ZOOLOGY. 



r>v l^iolVssor Theodore Gill. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Invesstigatioiis ilito riie secrets of the auimal world have been con- 

 ducted by most of the investigators proniiuent for the i^ast few years, 

 and by the usual number of recruits to the rants of zoologists. The 

 addition to our knowledge of the various types of the animal kingdom 

 has been substantial and important, but as usual chiefly coutined to 

 matters of detail and refinement, which can be onlj- appreciated by the 

 skilled biologist. Sonje noteworthy discoveries that can beset forth iu 

 a few words, and whose importance can readily be apjjreciated by all 

 have likewise been made. Among them are the find of a Silurian scor- 

 pion which takes the class of Arachnids much farther back in time, a 

 like extension backwards of the fishes by the exhumation of remains 

 near the base of the upper Silurian beds of Pennsylvania, by Mr. Clay- 

 pole, and the confirmation of the oviparity of the Monotremes, of the 

 only two known family types ( Jrnithorhynchids and Tachyglossids), 

 by Messrs. W. D. Caldwell and W. Haacke, as well as some insight into 

 their embryonic stages. 



There are also two features of special interest as signs of the time, 

 in the accessions to the ranks of true investigators from sources from 

 which in times past none looked for work of an exact or highly original 

 nature; such aiitj the female sex and people formerly called barbarous. 



A most pleasant feature is the nun)berof recent female contributors, 

 and there is a most laudable absence of ignorant wonder and congratu- 

 lation in all of them. America and England have been especially for- 

 tunate in the number of able female investigators. We maybe pardoned 

 for recalling the names of a few. In the United States, ^liss liosa 

 Smith, of San Diego, Cal., has described new species and a genus of 

 fishes; Miss Katherine J. Bush has published a useful catalogue of 

 moUusca and echinodermata of Labrador; Miss ]\Iaiy II. Hinckley has 

 made known the habits and transformations of a tree-frog (jH>/?aP/67i:er- 

 iuyii) in a special monograi)h ; ]\Iiss Sara Gwendolen Foulke has made 

 known the structure and habits of many of the lower forms of auimal 

 lile; Miss Mary Esther Murtfeldt has given several communications on 



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