April 2>, 1884] 



NATURE 



lowest flowers of the inflorescence are female, and seated 

 in the axils of the sheathing leaves ; but the style is 

 enormously elongated so as to carry the stigma to the 

 surface of the water for fertilisation. This recalh the 

 habit of Vallisiicria. But, as Mr. Bentham reminds us, 

 the resemblances of Hydrocharidece and of Naiadacece 

 are essentially adaptive, and must not blind us to the real 

 profoundly divergent affinity. 



It is worth noting, as a hint to those interested in 

 researches of this fascinating kind, that the investigations 

 of Dr. Hieronymus were made partly on material pre- 

 served in a mixture of two-thirds alcohol and one-third 

 glycerine, partly in an aqueous solution of salicylic acid 

 (no further detaih are given). W. T. T. D. 



PROFESSOR FLOWER 

 pROFESSOR FLOWER S resignation of the office of 

 ^ Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College 

 of Surgeons was received at the last meeting of the 

 Council of that body, held on March 13, whereupon it 

 was moved by Sir James Paget, seconded by Mr. Erich- 

 sen, and resolved unanimously: — "That the Council 

 hereby desire to express to Mr. William Henry Flower 

 their deep regret at his resignation of the office of Con- 

 servator of the Museum of the College. 



" That they thank him for the admirable care, judg- 

 ment, and zeal with which for twenty-two years he has 

 fulfilled the various and responsible duties of that office. 



" That they are glad to acknowledge that the great 

 increase of the Museum during those years has been 

 very largely due to his e.xertions and to the influence 

 ■which he has exercised, not only on all who have worked 

 with him, but amongst all who have been desirous to 

 promote the progress ot anatomical science. 



" That they know that, whilst he has increased the value 

 and utility of the Museum by enlarging it, by preserving 

 it in perfect order, and by facilitating the study of its 

 contents, he has also maintained the scientific repute of 

 the College by the numerous works which have gained 

 for him a distinguished position amongst the naturalists 

 and biologists of the present time. 



"And that, in thus placing on record their high appre- 

 ciation of the services of Mr. Flower, the Councd feel 

 sure that they are expressing the opinion of all the Fel- 

 lows and Members of the College, and that they will all 

 unite with them in wishing him complete success and 

 happiness in the important office to which he has been 

 elected." 



The conditions under which the Conservatorship of the 

 Museum of the College will be held in future are at 

 present under discussion, and will probably be decided 

 at the next meeting of the Council on the loth inst., when 

 the office will be declared vacant, and candidates invited 

 to send in their applications. 



THE DEEP-SEA DREDGINGS OF THE 

 " TALISMAN"— CRUSTACEA 

 T N a previous article attention was called to some of the 

 ■*■ more remarkable of the deep-sea fishes taken during 

 the recent cruise of the French frigate the Talisman : not 

 less interesting were the numerous forms of Crustacea 

 dredged during the same cruise, a fine collection of 

 which were also on view at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, 

 as part of the spoils brought home after the voyage. 

 From a survey of the specimens it is evident that these 

 Crustacea are to be found at all depths of the ocean : 

 some pass their lives floating on its surface, feeding 

 thereon or amid the acres of Sargassum weed ; while 

 others live at depths of from 4000 to 5000 metres. The 

 so-called swim.ming crabs which form a section of the 

 Brachyura would seem to be extremely rare at great 



depths. Certain species taken during the Talisman's 

 cruise are remarkable for their very extensive geographical 

 distribution ; thus, species of Batynectes which were 

 found at depths of from 450 to 950 metres off the coasts 

 of Morocco and about the Cape Verd Islands, seemed 

 very closely related to the swiinming crabs (Portuniis) of 

 our own seas, and again to be very nearly connected to 

 species of the same genus collected at the Antilles, in the 

 Mediterranean, and in the Arctic Ocean. Another section 

 of the Brachyura, with sharp triangular bodies (Oxyr- 

 rhyncha), contains species which are to be met with at 

 much greater depths ; thus Lispognattis ikompsoni 

 (A. M. Edw.) was dreiged off the coasts of Morocco from 

 depths of between 600 and 1 500 metres, and Scyramatliia 

 carpente7-i was taken at the same place from a depth of 

 I300 metres. The former of these species has been found 

 in the North Sea, and the latter has been taken off the 

 north of Scotland and in the Mediterranean. The Crus- 

 tacea intermediate by their forms between the Brachyura 

 and the Macrura were found in abundance at very great 

 depths, and the forms found see ned in great measure 

 to belong to "transition'' forms; so one was often sur- 

 prised to find a form, which taken by itself appeared 

 abundantly distinct, quite connected with others by 

 numerous intermediary forms. Thus species of Ethusa, 

 Dorippe, Homola, and Dromia seem to present such 

 numerous shades of gradation as to perplex one com- 

 pletely in the difficult task of classifying these genera. 

 Some of these forms are also very remarkable for their 

 geographical distribution : a species of Dicranomia, de- 

 scribed by Milne-Edwards from the ."Antilles, was found 

 oft' .Morocco, and Homola cuvicrii, up to this thought to 

 be peculiar to the Mediterranean, was found at the Azores 

 and the Canaries. But the most remarkable instance of the 

 geographical extension of which some genera are capable 

 is furnished by some species of the family Lithodina. 

 These Crustacea to this have been known as inhabitants 

 of the Arctic and Antarctic regions, living in the littoral 

 zone, but now they have been found under the tropics ; 

 the only difference being that in this latter locality they 

 have contrived to find congenial conditions of life by 

 abandoning their shallow-water life and beta'cing them- 

 selves to the cool depths of over 1000 metres. A fact 

 like this is not without its interest, inasmuch as it shows 

 how some forms can spread themselves from the frozen 

 seas of the north to the seas of the tropics, and so from 

 the region of one Pole to the other ; altering their con- 

 ditions of life as necessity demanded, and resuiuing their 

 old habits when the opportunity to do so again o:curred. 



The Crustacea known as Hermit Crabs were found to 

 extend to a depth of 5000 metres ; as is well known, the 

 terminal portions of the bodies of these Hermits are soft, 

 not covered like the head and claws of the crab with a 

 strong calcareous shell, and these animals have the habit 

 of tucking the soft part of their bodies for security into 

 the body-whorl of some empty shell ; but at the great 

 depths referred to shells suitable for this purpose are not 

 to be found, and the hermit crabs inhabiting these depths 

 must often be in great difficulties for material wherewith 

 to cover themselves. In one specimen taken off Morocco 

 this covering consisted of a living colony of a very pretty 

 species of Epizoanthus. 



Species of the family Galatheidea were found in pro- 

 fusion at all depths ; but the colour of their body, gene- 

 rally that of a red or pink hue, was in the forms from the 

 great depths of a uniform white. Some species were 

 found v/hich occupied the interior of those lovely siliceous 

 sponges belonging to the geaus Aphrocallistes. One new 

 species, Galathodes antonii, was found at a depth of 4000 

 metres, and another, from the same depth, with its abdo- 

 men coiled twice upon itself, has been also described by 

 A, M. Edwards as new (Ptycliogaster furinosus'). 



Of the group of Eryonida; a considerable number of 

 both genera and species were dredged. Of these, those 



