208 Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 



and haemapophysial elements. This arch made its first appearance 

 in every vertebrate embryo close to the occiput ; and in fishes — the 

 representatives of the embryo-state of higher vertebrata, where the 

 principle of vegetative repetition most prevailed, and the primitive 

 type was least obscured by teleological or adaptive modifications — 

 the scapular arch retained its true and typical connexions with the 

 occiput. 



The general homology of the locomotive members, as developments 

 of the diverging appendages of the inferior vertebral arches, was il- 

 lustrated, and the parallelism in the course of the modifications of all 

 such appendages pointed out. As the scapular arch belongs to the 

 skull, so its appendages, the pectoral or anterior members, were es- 

 sentially parts of the same division of the skeleton segments. 



As a corollary to the generalization that the vertebrate skeleton 

 consisted of a series of essentially similar segments, was the power 

 of tracing the corresponding parts from segment to segment in the 

 same skeleton. The study of such "serial homologies" had been 

 commenced by the unfortunate Vicq. d'Azyr, in his memoir " on the 

 parallelism of the fore and hind extremities ; " and similar relations 

 could be traced through the more important elements of the series 

 of vertebrae. Prof. Owen believed it to be an appreciation of some 

 of these homologies that lay at the bottom of the epithets, ** scapula 

 of the head," " ilium of the head," " femur of the head," &c. applied 

 to certain cranial bones by Oken and Spix. To Cuvier this language 

 had seemed unintelligible jargon ; yet the error consisted merely in 

 assigning a special instead of a general name to express the serial 

 homology rightly discerned, in some of the instances, by the acute 

 German anatomists. " Scapula," " ilium," *' rib," &c. were names 

 indicative of particular modifications of one and the same vertebral 

 element. Such element, understood and spoken of in a general 

 sense, ought to have a general name. Had Oken stated that the 

 tympanic bone of the bird, for example, was a " pleurapophysis" (or 

 by any other equivalent term) of the head, his language would not 

 only have been accurate, but intelligible, perhaps, to Cuvier. When 

 Oken called it the " scapula of the head," he then unduly extended 

 such special name, and transferred it to a particularly and differently 

 modified pleurapophysis, which equally required to have its own 

 specific name. 



Prof. Owen dwelt on the necessity of having clearly-defined terms 

 for distinct ideas, in order to ensure the progress of science ; and al- 

 luded to the advancement of human anatomy by accurate determina- 

 tions of the general type, of which man's frame was a modification. 

 — From the Literary Gazette. 



BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



January 14, 1847. — Sir William Jardine, Bart., in the Chair. 

 The following communications were read : — 

 1. "On Fairy Rings," by Dr. George Wilson. The object of 

 Dr. Wilson's remarks was to show that the chemical theory of the 



