252 



NATURE 



\_7uly i^, 1878 



acid — gives the corresponding ortho-amidophenylacetic 

 acid, 



ic\ PTlVCHg.COOH 



In a neutral solution this acid is changed into its anhy- 

 dride by the elimination of a molecule of water forming 



And here we leave the long names indicative of the struc- 

 tural composition of the compounds : for Prof. Baeyer 

 has found that this anhydride is identical with oxindol, 

 one of the derivatives of indigo. The next steps are to 

 introduce the nitroso group, NO, forming nitroso-oxindol, 



and to reduce this as before to amido-oxindol, 

 (F.) C.H.<(™(NH.).CO\ 



This compound, when oxidised with chloride of iron or 

 copper, or with nitrous acid, is changed entirely into 

 isatin, 



a substance resulting from the oxidation of indigo, which 

 already in 1870 Prof. Baeyer, by the action of phosphorus 

 trichloride, had changed back into indigo-blue, 



N.CgH^.CO.CH 



(H.) II II , 



N.CgH^.CO.CH 



by the union of two molecules and the elimination 

 of two atoms of oxygen. With this last transformation 

 the synthesis was completed. Although the operations 

 are too numerous and too costly to allow at present any 

 hope of the practical utilisation of this ingenious succes- 

 sion of reactions, the series presents still a remarkable 

 example of the possibilities in the hands of the organic 

 chemist, of the powers of combination requisite for the 

 successful pursuit of modern synthetical research, and of 

 the attractions which draw to this province the majority 

 of our leading chemists. T. H. N. 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES 



The Comet-Forms OF Star-Fishes. — Ernst Haeckel, 

 in a recent number of the Zeitsch. wiss. Zool. (1878, Sup- 

 plement 3), draws attention to these forms, and the sup- 

 port which the facts recently established as to the power 

 possessed by certain star-fishes of multiplying by throwing 

 off their arms, lends to his theory of the origin of the 

 Echinoderma by the continually increasing integration 

 or centralisation of a radially-connected colony of worm- 

 like persons. The phenomenon of self-division across 

 the disc has been observed in species of Asteracanthion 

 (Uraster) by Lutken and Kowalewsky ; the production of 

 comet-forms depends, however, on the separation of 

 single arms, which then reproduce the whole disc and 

 remaining arms by budding. Martens, in 1866, observed 

 this in the case of a Luidia (Ophidiaster) in the Red 

 Sea. Kowalewsky found that it was a common process 

 with similar species and same locality. Sars observed it 

 in Brisinga. Studer has described the regular occurrence 

 in Labidiaster of a spontaneous casting off of the arms, 

 but not the regeneration of disc and arms on the sepa- 

 rated arms. Sir John Dalyell observed the whole process 

 of reproduction of the disc on a single detached arm of 

 Asteracanthion {Uraste}') glacialis. The support which 

 these facts lend to the " Astrocormus " theory is not of 

 that value which Haeckel would assign to them, for such 

 physiological tests of morphological doctrine are neces- 

 sarily delusive. We have only to remember the facts as 



to cuttings and graftings in organisms generally in order 

 to see that no special argument can be based upon them 

 as to details of morphological composition. Haeckel 

 proposes to diride the Echinoderms or Estrellas as 

 follows : — 



Group I. — Protestrellas : Class I. Asteriae. 



Group II. — Anthestrellae : Class 2. Ophiuras ; Class 3. 



Crinoida. 

 Group III. — Thecestrellae : Class 4. Blastoida ; Class 5. 



Echinida ; Class 6. Holothuriae. 



The second and third groups have developed from the 

 first as diverging branches, whilst the Holothuriae are 

 modified descendants of Echinida. The resemblances 

 between Gephyrea and Holothurians are declared by 

 Haeckel to be entirely due to parallel adaptation (homo- 

 plasy), the pair of branched excretory organs of Bonellia, 

 &c., being totally unrelated to the dendriform water-lungs 

 of Holothurians, which are five in number in primitive 

 forms and agree with branched inter-radial coeca (not the 

 so-called "hepatic " coeca) of the intestine found in cer- 

 tain star-fishes (Archaster, Astropecten). E. R. L. 



The Transformations of Blister-Beetles. — Ac- 

 cording to Dr. C. V. Riley, who has studied these creatures 

 for some years, the young of all vesicants belonging to 

 the Meloidae, develop in the cells of honey-making bees, 

 first devouring Ihe ^^% of the bee and then the honey and 

 bee-bread. They are all remarkable for their hyper- 

 metamorphosis, passing through several larval stages. 

 The young Meloes are at first simple larvse called triun- 

 gulins, running actively about, climbing to flowers visited 

 by bees, to which they attach themselves. They have 

 stout thighs and claws, but feeble jaws. Only a few can 

 get attached to the proper bees, the others must perish. 

 Once in the cell the creature eats the bees' ^g^, and then 

 moults and assumes the second larval condition. In this 

 state it is clumsy and little locomotive, and feeds on the 

 honey store. It then becomes a pseudo-pupa, and later a 

 third larva within the partially-rent skin ; the true pupa 

 stage being still later. Another genus of the family is 

 Hornia, of which a remarkable species is found around 

 St. Louis, with the elytra and wings extremely reduced. 

 The Hornia resides mostly in the galleries oi Anthrophora 

 sponsa, out of which it can scarcely crawl. The hyper- 

 metamorphosis is of the same character as in Meloe 

 {Atnerican Naturalist, April). The genus Epicauta ex- 

 hibits a very parallel history. 



Curious Social Relations.— Stories about prairie 

 dogs, owls, and rattlesnakes are well known, but trust- 

 worthy scientific observations about them are not very 

 numerous. Mr. S. W. Williston {American Naturalist, 

 April) gives the results of several years personal observa- 

 tions. He says that prairie dogs can thrive even in the 

 dry scorched deserts of Southern Colorado, and the cold 

 bleak Laramie plains. They are very provident in 

 summer for winter, but yet emerge in spring much 

 reduced in plumpness. At the approach of danger 

 signals of distress are given, and when actually attacked 

 they get into their mounds with wonderful speed, escaping 

 beyond reach even when a rifle has scattered the brains 

 of the animal. The burrowing owl not unfrequently 

 occupies the same hole ; the prairie dog pays little 

 heed to it but tolerates it. The owls present a most 

 ridiculous appearance, standing during the day at the 

 entrance of their dwellings, in an attitude of the deepest 

 contemplation ; at the appearance of an intruder they 

 begin the most comical bowings and curtsies, and at last 

 with a cry like a watchman's rattle fly off to a neighbour- 

 ing mound. The rattlesnakes cannot be said to be 

 friendly with either of these creatures. Out of many 

 hundreds of rattlesnakes destroyed by Mr. Williston, a 

 number had devoured the young of the prairie dog, but 

 none the young owl. The occupancy of a burrow by a 



