1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 365 



elliptical meshes, in which are large round connective tissue cells ; 

 the structure is penetrated by blood-vessels and rather large nerves, 

 and appears to be surrounded by circular muscles, which can con- 

 tract the area but increase the height of each papilla. The connec- 

 tive tissue between the papillae contains large oval cells in a 

 gelatinous matrix supported by a network of very fine fibrils ; it 

 contains many fat-corpuscles. 



The function of this peculiar quilted padding is not obvious. 

 The abundance of nerves in the papillae leads Dr Lonnberg to 

 regard it as a sensory organ for noting clianges of hydrostatic 

 pressure, and he compares it with the ' terminal papilla ' of Spirvla 

 reticulata. The oily fat stored up in the layer is probably to be 

 explained as reserve material. 



Xothing precisely like this papillose layer has ever been de- 

 scribed, although there is a " thick glassy-looking subcutaneous layer " 

 in Mastigoteuthis levimaiui, and a gelatinous tissue with elastic fibrils 

 and regulating muscles in AUoposus inollis, while certain " lenticular, 

 glandular bodies " observed by Steenstrup in several species of 

 Ommatostrcphes may be similar papillae. There is, however, one 

 form upon which the observations of Dr Lonnberg throw unexpected 

 light. Xot long ago Dr L. Joubin, under the name Lepidotcvthis, 

 described a squid supposed to be covered with solid scales, forming 

 " une veritable cuirasse qui donne a I'animal un aspect etrange, rap- 

 pelant certains poissons Ganoides ou la carapace de divers fossiles." 

 The specimen came from the stomach of a sperm-whale, and Dr 

 Lonnberg maintains, with much show of reason, that the supposed 

 scales are " only subcutaneous papillae from which the covering skin 

 has been removed by the influence of the digestive fluids," In fact 

 Dr Joubin's own description of the ' scales ' accords exactly with 

 Dr Lonnberg's description of the subcutaneous papillae. 



Cheese to Oeder 



While Messrs Babcock & Paissell, as explained in our March 

 number (p. 151), have been working towards the conclusion that 

 the omnipresent microbe has less to do with the maturation of 

 cheese than is usually supposed, that, in short, the whole process 

 can be accomplished without his aid, an energetic experimenter on 

 this side of the Atlantic, Dr Olav Johan Olsen of Norway, has done 

 something more than to rehabilitate the cheese-bacteria ; he has 

 actually put them into harness, and an account of his success is 

 contributed by his assistant, Miss Thora Scheel, to the March 

 number of Naturen. Hitherto, cheese has been left to do its 

 own fermenting by means of such bacteria as its varying con- 

 stituents, the temperature and moisture of its store-house, and 



