244 Miscellaneous. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Tabulae in the Stellate Venations of Stromatopora. 

 By H. J. Caetee, E.R.S. &c. 



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



Gentlemen, — On the 26th ult., under the kind guidance of my 

 friend Mr. Champernowne, E.G.S., of Dartington Hall, near Totnes, 

 I again went to " Pit-Park Quarry," which is in the " Devonian 

 Limestone " close by, where we found a block of that species of 

 Stromatopora, which, from its large venation, appears to me to have 

 been undescribed ; and on clearing it a piece split off, which ex- 

 posed a plane covered with its stellate venations, in which all the 

 calcite usually filling them in the fossilized condition had been 

 removed, so that they, in fact, presented the ccenenchyma just minus 

 the soft parts or ccenosarc which originally filled them. 



On examining these more closely after my return to this place, I 

 found that the larger portions of the branches of the stellate vena- 

 tions were traversed by tabula?. 



Thus at once it was proved that the Stromatopora? could not have 

 been sponges, and that they were Tabulate corals, like those in this 

 respect in the same bed, in which the latter, in great abundance, 

 are overgrown and enclosed by Stromatopora; throughout, so as 

 once to have formed one great reef-mass now decomposing into its 

 original elements. 



In a future communication I hope to describe and illustrate this 

 fact in connexion with the species of Stromatopora wherein it was 

 discovered. 



I am yours faithfully, 



Budleigh-Salterton, Heney J. Caetee. 



Aug. 7, 1880. 



On the Oviposition of Pleurodeles Waltlii. 

 By M. L. Vaillant. 



We have lately obtained in the menagerie of the Museum the 

 reproduction of a well-known (Jrodelous Batrachian, Pleurodeles 

 Waltlii, Michaeles, which, although belonging to the European 

 fauna, had not previously been investigated in this particular. 



In the month of May 1879 M. Desguez and I observed an altera- 

 tion in the form of the tail in the males of these animals ; the 

 membranous crests, both superior and inferior, were visibly more 

 developed. A little later we witnessed the actions preparatory to 

 copulation. These are of the most singular kind, and, while 

 reminding us of what is known of different Batrachians of the 

 same group, present peculiarities which it is important to indicate. 



The male places himself beneath the female, in such a way that 

 the upper part of his head answers to the gular region of the latter. 

 He then clasps the anterior linibs of his consort by raising his own ; 

 his foot passes successively behind, outside, and in front of the arm 

 of the other individual ; and finally the digits are inserted into the 



