ZOOLOGY. 349 



THE SENSES IN THE ANNELIDES. 



AT the close of a paper on the organs of sense in the Annelides, M. 

 de Quatrefages gives the following as the conclusions to which he has 

 arrived. 1. The Annelides possess all the senses except that of smell, 

 which is probably blended with that of taste. 2. In most of them 

 these senses have special organs for their exercise. 3. These organs 

 may become defective, and then the exercise of its functions probably 

 becomes less perfect. 4. The sense of touch is most commonly exer- 

 cised by the aid of appendages to the head, though in certain cases 

 the appendages of the tail appear to perform the same functions. 5. 

 The sense of taste probably has its special seat at the inner surface of 

 the proboscis, especially in the species where this organ is more or 

 less exsertile. 6. Most of the Annelides have real eyes, which are 

 sometimes placed elsewhere than on the head, and receive their nerves 

 from other nervous centres than the brain. 7. Some of the Annelides 

 have organs of hearing like those of the gasteropod mollusks ; these 

 organs are not cephalic. 



RESPIRATION OF ANIMALS. 



ACCORDING to Mr. Grove, in a lecture delivered before the Royal 

 Institution, M. Regnault, in his researches on the respiration of ani- 

 mals, has ascertained that warm-blooded animals exhale nitrogen in 

 proportion, from one fiftieth to one hundredth or less, to the oxygen 

 breathed. Animals deprived of food absorb nitrogen in proportions 

 similar to those in which it is exhaled in the first cases. Animals, when 

 ill, or suffering from unusual food, also absorb nitrogen. With animals 

 nourished on pernicious food, the carbonic acid exhaled is generally 

 nearly equivalent to the oxygen inhaled. When fed on animal food, 

 the proportion of carbonic acid is much less, in some cases not more 

 than six parts to ten of the oxygen inhaled. Consumption of oxygen, 

 compared with the weight of the animal, is ten times greater in the 

 case of small animals, like sparrows, than with larger ones, like fowls. 

 With hybernating animals, such as marmots, no unusual phenomena 

 are presented when awake, but in their torpid state they consume 

 much less oxygen, can live in an atmosphere which would not sup- 

 port them when awake, give off but little carbonic acid, and absorb so 

 much oxygen and nitrogen as frequently to increase in \veight by 

 respiration alone. Cold-blooded animals consume very little oxygen, 

 and breathe considerably through the skin ; insects require as much 

 oxygen as mammals. London Literary Gazette, January. 



THEORY OF THE SPLEEN. 



AT a meeting of the Surgical Society of Ireland, on the 9th of 

 March, a deeply interesting and highly scientific theory, regarding 

 the uses of the spleen, was propounded by Sir James Murray, \vhich 

 he stated to be the result of experiments carried on during twenty 

 years. The following are some of his deductions : " 1. It appears 



30 



