Miscellaneous. 421 



AMERICAN PHILOSOnnCAL SOCIETY. 



On the Patella Amoena of Say, by Isaac Lea. — In this paper Mr. 

 Lea gives a Synonymy, showing that the Patella Amcena of Say was 

 first described by Miiller, under the specific name of Testudinalis, 

 Zool. Dan. p. 237 ; and Mr. Couthouy, having lately given an ela- 

 borate description of the animal, in the Boston Journal of Natural 

 Science, showing that it belongs to the new genus Patelloida, re- 

 cently established by Quoy and Gaimard ; Mr. Lea argues that it 

 should henceforth be called Patelloida Testudinalis. 



Mr. Dunglison referred to a curious but not unique case, of a 

 worm in the eye of a horse now in Baltimore. The particulars were 

 contained in a letter to him from Dr. Joshua J. Cohen, of Baltimore. 

 This entozoon is a species of filaria (see Filaria papillosa, Rudolphi, 

 Synops. p. 213.), probably from 3^ to 4 inches in length, and situate 

 in the aqueous humour, in which it moves about with great activity, 

 but its motions are so constant, that it is difficult to appreciate its 

 exact length. The great size of the anterior chamber of the horse's 

 eye affords it ample space ; and through the transparent cornea it 

 can be observed as well as if it were in a glass vessel. The horse 

 was sent up from Calvert county, Maryland. 



Dr. Dunglison made some observations on the difficulty of ac- 

 counting for its presence in this shut sack, and alluded to the differ- 

 ent views of distinguished naturalists as to the generation of many 

 of the lower tribes of the animal kingdom, — some presuming that 

 they may be formed spontaneously, whilst others consider that the 

 germs must always be received from without. The difficulty, he ob- 

 serves, applied to all the entozoa that infest the animal body; and* 

 this case was certainly not more difficult of explanation than that of 

 entozoa found in the intestines of the foetus in utero. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



ON THE FLOWER OR FRUIT OF FERNS. 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Academy of Sciences of 

 Berlin (March 19, 1840), Prof. Link read a paper, in conti- 

 nuation of his previous memoirs on the structure of Ferns, 

 treating of the flower or fruit. The sorus is in general si- 

 tuated on a receptacle which, w^hen roundish, consists entirely 

 of short spiral vessels, so called, vermicoid bodies, similar to 

 the thickened extremity of the leaf nerves, which might 



