June S, i888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



541 



to give rise to a new branch of industry. He tears up 

 living sponges and plants the pieces in suitable parts of 

 the sea. Very small fragments, if thus treated, yield in 

 a term of three years splendid sponges. The cost of 

 thus producing 4,000 sponges has been only 225 francs, 

 including interest on capital. The Austrian Govern- 

 ment has decided to encourage the attempts made on 

 the coasts of Dalmatia. 



Presence of Malic Acid in the "Sweat" of Her- 

 bivorous Animals. — MM. A. and P. Buisine {Comptes 

 Rendus) have discovered malic acid in the suint-water 

 which is obtained in abundance in the industrial wash- 

 ing of raw wools. This discovery is an additional 

 instance of the fundamental unity of the vegetable and 

 the animal kingdoms. 



Resuscitation of Disease Germs. — M. Bouchard 

 (Comptes Rendiis) calls the attention of sanitarians to the 

 unpleasant fact that microbia, which are supposed to have 

 been killed by some antiseptic, may revive completely if 

 they are brought under different conditions. It is there 

 tore necessary to observe if the action of an antiseptic is 

 permanent or merely transitory. 



Salmon Ova for Tasmania. — According to the 

 TasmaTiian Daily Telegraph, Sir Thomas Brady arrived 

 in that colony on April 19th, bringing with him 400,000 

 salmon ova in good condition. They were preserved in 

 cases in an ice-house, specially built for their accommoda- 

 tion to prevent premature hatching in the tropics. Some 

 larger fish perished whilst traversing those regions, but 

 Sir T. Brady considers that had they been placed in 

 their native Irish water, instead of London water, he 

 could have brought them over in safety. 



A Whale Aground. — A large whale, which was bask- 

 ing in tlie sunshine on the water's surface, was washed 

 ashore on Sherkin Island, near Cape Clear, on May 

 31st. The tide was ebbing, and the creature was 

 stranded high and dry. 



A Cormorant in St. James's Park. — A fine cormorant, 

 in breeding plumage — white patches on cheek and thigh 

 — arrived in St. James's Park on May 30th. He was 

 first noticed by the keeper at half-past 8, and was tame 

 and hungry enough to accept from him a couple of 

 herrings for breakfast. At 2 o'clock he was sitting 

 within a few yards of the path which runs along the 

 south bank of the ornamental water, half-way between 

 the bridge and the India Office, and did not seem at all 

 disturbed by the passers-by. 



• •>~>t^'^5tf^ — 



DREDGING EXPEDITION OF THE 

 LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ON the 19th ult. a party, consisting of a number of 

 investigators from different parts of the country, 

 including Professors Miall and Denny, of Leeds ; G. H. 

 Hurst, of Owens College, Manchester ; Arnold T. 

 Watson, of Sheffield; A. O. Walker, of Chester; 

 Herdman, of Liverpool University College, and 

 others, left Liverpool in the Hycena on a dredging ex- 

 pedition. 



The only object of interest brought up on that day 

 was a very large specimen of the well-known Alcyonitim 



digitatum, or "Dead Men's Fingers," a spongy-looking 

 shapeless mass, which clings to the rocks at Hilbre 

 Island, and on nearly all rocky shores. It is anything 

 but pretty when out of water, but when seen under 

 water, with all the delicate polypes expanded, it is an 

 object of great beauty, and the idea of a " dead man's 

 finger" is entirely forgotten. The mass of this strange, 

 spongy-looking animal which was brought up on Satur- 

 day was cUnging to a living oyster, and it filled a good- 

 sized aquarium by itself. This was the largest Alcyonium 

 ever gathered in the neighbourhood, and its size and the 

 beauty of its polypes excited universal admiration. The 

 workers with the tow-nets were fairly successful, and 

 for some hours they were busy sorting out the minute 

 forms of life which frequent the surface of the sea. 



Among the objects thus fished up by the tow-nets 

 were some minute larval forms, which, though neither 

 new nor showy, are to be reckoned among those natural 

 wonders whose interest no familiarity can lessen. There 

 were p'aced under the microscope, for example, an 

 Ophiura platens and the zoea of a crab. What do 

 these unfamiliar names signify, it may be asked, to the 

 reader who is not a naturalist by vocation ? Well, it 

 may be worth notice that the immature Brittle-star and 

 Crab are utterly unlike their parents. The young crab, 

 to take the more familiar case, has a long tail, a great 

 spine upon its back, and soft limbs, very unlike the 

 powerful claws of the adult crab. It is easy to under- 

 stand that the conditions of life are very different in the 

 soft and transparent larva which swims upon the top of 

 the sea, and the big, heavy, hard-shelled crab ; and that 

 very diflFerent implements and organs are required by 

 the young and old animals. The zrea finds it useful to 

 bear a spine which may stick in the throat of any 

 carnivorous thing which seeks to make a meal of him. 

 A heavy shell would be an impossible encumbrance to 

 the free swimming larva. But behind these obvious 

 special adaptations lies a general question of some 

 interest. How is it that these startling transformations 

 are so common among the inhabitants of the sea, so 

 rare among freshwater and terrestrial animals ? It would 

 shock the general reader to affirm (what is nevertheless 

 quite true), that conspicuous metamorphosis is unknown 

 among land and fresh water animals. We should be 

 met at once with such cases as the tadpole and the cater- 

 pillar, and it would take half a column to show that these 

 so-called larva; are not true larva at all. They repre- 

 sent, with considerable modification no doubt, the primi- 

 tive adult amphibian or insect; and the land-traversing 

 frog, like the winged imago, is really produced by a 

 peculiar adult transformation, exceptionally produced for 

 special purposes, attending the deposit of eggs. But 

 this is a hard point to explain, and we must be content 

 with an ex-cathedra assertion that development with 

 conspicuous change is the rule among marine forms, 

 especially those of small size, and the rare exceptions 

 among land and freshwater animals. Why this differ- 

 ence ? A httle reflection suggests that the number of 

 the offspring and the size of the egg are concerned. The 

 marine animal produces very many tiny eggs, almost or 

 altogether without yolk, while the freshwater, and espe- 

 cially the land animal, produces a relatively small number 

 of large eggs. Nourished by the abundant yolk, the for- 

 tunate embryo can in these cases complete its develop- 

 ment in a leisurely way while still within the egg-shell ; 

 but the marine youngster belongs to so large a family that 

 the parent turns him out whilst still very small and 



