Miscellaneous. 281 



Report on behalf of the Section of Zoology by the Secretary, Prince 



Bonaparte, read in the concluding General Meeting of the Eighth 



Italian Scientific Congress, Sept. 29, 1846. 



The Report is introduced by a notice of the eminent natu- 

 ralists of various countries who formed the Members and officers of 

 the Section, among whom occur the names of Filippi, Bassi, Panizza, 

 Spinola, Riippell, Schmid, Durazzo, Verany, KcelHker, Lurati of 

 Lugano, Giordani, and Gioberti of Turin. The distinguished Secre- 

 tary then proceeds : — 



Although I shall give but a rapid sketch of the subjects treated of, 

 their number and importance will not appear the less. The memoir 

 of Panizza on the movement of the water surrounding the branchiae 

 of the Proteus anguinus, and of the larvae of the Salamanders and 

 Tritons, would alone suffice to confer honour upon a Section. Nor 

 of less importance to science were the memoirs of De Filippi on the 

 development of the Clupece, on the embryogeny of the Gudgeon, in 

 which he perfected his theory of the liver ; not to mention another 

 excellent one on the ova of the Valvatae. Kcelliker discoursed to 

 us on the structure and development of the lymphatics and capil- 

 laries in the larvae of the Frogs, and the anatomy of Tristoma papil- 

 losum; and followed out the unfolding of the nervous fibres from 

 their origin to their termination. Oronzio Costa of Naples wrote to 

 us upon the Tristoma coccineum, also on the form and structure of 

 the heart and the bulb of the branchial artery of fish. From his son, 

 our able coadjutor, there was sent to us the pterygo-tympanic appa- 

 ratus of various families of fish ; from Restani a phrenological com- 

 munication ; from Dubini the anatomy of Anchilostoma duodenale ; 

 from Bourcier the organ of silk in silk- worms, upon a monstrosity 

 in which Bassi made some observations. Dorotea sent us his re- 

 searches upon the contents of the small ovarian vesicles in cows ; De 

 Martino on the beating of the heart, on the spontaneous contraction 

 of the muscular fibres, and his reports on the relation of the corpus 

 luteum with the foUiculus of Graaf ; Rusconi on the passage of in- 

 jections in the lymphatics through the veins by endosmosis. And the 

 President exhibited delicate preparations of the tracheae of insects, 

 which prove, from their being coloured by alimentary substances, 

 that the fluid circulates within them. 



Anatomy was prolific, and we found Zoology not less so. As re- 

 gards the Mammiferae, Genh made a communication on the golden- 

 coloured teeth of the goats of the isle of Tavolara ; d'Hombre Firmas 

 on the dog in the grotto of Pozzuoli ; and Patellani spoke upon the 

 zoological characters of domestic animals. On Birds, Riboli treated 

 phrenologically of the Gallinaceae ; Durazzo on various doubtful 

 species of Passeraceae ; De Selys Longchamps sent a memoir on 

 Passer pusillus, with other ornithological notices ; and from Blyth 

 at Calcutta came a paper on the Columbidae ; whilst Lanfossi gave a 

 description and plate of Euspiza dolychonia. Verany figured other 

 Emherizce, with Emb. Selysii, a new species ; Astengo detailed the 

 habits of the Emberiza rustica. As for Reptiles, Gangadi sent some 

 species from Corfu, one of which, new as to that island, was Able-' 



Ann, ^ Mag, N. Hist. Fo/. xix. 20 



