ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. L59 



Ribs of Urodela.* — Franz Mayerhofer discusses the morphology of 

 the ribs in Urodela, with special reference to their development in the 

 salamander. He concludes that rib and transverse process are genetically 

 and morphologically related ; they are independent parts of one piece 

 which divides proximally and sometimes also distally : that a comparison 

 with fishes makes it probable that the rib is a lateral outgrowth of the 

 hasinal arch, and the transverse process to another lateral outgrowth of 

 the same. 



New Parasitic Pish.f — J. Pellegrin has an interesting note on 

 Vandellia wimeri sp. n., a small Silurid from South America (Rio Napo), 

 which, like two other species, lives on the gills of Platystomus. It fixes 

 itself and rasps off the skin by means of the teeth and the opercular 

 scales. The buccal cavity is adapted for facilitating the engulfing of 

 blood. The author distinguishes it from the two other species. 



Species of Three-spined Sticklebacks.^ — C. Tate Regan finds that 

 Gastrosteus aculeatus is very variable. Specimens from the north have 

 a strong dermal ossification, the series of bony plates is complete, the 

 caudal keel is prominent : specimens from the south have a weaker 

 dermal ossification, and if the bony plates form a complete series, they 

 are not so deep, nor usually so numerous as in northern marine examples, 

 and the caudal keel is less prominent. There are also other differences. 

 As synonyms of G. aculeatus, Regan includes all the three-spined species 

 hitherto described, with the exception of G. algeriensis, which has 21) 

 vertebra\ In G. aculeatus there are 8 (2 to 5) spines and '.) to 14 dorsal 

 rays, 1 pelvic spine, 7 to 11 anal rays, and 81 to 88 vertebra?. The snout 

 is shorter than the postorbital part of the head, and the first dorsal spine 

 is inserted nearly above the base of the pectoral fin, and well in advance 

 of the pelvic spine. The author establishes two new species — G. halo- 

 Uymnus, from Rome, with no bony plates, and G. santse-annse, from 

 California. 



Aortic Ligament of Shad.§— R. H. Burne describes the ligamentum 

 longitudinale ventrale of a shad (Glupea alosa). It lies in the aorta 

 suspeuded by a longitudinal fold of its dorsal wall — a tight band of 

 elastic tissue. The late Professor Charles Stewart suggested the inter- 

 pretation which the author adopts, that in the flexions of the body in 

 swimming the ligament remains practically stationary, owing to its 

 tension, and will, in effect, form a series of diagonal curtains passing 

 regularly in succession down the length of the aorta. Each curtain will, 

 of necessity, push the blood before it. The faster the fish swims the 

 faster will the blood flow. The ligament is apparently formed around, 

 though not actually from, the subchordal rod. The author has notes on 

 the elastic ligaments of the skate's gill-pouches, and on the plate of elastic 

 tissue on the anterior wall of the capsule of the costo-vertebral joints in 

 a python — which helps in the protraction of the ribs. 



Antarctic Macrurid.§ — Louis Dollo discusses Nematonurus lecointei, 

 an abyssal Macrurid found by the Scottish Antarctic Expedition under 



• Arbeit. Zool. Inst. Univ. Wien, xvii. (1909) pp. 309-58 (2 pis. and 9 figs.). 

 t Comptes Rendus, cxlix. (1909) pp. 1016-17. 

 I Ann. Nat. Hist., iv. (1909) pp. 435-7. 

 § Proc. Zool. Soc, 1909, pp. 201-4 (3 figs.). 

 Proc. R. Soc. Edinburgh, xxix. (1909) pp. 488-98. 



