o. 
ae 
zi 
‘. 
440 Scientific Intelligence. 
the higher seats and performing for the sponge precisely the same 
functions that are exerted from Actinophrys Sol upwards, through every 
gradation of animal existence, to man and the rest of the. most elabo- 
rately constructed animals. This extraordinary substance, designated in 
Actinophrys Sol as sarcode by Kélliker, and in the higher animals 
known by anatomists as the mucous lining of the intestines, is apparently 
gan of very much more importance in the process of digestion than 
has been generally conceived. In the Spongiade there is every reason: 
to believe that the imbibition of the molecules by this substance is pre- 
cisely in the manner described by Kolliker in Actinophrys Sol,—and 
from the a of the mucous membranes of animals - of every 
class, the author feels persuaded that the mucous lining in such an 
= sal: the homoge of the sarcode in the Actinophrys Sol and in 
-_ Garis _— J. E. Gavir exhibited to the American Associa- 
tion at Albany a vase containing young gar-pikes 4 to 6 inches long from 
Lake Ontario, which called forth some remarks from Prof. Agas assi de The 
bratile motion. The vertebral column was continued in it quite to its 
extremity. These young fishes therefore were essentially indentical in 
their tails with the Palzeozoie species, and in one genus of the Old Red 
Sandstone, named Glypticus, as stated by Prof. Agassiz, the tail was simi- 
lar in the form of the lobes. This supernumerary lobe disappears as 
fish grows “ Prof. Agassiz observed that this was among the —_ 
facts which show that the order of succession of animals in past time 
coheed now in the development of individuals. He also remarked . 
t that these Ganoid fishes resemble reptiles in the power of moving 
the h head on the back bone (owing to the ball and socket aoe the 
vertebra), and in the quasi tail. 
IV. ASTRONOMY, 
f: ein Planets.—The number of asteroidal planets now known is 
Sorty-tw 
Har ioeide (40) was discovered Mch. 81, 1856, by Mr. Hermann Gold- 
schmidt, at Paris. In apparent brightness it equaled a star of the ¢ 0-1 Oth 
agnitude. 
The following elements of this planet . F. Pa 
Bi ie g is planet are computed by Mr. C. F. Pape, 
Epoch, 1856, safe i ae = . = 
Mean anomaly, 8’ 
Long. of eco . - oe 45 ‘ 3 . Eqnx. 
node, - 93 8 176 t Tan. 0, 1856. 
Sialination: - - ie Saas Xcel 
Angle of excentricity, — - ail iy sg © 
- Semi-axis major, - - 0°355603 
Log. mean daily motion, - 3°016603 
[Astr, Nach., No. 1022. 
