182 General Notes. 
efforts to master the intricacies of the anatomy and histology of the 
adult human body.—J. A er 
Mr. O. P. Hay’s OBSERVATIONS ON THE BREEDING-HABITS 
or AmpHiuMA.—In the last number of this journal (page 95) an 
tie E was given of how the Amphiuma coils herself 
about her The description of the eggs and embryos is so 
strikingly Tike ‘that of Ichthyophis glutinosus, a limbless, worm-like 
salamander,—the development of which has been worked out by the 
Sarasin Brothers from material collected in Ceylon,—that it is very 
important to call attention to this resemblance and its probable sig- 
nificance. 
Within about two years Professor Cope called attention to the 
fact that the structure of the skull of the Cecilians and of Amphiuma 
showed that these two forms were related. It now turns out that 
the females of these two types have the same habit of coiling them- 
selves about their ova, which in both cases are laid in strings, with 
constrictions separating them, somewhat like a string of beads, the 
individul ova in both being ‘also of about the same size. This 
confirmation of Professor Cope’s conclusions as to the taxonomic 
relations of these two types is a very interesting instance of the way 
in which embryological data may become available. It may also 
be noted that in some of the Cæcilians there are three plumose or 
feathered branchie arising close together, and saa pathy similar to 
those described by Mr. Hay in the young of Amphiuma 
It is to be hoped that that gentleman will be good enough to 
somewhere publish carefully-drawn figures of a. eda! of 
Amphiuma, as wellas of the embryos.—J. A. Ryder 
ARCH XZOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY. ! e 
The Anthropological Society of Washington has renewed and 
enlarged its sphere of usefulness. It has taken a new departure, 
in fact three new departures. It has elected a new president; it 
has become an incorporated society, and it has commenced the pub- 
lication of a quarterly journal under the direction of an editorial 
committee. The name is American Anthropologist, the first num- 
ber appearing January, 1888. The typography is in the highest 
order of the art. The article on the Chane-abal (four-language) 
tribe and dialect of Chiapas, by Dr. Brinton, Professor in the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, being done as to excite the admiration of 
all interested in the typographic art. The contents of the first 
number, in addition to the article just mentioned, are “The Law 
1 This department is edited by Thomas Wilson, Smithsonian Institu- 
tion, Washington, D. C. 
