162 



NATURE 



{Feb. 12, i ! 



the cardiac movements (pi. u). — Prof. Turner, the fcetal 

 membranes of Orcas canna and notes on the dissection of a 

 second negro. — Dr. Anderson, a new abnormality in connection 

 with the vetebral artery. — Dr. J. G. Garson, case of the 

 development of wool on the cornea of a sheep. — Notices of 

 books. — Li^tof grants in aid of scientific investigation made by 

 the British Medical Association. 



The Archives des Sciences Physiques el Naturettes (November 

 and December, 1879). — These parts contain the following papers : 

 — Meteorological recapitulation of the whole year 187S for 

 Geneva and the Great St. Bernard, by Prof. Plantaniour. — 

 Analysis of some recent works relating to the topography and 

 the constitution of the moon (second part), by M. Rapin.- -On 

 the periodic movements of the soil as indicated by air-bubble 

 levels, by Prof. Plantamour. — Essay on chemical mechanics, 

 founded upon thermochemistry, by M. Berthelot. — Account of 

 the sixty-second meeting (at St. Gallen) of the Swi<s Society of 

 Naturalists, on August 10-12, 1S79. — On a portable and 

 registering limnimeter, and observations made with it at the Pcilz 

 tower near Vevey, by M. E. Sarasin. — On the theory of joints 

 in botany, by M. Clos. — Note on Capsella rubella. Rem. , by 

 M. Vetter. — Tables of meteorological observations made at 

 Geneva observatory and on the Great St. Bernard during October 

 and November last, by Trof. Plantamour. — Note on the 

 '* Elementary Treatise of the Qualitative Analysis of Mineral 

 Matter," by Albert Ditti. — On the health of the pupils at the 

 Lyons Lyceum, by Dr. H. Dor. — New researches on the quan- 

 titative determination of chromatic vision, by Drs. Dor and 

 Favre — On the historical evolution of the colour sense, by Dr. 

 Dor. — Researcher, on the action of low temperatures on the 

 germinative faculties of seed-grains, by C. de Candolle and 

 Raoul Pictet. 



The Verhandlungen tier k.k. geologisehen Reichmnsta.lt ~u 



Wien (Nos. 13 and 14, 1S79). — From these parts we note the 

 following papers : — On the flora of the clay of Preschen, by 

 H. Engelhardt. — On the living analogies of the late-tertiary 

 marsh-strata and of the melanopsis-marl of south-eastern 

 Europe, by Th, Fuchs. — On the environs of the Adamello 

 mountains and on the development of the Perm formation 

 between Val buona Giudicaria and Val Camonica, by G. Stache. 

 — Report of a geological excursion to the Herzegowina, by A. 

 Bittner. — Numerous book-notices. — On the slate of Velhota, by 

 J. Kusta. — On the Strypa river district in Galicia, by Dr. E. 

 von I lunikowski. — On the plants of the Cipris-slate of northern 

 Bohemia, by II. Engelhardt. — On the strata penetrated by the 

 main shaft of the Societe de Carbonages de Buheme between 

 Koni^swerth and Grasseth, near Falkenau on the Eger, by the 

 same. — On the eruptive formations and the relief of the district 

 of Christiania, by Dr. E. Reyer. — On the Wieliczka mine, by 

 C. M. Paul. — On the brachipoda fauna of the oolites of Balin 

 near Cracow, by L, Szajnocha. 



Bulletin de V Academic Reyale des Sciences de Belgique, 

 No. 11, 1S79. — On a convenient means of distinguishing arti- 

 ficial from natural butter, by M. Donny. — On elimination (third 

 and fourth note), byM. Mansion. — Theory apo>tcriori of elimina- 

 tion between two algebraic equations, by the same. New 



rcacti nis enabling to characterise very small quantities of 

 inoiphiiie, by M. Jorissen.— On certain combimmts of binary 

 algebraic forms, by M. Le Paige. 



The Revue Internationale des Sciences (October, 1879), contains 

 the following papers :— On the fauna of the depths of the sea, 

 by Prof. A. Pagenstecher. — On lichens, -by Prof. Reess. — On 

 the adaptation and the mimetism in Turbellaria;, by Paul Hallez. 

 — On the development of parrots, by Max Braun. — The part 

 fur her contains the usual reviews, book notices, and scientific 

 news. 



The Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen Vereins der 

 friussischen Rheinlande and WestfaUns (36ter Jahrg. i., 1879), 

 contain but few papers of importance: — On the theory of the 

 double refraction of light, by E. Ketteler.— Materials for an 

 arachnida fauna of Japan, by F. Karscb.— On the occurrence of 

 fo sd bones near the Unkelstein on the Rhine, by G. Schwarze. 

 — On the chemical cause of the poisonous action of arsenic, by 

 Herr Binz.— On hannayite, newberyite and sillimanite, by Prof, 

 yom Rath.— Several geological papers and reports of minor 

 interest, by the same. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, February 5.—" On the Epipubis in the Doe 

 and fox." By T. H. Huxley, See.K.S. 



In 1871 1 I gave a brief description of a structure which I 

 had observed in the dog, in the follow ing terms : 



" In the myology of the dog, the insertion of the tendon of 

 the external oblique muscle of the abdomen presents some inte- 

 resting peculiarities. The outer and posterior fibres of this; 

 muscle end in a fascia, which is partly continued over the thi<rh 

 3* fasaa lata, and partly forms an arch (Poupart's ligament I 

 over the femoral ve.-sels ; by its inner end it is inserted tnto the 

 outer side of a triangular fibro-canilage, the broad base of which 

 is attached to the anterior margin of the pubis, between its spine 

 and the symphysis, while its apex lies in the abdominal parietes. 

 The internal tendon of the external oblique unites with the 

 tendon of the internal oblique to form the inner pillar of the 

 abdominal ring, and is inserted into the inner side of the tri- 

 angular fibro-cartilage. The ptctineus is attached to the ventral 

 face of the cartilage ; the outer part of the tendon of the rectus 

 into its dorsal face ; but the chief part of that tendon is inserted 

 into the pubis behind it. This fibro-cartilage appears to repre- 

 sent the marsupial bone, or cartilage, of the Monotremes and 

 Marsupials." 



The . aily reference to this statement which I have met with is 

 by Prof. Macalister, in his "Introduction to the Systematic 

 Zoology and the Morphology of Vertebrate Animals" (1S78) 

 P. 265 :— 



"Prof. Huxley describes a fibre-cartilaginous 'marsupial' 

 above the pubis, from whose anterior surface the pectineus arise?. 

 I have failed to satisfy myself of its existence as a constant 

 structure in many dogs, in the common and Bengal foxes, in the 

 dingo, jackal, Cants pallipes, and wolf." 



The wording of this passage does not make it quite clear 

 whether the writer has not found the structure in any case, but 

 does not mean to deny that it may occur occasionally in the 

 various CanuLe he mentions ; or whether he has found it occa- 

 sionally, but not constantly, in all or some of them. 



Under these circumstances it may be desirable to publish the 

 fact that, having recently dissected, for purposes of comparison, 

 a male and female Fox and a male and female dog, I have not 

 had the slightest difficulty in demonstrating the existence of the 

 structure which I described in 1871, in all four. And the only 

 phrase which appears to require modification in that description 

 is the use of the term fibro-cartilage. I do not remember 

 whether, formerly, I submitted the structure to microscopic 

 examination or not ; but in the specimens lately examined, not- 

 withstanding the firmness and density of the triangular plate, it 

 contains no true cartilage cell-, but is entirely "composed' of 

 fibrous lis- ties which lie parallel with one another in the middle 

 of the plate, while, at the thickened edges, they become closely 

 interwoven. 



A comparison of this triangular fibrous plate in the fox, with 

 the "marsupial "bones of Phalangista vulpina, shows that the 

 fibrous plate in the former animal exactly answers to the basal 

 part of the "marsupial" bone in ihe latter. It may properly, 

 therefore, be termed the epipubic ligament, and must be regarded 

 as a structure of the same order as the rudimentary clavicle 

 and the rudimentary hallux of the Canidee ; that is to say, as the 

 remains of an organ which was fully developed in the ancestral 

 forms of that group. 



It is interesting to remark, in connection with this interpreta- 

 tion of the facts, that, in the existing Thylacinns, which presents 

 so many curious points of resemblance to the dogs, the epipubis 

 is not ossified. As, however, the Canida have certainly existed 

 since the eocene epoch, there is no likelihood of the existence of 

 any direct genetic connection between the dogs and the Tnyla- 

 cines. The existing carnivorous Marsupialia have evidently all 

 proceeded from ancestral form;, characterised by the possession 

 of a thumb-like hallux, a peculiarity which is presented neither 

 by the dogs, when they possess a hallux, nor by any other 

 carnivora with pentadactyle hind feet. Moreover, the early 

 birth of the young and the development of a marsupium in the 

 female, are evidences of the departure of the existing Marsupialia 

 from the direct line by which the Mammalia have advanced from 

 the ornithodelphous type. That the ancestors of all mammals 

 possessed bony or cartilaginous epipubes is, I think, highly 

 probable, but it does not follow that they had the marsupial 

 method of bearing and nourishing their young. 



" Manual of the Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals," p. 417. 



