ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
595 
most of the giant-cells which are found in the hinder portion of the 
medulla. 
With the giant-cells are associated small, spindle-shaped, bipolar 
cells ; these ordinarily lie transversely to the longitudinal fibres ; one 
process crosses the medulla, and the other passes into a sensory root or 
into the longitudinal bundles of the side on which the cell lies. Bipolar 
cells of other forms are described, and a few multipolar cells were 
observed. Some were triangular, and it is not easy to say whether they 
are ganglionic or epithelial, though they stain with methylen-blue. 
Bearing of Pathology on Doctrine of Transmission of Acquired 
Characters.* — Dr. 11. J. Tylden, who has since fallen a victim to 
bacteriological research, sums up the evidence afforded by pathology as 
to the transmission of acquired characters. He finds that pathology 
pronounces against the hypothesis of the transmission of acquired 
characters. At first sight there appears to be a mass of evidence in 
favour of it ; but a number of these cases must be rejected, because, 
though there can be no doubt that the morbid characters here present 
are both acquired and transmitted, they are not acquired in the sense 
under discussion, and that is by the somatic cells exclusively, but by 
the whole organism. In other cases what is transmitted is not what is 
acquired, but something broader and more general. Genuine instances 
of acquired characters there are, but there is no evidence of their 
transmission. 
B. INVERTEBRATA. 
Mollusca. 
a. Cephalopoda- 
Minute Structure of Posterior Salivary Glands in Cephalopodr.t 
— Dr. B. Rawitz has studied these organs in Eledone moschata and 
Octopus vulgaris. They are tubular glands consisting of a crowd of 
canals extending in all directions. A wide, slightly branched and coiled 
sac gives origin to many much ramified and coiled lateral sacs. The 
lateral sacs form the proper secretory portion, the main sac is rather 
conductive. The glandular region secretes albumen and mucin, and the 
albumen- and mucin-producing cells are histologically distinguishable. 
In neither of these two kinds of cells, which are described in detail, 
does the process of secretion involve the death of the cell. As in many 
other Invertebrates, the glandular cells are long-lived. 
y. Gastropoda. 
Anatomy of some American Molluscs.^— Mr. H. A. Pilsbry has 
notes on the anatomy of Sagda , Cyslicopsis, jEgista , and Dentellaria. 
The genitalia of the large opaque Helices of tropical America show 
that the reference of all of them to the single genus Caracolus is a 
natural arrangement. 
* Nature, xlvi. (1892) pp. 302-5. 
f Arch. f. Mikr. Anat., xxxix. (1892) pp. 596-611 (1 p].). 
j Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1892, pp. 213-5 (1 pi.). 
2 s 2 
