316 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.  [Vor. XXXIV. 
Reissner's Fibre. — This fibre has been found by Sargent! to 
extend from the posterior end of the spinal cord anteriorly through the 
central canal and the ventricles of the brain to the anterior end of 
the optic lobes. The fibre was identified in representatives of all the 
chief groups and subgroups of the vertebrates, upwards of sixty dif- 
ferent species having been examined. In no case where the material 
was perfectly preserved was the fibre absent. The uniformity of the 
fibre and the fact that it can be demonstrated by a great variety of 
methods lead the author to the conclusion that it is not an artifact, 
but a normal structure and probably nervous in character. The 
paper is accompanied by figures from photographs which demon- 
strate very conclusively the presence and position of the fibre. p, 
Preliminary List of the Mammals of New York. — In 1842 Dr. 
J. E. DeKay published a work on the mammals of New York, giving 
descriptions of all the species then known to inhabit the state, with 
figures of most of them, this work forming Part I of the Zo/ogy 
of New York, published under the authority of the state. Since 
that date no general survey of the mammal fauna of the state had 
been attempted till the appearance in 1899 of Mr. Gerrit S. Miller's 
* Preliminary List of the Mammals of New York."? As Mr. Miller 
says: **To write a preliminary paper on this subject fourteen years 
after the appearance of Dr. C. Hart Merriam's two volumes on the 
mammals of the Adirondack region, and fifty-six years after the 
publication of DeKay's elaborate work on the mammals of the state 
at large, may at first seem paradoxical” ; but he gives good reasons 
for calling his list a preliminary one. He justly claims that “ one of 
the most important results of the recent great increase in our knowl- 
edge of the mammalian fauna of New York is the realization that 
nothing more than preliminary work can be done now. The whole 
area of the state must receive a thorough biologic survey before 
final results can be expected." And what is true of New York, it 
may be added, is equally true of any other considerable area of 
North America, and probably of any other equal area of the world, 
so little is really known of mammalian life anywhere. Until within 
very recent years, the small mammals of no portion of this or any 
1 Sargent, P. E. Reissner’s Fibre in the Canalis Centralis of Vertebrates. 
Anat. Anz., Bd. xvii, pp. 33-44, Taf. I-III, 1900. 
2 Miller, Gerrit S., Jr. Preliminary List of New York Mammals. Bulletin of 
the New York State Museum, vol. vi, No. 29, October, 1899, pp. 271-390. Issu 
Nov. 18, 1899. : 
