Februaet 9, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



21 



Lythraceae. — Continuation of Koeline's mono- 

 graph, comprising tlie genera Decodon, of a single 

 Nortli American "species (D. verticillatus, Elliott), 

 Grlslea, Adenaria, Tetrataxis, and G-inoria, — tlie 

 first two perliaps to be united to Heimia, and the 

 last iiioUidlng Antherylium. — {Enqler's hot. jahrb., 

 Oct., 1882.) s. w. [48 



{FoanilplavtH.) 



Heer's Flora f ossilis arctica. — The second jsart 

 of the sixth volume of this celebrated work describes 

 plants of two stages of the cretaceous of Greenland, 

 — those of the schists of Come, referable to the low- 

 er cretaceous; those of tlie schists of Atane, upper 

 cretaceous, including a few species from Pattook, a 

 higher member of the formation of Atane. The pub- 

 lication of the tertiary plants of the same country is 

 reserved for the third part of the volume, the plates 

 being already prepared. All these plants have been 

 described from specimens obtained by the Swedish 

 geographical and geological survey of Greenland un- 

 der the direction of Steenstrup. And such a degree 

 of attention has been given to paleontological re- 

 searches by the assistants of the survey, that twenty- 

 five large boxes of specimens of fossil plants were sent 

 to Heer. 



The flora of Come, composed of 86 species, has 42 

 species of ferns, 1 Marsilia, 1 Lycopodium, 3 Equiset- 

 aceae, 10 Cycadeae, 21 conifers, 5 monocotyledons, 

 1 dicotyledon only, and 2 Carpolithes. The flora of 

 Atane, composed of 177 species, has 3 fungi (Hypoxy- 

 leae), 34 ferns, 1 Marsilia, 1 Selaginella, 1 Equisetum, 6 

 Cycadeae, 26 conifers, 8 monocotyledons, and 97 dicoty- 

 ledons. These two groups of floras of the cretaceous 

 are remarkably different in their composition and in 

 their characters. Besides the great proportional dis- 

 parity in the number of their representatives, in divers 

 classes of the vegetable kingdom, there is as marked 

 a difference in tlie characters of the species. While 

 Atane has 07 dicotyledons. Come has only 1, a Popu- 

 lus, represented by a few fragments of leaves ; and of 

 the whole number of described species, only 7 ferns, 1 

 Equisetum and 6 conifers are common to both floras 

 of Come and Atane. This last series of plants shows 

 a greater degree of relation to the flora of the Dakota 

 group : for we find in common to them, 2 ferns, 3 coni- 

 fers, 1 or 2 cycads, and 8 dicotyledons ; and also, the 

 same degree of analogy is remarked in the animal 

 fossil remains found in strata above the schists con- 

 taining vegetable remains at Atane, and of which some 

 species have been recognized by M. Loriol as identi- 

 cal with those of the Fox Hill group of Hayden, 

 like Avicula nebrascensis Evans, Solemeya subpli- 

 cata Meek and Hayden, Heraiaster Humph riesianus 

 Meek. — L. L. [49 



ZOOLOGY. 

 ( Geographical distribution.) 



The Sonoran region. — ■ In continuation of an 

 argument upon the desirability of uniting the ne- 

 arctic and palearctic zoological regions. Prof. Heilprin 

 stated his reasons for separating the Sonoran region 

 (the south-western portion of the United States, and 

 the Mexican state of Sonora) from the rest of North 

 America, and uniting it with the neotropical or South- 

 American region. The reptiles and batrachians, es- 

 pecially of the smaller district, were sharply distin- 

 guished from those found to the north and east, and 

 allied to the southern forms. 



Dr. Horn stated that the coleopterous fauna of the 

 Sonoran region was, on the contrary, more closely 

 allied to that of the rest of North America. — (Acad, 

 nat. sc. Philad.; meetlnrj .Jan. 2.) [50 



Zoological geography of Tvestern North Amer- 



ica. — Prof. E. D. Cope presented for publication 

 a paper entitled : Notes on the geographical distri- 

 bution of Batrachia and Reptilia in western North 

 America. The commnnication is based on collec- 

 tions made by the author and his assistants at various 

 points in the Rocky-Mountain and Pacific regions 

 during the last ten years, and is an important con- 

 tribution to the final definition of the zoological 

 provinces and districts of the continent. 



The results to zoological geography obtained by 

 the identification of species contained in the collec- 

 tions are as follows: The extension northwards of 

 the range of Crotalus molossus, Stenostoma dulce, 

 Diadophis regalis, Crotalus lepidus, and Holbrookia 

 texana ; the extension to the Rocky Mountains of the 

 range of Spea Hammondii; the discovery of a new 

 Scaphiopus in the Great-Basin district; and of the 

 southern extension of Rana pretiosa into the same. 

 It has also been determined that the North-Pacific 

 fauna extends east to the Rocky Mountains. This 

 fauna is especially represented by Bascanion vetus- 

 tum, Rana pretiosa, and Bufo columbiensis. The 

 Great-Basin district of the Sonoran fauna extends 

 north to the southern slope of the Rocky Mountains 

 in Idaho, where are found several of its species. The 

 same fauna extends north along the eastern slope of 

 the Sierra Nevada, to the beginning of Surprise Val- 

 ley, California. The North-Pacific fauna extends 

 from Surprise Valley, Eastern California, northwards 

 as far as the author's explorations have extended; 

 viz., to Silver Lake and Klamath Lake. A wide 

 southern range for Spea Hamraondi and Bufo colum- 

 biensis was also determined. 



These results indicate that the Pacific region has 

 much greater extension eastward than has been sup- 

 posed, although foreshadowed in Mr. Cope's paper on 

 the zoology of Montana, published in 1879. They 

 also indicate that the region must be divided into 

 three districts; for which the names Idaho, Willa- 

 met, and South-Californian are proposed. The first 

 is characterized by the absence of Gerrhonotus, and 

 of certain species of Amblystoma and Cynops. The 

 South-California is characterized by the presence of 

 Rhinochilus, and absence of Amblystoma. It is al- 

 lied to the Sonoran region, to which it is adjacent. 

 — {Acad. nat. sc. Philad.; meeting .Tan. 9.) [51 



Protozoa. 



Perception of light by low organisms. — Th. 

 W. Engelmann has published some interesting obser- 

 vations on this subject. He maintains that light acts 

 in three fundamentally different manners: 1. Directly, 

 by alteration of the exchange of gases, without de- 

 monstrable addition of sensation ; 2. Alteration of the 

 sensation of the respiratory needs, consequent upon 

 alteration in the gaseous exchange ; 3. By means of a 

 specific process assumably corresponding to our sen- 

 sation of light. By ingenious arguments he seeks to 

 prove that Navicula is a type of the first, Paramecium 

 bursaria of the second, and Euglena viridis of the 

 third. As regards the last he says that the seat of the 

 perception of light is exclusively in the anterior end 

 of the body, where there is no chlorophyl. —{Pfliiger's 

 orc/i., xxix. •'587. ) c. s. M. [52 



Butschli's Protozoa. — Parts 14^-16 of Biitschli's 

 invaluable revision of the Protozoa in Bronn's 

 Klassen und ordnuugen des thierreichs has just ap- 

 peared. The plates (xxii.-xxviii.) refer to the Radio- 

 laria; the text is entirely devoted to the Gregarinidae, 

 which are nearly completed. It is hardly possible to 

 estimate this work too highly; for there are no other 

 animals concerning which so many errors have been 

 current in recent years as the Protozoa, and it cannot 

 fail to advance zoology to have them treated by so 



