March 20, 1884] 



NA TURE 



experiments, it ^is suggested that lycopod powder mixed 

 with sugar and water is a good material, as the lycopod 

 spores are easily detected. 



It is self-evident that if the mouth-apparatus of the fly 

 will admit of the introduction of such objects as have 

 been above noted, that there will be no difficulty in its 

 admitting scores of the spores of many parasitic fungi, and 

 above all of those belonging to the Schizomycetes, the 

 possible cause of so much disease. Already has Ur. 

 Grassi detected in fly excrement the spores of Oidiiiin 

 lactis, and the spores of a Botrytis, this latter taken from 

 the bodies of silkworms dead of muscardine. 



There arises, of course, the question of how far the 

 active digestion in the intestines of the flies may not 

 destroy the vitality of germs or spores thus taken in, but 

 it would seem probable that in many instances the larger 

 bodies swallowed may not serve as objects for assi- 

 milation, but may be got rid of as foreign bodies, and it 

 will be borne in mind that the flies themselves fall victims 

 to the growth of a parasitic fungus {Empiisa hiuslcp, Cohn), 

 which is probably taken first into their own stomachs. 



Dr. Grassi promises to publish the results of his experi- 

 ments in fuller detail. Judging of their interest by this 

 abstract, they will well deserve to be followed up, and 

 though in these countries our modern sanitary arrange- 

 ments do not tend to the development of such immense 

 swarms of flies as are so constantly to ba met with in 

 Italy, still the dangers to be apprehended from them 

 there are possibly, though in a less degree, to be en- 

 countered here, and the investigation of the fact is easy 

 to any one possessing a fairly average microscope and the 

 power of catching a fly. E. P. W. 



EDINBURGH MARINE STATION 



AT the half-yearly meeting of the Scottish Meteoro- 

 logical Society held on Moiday last, Mr. Murray 

 submitted a statement on the work done by the Fisheries 

 Commiltee. This included preliminary reports from the 

 Rev. A. M. Norman on the invertebrate fiuna of the 

 Scottish fresh-water lochs ; Prof. HerJman's report of 

 his researches connected with the fisheries of Loch Fyne, 

 and similar reports from Messrs. Hoyle and Bed lard 

 from Peterhead and Eyemouth. After readip.g several 

 interesting extracts from these reports, which will shortly 

 appear in the Society' s /our/ia/, he then stated that the 

 marine station at Granton would be formally opened 

 for scientific work about the loth of next month by 

 Prof. Haeckel of Jena. The floating laboratory, which 

 has been named the Ark, was successfully launched 

 on Saturday last, and it has accommodation for seven 

 biologists. The steam yacht of thirty tons, which is to 

 be called the Medusa, is to be launched on the 26th inst. 

 at Glasgow, and will be at the station ten days thereafter. 



The Station will then be possessed of the three most 

 important requisites, viz. the floating laboratory, with 

 abundance of sea water ; a steam vessel fitted with all 

 modern appliances for sounding, dredging, and other bio- 

 logical and physical investigations ; and lastly, a most 

 complete library in marine biology and physics. Mr. J. 

 T. Cunningham, B.A. Oxon., FeUow of University College, 

 Oxford, has been appointed Naturalist in charge of the 

 Station ; Mr. Hugh Robert Mill, B.Sc, who holds a Re- 

 search Fellowship in the University of Edinburgh, is to 

 carry on physical and meteorological investigations under 

 the superintendence of Prof. Tait ; Mr. Alexander Tur- 

 byne, fisherman. Keeper ; Mr. William Bell, lae Royal 

 .Vavy, Engineer ; and it is hoped the arrangements will 

 shortly be made that will enable a botanist and geologist 

 to carry on systematic work at the Station. The captain 

 of the yacht will be appointed next week. 



British and foreign naturalists are invited to make use 

 of the resources of the Station free of charge, and those 

 who desire to do so are re.|uested to communicate with 



Mr. John Murray, Challenger Office, Edinburgh, stating 

 the kind of work they propose to undertake and the 

 length of time they will probably remain. Efforts are 

 now being made to provide living accommodation for the 

 naturalists and others who may be working at the Sta- 

 tion. Immediately after the meeting Mr. Murray re- 

 ceived anonymously a donation of 100/. towards the 

 further equipment of the .Station. We wish every success 

 to this undertaking, and, from the liberal spirit shown in 

 placing at the service of scientific men the unique facili- 

 ties afforded by the Station for the prosecution of in- 

 quiries of the highest practical importance, we have 

 every confidence that the public will not be slow in 

 seeing that the funds required for its efficient maintenance 

 are forthcoming. 



THE DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE 

 "TALISMAN'' 

 A MONG the many wonderful animal forms collected 

 -^*- during the voyage of the Talisman none surpass the 

 fishes in interest. In the exhibition, now open at the 

 Jardin des Plantes, Paris, of the various specimens col- 

 lected during this voyage, the collection of fishes holds a 

 chief place. During the cruises of the Traiuiilleur, owing 

 to the. apparatus employed, the capture of a fish was a 

 rare event, but by the employment of a kind of drag-net 

 on board the Talisinan the number both of species and 

 individuals taken was quite surprising. Once, on July 29, in 

 16° 52' N. lit. and 27^ 50' W. long , in one haul of the drag- 

 net no less than 1031 fishes were taken from a depth of 450 

 metres. The chief surface fish noted in M. Filhol's very 

 interesting papers, which are in course of publication in 

 our French contemporary La Nature (to the editor of 

 which journal we are indebted for the illustrations accom- 

 panying this notice), were the well-known shark (Char- 

 c/iarias glaucus), very common between the Senegal coast 

 and the Cape de Verde Islands ; its strange attendant 

 fis'i, the so-called pilot fish {A'auerates ducfor), and the 

 very curious and odd-looking fish of the Sargassum Sea, 

 Antennarius inarinoratus. It is noted that not only were 

 the pilot fishes never molested by the shar';s but that they 

 constantly swam around them, sometimes even the/ were 

 seen placing themselves against the shark's sides between 

 their pectoral fins. Many observations were made on 

 the strange Antennarius, the colour of whose body so 

 closely approaches to that of the alga amidst which it 

 lives that it en.ables these fish to approach almost unseen, 

 and so quite easily take their prey. It is not, however, 

 altogether unworthy of remark that this prey, consisting 

 for the most part of small Crustacea and moUusks, is also 

 of the same general shade of colour as the mass of the 

 weed, so that the assuming of this uniform dull tin^e of 

 colour must mean a heightened danger to some of these 

 forms of life. 



The great interest, however, of the fish captures of 

 the Talisman centres in the remarkable forms taken 

 from the depths of the sea, which were both considerable 

 in the number of individuals and in the newness of the 

 forms. The question of whether certain fish inhabit 

 certain zones of depths was clo-ely conidered, and is 

 answered in the affirmative. These zones are of very 

 considerable depth, varying from 600 to over 3650 metres, 

 and in bringing up specimens from such areas of great 

 pressure these suffer immensely through the phenomena 

 caused by the rapid decompression of the air, the more 

 remarkable effects being dilatation of the swim bladder, 

 the eyes being squeezed out of their orbits, and the scales 

 clothing the body are shed. In some cases even the fish s 

 body has become smashed into pieces. Notwithstanding 

 all these phenomena, the area in depth of the distribution 

 of many of the deep-sea fish is very consider.;ble. Thus 

 Alepocephahis rostratus is met with between a depth of 

 86S and that of 3650 metres ; Scopelus maderensis, between 



