358 Chronicles of Science. | April, 
the other families of Rasores—and those who have elevated this group 
to the rank of one of their great orders of birds have chiefly manifested 
their hesitation between the other two views, by taking a sort of inter- 
mediate position. The position of Apteryx, that most remarkable 
New Zealand bird, as a type of a sub-family of Struthionide, seems 
to be conceded; and its long, narrow beak, with the nostrils at the ex- 
tremity, is so especially tenuirostral, that there can be little doubt 
about its fittest place, though its entirely suppressed wings and hair- 
like feathers might seem to mark it as last in the circle, because lowest 
in development. 
Captain Mitchell, of the Madras Museum, confirms the accounts of 
the climbing habits of the fish, Anabas scandens, and asserts that it 
does ascend the palm-trees, suggesting that as it does so after heavy 
monsoon rains, it may be that it prefers pure rain-water to the muddy 
water found in the pools and streams at those times. The native 
assistant at the Madras Museum states that he has seen them climb. 
He says :—“ This fish inhabits tanks or pools of water, and is called 
Panai zéri, i. e. the fish that climbs Palmyra trees. Where there are 
Palmyra trees growing by the side of a tank or pool, when heavy rains 
fall, and the water runs profusely down their trunks, this fish, by means 
of its opercula, which move unlike those of other fish, crawls up the 
tree sideways to a height of from five to seven feet and then drops 
down. Should the Anabas be thrown upon the ground, it runs or 
proceeds rapidly along in the same manner (sideways) so long as the 
mucus on it remains.” This sideways movement, by inclining the 
body considerably from the vertical, enables the fish to use the 
spines on the operculum to the best advantage. The operculum itself 
is remarkably movable, and the locomotion is described as a wriggling 
one. Other observers have satisfied Captain Mitchell that they have 
seen the Anabas ascend Palmyra trees at Negapatam and in the 
neighbourhood of the Red Hills, in the vicinity of Madras. 
M. Moreau arrives at the following conclusions relative to the air 
in the swimming-bladders of fishes :—This air presents a composition 
which may vary more or less, relatively to the proportion of oxygen 
under the following circumstances: 1. The oxygen diminishes and 
disappears in asphyxia and other morbid conditions. 2. In fishes with 
an open, as in those with a closed, swimming-bladder, the air is 
renewed without being derived from the atmosphere, and the rapidity 
of this renewal is in proportion to the vigour of the fish. 3rd. The 
new air presents an amount of oxygen far superior to the proportion 
of gas usually contained in the air of the swimming-bladder, and also 
far superior to that contained in the air dissolved in the water. 
The Entomological Society of New South Wales in the first part 
of its Transactions lately published, gives a description of an ovo- 
viviparous moth of the genus Tinea, which he calls Tinea vivipara. It 
was captured after dark early in October, and fearful that the plumes 
might be injured by its strugeles, it was gently compressed, and on 
opening the hand Mr. Scott observed numbers of minute, but perfect 
