346 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 12. 



tained that the so-called ' Ceratodus ' of Queens- 

 land spawns during the months of June, July, and 

 August, in the Burnett River. A slight excavation is 

 made by the fish in the bed of the river, in water about 

 eight to ten feet deep; and the male and female guard 

 the nest till the eggs are hatched. Hope is held out 

 that a supply of fertilized eggs may be procured next 

 season, and the embryology of the type studied. Thus 

 a great gap in our knowledge of the ancient fish-types 

 may be filled up. — {Nature, March 15.) T. a. [737 

 Development of the pike's skull. — An impor- 

 tant memoir on the development of the membrane- 

 bones of the pilce's skull has been published by Dr. 

 Johannes Walther. The observations were chiefly 

 made on the young, representing two stages of devel- 

 opment, — one 11 and the other 22 mm. long. The 

 author recognizes five categories of ossifications; viz., 

 ' hautknochen,' including ' eementknochen,' ' bin- 

 degewebsknochen,' and ' perichondralknochen (cen- 

 trifugal wachsend) ' ; and ' knorpelknochen,' including 

 'perichondral (centripedal wachsend) ' and 'enchon- 

 dral.' For his generalizations, we must refer to the 

 memoir itself {Jena, zeitschr., xvi. 59, pi. 3, 4). In 

 this connection, we may also call attention to a mono- 

 graph on tlie development of the pike's shoulder- 

 girdle and pectoral-fin, published by Dr. G-. Swirski at 

 Dorpat In 1880. — T. G. [738 



Isaak 'Walton, and the river Lea. — An interest- 

 ing article on the little river Lea, as it is at present, 

 has been published under the above caption by R. B. 

 Croft. A list of the fishes, with notes as to their oc- 

 currence (whether abundant or rare), will enable the 

 Waltonian to compare the past and present of the 

 river immortalized by the 'father of angling.' It 

 supplements a paper some time previously published 

 by Mr. Littleboy in the transactions of the Watford 

 natural history society (ii. 113}.— {Tmns. Bertf. nat. 

 hist, .soc, ii. 9.) [739 



American sirenians. — The discovery of a new- 

 fossil sirenian in South Carolina brings the number 

 of known existing and extinct forms in North Amer- 

 ica to eight (Cope. Proc. acad. nat. .fc. PIdlaJ., 18S3, 

 52). The Florida manatee is still extant in that 

 state, and it is probable that the South American 

 manatee may yet be found in Texas. Two extinct 

 forms (Anoplonassa forcipata, from Georgia; and 

 Hemicaulodon effodiens, from New Jersey) have been 

 previously described by Cope. The type of Owen's 

 Prorastomus was from the West Indies. Two other 

 extinct species of manatee, founded upon teelh, and 

 the new generic form, Dioplotherium Manigaulti, all 

 from South Carolina, complete the number. From 

 recent remarks by Mr. W. H. Dall {Biol. soc. Wash.; 

 meeting March 30), it would appear certain that Rhy- 

 tina has not existed on the coast of the Alaskan 

 peninsula since the advent of man, and probably 

 never. It cannot, therefore, be added to the list of 

 American sirenians. — f. w. t. [740 



Foetus of a seal. — Canierano, in vol. xxxv. of 

 the Memorie of the acadeiny of Turin, describes the 

 anatomy of a nearly mature foetus of Otaria jubata 

 Forst. Its length, with the hind-limbs extended, was 

 51 cm. ; its structure showed a close affinity with 

 other carnivora. The author gives a description of 

 the thoracic girdle with measurements. It is note- 

 worthy that the scapula and the coracoid apophysis 

 are relatively more developed than in the adult. The 

 comparison of the cranium with that of the adult 

 shows that variations occur here similar to those ob- 

 served in the gorilla, especially in the proportion be- 

 tween the cranium proper and the facial region. The 



brain differs in the usual manner froln that of the 

 adult. The right ventricle of the heart is shorter 

 than the left : in the adult they are about equal. The 

 same difference with age exists in lions. The coro- 

 nary vein is very large. From the aortic arch arise 

 only two vessels, — the innominate trunk and the left 

 subclavian, — not three, as in the adult: the young, 

 therefore, resembles in this respect the aquatic carniv- 

 ora, with which it is probably phylogenetioally re- 

 lated.— (^rc/j. itai. 6ioZ., ii. 285.) c. s. M. [741 



{Man.) 

 Duration of fecundity in man. —The generally 

 accepted notion that the period of fecundity for the 

 male does not extend beyond the sixtieth year, and 

 for the female the fortieth year, is shown by M. 

 Mignot to be to a certain degree incorrect. He cites 

 numerous cases which show that the period may ex- 

 tend to the seventieth year in the male, and to the 

 fifty-sixth or fifty-eighth in the female. — (Soc. sc. 

 med. Gannet, xxxvi. 19.) F. yy. t. [742 



The intermedins of the carpus in man and 

 other mammals. — Leboucq has re-examined this 

 bone by aid of microscopic sections, with a view of 

 determining its relations to the other bones of the 

 ■wrist. It first shows itself with distinctness in hu- 

 man embryos, of which the hand has a length of 

 2 mm., appearing as a cartilaginous nodule inserted 

 between the scaphoid and the first three bones of the 

 drital row. In hands 2.5 mm. long it appears as a 

 polyliedral nodule attached to the scaphoid at one 

 point near the palmar surface, but otherwise free. 

 In hands 4.5 to 5 mm. long the cartilaginous at- 

 tachment is broader, but the intermedins is still 

 distinguishable. With the growth of the foetus, the 

 boundaries become less and less distinct, and finally 

 disappear. Leboucq, therefore, decides that the in- 

 termedins does not disappear by atrophy, but by fusion 

 with the scaphoid. He does not agree with Rosen- 

 berg, that the space supposedly left vacant by atropliy 

 of the intermedins is filled with tissu a vacuoles, with 

 large nuclei ( ?) in its walls, but by simple ligaraen- 

 tary fasciculi. 



Although having no new facts to contribute, regard- 

 ing the chimpanzee and gorilla, in which the inter- 

 medins disappears in the adult, he believes that it 

 combines with the scaphoid as in man. In the dog 

 and the cat, the intermedins is also as in man, but 

 extends less in the dorselumbar direction. In embryo 

 bats (notably in Vespertilio murinus) the intermedins 

 is distinctly visible. Its presence in marsupials needs 

 further confirmation. In conclusion, Leboucq states 

 his belief that the interraedius is present in the em- 

 bryos of all pentadactyle mammals. — {Bull. acad. 

 sc. BeUj., (3), iv. 220.) f. w. t. [743 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 Resources of anthropology. — The student of 

 any branch of human knowledge is always grateful 

 to those who will show him the results of other men's 

 labors. The surgeon-general's office in Washington 

 has undertaken to be the guide of anthropologists 

 in this respect. Under the direction of Dr. J. S. 

 Billings and Dr. Robert Fletcher, aided by a force of 

 accomplished assistants, are issued the Index medi- 

 cus and the Index-catalogue of the surgeon-general's 

 office. Tlie former is a monthly catalogue of medi- 

 cal literature, classified so as to be most serviceable 

 to tlie practitioner, as well as to the student of liunian 

 biology. Through a system of exchanges and pur- 

 chases, all the creditable medical amhropological 

 journals of the world are promptly received, "aiid 

 their contents indicated through the Index metlicus. 



