1884.] Zoölogy. 639 
pelagic animals on which they and their hosts are nourished. It 
is noticeable that the fish, in order to enter the medusa, must 
swim upon its side, therefore in a very abnormal position.— Fourn. 
Roy. Microscopical Society, 
SNAKES In Nepraska.—Miss C. C. Hopley writes thus in the 
London Field: From Nebraska a writer says that the number of 
snakes killed during the late overflow (July) of the Nemaha river 
is beyond belief. It is estimated that more than 3000 were killed 
near Falls City that had been driven by the water to the higher 
ground, They were chiefly Eutæniæ and Tropidonotus, with a 
few rattlesnakes. The writer, who had long been a resident. of 
the locality, and who knew the country well, was “amazed” at 
the number of reptiles, and where they could have previously 
hidden themselves, as the overflowed district did not average a 
mile in width, and he had thought it sparse in snakes. One 
curious and comfortable retreat was in the long hair of a horse’s 
mane, The animal had been confined in a pasture in the flooded 
district, and when released, several snakes were found thus hid- 
1, and apparently tolerated. 
The PeLvisrernum or Epentates.—M. P. Albrecht notes the 
Presence, between the pubes of certain Edentates, of elements 
which he believes to be pelvisternal. In Manis pentadactyla two 
small bones, cartilaginously united to each other and to the pubes, 
parate the latter; in Dasypus sexcinctus.and Cholepus didacty- 
à single bone exists ; in Bradypus cuculliger this single bone has 
attained a comparatively large size; in a B. tridactylus examined, 
the bony pelvisternum was soldered continuously with the pubes, 
with traces of the union on one side; while in many Edentates the 
šare united by a continuous bony bar, without a trace of the 
Juaction. M. Albrecht believes that these facts show the order of 
evolution of this part of the pelvis of the Edentata, and that the 
earn iS parallel with that of the body of the hyoid in Mam- 
ments and though it appears to be placed between a pair of ele- 
with iy, instead of mid-way between two pairs, as is the case 
of the td oid body, this difference disappears upon examination 
be seh 
; homologous with the pair of small bones found in the Eden- 
o Poan aaa pelvic sternebra finds, in the anterior limb, its homo- 
Precoraco: E S entative in the paired element which unites the 
L tå id with the coracoid, that is, in the epicoracoids. For 
MAp ponding parts of the anterior and posterior sternums, 
o techt proposes the names of omosternum and pelvisternum. 
2 Yash yi the cartilaginous pelvisternum of the salamander is 
Cartilage, whi 
ch Albrecht homologizes with the epi- 
