314 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



jneans employed by nature, if we may flatter ourselves with 

 ever throwing any light on the origin of organized bodies, 

 the most obscure and mysterious point of natural history, 

 it seems to us the first sparks must be derived from these 

 analogies of structure. 



Mechanism of ^ Ir * P»Wf«l> P rof - of anatomy at the Medical School, 



Tespi.atjon in presented three papers. In the first he treated on the me- 



fohes* chanism of respiration in fishes, and pointed out some in- 



teresting singularities. Those that from having their 

 mouths sometimes affixed to stones, or buried in mud or 

 sand, cannot always use them for taking in water, are pro-? 

 vided with apertures for admitting the water on dilating the 

 cavity of the mouth, and these apertures are fnrnished with 

 valves internally, to prevent the water from returning by 

 them, so that it has no exit but by the gills. 



Cirp.n of ta*te The second was on the smell and taste of fishes. Mr. D. 



jnfepet supposes, that the tongue, from the dryness and hardness 



of its integuments, and the constant passage of water over 

 it, must be insensible to flavours ; and that the pituitary 

 membrane, not being exposed to the impulse of elastic va- 

 pour, cannot be the seat of sm.ell like ours. This mem-? 

 brane therefore he conceives to be the organ of taste. 



Kept'Jes, The third is a comparison, of the various vital and animal 



functions in the order of reptiles termed batrachian, which 

 justifies its division into two families. 



Crocodiles. Several other papers on reptiles have been produced, 



particularly on crocodiles, of which Mr. Ouvier has shown 

 no less than twelve distinct species exist in the old and new 

 world. 



The same naturalist has endeavoured to remove by dis-r 

 section the doubts entertained respecting 6ome reptiles of a 

 singular form, which truly deserve the name of amphibia^ 

 because they breathe both with gills and lungs. One of 

 these is the siren lacertina, another the proteus anguinus*, 

 and a third the proteus pisciformis. The two former of these 

 at least have the skeleton too firmly ossified, and too different 

 from those of any other reptile of their native abodes, and 

 besides their organs are too perfect, to admit of their being 



Amphibia. 



• See Journal, Vol. XVIII, p. 9t. 



considered 



