SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
335 
adjacent veins, in the same way as the afferent vessels of a lung. Species of 
Doras and Hypostomus, inhabiting the Upper Amazon, respire air in the 
same way as the Callichthyes, but in the Hypostomi the used air is returned 
towards the mouth, and escapes by that orifice or by the branchial apertures. 
In Sudis gigas and some species of Erythrinus aerial respiration takes 
place by the agency of the swimming-bladder, which, in the latter, has long 
been known to communicate with the outer world [through the oesophagus, 
and to be furnished internally with numerous cells formed by membranous 
folds. Professor Jobert finds that the walls of the swimming-bladder, in- 
cluding all these folds, are richly provided with blood-vessels, mostly 
originating from the venous system, and that it is thus converted into a true 
lung, by the possession of which the fishes are enabled to live for a long 
time out of the water. Of the reality of this respiration, Professor Jobert 
convinced himself experimentally by obstructing the air-duct leading to the 
bladder; the fish soon died by suffocation. These observations are par- 
ticularly interesting as establishing further bonds between the true fishes 
the Lepidosirens, and the perennibranchiate Batrachians, which possess at the 
same time branchiae and true lungs. — ( Comptes rendus, April 15, 1878.) 
A New Tubicolar Annelid. — The late Professor Claparede described certain 
small Annelids as stages in the development of the well-known Terebella 
conchilega. M. Adolphe Wartel, a pupil of Professor Giard’s, detected what 
appear to be the same Annelids attached to the branches of the common Cam- 
panularian polype, Laomedea gelatinosa, where they inhabit small projecting 
transparent tubes, so exactly resembling the gonothecae of the polype, as 
easily to escape detection. The presence of generative products in many of 
them proved them to be adult forms, and not young stages of any Terebellce ; 
and Professor Giard establishes a new genus and species for this interesting 
little Annelid, which he names Wartelia gonotheca , the generic name com- 
memorating its discoverer, the specific alluding to the curious mimicry of the 
gonothecae of the Hydroid which its tubes present. It is remarkable for the 
presence of large otocysts like those of mollusca and for certain peculiarities 
of the ventral cirri, which lead to its removal far from the Terebellce . — 
( Comptes rendus , May 6, 1878.) 
Circumspection of Ants. — Professor Leidy gives somes curious details con- 
cerning the little red ant which seem to show that this insect is capable of 
becoming circumspect by experience. When he purchased his present resi- 
dence, and while it was undergoing some repairs, he noticed a piece of 
bread, left by a workman in one of the rooms, swarming with ants. Pear- 
ing that the house was seriously infested by these insects, which, when 
numerous, are great pests, to ascertain whether it was so he placed a piece 
of sweet cake in every room from cellar to attic, and at noon every piece of 
cake was covered with ants, and each piece was carefully picked up, and the 
ants tapped into a cup of oil of turpentine. The cake was replaced, and in 
the evening was found again covered with ants. The same process was re- 
peated morning, noon, and night for the next two days ; on the third day 
the number of ants was greatly diminished, and on the fourth there were 
none. Professor Leidy at first supposed that all the ants had been de- 
stroyed, but in the attic he observed a few feasting on some dead house flies, 
which led him to the conclusion that the remaining ants had become suspi- 
