448 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
peds, so that only five pairs of legs are ambulatory in Thaumops. The 
thorax is composed of six segments, the first of which has, on its under 
side, the vulva and one pair of maxillipeds ; and the second, representing 
two segments, bears two pairs of appendages, the larger maxilliped and the 
first pair of ambulatory legs. The abdomen consists of five segments, with 
three pairs of pedes spurii, the caudal appendages being attached to the 
fourth and fifth segments. The animal being beautifully transparent, the 
nervous system could be carefully worked out without dissecting it; the 
position of the nerves going out from the cephalic ganglion, as well as that 
of the five pairs of thoracic and the three pairs of abdominal ganglia, could 
be ascertained. The eyes, having at their borders very peculiar appendages, 
were examined, and a description is given, in the paper here abstracted, of 
the structure of the large crystalline bodies which are to be seen in them. 
Organs of hearing and touch have not been discovered. The mouth is 
covered with a pair of maxillae and a small labium. There is a recurved 
oesophageal passage leading into a large caecal stomach, and an intestinal 
tube departing from near the end of the oesophagus and running straight to 
the anus. The heart is an elongated tube extending from the second to the 
fifth segment, with probably three openings. Three pairs of transparent 
sac-like gills are attached at the base of the second, third, and fourth pairs 
of feet. 
Experiments on Spontaneous Generation. — One of the best papers that have 
been published on this important subject is that of Mr. E. Kay Lankester, 
M.A., and W. C. C. Pode, M.B. It goes very fully into the subject, and is 
so far a very complete answer to the belief in the origin of organic life ah 
initio. It is to be found reprinted (from the Proceedings of the Royal 
Society ”) in the Monthly Microscopical Journal ” for September. 
Development of the Pig’s Head . — A most valuable and exhaustive paper on 
this subject is that by Mr. W. K. Parker, F.R.S., which was read lately 
before the Royal Society. It appears in a long abstract in The Pro- 
ceedings of the Royal Society” (last number). 
Pre-historic Houses in the Aleutian Islands. — These latter islands are so 
interesting to the zoologist that anything recording the habits of their 
ancient inhabitants must be of value. Such, we think, is the following 
extract from a paper in the Proceedings of the Californian Academy,’ 
which we have just received. After describing various preliminary opera- 
tions, the author, Mr. W. H. Dali, goes on to observe “that the first thing 
noticed was a sort of wall of rough stones, evidently obtained from the 
neighbouring beach, with here and there a whale-rib, in a perpendicular 
position, which had probably assisted in supporting the roof. Further 
excavation for a couple of feet revealed a human skeleton in perfect pre- 
servation. The body had been doubled up, so as to bring the knees up to 
the chin. It was lying on the right side, in a horizontal plane facing the 
south-east. Two others were afterwards discovered in an exactly similar 
position. They were about three feet from the surface, but not so far from 
the inner wall of the house ; one was the skeleton of a woman. A few 
rough flat stones were placed around and under them, but no articles of use 
or ornament were with the skeletons. It is a matter of record that the 
ancient Aleuts, when a person died in one of their houses, built up the body 
