ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY. ETC. 669 



Everything points to the fact that the function of the pineal organ is 

 that of Hght perception, and it may, therefore, be spoken of as an 

 " eye." Its structure is such that in lampreys it is incapable of forming 

 images. Its function here is probably that of responding to variations 

 in the intensity of the illnmination to which it is exposed. The para- 

 pineal organ in Geotria lies in front of the pineal eye, exposed to the 

 light, and although degenerate, is probably still in some degree 

 functional. 



Nest of the Kelp Fish.*— C. H. Holder describes and figures the 

 nest of the so-called kelp fish, Heterotrichus rostrata, which is found in 

 the great kelp-beds of the shores of S. Carolina. The fish usually 

 resembles very closely the sea-weed on which it lives, but during the 

 breeding-season the colours of the male are highly intensified and 

 brilliant. The female, in captivity, was seen to examine a bunch of 

 sea-weed, pushing her way through it and passing many times round it, 

 depositing as she went a pure white, viscid cord, which clung to the 

 branches, and on which were many small white eggs. The male mounted 

 guard while the female rested. The whole nest took two hours to com- 

 plete, and formed a globular white mass about the size of a hen's ^g^. 



Abnormal Turbot.f — J. T. Cunningham describes a peculiarly ab- 

 normal specimen of young turbot, presenting a condition never before 

 described in any species of flat fish. The eyes of this specimen are both 

 on the right side instead of, as normally, both on the left. . In colour 

 the specimen partially resembles a normal specimen, the right side being 

 unpigmented, the left side normal. The head and anterior region of the 

 right side have more pigment than the rest of that side. The anterior 

 end of the dorsal fin forms a projecting hook-like process over the dorsal 

 eye. The specimen was kept alive for some weeks, and presented the 

 extraordinary spectacle of a flat fish white on the upper side and coloured 

 on the lower. Exposure to light had so far produced very little effect 

 on the white side. 



The condition, which is that of a turbot with a reversed head attached 

 to a normal body, is regarded as certainly congenital, and the abnormal 

 position of parts as due to the abnormal position of parts of the ovum 

 from which they w^ere developed. 



Fresh-water Cottidse of Russia. | — V. Gratzianow gives an annotated 

 classification of the Cottidse occurring in the fresh waters of the Russian 

 Empire. Nineteen species are recorded, one of which, Cottus kosheiv- 

 nikoivi Gratzianow, a form with a wide distribution, is new. Two new 

 genera, C&phalocottus and Mesocottus, are established, each with a single 

 species, viz. Gqthalocottus {Coitus) amhlystomopsis Schmidt and Meso- 

 cottus {Cottus) haitei Dybowsky respectively. Gotlm nwiutus Pallas it 

 may be noted has the widest distribution of all the fresh-water Cottidse ; 

 it is known in the Pyrenees, Lapland, various parts of North Siberia, 

 Ochotsk Sea, the Amur basin, and Korea. 



* Amer. Nat., xli. (1907) pp. 587-8 (1 fig.). 



t Journ. Marine Biol. Assoc, viii. (1907) pp. 44-G (1 pi.). 



X Zool. Anzeig., xxxi. (1907) pp. 654-GO. 



