282 Tue MIcROscoPE. 
quired to metamorphose the speck of vitalized matter contained in 
the minute ovum of Pulex Irritans into a suctorial tormentor.”— 
Popular Science Monthly. 
ParieTaAL Eye or Harrerta—Mr. W. Baldwin Spencer re- 
ports in Nature, a remarkable discovery—the presence of a median 
parietal, or, as it might more justly be called, interparietal eye in 
Hatteria punctata, the curious lizard of New Zeland. The epiphysis 
cerebri of amphibians and reptiles becomes divided into two parts, 
the proximal of which remains connected with the brain, while 
the distal is a bladder-shaped structure. In Anguis fragilis this 
distal as Von Graaf finds, loses all connection with the brain, and 
develops into a structure resembling a highly organized inverte- 
brate eye; no nerve, however, is connected with it. .In Hatteria 
the similar eye-like organ is provided with a well marked nerve. 
The eye is enclosed in a capsule of connective tissue; anteriorly 
there is a lense which forms the anterior boundary of a vesicle, the 
walls of which are formed from within outwards of the following 
layers: 1st. Not a well-marked layer. 2d. A large layer of 
rods embedded in dark-brown pigment. 38rd. A double or triple 
row of nuclei. 4th. A clear layer which may be called the molec- 
ular, and 5th a layer of nuclei two or three rows deep. The nerve 
which enters the eye posteriorly spreads its fibres round the ves- 
icle. A blood-vessel ramifies in the surrounding connective tissue. 
The eye lies exactly in the median line, and the nerve is single ; 
the latter appearing to represent the stalk connecting the distal with 
the proximal outgrowth from the thalamencephalon. The eye 
does not reach the surface, but is imbedded in the connective 
tissue, so deeply, indeed, as almost to preclude the idea of its being 
affected by light. In a postscript Mr. Spencer adds that he has 
since found the eye in Jgnana, Chameleo vulgaris, and Lacertaocellata 
and has traced the nerve into the proximal part of the epiphysis 
—Royal Mic. Jourl. 
LEEcHES oF JAPAN.—A recent account of the leeches of Japan, 
by Dr. C. O. Whitman, is illustrated by colored drawings by Mr. 
Nomura, a young Japanese artist. That the Japanese can make 
excellent zoological artists is shown by Dr.Whitman’s remark : “ Mr. 
Nomura’s attention to the minutest details, his infinite patience, 
trained eye and his remarkably skillful brush, have given results 
that are marvels of neatness and accuracy.” The Japanese land 
