HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



18c 



are absent. This genus appears to possess an 

 assemblage of characters in some respects inter- 

 mediate between RMzocrinus and the pentacrinoid 

 stage of Antedon. Hyocrinus bethellianus has much 

 the appearance, and in some prominent particulars 

 it seems to have very much the structure of the 

 palaeozoic genus Platycrimis or its sub-genus 

 Dichocriuns. The stem is much more rigid than 

 that of Bathycrimis ; the cup consists of two tiers 

 of plates only; the lower is to be regarded as a ring 

 of basals, and the upper consists of fine spade- 

 shaped radials. There are five arms, which are 

 pinnulated. The proximal pinnules are very long, 

 running on nearly to the end of the arm, and the 

 succeeding pinnules are gradually shorter, all of 

 them, however, running out to the end of the arm. 

 Distally the ends of the five arms, and the ends of 

 all the pinnules meet nearly on a level. This arrange- 

 ment is unknown in recent crinoids, although we 

 have something close to it in species of the fossil 

 genera Poteriocrinus and Cyathocrinus ; with this, 

 however, their resemblances end. RMzocrinus finds 

 its ally in the cretaceous genus Bourguetierinus ; 

 Bathycrimis and Hyocrinus are evidently related to 

 the former, but the characters of the Apiocrinidse 

 are nevertheless obscure in the two latter. In his 

 second paper Prof. Wyville Thomson drew atten- 

 tion to peculiarities in the mode of propagation of 

 certain Echino'derms of the Southern Sea. He 

 passed in review examples of the Sea- cucumbers 

 (Holothuroids), Sea Urchins (the circular Cidatoids, 

 and heart-shaped Spatanffoids), Star-fish (Asteroids), 

 and the Brittle Stars (Ophhtroids). In allusion to 

 their phases of development, he stated the majority 

 of these pass from the egg without the intervention 

 of a locomotive pseudembryo. Among other data 

 in support of this view he said, that while in warm 

 and temperate seas "plutei" and "bipinnari" 

 were constantly taken in the surface-net ; yet 

 during the southern cruise between the Cape of 

 Good Hope and Australia, only one form of Echi- 

 noderm pseudembryo occurred, and which was 

 considered with some little doubt as the larva of 

 Chirodota from the presence of dermal, calcareous, 

 wheel-shaped spicules. Furthermore Prof. Wyville 

 Thomson described in detail, among the majority 

 of the foregoing groups, the almost constant occur- 

 rence of a curious receptacular pouch wherein the 

 young are carried until arriving at a certain matu- 

 rity. This marsupium is situated on the dorsal 

 portion of the body, and is composed of a series of 

 plates which meet centrally and permit of the 

 young creeping about and returning to it for 

 shelter. The young derive no nutriment from the 

 parent while contained in the "nursery," other 

 than it may be a mucous secretion. 



The "Challenger" Expedition.— Our readers 

 will be pleased to see another proof of the attention 



which Science is forcing for itself in high places, in 

 the fact that Prof. Wyville Thomson, chief of the 

 scientific staff of the Challenger expedition, has just, 

 been knighted by Her Majesty, and is now, there- 

 fore, Sir Charles Wyville Thomson. The honour thus 

 worthily conferred will be appreciated as a graceful 

 tribute to modern science. 



Dredging off Teignmouth.— In the spring of 

 the year, dredging over the oyster-bed about a mile 

 and a half off Teignmouth, we hauled in a large 

 Venus islandica, with four Pleurobranchus mem- 

 branaceus, one of them a very large one. The shell 

 was beautifully clean, and looked as if the mollusk 

 had recently been taken out of it. Can any one of 

 the readers of Science-Gossip inform me what 

 food the latter mollusk consumes?—^./. R. Sclater, 

 Teignmouth. 



The late Mr. Edward Newman, F.L.S.— 

 All naturalists will be sorry to hear of the death of 

 this hard-working naturalist. He has done more 

 than many men of higher-sounding honours to 

 bring fresh workers into the fields of eutomological 

 and botanical science, and the influence of his 

 labours will be felt for many years to come. As 

 editor of the Zoologist, he continued to the last to 

 labour among the subjects he loved so well. He 

 will be missed by many to whom he was always 

 ready to give advice based on a life- long experience ; 

 and scientific literature has lost a useful and 

 vigorous pen in its cause. 



" Popular Science Review."— The quarterly 

 number for July of this useful periodical is one of 

 the best we have ever seen. Prof. Mivart's article 

 on " What are Bats ? " is alone worth the price of 

 the number, as giving a clear outline of the struc- 

 ture and relations of the least-known of the mam- 

 malia. Mr. W. A. Lloyd has also a capital article 

 on " Aquaria : their Present, Past, and Future " ; 

 and Prof. Flower's paper on " The Extinct Animals 

 of North America" will be read with keen zest by 

 all naturalists and geologists interested in the 

 "Missing Links" which the geological record is 

 every day giving up. 



Provincial Natural History Societies.— 

 Chief amoug the many "Reports" and "Pro- 

 ceedings " published by local naturalists are those 

 of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. 

 Among several of the objects which this well-known 

 club has for its object, is one we should like to see 

 carried out by all similar associations throughout 

 the country—" the discouragement of the practice 

 of destroying the rarer species of birds that occa- 

 sionally visit the country, and of exterminating 

 rare plants in their native localities." Besides the 

 address by the president (Mr. J. B. Bridgman), 

 this number is valuable to all English naturalists 



