298 



NATURE 



{Aug. 3, 1876 



bright yellow, with a spot of vermilion on the lower 

 throat. Hab. Basilan. 



Arachnothera dilutior, Sharpe, resembles A. longiros- 

 his, but is distinguishable by its brown lores and by the 

 ashy whitish colour of the entire under-surface, only the 

 flanks being slightly washed with sulphur-yellow ; pectoral 

 tufts orange-yellow. Hab. Palawan. 



DiccEum dorsale, Sharpe. Looking at first sight like 

 Prionochilus percussns, Temm. Blue-grey above with a 

 conspicuous dorsal patch of orange-scarlet ; underneath 

 orange, paler yellow on the throat and abdomen. Hab. 

 Palawan. 



Dicceum hypoleucu7n^ Sharpe, of the same group as D. 

 retrocinctum, Gould, but plainer coloured, being entirely 

 black above, and entirely white below {$). Hab. 

 Basilan. 



Dicceum hmnatostictuni, Sharpe, also of the same 

 group as the preceding. Black above, white below, the 

 centre of the body bright crimson, with a black band 

 across the fore-neck. Hab. Guimaras. 



R. BowDLER Sharpe 



SCIENCE IN GERMANY 

 {From a Gertnan Coi'respondent) 



CIENKOWSKY, who several years ago made some exceed- 

 ingly interesting communications on the low organisms 

 known as Monads {Archiv fiir Microscopische Anatomu, i. 1865), 

 has recently contributed more additional information regarding 

 them and allied organisms {ibid., xii. 1875). To the lowest 

 order of plants belong the Myxomycetes, which, in the complete 

 state, form protoplasmic nets, named plasmodia. Cienkowsky 

 found surh plasmodia in fresh water, which fed themselves by 

 suction of algse ; on passage into the resting state, they fell 

 asunder into several cysts, and (what is deserving of special 

 attention), by the release of small portions from their mass, pro- 

 duced amoeba, i.e., self-supporting individuals, which creep about 

 by means of pseudopodia, and which have hitherto been re- 

 garded as independent animal organisms. As this phenomenon 

 has also been observed in other plasmodia (Brefeld), it is not 

 improbable that very many amoeba do not represent independent 

 forms, but belong to the development cycle of other and plant- 

 like forms. CUiophrys infusionum, an organism which stands 

 very near the animals named Actinophrys, is transformed while 

 under the covering glass, into a swarmer (swarmspore), and 

 when several individuals are connected, or one enters on the 

 process of division, there arise as many s warmers as there were 

 parts. Through this formation of swarmers there appears 

 Heliozoa, which group belongs to the Actinophrys, closely 

 related to Monads, or those lowest organisms which have been 

 claimed both by zoologists and botanists as objects belonging to 

 them. Among the Monads, Cienkowsky observes various en- 

 cystments, divisions, and colony formations ; but the most 

 remarkable of such processes is that in Diplophrys stercorea, an 

 extremely small cell-like organism with a yellow spot, and 

 pseudopodia at two opposite ends of the body. These little 

 bodies, observed in moist horse-dung, multiply by division, and 

 form by union of pseudopodia, long strings in which separate 

 individuals can glide to and fro. In several of the organisms he 

 examined, Cienkowsky was able to observe the taking up of 

 solid food by suction of algte. Thus the boundary lines, which 

 it has so long been usual to draw between plant and animal 

 organisms, and between the individual groups of those lowest 

 forms of life, appear more and more illusory, and the supposition 

 is recommended of a common lowest kingdom of organisms, 

 that of Protista (Haeckel), out of which animals and plants have 

 by degrees been differentiated. 



The Amphioxus, that remarkable animal which, by its posi- 

 tion at the lower end of the series of vertebrates, is become 

 much better known, even among the laity, than most of the 

 other vertebrates, enjoys no less the continual attention of ana- 

 tomists. Among the various recent works which have had Am- 

 phioxus for their subject, one of the most comprehensive is that 

 of Langerhans {Archiv jiir Microsc. Anatomie, xii. 1875), from 

 which I take some generally interesting data. The Amphioxus, 

 it is known, is so indifferent in the fore-end of its body that 

 opinions as to the extent to which it is to be regarded as. a head, 

 and what parts of it are to be compared to the characteristic 



parts of the head in other vertebrates, are still ever at variance 

 with each other. Especially does the fore-end of the central 

 nerve system receive various explanations, and Langerhans has 

 set himself to determine more precisely its anatomical relations. 

 The entire central nerve-system is a regular tube which only at 

 the fore-end is somewhat enlarged. This part, therefore, has 

 been named the brain, but it has been compared now with this, 

 now with that, part of the brain of other vertebrates, according 

 to the determination of the nerve proceeding from it. Now 

 Langerhans shows that from the brain proceeds one pair, and 

 somewhat further back a second pair, of nerves, which are dis- 

 tinguished from all other peripheric nerves, in that some ganglion 

 cells are interposed in their course. They can only, therefore, 

 be denoted as special brain nerves. Further, there is the left 

 side extremity of the brain in front, the point of which is con- 

 nected with the olfactory cavity, and which, as a hollow pro- 

 longation of the brain, can only be compared to a bulbus olfac- 

 torius, while the pigment spot referred to as an organ of sight 

 lies also not outside of the brain (Hasse), but in its front wall 

 (W. Miiller). The fore-end, accordingly, of the central nerve- 

 system of the Amphioxus, as far as behind the roots of the second 

 nerve pair, is to be compared with the entire brain of other verte- 

 brates, not with separate parts of it. Further, of the two higher 

 organs of sense of the amphioxus, the organ of smell is allied to that 

 of other vertebrates, the organ of sight to that of the Ascidians, 

 whereby the relation between these latter, the Amphioxus, and 

 the vertebrates, is confirmed. As to the significance of the body- 

 cavity of Amphioxus, Langerhans is not yet very clear, and only 

 the history of development can give satisfactory information 

 regarding it. He found, however, that in this cavity lie not 

 only the organs of sex, but also excreting glands, which may be 

 regarded as kidneys ; so that the space appears, at least physio- 

 logically, as the ventral cavity. Those glands which F. 

 Miiller had already observed, occur in peculiar folds of the 

 epithelium of the ventral cavity, so that the excretion takes 

 place directly into this cavity ; a structure which is repeated at 

 least in the embryonal organs of excretion of Amphibia (Goette). 

 The sex organs of the Amphioxus are at first quite similar for 

 both sexes, and placed indifferently ; they arise from a thick- 

 walled bladder, composed of quite homogeneous cells in the wall 

 of the ventral cavity. At the time of sexual maturity, these 

 indifferent cells are transformed either into semen-forming 

 elements, spermatoblasts, or simply grow into eggs. Langerhans 

 met with both sexual products in the same organ, so that perfect 

 homology of these is established for Amphioxus, as Goette and 

 Semper have previously affirmed it for Amphibians and Sela- 

 chians ; and the hypothesis of hermaphroditism as the original 

 form of the sex organs must be rejected. After demonstrating 

 for some other organs and tissues, the agreement of the amphi- 

 oxus with other vertebrates, especially with Cyclostoma (and the 

 hitherto doubtful presence of blood-capillaries in the former is 

 confirmed), Langerhans comes to the conclusion that, in oppo- 

 sition to the view advocated by Semper, who disputes the 

 affinity of Amphioxus to the vertebrates, such an affinity appears 

 indubitable, from most of the anatomical relations. 



NOTES 



A NUMBER of highly interesting excursions has been arranged 

 in connection with the meeting of the French Association at 

 Clermont. One day will be devoted to a visit to the argent- 

 iferous lead-mines of Pontgibaud, the lavas of Volvic, the town 

 of Riom. There will be a second excursion to Issolre, " cele- 

 brated for its college and its caldrons," wrote Voltaire; there 

 will be a visit to the grottoes of Sonas on the same day. There 

 may also be a third excursion to Thiers, the cutlery and paper 

 manufactures of which are of interest. A last excursion, con- 

 sisting of a visit to the thermal stations of Mont-Dore, Bour- 

 boule, and St. Nectaire, has somewhat tried the ingenuity of the 

 local committee, as it will be difficult to get conveyances enough 

 to carry the members to these somewhat distant points. But no 

 doubt, as we said last week, the great attraction of this meeting 

 will be the inauguration of the observatory on Puy-de-D6me, 

 which amid many difficulties has been established by M. Alluard. 

 From the elevated summit, 1,480 metres, may be seen the fertile 

 Limagne, the hills of Forez, the peaks of Mont Dore, and all 



