Literary Notices. yg 



marked reactions to such vibrations. He then studied the sound re- 

 actions of fishes on which various operations had been performed. 



In one lot of fishes the skin was rendered insensitive by cutting 

 the spinal cord and the lateral branches of the loth, yth and 5th nerves. 

 The fishes with few exceptions recovered from the operations and 

 many of them lived for weeks afterward. 80% of the animals with 

 the nerves of the skin destroyed still gave normal reactions to sound 

 vibrations. 



In a second lot the ears were made insensitive by cutting the 8th 

 nerves. This resulted in complete loss of response to sound vibrations. 



In a third lot the 8th nerve on one side was first cut in each fish. 

 After this operation the fishes gave practically normal sound reactions, 

 but after the nerve of the opposite side had been cut the fishes no 

 longer responded to sound vibrations. 



In a fourth lot the semicircular canals and attached portions of 

 the ears were pulled out. After this operation, the fishes still reacted 

 to sound, but the reactions were less marked in normal fishes. 



The author thus repeated Kreidl's experiments and confirmed 

 his results, but on dissecting these fishes he found that a portion of the 

 ear largely imbedded in bone had not been removed. This portion 

 he thinks probably represents the combinrd sacculus and lagena of 

 higher vertebrates. It contains two otoliths and is well supplied with 

 nerves from a branch of the 8th. 



The experiments seem to show beyond a doubt, that the ear in 

 goldfishes functions as an organ of hearing. A somewhat similar set 

 of experiments, performed a year earlier by Dr. G. H. Parkee on 

 Fundulus heterocUtiis, led to the same conclusion with reference to that 

 species. Dr. Parker, however, was unable to note any reaction to 

 sound vibrations in the smooth dog fish. s. o. mast. 



Andrews, E. A. Breeding Habits of Crayfish. American Naturalist, 1904, 

 37, 165-206. 



In this paper the author describes the habits of Camhariis affinis 

 taken from the Potomac river. The habits of C. affinis are found to 

 vary considerably from those of Astacus, the European crayfish. This 

 fact lends additional interest to the observations of Andrews. 



The most important points brought out in the paper may be 

 briefly stated as follows : 



Mating takes place during February, March and April, and 

 sometimes in October and November. Each male may mate with 

 more than one female. Sex union continues from 2 to 10 hours. The 

 sperm is transferred to external seminal receptacles. The eggs are 



