SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES 



RELATING TO 



ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY 



(principally invertebrata and cryptogamia), 



MICROSCOPY, Etc.* 



ZOOLOGY. 



VERTEBRATA. 

 o. Embryologry.f 



Treatise on Comparative and Experimental Embryology of Verte- 

 brates 4 — 0. Hertwig is making progress with the great co-operative 

 treatise which he is editing. The last-published parts (Lieferungen 

 '6-8) deal with the mouth, the buccal cavity (apart from teeth), the 

 swim-bladder, the lungs, and the larynx (E. Goppert) ; with the intes- 

 tinal system (F. Maurer) ; with the skin ("W. Krause) ; and with the 

 integumentary ossifications and the teeth (R. Burckhardt). 



Fertilisation in Salmon. § — N. Czermak finds that there is a female 

 •centrosome in the salmon, and that in the approximation of the two 

 pronuclei the female sphere is apposed to only one pole of the male 

 pronucleus-spindle, so that only this pole — therefore only one of the 

 first two blastomeres — exhibits a perfect fertilisation. The author gives 

 .a summary of the whole fertilisation-process as he observed it. 



Vestigial Function. || — W. Wedekind points out that just as the 

 comparative anatomist speaks of a rudimentary or vestigial organ, so 

 the physiologist may speak of a rudimentary or vestigial function. 

 Such a vestigial function is manifested by those ova of sea-urchins and 

 some other animals, which under physical and chemical stimulus may 

 be induced to develop parthenogenetically. The physico-chemical 

 stimuli are not replacing the spermatozoic stimulus, they are simply 

 liberating a vestigial function — to go on dividing. 



Organic Sexual Dimorphism in Fowls. f — F. Houssay notes that 

 Tvhile cocks are larger, more muscular, with bigger comb, &c, the hens 



* The Society are not intended to be denoted by the editorial " we," and they 

 ■do not hold themselves responsible for the views of the authors of the papers noted, 

 nor for any claim to novelty or otherwise made by them. The object of" this part of 

 the Journal is to present a summary of the papers as actually published, and to 

 describe and illustrate Instruments, Apparatus, &o., which are either new or have 

 not been previously described in this country. 



t This section includes not only papers relating to Embryology properly so called, 

 but also those dealing with Evolution, Development, Reproduction, and allied subjects. 



% ' Handbuch d. vergl. und exper. Entwickelungslehre d. Wirbeltiere,' Lief. 6-8, 

 Jena, 8vo, 462 pp. and 263 figs. 



§ Anat. Anzeig., xxii. (1903) pp. 393-400 (5 figs.). 



|| Zool. Anzeig., xxvi. (1903) pp. 203-4. 



if Comptes Rendus, cxxxvi. (1903) pp. 112-4. 



