226 Miscellaneous,' 



The heart in the Gadi, like that of osseous fishes in general, being 

 a venous heart, and, on the other hand, its ventricle and auricle being 

 always deprived of vessels with red blood, it follows necessarily that 

 the venous blood alone serves for the nutrition of muscular fibre, 

 and maintains the contractility of the latter. It is by the repeated 

 conflict of the venous blood and the muscular fibre that is produced 

 the double movement of assimilation and decomposition which con- 

 stitutes nutrition. We are convinced that the venous blood issuing 

 from the heart would furnish on analysis a somewhat higher pro- 

 portion of carbonic acid than that which enters the auricle, since the 

 blood driven into the branchial artery must contain in addition the 

 acid formed by the muscles of the auricle and ventricle in conse- 

 quence of their contraction. — Comptes Bendus, January 28th, 1867, 

 pp. 192-194. 



On a new Specimen o/" Telerpeton Elginense. 

 By Prof. T. H. Huxley, LL.D., F.R.S., V.P.G.S. 



The specimen which was described in this paper had been broken 

 into five pieces, exhibiting hollow casts of most of the bones of 

 Telerpeton Elginense. It is the property of Mr. James Grant of 

 Lossiemouth, and came from the reptiliferous beds of that locality, 

 along with some highly interesting fragments of Stagonolepis and 

 Hyper odapedon. The casts described by the author consisted of 

 impressions of the bones of the skull, together with the lower jaw 

 and the teeth, of most of the vertebrae and ribs, of the greater 

 portions of the pelvic and scapular arches, and of representatives of 

 most of the bones of the fore and hind limbs ; and it was stated that 

 the characters of all these portions of the skeleton indicated deci- 

 dedly Lacertilian affinities. 



In describing these remains. Professor Huxley discussed especially 

 the biconcave character of the vertebrae, the mode of implantation 

 of the teeth (which he believed to be Acrodont, and not Thecodont), 

 and the anomalous structure of the fifth digit of the hind foot (which 

 presents only two phalanges, a proximal and a terminal) — a structure 

 which differs from that of all known Lacertilian Reptiles, whether 

 recent or fossil. His researches had led him to conclude that the 

 animal is one of the Reptilia, and is devoid of the slightest indication 

 of affinity with the Amphibia. In all its characters it is decidedly 

 Saurian, and. accords with the suborder Kionocrania of the true 

 Lacertilia ; but the author had not been able to make sure that it 

 possessed a columella. He also remarked that the possession by 

 Telerpeton Elginense of vertebrae with concave articular faces does 

 not interfere with this view, as, although most recent Lacertilia have 

 concavo-convex vertebrae, biconcave vertebrae much more deeply 

 excavated than those of T. Elginense are met with among the exist- 

 ing Geckos. 



Professor Huxley in conclusion drew attention to the interesting 

 fact that Telerpeton presents not a single character approximating it 

 towards the type of the Permian Proterosauria, or the Triassic 



