Oct. 8, 1885] : 
clavicle. Equally marxed affinities with the Dinosauria may be 
traced in the carpus and tarsus, sternum, pelvis, and skull. While 
similarly the comparatively large size of the cerebellum, the 
absence of a urinary bladder, and the presence of pulmonary 
diverticula or rudimentary air-sacs, are all foreshadowings of 
ornithic structure. 
The Origin of the Fishes of the Sea of Galilee, by Prof. Hull.— 
Of the abundant fishes of the Sea of Tiberias nearly one-half of 
the species are peculiar to the lake and its tributaries, while of 
the rest only one, Blennius lupulus, belongs to the ordinary 
Mediterranean fauna ; two others are found in the Nile; seven 
other species occur in the rivers of South-Western Asia ; and ten 
more are found in other parts of Syria. Tristram considered 
that this assemblage pointed to a close affinity of the fauna of 
the Jordanic basin with that of the rivers of tropical Africa ; but 
what most struck the observer was perhaps the speciality of the 
species to Jordanic waters, sixteen out of a total of thirty-six 
species being peculiar. Assuming that the forms which are 
common to Jordanic and other waters had been distributed in a 
manner similar to that by which they had to account for the 
distribution of lacustrine forms in other parts of the world, they 
had yet to account for the presence of the forms which were 
special and peculiar. After referring to the formation of the 
Jordanic basin, Prof. Hull argued that by the subsidence of the 
floor of the sea along the line of the Jordan valley an inland 
lake was formed whose waters were first derived from those of 
the ocean itself, in which were enclosed the fishes, mollusks, 
and other forms which inhabited these waters themselves. 
law of ‘‘ descent with modification” would come into operation, 
and they might suppose that throughout the Miocene and Plio- 
cene periods the process of modification in form, colour, and 
habit gradually proceeded. The fittest forms would survive, 
and differentiation between those of the outer and inner seas 
would result in an almost entire specific change. Prof. Hull 
also read a paper on the cause of the extreme dissimilarity 
between the faunas of the Red Sea and Mediterranean, notwith- 
standing their recent connection. 
The St. Andrews Marine Laboratory.—Prof, M‘{ntosh stated 
briefly the structure and arrmmgement of the marine laboratory 
at St. Andrews, and made some general remarks on the work 
done during the last nine months there. A great many of our 
food fishes, he said, were carefully examined in regard to the 
development of the eggs and the growth of the young fishes. 
About twenty species were examined in this way. They expe- 
rienced some difficulty with some of the forms, on account of 
their voracity, particularly with the cod. They found that a cod 
of five inches long would swallow a cod of three inches, and if 
it could not get it all down at once, it would keep it in its throat 
till the head part was digested, and then draw in the tail. 
Mollusca were studied chiefly in connection with the develop- 
ment of the mussel, but he might say that very hazy notions 
were held in regard to it. Some larger forms were also ex- 
amined, including porpoises and sharks. One porpoise was 
extremely interesting. He had noticed it for some time in the 
bay, and that its motions were very peculiar. He could not 
make out what it was doing there so constantly in shallow water. 
But some days afterwards a larse female was caught in the 
salmon nets, and they found that it was a female giving milk. 
Its milk was of a most interesting kind, ani formed the subject 
of examination and analysis by Prof. Purdy. It was as dense 
as cream, and of a deep yellow colour. 
On a Chemical Difference between Living and Dead Proto- 
plasm, by Dr. Oscar Loew, of Munich.—Protoplasm, it was 
found, contains certain aldehyd groups, which account for the 
extreme mobility and readiness of chinge in living protoplasm. 
These aldehyd groups can be reduced by very dilute alkaline 
solutions of silver salts. Spirogyra, one of the lower a/ge, acts 
on this solution in a peculiar way. Living protoplasm reduces the | 
salt, while dead protoplasm doesnot. The specific gravity of the 
protoplasm of Sfzvogyra was increased, and was found to c ntain 
silver deposited in its interior. Argyria, or the effect of nitrate 
of silver on the human subject in certain diseases, was found in 
these a/ee. Thus was shown a specific chemical difference 
between living and dead protoplasm. Ordinary poisons, such 
as prussic acid and strychnine, have no such striking effect on 
lower organisms, but a poison to all protoplasm is hydroxylamyl. 
Prof. Burdon-Sanderson said that this investigation had more 
importance than might at first appear, for it had arisen out of 
the epoch-making paper of Pfliiger. Pfliiger concluded that 
there must be a chemical change in the transition from living to 
The | 
NATURE 
563 
dead protoplasm, and Dr. Loew took up the question as to what 
exactly this change was. His investigations are an important 
step in deciding this most important question. Prof. Stirling 
said this gave us a new test for living protoplasm. The chief 
thing to settle was what exactly causes reduction of the silver. 
Digestion of Proteids in Plants, by Sidney Martin, M.D. 
(Lond.), B.Sc., M.R.C.P.—OF proteolytic ferments occurring 
in plants two kinds have been described—one acting like animal 
pepsin, and occurring in carmivorous plants, in the seeds of 
vetches, hemp, flax, barley, and malt, and the fruit of the fig, 
Ficus cerica ; the other acting like animal trypsin (pancreatin) 
and occurring in the juice of the green fruit of Carica papaya 
(the papaw tree). The use of these ferments in the plant 
economy has only been surmised by testing their action on 
animal proteid, from which they form peptones. It is a question 
whether they form peptones from the proteid occurring in the 
individual, and from two considerations. It is doubtful whether 
a true peptone exists in plants—by which I mean a proteid 
soluble in water, and not precipitated by boiling, nitric acid, or 
acetic acil and potassic ferrocyanide. Vines (fourmal of 
Physiology, vol. iii.) concludes that the body called vegetable 
peptone is hemialbumose (Meissner’s a-peptone). It is also 
evident that the action of these ferments on the proteids will be 
slow in comparison to the action of animal proteolytic ferments ; 
thus there might appear the proteids intermediate between 
albumen and peptone, which Kihne and Chittenden call 
albumoses (Zeitschrift f. Biologie, Ba. xx.). These questions I 
attempted to settle in the case of the papaw juice. I first of all 
extracted the proteids, which consisted of a globulin, corre- 
sponding to animal paraglobulin ; two albumoses, which I pro- 
pose to call a- and 8-phytalbumose. The B form is precipitated ; 
the a form is not thrown down by boiling ; a vegetable a/bumen 
corresponding to egg-albumen. The effect of pure papain 
(the proteolytic ferment of the papaw juice) was tested on each 
of these bodies, but from none of them was a true peptone 
formed ; only a body corresponding to Meissner’s 6-peptone. 
The very slow proteolysis explains the limitation of the forma- 
tion of the final products of proteid change. Leucin and tyroin 
were formed. Full details of methods and results will be found 
in the forthcoming Yournal of Physiology, September 14, 
1885. 
On the Application of the Anatomical Method to the Determina- 
tion of the Materials of the Linnean and old Herbaria, by Prof. 
L. Radlkofer.—Prof. Radlkofer spoke generally of the anatom- 
ical method of botanical study, and dwelt on the results that had 
already been accomplished by it. With the aid of the anatomical 
system he advocated an extensive review of the herbaria of the 
country with reference to the writings of their former possessors. 
The:e herbaria should henceforth not merely be preserved ; 
there should be the diffusion of new light on their contents so 
as to become useful to every one in a scientific sense, even to 
those who are unable to look through them. At some length 
he demonstrated the value of anatomical characters in systematic 
botany, and concluded with an appeal to all English botanists 
to direct their attention and their influence to the accomplish- 
ment of the work. In th: accomplishment of this the British 
Association might, perhaps, give substantial assistance. 
No'es on Experiments as to the Formation of Starch in Plants 
under the Influence of the Electric Light, by Mr. M. Ward, of the 
Owens College, Manchester.—The experiments, Mr. Ward said, 
were made not so much to determine a point already determined 
generally—that plants can be grown under the influence of the 
electric light—as to discover how far the electric light can be 
used for teaching pwposes and investigations in the laboratory 
so to speak as an artificial sunlight. It would obviously be of 
enormous advantage to the vegetable physiologist if experiments 
could be easily performed under the influence of electric light. 
He explained the experiments he had made in the laboratories 
at the Owens Colleze, Manchester, and at the residence of Mr. 
W. Crossley, of Bowden (who kindly placed a powerful arc 
lamp at his disposal), on this interesting subject, and described 
the means that had been employed in devising and conducting 
the experiments. Under a powerful are light the results had 
been fruitful ; but small ciusters of Swan lamps had yielded no 
satisfactory results, at any rate at low temperatures. The sub- 
ject requires still further examination, however, and Mr. Marshall 
Ward intimated that he intended to carry on the experiments, so 
that at a future date he might be able to convey more detailed 
information than could be given in a paper of a preliminary 
character. The plants employed were hyacinth potato, Alge, 
