366 General Notes. [ May, 
occur in healthy animals. The cause of the movements of 
bacteria has been studied by Van Tieghem; while the ultimate 
cause is the contractility of the protoplasm, he thinks it is imme- 
diately due to the prolongation in places of filiform structures, to 
which he gives the name of appendages. These, he thinks, he 
has demonstrated to be the cause rather than vibratile cilia pro- 
truding through the cell wall——A series of mycological prepa- 
rations for the microscope of great value in the study of minute 
fungi have been made for sale by Dr. Zimmermann, of Chemnitz, 
in Saxony, Prussia——The prospectus is issued of a proposed 
Botanisches Central-blatt, edited by Dr. O. Uhlworm of Leipzig. 
It is to be a weekly publication, consisting of information, reports, 
and abstracts of all papers in the various branches of botanical 
science published in Europe or America, titles of new books, etc. 
B.) The advance of the British troops into Affghanis- 
tan last year has not been without some scientific results. Gene- 
ral Robert’s force was accompanied by a naturalist, Dr. Aitcheson, 
who made large collections of plants, principally in the Kurum 
valley. These have been sent home and examined at Kew, and 
point to the interesting fact that in this valley we have a meeting 
point and intermingling of three very distinct floras, those of 
Western Asia, of India, and of Thibet—(A. W. B.) 
ZOOLOGY.? 
Nores oN CALIFORNIA FisnEs,—Sa/monide.—Among the Sal- 
monidz that have occurred in the markets of San Francisco 
during September and October, the hump-back salmon, so-called 
from the prominent hump upon the back in advance of the first 
dorsal fin, has been conspicuous. 
he anadromous salmon of this coast, that is, the salmon 
which ascend rivers to deposit their spawn but go to the sea to 
feed, belong to a different group from the well-known salmon of 
Europe and of the Atlantic coast. This latter (Salmo salar) 1s 
more nearly related to our brook trouts than to our salmon. 
On account of the very long hooked jaw possessed by some of 
our Pacific salmon, they were grouped by Dr. Suckley under the 
generic name of Oncorhynchus, and by this name they are stil 
known to naturalists. The character mentioned is not, however, 
the one to be relied on to distinguish these salmon, since the 
hooked jaws are only fully developed in the male sex after the 
spawning season; the females and young having straight Jaws. 
This may be at once seen by a glance at the young gwinnat (the 
common Californian salmon) now in the market. As they lie 
beside the old males with their excessive development of teeth 
and jaws, they seem a different species. The most reliable, 
obvious character, is the number of the anal rays, which in our 
1 The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. ELLIOTT 
Coues, U. S. A. 
