G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 299 



public exhibition, the receipts from which, it is hoped, will do 

 much toward meeting the current expenses. Dr. Dohrn pro- 

 poses, as a new method of securing an income, to offer to dif- 

 ferent scientific bodies working tables in the laboratory of 

 the station for a certain annual sum. This will confer upon 

 the body subscribing the right to appoint a naturalist, who, 

 on presenting the proper certificate, will be furnished with a 

 table and full participation in all the advantages of the build- 

 ing. In addition to the necessary personnel, several zoolo- 

 gists will be attached permanently, and will receive a regular 

 salary from Dr. Dohrn. The present plan contemplates pro- 

 vision for about twelve tables, to be properly fitted up for 

 use. 12 A, August 29, 1872, 362. 



GENERATION OF EELS. 



Much uncertainty prevails in regard to the mode of gener- 

 ation of eels, and many contradictory views have been pre- 

 sented, none of them bearing the test of critical examination. 

 This animal forms a remarkable exception to the characteris- 

 tics of the anadromous fish, such as the shad, salmon, etc., 

 which run up from the sea as mature fish, and spawn in the 

 fresh water and return again ; their young remaining for a 

 time, then visiting the sea, also to return to the rivers when the 

 sexual instinct seizes them. The eel, on the contrary, spawns 

 in the sea, and the young run up into fresh water and pass 

 the period of immaturity, then going down to the sea and re- 

 maining there, their young in turn pursuing the same round. 



It is now announced by Ercolani, an Italian physiologist, 

 that the eel is really a perfect hermaphrodite ; that the geni- 

 tals are only completely developed at sea, during the month 

 of December the ovaries and testes being: together in the 

 same animal, with spermatozoa; and he believes that the ova 

 are fertilized there before their emission from the body. This 

 is a very remarkable statement, but one that may, perhaps, 

 prove to be correct ; at any rate, it comes nearer to solving 

 the problem of the generation of the eel than any suggestion 

 that has hitherto been made. 2 A, June 15, 1872, 399. 



IS THE UNICORN A FABLE ? 



The question of the existence in nature of an animal corre- 

 sponding to the unicorn of the Bible and of tradition has been 



