760 
In conclusion, I may state that 
on p. 227 of Sir Wm. Wilde’s book, 
‘On the Beauties of the Boyne and 
Blackwater,’ a skull is figured and 
described as long and low, which, so 
far as can be judged from the out- 
line sketch, presents in combination 
characters which closely approxi- 
mate it to the Neanderthal cranium. 
The skeleton of which this skull 
formed a part was found in 1821, in 
a grayel-pit in the Island of Funen. 
Along with it were various metallic 
articles, a silver buckle, a spirally- 
Notes and Correspondence. 
[ Oct., 
twisted gold ring, and a large metal 
pan or kettle. 
Also, in the ‘ Reader’ newspaper, 
23rd July, 1864, Mr. Busk states 
that he has received from Captain 
Brome, of Gibraltar, a human cra- 
nium which resembles, in all essen- 
tial particulars, including its great 
thickness, the Neanderthal skull. 
From the conditions under which it 
was found, Mr. Busk ascribes enor- 
mous antiquity to it. 
Wo. TURNER. 
On the Septa and Siphuncles of Cephalopod Shells. By Harry Seeley, F.G.S., 
Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge. 
THE last generation of anatomists 
shelved the question of the signifi- 
cance of septa in Nautiloid shells, 
by assuming that the air-chambers 
were a beneficent provision for ena- 
bling the animals to float. But 
though the specific gravity of the 
mass is thus altered, that does not 
explain the physiological meaning of 
the septa. 
As the shells enlarge, the animals 
increase in size, and, with seldom- 
varying regularity, shut off behind 
them chambers which steadily en- 
large with the whorls. Only near 
the end of the series are the cells 
less uniform, where in the adult the 
last one is conspicuously shallow. 
And as the chambers are always 
empty, the animal must have moved 
forward, leaving a vacant space be- 
hind; so the question to be solved 
is, why did the creature always 
make the septa shut off spaces 
which progressively enlarged ? 
In certain Gasteropod shells there 
is something analogous. The genera 
Murex, Triton, Ranella, for instance, 
after making their shells uniformly 
for a third or half of a whorl, then 
begin thickening the lip into a varix 
—rarely with the least want of regu- 
larity. In other genera, as Bulimus, 
Conus, Turritella, species or speci- 
mens are found with the earlier part 
of the spire partitioned off. The 
same phenomena of varices is seen 
in many bivalves; and a process of 
shutting off air-cells in the lower 
valve is characteristic of several 
oysters. 
As the shell of an animal is 
moulded on its body, I suppose 
these cells in the abdominal part of 
an oyster-shell to indicate that the 
animal gets periodically larger and 
then smaller. Covering the visceral 
region are the white parts of the 
mollusc, the ovaries, and these pe- 
riodically thicken the body; the 
lips then in enlarging the shell will 
make it more concave, and when the 
ovaries are empty there will remain 
a vacancy under the ovary like a 
water-cell, which the abundant na- 
creous secretion soon shuts off. 
Moreover, the ovaries are the exte- 
rior parts of the organism adjacent 
to the shell. 
In Gasteropods, as the upper part 
of the spire contains the liver, simi- 
lar results cannot be looked for in 
their reproduction ; but the ovaries 
being placed in the middle of the 
body, and provided with oviducts, 
often of great size, an enlargement 
of the whorl must take place by 
growth at the lip of the mouth till 
the mollusc attains its full size. 
And that this is not merely needed 
to accommodate the body of the 
animal may, I think, be seen by 
noticing how far Helices which have 
laid their eggs retire from the 
