Septejibek 28, 1SS3.] 



SCIENCE. 



447 



of the Beni with great care, taking aslronoiuical 

 ohservalions, and measuring the width, depth, and 

 velocity of the water. On reaching the Madeira, as 

 tlu' river is called below the junction of the Jieni and 

 Mamor^, he ascended the latter to Exaltaoion, and 

 then followed Yacuma, and crossed tlie country be- 

 yond its source to Reyes again on the Beni, where 

 his return was celebrated by a public reception and a 

 special mass. The people here were greatly excited 

 over his report on the number of rubber-trees in the 

 country he had passed through; and' from 185 men 

 engaged in collecting 104,000 pounds of rubber in 1880, 

 the number increased to 644 in four months, and must 

 now reach one or two thousand. From Keyes he 

 ascended the Beni to La Paz. His report is very 

 brief, and contains little beyond an itinerary ; rapids 

 and rocks are occasionally mentioned, and a few 

 lakes were passed, but there Is no material given 

 toward a physical description of the country. — (Proc. 

 roy. geo'jr. soc, v. 1SS8, 313, map. [Dr. Heath's paper 

 is also given in the Bull. Amer. 'jeoyr. soc, 1882, 

 no. 3.]) w. M. i>. [274 



BOTANY. 



American smuts. — Farlow, in some notes on Us- 

 tllaglneae, gives the first account of American Entylo- 

 mata, his list luoluding eight species, one only of 

 which appears under another genus in earlier lists. 

 Four of these are, for the present, described as new, 

 though two may prove to be identical with species 

 growing on the same host genera, in other countries. 

 One is doubtfully considered to be a form of a Euro- 

 pean species; the balance occur also In the old world. 

 Two American species of Cornu's new genus Do<as- 

 sansia — D. F.arlowii Cornu and D. epIlobilFarlow — 

 are recorded ; the former in the ovaries of Potaraoge- 

 ton, the latter in leaves of Epilobium. — {Hot. gazette, 

 Aug. ) w. T. [275 



Fertilization of Leptospermum. — In a fourth 

 paper on the indigenous plants of Sydney, E. Havi- 

 land considers the structure of the reproductive organs 

 of this genus and its mode of fertilization. Cross-fer- 

 tilization is regarded as prob.ably the rule, brought 

 about, 1°, by the difference in the times of maturing 

 of the anthers and stigma; and, 2°, by changes in 

 their relative positions. — {Linn. soc. N. S. Wales; 

 tneetimj June 27.) [276 



ZOOLOGY. 

 Uollnska. 



Astarte triquetra Conrad. — This minute and 

 peculiar shell, recently redi-scovered by Mr. Hemp- 

 hill In Florida, hut described by Conrad more than 

 thirty years ago, proves to be a new form, Callicistro- 

 nia, perhaps relate<l to Tivela, with a small sinus iu 

 the palllal line, two large cardinal teeth in one valve, 

 and one In the other. It is viviparous. More than 

 fifty young ones were found in a single specimen, re- 

 calling the habit of Psephis. — w. n. D. [277 



Anatomy of Urocyclus. — Dr. Paul Fischer has 

 examined the soft parts of Urocyclus longicauda F. 

 from Madagascar. The digestive tract resembles that 

 of Parmacella and Limax. There is a large mucus- 

 vesicle analogous to the vestibular prostate in Parma- 

 cella, Tennentia, and Arlophanta. Otherwise the 



reproductive organs resemble those of Helicarion, 

 and a slug described in detail by Keferstein under 

 the name of Parmarion in 1.S66, and which proves to 

 be a true Urocyclus. This genus is African, while 

 Parmarion Is of Asiatic and East-Indian distribution. 

 Urocyclus has an oxygnathous arcuate jaw, a rha- 

 chldlan, thirty-nine lateral aiul thirteen uncinal teeth 

 iu one hundred and twenty-five rows. Dendrollniax 

 of Heynemann appears to differ from Urocyclus 

 merely in the absence of the mucus-vesicle, and will 

 fall into synonymy. — (Jutirn. tie conchyl., xxi'i. 4.) 

 w. H. D. [278 



VERTEBRATES. 



Keptiles. 



Nerve - endings in the caudal skin of tad- 

 poles. — The epidermis of the skin of tadpoles has 

 two layers of cells. In the deeper cells, on the tail, 

 ■ippear peculiar bodies, first seen by Eberth {Arch. 

 milcros. anat., ii. !U)) and Leydig {Fortschr. natwf. 

 (jes. Halle, 1870, taf. ix. fig. 32). The latter compared 

 the bodies in question with the nettles of lasso-cells, 

 giving to the cells containing the bodies the strange 

 name of ' byssuszellen.' Vfilzner {Horph.jahrb. vii. 

 727) showed that these bodies are united with nerve- 

 filaments, every one of the cells being so supplied. 

 The nerves of the skin had been studied by Eberth 

 {I.e.) and Hensen (Virchoio's arch., sxxl. 51 ; Arch, 

 mikros. anat., iv., 11). Canini and Gaule have studied 

 the subject afresh, rectifying and supplementing the 

 previous writers. The bodies in the basal epidermal 

 cells appear as thick rods curved into bizarre and 

 varying shapes. Each is connected with a nerve-fila- 

 ment (sometimes, but not always, as maintained by 

 Pfitzner, two filaments run to one cell). The filaments 

 descend through the gelatinous corium (cutis), to 

 unite just below with a thick nucleated network of 

 threads, which, from their reactions, are regarded as 

 nervous tissue, and distinct from the cojacent plexus 

 of connective-tissue corpuscles. This network, again, 

 is connected with a deeper-lying, coarser plexus, cor- 

 responding to Kanvler's plexus fondamentale. These 

 peculiar end-organs are not found, except in the tail: 

 they are probably sensory, but Gaule hesitates to 

 deny Leydlg's Interpretation. — (Arch. anat. physiol., 

 physiol. abth., lS»i3, U9.) c. 8. M. [279 



Birds. 



Xenicidae, a new family. — On dissection of a 

 specimen of Xenicus longlpes and one of Acantbositta 

 cbloris, Mr. Forbes found the syrinx to be strictly 

 mesomyodian. On account of this, the long tenth 

 primary and the non-bilaminate tarsus, the birds are 

 removed from the vicinity of Sitta as a family, Xen- 

 icidae, of non-oscinine Passeres in the vicinity of 

 the Piltldac, — (Proc. zolit. soc. Lond., 1S82, 569.) 

 J. A. J. [280 



Anatomy of the todies. — After a 'careful exami- 

 nation of the structure of this group, Mr. Forbes con- 

 cludes that the todies are an Isolated form of anomal- 

 ogonatous birds, with no clear affinity to any living 

 group. He therefore proposes to raise them to the 

 group Todiformes, equivalent to the Passeri, or Pici- 

 formes. — {Proc. zo'61. soc. Lond., 1882, 443.) j. a. j. 



[281 



