202 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 7. 



linodia, a fertilization is accomplished by means of 

 spermamoebae produced from antheridia remote from 

 the oogonia. DeBary again sliows that it is not true, 

 as Pi'ingslieim maintains, that tlie spores produced, as 

 he calls them apogamously, differ from others in the 

 duration of their resting-period. — {Bot. zeit., Jan., 

 1883.)— w. 6. F. [442 



Leafy berries in Mitchella repeus. — Monstrous 

 fruits of partridge-beri'y, from the valley of Cayuga 

 lake, have been studied with attention by Prof. Dud- 

 ley, who gives several good figures of the malforma- 

 tions. The following statement shows that the cases 

 possess more than ordinary interest: "The true pe- 

 duncle has entirely disappeared ; and those parts of the 

 petioles coming in direct contact with the berry have 

 become part of it, and have readily assumed its color, 

 texture, and general aspect. But this union has not 

 interfered with the fruitfulness or development of 

 the ovary ; the seeds being present, and the size of the 

 berry not being imder the average." — (Torrey bot. 

 bull, Jan., 1SS3.) G. L. G. [443 



Fertilization of Asclepias cornuti. — The struc- 

 ture and development of the asclepiad flower have 

 been restudied by Mr. T. H. Corry, who stated the re- 

 sult of his work before the Linnean society Dec. 21, 

 18S2. Self-fertiUzation, with the parts in situ, is be- 

 lieved to be impossible. — (Nature, Jan. 11, 1SS3.) 

 W. T. [444 



Dichogamy of Pelargonium. — Professor Barnes 

 points out the protandry of the lemon-scented gerani- 

 um, P. graveolens (Botan. gazette, Jan., 1883). In 

 this respect the genus is a very homogeneous one. — 

 W. T. [445 



Pollination of Arum italicum. — Dr. Kraus, 

 who has recently studied at Rome the rise of tem- 

 perature observable in the spathe of this aroid, finds 

 that the maximum is reached between four and six 

 P.M., when it may exceed the temperature of the sur- 

 rounding air by 27.7° C. At this time the stigmas of the 

 pistillate flowers are receptive, and the spathe opens to 

 allow the entrance of small diptera, which are attract- 

 ed by the warmth and shelter offered. If they have 

 previously escaped from older spathes, they bring pol- 

 len to fertilize the mature pistils. Their escape is 

 prevented by a whorl of rudimentary stamens, as in A. 

 maculatum and some spathes of Arisaema triphyllum. 

 The temperature gradually falls until morning, when 

 each stigma, having wilted, emits a drop of nectar 

 that is greedily eaten by the flies. The stamens now 

 dehisce, and the insects, pollen-laden, escape to visit 

 other young spathes later in the day. — [Abhandl. 

 naturf. gesellsch. Halle, xvi. ; fide Kosmos, Dec. 30. ) 

 w. T. [446 



ZOOLOGY. 

 Polyps. 



Operculate corals. — G. Lindstrom has just is- 

 sued an important memoir on the operculiferous cor- 

 als of the paleozoic formations, illustrated with nine 

 fine plates. He divides them into two groups, — Cal- 

 ceolidae and Araeopomatidae; the former containing 

 Calceola, Rhizophyllum, and the recently described 

 Platyphyllum Lindstrom (upper Silurian of China), 

 — all with opercula of a single valve, — and Gonio- 

 phyllum, with an opercular apparatus of four pieces. 

 None of the species are new; though Platyphyllum 

 sinense has barely entered into paleontological liter- 

 ature in the fourth volume of Richthofen's ' China.' 

 The second family contains the new genera Areo- 

 poma and Rhytidophyllum; the foi'mer proposed for 

 Cystiphyllum prismaticum Lindstrom (1868), from 



the Silurian of Gotland, and the latter for R. pusil- 

 lum, a new species from tlie same formation. A 

 broken operculum from Lerberget, not named, is be- 

 lieved by the author to represent a new genus of the 

 same family. Remarks follow on Pholidophyllum 

 and Syringophyllum. Chelodes Dav. & King, a very 

 problematical genus, is referred to as probably Chit- 

 onoid. The text (ninety-four pages) is in Swedish. 

 Twenty-one species are illustrated. — [Svemsk. vet. 

 akad. hancll.,YU. iv., 1SS2.) w. h. d. [447 



MoUusks. 



European land-shells. — The first supplement to 

 the second edition of Kobelfs catalogue of the Eu- 

 ropean land and fresh-water moUusk-fauna is just 

 published. It is presented in the shape of a syste- 

 matic catalogue of species, with synonymes, locality 

 of publication, and habitat, for each of the additions, 

 which are very considerable. Most of the real addi- 

 tions are from the Caucasian region, the borders of 

 the western Mediterranean, Italy, and Sardinia, and 

 are due to Boettger, Kobelt, Paulucci, Lessona, and 

 Pollonera. To Locard and Bourgulgnat we are in- 

 debted for an extraordinary number of new names, 

 ai^plied to variations and varieties of well-kno'sxTi 

 species. The amount and character of the current 

 literature of this topic may be imagined from the fact 

 that this supplement contains about twenty pages 

 of new names supposed to be valid, and five pages of 

 l)ure synonymes. 



In the same issue appears an article by H. Tscha- 

 peck, on the varieties of Clausilia dubia found in 

 Steiermark. — {Nachr. blatt. malac. c/es., 1883.) 

 w. H. D. [448 



Shells from the Colorado region. — Mr. Stearns 

 has recently received from Indio, Colorado desert, a 

 most interesting lot of Physae, collected by Prof. 

 George Davidson. They intergrade i^ertectly with 

 one another, connecting P. humerosa with P. hetero- 

 stropha, and these with P. virgata, etc. Recent data 

 also carry the distribution of Anodonta calif orniensis 

 two hundred and fifty miles east of the main stream 

 of the Colorado river. —w. H. D. [449 



Variations of Pompholyx. — A calcareous de- 

 posit occurs in Pyramid lake, Nevada, consisting chiefly 

 of incrusted pine-needles and shells of Pompholyx ef- 

 fusa. These last vary widely from the original type, 

 showing all grades of costation from perfectly smooth 

 to strongly costate, as in Vorticifex; these being the 

 form named costata by Hemphill. Others show de- 

 cided inclination to become umbilicated, thus verging 

 toward Cariuifex and its allies. — w. n. d. [450 



Worms. 



A cave-dwelling Planarian. — Under the provis- 

 ional name of Vortex cavicolens, Dr. A. S. Packard, 

 jun., describes a Tnrbellarian from X cave of the 

 Carter caves, Kentucky. The animal is white, about 

 four millimetres in length, and in the alcoholic spe- 

 cimen no eyes could be observed. There is but a 

 single genital outlet near the posterior extremity. — 

 {Amer. nat., xvii. 89.) c. s. M. [451 



Haraingia artica, a rare gephyrean. — This rare 

 worm was known only from three specimens. Lan- 

 kester has now had an oppoi'tunity of examining 

 two others, one of which he drn-dged himself last 

 summer at forty fathoms, on a rocky bottom off Ler- 

 vik. Lankester's specimen had a proboscis, or fron- 

 tal hood, which he supposes to have been broken off 

 in Koren and Danielssen's original specimen, as they 

 consider its absence characteristic. In the liquid of 

 the body-cavity exist corpuscles impregnated with 



