308 Miscellaneous. 



except a small one on the second true rib and a trace on the third, 

 is struthious enough. The pelvis looks, at first sight, but a few re- 

 moves from that of the Hen ; and in so much as it diflfers from the 

 pelvis of the Emeu or the Apteryx (which have very compressed 

 pelves, whilst this is broad and gently arched), in the same degree 

 does it approach that of the Fowl. The preacetabular spur of the 

 ilium is there ; but the postfemoral part of that bone looks as if it 

 had been pared away, leaving an enormous ischiadic notch, which is 

 a foramen in typical birds. The tail is a mere pretence (as Wagler's 

 term Nothura well expresses) ; the caudal vertebrae are therefore but 

 little better than those of an Ostrich. The strong legs leave us the 

 choice, at first sight, of referring them to either the Fowl or the 

 Ostrich ; and the heel, small and high up, is gallinaceous. But the 

 tarso-metatarsus, covered with transverse plates in front, has the 

 posterior two-thirds invested by an intensely strong imbrication of 

 horny scales ; thus adapting the leg of the bird to that odd sitting 

 position (about as elegant as that of the Ass in the first stage of the 

 erect posture) in which the Struthionida dehght." 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On Chlamyphorus. By Dr. Burmeister. 



Dr. Burmeister has sent from Buenos Ayres the description of a 

 second species of Chlamyphorus. He defines them thus : — 



1. Chlamyphorus truncatus. Minor, chlamyde dorsali lateribus 

 libere dependente, subtus cum artubus vellere moUi recto 

 subsericeo indutus ; Cauda thecaque anali perfecte cataphractae. 



Hab. Mendoza. 



2. Chlamyphorus retusus. Major, chlamyde dorsali lateralibus 



corporis adnata, subtus cum artubus intus vellere undulato, 

 sat lanuginoso indutus ; cauda thecaque anali imperfecte cata- 

 phractae. 

 Hab. Circa oppidum Stae. Crucis de la Sierra Bolivia. 



He gives three figures of the species. 



On the Action of Magenta upon Vegetable Tissue. 

 By J. G. Lynde, F.G.S., M. Inst. C.E. 



The author describes a series of experiments upon cuttings of 

 Vallisneria immersed in a solution of magenta in cells under the 

 microscope, and its effect upon the circulation in the plant. He 

 found that so long as the vital action continued, the cell-walls and 

 the moving chlorophyll retained their green colour, but the injured 

 cells were immediately deeply reddened, and their contents gradually 

 acquired the same colour, the intensity of which was in proportion 

 to the thickness or density of the tissue. Between the cell-walls it 

 would appear that there exists an intercellular membrane, devoid of 



