SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
291 
which side it should be ranked. M. Serres is now completing a splendid 
memoir on the anatomy of L. annectens , and in that portion of it relating 
to the brain, he writes : “ Like L.paradoxa , L . annectens has only four 
pair of cerebral nerves, which are from before backwards, — the olfactory, 
optic, trigeminal, and vagus. The common motores ocali ) like those of the 
fourth and sixth pairs, are entirely absent.” . . . “The brain is more like 
that of reptiles than that of fishes, especially of perennibranchiate reptiles, 
as Professor Owen very properly remarks. It approaches reptiles in the 
slenderness of its cerebellum, although the size of the restiform bodies, con- 
trasted with the smallness of this organ, reminds one of these bodies in the 
cartilaginous fishes, of the Ray family in particular. It is related to 
reptiles by the depression of the optic lobe, and by the unity of this organ, 
which is always double and well developed in the osseous and cartilaginous 
fishes ; by the large size of its pineal gland, which is so small in fishes, 
that in many families it is impossible to prove its existence at all ; and. 
finally, by the form of the cerebral lobes, which are entirely reptilian. 
Secondly, the brain of L. annectens , as to its base and sides, presents a cord 
more piscine than reptilian. The ichthyologic character is partly produced 
by the anterior pyramidal bodies which intersect each other below and 
divide above, so as to constitute a rudimentary trapezoid body like that of 
mammalia ; it is also produced by the size of the olivary bodies, which is 
almost that of those in rays and electric fishes. Thirdly, the size of the 
hypophysis of L. annectens is like that of one of the rays ; and even the 
isolation of the optic tubercles is another fact of the same kind. As 
regards the fusion and isolation of the optic masses, and as regards the 
grey pedicle which attaches them to the cerebral lobes, these are exceptional 
facts which remain to be confirmed by the examination of the adult brain 
of this animal. — Comptes Rendus , September 28th, 1863. 
The Roman Imperial and the Crested Eagle. - Mr. J. Hogg, M.A., F.R.S., 
&c., read a very interesting paper, detailing the character of both forms, 
before the British Association at Newcastle-on-Tyne. The eagle of the 
“ king of gods and men ” is not crested ; but Mr. Hogg’s investigations 
into the ruins of Baalbec and Palmyra have led him to think that the 
eagle represented on many of the sculptures of these cities was copied 
from the Aquila Desmursii .— Vide Hogg’s work on Baalbec, and Trans- 
actions of Zoological Society , Vol. iv. part lxxvii. 
The Development of Bothriocephalus latus. — Early in 1862, and also in 
July last, an opportunity of studying the development of this parasite 
presented itself to M. Bertolus, who since communicated his observations 
to the French Academy. The ovum of the Bothriocephalus which attacks 
man, requires a six or eight months’ stay in running water before being 
developed into a larva. When it bursts from the ovisac, this egg consists 
of an ovoid, tough shell, of a dark brown colour, and filled with a 
granular amorphous material. At the end of a month or so, this vitellus 
is divided into cells. Then a germinal spot appears, and eventually the 
vitellus separates from the shell, leaving a space between the two. After 
about six months, the germinal area has involved the whole yolk ; now 
the booklets make their appearance in the embryo, which begins to show 
contractile movements. Finally, at the end of seven or eight months, a 
