.176 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



in the case mentioned by Dr. Hocken was caused by fungus and was 

 similar to the sand disease, which Avas well known in Europe, and Mr. 

 F. R. Chapman remarked that about two years ago the native fish, the 

 inanga, in Lake Wakatipu, were found in the condition referred to by 

 Dr. Hocken, presenting a fluffy, feathery appearance on the under side. 

 Mr. A. Hamilton desired to know if the disease in the American brook 

 trout was likely to be induced or accelerated by the artificial food 

 supplied to the fish, and also whether it was likely to detrimentally 

 affect the eating properties of the fish. In reply to this Dr. Scott said 

 that the causation of cancer was a thing about which there was still a 

 great deal to be learned, and while he thought there was no doubt that 

 the fish were injured from an eating point of view, he did not consider 

 there was the least danger of cancer being obtained from them, because 

 he did not think cancer was inoculable at all. 



(2) "Note on the Structure of the Mammalian ovum," by Professor 

 Parker, F.R.S. "Sections of the ovary of a kitten recently prepared for 

 my practical class exhibited the unusual character of a number (6 or 8) 

 of nuclear bodies in the vitellus. Each is globular, about y-g-y mm. in 

 diameter, and consists of a cortical and a medullary substance taking on 

 slightly different tints with borax-carmine. They are apparently ger- 

 minal spots which have passed from the germinal vesicle into the 

 vitellus, a phenomenon which seems to have been described by His in 

 fishes, and by Baltiani, Pol, Roule and Sabatier in Myriapods and 

 Ascidians, but as far as I have been able to ascertain has not previously 

 been observed in Mammals. (See Leydig, Zool. Anzeiger, vol. x, 1887, 

 p. 626). The germinal vesicle contains, as usual, a single germinal 

 spot." 



(3) " On "Volcanic appearances in Dowling Street, Dunedin," by 

 L. O. Beal. 



(4) "On Dactylanthus taylori," by A. Hamilton. "In the first 

 volume of this Magazine I recorded the finding of a plant of Dacty- 

 lanthus at Tarawera, about halfway between Napier and Lake Taupo, 

 on the Great North Road. Since then I have found more or less perfect 

 specimens in that immediate neighbourhood, and sent good examples of 

 male and female flowers to Kew, preserved in spirits, for a more detailed 

 examination than was possible in the original pressed type specimens 

 forwarded so long ago by the Rev. Richard Taylor. Through the kind- 

 ness of a friend of mine, Mr. K. Newton, of Napier, I am enabled to 

 add another locality for this interesting root parasite. During a survey 

 of the country at the back of Nuhaka, a native settlement, between 

 Wairoa and the Napier Peninsula, Hawkes Bay, Mr. Newton collected 

 two female flowering bracts and brought them to Napier. He has since 

 forwarded to me the large tuberous portion of the plant, but I regret 

 that in the packing or during the journey all the shoots have been 

 rubbed or broken off. The inconspicuous character of the plant, its 

 aj)parent scarceness, and its probable extinction in the near future, 

 must be my excuse for sending you this note." 



Mr. Hamilton added — " On this block of country, which has only 

 just been surveyed, there is a warm mineral spring, and the water 

 from it has been analysed at the Colonial Laboratory, as follows : — 



