Miscellaneous. 79 



considers the reading of the above paper as securing all rights to its 

 author that he might acquire by publication. 



" Mr. Grote's paper has been accepted by the Publication Com- 

 mittee of this Society for publication in its Bulletin. 

 " Yours respectfully, 



Leon F. Harvey, 

 Corresponding Secretary B.S.N. S." 



In characterizing this proceeding on the part of one of the 

 youngest publishing societies in the world we are forced to cull a 

 phrase from the slang dictionary ; it is simply the " cheekiest " 

 thing we ever remember to have seen. The use of legal phraseology 

 in the words which we have put in italics has quite a peculiar 

 charm, and will doubtless produce its due effect in causing ento- 

 mologists in all quarters of the world to avoid trespassing on those 

 unknown premises which have been formally handed over by '• these 

 Presents " to Mr. Grote by the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. 

 It seems hardly credible that experienced naturalists, such as Mr. 

 Grote at any rate is, should have even dreamed of adopting so 

 absurd a course as this. Another favourite American dodge of 

 printing descriptions of new species, with a date attached to them, 

 for private circulation and not for sale, is bad enough, but it must 

 yield the palm to the Buffalo invention. 



On Hylodes martinicensis and its Metamorphoses. By M. Bavay. 



The facts observed by M. Bavay display an exception in the deve- 

 lopment of the Batrachia which is perhaps more interesting than any 

 of those previously known. They relate to a tree-frog which, before 

 hatching, undergoes all the changes through which the tadpoles of 

 the Anura pass. 



Hylodes martinicensis, a very abundant species at Guadeloupe, 

 deposits, under the remains of leaves in very damp places, a mass of 

 about 20 eggs, each about 2 millims. in diameter at the moment of 

 its deposition. The chorion is then separated from the vitellus by a 

 very thin zone of gelatinous matter. 



As early as the second day after deposition this gelatinous matter 

 is observed to be swelled, and the lineaments of the embryo appear. 

 On the evening of the second day the embryo already appears as a 

 little white mass, widened at one end and furnished with four 

 appendages, which are the first traces of the feet. Beyond the base 

 of the posterior feet thei'e is the rudiment of a tail. The embryo is 

 endowed with a rotatory movement, duo, no doubt, to vibratile cilia, 

 which, however, M. Bavay was unable to detect. 



On the third day the forms become more distinctly marked ; the 

 tail is visible, as also two prominences which indicate the future 

 position of the eyes on the head. The heart appears a little before 

 the anterior feet. On each side of the neck two little processes (the 

 branchiae) make their appearance. 



On the fourth day the eyes are more developed ; the branchiae may 



