390 Miscellaneous. 



opinion is erroneous. These fishes deposit their spawn at the surface 

 of the water, where the ova float throughout the whole of their deve- 

 lopment. The same naturalist has just made very similar observa- 

 tions upon various other species of fishes. He has ascertained, for 

 example, that the mackerel (^Scomber scombrus) lays its eggs at some 

 leagues from the shore and at the very surface of the waves, where 

 a great quantity of these fishes may often be met with engaged in 

 spawning. With the ova of the mackerel, M. Sars has found those 

 of six other species of fishes, one of which is the gurnard (Trigla 

 gurnardus). The ova of the mackerel, like those of the cod, present 

 at their superior pole a drop of oil, which diminishes their specific 

 gravity so as to enable them to float at the surface. This drop 

 remains during the whole period of evolution ; and even after exclu- 

 sion it is to be seen in the vitelline sac of the young fish. The 

 young mackerel are recognizable by a sulphur-yellow spot placed 

 behind the eye, which is still almost destitute of pigment. — Nyt 

 Magazin for Naturvid. 1866; Bihl. Univ. Bidl. Sci. 1868, p. 255. 



On the Name Alcyoncellum. By Dr. J. E. Gray, P.R.S. (fee. 



Dr. Bowerbank, in a late paper in the ' Proceedings of the Zoo- 

 logical Society,' 1868, p. 132, objects to my using Alcyoncellum for a 

 calcareous sponge. He observes, " From this quotation we should 

 naturally imagine that all preceding writers who have referred to 

 this genus, as founded by MM. Quoy and Gaimard, were wrong, and 

 that it was originally established by M. Blainville in his ' Man. d' Ac- 

 tin.,' published in 1834, instead of by MM. Quoy and Gaimard in 

 their ' Zoology of the Voyage of the Astrolabe,' published in 1830." I 

 need not quote the observations founded on this statement. The 

 law of priority, even, is liable to mislead unless writers who use 

 it are well acquainted with the history of the subject, and the books 

 written on it. The ' Manuel d'Actinologie ' is a reprint of the article 

 *' Zoophyte," published in the ' Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles,' 

 vol. Ix., and bears date 1830. And MM. Quoy and Gaimard published 

 four volumes of the text to the ' Voyage of the Astrolabe :' the first 

 volume bears the date 1830, as quoted by Dr. Bowerbank ; but the 

 fourth volume, which contains the account of Alcyoncellum, bears the 

 date 1834. So I use the name according to the " excellent and just 

 rules " to which Dr. Bowerbank refers. 



I admit that there is a great difiiculty on the subject. M. de 

 Blainville described and figured a calcareous sponge brought home 

 by MM. Quoy and Gaimard under the name Alcyoncellum gelatino- 

 sum ; it is a very curious Australian sponge, like many fossil species 

 found in the Eifel. MM. Quoy and Gaimard do not figure this sponge 

 in their ' Voyage,' but they figure a species of Venus's Plower-basket 

 {Euplectella), which is in the museum at Paris (a siliceous sponge not 

 bearing the slightest resemblance to the calcareous one), and call it 

 Alcyoncellum speciosum. In the text they quote the generic charac- 

 ter for Alcyoncellum from the article " Zoophyte " in the Diet. Sci. 

 Nat., and then describe under the specific name the siliceous sponge 



