320 Miscellaneous. 
the two extremities, occur principally in the conjunctive tissue which 
covers the branchial cavity. 
VASCULAR SYSTEM. 
Besides the large vessels so well described by Miiller, there is a 
well-developed capillary system throughout the body. The capilla- 
ries are met with in the central nervous system and in the muscles ; 
but it is especially at the anterior and posterior extremities of the 
body, and in the delicate membrane which surrounds the body (7. e. 
the fins), that they are most developed. These capillaries are very 
delicate, transparent, and without nuclei in their walls; they are 
seen with difficulty when the body is covered with epithelium. In 
the fins they assume a longitudinal direction, and show many sinuo- 
sities and anastomoses. From the head to the tail they form around 
the central nervous system and dorsal cord a series of longer or 
shorter loops. They are met with in the interstices of the bundles 
of the lateral muscles. Quatrefages thought he saw a movement of 
blood in lacunze ; but these lacune are capillaries with walls: they 
are also found in the parts regarded by Miiller as the fin-rays, and 
by Quatrefages as spinous apophyses, and it is in the opaque body 
which these enclose that they are to be seen with the elastic fibres 
and bodies of the conjunctive tissue. These capillaries are often 
filled with small, round, regular, slightly granukated bodies 5},th 
millim. or less in diameter, and apparently destitute of a nucleus : 
these are the blood-corpuseles of the Branchiostoma. 1 do not think 
that they are visible in the living animal ; neither Miller, nor Quatre- 
fages, nor myself was able to see them therein. I found them in 
specimens preserved in a solution of chromic acid. In any case, the 
vascular system of the Lancelet is more complete than has hitherto 
been supposed ; and the blood, with its corpuscles, is distributed 
through it, as in other Vertebrata, in walled vessels, and not in 
lacune. 
EPITHELIUM. 
In the cells of the epithelium I could discover no nuclei. This 
was the case also with Quatrefages.— Comptes Rendus, July 11, 1864. 
Note on the Great Auk. By Dr. P. L. Scuater, M.A., Sec. Z.8. 
With reference to the list by Mr. Champley, in a recent Number 
of the ‘ Annals,’ of the existing specimens of the skins and eggs of the 
Great Auk (Alcea impennis), my friend Dr. G. Hartlaub, of Bremen, 
remarks to me, in a letter recently received, that it seems to be very 
incomplete. Dr. Hartlaub states that there is a very beautiful spe- 
cimen of this bird in the Bremen Museum, also one at Leyden,— 
neither of which appear to be alluded to by Mr. Champley. 
The Oldenburg collection is also in possession of one of the finest 
existing eggs of the Bird, which was acquired at the sale of the col- 
lection of the late Dr. Graba, of Kiel, for little more than a thaler! 
