474 Analytical Notices of Books. 
the highest praise. In this anatomy of the Seal, it was hardly to. be 
expected that he could add much of absolute novelty to what was 
previously known; but either the confirmation or the correction of the 
accredited statements by so practised an anatomist cannot be regarded 
with indifference. There is nothing, however, in the paper so strikingly 
new. as to call for particular observation here. In common with most 
recent anatomists Dr. Rosenthal regards the closure of the foramen ovale 
and of the ductus arteriosus as the normal structure in these animals, 
and their occasional perviousness as an exception to the general rule. 
Figures of the heart, liver, mesenteric glands, lacteals, and female 
organs, accompany the paper. 
Baron von Ockskay describes the “* Mus pratensis’’ as a new species, 
inhabiting such situations only as are indicated by its trivial name, in the 
western parts of Hungary. He gives its specific character as follows; 
“© M. caudé lungitudine corporis ; auriculis rotundatis, pilosis, vellere 
“ parim prominulis ; palmis tetradactylis cum pollice ungulato ; dorso 
“ ferrugineo, abdomine albo ;’’ and states that its body measures 23 
inches in length, and 1 inch and 2 lines in height. According to the 
authour it is the most agile and vivacious of the genus, but exceedingly 
savage even in captivity ; its ferocity being such that the female destroys 
and devours her young, and the male his mate. They live on the seeds 
and roots of grass and other herbaceous plants, and build their nests, 
among the herbage on the surface of the ground, of fragments of decayed 
grass. The female produces five or six young several times in the year. 
Some  Fernere Untersuchungen iiber Blutlauf in Kerfen,’” by Dr. 
Carus of Dresden, add much to the authour’s previous discoveries with 
regard to the circulation of the blood in insects. As he has himself given 
a summary of the results of his observations on this most important 
subject, we cannot do better than translate that portion of his paper; 
observing that the conclusions which he regards as satisfactorily made out 
are designated by an asterisk, while those not so distinguished must be 
considered as more or less hypothetical. 
«© *1, The blood flows in the dorsal vessel from the abdomen to- 
wards the head. 
