FEBRUARY 25, 1897 | 
NATURE 
403 
The vitellus (Fig. 6) does not fill the entire cavity of the inner 
capsule, but is surmounted by a layer of colourless, somewhat 
cloudy, viscid albumen which is massed up, as it were, at the 
two extremities of the egg. The yolk isof a rich brown colour, 
of very fluid consistency, and sub-translucent. The surface of 
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Fic 4.—Another egg of N. macromphalus, seen from above, with the 
longitudinal slit in the upper wall of the outer capsule widened out so 
as to expose the inner capsule.to view. 
the vitellus is quite smooth. The length of the inner capsule is 
about 26 mm., while that of the enclosed vitellus is 17 mm. 
I am not ina position to say much about the embryonic area 
at present, but I have observed an area pellucida about the 
lis 
Fic. 5.—Inner capsule of another egg to show the dorsal ridge along the 
dorsal suture (@ 5) with its anterior terminal prolongation, and the 
lateral suture (2s). oc, remains of outer capsule. 
middle of the lower surface of the vitellus in an egg which had 
been allowed to develop for twenty-four hours after being first 
seen. The large quantity of yolk points to the occurrence of a 
long period of incubation. 
Fic. 6.—The inner capsule of the same egg, seen from below (é.e. from the 
side directed towards the surface of attachment). Half the lower wall 
of the capsule has been removed by slitting along one of the lateral 
sutures, and along the median groove (mentioned in the text), to show 
the brown-coloured vitellus lying in the capsule. The continuity of 
the lateral sutures in front is well seen. The shaded area represents a 
depression which occurred in the wall of the inner capsule in the region 
of the area of attachment of the outer capsule. 
Sometimes the capsules of the egg are malformed, and, on 
opening such an egg, the vitellus is found to be already 
ruptured. , 
From the fact that in New Britain I obtained mature males of 
Nautilus pomPilius, carrying a spermatophore in the cephalic 
NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | 
| way as V. pomprliius does. 
| Island. 
region throughout the year, I came to the conclusion that the 
reproduction of nautilus took place all the year round. It now 
seems probable that the breeding of nautilus, as of so many 
other forms, is subject to a definite law of periodicity. 
Finally, it may be mentioned that 4. szacromphalus varies with 
regard to the position of the spadix on the right or left side, 
and also as to the origin of the siphuncular artery, in the same 
The male of WV. macromphalus carries 
a spermatophore in the same position as in WV. pompilzus ; and, 
in fact, the only essential difference between the two species 
that I know of at present, is the difference between the shells 
in the umbilical region. 
SIXTY VEARS OF SUBMARINE 
TELEGRAPHY. 
SIXTY years in sixty minutes—for thus Prof. Ayrton opened 
the lecture which he gave on Monday, the 15th inst., at 
the Imperial Institute. The undertaking seemed arduous, but, 
in reality, only the pioneer cables were dealt with, since later 
submarine telegraphy has no nistory—‘‘ Happy is the cable that 
has no history.” 
Another difficulty lay in the character of the audience; some 
were there knowing practically everything about telegraphy, 
while others were absolutely unfamiliar with the whole subject, 
except as regards the modern sixpenny wire. Prof. Ayrton, 
however, by a happy mixture of mathematics and magic lantern, 
electricity and elocution, seemed to entirely satisfy all classes 
among his audience. 
The lecture opened with a letter of W. F. Cooke’s, written 
in February 1837, in which he mentioned having seen Wheat- 
stone—‘‘ a music seller in Conduit-street, but an extraordinary 
fellow.” This acquaintance speedily ripened, for in the same 
year a partnership was formed between these two men, and the 
first telegraph line was constructed in this country ; they also 
began to consider the possibility of laying an insulated wire 
under water. : 
The actual date of the commencement 0. subaqueous tele- 
graphy seems, however, to be rather uncertain. Baron Schilling 
is said to have exploded mines under the Neva by means of an 
electric current as early as 1812, while it is certain that Colonel 
Pasley used this method to blow up the wreck of the Royal George 
at Spithead in 1838. But, as Prof. Ayrton pointed out, ‘‘it is to 
Morse that we can with certainty give the credit of having first 
used a wire under water insulated with india-rubber.” 
In 1842 this celebrated American inventor, then struggling 
in most dire poverty, laid with his own hands two miles of 
india-rubber coated wire between Castle Garden and Governor's 
In the morning he found his cable broken, but not be- 
fore he had successfully sent a series of the first subaqueous 
telegraphic messages. 
It was not until after the introduction of gutta-percha into 
this country that submarine telegraphy became of practical im- 
portance. Sir Wm. Siemens first recommended the use of this 
* wonderful stuff” for insulation purposes, and in 1847 the firm 
of Siemens and Haske began to coat wires with gutta-percha, by 
means of a machine on the macaroni principle. Shortly 
afterwards such cables were laid in the harbour at Kiel and in 
the Iudson. 
The history of submarine telegraphy, from a commercial 
standpoint, may be said to commence in June 1845, when Jacob 
Brett registered the General Oceanic Telegraph Company *<to 
form a connecting mode of communication by telegraphic means 
from the British Islands across the Atlantic Ocean to Nova 
Scotia and the Canadas, the Colonies, and Continental King- 
doms”—certainly a bold project in those early days. As in- 
dicating the electric conditions of those times, the lecturer here 
quoted an extract from the Weekly Kegister, describing the 
transmission of the Queen’s speech from London to Newcastle 
in 1847. ‘*The speech was sent by special engine to Rugby, 
and thence by electric telegraph . . . so that the time occupied 
in its transmission was the ¢zcredéby short period of 6 hours.” 
Certainly, our modern minds do have some difficulty in crediting 
the time taken in transmission, but it is not due to its amazing 
shortness. 
Meanwhile, Jacob Brett, together with his brother John 
Watkins Brett, applied to Sir Robert Peel for the purpose of 
obtaining a telegraphic monopoly ; but the answer was unsatis- 
factory. Two years later the brothers petitioned again, with 
