Febkuaby 13, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



255 



line roots, the i-amus buccalis receiving 

 the major part of the remainder of this 

 root, while the ramus oplithabiiieus super- 

 ficialis VII. is principally composed of the 

 bulk of the more ventral lateral line root. 

 This woixld apparently negative the view 

 that the ampuUary organs are modified 

 end-buds and the dorsal root an end-bud 

 root. 



In accordance with the results of pre- 

 vious investigators, the lateral line nerve 

 of the trunk, which shows some evidence 

 of being really compound, is found to be 

 derived from a special root cephalad of 

 the IX. and X. An interesting point is 

 that the anomalous branch of the IX. 

 nerve to canal organs is in reality com- 

 posed of fibers derived from a small sep- 

 arate lateral line root. 



The comjnunis root of the VII. nerve 

 separates, distal of its ganglion, into a 

 ramus palatinus innervating the roof of 

 the mouth, into certain minor branches, 

 oral and spiracular, and into the ramus 

 mandibularis internus innervating the 

 floor of the oral cavity. The niunerous 

 roots of the vagus are rearranged distally 

 to the vagal ganglia into the branchial 

 nerves, which divide into the usual pre- 

 and post-branchial branches, the former 

 containing communis, the latter communis 

 and motor components, the former com- 

 ponent innervating the lining of the pha- 

 ryngeal and branchial cavities. Thus the 

 communis component was found to con- 

 form to the general type found in other 

 forms. 



A Dissecting Pan mid a Substitute for 

 Beeswax: E. L. Mark, Harvard Univer- 

 sitj', Cambridge, Mass. To be published 

 in the American Naturalist. 

 A specimen of the dissecting pan used 

 in the Cambridge laboratories was exhib- 

 ited and its advantages over those in gen- 

 eral use were explained. There was also 



described a mixture of mineral and vege- 

 table waxes, which is better and much, 

 cheaper than the beeswax usually employed 

 in pinning out objects to be dissected under 

 fluids. 



White Feathers: R. M. Strong, Haver- 

 ford, Pa. 



No white pigments have been found in 

 feathers; the color of white feathers has 

 been explained as due to a total reflection 

 of the incident light from air spaces or 

 bubbles in the feather structure. 



White feathers do not differ essentially 

 in structure from gray, brown, black, red, 

 orange or yellow feathers, except that no 

 pigment of any kind is present. Though 

 some of the white comes from the walls 

 of the air-containing medullary cells of 

 the bai'b, the larger portion is produced 

 by the barbules which have no air spaces 

 of sufficient size to be of any significance. 

 The white effect, as with snow or powdered 

 glass, is dependent upon the small size of 

 the structural elements. These have a large 

 number of surfaces so placed for any posi- 

 tion of the eye that the angle of incidence 

 equals the angle of reflection with a maxi- 

 mum reflection to the eye. There is al- 

 most no absorption by the unpigmented 

 feather substance, and the amount of light 

 transmitted through the feather from ob- 

 jects behind is so small as to be imper- 

 ceptible to the unaided eye in the intense 

 reflection of light. 



Some Remarkable Fossil Fishes from 

 Mount Lebanon, Syria: 0. P. Hay, 

 American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York city. To be published in 

 Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. History. 

 This paper gives an acount of three new 



primitive saw-fishes and of supposed new 



species of eels which possess ventral fins 



and a palatopterygoid arch. 



The Bones of the Shoulder Girdle of 

 Fishes: Theo. Gill, Washington, D. C. 



