The Zoologist — Jdly, 1873. 3591 



of teelh amongst fishes, have retreated into the vascular pulp. 

 Around the outside of such part of the dentine as is not covered 

 by enamel there is a layer of bone-substance containing plenty 

 of calcigerous cells : this layer is called the cementum. This 

 cementum surrounds the fang in those teeth which are thus 

 attached to the jaw, and no doubt, by its highly vital character, 

 plays an important part in maintaining the life of the tooth, and 

 by its plastic nature perhaps helps to accommodate the fitting of 

 fang and socket together. 



We see, then, that teeth such as those found in the dog, 

 thylacine, wombats and rodents, are organs of an exceedingly high 

 order of organic construction, and that there is an exceedingly 

 close resemblance between them respectively, i. e. between thyla- 

 cines and dogs, between wombats and some rodents. How can 

 this be reconciled by Darwinists with their theory ? 



Francis Hancock Balkwill. 



13, Princess Square, Plymouth. 



Large Squid exhihited in Japan. By H. Pryer, Esq. 



Communicated by Percy C. Wormald, Esq. 



A FEW days ago, hearing from a friend that the Japanese were 

 exhibiting an immense cuttle-fish, I despatched my boy to make 

 enquiries. Hearing from him that it was really a wonderful thing, 

 and worth going to see, I put a foot-rule in my pocket and started 

 off for the place. I have been once or twice deceived by accounts 

 of extraordinary beasts being exhibited in the native town. Some 

 little time ago several Japanese came and told me that there was a 

 strange animal on exhibition, so strange that they could not even 

 describe it or make a drawing of it. Upon examination it proved 

 to be a rather undersized porcupine, which they had imported, 

 they said, from France; but I expect it came from America, 

 France and America being pretty much the same, frOm a Japanese 

 point of view: they are all " ketoisars," i.e. hairy fools from far 

 countries. So this time I went without any very great expectations, 

 though rumour made the cuttle-fish twenty-two feet long, and 

 I should not have been surprised to find it only two feet or 

 thereabouts. 



The Japanese placard or handbill consisted of a rough sketch of 

 the cuttle-fish and the following in Japanese characters : — " This 



