ZOOLOGY. 329 



itive proof that the dodo should be placed elsewhere in the classifica- 

 tion. The JAMESON'S JOURNAL FOR JULY states that Mr. Brandt 

 has received some interesting details regarding the dodo from the Di- 

 rectors of the Museum of Natural History of Copenhagen, where the 

 portion of the skull spoken of above is preserved. Mr. Brandt has 

 innde a careful examination, and comes to the conclusion, that the dodo 

 must be placed among the Grallae, and, in confirmation of his view, he 

 announces that he has discovered certain osselets which are peculiar to 

 the cranium of the Grallse. 



NERVOUS SYSTEM OF FROGS. 



AT a meeting of the Boston Natural History Society, in July, 1848, 

 Dr. Wyman communicated some results obtained by dissections of the 

 nervous system of Frogs. He had found attached to the trunk of each 

 of the spinal nerves, just before their division into motor and sensitive 

 roots, a vesicle containing a white, chalky substance, which, under the 

 microscope, was shown to be composed of vast numbers of minute crys- 

 tals [probably carbonate of lime], each having an hexagonal form, and 

 terminated at either extremity by a six-sided pyramid. The sac con- 

 taining them was well defined, about half a line in diameter, and subdi- 

 vided internally by numerous septa into small cavities, in which the 

 crystals were lodged. Nervous filaments were traced into the interior 

 of the sac. A deposit of similar crystals was also noticed around the 

 veins in the spinal canal, and on the base of the cranium. 



The chalky matter found in the vestibule of the ear he proved by 

 the microscope to be composed of crystals similar in size and appear- 

 ance to those found attached to the spinal nerves. He had sought for 

 them in great numbers of frogs, of different species, and in no instance 

 had he failed to detect them. He had not found them in the Meno- 

 branchus or in tortoises, except in the vestibules of the latter. From 

 their constant presence in frogs, he was disposed to regard them as 

 essential parts of their nervous system. 



In connection with this subject we may mention that Blasius quotes 

 Svvammerdam, as having noticed a substance like lime, which effer- 

 vesced with acid, as being situated on each side of the spinal column. 

 See Blasius, AnaLomia AmmaHum, p. 291. Proc. Bost. Nat. Hist. 

 Soc. 



DISEASES OF SILK-WORMS. 



IN the Comptes Rendus, for Nov. 5th, we find a paper by M. 

 Guerin-Meneville, on the "Diseases of Silk-Worms," in which he 

 says : This year my examination of silk-worms, both healthy and 

 diseased, has led me to observe some very curious facts. I think that 

 I have aided in the transformation of living animal matter into a plant, 

 for I have seen certain corpuscules, forming the living and interior of 

 the globules of the blood of silk-worms, become the rudiments of the 

 Botrytis bassiana, the plant which causes the disease known under the 

 name of muscardine." After mentioning several similar phenomena 

 already known, to show that his discovery is not entirely unprecedent- 



28* 



