INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. x lv 



ernments and institutions of all parts of the world are invited 

 to take shares, which will entitle them to nominate incum- 

 bents for working tables in the establishment, and by whom 

 every facility can be claimed as a right in virtue of the en- 

 dowment. 



A fact of much interest in the line of embryology has been 

 detected in the very young sturgeon. This animal, as is well 

 known, when mature, is destitute of teeth, and secures its 

 food by means of suction. It was, therefore, with no little 

 surprise that some gentlemen engaged in breeding a small 

 species of sturgeon, the sterlet, eminent for the excellence of 

 its flesh, found that the young, for some time after emerging 

 from the egg, had the mouth armed with well-marked teeth, 

 by means of which they were enabled to secure their prey. 

 These disappeared, however, in a short time, leaving a form 

 much like that of the adult fish. 



An important fact has been brought out by Professor Pan- 

 ceri in regard to the luminosity of marine animals, and the 

 conditions under which this peculiarity is exercised made in- 

 telligible ; the separation by Dr. Phipson of this same phos- 

 phorescent material, under the name of noctilucine, has also 

 tended to give precision to our views of the general subject 

 of phosphorescence. 



The investigation of the faunas of various parts of the globe 

 has been prosecuted to a considerable extent. Among these, 

 perhaps the most interesting and important results obtained 

 are those from the labors of Grandidier in Madagascar, and 

 of the Abbe David in Thibet. Both these gentlemen have 

 brought to light many forms of vertebrate animals, having 

 marked peculiarities, which have excited the attention of zo- 

 ologists. 



The special classes of vertebrates have received, perhaps, 

 even more than the usual share of attention in respect to, at 

 least, systematic work. 



The Mammals have been re-examined, with reference to 

 their mutual relations, by Gill and A. Milne-Edwards the 

 former adopting, with Huxley and other late therologists, 

 the sub -classes Monodelphs, Didelphs, and Ornithodelphs, 

 and dividing the first into two primary sub-divisions charac- 

 terized by cerebral characters (see Record, p. 238) ; the lat- 

 ter isolating man as the type of a distinct sub-class, and then 



