5 o5 



NA TURE 



[April 2, 1903 



from the proposal to segregate into entomological, 

 ornithological and other sections. Long may it live 

 and thrive, and continue to publish its interesting 

 proceedings, which we have just been enjoying. The 

 volume, ably edited by Prof. Korschelt, contains a 

 general introductory address by Prof. Chun ; a wel- 

 come from Prof. Hansen, as rector of the University 

 ■of Giessen ; a short reminiscence, by Prof. Spengel, of 

 the zoologists who have taught and wrought at 

 Giessen, e.g. Leuckart, Schneider and Ludwig; and 

 about sixteen papers, most of which impress us with 

 their general interest, their lucidity and their brevity. 



We may arrange the papers in groups :— (i) GEco- 

 Xogical.— Prof. A. Brauer gives an account of the so- 

 called " telescopic " eyes of some deep-sea fishes from 

 the Valdivia collection. These eyes tend to be tubular, 

 with wide pupil, reduced iris and very convex cornea. 

 They show a dimorphic retina, the main part at the back 

 of the eye being very different from the accessory part 

 (" Nebenretina "), which is usually medio-dorsal, near 

 the lens, and perhaps adapted for the perception of 

 more distant objects. Brauer notes that the adapta- 

 tions of the eye in these deep-sea fishes are all of the 

 plus and minus order; the eye is a very conservative 

 organ as regards essential architecture. Prof. J. 

 Vosseler gives an account of the protective adapta- 

 tions of North African Orthoptera, paying particular 

 attention to the odoriferous vesicle beneath the pro- 

 notum of CEdaleus nigrofasciatus and CE. senegalensis, 

 and to the blood-spraying apparatus between coxa and 

 trochanter on the legs of the Hetrodid Eugaster 

 guyoni. Dr. L. Reh discusses the importance of zoo- 

 logical study in regard to plant-protection. In a pro- 

 foundly interesting paper, E. Wasmann describes the 

 various adaptations (mimetic, symphilous, &c.) of the 

 Staphylinid guests of Doryline ants, the striking con- 

 vergence between some Neotropical and some Ethi- 

 opian myrmecophils, the particular case of Mimeciton 

 to which he awards, as he well may, " the palm of 

 mimicry," and the very suggestive occurrence of what 

 Jie calls exaggerated mimicry. In another paper, the 

 same author shows that the habit of rearing larva; of 

 Lomechusids (especially of Lomechusa strumosa) is 

 responsible for bringing about that strange pheno- 

 menon of inhibited female development (the thorax of a 

 female combined with the abdomen and size of a 

 worker) called pseudogyny. 



(2) Morphological.— Prof. C. Chun has traced the 

 development of the chromatophore of the octopus 

 Bolitasna from a small mononucleate cell, through 

 stages with 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 nuclei. There is a large 

 peculiar nucleus in the centre of the pigmented mass ; 

 the other smaller nuclei lie peripherally at the bases of 

 the contractile processes. The accompanying figures 

 are very striking. Prof. F. Vosseler finds that an 

 intestinal villus may have a slit-like apical aperture, 

 and sometimes a more lateral one in addition. The 

 stroma of the apical region is sometimes cleanly re- 

 tracted from the enveloping epithelium, so that a cap- 

 shaped space is left with some dibris and leucocytes. 

 Prof. R. Hesse shows that the truly optic, rod-possess- 

 ing cells of the Gasteropod retina may be with or with- 

 NO. 1744, VOL. 67] 



out pigment ; sometimes the optic cells are pigmented 

 while the indifferent cells are pigmented; sometimes 

 the converse occurs; and in the "Nebenretina" of 

 Limax there is no pigment at all. Grafin M. von 

 Linden describes in the pupa of Papilio podalirius fine 

 projecting hairs, connected through the chitinous 

 sheath, with nerve terminations lying outside the epi- 

 thelium of the body, which again are connected with 

 sub-epithelial nerve strands. 



Dr. B. Wandolleck figures the two-jointed styles of 

 the female of Lagria hirta, thus answering Verhoeff's 

 objection that styles cannot be truly appendicular be- 

 cause always unjointed. Prof. C. B. Klunzinger 

 describes Ptychodera erythraea, Spengel, an interest- 

 ing Enteropneust from the Red Sea, with very large 

 genital flanges (Flugel). Dr. J. Meisenheimer notes 

 the resemblances between the early development of 

 Ammothea echinata and that of many Entomostraca, 

 and also the resemblances between the " protonym- 

 phon " larva and the nauplius. He concludes that the 

 relationship between Pantopoda and Crustacea is much 

 closer than Dohrn would admit. Dr. F. Schmitt de- 

 scribes the gastrulation of double embryonic primordia 

 in the blastoderm of the trout, and shows that the 

 duplicity cannot be interpreted on the concrescence 

 theory without accessory hypotheses. 



(3) Physiological. — Dr. JL Jordan's experiments on 

 Astacus confirm the conclusion that the mid-gut gland, 

 besides secreting digestive juices, has a very important 

 absorptive function. It is physiologically, as well as 

 embryologically, just an evagination of the mid-gut. 



(4) /Etiological— Prof. W. J. Palacky revolts from 

 the zoogeographical regions of Sclater and Wallace, 

 and maintains that the useful task now is to take class 

 by class, and to correlate present distribution with all 

 that geology has to tell us of the past. Prof. H. 

 Simroth has a remarkable paper in which he applies 

 the " pendulation theory " to the problems of bio- 

 geography. In another paper Simroth excels himself 

 in bold speculation, but we are quite unable to follow 

 his elliptical argument, which, as might have been 

 expected from the ingenious author of " Die Entste- 

 hung der Landtiere," is a glorification of the evolu- 

 tionary advantages of terra firma. He seeks to show 

 that everything worth having, e.g. a head and a 

 vertebrated body, and striped muscles and sexual re- 

 production, must have been evolved on land. He 

 seems to derive the Sponges from terricolous Acoela, 

 and these form Infusorians, and so on until we land in 

 Probacteria and the organic matter which preceded 

 life.. It reads like a recrudescence of " Naturphilo- 

 sophie." J. Arthur Thomson. 



ANCIENT AND MODERN ENGINEERING. 

 Ancient and Modern Engineering and the Isthmian 

 Canal. By Prof. William H. Burr. Pp. xv + 473. 

 (New York : John Wiley and Sons ; London : Chap- 

 man and Hall, Ltd., 1902.) Price 14s. 6d. net. 

 PHIS is an English edition of a book published in 

 -*- America, and contains the outcome of six lectures 

 delivered at the Cooper Union in New York, under the 

 auspices of Columbia University. The first part deals 



