ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 343 



commonest poisonous snake in the region. Thus Dasypeltis scabra is 

 very like Bitis caudalis ; again, the Dasypeltis of Upper Egypt and 

 Abyssinia is very like the dreaded Echis carinata, and the small colubrid 

 Rhamphiopliis multimaculatus strikingly resembles Bitis caudalis. 



Musculature of Tongue in Geckos.* — E. Zavattari gives an analysis 

 of the musculature of the tongue in ten species of geckos, discussing 

 the hyoglossal, genioglossal, longitudinalis, and transversalis muscles. 

 As regards the relations of the hyoglossal, the Geckos differ from all 

 other lizards, and, indeed, from all other reptiles. 



Root Growing through Lizard's Egg.f — G. Tornier describes a 

 curious case where the rhizome of a sedge had grown through two 

 eggs of Lacerta ayilis, dissolving away the egg-shell at the entrance and 

 exit. It was interesting to find that the eggs contained embryos which 

 were normal. In the uppermost of the two eggs, which was perforated 

 centrally by the rhizome, there were actually three rootlets penetrating 

 the embryonic membranes and entering the yolk-sac. In one case a 

 rootlet passed into the embryo's mouth. Yet the embryos were normal. 

 The quaint case is a fine instance of resistance and developmental 

 energy. 



Influence of Darkness and Starving on Chromatophores of Axolotl 

 and Goldfish. £ — J. F. Ogneff found that axolotls kept in darkness and 

 starved at the same time show atrophy of the black chromatophores of 

 the internal organs, in the serous membranes, and in the skin. A 

 slight hint of this occurs when newt and frog are kept in the dark, but 

 hunger seems to have no effect here. It seems that phagocytes destroy 

 the pigment cells, carry off the pigment, and may set up as chromato- 

 phores elsewhere. Goldfish kept in the dark gradually change their 

 colour to uniform brownish red ; numerous black cells appear in the 

 serous membranes of the body cavity, in the anterior part of the eye 

 where the cornea joins the sclerotic, and so on. The reaction differs in 

 detail from that in the axolotl. What happens in the axolotls throws 

 light on the blanching of cave animals. 



Drowning of Young Toads. §— L. Vaillant notes that on July 1 

 last year incalculable numbers of young toads appeared on one of the 

 walks in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, making their way from a small 

 pond. They were about 1 cm. long and extraordinarily active : but the 

 point of the note is that when some of these young toads were put into 

 an aquarium they became inert — as if drowned — in a few minutes. 



Horny Fibres of Selachians and Fin-rays of Teleosteans.|| — H. E. 

 Ziegler refers to A. von Szilly's contention that the fin-rays of 

 Teleosteans arise from the ectoderm, and brings forward evidence to 

 show that these peculiar integumentary bones are wholly mesodermic. 



* Atti R. Accad. Sci. Torino, xliv. (1909) pp. 282-90 (1 pi.). 

 t SB. Ges. Nat. Freunde Berlin, 1908, pp. 191-4 (3 tigs.). , 

 t Anat. Anzeig., xxxii. (1908) pp. 591-607 (4 tigs.). 

 § C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxiv. (1908) pp. 11-12. 

 ;, Zool. Anzeig., xxxiii. (1908) pp. 721-7 (4 rigs.). 



