276 Miscellaneous. 



hatching) the embrj-onic development is completed, and already a 

 certain number of the j'oung fry venture to escape from under the 

 paternal eye. The male pursues the fugitives ; and a few jets of 

 pulverized air shot iu their direction soon bring them to reason and 

 convey them again to the surface of the water. It is not imtU. 

 about ten days after their birth that the father begins to abandon 

 them and leave them to wander at their own pleasure. 



Five hundred and twenty young Gouramis hatched in my esta- 

 blishment in the month of July last, and, measuring at present from 

 3 to centimetres in length, assure to us the definitive possession 

 of this interesting and curious species of fish, which, among other 

 advantages, possesses the faculty of spawning several times a year. — 

 Comptes Eendus, Dec. 4, 1876, p. lllit. 



Zoology of the * Challenger ' Expedition. 



Mr. Alexander Agassiz, in a letter to the editors of ' Silliman's 

 Journal' (dated Edinburgh, Dec. 18), states that he has found the ma- 

 terial a wonderful collection, and was deeply impressed by the great 

 amount of it, coming as it mainly does from the depths with which 

 we formerly associated the idea of a lifeless desert region. He also 

 gives the following information respecting the publication of the 

 results. " The Admiralty is to publish the results ; and the collec- 

 tions are to be worked up by sundry specialists : — AUman the Hydro- 

 zoa ; Busk the Polyzoa ; Dr. M'Intosh the Annehds ; Thomson him- 

 self the Crinoids and some of the Sponges, the balance of the latter 

 by 0. Schmidt : Hiickel the Eadiolaria ; Moseley, of the ' Challenger,' 

 the Polyps ; Murray, who was on the ' Challenger,' will work up 

 the deep-sea bottoms and surface animals (Foraminifera, &c.) ; 

 (iiinther the Fishes. Some of the groups are not yet determined 

 upon ; but the same persons who worked up the ' Porcupine ' species 

 will probably have charge of the 'Challenger' collection. Young 

 Carpenter will work up the Comatulae ; Lyman will have the Ophi- 

 urans ; and I shaU bring over with me the Echini, and perhaps some 

 other group of Echinoderms; so that the United States will have 

 their fair share of the work," 



Rate of Growth of Corals. 



A remarkable piece of coral, taken off the submarine cable near 

 Port Darwin, is spoken of by the ' Cocktown Herald.' It is of the 

 ordinary species, about five inches in height, six inches in diameter 

 at the top, and about two inches at the base. It is perfectly formed ; 

 and the base bears the distinct impression of the cable, and a few 

 fibres of the coir rope used as a sheath for the telegraphic wire still 

 adhering to it. As the cable has been laid only four years, it is evi- 

 dent that this specimen must have grown to its present height in 

 that time, which seems to prove that the growth of coral is much 

 more rapid than has been supposed. — Silliman's American Journal, 

 February 1877. 



