SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
333 
Rotiferous dust. In such tanks they multiply rapidly, the occasional 
addition of a few drops of water to counteract evaporation being all that is 
needed for their preservation. 
Function f the Contractile Vesicle in Infusoria. — In a paper on Stentorj 
in the last Journal of Anatomy, Dr. Moxon brings forward some new 
arguments on this point. He denies that such organisms, from their small 
size, require a heart. 
The Frohoscis of the Blowfly. — The Monthly Microscopical Journal for June 
contains four very handsome plates, illustrating this very peculiar organ. 
Microscopists will do well to refer to them. 
Free-swimming Amoehce. — The above number also contains an account by 
Mr. J. G. Tatem of certain curious tailed swimming amoebae. 
A new Genus of Salamanders has been found by Professor Cope (U.S.) in 
a number of specimens brought from Mexico. It dilfers from Sperlerpes, in 
having the parietal and palatine bones unossified, and the inner nares open- 
ing into the orbits. The phenygoid teeth are in one patch. Toes, four on 
the front feet and five on the hind, rudimentary. Th» tail is as long as the 
head and body together. The total length is only two inches. It has a 
pale dorsal band and black sides. A female specimen contained eggs one 
line in diameter. He has called the species, which is a new generic type, 
Thorius pennatrihus. 
Origin of the second Cervical Vertebra. — We learn from the American Na- 
turalist (June) that a very important memoir on this subject has been pub- 
lished in a recent number of the Proceedings of the Swedish Academy, by 
Professor Kinberg. This origin he refers to the fusion of two vertebrae to- 
gether. In mammalia, generally, says Dr. Lutken, who reports upon it, the 
odontoid process is separated, during a longer or shorter period, from the true 
corpus epistrophcei by two intervertebral epiphyses in the same manner as in 
all other ordinary distinct vertebrae ; the odontoid process has parts answer- 
ing to the arms, which are, however, not developed into true arches, but 
analogous to that of certain caudal vertebrae ; the epistrophaeus has of course 
two corpora fused together like the sacral vertebrae, and consequently draws 
its origin from the connection of two primordial vertebrae. 
The Zoological Society has been doing excellent work during the quarter. 
It would be impossible, with the space at our disposal, to give even a list of 
the papers read. We may, however, refer to one of great importance to 
^ comparative anatomists. It was upon the homologies of the bones of the 
internal ear, by Professor Huxley. 
j The Chair of Comparative Anatomy in the College of Surgeons. — Scientific 
I Opinion announces that Professor Huxley has resigned the chair, and that 
I Mr. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., is likely to succeed him. We regret Professor 
Huxley’s resignation, but at the same time congratulate the Council of the 
College on its selection of Mr. Flower for the Hunterian chair. 
I The Muscles of Invertebrate Animals. — On this subject a very elaborate 
I paper appears in the last number of Max Schidtzds Archiv fur Mihroskopisclie 
1 A natomie, by Herr Schwalbe. The author goes through several types, be- 
j| ginning with the Actinia, and ending with Echinoderms and Gasteropods. 
jj Two handsome folding plates illustrate the memoir, and represent the mus- 
cular fibres as prepared with chromic acid, bichromate of potash, and osmic 
acid, and seen with a No. 10 Hartnack’s immersion lens. The fibres of some 
