No. 466.] NOTES AND LITERATURE. 757 
The mechanism by which geckos and other lizards cling to smooth 
overhanging surfaces has been investigated by Schmidt (Jena. Zeit- 
schr., vol. 39, pp. 551-580), who finds that the scales on the under 
sides of the toes of these animals carry clusters of fine hair-like bodies 
which, however, end in small flat faces and not in points. The under 
surfaces of the toes are provided with blood spaces that act as 
erectile organs and the whole mechanism gives no support to the 
idea that these animals adhere to overhanging surfaces by suction. 
Schmidt believes that the act of holding on to the surface is depen- 
dent upon the hair-like bodies and he is inclined to ascribe it to some 
electrical phenomenon produced by them. 
The comparative anatomy of the Fallopian tubes in mammals has 
been fully worked out by U. Gerhardt (Jena. Zeitschr., vol. 39, pp. 
649-712). 
The mutual relations of the kidneys and gonads in Haliotis have 
been studied by Totzauer (Jena. Zeitschr., vol. 39, pp. 527-550). 
The two kidneys are not in communication with each other, but open 
separately into the mantle cavity. The rudimentary left kidney com- 
municates with the pericardium and opens into the mantle cavity on 
the left side of the rectum directly. The right kidney has a well 
developed duct leading to the mantle cavity and also an opening into 
the pericardium. The gonads are discharged through their own ducts 
into the right kidney from which their products escape into the man- 
tle chamber through the duct of the right kidney. 
Boveri (Jena. Zeitschr., vol. 39, PP- 445-524) in a series of experi- 
ments on sea-urchin eggs, has shown that abnormal numbers of 
chromosomes in eggs or in blastomeres are inherited unchanged by 
the descendant cells. Cells with abnormally large numbers of chro- 
mosomes are abnormally large and have abnormally large nuclei and 
the reverse. The number of cells in a growing sea-urchin larva is 
inversely proportional to the chromatin content thus showing a rela- 
tion between the amount of chromatin and tbe amount of proto- 
plasm. This relation, which is in the form of a regulation, is 
established through the number of cell divisions which the cytoplasm 
of the egg may undergo. 
E. P. Felt's Report on the mosquitoes or Culicidz of New York 
State (New York State Museum, Bull. 79, 168 pp. 57 pls.) * repre- 
sents about three years’ work and gives a comprehensive account of 
the mosquitoes occurring in New York State, with special reference 
