TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 131 



Owen, &c., will any longer be adopted. He rejects the idea of the arm being the 

 divergent appendage of the occipital bone, merely from being in the fish attached 

 to the cranium as well as the coxal zone and leg ; since in ail the vertebral classes 

 there is no connexion with the cranium and either of the anterior or posterior 

 extremities ; and whatever may be thought of calling the arm of man and higher 

 mammals as the divergent appendage, it must be viewed as an error to describe the 

 pelvis and leg as diverging from the occiput when placed at such an immense 

 distance from the occiput, not only in saurian reptiles of the ancient world, but also 

 the long-necked birds of the existing epoch. 



As the complicated form of the ideal typical vertebrae, associated with the long 

 Greek names not attended with the characteristic euphony of that ancient tongue 

 has retarded in a great measure the study of homology, the author trusts the 

 simpler formulae now proposed will be examined and tested with the vertebral 

 skeleton, as he believes them applicable to all forms. 



A short Demonstration of the Origin of Tubercular Consumption. 

 By Dr. M'Cormac. 



Further Observations on the Fecundation of the Ova in Ascaris raystax. 

 By Dr. Henry Nelson. 



Professor Allen Thomson communicated observations from Dr. Henry Nelson, 

 tending to confirm the views he had laid before the Royal Society, in 185], on 

 the process of fecundation in the y/scar«s mystax. Dr. Nelson regarded it as certain 

 that there is no vitelline or other enclosing membrane in these ova at the time when 

 they meet with the spermatozoa ; and he feels equally convinced of the penetration 

 of the spermatozoa into the substance of the yolk, by which he means impactment 

 or involvement. He further stated, that he had traced the gradual disappearance 

 of the spermatic bodies after they had undergone changes of form, and had gra- 

 dually become more and more intimately combined with the vitelline substance. 

 He regarded these phsenomena as evidence of a mutual action having taken place 

 between the spermatic and vitelline substance, having the eflFect of producing a 

 solution or peculiar disintegration of the latter. To take a coarse comparison, the 

 author said that the involvement of the spermatozoa by the uncovered yolk might 

 be likened to what would happen if a ball of snow were rolled over small masses of 

 salt, and the whole were then enclosed in a bladder, which might represent the 

 membrane which is formed only after impregnation has taken place. 



Further Observations on the Structure of the Ova of Fishes, with especial 

 reference to the Micropyle, and the Phcenomena of their fecundation. By 

 Dr. W. H. Ransom, Nottingham. 



Dr. Ransom communicated the results of observations on the structure and im- 

 pregnation of the ovum in fishes, and on the first changes which the yolk undergoes 

 after fecundation. Dr. Ransom announced the existence of an aperture through 

 the yolk-sac of the ovum, in several freshwater fishes ; pointed out its relation to 

 the formative yolk, and its importance as permitting the entrance of the sperma- 

 tozoa. Dr. Ransom described certain peculiar contractions and rotations of the 

 yolk which are among the earliest of the changes which follow fecundation, but 

 which he believes to be due to the action of water upon a delicate membrane within 

 the yolk-sac, and independent of the agency of the spermatozoon. 



Ow the Mode of Action of Galvanic Stimuli, directly applied to the Muscles. 



By Professor Remak, Berlin. Communicated by Professor Kolliker. 



Professor Kolliker presented on the part of Dr. Remak, of the University of Berlin, 

 a short printed paper, of date 8th August, 1855, giving an account of experitaents 

 made during the past summer, with a view to determine in what manner various 



9* 



