Miscellaneous. 271 



lections — the Pecten Testes, of which the valves are marked with 

 verv fine strife and elegantly trellised. According to Filippi, this 

 shell is only met with at depths of 25 to 30 fathoms. "\\'ith these 

 three Acephalous Mollusks were associated two Gasteropods, which 

 are very rare in the locahties usually explored by zoologists : one of 

 these is Monodonta Umbata, the other Fusu^ lamellosiis. The latter 

 shell, which is remarkable for the fine striae traversing the whorls of 

 the spire, is extremely fresh : both contained the soft parts of the 

 animal, from which the author concludes that they must have lived 

 where they were found. 



The Corals found fixed at the great depth above mentioned are of 

 still greater interest. There were fourteen individuals, belonging to 

 three species of the family Turbinolidae. One of them appeared to 

 the author not to differ from Caryophyllia arcuata, a very rare spe- 

 cies, found fossil in the Upper Tertiary strata of Piedmont at Castel- 

 Arquato, and which has also been met with at Messina. Another 

 species, nearly allied to Caryophyllia clavus, for which the author 

 proposes the name of C. electrica, appears to be much more common 

 in the submarine valley in which the telegraphic cable rested ; for no 

 less than ten individuals of it were found, all hearing evident traces 

 of their having been developed upon it This species does not ap- 

 pear to differ from a small fossd Coral, of Pliocene age, found by 

 M. Deshayes at Douera, in Algeria. A third species, of which the 

 polypary is less than half an inch in height, does not enter into any 

 established genus : the author places it between the genera Cerato- 

 trochns and Sphenotrochus, and proposes to name it Thalassiotrochus 

 telegraphicvs. 



Besides the above, the portion of the cable examined gave attach- 

 ment to a small branch of Salicornaria farciminioides, to some Gor- 

 gonidae, and to two Serjmlai, the large calcareous tubes of which 

 were soldered to the iron wire for a considerable extent. 



In his concluding remarks, the author dwells not only upon the 

 fact that these animals, some of them of high organization, dwelling 

 permanently at such great depths, are for the most part either rare 

 in collections or quite unknown to naturahsts, but also upon the 

 circumstance that some of them are apparently identical with species 

 found in a fossil state in the most recent strata surrounding the basin 

 inhabited by them ; and hence infers that, by the investigation of the 

 deeper parts of the sea, we may probably add to the existing fauna 

 manv other species now regarded as extinct. — Comptes Rendus, 

 July 15, 1861, p. 88. 



Transmutation of Grasses. 



In the beginning of last year (Gard. Chron., p. 4) we drew attention 

 to some extraordinary results said to have been obtained by Prof. 

 Buckman in his cultivation of Grasses. He believed that he had 

 proved that in the course of cultivation Poa aquatica and Glyceria 

 Jluitans, two widely different species, lost their distinctions and became 

 identical ; that the same thing happened between the Fescues called 



