ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 687 



significance. The tactile feathers occur as primordia on the embryo ; 

 there is no increase after hatching. They correspond to the sinus-hairs 

 in mammals, and might well be called sinus-feathers. They are most 

 developed in nocturnal birds, and their primordia degenerate where there 

 is no use for them. Those at the root of the bill are helped by those 

 round the eyes. 



Hermaphroditism in Testudo grseca.* — H. B. Fantham has found 

 in an examination of about a dozen male tortoises that two of the 

 specimens possessed abnormal genitalia. One, in addition to the normal 

 male organs, epididymes, vasa deferentia, and penis, possessed well- 

 developed gonads, one of which was an " ovotestis," and well-developed 

 oviducts. The other specimen, an undoubted male, possessed rudi- 

 mentary Miillerian ducts opening into the ccelome. The anatomy and 

 histology of these organs are described. 



Effect of Ovarian Extract of Frog.f — G. Loisel subjected guinea- 

 pigs to subcutaneous injections of extract of frog's ovary, and found that 

 in course of time sterility and baldness followed. The young were fewer 

 in number at each successive birth, until there were only two instead of 

 six or seven, while the number of occurrences of pregnancy was re- 

 duced to less than half the normal. Similar results have been observed 

 to follow in mammalia after the injection of oil of phosphorus. The 

 possibility that the baldness may be due to a parasitic malady of the 

 skin is not excluded. 



Caudal Hearts and Sinuses in Teleosts.f — G-. Favaro distinguishes 

 three different things : (1) the sinus lymphaticus caudalis ; (2) the cor 

 (lymphaticum) caudale ; and (3) the sinus venosus caudalis. These may 

 be combined, e.g. in tench and trout, or there may be no lymphatic sinus 

 (Belone), or no sinus at all (Anguilla), or no caudal heart (Cyprinodon), 

 or no sinuses and no heart (Soled), or no sinuses, no heart, and no 

 caudal vein (Lophius). 



Habits of West Indian Whitebait.§ — Austin H. Clark makes some 

 interesting notes on the "tri-tri" (Sicydium plumieri), which inhabit 

 mountain streams in the West Indies, and migrate in the dry season to 

 the sea, where they lay their eggs and apparently die. The young fry 

 ascend in a continuous line like young eels. When stranded they show 

 remarkable tenacity of life, and may live for several hours exposed to 

 the full rays of the sun. 



Ceylonese Fishes.|| — Jas. Johnstone reports on 117 species (73 

 genera) of fishes collected by W. A. Herdman around Ceylon. One 

 species, Salarias furcatus, is now described for the first time. A series 

 of stages, and the adult female of Psettylis ocellaia Alcock, were obtained, 

 also Solea oculns Alcock, of which only two specimens have hitherto 

 been obtained. 



* Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., No. 92(1905) pp. 120-6 (1 pi.). 

 t Comptes Rendus, cxl., No. 11 (1905) pp. 738-41. 

 j Anat. Anzeig.,xxvii. (1905) pp. 379-80. 

 § Amer. Nat., xxxix. (1905) pp. 335-7. 



|| Ceylon Pearl Oyster Report, Royal Society, Part ii. (1904) pp. 201-22 (2 pis. 

 and 2 figs.). 



