272 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1025 



vitro showed vigorous twitches, even in prep- 

 arations in which the culture medium had not 

 been changed. 



I have observed that threads of fibrin when 

 affected by the local application of heat will 

 also contract and quickly extend again. The 

 muscular contractions observed are not de- 

 pendent, however, on any contraction of the 

 medium around the cell, since they occur as 

 well in the fluid of blood serum as in the 

 coagulum of plasma, and are much more 

 decided and vigorous than the contractions 

 similarly evoked in threads or sheets of fibrin. 

 Similar experiments with muscle fibers iso- 

 lated from adult amphibians gave negative 

 results, even though the fibers were kept for 

 only a few days in hanging drop cultures. 



While isolated larval muscle cells gave little 

 evidence of further differentiation, it was 

 found that in several larger pieces of the same 

 larvae, containing a number of different 

 tissues, muscle fibers became more elongated, 

 and had differentiated in other respects much 

 as in the course of normal development. In 

 one set of experiments tails of Biemyctylus 

 larvaB were cut into several pieces which were 

 kept in Einger's solution. These pieces were 

 seen to undergo differentiation in many ways. 

 Through the absorption of water they increased 

 greatly in size. The muscle fibers of these 

 pieces became not only more elongated, but 

 more completely fibrillated. It is probable 

 that tension is required to cause myoblasts to 

 increase in length, and this tension was sup- 

 plied, in the pieces observed, by the general 

 increase in size. It is not improbable that 

 other stimuli arising from the association of 

 the myoblasts with other cells occasioned their 

 further differentiation in structure. 



The persistence of larval muscle fibers in 

 an active condition for eight months is a fact 

 of interest in relation to the tendency of the 

 muscles of the adult animal to atrophy when 

 deprived of their nerve supply and hence of 

 their usual stimuli to functional activity. The 

 dependence of muscle upon nerve is a second- 

 ary acquirement, for several experiments have 

 shown that the early differentiation of myo- 

 blasts proceeds in a normal way after the 



removal or destruction of the nervous system. 

 In the young larvae from which the muscle 

 cells were isolated in my experiments the mus- 

 cular tissue had not come to depend, to any 

 considerable extent, upon nervous stimulation. 

 S. J. Holmes 

 XJnivebsitt op Califoenia 



fiat nomenclature 



In the "Eighth List of Generic Names 

 (Mammals) under consideration in connec- 

 tion with the Official List of Zoological 

 Names," published in Science for July 10, 

 we get an enlarged view of what the Inter- 

 national Commission is expected to do with 

 its " plenary power authority." Though only 

 sixteen names are now presented for " fijxation 

 by fiat," large possibilities are revealed, since 

 thousands of such cases could be developed. 



The orang, evidently the pet of the menag- 

 erie, is allowed to steal the generic name that 

 belongs to the Barbary ape, and the specific 

 name that belongs to the chimpanzee. As the 

 Barbary ape is the type of the genus Simia 

 Linnaeus, the generic name used for the orang 

 will need to be distinguished as Simia Fiat. 

 The orang's specific name must be Simia 

 satyrus Fiat, Simia satyrus Linnseus being 

 the original name of the chimpanzee. It 

 would be interesting to know why the orang 

 should discard his original Linnaean specific 

 name troglodytes. Fiat will easily become 

 one of the most prolific authors, with such 

 facilities for displacing clearly established 

 names, including those of Linnaeus. 



It must be a fine thing to have this " ple- 

 nary power authority," and feel able to cor- 

 rect the errors and improprieties that are al- 

 ways creeping into nomenclature. At last we 

 are in the way to follow the golden counsel of 

 Rafinesque, to keep on giving names until we 

 find the most appropriate. Fiat, as we have 

 seen, is to fi:x specific names as well as generic, 

 and can also " fix the most classical form of 

 the name, not necessarily that which was first 

 used." Anything that seems ' * advisable " 

 may be done. Thus : 



An early reference by Pallas in connection with 

 Oryx gazella makes it advisable to afSx the name 



