TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 175 



various species of trout, it appears that their structure is similar, and therefore the 

 otoliths of the cod may be taken as representing the rest. They require to be 

 examined by making sections of them in three different directions in the usual 

 manner : some of the sections should be left of considerable thickness, others should 

 be made as thin as possible, that the general arrangement, as well as the minute 

 structure, may be examined. 



The great otolith of the cod is an elongated flattened body, convex on one side, 

 concave on the other. In the natural position, the concave surface looks upwards, 

 backwards, and a little outwards ; the anterior extremity is wider than the posterior, 

 and one edge straighter than the other ; but both are curved, and the whole body is 

 twisted, the concavity of the under surface being produced by a groove which runs 

 obliquely along. The convex surface has a longitudinal ridge running along it, 

 dividing it into two unequal parts, the smaller being bounded by the straighter edge. 

 This otolith, when in position, appears to form one wall of an irregularly rounded 

 osseous cavity, from the interior of which sonorous vibrations may be reflected upon 

 the otolith and thus affect the nerves. Both surfaces, the concave one especially, 

 present transversely directed flutings which run outwards to the edges of the body. 

 The flutings are visible on the transverse, longitudinal, and horizontal sections. The 

 appearances presented by such sections were shown by coloured drawings. 



The longitudinal and transverse sections present dark lines passing completely 

 through the otolith from one surface to the other, and dividing it into separate masses 

 or lobes. Of these lines there are four, running longitudinally and seen on the trans- 

 verse section; and nineteen running transversely, and seen on the longitudinal 

 section, so that, on the supposition that the division is equal in all the parts of the 

 otolith, it consists of seventy-six separate lobes. The lobes which are near the 

 middle of the body have all their diameters nearly equal, but those near the margins 

 are elongated with their long axis stretching out to the margin. 



Each lobe is made up of complete concentric laminae near its middle, and of partial 

 parallel lamina? near its surface ; the partial lamina? of one system being interrupted 

 where they are met by those of another system in the position of the lines before 

 named. 



The lamina? are marked with stria?, which run perpendicularly to their surfaces, 

 and indicate their formation of prisms or very thick-walled tubes. 



In speaking of the development of otoliths and similar hard parts of animals, the 

 author referred to the theories of formation of tissues from cells, and by a process of 

 molecular coalescence, stating his belief that, by repeated examinations made at 

 different periods, the mode of formation of these tissues might be clearly determined. 



Miscellaneous. 



On the Disguises of Nature. By Andrew Murray, Edinburgh. 



This paper was devoted to an inquiry into the laws by which the external forms 

 of natural objects are regulated — as elucidated by an examination of the resemblances 

 which certain animals and plants bear to other objects, animate and inanimate. 

 These the author termed the disguises of nature, and separated them into those 

 which imitated inanimate objects and those which took the appearance of other 

 creatures. The chief part of the paper was occupied in discussing the former ; and 

 as regards them, the author suggested the principle of attraction as the direction in 

 which a general law might be looked for. In examining the resemblances to in- 

 animate objects, he brought together a great many curious and interesting examples 

 Of both ; but it was chiefly with the imitations of inanimate objects that he occupied 

 himself in his attempts to discover a law explanatory of the facts. 



[This paper has been published in ewtenso in the Edinburgh New Philosophical 

 Journal.] 



