ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 163 



ghssus. The pigment is usually indistinctly granular, hut it may be 

 distinctly granular and grey. The melanophores arise chiefly from 

 transformed xanthophores, which pass through the greyish phase ; and 

 there is a pigment intermediate between the yellow^ and the dark. It 

 may be that the yellowish pigment is of an amino-acid nature, as 

 Yerne linds in Crustaceans, and is transformed into a melanin. 



J. A. T. 



Lens Formation and Cyclopia in Tadpoles. — G. Leplat {Bull. 

 Soc. Roy. Belffique, Classe de Sciences, 1920, 252-61). In over 200 

 monstrosities, cyclopean and anophthalmous, only fifteen had differenti- 

 ated lenses, which is not in agreement with the view that the head- 

 ectoderm very readily develops lenses. J. A. T. 



Uterus of Narcine indica. — B. Peashad (Records TmlMii Museum, ■ 

 1920, 19, 97-105, 2 pis.). In a paper on Torpedinidie from the Orissa 

 coast, a description is given of the gravid uterus of N. indica, which 

 contained a yellowish milk-like secretion. The entire inner surface is 

 densely covered with spathulate villi-like trophonemata (198 on a square 

 inch), which closely resembled those of Torpedo ocellata. J. A. T. 



Irritability of Selachian Embryo. — P. Winteebekt {Gomptes 

 Rendus Soc. Biol, 1920, 83, 1029-;-;i). The very young embryo of 

 the dogfish {Scylliorhiiins canicida), when only 5 mm. in length and 

 aneural, shows great irritability in response to mechanical stimuli 

 applied directly to the muscle. The stimulus may be passed along a 

 myotomic chain, and always acts as an accelerator. Excitation of a 

 tissue at a distance from the muscle has no effect. J. A. T. 



Leptocephalus Stage of Conger.— E. Foed {Journ. Marine Biol. 

 Ass., 1920, 12, 249-52). Note on a specimen of LeptocepMlus congri 

 vulgaris (L. morrisii) from a depth of 31 fathoms, captured (September 

 17, 1919) near Eddystone. It was between 115 and 120 mm. in length, 

 and eighteen days after its transference to the aquarium the normal 

 retrograde metamorphosis hud resulted in a reduction to 30 to 90 mm., 

 and its former "ribbon" shape was being superseded by the eel-like 

 form, with a considerable loss of transparency. Its age at capture was 

 certainly well over one year, with a possibility of eighteen months. A 

 summary is given of previous captures of congei" larvse around the 

 British Isles. J. A. T. 



Pelagic and Early Bottom Stages of Teleosteans. — Pt. S. Claek 

 {Journ. Marine Biol. Ass., 1920, 12, 159-240, 9 figs.). An elaborate 

 report on 10,400 stages of well-known Teleostean fishes, referable to 

 twenty-four families, thirty-nine genera, and seventy-one species. 

 Attention is directed to the adaptive post-larval characters and the 

 taxonomic value of the number of vertebrae and fin-rays. J. A. T. 



Blood-formation in Bony Fishes.— J. Jolly {Oomptes Rendus 

 Soc. Biol, 1920, 83, 848-50). In Selachians, Sauropsia, and Mammals 

 the blood appears first outside of the embryo on the surface of the yolk 

 or in connexion with the yolk-sac. In Teleosteans the first blood-cells 



