ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 281 



secreting glands, laying stress on their frequent correlation or physio- 

 logical linkages and their diversity of origin. He does not find conclu- 

 sive evidence of endocrine glands in either ovary or testis. It suggested 

 that the feature common to all endocrine glands is, that they arise from 

 or have been evolved out of structures quite different. " They appear 

 by a process of metamorphosis, and their persistence is attended by a 

 ' metaphysiosis ' — if one might coin the word — to which is due their 

 influence on bodily metabolism and growth." In all cases there is an 

 element of regression, and this is connected with their effect on the 

 general bodily growth and metabolism. 



Paraphysis and Pineal Region of Garter Snake.* — B. W. Kunkel 

 has studied the development of the parietal region in Thamnophis radix. 

 There can be little doubt left regarding the presence of a parietal organ 

 in certain stages of the ophidians. The structure described by the 

 author arises as an evagiuation from the roof of the diencephalon anterior 

 to the epiphysis and becomes a hollow spheroid, consisting of a single 

 layer of cells. Against this interpretation he mentions and discusses 

 three facts : it appears after the epiphysis, it is widely separated from 

 the epiphysis, and it fails to migrate dorsally. If the organ described 

 is a parietal organ and not something unique, then the author's observa- 

 tions show the complete independence of the parietal organ and the 

 epiphysis. In the garter snake there is from their earliest appearance 

 a considerable interval between them on the roof of the diencephalon, 

 and in this interval the superior commissure subsequently appears. 



Mesonephric Corpuscles of Some Ruminants.t— J. L. Bremer has 

 found in embryos of sheep, cow and deer a hitherto undescribed type 

 of mesonephric corpuscle. By " corpuscle " he means the entire blind 

 end of an excretory tubule ; by the term glomerulus the knot of capil- 

 laries, covered by the inner wall, projecting into the expansion of this 

 end. A corpuscle (Malpighian) then includes ordinarily a glomerulus, 

 the slit-like crescentic cavity continuous with that of the tubule, and 

 the outer layer or Bowman's capsule. The peculiarity observed in the 

 anterior corpuscles in the sheep, cow and deer consists in the absence 

 of a true glomerulus and the undifferentiated state of Bowman's capsule. 



Relation of "Notochord to Hypophysis.^ — 'Wayne J. Atwell has 

 inquired into the relation of the chorda dorsalis to the endodermal com- 

 ponent of the hypophysis in the rabbit and in the chick. In the rabbit 

 the anterior end of the notochord tends to maintain its connexion with 

 the endoderm represented by a bud from Seessel's pouch. The endoderm 

 cannot be said to contribute to the formation of the hypophysis of the 

 rabbit, and the notochord does not usually come into connexion with 

 the wall of the hypophysis. 



In the chick in early stages the anterior end of the notochord is 

 attached to a solid bud of epithelium which extends from a point slightly 



* Anat. Record, ix. (1915) pp. 607-36 (41 figs.), 

 t Anat. Record, x. (1915) pp. 1-6 (3 figs.). 

 X Anat. Record, x. (1915) pp. 19-88 (12 figs.). 



