Miscellaneous, 235 



lower part of the body. Pedicle long, and much dilated at base. 

 Colour light yellow. Found, in November 1867, attached to the 

 intestinal canal of Herhstia nodosa. 



The author remarks that the Sacculinidous parasite of C. mcenas, 

 after getting rid of its ova, has a very transparent envelope of a 

 light bluish colour. Through this the body of the parasite is visible, 

 shifted to the upper part of the envelope, close to the buccal orifice 

 and pedicle ; it is opaque, and of a yellow colour. After a time the 

 parasite dies, shrivels, and becomes detached, when its former posi- 

 tion is indicated only by a chitinous ring. From this, flat squamous 

 corneous pieces are seen to radiate towards the centre : these have 

 denticulated margins ; they leave at the centre an oval orifice, esta- 

 blishing the communication between the parasite and its victim. 

 These parts are probably moveable, and may, by rising or sinking, 

 alter the size of the orifice. In course of time all these traces of the 

 presence of the parasite become obliterated. — Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 5. 

 tome viii. pp. 377-381. 



On the Calamites and Fossil Equiseta. 

 By M. ScHiMPEK. 



M. Schimper has referred to the Equisetinese of the Carboniferous, 

 Triassic, and Jurassic periods, and has endeavoured to prove that 

 the Calamites ought to have their place in that group of vascular 

 Cryptogamia, not only because of the external and internal struc- 

 ture of the stem, but also because of their organs of fructification, 

 which show a great analogy with those of the Equiseta of the pre- 

 sent epoch. He has shown that the fossil spikes that were taken 

 for spikes of Calamites, and which are remarkable for their great 

 resemblance to the catkins of the Lycopodiacese, do not belong to 

 the Calamites, but to Annularia and Sphenophyllwm^ fossil genera 

 which establish the passage from the Equiseta to the Lycopodiacese. 



M. Schimper has also proved, by means of some fine specimens 

 and a number of drawings, that all the fossil trunks of the Bunter 

 Sandstone, of the Keuper, and of the Ehaetic strata, that had 

 been designated under the names of Calamites, belong to thegenus 

 Equisetum. 



The trunks of these gigantic Equiseta had a diameter of more 

 than 12 centimetres and a height of from 8 to 10 metres ; the 

 branches which adorned the higher parts of them, in the form of 

 a crown, were simple, and bore at their extremity a spike of the 

 size of a pigeon's eg^ and organized exactly like the spikes of our 

 living Equiseta. The subterranean rhizomes were well developed, 

 and gave origin, like those of many of our Equiseta, to tubercles 

 which had the form and size of a hen's egg. 



According to M. Schimper, Equisetum columnare (Brongn.), of the 

 Oolite of Scarborough, is specifically different from the homonymous 

 species of the Keuper. — Societe d^Hist. Nat. de Strasbourg, Feb. 5, 

 1868 ; Bihl. Univ. Aug. 15, 1868, Bull. Sci. pp. 325-326. 



