1899] LINNE’S TYPE SPECIMEN OF FISHES 397 
inscribed by Dr. Alexander Garden, who sent the specimens to Linné. 
Of these 168 skins about 40 are “types,” and nearly all these came 
from Dr. Garden, and all of them are American. 
Dr. Giinther has given a careful description of each skin, the marks 
or writing upon it or upon the label or sheet of paper, and has added 
comments of his own on previous identifications, and other points of 
interest. Altogether a very excellent and valuable Presidential 
Address. 
The Molluscan ‘“ Liver” So-Called. 
To the student of the comparative physiology of the Invertebrates the 
word “liver” isared rag. It has been applied to many different kinds 
of organs, and with its vertebrate connotation it has fitted none of them 
well. For a time, indeed, it seemed as if the recognised way of deal- 
ing with a puzzling organ was to “call it a liver and have done with 
it.” But we have at least got beyond the stage of hypocrisy, if not of 
ignorance, and we speak of “the so-called liver.” So at least do 
Messrs. Biedermann and Moritz in a recent study of the organ in 
question in Molluscs (Pjliiger’s Archiv f. Physiologie, xxv. 1899, pp. 
1-86), and it seems for the time a convenient device,—for the 
attempts to introduce such terms as “ hepatopancreas,” “ poly-enzymatic 
gland,” “ mid-gut gland,” “gastric gland,” and the like have not been 
very successful. Do what we will, the “liver” is always with us, or 
with our students at least, and therefore it seems better to give it a 
slow death in the shackles of “so-called.” But let us attend to the 
last news in regard to the function of this organ in the snail. 
The so-called “ liver” of snails contains three kinds of cells,—(a) 
secretory cells, whose secretion digests starch and cellulose in the 
stomach, (b) absorptive cells, and (c) lime cells. The two last accumulate 
stores of glycogen, fat, and perhaps some albuminoid substance. The 
lime-cells have especially to do with the storage of fat and calcium 
phosphate. The fresh secretion has no appreciable digestive effect on 
albuminoids. There is no absorption in the intestine, which is lined 
by ciliated and glandular epithelium; its fluid contents pass into the 
recesses of the so-called “ liver” and back again. This appears to be 
the gist of the research, and it means another step out of obscurity. 
Phylogenetic Senescence. 
THOSE who know Professor R. Wiedersheim and his works will agree 
with us when we say that he cannot be blamed, as human anatomists 
often are, for undue preoccupation with the static aspects of man’s 
body. In his essay on retrogression and in his book on the evidence 
27—wNAT. SC.—VOL. xv. NO. 94. 
