500 Miscellaneous. 



possessing great lustre and strength, and pronounced superior to 

 Japanese and all other silks, except the best Chinese, by competent 

 judges. 



The silk is unwound by a simple process perfected by Mr. Trouvelot, 

 each cocoon yielding about 1500 yards. This insect is very hardy, 

 being found throughout the Northern States and Canada, and, as 

 it feeds upon the leaves of oak, maple, willow, and other common 

 forest trees, may be reared easily in any part of the country. 



Mr. Trouvelot has gradually increased his stock from year to year, 

 by raising young from the eggs of the few individuals first captured, 

 until he has at present seven waggon-loads of cocoons, the entire 

 progeny of which he proposes to raise during the coming season. 



The thanks of the country are due to the ingenious and persevering 

 author of this successful attempt to introduce a new and interesting 

 field for industry and enterprise, which cannot fail to be a source of 

 profit to those who intelligently engage in it, and of increased wealth 

 and prosperity to the people, should it be developed to the extent 

 that now seems possible. 



The first public notice of his experiments with this insect was given 

 by Mr. Trouvelot at a meeting of the Institute of Technology, at 

 Boston, about a year ago, when he exhibited specimens of silk 

 manufactured from it, both natural-coloured and dyed. — SillimarCs 

 Journal, March 1865. 



On Viviparous Fishes of the Genus Hemirhamphus. 

 By Professor Peters. 



Whilst most of the Sharks and Rays, with the exception only of 

 the oviparous Scyllia and liajce, produce living young, the other 

 Fishes are usually oviparous. Exceptions to this rule are compara- 

 tively rare : according to extant observations, there are only, among 

 the Cataphracti, Sebastes viviparus, Kroyer (as observed by Kroyer); 

 among the Blennii, Zoarces viviparus, Linn. ; among the Cyprino- 

 dontes, the genera Anahleps and Poecilia (and Mollienisia); and the 

 whole of the Embiotocce. Dr. Jagor, however, has made the inter- 

 esting observation that certain species of the genus Hemirhamphus 

 are likewise viviparous — a genus which belongs to the family of 

 Scomberesoces, in the eggs of which Dr. Haeckel (Midler's Archiv, 

 1855, p. 23) has discovered a remarkable production of peculiar 

 fibres between the yelk and the vitelline membrane. The species in 

 which Dr. Jagor has discovered this mode of development are — 



1. Hemirhamphus fiuviatilis, Blkr. (Dermogenys pusilla, K.v. H.). 

 "Sept. 1858, Java, island of Nusa Kumbangau, from a limestone 

 cavity of the Beck Manundjaja ; fish with embryos." 



2. Hemirhamphus viviparus, n. sp. Pinna caudali convexa ; pinna 

 dorsali anali breviore, radio primo post radium primum analem in- 

 serto ; pinnis analibus post T 9 ^ longitudinis totalis insertis ; capite 

 dorsoque subplanis ; longitudine capitis -f-g longit. totalis sequali : 

 flavescens, nigro irroratus, rostri apice, lineis tribus a nucha ad pin- 

 nam dorsalem extensis, membrana inter radium primum et secundum 



