cxcviii GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



researches on Kerguelen Island, while attached as naturalist 

 to the Transit of Venus Expedition. Nearly all the insects 

 were remarkable for being either wingless or with very 

 short wings. Of the flies (Diptera), one species had neither 

 wings nor halteres. Dr. J. L. Le Conte, in his presidential 

 address before the American Association, brings forward 

 some valuable facts in the geographical distribution of in- 

 sects in North America. 



In descriptive entomology there are the usual papers in 

 journals and transactions. The Canadian Entomologist con- 

 tains descriptions of North American insects, while Psyche, 

 published by the Cambridge Entomological Club, contains 

 an elaborate bibliographical record, in which a list is given 

 of all writings upon entomology published in North Amer- 

 ica, and of all foreign writings upon North American ento- 

 mology, and a brief notice of the contents of each. 



Especially worthy of notice are descriptions and synonym- 

 ical catalogues by Hagen, Scudder, Ostensacken, Grote, 

 Morrison, Chambers, H. Edwards, and others ; while in the 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society are handsomely il- 

 lustrated papers by Butler. Professor Zeller continues in 

 the Transactions of the Vienna Botanical and Zoological 

 Society his elaborate descriptions of North American 

 moths. In economical entomology the report of Mr. Riley 

 is replete with useful information, particularly regarding the 

 destructive grasshopper and the grape Phylloxera. 



Coming now to the Vertebrates, we learn that M. Gerbe 

 has studied in the fish-parks at Concarneau the embryology 

 of the rays, embracing all the modifications that the eggs 

 of these fishes undergo from the time they enter the oviduct 

 to that of their exclusion. The swimming-bladder of fishes 

 has been studied by M. Moreau from the side of experi- 

 mental physiology. He concludes that it is a hydrostatic 

 organ, and not an organ of locomotion. 



In a work on the origin of the vertebrates, Dr. Dohrn in- 

 dulges in some speculations as to the ancestry of these ani- 

 mals. His embryological investigations lead him to seek 

 for the probable ancestors of the vertebrates among the 

 Arthropods (crustacea and insects), rather than the Tunicates 

 or Ascidians ; and to revert to the views of the elder St. Ili- 

 lairc, who described insects as vertebrates which walk with 



