390 Miscellaneous. 
opinion is erroneous. These fishes deposit their spawn at the surface 
of the water, where the ova float throughout the whole of their deve- 
lopment. The same naturalist has just made very similar observa- 
tions upon various other species of fishes. He has ascertained, for 
example, that the mackerel (Scomber scombrus) lays its eggs at some 
leagues from the shore and at the very surface of the waves, where 
a great quantity of these fishes may often be met with engaged in 
spawning. With the ova of the mackerel, M. Sars has found those 
of six other species of fishes, one of which is the gurnard (T'rigla 
gurnardus). The ova of the mackerel, like those of the cod, present 
at their superior pole a drop of oil, which diminishes their specific 
gravity so as to enable them to float at the surface. This drop 
remains during the whole period of evolution’; and even after exclu- 
sion it is to be seen in the vitelline sac of the young fish. The 
young mackerel are recognizable by a sulphur-yellow spot placed 
behind the eye, which is still almost destitute of pigment.—WNyt 
Magazin for Naturvid. 1866; Bibl. Univ. Bull. Sci. 1868, p. 255. 
On the Name Alcyoncellum. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. ce. 
Dr. Bowerbank, in a late paper in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoo- 
logical Society,’ 1868, p. 132, objects to my using Aleyoncellum for a 
calcareous sponge. He observes, “ From this quotation we should 
naturally imagine that all preceding writers who have referred to 
this genus, as founded by MM. Quoy and Gaimard, were wrong, and 
that it was originally established by M. Blainyille in his ‘ Man. d’Ac- 
tin.,’ published in 1834, instead of by MM. Quoy and Gaimard in 
their ‘ Zoology of the Voyage of the Astrolabe,’ published in 1830.” I 
need not quote the observations founded on this statement. The 
law of priority, even, is liable to mislead unless writers who use 
it are well acquainted with the history of the subject, and the books 
written on it. The ‘Manuel d’Actinologie’ is a reprint of the article 
«« Zoophyte,” published in the ‘ Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles,’ 
vol. lx., and bears date 1830. And MM. Quoy and Gaimard published 
four volumes of the text to the ‘ Voyage of the Astrolabe :’ the first 
volume bears the date 1830, as quoted by Dr. Bowerbank ; but the 
fourth volume, which contains the account of Aleyoncellum, bears the 
date 1834. So I use the name according to the “ excellent and just 
rules” to which Dr. Bowerbank refers. 
I admit that there is a great difficulty on the subject. M. de 
Blainville described and figured a calcareous sponge brought home 
by MM. Quoy and Gaimard under the name Alcyoncellum gelatino- 
sum; it is a very curious Australian sponge, like many fossil species 
found in the Eifel. MM. Quoy and Gaimard do not figure this sponge 
in their ‘ Voyage,’ but they figure a species of Venus’s Flower-basket 
(Huplectella), which is in the museum at Paris (a siliceous sponge not 
bearing the shghtest resemblance to the calcareous one), and call it 
Aleyoncellum speciosum. In the text they quote the generic charac- 
ter for Aleyoncellum from the article ‘‘ Zoophyte” in the Dict. Sci. 
Nat., and then describe under the specific name the siliceous sponge 
