362 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vow XXXII. 
for the vertebrates chiefly by Nissl, and gives in the first of what 
promises to be a series of contributions to this subject an account 
of the nerve cells of certain gastropods: Helix, Arion, and Limax. 
Exclusive of nuclei, the bodies of the nerve cells in these animals 
are composed of an apparently homogeneous ground substance con- 
taining many small granules usually arranged in rows. From the 
reactions of these granules to dyes, especially to methylene blue, they 
are regarded as similar to the chromophilous substance in the nerve 
cells of vertebrates. They are often grouped in spindle-shaped 
masses which resemble the “ Korner” of vertebrate nerve cells. 
Fibrilla, which differ in their staining qualities from the ground 
substance as well as from the granules, are believed to occur both in 
the bodies of the cells and in their axis-cylinder processes. In the 
majority of cells the fibrillæ show a concentric arrangement. The 
chromophilous granules form rows on or between these fibrillæ, but 
are not to be regarded as thickenings in the course of a fibrilla. In 
Helix it is interesting to note that structures comparable to cen- 
trosome and centrosphere have been identified. G H. P. 
Forestal Zoology. — Under the title Zorstliche Zoologie} Dr. Eck- 
stein, Docent at the Forestry School of Eberswalde, publishes a 
manual of zoology as viewed from the standpoint of the student of 
forestry, in which not only the animals themselves, but the effects 
that they produce on plants are described and figured. 
Zoological Notes. — The Report of the U. S. Commissioner of 
Fish and Fisheries for the year ending June 30, 1897, recently 
issued, contains as an appendix of 340 pages, with 80 plates, a com- 
prehensive manual of fish culture, based on the methods of the 
United States Commission. 
Dr. Ludwig Plate has described,? under the name JJacrophthalmia 
chilensis, an interesting cyclostome. This form comes from fresh 
water, is about three feet in length, with compressed form ; bluish 
black above, silvery white beneath. The most important structural 
features appear to be the large and well-developed eyes, much like 
those of teleosts, and the nasal opening not at the tip of a nasal 
papilla. There are seven gill openings; the teeth of the oral hood 
are simple and more like those of Myxine than those of Petromyzon. 
A full anatomical description is promised later. 
1 Eckstein, Karl. Forstliche Zoologie. Berlin, Parey, 1897. 8vo, viii + 664 pp» 
660. 
ff. 2 Sitzungsberichte d. Gesellsch. f. Naturf. Berlin, Freund, 1897. 
