Nov. 25, 1875] 



NATURE 



75 



theless, in some cases, as for example when it is desired 

 to obser\'e the spectrum of ferric solutions, it is preferable 

 to employ the original tube ; * for the flow of the liquid 

 causes solid particles to be given off, which tend to become 

 fixed in the electrode. 



SCIENCE IN GERMANY 

 {From a German Correspondent^ 



IN the twenty-fifth volume of the " Zeitschrirt fiir Wissen- 

 schaftliche Zoologie," just completed, Ehlers has given 

 some interesting conclusions with respect to the distribu- 

 tion of the Chastopoda which were collected during the 

 Porcupine expedition, by Messrs. Carpenter, Wyville 

 Thomson, and Gwj^n Jeffreys (" Beitragezur Kentniss der 

 vertical Verbreitung der Borstenwiirmer im Meere "). He 

 finds, in the first place, that of all Chaetopoda occurring 

 on the European coasts of the North Atlantic Ocean, 

 only two families show representatives in the greater sea- 

 depths at more than 300 fathoms, and he thinks, there- 

 fore, it is not certain that any forms belong exclusively 

 to the deep sea. Further, the conditions of temperature 

 of the water, as they determine the horizontal distribution 

 of Chaetopoda, seem also to be of influence with regard 

 to their vertical distribution, seeing the deeper layers of 

 water are also the colder. Accordingly the forms that 

 live in the cold deep sea of that zone of the Atlantic Ocean 

 correspond with those of the coast fauna of the Arctic 

 regions ; and Ehlers thinks that they might even have a 

 direct connection through currents which descend from 

 the Arctic regions to the depths of warmer marine zones. 

 It is also conceivable that the deep-sea forms, at a time 

 when those regions of the Atlantic were warmer than they 

 are now, were frequenters of the coast, and in proportion 

 as the Gulf Stream heated the upper layers, they retired 

 into the depths. For the most part they remain inferior 

 to their Arctic congeners, perhaps because the conditions 

 of existence in the depths are less favourable, and partly, 

 doubtless, on account of the lack of plant life, and also 

 the small amount of animal nutriment for the worms, 

 there provided. Though in the greater sea depths the 

 light is quite excluded, yet in the Chaetopoda found 

 there (with some rare exceptions) we miss neither the 

 colours nor the eyes, which are met with in coast re- 

 gions. Ehlers believes that these colours and eyes are 

 preserved in the lightless depths, in consequence of new 

 animals ever migrating down from the brighter layers of 

 water, and so preventing the disappearance of these body- 

 parts. There is, however, in the same " Zeitschrift " which 

 contains Ehlers' work, a paper by the physiologist Ranke, 

 on the eyes of leeches {Hirudo viedicinalis), which may 

 explain that phenomenon in the deep-sea Chaetopoda in 

 a different way (" Beitrage zur Lehre von der Uebergangs- 

 Sinnes-Organen "). Ranke, on the ground of his obser- 

 vations on living leeches, considers that their very simply 

 constructed eyes have also sensations of touch and taste ; 

 and, further, that they are not eyes proper, which, on 

 occasion, also ser\e other ends ; they are, rather, neutral 

 organs of sense, which can act in various directions, but in 

 no particular one so specially as sense organs more highly 

 organised, and therefore limited to one specific energy. 

 This appears partly from the fact that organs quite similar 

 to these so-called eyes on the head of the leech occur also 

 in the whole of the rest of its body, quite in the same 

 way as the so-called side organs of fishes and amphibia, 

 which probably afford sensations of touch. We might, 

 then, regard the eyes of the deep-sea Chaetopoda as simi- 

 lar indifferent organs of sense, which, even where light 

 fails, do not discontinue their functions. In an appendix 

 to his memoir, Ehlers further describes how the tube- 

 worms (Tubicola) construct their abodes. They use their 

 feelers only for seizing and holding the building materials, 

 • Se« " Anmles de Qiimie ct de Kiysique," Third Series, t iii., 1874. 



then press these to the mouth or side of the abdomen, where 

 they are coated with a cement secreted from numerous 

 skin-glands in these parts of the body. So prepared, 

 the piece has merely to be pressed on a firm bed, or the 

 edge of a tube already formed, and there it adheres. In 

 this way not only are new tubes constructed, but also any 

 damages are repaired. 



NOTES 



The following are the probable arrangements for the Royal 

 Institution Friday evening meetings before Easter 1S76 : — 

 Jan. 21, Prof. Tyndall, F.R.S. : The Optical Deportment of the 

 Atmosphere in relation to the Phenomena of Putrefaction. 

 Jan. 28, Prof. Huxley, F.R.S. : The Border Territory between 

 the Animal and the Vegetable Kingdoms. Feb. 4, W. H. Preece : 

 The Applications of Electricity to the Protection of Life on 

 Railways. Feb. 11, William Crookes, F.R.S. : The Mechani- 

 cal Action of Light. Feb. 18, Dr. C. William Siemens, F.R.S. : 

 The Action of Light on Selenium. Feb. 25, Lord Lindsay : 

 The Transit of Venus. March 3, Earl Stanhope, F.R.S. : 

 The Ancient Sun Worship, and the Remains of it in England. 

 March 10, Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S. : The Extinct Animals of 

 North America. March 17, Sir Henrj' Sumner Maine, K.C. S.I. : 

 The Later History of the Fief and Manor. March 24, Prof. O Jling, 

 F.R.S. (subject not announced.) March 31, Edward B. Tylor, 

 F. R. S. : Ordeals and Oaths. April 7, Prof. Jas. Dewar, F. R.S.E. : 

 The Physiological Action of Light, Part II. The following 

 lecture arrangements have been made : — Christmas Lectures 

 (adapted to a juvenile auditory) by Prof. Tyndall, F.R.S. : Six 

 lectures on Experimental Electricity. In this course the pheno- 

 mena of frictional electricity will be so illustrated and its prin- 

 ciples so explained as to enable the pupil to repeat the experi- 

 ments, and to pursue the subject further, at school or at home. 

 With this object in view the laws of the science will be eUcited from 

 facts obtained with the simplest apparatus. Prof. A. H. Garrod 

 Twelve lectures on the Classification of Vertebrated Animals. 

 Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S. ; Eight lectures on the Chemistry 

 of the Non-metallic Elements. Dr. W. Spottiswoode, Treas. 

 R. S. : Four lectures on Polarised Light. R. P. Pullan : Three 

 lectures on his Excavations in Asia Minor. W. T. Thiselton 

 Dyer : Four lectures on the Vegetable Kingdom ; the Boun- 

 daries and Connections of its Larger Groups. Prof. G. Croora 

 Robertson : Three lectures on the Human Senses. Edward 

 Dannreuther : Two lectures on Wagner and his Trilogy (with 

 pianoforte illustrations). 



The Stockholm Nya Dagligl Alltbanda of the 4th inst. 

 contains some account of the return voyage of the Proz'en from 

 the mouth of the Yenesei, after the departure of Nordenskjold. 

 The information is sent by Dr. Theel Kjellman, to whom, it 

 will be remembered, Nordenskjold gave over the command of 

 the Pr&ieti. The Proven left Dickson Harbour, at the mouth of 

 the Yenesei, on the 19th August, and set her course towards the 

 north-east part of Novaya Zemlya. On the 23rd August she 

 was found to be already in 75° 24' N. laL, and 66° 24' long. E. 

 from Greenwich, and so a little to the south of Cape Midden- 

 dorf, on the north-east coast of Novaya Zemlya. This peculiar 

 circumstance can only be explained by a very strong north- 

 westerly current going from the Ob and Yenesei out over 

 the Kara Sea. At Cape Middendorf, where ice was met with 

 which extended eastwards as far as the eye could reach, the 

 expedition was becalmed for six days. During this time a con- 

 siderable amount of dredging work was done, with abundant 

 results. That animal life is here uncommonly rich at the sea- 

 bottom may be inferred from the fact that when a swab was 

 allowed to remain in contact with the bottom for a few minutes 

 it was covered over with animals : sea-stars by hundreds, with 



