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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
in the Barbel and in the tadpoles of Pelobates fuscus, which he found to agree 
in structure with similar bodies in the tongues of Mammalia, and was led to 
believe that the two sets of bodies possess the same functions. M. Jourdan 
has investigated several fishes, and especially the Malarmat ( Peristedion cata- 
phractum) at the Marine Zoological Laboratory of Marseilles, and his obser- 
vations confirm Schulze’s conclusions. The Malarmat (a member of the 
Gurnard family) possesses barbels like those of the Red Mullet ( Mullus bar- 
batus ), and free fine rays identical with those of the Gurnards. The barbels, 
which may be either tufted or isolated, are attached, to the number of ten 
or twelve, to the lower jaw ; two of them are always large, and present 
secondary ramifications. They are always furnished with small cyathiform 
bodies containing two kinds of cells; some, grouped in the centre, and 
slightly projecting at the surface of the barbel, resemble fibres with a volu- 
minous nucleus ; the others, arranged at the periphery, are cylindrical. 
These organs exist also in considerable number in the mucous membrane 
lining the cavity of the mouth : they are arranged serially in the pharynx, 
and the papillae of the rudimentary tongue have three or four of them. 
They are always in the epidermis. 
In the Mullet the cyathiform bodies are much larger. They are like 
those described by Schulze in the Barbel and Tench. Each corpuscle is 
placed at a point in the epidermis corresponding to a papilla of the dermis ; 
it is clearly distinguished from the cells which surround it by the dark colour 
it acquires by the action of osmic acid, and the aspect of the elements 
forming it. Each is formed of cells of two types, between which all transi- 
tional forms are observed ; namely, cylindrical, peripheral cells, and cells 
grouped in the centre of the ovoid body, which terminate in conical processes,, 
the points of which are not so distinct in the Malarmat. All possess a 
voluminous nucleus. At the base of each corpuscle is a small granular mass- 
formed by the varicose basal prolongations of the cells of the body ; in the' 
granular mass the cylinder-axes of the nervous fibres disappear, and the cells 
of the corpuscles originate. Identical bodies occur in the mucous membrane 
of the tongue and pharynx. 
The Gurnards have cyathiform corpuscles on the tongue ; and they pro- 
bably exist in the buccal mucous membrane of most fishes. 
If these cyathiform bodies are to be regarded as taste-organs, whether 
external or internal, the sense of taste appears to acquire an importance in 
fishes which may be justified by the nature of the medium in which the 
animals live. * The search for food,’ says the author, ‘ must be guided by 
sensitive terminations more particularly destined to the reception of gusta- 
tive emanations ; this explains the distribution of the cyathiform corpuscles 
upon external organs, exploratory apparatus, the situation of which has 
deceived observers, but which need no more surprise us than the existence of 
well-formed otoliths, far from the head, upon the last segments of Mysis .’ 
Giant Squids on the Newfoundland Banks. — Professor Yerrill has pub- 
lished ( Amer . Journ. Sci., March, 1881) an account of the occurrence of 
Giant Squids of the genus Arcliiteuthis in great abundance upon the Grand 
Banks in the year 1875. He states that he has been informed by Capt. J. W. 
Collins that in October of that year a great number of these animals were 
found floating at the surface over the Grand Banks, mostly quite dead, and 
more or less mutilated by birds and fishes. In a few cases they were not 
