March 14, 1878] 



NATURE 



38. 



A rc'sume is given of the remarkable works that have 

 appeared on the structure of the animals of this group in 

 England, Sweden, and Germany, as well as in France. 

 The interesting question of the part played by, as well as 

 of the origin of, the brown bodies \groddskaplar of 

 Nitsche) is very fully gone into. The specialist will know 

 what a subject of debate lies here. Hincks, our best 

 English authority, believing them to be special formations 

 elaborated from the substance of the polyp ; Claparede, 

 that they are products of secretion ; Nitsche that they 

 are only the remains of decaying polyps. With the last 

 of these views our author agrees : " Le corps brun est un 

 residu, le reste de la matiere qui constituait un polypide 

 apres que celui-ci a subi la dcsorganisation." The nature 

 of the nervous colonial system in the polyzoa is also in- 

 vestigated at full length, and M. Joliet feels compelled to 

 doubt if this so-called system merits this name. The 

 arguments for and against are too technical for us to 

 epitomise. The growth and development of several 

 species were specially investigated, and the entire memoir, 

 to which is appended a list of the species collected (74) 

 at Roscoff during the summers of 1876 and 1877, is well 

 worthy of the attention of all interested in the study of 

 these small but interesting polyps. It will be found in the 

 recently-published A?rhives de Zoologie Experimentale 

 (Tome 6, No. 2). 



Structure of Lingula. — Mr. E. Morse, Professor 

 of Zoology in the Imperial University of Tokio, Japan, 

 has discovered many facts quite new to science in the 

 life history of this interesting form of Brachiopods. Per- 

 haps the most important is his discovery of the auditory 

 capsules. In the species of Lingula investigated, their 

 position and general appearance recall those in certain 

 tubicolous annelids as figured by ClaparMe. He has also 

 cleared up many points in regard to their circulation, and 

 maintains the absence of anything like a pulsatory organ, 

 the circulation being entirely due to ciliary action.^ In 

 describing the habits of this species he mentions th^t, 

 while partially buried in the sand, the free border of the 

 pallial membranes join so as to leave but three large oval 

 openings, one in the centre and one on either side ; the 

 bristles then arrange themselves so as to form these 

 openings into funnels which arrest the mucous secretion 

 from the animal, and a continuous current is to be seen 

 passing down the side funnels and escaping by the central 

 one. They can bury themselves very quickly in the sand, 

 and the peduncle agglutinates a sand tube. Prof. Morse 

 exhibited specimens in Boston on December 19, 1877, 

 which had been brought living from Japan ; the water 

 had been only changed twice since August 19, and yet 

 none had died. Their viability, therefore, seemed to be 

 great. As Prof. Morse is now on his way back to his 

 professorial duties at Japan, he will have the opportunity 

 of still further prosecuting his researches into the struc- 

 ture and habits of these forms so interesting to both the 

 paleontologist and zoologist. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



New Guinea. — A recent number of // Movimento con- 

 tains a letter from the Italian traveller, D'Aloertis, dated 

 from Thursday Island, in Torres Straits, on January 8 

 last, in which some account is given of his last expedition 

 into New Guinea. Leaving Port Somerset on May 3, 

 1877, in his steam launch, Neva, it was not until the 21st 

 of that month that he succeeded in entering the cmboji- 

 chure of the Fly River, where he was well received by 

 the natives. But such was not the case when the Neva 

 had advanced a little further up the river, for on June i a 

 sudden and unprovoked attack was made on the vessel, 

 and one of the Chinese crew seriously wounded. These 

 attacks were frequently repeated during the further ascent 

 of the river, though always successfully repelled without 



' Semper has already fully demonstrated this fact. — F. P. W. 



casualties. In July and August, when far in the interior, 

 the expedition seems to have been unmolested, but on the 

 subsequent descent of the stream the banks were found 

 again beset by daring and hostile parties of warriors, 

 whose efforts to hinder the return of the expedition 

 brought on frequent skirmishes. Signor D'Albertis was 

 also much inconvenienced by the dissensions of his crew, 

 the greater part of whom deserted him, leaving only five 

 to manasje the vessel and to repel the attacks of 

 the natives. Two of these also left him on return- 

 ing to the mouth of the river, leaving him to accom- 

 plish the dangerous navigation of Torres Straits with 

 only the engineer and one sailor. Eventually, how- 

 ever, with aid received from the native teachers on 

 some of the islands in Torres Straits, he succeeded 

 in reaching Thursday Island — now the calling-place of 

 the Queensland mail steamers — on January 4 last. As 

 regards the results of the expedition no details are given 

 in this letter, but f om certain expressions employed it 

 would appear that gold in some quantity was obtained. 

 Of this we shall, no doubt, be duly informed before long, 

 as also of the zoological discoveries in which Signor 

 D'Albertis has on former occasions been so successful. 



New African Expedition. — It is rumoured that the 

 Council of the Royal Geographical Society are likely soon 

 to send out a new expedition for the exploration of Africa. 

 The region between Mombasa and Mount Kenia and 

 Victoria Nyanza is mentioned as the probable field of this 

 expedition. 



African Exploration. — Abbd Debaise, who intends 

 to cross Africa from Zanzibar to the Congo, has received a 

 credit of 100,000 francs from the French government. This 

 sum was voted to him on the proposal of M. Perrin, a radical 

 member, who was supported by M. Gambetta, the leader 

 of the Liberal party. The Abbd will leave Paris for 

 Marseilles in a few days, and thence proceed to Zanzibar. 

 He will be supported by the new Geographical Society 

 of Marseilles, and its president, M. Rambaud, the large 

 Zanzibar trader. News has lately been received in 

 Berlin from the African traveller. Dr. G. A. Fischer, 

 who has traversed since last autumn the tropical re- 

 gions lying opposite the island of Zanzibar. Despite 

 the hostility of the natives, he has succeeded in making a 

 large number of scientific observations, and has ijathered 

 a large collection of zoological specimens, which are now 

 on the way to Berlin. During the present month he 

 starts on a journey up the river Tana. 



Captain Elton. — We have already referred to the 

 great loss sustained by geography, by the death of this 

 energetic traveller in Ugogo ; he died of sunstroke, 

 Mr. Cotterill and Captain Elton had reached this place 

 from the north end of Lake Nyassa, the country tra- 

 versed being described as very interesting and new to 

 geography. They found the sources of the Ruaha, 

 Usanga, and other affluents of the Lufigi, the Myembe 

 tributary being specially worthy of notice. Mr. Cotterill's 

 narrative will be looked for with interest, as well as 

 Capt. Elton's diaries and map, which have been sent 

 home. The latter, at the time of his death, was H. VT, 

 Consul in Portuguese East Africa, and had done work in 

 various parts of the world. He had done good service in 

 helping to clear up the history of African Copal, the 

 produce of Trachylobucm Hornemafinium. 



Ancient Maps of Central Africa. — M. Richard 

 Cortambert, one of the librarians of the National Library 

 in Paris, has discovered in that establishment a gilt 

 globe, dated 1540, and showing apparently that the 

 course of the Congo was known then to have almost 

 the same direction as given to it by Mr, Stanley. 

 There has also been discovered in the public library 

 of Lyons a globe of 1701, on which are traced in detail 

 the geography of the sources of the Nile and Congo. 

 This globe is said to have been executed by the Fathers 



