( 561 ) 

 SUMMARY 



OF CUIiRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY 



(principally Invertebrata and Cryptogamia), 



MICROSCOPY, &c., 



INCLUDING ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM FELLOWS AND OTHERS.' 



ZOOLOGY. 



A. VERTEBR AT A :— Embryology, Histology, and General. 



o. Embryologry.f 



Contimiity of Germinal Protoplasm.^ — Dr. W. Eichter discusses the 

 various factors in organic evolution with special reference to Weismann's 

 conclusions. The greater portion of his paper covers very familiar ground, 

 but the degree of misunderstanding between Virchow and Weismann is 

 lucidly and carefully explained. In the latter part of his paper the author 

 takes as a special case the variations which he has observed in the con- 

 nective tissue of human subjects. A list of these is given. The same 

 variations occur independently of local inheritance, in mechanical response 

 to functional demands. The local modification cannot be said to be directly 

 inherited, but is the result of an associated quality of connective tissue ex- 

 pressing itself through a definite law of growth. The relation of Weis- 

 mann's conclusions to psychology is finally discussed. Their essential 

 consistency with the main propositions of the natural selection theory is 

 maintained throughout. 



Development of the Carnivora.§ — Dr. A. Fleischmann has carried 

 out some interesting investigations upon the development of the Carnivora, 

 on which he reports as follows : — 



Material was hard to obtain, in spite of the fact that cats and dogs are 

 to be found as pets in every family. From one hundred to one hundred 

 and fifty cats were examined weekly during the rutting periods in February 

 and June. Later it was found possible to obtain materials from animals 

 kept in confinement. Besides this, useful material was obtained through 

 sportsmen from foxes and wild cats. 



A series of stages of the domestic cat was obtained by the successive 

 extirpation of the horns of the uterus. The preservative fluid was picro- 

 sulphuric acid, to which one-tenth per cent, of chromic acid had been 

 added. 



* The Society are not intended to be denoted by the editorial " we," and they do not 

 hold themselves responsible for the views of the authors of the papers noted, nor for 

 any claim to novelty or otherwise made by them. The object of this part of the Journal 

 is to present a summary of the papers as actually published, and to describe and illustrate 

 Instruments, Apparatus, &c., which are either new or have not been previously described 

 in this country. 



t This section includes not only papers relating to Embryology properly so called, 

 but also those dealing with Evolution, Development, and Reproduction, and allied 

 subjects. 



: Biol. Centralbl., vi. (1887) pp. 40-50, 67-80, 97-108. 



§ Ibid., vii. (1887) pp. 9-12. Cf. Amcr. Natural., xxi. (1887) pp. 391-6. 



