13S . REPORT 1861. 



On the Anatomy of Ortliagoriscus Mola, the short Sunfish. 

 By John Cleland, M.D. 



The integTiment of this fish is a dense substance of great thickness, consisting of 

 felted fibres, whose meshes are filled with a copious j elly-like matter containing cells. 

 There are imbedded in it, on the front of the head and in common with the caudal 

 fin rays, hard plates presenting a peculiar sti'ucture, composed of iutercommunicating 

 tubes, which contain masses of crystalline matter, and lie in a hyaline matrix. 



The skeleton can only be studied in the recent state, on account of important 

 masses of cartilage entering into its structm'e. There are no ribs. The interspinous 

 bones of the long and pointed dorsal and anal fins are of great size ; those of the 

 caudal fin are crowded oetween the last osseous vertebra and the superior and infe- 

 rior spines of the vertebra preceding. Every fin-ray is composed of a pair of osseous 

 slips, arising one on each side of a cartilaginous basis. Those of the dorsal as well 

 as those of the anal fin are crowded together into a compact mass, which moves 

 in a groove on a lai'ge block of cartilage into which the interspinous bones are in- 

 serted. The caudal fin rays are isolated fi-om one another, each imbedded sepa- 

 rately in the integument ; their cartilaginous bases are short and thick ; and in a 

 line with them is a similar cartilage without any fin-ray attached, which is appa- 

 rently vertebral in its natiu-e, but which is placed, not in direct continuation with 

 the last osseous vertebra, but on a slightly higher level, reminding one of the 

 upward tendency exhibited by the last vertebra of most osseous fishes. 



The muscular masses on each side of the body consist entirely, as was pointed out 

 by Mr. Goodsir, of immensely developed fin-muscles. 



The abdominal cavity lies in immediate contact •«'ith the integument, there being 

 only two very small vestiges of abdominal muscles. The vertebral column, there- 

 fore, is not used as an instrimient of motion, but ouly supports the dorsal and anal 

 fins, which, together with the short tail, are the organs of progression. 



As was pointed out by Arsaky, the spinal cord of the Simfish is exti-emely short, 

 and temiinates within the cranial cavity. The spinal canal is occupied bj' a large 

 Cauda equina. The nerves, after emerging from the spinal ctmal, are joined together 

 by a commimicating cord and ganglia. 



As if to compensate for the want of muscidar parietes to the abdomen, the intes- 

 tines have very thick musculai- coats. They are coiled closely together into a mass, 

 which is tightly invested by a single fold of peritoneimi, and the spaces between the 

 coils are entii-ely occupied by large lymphatic sinuses. 



There is a marked cu'cidar fold of the mucous membrane a few inches above the 

 rectmu, which may be considered as a rudimentaiy caecum. 



The heart presents eleven semilunar valves : three protect the entrances of veins 

 into the auricle ; fom- guard the auriculo-ventricular opening ; and other four, two 

 of them veiy small, the bulbus arteriosus. 



The ear lias no otoliths, and only two semicii'cular canals. The nostrils are ex- 

 tremely small. The eye is veiy large. 



A number of other peculiarities, relating to the bones of the head and to the 

 viscera, were pointed out. 



This paper is published in full in the Nat. Hist. Eeview, Apiil 1862. 



A Scheme to induce the Mercantile Marine to assist in the Adva7icement of 

 /Science by the intelligent Collection of Objects of Natural History from all 

 parts of the Globe. By Cuthbert Collingwood, M.^., M.A., F.L.S., Liver- 

 pool. 



The British Association at Manchester had appointed a committee to report upon 

 the subject, and requested him to take the direction of it. It consisted of the fol- 

 lowing gentlemen : — Dr. CoUingwood, Livei-pool ; John Lubbock, F.R.S., London ; 

 R. Patterson, F.R.S., Belfast ; J. Aspinall Turner, M.P., Manchester ; Rev. P. P. 

 Cai-penter, Ph.D., Wanington ; and the Rev. H. H. Higgins, M.A., Li^erjjool. 



The mercantile marine of Liverpool, engaged in foreign and colonial trade, amount- 

 ing to 4500 saU, measuring 2^ millions of tons, and employing many thousands of 

 men, exhibits an amount of enterprise such as probably no other age and no other 

 place has ever before shown. The whoje globe is scoui-ed by these men and ships, 



