antennae, all of which are broken ofi" to the peduncle ; it may therefore be con- sidered rash to describe the specimen as belonging to this genus ; but as far as research has yet carried us, the rule, that when the first two pair of. legs are cheliform, with the first pair short, strong, and apparently useful (not slender as in Palamon), the internal antennae are furnished with two setae, is so constant, that until a more perfect specimen be dredged, an opportunity for which may not again readily occur, since the Haaf (or deep- sea fishing) is, I believe, forty miles distant from the nearest point of land, or a distinct species be found showing the above rule to be inconstant, I think we are justified in supposing it to be a Hippolyte. The specimen is small and rather greenish, but colour among Crustacea can scarcely be depended upon, it being dead. Mulgrave Place, Plymouth. 358 On a new Arrangement of British Rissose. XXXVI. — On a new Arrangement of British Rissose. By H. and A. Adams. To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. Gentlemen, Haslar Hospital, Gosport, Oct. 6, 1852. In revising the Rissoce for the '^ Genera of Recent Mollusca " about to be published, we found the group composed of most dissimilar forms. The recent observations of the learned and accurate William Clark have enabled us to offer a new distribu- tion, an outline of which, perhaps, you may think worthy of a place in your ^ Annals.' We are, Gentlemen, your most obedient servants, H. and A. Adams. Genus Rissoa, Fremenv. (Acme, Hartm.) Opercular lobe with a single distinct cirrhus. Shell with the outer lip dilated ; spire elevated. R. labiosa. R. costata. R. parva. Genus Alvania, Risso. (Cyclostrenia, Flem. Turbona, Leach.) Opercular lobe winged ; three caudal cirrhi. Shell turbinate, cancellated ; outer lip varied. A. cimex. A. reticulata. A. calathiscus. A. abyssicola. A. striatula. A. zetlandica. A. lactea. Genus Cingula, Fleming. (Sabinea, Leach.) Opercular lobe and caudal cirrhus indistinct and rudimentary. Shell banded; spire elevated ; outer lip simple. C. cingillus. Genus Onoba, nobis. (Turbonilla, Leach, non Risso.) Opercular lobe winged, no caudal cirrhus. Shell spirally striated ; outer lip simple. O. striata. Genus Paludinella, Pfeiffer. Tentacles short, obtuse; eyes sessile on their upper surface near the middle. Opercular lobe and caudal filaments none. Shell orbicular, thin, umbilicated, covered with an epidermis. P. littorea, Chiaje. On a new Hemipferotts Insect forming the type of anew genus. 359 . We have lately observed the animal ourselves and find it as above described. (Fam. Truncatellidse.) Genus Hyala, nobis. Head long^ emarginate at the end, forming two lobes. Ten- tacles flat, not clavate at tip, with fine setae at the extremities. Eyes sessile on the centre of their bases. Foot simple behind. Opercular lobe without any caudal cirrhus. Shell hyaline. (Fam. Jeffresiidse.) H. vitrea. Genus Hydrobia, Hartmann. Opercular lobe small, no caudal cirrhus. Shell covered with an epidermis. Outer lip thin, simple. Animal amphibious. Spins a glutinous byssus during hybernation. H. ulvse. H. anatina. H. ventricosa. Genus Ceratia, nobis. Tentacles flat, rather short, claviform at tip, clothed with long aciculate setae. Foot in front auriculated, behind divided into two long distinct tails. Opercular lobe without a caudal cirrhus. C. proxima. Genus Setia, nobis. Tentacles pilose. Opercular lobe small, no caudal cirrhus. Foot simple behind. S. soluta. S. fulgida. S. pulcherrima. S. inconspicua. XXXVII. — Description of a new Hemipterous Insect forming the type of a new genus. By W. S. Dallas, Esq., F.L.S, &c. [With a Plate.] To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History, Gentlemen, I beg leave to enclose, for insertion in your Magazine, the description of a remarkable new Hemipterous insect from Sylhet, which forms part of a collection made in that country by Messrs. Cotton and Turner. The collection was exhibited at one of the meetings of the Zoological Society, and was very re- markable from the curious manner in which it was arranged, the numerous insects composing it being attached to the bodies 360 Mr. W. S. Dallas on a new Hemipterous Insect and limbs of some large Stick-insects as though walking upon them. I am, &c., W. S. Dallas. I AM indebted to Mr. Samuel Stevens for the opportunity of describing this insect. It belongs to the family Phyllocephalidse, in which it will necessitate the formation of a new generic group. It is remarkable from its presenting so close a resemblance to the larvse of the larger species of the group to which it belongs, that at the first glance it may readily be mistaken for one of them ; but the presence of ocelli, of three joints in the tarsi, and of a distinct scutellum, demonstrate that it has arrived at its complete development. A small insect belonging to the family Sciocoridse, described by me (Brit. Mus. Cat. Hemip. p. 145) under the name of Aeptus singularis, presents a very similar conformation ; in this case, however, the ocelli are also wanting. The specimen is unfortunately mutilated in its antennse, the first and second joints only remaining ; from the form of these it is probable that the antennse are four-jointed, although this of course can be only a matter of conjecture. Genus Atelides, n. g. PI. V. A. Corpus subovatum, postice latins. Caput foliaceum, spina utrinque ante oculos armatum ; lobis lateralibus intermedium longe superantibus, contiguis, apice hiantibus, Oculi promi- nentes. Antennae crassse, articulo primo brevi, secundo elongato, compresso, sulcato ; reliquis carentibus. Rostrum ad basin pe- dum intermediorum attingens, articulo secundo longissimo. Scu- tellum et elytra abbreviata. Sternum canaliculatum. Body somewhat ovate, broadest behind the middle. Head (2) foliaceous ; lateral lobes reflexed at the sides, much longer than the central lobe, with their inner margins contiguous throughout nearly their whole length, gaping slightly at the apex ; central lobe very small ; lateral margins with a strong spine in front of the eyes. Eyes very prominent; ocelli small, placed close to the base of the head, and about equally distant from one another and from the eyes. Antenna very stout ; basal joint short, not passing the apex of the head ; second joint very long, compressed, and with a deep longitudinal furrow on each side. Rostrum (3) rather slender, reaching the intermediate coxae, inserted about the middle of the under surface of the head, between two somewhat triangular lamellae; basal joint rather stout, passing the anterior margin of the presternum ; second joint longest, thinner than the first ; third joint shorter than the first, about equal to it in thickness ; fourth joint shortest and thinnest. Pronotum sub- forming the type of a new genus. 361 quadrate, rather narrower in front than behind, lateral angles slightly spinous. Scutellum short and broad, with the apex broad and rounded. Elytra very short, covering only the two first segments of the abdomen, with their apical margin trun- cated, somewhat membranous. Sternum with a narrow longi- tudinal canal. Abdomen (4 & 5) nearly circular, slightly convex above, very convex beneath, with the apex somewhat truncated ; the two lateral vulvar plates bearing stigmata. Legs stout; thighs unarmed ; tibia3 prismatic, the posterior pair slightly dilated internally and channelled beneath. Atelides centrolineatusj n. s. PI. V. A. fig. 1. A. castaneus, supra nigricans; linea media lata e capitis apice ad apicem abdominis currente, lateribusque pronoti fulvo- luteis ; corpore subtus utrinque fascia submarginali nigra ; an- tennis nigris. ? . Long. lin. 10. Hab. in Sylhet. Head above brassy black, somewhat obscure, rather finely rugose, with the lateral margins tinged with chestnut, and with a longitudinal orange-yellow band down the centre; beneath brownish fulvous, with the orbits brassy. Eyes brown ; ocelli yellow. Antennse with the first two joints black, thickly clothed with short stiff hairs, but with the furrows of the second joint naked ; basal joint fulvous at the base, the rest of the joints wanting. Rostrum pale chestnut, with the basal joint fulvous* Pronotum blackish, somewhat brassy, with the annular spots near the anterior margin and an indistinct patch within each lateral angle chestnut, the surface minutely punctured and wrinkled transversely; the disc with a smooth orange-yellow band, continuous with that on the head ; the sides broadly mar- gined with dull orange, with the extreme edges black. Scu- tellum black, very thickly and minutely punctured and trans- versely wrinkled, with a smooth orange-yellow band continuous with that on the thorax. Breast brownish fulvous, sparingly punctured, with a broad, brassy black, rugose longitudinal band on each side within the lateral margins. Legs pale chestnut- brown. Elytra blackish, somewhat brassy, finely granulose; outer margin broadly fulvous, edged with black ; the submar- ginal nervure, a streak on the disc, and the base of the inner margin fulvous ; rudimentary membrane brown. Abdomen above blackish, somewhat brassy, finely granulose, with the sides dull chestnut irrorated with black points ; the centre with a longitu- dinal orange band continuous with th