i)70 Zoological Collections. Vertebrata. 



These, in tlie dry bone, both open into the vestibule, in consequence of the 

 rudimentary state of the cochlea ; but, in the recent ear of the bird, in which 

 some of the deficiency of the osseous part of the cochlea is supplied by the 

 • structure of the soft parts, (these, in some, exhibiting a rudiment of a lamina 

 spiralis,) there are, contrary to what is stated by M. de Blainville,* the 

 same relations between the cochlea, vestibule, and tympanum, as in the 

 mammtdia ; one rudimentary scala of the cochlea communicating with the 

 vestibule, and the other, with the tympanum, by means of the fenestra 

 rotunda, which is closed by a membrane. 



Of course, I do not call the fenestra rotunda by that name, because of 

 its shape, seeing that it is oval in birds, but because the analogoi^ , hole in 

 man is round — T. W. J. ^, -^o ^i,^ ^r^ .■> 



Manganese in Human Blood. — Professor Wurzer, in analyzing human 

 blood, according to Engelhart's process, by liquid tests, was led to suspect 

 that he obtained a small quantity of manganese ; not being, however, quite 

 satisfied as to the correctness of his analyses, he was induced to repeat them 

 in the following manner : The blood, which had been obtained by venesec- 

 tion, on the day before the experiment, was ignited in an open crucible, the 

 incinerated mass oxidized by nitre, and then diluted with water; the 

 residuum was dissolved in muriatic acid, and the iron precipitated from the 

 solution by succinate of ammonia. As the precipitate contained also some 

 phosphate of lime, it was again ignited, and then dissolved in muriatic acid ; 

 t'ne phosphate of lime was separated from the solution by alcohol, the excess 

 of the latter expelled by heat, and the iron precipitated by ammonia. By 

 boiling the filtered liquid with carbonate of soda, the manganese was pre- 

 cipitated, and then dissolved in nitric acid and again ignited. In two 

 grammes of the incinerated residue, there was found 0.108 of oxide of iron, 

 and 0.034 of protoxide of manganese.— ^nn. of Phil. May, -1831. 



On the Anatomy of the Hymenoptera ,- and, particularly, on the Organs of 



Motion of the Hornet. By M. H. Straus M. Straus has for a long time 



intended to give the anatomy of all the articulated animals, and to publish it 

 in a series of monographs, each of which shall treat of a distinct group. 

 In each of these groups he chooses the most typical species. He has thus 

 given the anatomy of the Coleoptera, taking as a type the Mehlontha vulgaris. 

 In this way, also, he has commenced the anatomy of the pulmonary Arachnida, 

 taking as a type the Mygale avicularia ; and he has latterly submitted to the 

 judgment of the Academy of Sciences the first part of his anatomy of the 

 Hymenoptera, in which he treats of the skeleton and muscular apparatus. 

 The hornet, (frelon,) has served him as a type in this last work. 



It is generally thought, that little animals have a very simple organization, 

 which is, indeed, partially true, but does not apply to insects, whose structure 

 is, on the contrary, very complicated. In his monograph on the Coleoptera, 

 M. Straus has described 235 solid pieces which enter into the composition 

 of the skull of these animals, exceeding by four the number of bones in the 

 human body. He has also enumerated 246 different muscles, and described 

 a system of aeriferous vessels, as extensive as the sanguineous system of 

 man ; and a very complicated nervous system, and viscera as numerous as those 

 of the large animals. In the hornet, whose organization is not more compli- 

 cated than that of the other Hymenoptera, the solid framework is formed of 

 267 pieces, and the muscular system of 238 muscles, without counting those 

 which are united together. 



The organs in the mouth of masticating and sucking insects, presenting 

 one of the most remarkable differences observed in the organization of 

 (the class, and the passage of these forms into each other taking place in the 



fcj ji * Prrnripei d'Anatomie Comparee, Vol. I. p. 524. 



