438 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



prove that we have any very modern evidence of a subsidence 

 of the sea or a raising of the land in the basin of the Forth.* 



V. (1.) On the Pigmental System of the JEquoreal Pipe-fish. By 

 T. Strethill Wright, M.D. 



A few weeks ago I received a specimen of this fish, from 

 Mr Fulton of Granton pier, in a very lively condition. It 

 was placed in a large white vessel of water at ten o'clock at 

 night. The colour of the fish was at that time a dark green, 

 marked with the usual bands. On examining it the next 

 morning, it had assumed a general hue of bright orange. 

 Towards evening, again, dark-green patches appeared over 

 various parts of the body. It was found the next morning 

 dead on the carpet, having escaped from the vessel in which 

 it was confined, and still retaining the clouded appearance 

 which it possessed on the preceding evening. 



The pigmental system of the pipe-fish consists of two 

 layers of pigment-cells, which are capable of contracting 

 themselves to mere dots, and of extending themselves until 

 they coalesce. In the outer layer these cells have a dark- 

 brownish green tint; in the inner layer a bright orange. 

 The green cells are excessively branched when dilated. The 

 orange cells tend rather to form uniform expansions. I 

 endeavoured with the utmost care to detect traces of cell- 

 walls in both species of cell, but was unable to do so. The 

 pigment cell appears only to consist of nucleus and con- 

 tractile protoplasm, and to correspond very closely with the 

 structure of some of the lowest forms of animal life, such as 

 the Khizopoda. 



(2.) Description of this JEquoreal Pipe-fish. By John Alexander 

 Smith, M.D. 



Dr Wright having given me this specimen of the iEquo- 

 real Pipe-fish, Nerophis JEquoreiis (Kaup.), I thought it 

 might be interesting to add a few details of its description: — 



* Since the above was written, the bed No. 7 of Mr Geikie's section has been 

 nearly all removed, the only portion remaining may be carried away in six or 

 eight cart loads. The section exhibits now, what it did before, that humus and 

 sand were alternate, as the carts which carried the stuff of the foundation 

 were loaded anon with earth and then with sand. 



