430 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Notes on Sea Snakes.* — T. V. R. Aiyar communicates some in- 

 teresting notes on some sea-snakes caught at Madras. They occur all 

 the year round, but are more abundant during the cold weather (October 

 to February). Big snakes generally approach the shore at night. The 

 small head and attenuated neck are specially adapted to penetrate into 

 crannies among the rocks. In the young there are often bright bands 

 and streaks which grow dull afterwards. Almost all the forms are fish- 

 eaters, but crustaceans were also found in the gut. The ecdysis takes 

 place in piece-meal fashion, and the interesting fact is noted that some 

 specimens kept in fresh-water underwent the process of moulting more 

 or less like the land snakes. Not a few bore barnacles and epizoic 

 hydroids. Once out of their native element, the sea-snakes generally 

 become quite helpless and appear blind, except Distera viper ina. 



Cranial Nerves of Varanus Bivittatus.f — Grace B. Watkinson 

 supplies a marked deficiency in our knowledge by giving an anatomical 

 account of the cranial nerves in this lizard. The whole subject has been 

 much neglected as far as Reptiles are concerned. 



Reptiles and Amphibians of Russia.:}: — A. Nickolsky has published 

 a detailed account (in Russian) of the Reptiles and Amphibians of the 

 country. 



Tadpoles Caught by Bladderwort.§ — W. Bath describes the capture 

 and imprisonment of small tadpoles by the bladders of Utricularia 

 vulgaris. Sometimes the head is caught at the " door," sometimes the 

 tail, sometimes the tadpole gets quite inside. The imprisoned animals 

 may live for some days inside the bladder. 



Meristic Variations in Toad.|j — Seitaro Goto describes some inte- 

 resting variations in the vertebral column of Bufo vulgaris, e.g. bifid 

 transverse processes of third vertebra ; fusion of seventh and eighth ; 

 sacrum formed by ninth vertebra on the right side, and by the ninth 

 and tenth on the left ; sacrum formed entirely by the tenth, the ninth 

 being small and fused to the tenth. He also reports the occurrence of 

 two spleens with separate arteries. 



Fossil Flying Fishes. 1 — 0. Abel describes under this title the 

 " ganoids," with large pectoral fins, occurring in the Trias of Austria, 

 Germany and Italy, e.g. Thoracopterus mederristi and Gigantopterus 

 telleri g. et sp. n., and Dollopterus (Dolichojrterus) volitans. There is a 

 marked convergence in shape and in pectoral fins to the modern Exo- 

 cwtus. A consideration of the so-called " flying fishes " of the chalk 

 {Chirothrix) leads the author to believe that they were inhabitants of 

 deep water, and did not use their fins for skimming through the air. 

 The whole question of the adaptation of fins for " flight " is discussed. 



* Journ. and Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, ii. (1906) pp. 69-72. 

 t Morph. Jahrb., xxxv. (1906) pp. 450-72 (3 pis.). 



X Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, xvii. (1905) pp. 1-517 (2 pis.). 

 § SB. Ges. Nat. Freunde Berlin, 1905, pp. 153-5 (2 figs.). 

 || Annot. Zool. Japon, v. (1906) pp. 267-81 (8 figs.). 



1 Jahrb. k.k. geol. Reichanst., lvi. (1906) pp. 1-88 (3 pis., 13 figs.). See also 

 Geol. Mag., Decade V., iii. No. 6 (1906) pp 271-2. 



