484 Miscellaneous. 



sue and colour), was not disposed to give the environment much 

 weight. 



" One of the most singular of Darwin's conclusions " is, says 

 Mr. Syme, " that it is the female that selects the male, and not the 

 male tliat selects the female ; " yet on the next page we find that 

 " the female selects the handsomest and most valiant male : " further, 

 that the sexual struggle is not between the males, but " is rather a 

 struggle between the opposite sexes." Much that has been written 

 on this subject is purely conjectural. 



The following will probably be new to many : — " Butterflies put 

 up their wings and expose their underside to the action of the sun ; " 

 they " have their brilliant non-i)rctective tints on the upper surface 

 of their wings, while the underside is almost invariably protectively 

 coloured." Again, " when chased," we are told, " they suddenly 

 disappear by alighting on some object coloured like themselves, 

 whereby they escape observation, and so confident are they that 

 they remain motionless even when an enemy approaches within a 

 few inches of them." 



One of the objections to natural selection — unnoticed by 

 Mr. Syme, but not unnoticed by Darwin himself — is the diversity 

 of means for the same end. 



The fertilization of plants by insects is discussed at length. 

 Darwin believed that their relationship was mutually beneficial. 

 Mr. Syme, on the contrar}', asserts " that insects of all kinds are in 

 various ways destructive to ])lants," and he denies that flowers owe 

 their conspicuous colours to insects. 



There is no date and there is no index to this book, which only 

 consists of 164 pages. There are several misspellings — such as 

 " englossa" '■^Artimia," " straclnjs," " helliafolia," " decimination,'' 

 &c. ; printed in London, and the author probably in Melbourne, 

 may sufficiently account for such errors. !Xevertheloss we shall be 

 glad to see Mr. Syme again ; right or wrong, his book is undoubt- 

 edly suggestive. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Some Anatomical Characters of ITyperoodou rostratus. 

 By M. E.-L. liouviEK. 



I HAVE had the opportunity of studying, at the marine laboratory 

 of Saini-Vaast, a female JJi//hroo<h)n, measuring 7"-0 m. in length, 

 which had stranded on the beach near Eort de la llougue. 



The animal had a short lime ])reviously given birth to a young 

 one ; its mammic were full of milk, the internal organs of generation 



