Miscellaneous. 83 



On the Torpidity of the Marmot. By G. Valentin. 



The object of this memoir of M. Valentin is to examine the 

 influence of the winter-sleep upon the production of glucose by 

 the liver. During an abstinence from food of five or six months, 

 the sugar is persistent in the liver of the Marmot ; from this it fol- 

 lows that there is an essential difference between the true winter- 

 sleep of the Marmot and the torpidity of the Batrachia, or the state 

 of inanition of waking animals. 



When, as is sometimes the case, the death of the animal is caused 

 by exhaustion at the end of the winter-sleep, the liver no longer 

 contains sugar. The same fact is observed in Hedgehogs which 

 have died during their winter-sleep. On the contrary, when a 

 healthy Marmot, killed at the end of its torpidity, is examined, it is 

 found that the fresh blood of the aorta and the fresh urine will pre- 

 cipitate small quantities of protoxide of copper, showing that they 

 contain glucose. 



Some authors have expressed the opinion that the liquid secreted 

 by the stomach is absorbed, and that after passing through the vena 

 porta, it produces sugar in the liver. M. Valentin opposes this view, 

 and cites several facts which speak against it. 



The author has observed a striking difference between the sugar 

 of the liver of Marmots in their winter- sleep and that of other 

 waking animals ; the former is not so readily destroyed by putrefac- 

 tion as the latter. 



In conclusion he cites an observation made upon some frogs which 

 had passed four months of the winter in a dark cellar. They were 

 frozen by exposure to a temperature of -j-5° F. ; the sugar of their 

 livers did not disappear. — Moleschotfs Untersuchungen, vol. iii. 



Description of Aphroceras, a new genus of Calcareous Spongiadse 

 brought from Hong-Kong by Dr. Harland. By Ur. J. E. Gray, 

 F.R.S.&c. 



Aphroceras. 



Sponge tubular, branched, without any large superficial oscules, 

 formed of two distinct coats, externally covered with simple fusi- 

 form calcareous spicula, placed side by side in the longitudinal axis 

 of the stem and branches, forming an even coat ; inner surface of 

 the tube lined with a minute network of interlaced fibre placed in 

 all directions ; branches simple, tapering, attenuated at the tip, with 

 a round terminal contracted aperture. 



The spicula are entirely dissolved in dilute muriatic acid, leaving the 

 form of the sponge marked by the internal network and the sheaths 

 of the spicula on the surface. When treated with caustic potash, 

 the internal network is destroyed, leaving only the external spicula 

 placed side by side. 



This genus is allied to Grantia, but it is easily distinguished by 

 the uniform fusiform shape and the disposition of the spicula. 



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