818 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 625. 



of its nucleus. If then the facts drawn from 

 the observation of parasitic Hymenoptera ap- 

 ply equally to the higher animals, it will be 

 inexact to speak, as has sometimes been done, 

 of an embryonic period which is indifferent 

 from the sexual point of view. The indiffer- 

 ence is probably apparent rather than real, 

 and it appears probable that once fecundation 

 is effected the sex is irrevocably fixed. 



It is strange that Marchal's work and that 

 of Silvestri following it have received so little 

 attention from English-speaking naturalists. 



The extraordinary nature of the discov- 

 eries and their wide bearing upon profound 

 biological problems render them among the 

 most important discoveries in biology of re- 

 cent years. Recently published volumes on 

 insects contain no mention of them; no com- 

 petent reviews have been published in Amer- 

 ican or English journals, so far as I am aware, 

 and it is for the sole purpose of directing the 

 attention of American workers to this ex- 

 tremely important field that I have written 

 this lengthy account. After reviewing one of 

 Marchal's preliminary papers in Science in 

 1898, I endeavored to induce several univer- 

 sity teachers, possessing well-equipped labora- 

 tory facilities, to take up the subject of this 

 investigation, but without success. It is a 

 fertile field. In the parasitic Hymenoptera 

 there are many thousands of species, and an 

 unlimited material exists at our very doors. 

 The most promising fields of investigation 

 have recently been pointed out by the writer 

 in a paper read before the Entomological So- 

 ciety of Washington, Marchal has studied 

 two or three species; Silvestri has studied 

 another; and both workers have found radical 

 and interesting differences in all. There is, 

 therefore, a vast and unexplored field whose 

 richness can well be predicted from the results 

 of Marchal's work. L. O. Howard. 



LE FONDULE (fUNDULA CYPRINODONTA) OF 

 CARBONNIER AN UMBRA. 



I HAVE been several times asked what the 

 Fondule of Carbonnier (1874) was. The 

 breeding habits of this American fish were 

 noticed in considerable detail by P. Carbon- 

 nier in the Bulletin Mensuel de la Societe 



d' Acclimatation for November, 18Y4 (pp^ 

 665-671), but under a strange name which 

 has evaded and even prevented identification.. 

 The article in question is entitled ' Le Fon- 

 dule (Fundula cyprinodonta Cuv.)' and it is- 

 especially claimed: "Ce poisson americain a 

 ete designe par Cuvier sous le nom de Fun- 

 dula cyprinodonta," But Cuvier never gave- 

 such a name to a fish, neither in the first or 

 second edition of the ' Eegne Animal,' nor 

 (with Valenciennes) in the ' Histoire Nat- 

 urelle des Poissons.' Carbonnier was prob- 

 ably told by some one who looked casually at 

 his fish that it was a Fundulu^, a cyprinodont, 

 but the slight notice given of it by Carbonnier 

 does not agree with any cyprinodont. The 

 only means he has given to determine what it 

 was are meager data respecting size, color,, 

 sexual differences and habits. The size waa 

 small — 12 to 15 centimeters at most; there 

 were numerous longitudinal parallel lines; 

 there was no constant difference in color be- 

 tween the sexes, but the females were twice 

 as large (bulky) as the males; they were 

 noticeable for immobility^ and also for ap- 

 parent power to turn the head.^ Here we 

 have a combination of characteristics which 

 is not true of any cyprinodont but which is 

 on the whole realized by an Umbra or mud- 

 fish (JJ. pygmce^), and doubtless specimens 

 of that mudfish (to be found abundantly about 

 New York) were the fishes sent to Carbonnier „ 

 The sender was a ' M. Godillot,' a Frenchman 

 doing business in New York, as appears from 

 a previous notice by Carbonnier in the Bul- 

 letin (1871, p. 650). 



Interesting details are given of the play of 

 the sexes, the change in color during the 

 nuptial season, the mode of oviposition, the 

 care of the female for her eggs^ and the char- 



^ L'immotilit6 qui est un caractfere de cette- 

 espece (p. 666). 



^ J'ai dit elle tourne la tete, et avec intention,, 

 car cet organe chez le Fondule paralt ne pas gtre 

 invariablement sonde a la charpente du tronc, et. 

 jouit, au contraire, d'une ceitaine mobility (p. 

 669). 



^ Pendant tout le temps que dure rincubation,. 

 qui est de treize a quatorze jours, la femelle 

 veille avec une tendre sollieitude siir ses ceufs 

 (p. 669). 



