Heath. — On the Effect of Cold on Fishes. 275 



In examples of Lumbricus uliginosus dissected in the month of March, 

 the calciferous glands were well developed. According to Morren these 

 glands disappear during the winter ; and Mr. Darwin has also observed 

 their partial or entire disappearance at the same season. Whether these 

 glands ever shrink sufficiently in New Zealand to be indistinguishable, 

 I cannot say, but in specimens of L. uliginosus and campestris examined in 

 July-August, although considerably shrunken and empty, the glands were 

 quite perceptible, with the exception of one example of L. campestris, in 

 which a lens was required for their satisfactory determination. They com- 

 mence to swell again during the spring months. 



From Charles Darwin's admirable researches it seems probable that 

 such lowly organized forms as earth-worms are not devoid of intelligence ; 

 they appear to have a certain amount of social feeling, and their passions 

 are strong : the diversity of their actions when exposed to light or vibra- 

 tion, implies the faculty of attention ; from their higbly developed sense of 

 touch, they appear to gain some notion of the form of an object ; and I 

 hope to show, in a future paper, to what extent they possess the sense of 

 direction. 



*Aktv^¥T.— Effect of Cold on Fishes. By Neil Heath. 

 [Read before the Auckland Institute, 2nd July, 1883.] 

 It is asserted by many people that, though shallow rivers and fish-ponds 

 have been occasionally converted into solid ice in countries where the 

 winters are protracted and severe, all the imprisoned fish have not been 

 destroyed, but that, when the ice had completely thawed, many of them 

 have been found to be in possession of their usual health. Imprisonment 

 in their ice-bound home had thus done them no harm. Dead to all appear- 

 ance they might have been, but they were only asleep — hybernating, and, 

 like many animals that pass the long winters in a state of lethargy, they 

 would, when freed from life-suspending causes, recover their usual animation. 



It is not an easy matter to ascertain that, in such rivers and ponds, the 

 whole of the water is unquestionably frozen, and, obviously, the acceptance 

 of the truth of such an assertion must be held over until we can prove to ' 

 demonstration that the waters were completely frozen, and that the fish, 

 which are said to have come again to life, had actually been imprisoned in 

 the solid ice. 



It struck me that as the " Mataura," with her freezing chamber, was 

 lying at the wharf, an effort might be made to procure a few facts that 

 would help us to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion as to the truth or other- 

 wise of the assertion. The " Mataura" lay here freezing her cargo of sheep 



