The Museum Gazette 



the most ancient kind of fish known to us, remains of shark-like fishes 

 occurring in Silurian strata. But the sharks have soft cartilaginous 

 skeletons, and have only as a rule left teeth and spines and the 

 denticles of the skin (shagreen) in the rocks." 



Drawbacks to Fungus Eating. " Berkeley ' ; writes : " The 

 common fairy ring champignon is the very best of all our fungi, yet 

 there is scarcely one person in a thousand who dare venture to use 

 it. With common observation no mistake need be made, /hough 

 another species possessing high acrid qualities sometimes accompanies 

 it, and might pass muster if attention be not paid to the narrower gills 

 and their darker colour, 



It is clear from this that the mycophagist who desires to enjoy 

 his fairy ring champignons in safety should gather them himself and 

 look carefully at the' width and. colour of their gills. After all width 

 and colour are matters of degree and not always easy of estimation. 

 The injurious species is the Marascius urens. 



Inland Influence of the Sea.— An account of the influence of 

 a " salt storm " from the sea upon vegetation fifty to seventy miles 

 inland will be found in the seventh volume of the Linncean Society's 

 Transactions. 



Regeneration of Parts in Mammals. — At the December 

 meeting of the Zoological Society was exhibited the skeleton of the 

 tail of a dormouse, showing distinct evidence of reparation after an 

 accident ; this being apparently the first recorded instance of the 

 regeneration of bony structure in mammals. The re-formed vertebrae, 

 which had assumed the form of a slender rod, was composed externally 

 of true bone, whereas in the regenerated tails of lizards the new 

 structure consists of calcified fibro-cartilage {K?i owl edge, February, 

 1906). 



Juvenis.— What you have observed is of common occurrence. It 

 is, in fact, an illustration of a general law that is sometimes spoken of 

 as " recapitulation." 



Amongst the many instances in which young animals show con- 

 ditions which belonged to their far distant predecessors but are no 

 longer seen in grown-up individuals, we have the hairiness of young 

 elephants. They are born covered with soft hair, which falls off 

 during the early months and leaves the hide bare. The same is the 

 case with the human infant, which is always down-covered at birth. 

 The term lanugo is applied to this congenital, but only transitory, 

 coat. 



