No. 519] 



NOTES AND LITERATURE 



187 



In a second paper Mr. Ogilby discusses the toad-fishes of 

 Queensland. A new genus, Ba trachoma us, is proposed for 

 Batrachomccus minor, and a new genus. Coryzichthys, for 

 Batrachoidcs dicnu nsis. This differs from the American genus. 

 Marcyravia, in a much smaller number of fin rays. A new 

 generic name, II alob at radius, is proposed for didactylus of the 

 Mediterranean. This differs from Batrachoidcs in the presence 

 of an axillary pore. 



In the index to the meeting of the "British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, at "Winnipeg. 1909. Professor W. A. 

 Herdman gives an interesting discourse on "Our Food from 

 the Waters," the investigation of plankton being made espe- 

 cially prominent. 



In the Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, 

 Volume 9, 1909, Professor Bashford Dean presents studies on 

 fossil fishes (sharks, chinueroids and arthrodires) . This con- 

 tains, among other things, an elaborate study of the genus 

 Cladosdachc, a Devonian shark, and one of the simplest, as 

 well as the earliest, representatives of that group. Elaborate 

 drawings" are given of the structural characters of Cladosdachc, 

 and the final conclusion is that these represent better than any 

 other the primitive shark. Dr. Dean agrees with Woodward 

 that if the earliest true fish could be found, it would almost 

 certainly fall within the subclass to which belong our modern 

 sharks; and the fundamental characters of the cladoselachian 

 have given us a less ghostly picture of a direct vertebrate an- 



As to the arthrodires, Dr. Dean thinks that the present 

 evidence does not lead us to affirm that these fishes possessed 

 paired appendages homologous with pectoral and pelvic fins. 

 There is still, therefore, a great gap remaining between these 

 forms and the true fishes. 



In the Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey, Mr. 

 Earle Bernard Phelps discusses the subject of the pollution of 

 streams by sulphite pulp waste. The exclusion of these forms 

 of waste from the streams is one exceedingly important in the 

 protection of the fishes of our rivers. Thus far. it has not been 

 possible to prevent the flow of these mischievous substances into 

 the streams, and their value for utilization in other ways is 

 very slight. According to Mr. Phelps, the best promise seems 

 to be along the line of the formation from sulphite of the dye 

 called "lignone." These substances dye wool directly, giving 



