notes upon the development of the sense organs and phacellæ a 
-states that the velar canals are at first unbranched. The umbre: 
982 General Notes. [ November, 
sandy plain and salt clays. The reptiles of this sub-region, which 
extends into the Akhal-Tekke oasis, are, of lizards, two species of 
Phrynocephalus, Agama sanguinolenta and Varanus scincus; a 
Testudo, and the snake Waja oxiana. This oasis has a most mo- 
notonous landscape, but is pretty well furnished with insects, 
among them Julodis (3 sp.) several kinds of Ateuchus and Copris, 
and numerous Melanosomata. Jackals, and on the banks of the 
few rivers the wild cat and the Lagomys occur. The summer in 
this oasis is very hot; 40 Celsius in the shade is not uncommon. 
The summer molting of the birds is by our author attributed to 
this great heat. The lark has parts of its body quite bare at that 
season. The bulk of the birds of the oasis during the summer 
belong to the Aral-Caspian fauna, but others come from the moun- 
tains, following the rivers. Griffons, ravens, swifts and swallows 
live in the mountains, but descend to the plain to hunt. In the 
valleys of the mountains the leopard and the cheetah are rare, 
Hyena striata is occasional, and El/obius talpinus, several species 
of Erinaceus and Platycercomys and Hystrix hirsutirostris are 
common. The dreadful Vipera eufratica is a source o continual 
danger during the grape harvest of the forested upper valleys. 
Frotozoa—Gruber has been studying the phenomena of conju- 
gation as presented by Paramecium, and states that not only 1s 
there a union of the nuclei, but that the nucleoli “come into 1n- 
timate contact, copulate with each other.” He claims that the 
act has not only a sexual function but it plays a part in rejuvenes- 
cence, and that there is an exchange of protoplasm between the 
nucleoli. 
Rhizopoda.—Mr. Whitelegge enumerates twenty-four species of 
Rhizopoda in New South Wales, mostly identical with those found 
in Europe, America and India. The list includes Pelomyxa palus- 
tris, Rhaphidiophrys elegans, Clathrulina elegans, and Biomyxa 
vagans. 
Cælenterates—Mr. G. H. Fowler (Quart. Jour. Mic. Soc.) de- 
scribes the anatomy of two species of madrepores. M. durvilla, 
has four features in common with the Alcyonaria: (1) a tendency 
to absence of polyps on the ventral side of the branches ; (2) Pe 
very definite orientation of the polyps; (3) the differentiation o 
the mesenteries; (4) the distinct dimorphism.—Nothing has 
hitherto been known of the development of the Cubomedus&- 
-Haacke publishes in the Zool. Anzeiger (Ix, p. 554) some mr 
onthe development of an Australian Charybdea in which he show 
first is pyramidal, much like that of the Scyphostoma forms, 
only later does it attain the cubical form characteristic of z 
Pee e eS ae i Saa 
