May 6, 1886] 
more occult (and therefore the chief) portion of it. Most of 
what had hithert» been discovered resulted from the casual 
visits of entomologists (not always trained to the subject). In 
Coleoptera alone he discovered about 430 species, of which 
nearly four-fifths appear to be strictly endemic, which is certainly 
noteworthy in considering the fauna of an insular group of vol- 
canic origin. The minority of more recent ‘‘ introductions” 
look largely in the direction of Western North America, with a 
sprinkling of Polynesian or Australian forms. The Rev. Mr. 
Blackburn’s Hawaiian discoveries in entomology have an im- 
portant bearing on the selection of naturalists to accompany 
exploring and other expeditions. A trained observer knows 
where and how to look, even if in doubt as to what he may 
find, and is always rewarded by new discoveries. An untrained 
han1 scampers over the country, and, with every desire to dis- 
tinzuish himself, comes back and complains of the barrenness 
of the land. 
VEGETABLE PARASITES OF CODF!ISH.—Some years ago Prof. 
Farlow called attention to the presence of a red fungus which 
was destructive to the dried codfish of the American fisheries 
(NATURE, vol. xxiii. p. 543). Since then Dr. E. Bertherand has 
given an account of poisoning which had occurred among the 
French troops at Algiers, caused, it was believed, by eating 
dried codfish, which had a vermilion hue owing to the presence 
of a fungus described by M. Mégnin in the Aevue Mycologigue 
(vol. vi. p. 114) as Contothectum bertherandi. Specimens of fish 
with the same colour were also met with at Bordeaux and Dieppe, 
these latter presumably from Newfoundland. it would appear 
probable that Mégnin’s fungus is the same as that originally de- 
scribed by Farlow as Clathrocystis rosco-persicina, Cohn.! In 
addition to this species, however, Farlow has described another 
parasitic form on the cod, Savcima morrhue, which name had to 
yield in priority to S. 2v/oradis of Poulsen, found on mud near 
Copenhagen, and which has lately been recognised by Saccardo 
and Berlese as occurring on codfish from Algiers. These 
botanists seem to think the Contothectum bertherandi identical 
with Sazcina litervalis, and this latter to be but a condition of 
Beggiatoa ro:co-persicina ; but although they are found in 
company Farlow sees no good reason to think they belong to 
the same species. It is curious the form should occur in regions 
so far apart as New England, Algiers, and salt-marsh mud in 
Denmark, and it suggests the idea that salt may be the means 
by which the disaster is spread, Still another species, called 
Oidiune morrhue by Farlow, by forming small brown spots on 
the surface of the dried codfish injures its sale, and has been 
found not only in New England, but also at Algiers.—(W. G, 
eee Bull. U.S. Fish Commission, i. p. 1, February 8, 
1886.) 
SUPERIMPOSED STAMENS.—Mr. Thomas Meehan suggests a 
new interpretation for the appearance of superimposed stamens. 
Stamens are by most, if not by all botanists, regarded as 
exogenous Jateral outgrowths from a caulome, in which latter 
there has normally been an arrest in its axial development. 
Stamens, however, occasionally will spring from the inner base 
of petals, and Mr. Meehan would account for this by taking the 
petal as the analogue of a leaf on an elongated branch, and the 
stamen as the development of an axial’ bud to the petal. 
‘Branching and articulated stamens are frequent in those 
families that have these organs springing as it were from an 
axial bud at the base of the petal, as in a diminution or sup- 
pressed secondary branch we might expect them to do.” In 
illustration of this idea Mr. Meehan refers to the flowers of 
Mahernia verticillata, Cav., a well-known Byttneriaceous plant 
from the Cape of Good Hope. The genus is separated from 
Hermannia chiefly by a cup-shaped gland at the middle of the 
stamen, A comparison with the axial development of the 
inflorescence shows the stamen to be formed on precisely the 
same plan, Mr. Meehan thinks, as the biflowered peduncle. 
‘This latter is simply a diminutive branchlet ; after forming one 
node the longitudinal development becomes nearly arrested, and 
there is a short pediceled flower, then the bud in the axil of 
the bracteolate leaflet pushes up and over this, giving rise to the 
longer-stalked flower. So in the development of the stamen, a 
bud arises in the axil of a petal, the common peduncle is repre- 
sented by the filament, and the cup-like gland at the middle 
stands for the bracteole of the bipedicels. Here one of the 
flower-buds wholly disappears, the innermost becomes the upper 
part of the filament, the real node may be at the connective, 
1 Bacterium rubescers, Lank. 
NATURE 17 
and then the theoretical floral leaves proceed to form the anther, 
The incised bract is reduced to the fiinged cup-like gland from 
which the stamen proper springs, and he concludes from a 
survey of the whole subject that in many cases superimposed 
stamens are the development of theoretical axial buds at the base 
of the petals, and not the result of an interposition of an extra 
whorl of leaves for which there seems no warrant in phyllotaxy. 
It will be seen that even on this explanation the true stamen is 
phyllomic ; the fact that foliage leaves often have stipules ought 
not, in a consideration of this interesting subject, to be over- 
looked. Mr. Meehan’s observations may throw some light on 
the herotaxy of the floral organs.—(Lroc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 
Philadelphia, 1886, p. 9). 
STRUCTURE OF I.INGULA PYRAMIDATA.—From a very im- 
portant memoir on the structure of this species by Dr. H. G. 
Beyer, we condense the following. In 1870, when Mr. Dall 
was studying the species of Lingula, he separated those species 
which he found provided with raised fulera for the attachment 
of certain muscles, forming a median septum or one or two 
divaricating septa on the other valve, and formed for them the 
genus Glottidia. All of the known species (four to six in 
number) are exclusively to be found in American waters, while 
not a single species of Lingula has been found to occur in 
America. While the true Lingulas are almost always attached 
to a fixed rock or stone, Glottidia attaches itself, if at all, only 
when adult, and usually to a very small pebble or bit of shell. 
As to the structure of the shell, the author confirms in great 
measure the observations of Gratiolet, but describes the cuticle 
as a thin homogeneous layer, and immediately beneath it, some- 
times aggregated in clusters, someti ues arranged in linear series, 
and at other times again irregularly scattered, he found a series 
of litde round bodies, staining with hematoxylin, homo- 
geneous, and without nuclei; these are regarded as homolo- 
gous if not analagous to the bodies occurring within the organic 
sepla in the shell of the Testicardine Brachiopods. Imme- 
diately adjacent to the cuticle and this layer of bodies comes a 
broad layer of horny substance and internally a thin calcareous 
layer, and these horny and calcareous layers alternate with each 
other in anumber varying with the age of the animal. Towaris 
the periphery the cuticle an! horny layer alone are found, and 
these join the supporting layer of the mantle margin. A very 
intimate structural relationship exists between the body-wall, the 
mantle, and the peduncle. It seems doubtful whether the struc- 
tures described by Vozt, Owen, Hancock, and others as muscle : 
are in reality muscular in character. All the true muscles are 
smooth muscle-fibres, but other so-called muscles seem to be 
rather mesenchymatous, supporting substance, lacking contrac- 
tility, but perhaps possessing elasticity. The author's observa- 
tions on the vascular system confirm rather the views of Shipley, 
Schulgin, and Morse than those of Hancock, and no central 
propelling organ over the posterior slope of the stomach was on 
transverse sections found. The number and division of the 
nervous ganglia indicated by Hancock for Waldheimia seem to be 
the same in Lingula, though Hancock’s views have lately been 
criticised by Van Bemmelen. Hancock’s details as to the re 
productive organs are in great measure confirmed. Three 
excellent plates of anatomical details a-company this memoir,— 
(‘* Studies from the Biological Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Uni- 
vers ty,” vol. lil. No. 5, March 1886.) 
THe Cuckoo,—In the note on the cuckoo in the Biological 
Notes of April 1 (p. 519, line 6 from bottom), Farwary was in- 
advertently printed for F27e. 
NOTE ON EARTHQUAKES IN CHINA* 
if HAD prepared for presentation to the Seismological Society 
of Japan a tabulated account of earthquakes that have been 
recorded in Chinese annals for the past thirty-seven cen- 
turies, but it was destroyed by fire during a riot last winter, 
and with the paper were destroyed also the works from which 
the seismic facts were derived. Perhaps, however, some general 
remarks which those records suggest may not be devoid of 
value. 
Nothing can be inferred anent the relative frequency and de- 
structiveness of earthquakes in ancient and modern times from 
Chinese history ; from the earliest recorded earthquakes of 
Mount Tai in Shantung 183t B.c. to the commencement of the 
1 Communicated to the Seismological Society of Japan by D. J 
Macgowan, M.D 
