262 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 84. 



crinoids in other ecliinoderms, Professor Marshall 

 says, " I consider that in crinoids the subepithelial 

 bands most certainly are homologous with the radial 

 or ambulacral nerves of a star-fish; and I consider 

 that they represent a part of a continuous nerve- 

 sheath which has retained permanently its primitive 

 continuity with the epidermis. The axial cords, 

 some of the branches of which can be traced into 

 extremely close proximity with the subepithelial 

 bands, I regard as portions of the antambulacral nerve- 

 sheath which, like the radial cords of echinids, 

 ophiurids, and holothurids, have lost the primitive 

 position, and shifted into or through the dermis." 



Mr. William Bateson, in a paper read by the sec- 

 retary, upon the presence in the Enteropneusta of 

 a structure comparable with the notochord of the 

 Chordata, made some interesting comparisons in re- 

 gard to the relative positions of the nervous system 

 the digestive tract, and the supposed notochord in 

 Balanoglossus and in vertebrates. He added further 

 comparisons between this animal and the vertebrates, 

 and between its larva ' Tornaria ' and the larvae of 

 echinoderms. 



Among anatomical papers containing facts which 

 have a less general bearing on theories of animal 

 relationship may be mentioned, as of especial interest 

 or importance, the following: Professor Moseley de- 

 scribed the position and minute structure, as deter- 

 mined from sections, of the eyes and other sense 

 organs in the shells of the Chitonidae. The same 

 gentleman showed that the arrangement of the feath- 

 ers in groups of three each in the dodo had a close 

 connection with the filoplumae, or thread-feathers, 

 one of which is found at each side of the feathers 

 of birds of the dove-family, near which the dodo is 

 placed. Earlier in the development of the doves' 

 feathers, the filiplumae are larger, relative to the size 



of the other feathers; and this condition resembles 

 still more the condition found in the dodo. Prof. R. 

 Ramsey Wright described the histological structure of 

 certain sensory organs of the skin of the horned-pout 

 ( Amiurus), and discussed the function of the air-blad- 

 der in the same fish, and the relation of its air-bladder 

 to the auditory apparatus. Prof. J. Struthers, of 

 Aberdeen, described the rudimentary hind limb of 

 the hump-backed whale (Megaptera longimana), and 

 compared its thigh-bone with the same bone in other 

 cetaceans. In a hump-backed whale forty feet long; 

 the thigh-bone was entirely cartilaginous, being on 

 one side four inches, and on the other five and a half 

 inches long. 



As a contribution to our knowledge of curious 

 habits of plants, Prof. H. N. Moseley communicated 

 some observations on the trapping of young fish by 

 Utricularia vulgaris, a water-weed. After sketching 

 and describing the bladders of this plant, which have 

 been known for a long time to capture small Crustacea, 

 the speaker said that it had been lately discovered that 

 these bladders also entrap young fishes. The fish, 

 usually caught by the tail, is often, on account of its 

 struggling, gradually drawn almost entirely into the 

 bladder. 



At the beginning of the session on Friday the 29th, 

 reports of several committees were presented, among 

 them that on the Naples zoological station. In this 

 report, after mention of the various undertakings of 

 the station, and of the work accomplished by Mr. A. 

 G-. Bourne and by Prof. A. Milnes Marshall, the two 

 late occupants of the British association table at the 

 station, the committee recommended that the associa- 

 tion renew its grant for the table, and increase the 

 amount paid to a hundred pounds (instead of eighty 

 and ninety pounds as in previous years). This rec- 

 ommendation was adopted by the association. 



RECENT PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



Trenton natural-history society. 



Aug. 12. — Dr. C. C. Abbott continued his re- 

 marks on the life-history of Scaphiopus solitarius, 

 the spade-footed hermit-toad. The adult toads ap- 

 peared in April, when they presumably did not 

 deposit eggs, and in June, on the 26th of which 

 month eggs were laid. These hatched by July 3, 

 and six days later the tadpoles showed small hind- 

 legs. In thirty-one days after laying the eggs, the 

 young resembled the adults in all except size, and, 

 when placed on wet sand, at once buried themselves. 

 Before leaving the water, they tend to prey upon each 



other. Dr. A. C. Stokes remarked in reference 



to a captive Tarantula arenicola, that, having been 

 deprived of building-materials, she erected a wall of 

 earth and small pebbles, and on July 8 formed an 

 irregular dome over the burrow, leaving a central 

 opening, which she closed with web. July 28 she 



destroyed the dome, and emerged with her abdomen 

 thickly covered with young spiders. Although the 

 latter were presumably only ten days old, they were 

 becoming venturesome. They swarmed over the 

 mother; but, when trespassing on her face, they were 

 swept off by a stroke of her leg, and allowed to run 

 back to her body. Occasionally they climbed up the 

 tube, and wandered about the surface. Formerly 

 the mother was very timid, retreating into the bur- 

 row when the observer arrived at a point twelve feet 

 from the entrance; but, after the young appeared, 

 she permitted the observer to approach and move 

 about at pleasur \ She also accepted food from the 

 hand. She took a fly, and remained at the surface 

 sucking its juices. The fly was removed from her 

 mandibles by forceps, and a black ant offered ; but it 

 was thrown away as she throws away the excavated 

 earth. A full account of the habits of this spider 

 will be found in Science, iv. 114. 



