4 NOTES AND COMMENTS [jult 



The Scaly Squid. 



Some four years ago Professor Joubin of Eennes astonished the 

 scientific world by the announcement that the Prince of Monaco 

 had obtained from the stomach of a sperm whale the trunk of a 

 large cephalopod covered with scales. Some light has been thrown 

 upon this curious structure in a recent paper by Dr. Einar Lonnberg 

 in the results of " Svenska expeditionen till Magellanslandern." 

 This author describes a very complete example of Onychoteuthis ingens, 

 in which the pallial surface had a peculiar warty appearance. In 

 transverse section there were visible, between the muscular layers 

 and the epidermis, large flat papillae, some 4 mm. in diameter by 

 1 mm. thick. In the spirit specimens the skin had sunk down 

 between the papillae, giving the surface of the body the appearance of 

 irregular tiles paving an old-fashioned street. On microscopic ex- 

 amination each papilla is found to be made up of a parenchymatous- 

 looking mass of connective tissue. Dr. Lonnberg points out that 

 if the integument were removed, as had been done in Joubin's 

 specimen by the digestive action of the cachalot, the papillae would 

 present the appearance of the scales described by that author. 

 Regarding the function of this organ Lonnberg suggests that it may 

 be an adaptation " to hydrostatic pressure when the animals descend to 

 great depths ; " and he mentions that a gelatinous subcutaneous struc- 

 ture has been observed in other deep-sea cephalopods, such as Allo- 

 posus by Joubin, and in large species of Ommastrcphes by Steenstrup. 



Echinoderms at the British Museum. 



Under the new Director, additions and improvements continue to be 

 introduced at the Natural History Museum, London, with no less 

 rapidity than in the days of Sir William Flower. The gallery devoted 

 to recent echinoderms and worms, which groups are in the hands of 

 Mr. F. J. Bell, has for some little time been changing for the better. 

 Several examples of the softer-bodied forms, such as cannot be dis- 

 played in the dry state, are now beautifully mounted in spirit, while, 

 in the case of the holothurians, the form and colouring of the living 

 animal is shown by a series of sketches of the liviDg holothurian of 

 Ceylon, prepared under the direction of the late Dr. Ondaatje. There 

 are two charming water-colours, we believe by Mr. C. Berjeau, of the 

 rosy feather-star and the holothurian, Cticumaria crocea. Similar 

 drawings adorn the coral gallery, and are a vast improvement on the 

 usual class of wall-diagrams one sees in museums. Dried holothurians 

 are not forgotten, for, as every schoolboy knows, they form an im- 

 portant article of diet in the far East under the name of Trepang ; 



