Dec. 20, 1883] 



NA TURE 



189 



higher animals. M. H. GoU of Lausanne, presented a contri- 

 bution to the natural hi tory of the sedentary nnd migratory 

 coregones of Lake Neujhatel. Memoirs were received on the 

 Arachnidce of Switzerland by Prof. Pavesi of Pavia ; on ihe 

 fauna of Guatemala, by Dr. Otto Stoll of Zurich ; on some 

 new species of Medusae from the Red Sea, by Dr. Keller of 

 Zurich ; on the Pela-gio fauna of the Swiss lakes, by Dr. Othmar- 

 Emile Tmhof of Zurich ; and on the influence of the physico- 

 chemical environments on ihe devel-pment of the tadp le of the 

 edible frog, by M. E. Vnng of Geneva. From experiments 

 made by mixing marine salt in various proportions with the 

 natural freshwater element, M. Yung arrived at the conclusi' n 

 that, the mure saline the water, the slower is the development 

 of the tadpole, all transformations ceasing in solutions nf 9/1000, 

 and death foil 'wing in a few hours in solutions of 10/1000, 



In the Botanical Section, Prof. Cremer, president, valuable 

 memoirs w-re received from Prof. O. Heer of Zurich, on the 

 Glacial flora of Switzerland, and on the fossil flora of 

 Greenland. These were the last page< contributed to science 

 by the distinguished savant, who had scarcely finished the 

 revisal of the proofs when he died suddenly at Lau- 

 sanne, on September 27. A series of hybrids between the 

 Primula auricula and Primula viscosa, showing an uninterrupted 

 series of forms intermediate between these t«o specie^, was 

 exhibited by Prof. Favart of Lausanne. He also showed that 

 the Cardamine fossicola, Godet, hitherto classed with the C. 

 pratennSy Lin., should be grou'ied with the C. matthioli, 

 Moretti. .S'^me remarks were made by Prof. Schnetzler of 

 Lausanne on a mon-trosity of the Chinese primrose, and on the 

 relation between an aerial alga {Chroolepus timbrinus) and a 

 lichen {Pyremula^-p.) M. C. de CandoUe described the results 

 of his attempts to determine how far any light may be thrown 

 on the disputed origin of the Cytisus adami by the anatomical 

 structure of its leaves. This plant, which suddenly made its 

 appearance in the nursery of Adam at Vitry, near Paris, early in 

 the pre ent century, and which is remarkable for producing red 

 and yellow blossoms mo.-tly on separate branches, is usually 

 regarded as a cross obtained by grafting the Cytisus purpureus 

 on the C. laburnum. But M. de Candolle c includes that it is 

 not a hybrid, but simply a degenerate variety of the C. 

 laburnum. 



In the Medical Section, Prof, von KoUiker, president, Prof. 

 Klebs of Zurich read a remarkable paper on the transformations 

 of the human species, which he regards as mainly the result of 

 pathological influences. 



Valuable communications were also made on the centres of 

 origin of the optic nerves and on their relation to the cerebral 

 cortex, by Dr. C. von Monakow of St. Petersburg ; on the re- 

 lations existing between the excitability and vulnerability of 

 certain muscular groups, by Prof. Luchsinger of Berne ; and on 

 the mechanistu of the ruminating process, by the same author. 



The report on the Geological Section was unavoidably post- 

 poned to the November issue of the Arciiv s. 



NOTES FROM THE OTAGO UNIVERSITY 



MUSEUM 



IV. — Oti the Structure of the Head in " Palinuru!," with special 



reference to the Classification of the Genus ^ 

 HTHE genus Palinurus was divided bv Milne-Edwards into 

 two groups or sub-genera — one, the " Langoustes ordi- 

 naires," containing species in which the antennulary flagella are 

 short, the bases of the antennse approximated, and the rostrum 

 present ; while the other, or " Langoustes longicornes " (Panu- 

 lirus. Gray ; Senex, Pfeifier), contains species in which the an- 

 tennulary flagella are short, the antenna: widely separated at 

 their proximal ends, and the rostrum absent. 



In this classification, which is still in the main adopted by 

 systematisLs, no notice is taken of the stridukiting organ, first 

 mentioned, I believe, by Leach, in P. vulgaris, and described 

 at length by Mobius, and later by myself, in the same species.- 

 This unique sound-producing apparatus is present in all the 

 " Langoustes longicornes" which I have yet examined, as well 

 .as in P.^ vulgaris and P. trigouus among the " Langoustes ordi- 

 naires" ; while in all the remaining members of the latter group 

 Abstract of a paper taken as read at a meeting of the Otago Institute, 

 beptember 12. 1883, and to be published in the next (i6th) volume of the 

 Transactions of t lie New Zealand Institute. 



' Leach, •• Malacostraca podophthalmata Brilanniar" : Mobius, Archiv 

 far Naturgeschichte, 1867: T. J. Parker, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1878, p. 442. 



which have come under my notice {e.g. the common New Zealand 

 species, P. lalaudii a.n(i P. edtvardsii) there is no trace of it. 



There is also great diversity among the " Langoustes ordinaires" 

 in the development of the rostrum, the true size of which can 

 only be seen in a longitudinal vertical seciion of the head (see 

 Fig. I). In P. lalandii and other non-stridulating species, the 

 rostrum (A, r) is well developed, and bears comparison with that 

 of HomaruSy while in P. vulgaris (B, r) it is a mere spiniform 

 tubercle meri'ing special description only from its i>osition. 

 P z'ul^aris, moreover, has no tiace of procephalic processes, 

 which are present, though small, in P. lalandii (A, pc.p). 



Fig 1 , — K. Longitudinal vertical section of the head of Palinurus edwardsii ; 

 B, of /*. vutxaris .- C, of P. intemiptus. as. antennulary sternum ; at^, 

 articular cavity for antennule : at', for antenna ; ex, unanchylosed part 

 of inner wall of coxocerite ; o.s, ophthalmic Sternum ; r, rostrum; /c. A 

 procephalic process. 



The woodcut shows that as regards both the rostrum and the 

 antennulary sternum (the fixed part of the stridulating organ), 

 P. vulgaris (B) approaches far more nearly to the "Langoustes 

 longicornes," as represented by P. interruptus (C), than to the 

 non-stridulating "Langoustes ordinaires," as represented by/". 

 edwardsii (A). 



On the other hand, all the brevicorn species examined agree in 

 the imperfect fusion of the coxocerites or proximal segments of 

 the antenna. A transverse section taken immediately in front 

 of the renal apertures shows that a small portion of the adjacent 

 or inner walls of the coxocerites in P. lalandii, P. vulgaris, &c., 

 are merely in apposition, whereas in the longicorn species con- 

 crescence is complete. 



A-suming that the Palinuridie are derived from an Astacoid 

 or Homaroid ancestor through some such intermediate form as 

 Palinurellus, one cannot but conclude that the species wliich 

 have no stridulating organ, a well -developed rostrum, procephalic 

 processes, and imperfectly fused coxocerites, come nearest to the 

 parent stock, and that those in which the stridulating organ is 

 developed, the rostrum and procephalic proce.ss'-s absent, and the 

 coxocerites completely united with one another, have diverged 

 most from that stock, and present us with the extreme of modi> 

 fication of the Palinuroid type. 



This view is expressed in the following phylogenetic table : — 



P. lalandii 

 P. edwardsii 

 P. hiigellii 

 P. tutnidus 



ulgaris 



• Rostrum large 



: enough to cover 



ophthalmic 



sternum 



PeJate processes of i 



clasp base of rostrum; '■ 

 other characters as in ■ 



Rostrum re- ; Rostrum atrophied 



duced to a ; coxocerites perfectly 



—small spini- -fused ; antennulary 



form tubercle \ flagella elongated ; 



: antennulary sternum. 



widened 



: Stridulating organ 

 i developed ; rostrum 



; duced ; procephalic 

 \ processes atrophied; 

 ; other characters as 



X. Parent Spi-'cies. 

 No stridulating or- ,' 

 gan ; rostrum well de- \ 

 veloped ; procephalic : 

 processes present ; ; 



fectly fused : anten- '■ 

 nulary flagella short 



