2i)8 Miscelhiiuviui. 



area, there was a Madreporarian fauna there which was sinp:ularly 

 like unto that which followed it, both as rofjards the shajx" of tho 

 forms and their genera. Still earlier, during the slow subsidence of 

 the great Upi)er Cretaceous deep-sea area, there was a coral-fauna 

 in the north and west of Europe, of which the existing is very re- 

 pret^entative. The simple forms ])rcdominatc in both faunas. Cari/o- 

 phi/llia is a dominant genus in either; and a branching Sifnhilia of 

 the old fauna is replaced in the present state of things by a branching 

 Lophohelid. The similarity of dcei)-sea coral-faunas might be carried 

 still further back in the world's history ; but it must be enough for 

 my purpose to assert the representative character and the homotaxis 

 of the rpi>er Cretaceous, the Tertiary, and the existing deep-sea 

 coral-fauiuis. This character is enhanced by the persistence of types ; 

 but still the representative faunas are separable by vast intervals of 

 time. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On PartJietiOflfuesis in Polistes gallica. By Prof. C. T. von Siebold. 



As long ago as 1858, Leuckart ascertained that tho workers in 

 societies of humble bees and wasps lay eggs, and that these eggs are 

 capable of development. Von Siebold has resumed these experiments 

 upon Polistes gallica. This wasp is peculiarly suitable for such in- 

 vestigations, because its nest consists of a single comb entirely 

 exposed. The comparative imperfcctncss of this nest allows the 

 observer to follow all the actions of its inhabitants and all the 

 phenomena which take place in its cells. Von Siebold succeeded 

 in fixing great numbers of colonics oi Polistes in places selected by 

 him. He even succeeded in making these nests moveable for the 

 purpose of experiment, without causing their inhaliitants to abandon 

 them. In this way he was able to observe hundreds of colonies of 

 Polistes from their origin to their extinction. 



One nest of Polistes suffices for an entire summer for a colony, 

 which it serves as a habitation and nursery. In the autumn all the 

 colonies perish, however numerous they may be. Everj- spring 

 isolated females give origin, each for itself, to new colonies. These 

 females were produced during the previous summer, which they 

 passed in a virgin state, and were fecundated by copulation in the 

 autumn before falling into their winter sleep. The spermatozoids 

 stored in the seminal receptacle are preserved in good condition 

 throughout the winter, and in spring fertilize the eggs as the de- 

 position of the latter goes on. Each of these females constructs for 

 itself a nest composed of a small number of cells, and l)usics itself at 

 first with oviposition, and then with the ])ringing up of the new 

 generation. The new individuals thus engendered arc, up to the 

 middle of summer, oxclusivcly females. The first of these individuals, 

 reared by isolated mothers, are females of very small size. Their 

 smallness is no doubt due to the circumstance that the mother, being 



