POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



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pond whence the visitor came. He has 

 observed fresh-water perch behaving in a 

 similar manner. A further proof of the 

 communicative capabilities of fish is afford- 

 ed by the manner in which they oftentimes 

 avoid the snares spread for them by men. 

 They not only possess a keen sense of dan- 

 ger, but must have the power of warning 

 one another. Mr. Carter feels confident, 

 from the result of his observations, that 

 coarse fish are able to influence one anoth- 

 er, and if this is the case with them, why 

 not with others ? " It can not be credited," 

 he says, "that Nature has denied to fish 

 what she has freely bestowed upon all other 

 animals, and therefore I think the further 

 we go into the subject the more we shall 

 realize that the gift of communication has 

 been implanted in the nature of every creat- 

 ure to a greater or less degree." 



A Link between Invertebrates and Vcr- 

 tcbrateSt Mr. W. Baldwin Spencer, of the 

 University Museum, Oxford, in studying the 

 anatomy and histology of the lizard-like 

 reptile Hatteria punctata, found on the pi- 

 neal body and under the parietal foramen, 

 a rounded mass, provided with a well-marked 

 nerve, which is evidently an eye. A de- 

 pression of the skin of the head occurs im- 

 mediately above the parietal foramen, but 

 does not lead down to this structure, which 

 is filled up with a plug of connective tissue 

 that is specially dense around the capsule 

 that envelops the eye. The capsule is also 

 filled up behind with connective tissue, in 

 which a blood-vessel, entering with the 

 nerve, divides and ramifies. "It becomes 

 extremely difficult," says the Rev. W. H. 

 Dallinger, remarking on this discovery, " to 

 conjecture what can be the use of so curi- 

 ously placed, and at the same time so highly 

 complex, an organ ; an eye so buried in its 

 capsule and surrounding tissue, and so cov- 

 ered with the skin of the head as to make 

 it almost inconceivable that it can be af- 

 fected by even the most intense light ; an 

 eye placed, moreover, in a position that sug- 

 gests no advantage to the present organ- 

 ism." It is also placed in the head of ani- 

 mals well endowed with the normal pair of 

 vertebrate eyes ; and on examining it in 

 different lizards it is found in different 

 stages of uselessness, in some being quite 



isolated from the brain, and in others, as in 

 this Hatteria, having a distinct nerve-con- 

 nection with the hinder part of the pineal 

 body. "The inference, therefore, appears 

 inevitable that it is an atrophied organ ; an 

 organ which the evolutional modifications 

 of the original animal possessing this single 

 eye have rendered in the course of ages de- 

 void of function and needless ; but at the 

 same time, and by this very means, it is in- 

 dicative of the ancestry of the organism in 

 which it lingers." Its structure is that of 

 the invertebrate eye, being marked by the 

 peculiar feature in which this eye is differ- 

 ent from, or opposite in the arrangement of 

 the parts to, that of the vertebrate eye. Its 

 presence suggests an ancient connection be- 

 tween the vertebrates and the tunicates, and 

 their origin in one common stock ; and sup- 

 plies a new and most direct evidence in 

 favor of the doctrine of the evolution of 

 animal life. 



Specimens of Paleolithic Art. The riv- 

 er Tardoire in La Charente, France, is fa- 

 mous for the caves along its banks, out of 

 which numerous evidences of occupation by 

 prehistoric man have been collected from 

 time to time. Among the objects which M. 

 Eugene Paignon has recently found in one 

 of the caves is a piece of reindeer-horn, 

 perforated, of the form known as staff of 

 command, which is covered with accurate 

 and spirited engravings, and marked by 

 work of such fineness that it can be seen 

 best with a lens. On one of the faces of 

 the staff is a representation of two seals, 

 one of which is seen entire with its four 

 limbs, the hinder limbs being faithfully 

 rendered, and having five digits on each 

 flap. The size of the tail is exaggerated. 

 The body is covered with very evident hairs. 

 The head is delicately executed, and the 

 snout with its mustaches, the mouth, the 

 eye, and the ear-orifice indicate genuine 

 skill. The other seal is not entirely seen. 

 It is larger and shows the marks of long 

 hair on the neck. In front of the larger 

 seal is a fish which may be a salmon or 

 trout, for it is spotted like those fish, and 

 its ventral fins are attached to the abdomen. 

 Three plant-stems are seen near the fish. 

 The opposite side of the horn is nearly cov- 

 ered with two long and slender animals, one 



