312 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



N. brachialis longus inferior (ulnaris), lie obtained a widening of the 

 exit duct of the thumb-gland, which he regards as a sign of increased 

 secretion. The experiment was performed upon a copulating male of 

 Ranafusca. 



Response of Toads to Sound-stimuli.* — S. A. Courtis has made a 

 study of the response of toads to sound-stimuli during the breeding 

 season. He removed a female which had been seized by two males and 

 placed her about 10 feet away. One of the males uttered a shrill trilling 

 note sustained for 15-20 seconds. The female immediately swam to- 

 wards him and mating took place. This experiment was repeated with 

 many pairs, and the distance between males and females w T as increased 

 to 30 feet, but in every case the females responded to the call of the 

 males. Only a few of the males uttered the call, and other males moved 

 in the direction of it. The observer's general conclusions are that both 

 male and female toads can hear and locate in space the call of the male ; 

 that the response is unintelligent and mechanical ; that to the sound of 

 the mating call a motor response is given which serves to bring the 

 sexes to the same place ; that motion is the stimulus which starts the 

 clasping reflex ; that neither sex is able to recognise the other without 

 actual contact ; and that toads do not profit quickly by experience. 



Tongue of Teleosteans.t— J. Chaine has examined this organ in a 

 series of types. He finds that it is completely devoid of muscle, but 

 possesses resisting ligaments. The commonest relation observed is that 

 of two lateral ligaments separated throughout their entire length. A 

 second type is that exhibited in Callionymus hjra, which possesses only 

 one aponeurotic formation extending from the extremity of the ento- 

 glossa to the hyoidean apparatus covering the whole breadth of the 

 ventral face of the tongue. A third type — the most complex — is exem- 

 plified in the pike, which has two very powerful ligaments, an external 

 and an internal. The latter is inserted on the entoglossa behind the 

 former. Both are in the form of a small flat band. 



Abnormality of Brook Trout.| — R. de Drouin de Bouville describes 

 a peculiar condition which seems not very uncommon in Salvelinus 

 fontinalis. The joint between the lingual and the basihyal is enormously 

 stretched, its resistance becoming inadequate to maintain the curvature 

 of the cornua of the hyoid and the branchial arches. These pieces 

 straighten out, affecting in their movement the operculum and the 

 branchiostegal rays. The fishes look as if they had a projecting collar. 

 According to the author all this is due to adeno-carcinoma of the thyroid 

 gland, which brings about the displacement of the branchial and oper- 

 cular skeletal pieces. 



New Lamprey.§ — H. W. Fowler establishes a new genus, Oceano- 

 myzon, with 0. wilsoni as the type. The supra-oral lamina is not 

 especially contracted, its two converging teeth are well separated and 

 distinct. The infra-oral lamina is crescentiform and spout-like at the 

 middle, with denticles obsolete. The innermost teeth of the disk, or 



* Amer. Nat., xli. (1907) pp. 677-82. 



fCR. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxii. (1907) p. 924. 



j Op. cit., lxiv. (1908) pp. 229-31.J 



§ Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1907, pp. 461-66 (2 figs.). 



