Nov. 6, 1873] 



NA TURE 



13 



a surface of four square inches, and the webs of all the 

 feet together about twelve square inches. As the extre- 

 mities of the toes have dilated discs for adhesion, shoi\-ing 

 • the creature to be a true tree-frog, it is difficult to imagine 

 that this immense membrane of the toes can be for the 

 purpose of swimming only, and the account of the China- 

 man that it flew down from the tree becomes more 

 credible." 



The great group of Frogs and Toads, rich as it is in 

 genera and species, and widely as it is diffused over the 

 earth's surface, is one of singular uniformity of structure. 

 The forms most aberrant from our type, the common 

 frog, have now been noticed, except that perhaps the 

 maximum respectively of obesity and slenderness may be 

 referred to. In the former respect the Indian Toad 

 Glyphoglossns may serve as an example, and for the latter 

 may be selected Hylorana jerboa. 



St. George Mivart 

 {To be continued.) 



A FOSSIL SI REN I AN FROM THE RED CRAG 

 OF SUFFOLK 



AT the opening meeting of the Geological Society, 

 Prof. Flower communicated a description of a fine 

 fragment of a skull of an animal of the order Sirenia, 

 which is of great interest as affording the first recorded 

 evidence of the former existence of animals of this re- 

 markable group in Britain. The specimen forms part of 

 the very rich collection of Crag fossils formed by the Rev. 

 H. Canham, of Waldringfield, near Woodbridge, It was 

 found in the so-called " coprolite ' or bone-bed at the 

 base of the Red crag, and presents the usual aspect of the 

 mammalian remains from that bed, being heavily mine- 

 ralised, of a rich dark brown colour, almost black in 

 some parts, with the surface much worn and polished, and 

 marked here and there with the characteristic round or 

 oval shallow pits, the supposed PJiolas boring. 



The fragment consists of the anterior or facial portion 

 of the cranium which has separated, probably before 

 fossilisation, from the posterior part at the fronto-parietal 

 suture, and in a line descending vertically therefrom. 

 This portion has then been subjected to severe attrition, 

 by which the greater part of the pre-maxillary rostrum, 

 the orbital processes of the maxiUaries, and other pro- 

 jecting parts have been removed. In consequence of 

 this, what may be called the external features of the skull, 

 which are especially necessary to determine its closer 

 affinities, are greatly marred, though enough remains of 

 its essential structure to pronounce with confidence as to 

 its general relationship to known forms. Fortunately, the 

 whole of the portion of the maxilla; in which the molar 

 series of teeth are implanted is preserved ; and though 

 the teeth have fallen from the alveoli in the front 

 part of the series, and in the posterior part are ground 

 down to mere stumps, so that the form of the crowns 

 cannot be ascertained in any, many important dental 

 characters may still be deductd from the number, form, 

 size and position of the sockets and roots that remain. 



As the intensely hard, ivory-like rostra of the ziphioid 

 Cetaceans, the tympanic bones of the Balajnida;, and the 

 teeth of terrestrial mammals almost alone remain in these 

 deposits to attest the former existence of their owners ; it 

 is, doubtless, to the extreme massiveness and density of 

 the cranial bones, as characteristic of the order Sitenia, 

 that we owe the preservation of so large a portion of the 

 skull under the very unfavourable conditions to which it, 

 in common with the other fossils of the formation, must 

 have been exposed. 



After a comparison of the characters of the cranium 

 with those of the several existing and extinct members of 

 the order. Prof. Flower referred it to the genus Halithcriuiit, 

 and showed its relationship to //. Sehin::i of Kaup from 



the miocene of the Rhine basin, a formation, it will be 

 remembered, in which several of the animals of the Red 

 Crag bone-bed occur. It is, however, of larger size than 

 that species, the teeth are larger, both absolutely and 

 relatively to the cranium, and certain other differences 

 occur, though the imperfect nature of the materials makes 

 exact comparison of fossils only known from fragments 

 not altogether easy or satisfactory. Believing, however, 

 that it does not belong to either the above-mentioned, or 

 any other of the hitherto described species oi Halithei iiiiii, 

 the specific name of H. canhami was proposed. It should 

 be mentioned that there are six teeth in the maxillary or 

 molar series on each side, all present at the same time, 

 the first two with single roots, the third with two roots, 

 and the last three with three roots, precisely resembling 

 in form those of the molar teeth in the existing Manati. 



ON THE STICK-FISH {OstcoceUa septcntnonalis) 

 AND ON THE HABITS OF SEA-PENS 



IVTR. COOTE M. CHAMBERS has most kindly pre- 

 -'■'[-•• sented to the British Museum a specimen of the 

 Stick-fish, from English Bay, Burrard's Inlet, British 

 America. The specimen was placed alive, immediately 

 it was caught, into a tin tube, filled with a solution of 

 arsenic and salt. 



Mr. Chambers observes that the Stick-fish are only to 

 be found in Burrard's Inlet, English Bay, British 

 Columbia. " It has only one bone in it, and appears to 

 live on suction, and is a great prey to dogfish." Further : 

 " I would mention that in summer only can they be 

 caught. They are found to the least depth of from 30 to 

 40 fathoms, they move about rapidly in the water, and 

 when brought to the surface, move for a few seconds like 

 a snake, then make a dart as swift as lightning, and dis- 

 appear."— July 23, 1873. 



Unfortunately the specimen did not arrive in a good 

 state for exhibition. The greater part of the animal por- 

 tion had been washed off', probably by the motion of the 

 solution during the transit ; only about a foot of the fiesh, 

 which was loose on the axis, and the thick, swollen, 

 naked, club-shaped base without polypes remained ; but 

 it was in a sufficiently good state to afford the means of 

 determining its zoological situation and of examining its 

 microscopical and other zoological characters. 



Mr. chambers' specimen is the animal of the axis, or 

 stick, that I described as Osteoeella septenlrionalis (Ann. 

 and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1872, Ix. p. 406), and it proves that 

 the axis belongs to a kind of Pennatii/it, or Sea-pen, 

 nearly allied to the long Sea-rushes named Pavonariits 

 quadrangularis, found on the West Coast of Scotland, 

 and is evidently the same animal as Pavonaria blakei, 

 described by R. E. C. Stearns. The idea of its being a 

 fish, which seems so generally entertained by the people 

 of I5ritish Columbia, is clearly a mistake, though one of 

 the observers sent a figure of the Sea-pen, with mouth 

 and eyes like an eel (l), v.'hich is copied in Naturk, vol. 

 vi. p. 436. 



Osteoeella. — The complete polype-mass very closely re- 

 sembles Pavonaria qiiadrangulari.':, as figured by John- 

 ston (" British Zoophytes," t. xxxi.), from Prof. Edwaid 

 Forbes' drawings ; but the animal is entirely destitute of 

 calcareous spicules, and the axis is cylindrical, hard, and 

 polished. 



Two days after I received this specimen, I received by 

 post Mr. Steam's description of the Stick-fish {/'avone.ria 

 Blakei), from the San Francisco Juiniii^ ana Seieniific 

 Press, August 9, 1873. 



The description of Mr Steam, made from a fresh ani- 

 mal, need not be repeated ; but as he does not mention 

 the microscopic structure, I sent a fragment of Mr. 

 Chambers' specimen to Mr. Carter to be examined, v/l,o 

 kindly writes : — ''The fragment arrived s:ifely, although 



