986 The American Naturalist. [November, 
ment of an organ still functional in Amphioxus, the epibranchial 
groove . In the adult Amphioxus this organ is confined 
to the branchial region, but in the young it extends farther caudally. 
The great extension of the rudimentary organ above the gut of the 
higher forms is a secondary appearance. 
There exists no ground for the view that the hypochorda arises from 
metameric dorsal entodermal diverticula. ‘The fate of the epibranchial 
groove is connected with that of the hypobranchial groove, the modifi- 
cations of the pharyngeal region causing both to become rudimentary. 
The hypochorda seems in general to degenerate, yet in part it is re- 
tained as an elastic band [see Franz, above]; perhaps its elements also 
play other roles. The reduction of the hypochorda is of signifi- 
cance of an important advance in the Chordate organism in that it 
renders possible the development of an unpaired [dorsal] aorta. 
It is apparent that our most studied forms will repay new and care- 
ful study. A few years ago Dr. H. H. Wilder startled the world with 
his discovery that many of our salamanders were absolutely lungless, 
and now Professor F. Maurer, one of the most suggestive of German 
students, has made a strange discovery with regard to certain, Amphi- 
bia. It is, in short, that in the oral epithelium of at least some terres- 
trial forms (Rana, Bufo, Hyla, Salamandra, Triton alpestris) capillary 
blood vessels pass through the basal membrane and penetrate the strat- 
ified epithelium. After a full description of the conditions found and 
a few remarks upon the histological and anatomical considerations, he 
concludes his paper (in the Morphol. Jahrbuch, Bd. xxv) with the 
suggestion that no doubt these vessels have an important physiological 
function in that they with the oral epithelium are concerned in respira- 
tion. Histological investigations of the oral epithelium of certain of 
our turtles where Gage (Am. Nat., xx, p. 233, 1886) has described a 
respiration in the mouth cavity might prove interesting. 
Mr. W. G. Ridewood calls attention (Anat. Anzeiger, XIII, p. 499) 
to the fact that the cartilages recently described by Mr. White and 
Miss Foote as occurring in Elasmobranchs, are fully described in the 
older monographs on these forms. 
The view advanced by Gervais and Lucus that Scolopendra is ovo- 
viviparous has remained uncontradicted until the present time. Filippo 
Silvestri (Atti dei Lincei) now states that last year he discovered a 
specimen of Scolopendra cingulate carefully guarding its eggs under a 
stone, and in June of this year he has found several specimens with 
