76 Miscellaneous. 



bone is triangular, rather wider than long. The acromial process 

 is compressed, attenuated at the end, and bent outwards. 



The chief difierence between the mass of the cervical ver- 

 tebrae and the specimen in the Sydney Museum, according to 

 Mr. Kreift's photograph, is that the lower process of the axis in 

 that figure appears to be rather longer and narrower at the end. 



The mass of the cervical vertebrae in some respects resembles 

 that of Balcena mysticetus of the Arctic seas, but differs in 

 being much more united. It differs from Caperea and 

 Euhalcena in having the lower lateral process of the second 

 cervical vertebra well developed. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

 0)1 the Reproduction and Development of the Telescope-fish of 

 China. By M. Carbonnier. 

 The telescope-carp {Cyprinus macropjhthahnvs, Bloch ; in Chinese 

 Long-tsiny-ya) is a native of the fresh waters of China and Japan. Its 

 conformation is remarkably anomalous. Its body is globular ; its 

 caudal and anal fins are doubled ; its eyes project from two to five 

 centimetres from its head ; in fact the entire animal is the exact 

 model of those fishes, hitherto regarded as chimerical, that we meet 

 Avith in a great many Chinese paintings. This fish seems to me to 

 be a monstrous goldfish, a monster designedly produced by means of 

 processes of breeding (in which the Chinese are very clever), so 

 powerful that the original anomaly has now become hereditary. 



I have already, in goldfish, met with analogous partial monstro- 

 sities, especially the gemination of the caudal fin. M. G. Pouehet, 

 in a note presented to the Academy on the 30th May 1870, notices 

 a similar anomaly presented by two living specimens received by him 

 from China ; but hitherto, so far as I am aware, no one has had the 

 opportunity of studying the variety of carp which I caU telescope-fish. 



By the kindness of a relation, I received twenty-lour specimens, 

 aU presenting the same modifications of structure ; only three of 

 these died, the remainder have recovered sufficiently to allow me to 

 try to reproduce them since the first year. 



The globular form of the body of the animal renders its equilibrium 

 extremely unstable, and it can swim only with difficulty ; hence, 

 whilst its congener the goldfish efi'ects its spawning by rubbing itself 

 against aquatic plants, flexible bodies of Httle resistance, the 

 telescope-fish seeks a firmer point of support, opposing a direct 

 resistance to the impulse of the fins. It is at the bottom of the 

 water, on the ground, that it rubs its abdomen. 



While the female acts thus in oviposition, the males, which are 

 exceedingly ardent in fecundation, pursue her several together, push 

 her with their heads, turn her over and roU her over and over, in- 

 flicting upon her an actual punishment. 



Having deposited, in a basin containing 20 cubic metres of 

 water, four fishes belonging to a first lot, about a month afterwards 

 (on the 14th of September last) I saw the three males pursuing the 



