ZOOLOGY 35 



The Tuatara is admittedly a primitive form and holds a 

 unique position among living reptiles. While certain points in 

 both the arterial and venous systems have been dealt with, 

 no account of the whole vascular arrangement had been given 

 until the publication of " The Blood-Vascular System of the 

 Tuatara, Sphenodon pundatus," by O'Donoghue (Phil. Trans. 

 Roy. Soc. B., 1920). It is pointed out that the blood-vessels 

 and the heart are distinctly reptilian in character, and on 

 the whole most closely related to those of the Lacertilia. They 

 also show certain resemblances to some of the other groups 

 in points that most probably are to be regarded as primitive, 

 and which have been lost by the Lacertilia. In addition to 

 this, the whole system is more primitive than that of any 

 Lacertilian so far described, and approaches the conditions in 

 the Urodele Amphibia in a number of interesting features. 

 The heart probably possesses the remains of a conus arteriosus. 

 Both a ductus caroticus and a ductus arteriosus are present in 

 a moderately developed condition on both sides. The origin 

 and distribution of the carotids are primitive. The develop- 

 ment of the tracheal veins, the situation of the vena cerebralis 

 posterior, the vena azygos, and the supra-renal veins are all 

 in a more primitive condition than in Lacertilia. In addition 

 to the rarity and singular position of Sphenodon, no such 

 general account is available in the case of any Lacertilian. 



Other papers include : 



Black, " The Motor Nuclei of the Cerebral Nerves in Phylogeny — a 

 Study of the Phenomena of Neurobiotaxis " {Jour. Comp. Neur., vol. xxxii. 

 No. I, Aug. 1920) ; Detwiler and Laurens, " Studies on the Retina: The 

 Structure of the Retina of Phrynosoma Cornutum " (ibid., Dec. 1920) ; 

 Gilmore, "Reptile Reconstructions in the United States National Museum" 

 {Smithson Rep., No. 2561, 1920) ; Haughton, " On the Genus Iciidopsis " 

 {Ann. Durban Mus., vol. ii, pt. 5, March 1920) ; Latimer, " The Weights of 

 the Viscera of the Turtle" {Anat. Rec, vol. xix, No. 6, Nov. 1920) ; and 

 Ogawa, " Contributions to the Histology of the Respiratory Spaces of the 

 Vertebrate Lungs " {Amer. Jour. Anat., vol. xxvii. No. 3, July 1920). 



The question of the inheritance of hen-feathering in the 

 cocks of certain races of domestic fowls has been investigated 

 by Morgan in " The Effects of Ligating the Testes of Hen- 

 feathered Cocks," " The Effects of Castration of Hen-feathered 

 Campines," and "The Genetic Factor for Hen-feathering in the 

 Sebright Bantam " (all in Biol. Bull., vol. xxxix. No. 4, Oct. 

 1920). In both cases the castration or ligaturing of the 

 testes so that they are subsequently absorbed leads to the 

 same result : the hen-feathered cocks develop a cock-feather- 

 ing. Crossing with a cock-feathered race shows that the 

 hen-feathering in the Sebright bantam is nearly a complete 

 dominant in the Fi generation, and the characters are strictly 



