APRIL 1, 1897 | 
NATURE 
511 
temporary condition due to turgidity in the specimens 
observed, or the plates we see may be themselves con- 
nected with each other by a finer incrustation. Fig. 2, 
D, E, represents another Rhabdosphere with trumpet- 
shaped projections ; D, being an optical section, and ka 
surface view. We have hitherto been unable, partly 
from the rarity of the objects, to define microscopically 
the bed-plates to which the trumpets are attached, if 
such exist. The wall of the cell, probably composed of 
such plates, presents, in optical section, indications of 
their existence. At 2F there is shown the outer end of 
one of the trumpets. 
As to the cell-contents, we have been unable to dis- 
cover more than the existence of a granular material 
inside the Coccospheres and Rhabdospheres of both 
types—a granular material which, under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, no one would hesitate to call protoplasm. 
On decalcifying the Coccospheres with very dilute acid, 
there is left a small gelatinous-looking body which slowly 
swells up. There is no trace of colouring matter in our 
Fic. 2.—a, Coceosphere X 1300; 3, Rhabdosphere X goo; Cc, portion of the 
same X 1300; PD, Rhabdosphere of another type, in optical section, 
X 1900 ; E, the same, in surface view, x 1900; F, end of trumpet-shaped 
projection X 2500. 
specimens, and Dr. John Murray, who has seen them, 
tells us this is frequently the case with specimens 
examined immediately after capture. They all came 
from three fathoms, and not from the surface itself. It 
may be that the living, coloured cell is most abundant at 
the surface itself, and that our specimens are those which 
have already begun to sink. 
The importance of the part probably played by Cocco- 
spheres and Rhabdospheres in the economy of marine 
life entitles them to a large claim on our interest. They 
abound in regions of the ocean, out in blue water, and 
far away from coastal waters, where diatoms and Per7- 
diniee are comparatively scarce ; and here their occur- 
rence is in such plenty that their shells on sinking to the 
bottom constitute nearly 20 per cent. of some deep-sea 
deposits. Of a like geological history with the diatoms, 
first appearing in the ancient Cretaceous seas, Cocco- 
spheres and Rhabdospheres probably share with them, 
NO. I431,VOL. 55] 
with the Peridiniew and with the pelagic Oscillatorice, 
the 70/e of food providers to the animal life of the ocean. 
GEORGE MURRAY. 
V. H. BLACKMAN. 
M. ANTOINE THOMSON D ABBADIE. 
HE name of Abbadie has been long and honourably 
known in the history of science in France. Three 
brothers of the name have all played a worthy part in 
geography, in physics, or in ethnography, but the best 
known is the subject of this short note. The family, 
which is of ancient descent, appears to have temporarily 
left their home in the South of France at the time of the 
political troubles at the end of the last century, and to 
have’settled in Ireland, where, in 1810, Antoine d’Abaddie 
was born. On the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, 
his father returned to France, and it is entirely as a 
French man of science that Abbadie has won _ his 
reputation. 
At a time when travelling into and opening-up of the 
less known and inaccessible parts was not so commonas it 
has proved since, M. d’Abbadie’s tastes marked him out 
as an early explorer. His first journey was made to the 
Brazils, in 1835, underthe auspices of the French Academy ; 
and on his return from South America he started, in 1837, 
in company with his brother Michel, for Ethiopia, as it 
was then known. In Abyssinia and in Central Africa 
the two brothers made a prolonged stay, returning to 
France in 1848, and their ethnographic and linguistic 
studies had much interest at the time. The principal 
results of the voyage were communicated to the French 
Geographical Society, and were published under the title 
“Notes sur le haut fleuve Blanc,” 1849. The early date 
at which this exploration was made is of equal importance 
with the results gathered. If the accuracy of some of 
these results has been questioned, they at least indicated 
the necessity for further investigation. The journeys of 
Richardson and Barth were some years later. Burton 
and Speke began their travels in 1853. Livingstone re- 
turned to this country with his first results in 1856; so 
that M. d’Abbadie is certainly entitled to be remembered 
as a pioneer in African research. 
Though M. d’Abbadie gave much attention to linguistic 
| work, he applied himself to astronomical pursuits with 
some eagerness. 
In 1857, he visited Norway, with the 
view of observing the total solar eclipse of that year. 
The point to which he directed his attention was the 
examination of the light of the solar prominences for the 
detection of polarisation. With the view of still further 
satisfying himself on this point, he took advantage of the 
eclipse of 1860 to go to Spain, where, accompanied by 
| M. Petit, of the Toulouse Observatory, he made some 
further observations at Briviesca. Observing with a 
quartz plate and double-image prism of small angle of 
separation, no trace of polarisation was detected. The 
account is given in the 4s¢. Vach., No. 1290. Later, in 
1882, and notwithstanding his advanced age, M. d’Abbadie 
took charge of one of the French stations selected for 
the observation of the transit of Venus. The position 
occupied was at Port au Prince, in Saint Domingo, a 
station well adapted for observing the effects of both 
retarded ingress and accelerated egress. The observa- 
tions were successful. 
M. d’Abbadie was elected Chevalier of the Legion of 
Honour in 1850, and became Member of the Academy 
in 1897. He has occupied a seat at the Board of Longi- 
tude since 1878. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal 
Astronomical Society so recently as 1895, his interest in 
astronomy having probably quickened in the later years 
of his life. ‘This is shown by the disposition of his pro- 
perty, which is handed over to the Academy of Sciences 
on the condition that the Society publishes a catalogue 
of half a million of stars within the next fifty years. 
