Miscellaneous. 157 



parent containing membrane slip out, the margin of the oral orifice 

 still remaining attached at one side to the skin ; so that we have the 

 whole animal, tentacula, teeth and all, minus the skin and muscular 

 bands, protruded in their natural and relative position. In fact it is 

 just as if the anatomist ran his knife round the neck and slipped off 

 the skin, without any disturbance of the other parts. Sir J. Dalyell 

 says he has observed the entire visceral apparatus renewed within 

 three or four months. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Classification of Serpents. By M. C. Dumeril. 



In a memoir with this title, read before the Academy of Sciences, 



M. Dumeril proposes an arrangement of the Ophidic, of which the 



following is a tabular view : — 



Third Order of Reptiles.— Ophidia. 

 Char. Body elongate, slender, destitute of feet or lateral fins ; 

 mouth furnished with pointed, recurved teeth ; branches of the lower 

 jaw disunited, longer than the skull ; head with a single rounded 

 condyle, vnth neither a distinct neck, nor an external ear or auditory 

 conduits ; eyes without moveable eyelids ; skin extensible, covered 

 with a caducous epidermis. 



Suborders. 



I. Teeth in only one of the jaws, either the upper or lower 1 . Opoterodontes. 



II. Teeth in both jaws. 



A. Teeth all smooth, not furrowed 2. Aglyphodontes. 



B. Some of the teeth furrowed. 



a. Posterior teeth longer and furrowed 3. Opisthoglypha. 



b. Anterior teeth furrowed, isolated, perforated 5. Solenoglyphee. 

 c. , followed bj' smooth 



teeth 4. Proteroglypha, 



The first of these suborders corresponds with that named Scoleco- 

 phideshy MM. Dumeril and Bibron, in their work on Reptiles in the 

 'Suites ^Buffon' ; the second to iht Azimiophides of the same authors; 

 the third to their AphobSrophides ; the fourth to their Apistophides ; 

 and the fifth to their Thanatophides. — Comptes Rendus, Nov. 2, 

 1852, p. 621. 



On the Influence of Coal Gas upon Vegetation. By G. H. Ulex. 

 The introduction of lighting by gas upon the promenades of Ham- 

 burgh has exhibited the inj\irious influence of coal-gas upon vegetation 

 in a very vexatious manner. The gas-pipes are placed, at a depth of 

 three feet, in the middle of avenues 30 feet wide, planted principally 

 with elms, but with a few lime-trees. Since its introduction, a great 

 number of trees, previously healthy and vigorous, have quickly pe- 

 rished. The alburnum becomes rotten, the bark detached, and the 

 tree dies in a few days, without any alteration taking place in the 

 wood. Wherever this malady appeared, the roots were found to be 

 decomposed, and the soil impregnated with the odour of coal-gas. 



