TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 687 



2nd Mitosis. 



'2nd polar 

 h ^ } \ n '^ ^^^'> 



a a ' a a 



(1) II (2) ^ (3) a (4) h (5) 



b b 



a 

 \b b- 



ovum 



Tbiis reduction would be ouly apparent tbrougbout. 



I have been unable to determine whether the tetrads arise by the omission of 

 the last stage of the segmentation of the chromatin thread or by conjugation, but 

 as each element is twice longitudinally divided in the heterotypical division, the 

 chromatin is equally distributed between the ovum and the polar bodies, and there 

 18 no question of a reducing division or of unequal distribution of ' qualities.' 



Whether the idea of ' pseudo-reduction ' as represented above be accepted 

 or not, the essential feature is a reduction in bulk merely. The chromatin sub- 

 stance is, in Echinus escnlentus, packed in the maturation phases into sixteen 

 instead of thirty-two chromosomes. Inviewof tht; fact — whether the hypothesis 

 of the ' Individuality of the Chromosomes ' be accepted or not — that the same 

 number of chromosomes always emerge from a dividing nucleus as entered it, 

 this reduction in bulk of the chromatin may very well be a secondar)/ character 

 acquired to maintain the number of chromosomes constant after the union of the 



nuclei in fertilisation. 



% 



6. The Fishfs of the Coats Arctic Expedition. 7?y W. S. Bruce, F.B.S.O.S., 

 Ileriot Research FeUou^ of Edinburgh University. 



The author gave an account of the fishes collected by the Coats Arctic Expe- 

 dition in 1898, with which he sailed as zoologist. Mr. Andrew Coats, of Paisley, 

 resolved to undertake a ^•oyage to the Arctic regions in 1898 in his yacht 'Blen- 

 catbra,' now 'Pandora.' The ' Blencathra ' had previously been used for Arctic 

 exploration by Sir Allen Young and Mr. I'ojjham. On jjoard there was the 

 essential apparatus of an expedition, fitted out for oceanographical research, viz., 

 Lucas sounding machine, thermometers, water-bottles, trawls, traps, and tow- 

 nets. On the return of the expedition Mr. Coats contributed a considerable sum, 

 which enabled the author to sort and classify the collection preparatory to a 

 detailed examination, which he has since been making by the help of the 

 George Heriot Piesearcb Fellowship, Edinburgh University. So far the careful 

 examination of the fishes constitutes the greater part of the work. There are 

 fully 400 fishes in the collection, about sixty of which are adult specimens 

 belonging to eleven species. The author gave an account of these species, which 

 he has examined in great detail. The collection is the first of any importance 

 in the Barents Sea, and is useful in bridging over the gaps in the series obtained 

 by Payer in 1874, and the author in 1896-97 in Franz Josef Land, and those of 

 the more recent Ptussian expeditious in 1898, 1899, and 1900 of the Murraan coast 

 of Arctic Russia. 



7. The Fauna of Franz Josef iMnd. JJy William S. Bruck F.E.S.O.S. 

 Ileriot Research Fellow of Edinburgh University. 



The author gave a preliminary accoiuit of the collections of the .Tackson-Harms- 

 worth Polar Expedition to Franz .Josef Land in 1896-97, when he accompanied 

 that expedition as zoologist. The author was able to secure over 600 species of 

 animals, by far the largest ever obtained by any previous polar expetlition, and 

 added aljout AOO species to the previously known fauna of Franz Josef Land, lie 



