Miscellaneous. 453 



organ of smell, it does not appear until after exclusion ; and this is 

 the case also with the rudiments of the generative organs. 



The two hlastodermic lamellae, which play so important a part in 

 the development of the Sejnolce, are called hy M. Mecznikow the 

 epithelial (exterior) and parenchymatous (interior) lamellfe. The 

 author does not use these terms in an ahsolute sense, since the epi- 

 thelial membranes of the vessels are formed at the expense of the 

 interior lamella. We may say that the epithelial lamella gives 

 origin to the general envelope of the body, the cartilages, the organs 

 of sense and digestion (except the pharynx), and the ink-hag. The 

 inner layer gives origin to the muscles, the nervous system, the mass 

 of the pharynx, and the vascular system. According to M. Mecz- 

 nikow, these two lamellae correspond exactly to what he has described 

 in the embryos of the scorpions. 



From the preceding statements it appears that the formation of 

 the nervous system of the Sepiolce cannot be paralleled with that of 

 the same system in the Vertebrata. On the other hand, the forma- 

 tion of the skin and of the organs of sense in the Sepiolce is effected, 

 as in the Vertebrata, at the expense of the interior lamella. Hen- 

 sen's observations upon chickens seem also to authorize a parallelism 

 between the formation of the internal skeleton of the Sepiolce and 

 that of the chorda dorsalis in the Vertebrata. The intestinal canal 

 of the SepiolcB is produced chiefly at the exi)ense of the epithelial 

 lamella, which is not usually the case in Vertebrata. However, in 

 Amphioxus, according to M. Kowalewsky, the intestinal canal is 

 formed by an invagination of the epithelial lamella. M. Mecznikow 

 rejects all analogy between the foot of the Cephalophora and the 

 siphon iinfundibxdxiiri) of the Cephalopoda. He is equally adverse 

 to the hypothesis of M. Hiickel, according to which the Pteropoda 

 are the immediate ancestors of the Cephalopoda. — Bibl. Univ. Oct. 

 25, 1867; Bull. Sci. pp. 186-192. 



M. LeFaillant, the African Traveller. 



Mr. Edgar Layard says : — " I have been at some little pains to 

 trace LeVaillant's footsteps in Southern Africa, in order, if possible, 

 to identify such of the birds as have been introduced into his great 

 work as South African, but which are supposed by some to have 

 been obtained from other countries. A statement which appeared 

 some time ago in the serial ' Household Words,' to the effect that 

 LeVaillant never was in South Africa, also stimulated my desire to 

 obtain full information regarding him. 



" I need not follow him through all his wanderings at this mo- 

 ment ; this I may perhaps do at some future time. SuflSce it for my 

 present purpose to say that I do not believe that he ever crossed the 

 Orange River. 



" He describes in his travels how he was floated across the swollen 

 river, and his chase after the giraffe. I question much if this account 

 is true. There was living at Caniiesburg, within the last few years, 

 an aged woman named Van Zyl, who related to my informant that 



Ann. 6y- Mag. N. Hist Ser. 3. Vol. xx. 31 



