222 
POPULAR SCIENCE REYIEW. 
to present combinations of Dinornitbic and modern Struthious characters, 
and which he characterised, as belonging to a new genus and species of 
fossil birds, mider the name Das(y)'7iis Londinensis. 
South American Oxen. — At a very recent meeting of the French Academy 
of Sciences, M. de Quatrefages presented a memoir written by M. Sanson 
on a peculiar group of oxen found in South America. The cranium of this 
supposed new family has been examined, and various naturalists who have 
seen it have regarded it as a monstrosity. But M. Sanson says that if it 
is a monstrosity it is capable of perpetuating itself, since it is represented 
in South America by large flocks of cattle. In Mexico it is particularly 
abundant, and, thanks to a correspondent in that country, M. Sanson has 
obtained photographs of the new species. — Comptes-Rendus, March 8. 
The Digestive System in Orthoptera forms the subject of a memoir pre- 
sented to the Kaiserliche Akademie of Vienna, by Herr Von Graber. The 
ventriculus and pro-ventriculus have been especially dealt with in this 
memoir, which has as yet only been published in abstract. 
A New British Leech. — Some time ago Dr. J. E. Gray announced the 
discovery in this country of Trocheta suhvh'idis. Nothing was since heard 
of the presence of this annelid. But now Mr. Henry Lee and some of his 
friends have established beyond question that it is a British species. A 
long account of the discovery is to be found in Land and Watery March 13, 
by Mr. Henry Lee. 
The Pacinian Corpuscles. — The structure of these bodies has been studied 
by Professor Ciaccio, who has just published along and admirably illustrated 
memoir upon it. The conclusions arrived at are chiefly as to the relation of 
the nerve to the club-shaped centre. This relation is one, according to the 
author, of continuity. He does not admit the existence of either a loop or a 
coil. 
The Tissues of the Sponge. — Some curious experiments on the grafting of 
sponges one on the other were lately made by M. L^on Vaillant. He 
conducted his observations principally on Tethea lyyicurium, and found 
that the vitality of its cortical is greater than that of its medullary sub- 
stance. Grafting from individual to individual is easily effected. — Comptes- 
Rendus, Januaiy. 
The Graphic Method Applied to the Move^nents of Liisects. — M. Marey has 
been making tlie wings of insects record their form and rapidity of move- 
ment, sometliing in the way in which he has made the heart do the same 
thing in his cardiograph. 
Fresh-water Crustacea. — Those who can procure abundance of cray-fish 
will be glad to know where they can find an elaborate memoir on the 
anatomy of this animal. They should consult the Annales des Sciences 
Naturclles, tome x. 1808. 
Triarthra longiseta. — An interesting paper, accompanied by a plate, on 
this species appears from the pen of Dr. C. T. Hudson in the Monthly 
Microscopical Journal for March. 
A Neiv Infusorium^ to which its discoverer, Mr. J. G. Tatem, has given 
the name of Vasicola ciliaiay has been described in a paper in the Monthly 
Microscopical Journal for February. A coloured plate delineates the dif- 
ferent stages of development and various phases of life of the new creature. 
