7 
May 15, 1873] 
NATURE 
53 
building annelid, evidently formed out of the gritty matter 
which occurs, though sparingly, in the clay. The tubes 
with their contents were handed over to Dr. v. Willemoes- 
Suhm, who found the worms to belong to the family 
Ammocharidz (Claparéde and Malmgren), closely allied 
to the Maldania or Clymenidz, all of which build tubes 
of sand or mud. The largest specimens dredged are 120 
mm. in length by 2 mm. in width. The head is rounded, 
with a lateral mouth. There is no trace of cephalic 
branchiz. The segments are not divided from one 
another ; but the forz wucinigeri, which are occupied by 
the hair-like setze, and the elevations bearing small wcinz, 
indicate the beginning of a new segment. 
There is no doubt that this annelid is closely allied to 
the genus Owevnza, but it differs from it in the absence of 
cephalic branchiz. Malmgren, has, however, already 
proposed the name of AZyriochele for a form in which this 
absence of branchiz occurs. The description of the 
northern form on which Malmgren’s genus is founded is 
not at hand, so that it is impossible in the meantime to 
determine whether the two forms are identical or specifi- 
cally distinct. 
As bearing upon some of the most important of the 
broad questions which it is our great object to solve, I do 
not see that any capture which we could have made could 
have been more important and more conclusive than that 
of this annelid. The depth was 2,975, practically 3,000, 
fathoms—a depth which does not appear to be greatly 
exceeded in any part of the ocean. ‘The nature of the 
bottom, which consists of a smooth red clay with a few 
scattered sand grains and a very small number of fora- 
minifera shells, was very unfavourable to higher animal 
life, and yet this creature, which is closely related to the 
Clymenidz, a well-known shallow-water group of high 
organisation, is abundant and fully developed. It is 
fortunate in possessing such attributes as to make it im- 
possible even to suppose that it may have been taken 
during the passage of the dredge to the surface, or have 
entered the dredge-bag in any other illegitimate way ; 
and its physiognomy and habits are the same as those of 
allied forms from moderate depths. It affords, in fact, 
conclusive proof that the conditions of the bottom of the 
sea to all depths are not only such as to admit of the 
existence of animal life, but are such as to allow of the 
unlimited extension of the distribution of animals high 
in the zoological series, and closely in relation with the 
characteristic faunze of shallower zones. 
On Thursday the 13th our position at noon was lat. 18° 
54 N., long. 61° 28’ W. 
On the forenoon of the 14th we were still 35 miles from 
land, and we sounded in 1,420 fathoms. The bottom 
had altered greatly in character: it now consisted chiefly 
‘of calcareous foraminifera of many species, mixed with a 
considerable portion of the broken spicules of siliceous 
sponges. The bottom temperature registered was 3° C. 
The water-bottle was accidentally broken in taking in, so 
that that observation was lost. As we were now within 
sight of land, and all our results were evidently modified 
by its immediate proximity, we regarded our first deep-sea 
section as completed. WYVILLE THOMSON 
A MODERN STERNBERGIA 
At a time when botanists of some repute are not 
ashamed to confess their inability to deduce satis- 
factory characters for the determination of plants from their 
internal anatomy, old workers in this field may well turn 
back to refresh their memories on such points, and to in- 
quire whether their eyes may not have deceived them in the 
investigations of former years when microscopes were not 
what they now are. In doing this a few days ago in con- 
nection with the examination of a carboniferous conifer, I 
was surprised to find that I had overlooked or omitted to 
note the fact that the Balsam Fir of Canada (Adzes Lal- 
samea), which affords the well-known Canada-balsam, has 
that curious structure of pith well known in Palzeozoic Co- 
nifers, and which has been named Sterndergia. It is well 
seen in young twigs one or two years old, and though on 
a smaller scale, is very similar to that of Dadoxylon mate- 
riarium of the upper coal-formation of Nova Scotia and 
Prince Edward Island, as I have figured this in my recent 
report on the geology of the latter province. 
This modern Sternbergia is not produced by the mere 
breaking of the cellular tissue transversely by elongation 
of the fibre ; but, as I pointed out many years ago in the 
case of the coal-formation Sternbergiz,* is a true organic 
partitioning of the pith by diaphragms of denser cells 
opposite the nodes, as in Cecropia pellata, and some 
species of Ficus, &c. The pith of the Balsam Fir is, like 
that of many other conifers, composed of dotted or trans- 
versely marked cells elongated vertically, and reminding 
one of the pseudo-vascular pith of some Lepidodendroid 
trees. The transverse diaphragms are composed of denser 
cells flattened horizontally, and they are, as in Sternbergia, 
accompanied by constrictions of the medullary cylinder. 
As in some fossil conifers, the diaphragms are not per- 
fectly continuous. 
The plan of growth of the modern fir does not permit its 
pith to increase in diameter. This was different in the 
Palzozoic conifers, in which the Sternbergia pith is 
sometimes nearly two inches in diameter. 
In Palzozoic, as in modern times, Sternbergia piths 
were not confined to one family of trees. Corda has 
shown this structure in Lomatophloios, which is equiva- 
lent to Lepidophloios or Ulodendron. 1 have shown that 
it exists in several species of Lepidodendroid and Sigilla- 
roid trees and in Leftophleum.+ Williamson, who first 
established it in the Conifers, has also found it in Décty- 
oxylon. Still I have nowhere found these remarkable 
fossils so abundant as in the upper coal-formation, and 
either in the interior of calcified or silicified trunks of pine 
or with fragments of wood attached to them sufficient to 
indicate their coniferous character. 
I may add, that the microscopic structure of young 
twigs of modern conifers presents many interesting points 
for comparison with fossil trees, and that in making lon- 
gitudinal slices of the pith of recent specimens, care 
should be taken not to be misled by the mere crumpling 
of the celiular tissue sometimes caused by the pressure of 
the knife. J. W. Dawson 
NOTES 
ProressoR Carus, the well-known naturalist of Leipsic 
University, who is to fill Professor Wyville Thomson’s chair 
during the absence of the latter with the Cha//enger, commenced 
his duties on May 2 last, by an able and eloquent address on the 
study of zoology. He is fully convinced that ‘‘ the final form 
of our (zoological) system will be a pedigree.” i 
THE Challenger arrived at Halifax on May 9, all well. She 
had a successful passage from Bermuda, the dredgings and 
soundings being very satisfactory. On the 18th inst. she will 
leave this port on a return voyage to Bermuda. 
WITH great regret we record the death of Mr. John Stuart 
Mill, at the age of 67 years, on May 8, at Avignon, from asudden 
attack of erysipelas, which cut him off in four days. He has 
been buried beside his wife at Avignon. A meeting of the friends 
of Mr. Mill has been convened, at Willis’s Rooms, for Tuesday, 
2oth inst., to consider in what manner the national respect for 
his memory may be most fittingly testified. 
A CoMMITTEE for the erection of a monument to Liebig has 
been constituted at Munich. Councillor yon Niethammer is the 
chairman, Prof. Von Bischoff the vice-chairman, and Professors 
* Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, 1857. 
+ Jou-na! ef the Geologica! Society, May 1878. 
