Miscellaneous. 495 



Mr. Seeley having published his view in the ' Eeader,' I concluded 

 that he would see my letter ; but I presume that he has not done so, 

 since, in his contribution to your last Number, he makes no reference 

 to the facts alleged in that letter. 



Let me add that, while there is identity between Mr. Seeley's 

 doctrine and my own, in so far as both ascribe the formation of bone 

 to tensions and pressures, there is but little community between our 

 interpretations of the physical process by which tensions and pressures 

 have produced their effects. 



Herbert Spencer. 



37, Queen's Gardens, Bayswater, 

 Nov. 8, 18G6. 



On the "Fulcrum" q/' Calamoichthys. 

 To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, — I shall feel obliged if you can find space in your 

 valuable Magazine for the following note. 



In the abstract of my paper on the new Ganoid Fish from Old 

 Calabar {Calamoichthys calabaricus), published in the 'Annals' for 

 August last (No. 104), the word fulcrum has been unfortunately 

 used, and may lead to a mistake. The anal fin is described as fol- 

 lows : — " anal (with fulcrum at base anteriorly) in male large, in 

 female small, &c." The fin has a triangularly shaped and thickened 

 portion, covered with scales, at the anterior base of the fin-rays ; 

 there are, however, no true fulcral scales or bones. The words 

 within parentheses had therefore better be deleted. A detailed descrip- 

 tion of the fish is published in the * Transactions of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh,' vol. xxiv. part 2. 



I am, Gentlemen, 



Your most obedient Servant, 

 John Alex. Smith. 



Edinburgh, Oct. 29, 1866. 



The Patagonian Finner. By Dr. Burmeister. 



In August last a large Finner "Whale was taken at the mouth of 

 the River Plata, which I thought might be a Sibbaldius ; but after 

 studying the body more exactly, I think it is the same as the Phy- 

 salus named P. Patachonicus in the Catalogue of Seals and Whales 

 in the British Museum. I have made a good drawing of the animal ; 

 but the skeleton is lost, because it was impossible to preserve such a 

 large animal, upwards of 58 feet long, without any assistance of 

 good workmen, who are entirely wanting in the locality. 



On the Phoceena comminiis of the North Sea. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 



Professor Lilljeborg writes to me that the Porpoise (Phoccena 

 communis) of the North Sea has " the front edges of the dorsal fin 



