760 The American Naturalist. August, 
closed by a membrane which resembles a hymen. That this structure 
is not homologous with the hymen the author has discovered by a his- 
tological examination. A series of sections shows conclusively that the 
vaginal orifice is closed, not, as Lataste states, by the mere approxima- 
tion of the walls, but by a mass of epidermal cells which is absolutely 
continuous across the vaginal region. This peculiar epithelial growth 
does not contain the same histological elements, nor does it occupy the 
same position as the hymen. 
The use of the structure is to protect the vagina from particles of 
dust, dirt and sand, and probably originated, according to the author, 
as the result of the action of foreign substances in the vaginal orifice, 
since mechanical irritation of epithelial tissue causes cell proliferation. 
This tendency to cell growth in a definite region once established, the 
protection afforded by it, although incomplete, might offer sufficient op- 
portunity for the operation of natural selection, whereby the definite 
and useful structure now present could be perfected. (Proceeds. Bos- 
ton Nat. Hist. Soc., XX VI, 1895). 
Zoological News.—A note published by M. A. T. Rochebrune 
calls attention to a mollusc with toxic properties. This mollusk is 
Spondylus americanus, found by M. Diguet in Lower California. It 
emits an odor of sulphurretted hydrogen, strong enough to disgust 
even a famished creature, so it is never prayed upon for food. M. de 
Rochebrune has isolated the toxic principle by the Stass method, and 
has obtained an unctuous olive-green extract with an acrid odor and 
bitter taste, which produces a burning sensation, and which burns 
with a vivid yellow flame. .001 gr. kills a frog in 12 minutes, after 
first producing paralysis. .003 gr. kills a guinea pig in 25 minutes. 
Chemical reactions indicate that-in Spondylus americanus there is elab- 
orated a product allied to ptomaines and leucomaines, very similar to 
muscarine, the toxic product of the mushroom, Amanita muscaria, 
and which M. Rochebrune calls Spondylotoxine. (Revue Scientifique, 
June, 1895). 
The South American Characinide collected by ©. F. Hart, and pre- 
sented to Cornell University, comprises 167 species of which seven are 
new, four of them belonging to the genus Tetragonopterus. The ma- 
terial has been identified by A. B. Ulrey. (Am.N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1895). 
A collection of birds made in the Philippine Islands by the Menage 
Expedition for the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences includes 
36 new species. These are described by Messrs. Bourns and Worces- 
