Ixxii 



puocEKDTNas OP Tni: 



acknowledges. And in this case Darwin does not put the case so 

 absohitely as indicated by Wagner ; for his expression is, " No two 

 marine faunas are more distinct, with hardly a fish, shell, or crab in 

 common, than those of the eastern and western shores of South and 

 Central America." This almost universal dissimilarity appears to 

 be confirmed by Wagner ; for I believe that his identical species of 

 fish are confined to a single one. 



Dr. Heller has communicated to the Academy of Sciences of 

 Vienna a paper on the Amphipoda of the Adriatic. Amongst 

 arachnologists, Dr. L. Koch has nearly completed a monographic 

 treatise on the great family Drassidse ; Dr. A. Menge has commenced 

 a very detailed revision of the Spiders of the Province of Prussia ; 

 the Zoologico-botanical Society of Vienna have published a posthu- 

 mous monograph, by Dr. Prach, of the Thomisidce of the neigh- 

 boui'hood of Prague ; and the curious Bear- animalcules (Tardigrada 

 or Arctiscoida), now referred by all zoologists to the Arachnida, 

 have of late received considerable attention from Dr. 11. Graeff, 

 whose elaborate structural descriptions of these minute creatures are 

 inserted in the Archiv fiir mikroskopische Anatomic. 



In entomology, the Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie con- 

 tains several anatomical i)ap'ers, amongst which M. Weismann's on 

 the metamorphosis of the Diptera are of particular value, and lead to 

 nev views on the nature of insect-metamorphosis in general ; and 

 M. Mecznikow's on the reproduction of Aphides maintains a view 

 of these phenomena nearly in accordance with that so admirably set 

 forth in our Transactions some years ago by Professor Huxley, and 

 in contradiction to the opinions of M. Balbiani, communicated to the 

 Academy of Sciences in Paris, who endeavours to prove that the 

 viviparous individuals of those insects are to be regarded as true 

 hermaphrodites (!). An excellent review of the whole subject is given 

 by Prof. Claparede, of Geneva, in the Annales des Sciences Natu- 

 relles. The last volume of the Nova Acta Naturae Curiosorum con- 

 tains an elaborate paper by Dr. Leydig on the ovary and seminal 

 receptacle in insects, and another by Dr. Landois on the Anatomy of 

 Pule.v canis. ... 



A remarkable fossil insect has been described by Dr. A. Dohrn, in 

 Dunker's ' Paloeontographica,' under the name of Eugereon Boeclcingi, 

 which is cited by him in an interesting paper in the Stettincr ento- 

 mologische Zeitung as an illustration of Haeckel's genealogical 

 views. He includes the whole of the Orthoptera and Neuroptera of 

 the old writers in an oi'der to which he gives the name of Toroptera, 



