4040 Notices of New Books. 



6 Observations in Natural History,' wherein he has " recorded the cir- 

 cumstance of toads inhabiting the cellars at Bottisham Hall," whence 

 there is no escape, where " they may often be noticed in the spring in 

 copula, and where" he says, " I have also seen young toads, though I 

 never noticed any spawn-deposits." He also refers to his 'Manual 

 of British Vertebrate Animals,' wherein he alludes to the circumstance 

 of the common newt or eft being found on land, of all sizes, but ever 

 in a perfect state, as observed by Sheppard and Shaw. At one time, 

 Mr. Jenyns could not account for their occurrence, otherwise than on 

 the supposition that the efts had been bred in " the merest puddles 

 caused by rains, w r hich soon drying up, obliged them to exchange 

 their native element as larvae for another, before they would have or- 

 dinarily attained the perfect form ; and that this led to the gills being 

 cast prematurely to enable the animal to accommodate itself to its 

 new circumstances : " now, however, he thinks it more probable, " af- 

 ter what Mr. Lowe has stated in the case of frogs and toads, that these 

 individuals may have been born on land in the state in which they 

 are found, and that in fact gills never existed, or disappeared almost 

 immediately after birth." 



No. 67 contains the following papers : — 

 ' Remarks on some Algae belonging to the Genus Caulerpa.' By R. 

 K. Greville, LL.D., &c. 



' On the Genus Tmncatella.' By William Clark, Esq. 



' On the Operculum of the Genus Diplommatina.' By Dr. J. E. 

 Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., &c. 



' Description of a new Species of Rhododendron from Bootau, in 

 India.' By Thomas Nuttall, Esq. 



' On Relative Position ; including a new T Arrangement of Phanero- 

 gamous Plants: — Part IV. On Dorsal Placentation.' By B. Clarke, 

 F.L.S., &c. 



* On the Phosphorescence of some Marine Invertebrata.' By M. A. 

 De Quatrefages. 



' On the Structure of the Leaves of Palms.' By M. A. Trecul. 



Proceedings of Learned Societies : — Linnean Society — Zoological 

 Society — Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 



Miscellaneous: — On the Fecundation of the Fucaceae; byM. Gus- 

 tave Thuret. Time of Spawning of British Crustacea ; by William 

 Thompson. Experimental Researches on Vegetation ; by M. Georges 

 Ville. On the Priority of the Discovery of the Mode of Action of 

 the Pholades in the Perforation of Stones ; by M. Vrolik. On Sun 



