ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 711 



hairs. On the foot there is a hair-covered region on the sole, separated 

 from the lower leg by a hairless stretch. But among the foot hairs there 

 are no sinus hairs, so the tactile importance must be much less than in 

 the case of the hand, as indeed one might expect. 



Double Gall Bladder in Cat.* — R. Lowy records two cases of this 

 very rare abnormality — -the presence of an accessory gall-bladder close 

 beside the normal gall-bladder. The two open together into one cystic; 

 duct. 



Adaptation of Ptarmigan to High Altitudes.f — J. Strohl has made 

 a careful comparison of the ptarmigan, Lagopus alpinus or mutus, with 

 the willow grouse, Lagopus lagopus or albus, from the plains. The most 

 noteworthy difference is in the compensatory hypertrophy of the right 

 ventricle in the ptarmigan — a specific adaptation to the life at great 

 altitudes. Even a young bird (from 3000 m.) showed the hypertrophy 

 in the same decree as the adult. 



Peculiar Organ in Finches.} — A. Chappellier describes in the female 

 sparrow and in some other Fringillidae a convoluted duct extending on 

 each side from the cloaca upwards beside the ureter. It seems to have 

 been noticed by Belon in 1555. The question is whether it is a glandular 

 annex or a persistent Wolffian duct. 



Newt without Lungs. § — L. Lapicque and J. Petetin have studied 

 the respiration of a Corsican newt, Euproctus (or Triton) montanus, 

 which lives under stones in the dry beds of streams. It makes respira- 

 tory movements exactly like a newt with lungs ; the walls of the bucco- 

 pharyngeal cavity show marked vascularization. When the nostrils and 

 mouth were kept shut the respiratory movements ceased, but the animals 

 remained normal. Therefore the bucco-pharyngeal respiration is not 

 essential. When two specimens were plunged in a bath of vaseline, and 

 the head left free in the air, they died in 21 hours. Therefore the skiu 

 is the essential organ of respiration in these forms. 



Oyster-eating Fishes. || — T. Southwell finds that the fishes most 

 destructive to pearl-oysters (Margaritifera vulgaris) and oyster-spat are 

 those included in the family Gymnodontes and commonly known as 

 globe-fishes ; that Lethrinus miniatus, one of the Pagrina, is also very 

 destructive to spat, and is seldom or never found without oysters in its 

 stomach ; and that as yet no spat or oysters have ever been found in 

 the stomach of any ray or shark, although there is every reason to believe 

 that many of the larger species in these orders commit great ravages. 



Urogenital Organs of Chimsera monstrosa.lf — T. H. Burlend gives 

 an account of the structure of these organs and calls attention to the 

 following facts as deserving of special notice. The urinary organ of 



* Anat. Anzeig., xxxvii. (1910) pp. 8-9 (fig.), 

 t Comptes Rendus, cl. (1910) pp. 1257-60. 

 j C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxix. (1910) pp. 59-61 (3 figs.). 

 § Torn, cit., pp. 84-6. 



II Ceylon Marine Biol. Reports, ii. (1910) pp. 175-8 (10 figs.). 

 f Proc. Zool. Soc., 1910, pp. 510-34 (14 figs.). 



