142 Recent Literature. [ February, 
In the selection of the men who should act as directors of the 
departments, the principal difficulty is to be encountered. The 
enterprise of the American is no less marked in the struggle for 
place and reputation, than in the struggle for the almighty dollar. 
Qualification is little thought of by too many persons, who from 
physical or mental weakness, or some other cause, desire to live 
without labor. The charter of an institution of research should 
embrace a provision, that the position of director should be for- 
feited by that one who should not produce some original work of 
merit every year or two, or during some other definite time. In 
no other way could the institution be preserved from the intellec- 
tual decay into which so many have fallen; and in no other way 
could it be protected from patrons whose kind intentions might 
include personal ‘favorites unknown to scientific research. Men 
of money who desire to sustain original research will be com- 
pelled to devote some inquiry as to who are the men who are 
loyal to this work. The best index they can find to this class is 
the record of their work already done. 
The best mode of government of such an institution would be by 
a senatus composed of the six directors of the departments and 
an equal number of trustees of the endowment. In this way the 
greatest amount of wisdom would be brought to bear on the 
two questions of administration, viz: the preservation of the fund, 
and the manner of its expenditure.—C. 
ae 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
farther, and has actually discovered at the end of the tail and on 
the back of the young embryo of Pristiurus and of Scyllium 
homogeneous structures (Hautknopfe) of subepiblastic origin, 0 
the same substance as the horn-fibers or actinotrichia in the fin- 
folds. These button-like structures are found on the back of the 
embryo, in a single row, on either side of the median line and in 
advance of the permanent dorsal. At the end of the tail they are 
in two rows, viz., a dorsal and a ventral series. In both situations 
they are metameric in position, and sections show that temporary 
muscular buds are thrust outward towards these singular lateral 
larval organs from the muscular segments or myotomes in the 
same way as to the bundles of fibers or actinotrichia representing 
rays in the median and paired fins. 
These remarkable organs Mayer regards as the vestiges Or 
remnants of parapodia, and therefore names them parapodoids. 
1 Die unpaaren Flossen der Selachier. Mitt. Zool. Stat. zu Neapel. vi, pp. 217- 
285, pl. 15-19. 1885. ; 
