76 General Notes. 
part extending along the inner surface of the ramus, as the mylo- 
hyoid nerve and artery, to supply the mylohyoid and digastric 
muscles, There is thus little doubt that this groove lodges this 
artery or nerve in all these recent forms, as it does in man. 4°. In 
all the mesozoic mammals in which the groove is present it inva- 
riably extends from near the orifice of the dental canal, for a 
greater or less distance, along the inner face of the ramus, some- 
times descending rapidly to the lower border (Phascolotherium), 
sometimes reaching the symphysis (Amblotherium). From its con- 
stant relation to the dental canal and variable development I think 
there is little room for doubt that this groove lodged either the 
mylohyoid nerve or artery; at least there is no ground for any 
other supposition. 5°. Dromotherium, from the Triassic, the old- 
est of the mammals of Series B, presents an exception; I cannot 
discover the orifice of the dental canal in its usual position; the 
anterior border of the pterygoid fossa is not clearly defined, as in 
all the Jurassic genera, but gradually closes into a long, narrowing 
groove, which suddenly terminates in an orifice in the middle of 
the ramus beneath the last premolariform tooth. It appears as if 
the inferior dental nerve and vessel may have lodged in the groove 
and entered the jaw at this anterior point. From all these data I 
see no present ground for changing the designation of this groove 
in the Mesozoic mammals, as employed by Owen, but strong reasons 
for not attaching any great taxonomic value to its presence or 
absence.— Henry F. Osborn. 
THE INTER-CONNECTIONS OF SMOOTH MuscuLaR Frsres.—Dr. 
N. Kultschizny states (Biol. Centralbl., 1887) that smooth-muscle 
fibres are not connected together by the oft-described intercellular 
cement, but by means of minute protoplasmic fibres, and that 
tween the cells exist intercellular spaces. A similar view has 
been held and taught for some time by some American histologists, 
and these even go farther and trace in the existence of these 
intercellular bridges, the evidence for evolution of all meso-dermal 
tissues from an epithelium. 
THE Fauna RELATIONS or FERNANDO Noronna.—At the 
meeting of the Linnean Society of London, November 3, 1887 
there. The cliffs are steep, but otherwise the soil is fertile; there 
is an absence of sandy bays on the south side. Generally speaking; 
the specific animal forms differ on the opposite sides of the maim 
island. The indigenous fauna and flora seems to have been 
