THE WEST AMERICAN SCIENTIST. 55 



SPHYRNID^E— THE HAMMER-HEADED SHARKS. 



Sphyrna zygsena (L.) M. & H — Hammer-head. An example 

 52^ inches long was taken March, 1885, off the Cerros Islands. 

 One specimen has been sent from San Pedro, California, to the 

 Smithsonian Institution. "A large shark found in all warm seas.' 



SCYLLIID^— THE ROUSSETTES. 



Scylliorhinus ventriosus (Garman) J. & G. — Swell shark. The 

 flattened elongate egg-cases occasionally seen on our sand beaches 

 belong to this shark. 



BRA WHIOSTOMATID.E— THE LANCELETS. 



A representative of this family has been found on the coast of 

 the United States, on the Atlantic side, and on the Pacific Coast a 

 species also occurs (Branchiostoma, Cooper, Nat. Wealth Cal. by 

 Cronise, p. 498, 1868), three specimens having been dredged at 

 *'San Diego in ten fathoms' water; they here were yellowish, 

 translucent, with a brown streak near the back." — (Cooper MSS.) 

 It may be that this form* belongs to the genus Epigonichthys. — 

 Dr. Theodore Gill in Proc. U. S. National Museum, 1882. 



NOTE TO MY CORRESPONDENTS. 



Having returned from Lower Calif, and found a century or more 

 correspondents awaiting a reply, and as many publications re- 

 quiring examination, I found it impossible to attend to each at 

 once, and, therefore, in the hasty preparation of this number of 

 the Scientist I have endeavored to answer as many as possible, 

 and ask my other correspondents to accept a copy as a sign that 

 they will not be neglected, that they will receive due attention 

 as soon as circumstances will permit. [See cover adv.] 



Sincerely, C. R. Orcutt. 



The expedition of Dr. H. Ten Kate, jun., through the southwest 

 of the United States and northwest of Mexico, performed in about 

 thirteen months — from November, 1882, to December, 1883,— re- 

 sulted in many valuable discoveries and observations w Inch are 

 described at length by him in a recent volume written in Dutch. 

 He passed thro Texas and Arizona, visited Sonora and the south- 

 ern extremity of the Calif ornian peninsula — where be found 

 graves of the Pericu Indians — and then passed thro Sonora again 

 to central Arizona, to Zuni and the Pueblos of New Mexico, se- 

 curing a variety of notes on botany, geology, zoology, Indian cus- 

 toms, etc. — Science. 



