656 



of 1 molecule of bromide of triethylphosphonium and 1 molecule of 

 triethyl-vinyl-phosphonium, 



[(C 4 H 5 ) 6 (C 4 H 4 )"P 2 ]"Br 2 =[(C 4 H 5 ) 3 HP]Br+[(C 4 H 5 ) 3 (C 4 H 3 )P]Br; 

 I have endeavoured to split the latter in accordance with the above 

 equation, but without success. 



Triethylphosphine acts with energy upon the homologues of dibro- 

 mide of ethylene ; I have not yet examined, however, any of the pro- 

 ducts thus obtained. Mr. W. Valentin, to whom I am indebted for 

 much valuable assistance during my experiments, has found, more- 

 over, that triethylarsine unites with dibromide of ethylene. He has 

 not yet completed the investigation of the crystalline body which 

 is generated in this reaction. 



II. " On the Different Types in the Microscopic Structure of 

 the Skeleton of Osseous Fishes," By A. KOLLIKER, 

 Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the University of 

 Wiirzburg. Communicated by Dr. SHARPEY, Sec.R.S. 

 Received January 20, 1859. 



After having been occupied for several months with observations 

 on the minute structure of the bones of fishes, I now take the liberty 

 to present the results of my studies to the Royal Society. 



The principal fact which I have to mention is, that a great many 

 genera of osseous fishes possess no bone-corpuscles, radiated or fusi- 

 form, in their skeleton, and therefore no real osseous tissue. That 

 there exist fish-bones without bone-corpuscles must have been long 

 known in England to those who have collections of microscopic pre- 

 parations of the hard tissues of animals, as Owen, Tomes, Williamson, 

 Quekett, and others ; but nobody seems to have mentioned the fact 

 before Williamson, Quekett, Dr. Mettenheimer of Frankfort, and 

 myself*. In the year 1850 Professor Williamson pointed out the 

 absence of bone-corpuscles from the bones of the Cod, Haddock, 

 Perch, Plaice, Pike, and various other fish, distinguishing them in 



* Since this communication was read to the Society, Dr. Sharpey has directed 

 my attention to a statement by the late Professor J. Miiller, to the effect that 

 in the Pike and many other fish the bones are destitute of bone-corpuscles. 

 This statement occurs in Mutter's Annual Report of the progress of Anatomical 

 and Physiological Science in 1835, and is repeated in his addition to the work of 

 Miescher, " De Inflammations Ossiwn, eormnque Anatome General!," Berlin, 

 1830, p. 269. 



