DENMARK. 47 



DENMARK. 

 Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Skrifter. Transac- 

 tions of the Danish Royal Society. Section of Physical and Mathematical 

 Science. Fifth Series. 4to. Kjcebenhavn. Vol. IV. Part I. 1856. 

 (Schioedte) Corotoca and Spirachtha, two viviparous genera of StaphylinidaB 

 which live in the nests of Termites ; with two plates — p. 41-59. This essay is 

 translated and given at full length, with the accompanying plates, in the French 

 Annals of the Natural Sciences, Zoology, Vol. V., a.d. 1856. (Steenstrup) The 

 structure of the Hectocotylus in the genera Argonauta and Tremoctopus, illustrated 

 by observations on similar structure in the Cephalopoda in general ; with two 

 plates — p. 185-216. These observations prove that the phenomenon is not con- 

 fined to the two genera named, in which it is most fully developed. Steenstrup is 

 of opinion that it has not only a physiological value, but also a systematical signifi- 

 cance. The following table of the most striking differences in the mode of its 

 determination will illustrate this'. I. Octopods. These possess in the highest 

 degree the faculty of reproducing lost arms and parts of them. A. Hectocotylus 

 deciduous, colourless, developed in a sac. a. Hectoe. the third arm of the left side 

 — Argonauta. b. Hectoe. the third arm of the right side — Tremoctopus. B. Hectoe. 

 persistent, coloured, free, the third arm of the right side— Octopus; Heledone. 

 II. Decapods. Destitute of the faculty of reproducing the arms. A. Myopsidaa. 

 The Hectocotylus developed, a. In the first arm of the left side. a. Only the 

 middle of this arm ; the first of the right in some degree similarly affected — Rossi a. 

 b. In its whole extent, and this arm only — Sepiola. b. In the fourth arm of the 

 left side. a. At the base only — Sepia. b. At the tip only — Sepioteuthis ; Lo- 

 liyo. c. In its whole extent — Loliolus. B. Oigopsidse If Orb. No hectoco- 

 tylus arm developed, as far as is known. The genera Ommatostrepes ; Onycho- 

 teutliis ; Loligopsis. The genus Loliolus is composed of some diminutive species 

 (to which, perhaps, Lohgo brevipennis Les. may belong), possessing most of the 

 characters of Loligo, but approaching to the group Sepiola — Rossia in some 

 respects. Aristotle appears to have been acquainted with the phenomenon here 

 illustrated as regards the Octopus vulgaris of the Mediterranean ; although his 

 statements have been lately misinterpreted as referring to the conditions observed in 

 Tremoctopus and Argonauta. The like development in other Cephalopoda has not 

 entirely escaped the notice of modern writers on the order, but has generally been 

 regarded as an abnormal diseased state of the animals. So D'Orbigny on Sepiola, 

 in the Supplement to Ferussac's great work on the Mollusca. Steenstrup has 

 included in this essay several suggestions for the rectification of the specific charac- 

 ters and synonymy of the Cephalopoda of the Northern Seas. The species of 

 Loligo most common on these coasts is not the L. vulgaris of Lamarck, for which 

 it had usually been taken, by Forbes and Hanley for example. Neither can 

 Loligo magna of Rondelet be identified with it with any certainty, as has been 

 supposed by Leach and others. Indeed, many of the characters given by that 

 author seem rather to indicate a species of Ommatostrephes. Steenstrup accord- 

 ingly has adopted the trivial name Forbesii for the L. vulgaris of Forbes and 

 Hanley. • 



GERMANY. 

 A llgemeine Deutsche Naturhistorische Zeitung. German Univer- 

 sal Natural History Journal. Under the direction of the Isis Society of 

 Dresden. New Series. 8vo. Hamburg. Vol. II. A.D. 1856. 

 Original Articles. Zoology.— (Kolenati) Synopsis and Description of the 

 European Chiroptera— p. 121-138, 161-195. (Dehne) Arvicola neglectus Thomp- 

 son, and Psammomys obesus Rueppel—^. 222-224. (Same) On a hen with male 

 plumage— p. 67-69. (Same) Catalogue of Reptiles found in Italy in 1847, by Dr. 

 Rabenhorst— p. 212-221. (Same) Cheilabothrus inornatus Reinh.—p. 221, 222. 

 (Brehm, L.) New species of birds observed by A. and O. Brehm, and other remark- 

 able species hitherto insufficiently described — p. 1-24, 41-67.- The M species" here 



