2,^. 



NATURE 



[^an. 17, 1878 



the corolla, (3) its excision,, (<:)los,s ofrcolour, (ci) closing, 

 (e) not opening, (/) absence of insects, (£■) reduction of 

 temperature, {/i) transportation. 5. Hij^hly self-fertile 

 forms may arise under cultivation. 6. Special adaptations 

 occur for self- fertilisation.. 7. Inconspicuous flowers are 

 highly self-fertile, 8. Cleistogamous flowers are always 

 self- fertilised. 9. Conservation of erergy in reduction of 

 pollen. 10. Relative fertility may equal or surpass that 

 of crossed plants. 11. It does not decrease in successive 

 generations. 12. It may increase, 13. Free from com- 

 petition self-fertilised plants equal the intercrossed ; (a) 

 as seedlings, (d) planted in open ground. 14. They may 

 gain no benefit from a cross from the same or a different 

 stock. 15. They are as healthy as the intercrossed. 16. 

 They may be much more productive than flowers depen- 

 dent upon insects, 17. Naturalised abroad they gain 

 great vigour; and (18) are the fittest to survive in the 

 struggle for life. 



Physiological Action of Nicotin. — About twenty 

 years ago the Rev. Prof Haughton called attention to the 

 fact that there was an antagonism between the actions of 

 nicotin and of strychnia. His experiments were on 

 frogs. About ten years afterwards Dr. Wormley experi- 

 mented in the same direction with cats ; and some five 

 years ago Dr. Reese performed a series of experiments 

 with these drugs on dogs. Not satisfied with the results of 

 any of these experimenters and recognising the great 

 importance of the subject, Dr. Haynes has made a long 

 series cf experiments on dogs, cats, rabbits, and rats, 

 and after some 143 experiments, has come to the follow- 

 ing conclusions : — " The recorded cases of strychnia 

 poisoning treated by tobacco are extremely unsatisfactory. 

 If they prove anything it is merely that tobacco is a 

 powerful emetic." " Haughton's experiments on this 

 subject (really only two in number) were performed in 

 such an unscientific manner as to be utterly valueless." 

 " Strychnia and nicotin are in no degree antagonistic 

 poisons." " Strychnia increases the convulsive action 

 and does not diminish the motor paralysis of nicotin," 

 " Nicotin (even in paralysing doses) increases the con- 

 vulsive action of strychnia." " Both poisons cause death 

 by paralysing the respiratory organs. They may affect 

 respiration in different ways, but the result is the same." 

 Animals may be killed by injecting together doses of the 

 two drugs which, singly, are not fatal. {Proccedinos of the 

 American Philosophical Society, vol. xvi.. No. 99.) 



Glassy Sponges,— Drs. W, Marshall and A, B, Meyer 

 have published a memoir, as one of a series cf communi- 

 cations to the Zoological Museum at Dresden, " on some 

 new or little-known sponges belonging to the Hexacti- 

 nellida^ found in the Philippines.'^ It seems but the 

 other day since one could have numbered on the fingers 

 of one hand all the known species of this family, so well 

 known to many by that beautiful typical form, the Venus's 

 flower-basket {Eitplectella), and now the number of 

 described species is very large. In 1872 one of the 

 authors (Dr, Meyer) was staying at Cebii one of the 

 Philippine group, where Eupiectella aspergillum is a 

 regular article of trade, quoted at so much a dozen, and 

 where it is not surprising that he should discover a 

 number of other lovely forms in this memoir described 

 and figured. Among the more interesting forms are the 

 following : — Hyalocmilos simplex^ MyUusia z Hie Hi, and 

 two species of Aulodictyon, all of these found living 

 attached to the basal portion of Eupiectella. Semperella 

 schultzei is figured of a natural size from a specimen 

 twenty-one inches in length, and figures of the spicules of 

 the various new species are also given, 



A Male Nurse,— The interest of the reproduction of 

 Batrachians is by no means yet exhausted. A Spanish 

 naturalist, Jimenez de la Espada, has recently discovered 

 additional facts respecting Rhinoderma darwinii (of 

 Chili), which was first made known by Mr. Darwin. 



He finds that the supposed viviparous birth of the young 

 from the female is a very different phenomenon. It is 

 the males which are the nurses, and they have an extra- 

 ordinary brood-sac, developed as a pouch from the throat, 

 and extending over a great portion of the ventral surface 

 of the animal. In this cavity a number of living tadpoles 

 were found, in number of individuals, and the length of 

 the tadpoles was about 14 mm. Plow these are first 

 developed and nourished is not yet known. Dr, J, W. 

 Spengel translates a portion of the Spanish paper in the 

 current number of the Zeitschrijt fiir wissettschaftliche 

 Zoologie, vol. xxix, part 4. 



Structure of Cycade.^.— E. Warming, of Copen- 

 hagen, publishes (in Danish with French abstract) some 

 fresh researches on this subject (" Recherches et Re- 

 marques sur les Cycadt^es," Copenhagen, 1877), He 

 confirms in general the results previously arrived at by 

 A. Braun and others, from the structure of the ovule and 

 seed, the pro-embryonic characters, the mode of forma- 

 tion of the pollen and pollen-plant, and of the growth of 

 the stem and roots, &c., that the Cycadeae are very nearly 

 allied to the Coniferai ; and in particular he places them 

 near to the Gingko {Salisbutia adianiifoUa). Among 

 Cryptogams he considers them to come nearest to 

 MarattiacejE and Ophioglossaceaa among Filicincce. He 

 proceeds then to discuss the homology of the ovule of 

 Phanerogams, on which he thinks the structure of that 

 of the Cycads — intermediate between Vascular Crypto- 

 gams and Angiosperms — throws much light. The pha- 

 nerogamic ovule he considers to be composed of two 

 parts, of diherent morphological origin, viz., a nucleus 

 which is homologous with the macrosporangium ; and 

 a lobe of the leaf which bears the nucleus, consisting 

 partly of the funiculus and partly of the integuments. 

 In Ani;iosperms the nucleus rests on the surface of the 

 leaf; in Gymnosperms it is partly imbedded in it. No 

 part of the ovule is of axial origin {caulonie). 



The Brain of a Fossil Mammal.— Prof. Cope has 

 been able to take a cast of the cranial cavity of a specie of 

 the Tapiroid genus Coryphodon, from the Wahsatch beds 

 of New Mexico. This has revealed remarkable primitive 

 characters : (i) the small size of the cerebellum ; (2) the 

 large size of the region of the corpora quadrigemina ; 

 (3) the cerebral hemispheres were small, and (4) the 

 olfactory lobes were very large. The medulla oblongata 

 is wider than the cerebral hemispheres. In profde the 

 brain closely resembles that of a lizard. These cha- 

 racters are so extraordinary that Prof. Cope considers 

 them sufficient to mark a primary division of mammalia, 

 which he, following Owen, calls Proiencephala. Prof. 

 Cope describes and gives figures of a cast, the skull 

 cavity, in the Proccedmgs of the American Philosophical 

 Society, vol. xvi,, No, 99. 



INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS' 



SINCE the appearance of Mr, Darwin's work on " In- 

 sectivorous Plants" the want of direct proof that the 

 plants profit by their carnivorous habits has been some- 

 what widely felt. Thus we find expressions to this effect 

 by MM. Cassimir de CandoUe, Cramer, Duchartre, 

 Duval-Jouve, Faivre, Goppert, E. Morren, Munk, Naudin, 

 W. Pfeffer, Schenk, &c,, &c. 



The assent which many naturalists have given to Mr. 

 Darwin's explanation of the meaning of the structure and 

 physiological properties of carnivorcius plants rests on a 

 sound basis, namely, the impoisibility of believing that 

 highly speciahsed organs are unimportant to their pos- 

 sessor, and the difficulty of giving any rational explana- 

 tion except the one proposed i» " Insectivorous Plants," 

 Mr, Darwin himself felt the desirableness of direct evi- 

 dence on this head, and the experiments intended to 



I From a paper " On the Nutrition oi Drosera roiundifolia," by Francis 

 Darwin, M.B , read before the Linnean Society, January 17, 1878. 



