Miscellaneous. 255 
merely, not reaching to congelation, suffices to extinguish life *, and 
that in the instances of other animals, especially the hybernating 
and insects, a moderate reduction occasions torpor, ending in death 
if too prolonged. That the organs generally suffer from congelation 
M. Puget himself admits, as expressed in the subjoined paragraphy. 
I have found, too, that the muscles; after having been frozen, ex- 
hibit a ieceed change: thus, in one instance, that of a frog, in 
which, after decapitation, an upper and lower extremity were frozen, 
the muscles of these limbs, when thawed, compared with those which 
had not been frozen, showed a well-marked difference under the 
microscope; for whilst in the latter the striated structure was 
very distinct, in the former it was no longer visible ; and after a few 
hours, viz. on the following morning, whilst the unfrozen muscles 
had undergone no perceptible alteration, those which had been frozen 
had become of increased tenderness, yielding to a slight rending 
force, and breaking short, asif the coherence of the particles forming 
the fasciculi had become greatly diminished. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
On a Cranium of Ziphius found at Arcachon (Gironde). 
By P. Fiscuer. 
A MAGNIFICENT cranium of a Cetacean, fanaa in 1864 at Lanton, 
on the shores of the harbour of Arcachon, has been sent to M. Fil- 
lioux. The most superficial examination of this is sufficient to show 
that it belongs to an individual of the genus Ziphius of Cuvier. 
If doubts have prevailed as to the origin of the Ziphius repre- 
sented as fossil by the great anatomist (Ossem. Foss. tome v, 1" 
partie, pl. 27. fig. 3) from an imperfect specimen dug up at the 
mouth of the Gaiégeon (Bouches-du-Rhone), there can be none as 
to the cranium from Arcachon. Its perfect state of preservation, 
and the presence of fatty matters in its cerebral cavity, prove that 
the death of this Cetacean cannot even be very remote. 
The length of the cranium, from the occipital foramen to the 
anterior extremity of the intermaxillary bones, is 89 centimetres ; 
its breadth, from the orbital margin of the right frontal to that of 
the opposite side, is 48 centimetres ; its height, from the base of the 
cranium to the upper margin of the nasal bones, is 41 centimetres. 
The upper surface of the head is remarkable for the enormous 
development of the intermaxillaries, and their want of symmetry. 
In front they surround a very thick and prominent ivory-like tu- 
berosity of the vomer; posteriorly they spread out, rise up and cir- 
* Instances have occurred in the Lake District of persons who have perished 
on the hills from prolonged exposure to strong wind and rain, storm-stricken, in 
the language of the country. 
t “... La congélation compléte a méme si profondément altéré les tissus 
de l’organisme que quand l’animal est tout-a-fait dégelé, son corps est flasque 
et mou, ses cristallins sont blanes et opaques, et souvent sa coloration est tout-a- 
fait altérée”’ (p. 24). 
