492 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 17. 



nal conditions. Most of his observations were made 

 upon wild' plants in open fields. — {Ber. des konir/l. 

 hot. gartens, Berlin, 1883. ) G. L. a. [991 



Pollination of Araceae. — The contrivances.' 

 which secure crossing in several species of Dracun- 

 culus and Arum have been restudied by Arcangeli, 

 who finds the pollinators of D. vulgaris to be scaven- 

 ger beetles, chiefly species of Dermestes and Saprinus, 

 while D. canariensis is thought to be fertilized by 

 Cetonia and other liower-beetles. On theotherhand, 

 D. crinitura and A. italicum depend upon diptera ; 

 the former relying on Anthomyia and related genera, 

 while the visitors of the latter are mainly species of 

 Psychoda and Sciara. The characteristic odors of 

 the several species, which serve to attract the par- 

 ticular insects best fitted to carry their pollen, and 

 numerous structural peculiarities utilizing their visits, 

 receive special attention. A few observations on the 

 rise of temperature in the aroid spathe, and a list 

 of references on the subject, are also given. The 

 writer introduces two convenient terms — osmo- 

 phore [oB/iij, (pepetv) and anthophore [avSoq, ipspew) — to 

 designate respectively the upper and lower parts of the 

 spadix. — {Nuov. giorn. hot. ital., Jan.) w. T. [992 



Anther of Roscoea. — Lynch describes and fig- 

 ures the lever-like stamen of Roscoea purpurea, which, 

 like the similarly hinged anthers of species of Salvia 

 and Calceolaria, is so pivoted as to have the polli- 

 niferous end depressed by, and brought in contact 

 with, visiting insects. In this case, however, the 

 flexible style is carried with the moving stamen, so 

 that its stigma receives pollen, previously collected 

 on the back of the insect, at the same time that a new 

 load is being talsien. The contrivance has previously 

 been described by Delpino. In this connection, the 

 curious suggestion is made that Salvia Grahami, the 

 flowers of which are closed by the anther-levers, as 

 In S. fulgens, etc.. Is pollinated by small Insects, 

 which, having forced their way Into the flower, can 

 escape only by creeping out over the upper end of 

 the lever, where they are dusted with pollen, beside 

 coming in contact with the stigma. The species, 

 however. Is apparently ornithophllous. — (Journ. 

 Linn, soc, hot., xix. ) vf. T. [993 



■Withdraiwal of poUinia in the bee orchis. — 

 That the spontaneous removal of the pollinia from 

 the anther-cells in Ophrys aplfera is due to something 

 besides gravity, would appear from the observations 

 of Clark, which, however, do not give a very clear 

 idea of the process. — {Journ. hot.) w. T. [994 



ZOOLOGY. 



Mollusks. 

 Snails used for food in Spain. — Kobelt has 

 issued for private circulation a reprint of his journey, 

 ' Nach den siiulen des Hercules,' for malacological in- 

 vestigations. Among other interesting matters in 

 this entertaining brochure, we find an account of the 

 snail-market at Valencia, and numerous references 

 to the consumption of these mollusks for food, not 

 only in the Iberian peninsula, but in Morocco and 

 Algeria wherever the south Europeans have colonized. 

 The Spanish do not merely eat the large vine-snail 

 (H. pomatia), which is made use of in South France 

 and Germany, but appear to consume all kinds which 

 are large enough to be worth the trouble of collection, 

 except a few (Helix Gualtieriana, Leucochroa can- 

 didissima, and L. baetica) which are reckoned tough 

 and unwholesome. The women who deal in this 

 kind of lenten food are called caracoleras (from 

 caracole, a snail), and congregate in a small open 

 square used as a snail-market, cry their wares loudly, 



and, to convince customers of the good quality of the 

 animals heaped up before them alive in large bas- 

 kets, crack the shells open with their teeth. Helix 

 alonensis, the serrano or mountain snail, is consid- 

 ered to be the most delicate of all, and comes from the 

 vicinity of the Vega. From Mallorca is imported 

 H. lactea, which is found throughout southern Spain; 

 and in the Valencia market Kobelt also obtained 

 H. Dupotellana, vermiculata, and aspersa. They 

 were valued at about forty cents a hundred ; and, 

 In spite of prejudice, he felt compelled to acknowl- 

 edge, that, when properly dressed, some of the kinds 

 were really of delicate flavor. They are cooked, 

 shells and all, in a broth with onions; extracted, 

 stewed, and replaced in the shell to be served ; or 

 steamed with rice. Strangers rarely partake of these 

 peculiarly Spanish delicacies ; which, nevertheless, 

 are so much esteemed by that nation as to be im- 

 ported for home use, and even exported for the benefit 

 of Spanish colonists in other parts of the Mediter- 

 ranean. — w. n. D. [995 



Extraordinary Eulima. — That indefatigable 

 collector, Henry Hemphill, has recently sent to the 

 National museum, among other treasures of the sea 

 from Florida, two specimens of a Eulima about 2.5 

 mm. long, which, except when viewed by transmitted 

 light, have a perfectly sooty appearance. This for 

 the genus is something never before known, and 

 more remarkable in that group than a black swan 

 among birds. — w. H. D. [996 



Arctic mollusks. — In the year-book of the re- 

 cently established Tromso museum, the land and 

 fresh-water mollusks of the arctic regions of Norway 

 are enumerated, with descriptions of several interest- 

 ing varieties by Miss Bergithe Esmark of Kristiania. 

 The author, whose laaper is printed In English, re- 

 views previous catalogues, and enumerates thirty- 

 five species In arctic Norway, twenty-seven in West 

 Flnmark, seventeen in Nordland, and fourteen in 

 East Flnmark. In Tromso, in about latitude 70° 

 north, Clausula bidentata has been found, and also 

 Helix arbustorum. H. pygmaea reaches 70° 20' 

 north latitude, which exceeds by several degrees its 

 most northern range in Siberia, and probably else- 

 where. Our own Zoogenetes harpa, discovered suc- 

 cessively in the United States, Kamtchatka, eastern 

 Siberia (Dall), and the Amur region, Is now foimd 

 extending to the shores of the Arctic Ocean at the 

 northern extreme of Europe. Besides the shell-bear- 

 ing forms, there are also three Llmaces; and the 

 Margaritana margaritlfera is in some places common, 

 and frequently produces pearls. — w. H. D. [997 



North German miocene. — Koenen continues 

 his researches on the fauna of that formation in a 

 paper covering the holostomatous and tectibranchi- 

 ate gastropods, the cephalopods and pteropods. He 

 describes and figures many new forms. — (Neues 

 jahrb. min., ii. 223.) w. h. d. |998 



■Worms. 



Segmental organs of leeches. — In continuation 

 of the researches of Bourne and Lang, Oscar Schultze 

 has carefully studied the segmental organs In five 

 species of leeches. These structures are long convo- 

 luted tubules, presenting at least three divisions, — the 

 terminal duct, which opens exteriorly; the middle 

 piece, containing a simple canal ; the Inner part, 

 with branching canals. In no case was the canal 

 found to begin with a ciliated funnel, as in many 

 chaetopods. The parts are difficult to unravel be- 

 cause they are much convoluted, and most of the 

 middle and part of the terminal division is covered 

 by the Inner division. The beginning of the inner 



