566 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Ciro Barbieri * has studied the development of the cranial nerves in 

 the trout, and rinds that it conforms generally to what has been described 

 in other Vertebrates. 



A. J. P. van den Broek f begins a series of investigations on the 

 structure of the sympathetic nervous system in Mammals, dealing first 

 with that of the neck. 



R. Burckhardt f has made a profound study of the brain of Scymnus 

 lichia in particular and of Selachians in general, and proposes to work on 

 to an elucidation of the phylogeny of the Vertebrate brain. 



Double Refraction Phenomena in Muscle. §— Fred Vies has made 

 some interesting studies on the " birefringence " of muscle in frog and 

 bird, crayfish and beetle, muscle and snail. The degrees of birefringence 

 were measured, and the action of physical and chemical agents was 

 studied. Desiccation, alcohol, glycerin, chloroform, ether, formol, 

 xylol, have no effect on the muscular birefringence; heating to +50°, 

 and water at + 100°, produce partial attenuation of the birefringence ; 

 heating to + 170°, acids, bases, chloride of mercury, and pepsin destroy 

 it altogether. 



There is no use in studying the phenomena on tissues fixed with 

 Flemming's fluid and the like. The birefringence has not to do 

 with hydration, nor with the presence of birefringent fats, and several 

 other possibilities are excluded. It is probably due to some albuminoid 

 or albuminoids, which can stand a high temperature. 



c. General. 



Introduction to Study of Natural History. || — F. W. Gamble has 

 supplied an admirable short introduction to the study of animal life. 

 It is distinguished by its freshness, its suggestiveness, and its fine style. 

 The author deals with " the fulness of the earth," the organisation of 

 animal life, the movements of animals, the quest for food, " the breath 

 of life," the senses of animals, the colours of animals, the welfare of the 

 race, and the life-histories of insects. The work is written in the first 

 instance for those who wish to learn or teach such a survey of the 

 animal pageant as can ally itself with observation and experiment ; and, 

 in the second place, for those who wish to organise their knowledge of 

 animal life. It is not exactly the kind of scientific contribution which 

 is usually recorded in this Journal, but it is a book of so much dis- 

 tinction that we do a service in helping to make it well known. 



Habits of the Short-tailed Shrew.1T — A. F. Shull has made a study 

 of the habits of the short-tailed shrew, Blarina brevicauda. He finds 

 that it feeds, at least in winter, on snails of the genus Polygyra, which 

 it hoards and moves to the surface as the temperature falls, and into its 

 burrow as it rises. Empty shells are not carried back into the burrow. 



* Morphol. Jahrb., xxxvii. (1907) pp. 162-201 (2 pis.). 

 t Tom. cit., pp. 202-88 (26 figs.). 



% Abh. k. Leop. Carol. Akad. Halle, lxxiii. (1907) pp. 241-450(5 pis. and 64 figs.). 

 § Arch. Zool. Exper., viii. (1908) Notes et Revue, No. 2, pp. xl.-li. (2 figs.). 

 || Animal Life. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1908, xviii. and 305 pp. (63 figs.), 

 f Amer. Nat., xli. (1907) pp. 495-522 (5 figs.). 



