622 General Notes. [ October, 
Flora, No. 19. Professor Julius Klein, Notes on Algz, continued. 
No. 21. Arnold, The Mosses of the Jura. Dr. Prantl, On Hysterium 
Pinastri Schr. as a Cause of Leaf Disease in the Pine. No. 22. Dr. 
A. Minks, The Lichen Question. 
Botanische Zeitung, No. 30. De Borbás, Concerning some Iridacea, 
especially those of Hungary. Warnstorf, Two New European Musci. 
Reports of Societies. No. 31. Dr. Harz, On the Origin and Properties 
of Spergulin (a new fluorescent from the seed-coats of Spergula 
vulgaris). 
: ZOOLOGY.! 
DEVELOPMENT OF UNFERTILIZED EGGS OF VERTEBRATES AND 
- MorLusca.— In the August number of the Naturatist I notice a 
letter from Mr. E. Lewis Sturtevant on the development of unfertilized 
eggs in the body of the female pickerel, and as the subject is one of 
great interest, I subjoin a few extracts from my notes, which relate to 
similar observations. 
Dr. Burnett says (Proc. Amer. Acad. of Arts and Sciences, iii., 1847, 
page 44), “In the ova of the common cod-fish (Gadus morrhua) before | 
they are expelled from the ovaries, and therefore before impregnation, 
I have seen phenomena indicating that the segmentation of the vitellus 
had already commenced.” Professor Agassiz says (Proc. Boston Soc. 
Nat. Hist., vi., 1856, page 9) that eggs in various early stages of devel- 
opment may be found in the ovaries of the cod, whiting, and hake; but 
he opposes Burnett’s view that this is to be regarded as proof of par 
theno-genesis, and holds that it rather proves copulation and internal im- 
pregnation. According to Bischoff (Mém. sur la Maturation et la Chute 
periodique de I’CEuf de ’ Homme et des Mammifères, indépendant de la 
Fécondation, Ann. d. Sc. Nat., iii., ser. zool. ii, page 135, 1844) a tew 
of the eggs laid by a female frog which had been kept in solitary con- 
finement are found to go through the early stages of development. 
In the Monthly Microscopical Journal for July, 1876 (page 44), there 
is a notice of similar observations upon the frog, which were communi- 
cated to the Académie des Sciences. According to this observer the 
first stages of segméntation were found in some of the eggs drop by 
a female frog which had been kept in confinement for about four months, 
and secluded from all possible intercourse with the male. Segmenta- 
tion was more rapid and irregular than in fertilized eggs at the ic 
temperature. Only a small number of eggs commenced development 
the majority died at once, and the rest very soon and before the gal 
berry stage was reached. The same phenomenon has also been seen DY 
Leuchart. 
Oebacher finds that the eggs laid by virgin hens, 
reared in confinement, undergo segmentation and for: 
1 The departments of Ornithology and Mammalogy are conducted by Dr. 
Covers, U. S. A. ; : 
which have been 
m a blastoderm 
ELLIOTT 
