ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
159 
Origin of the Red Blood-corpuscles.* * * § — Sig. F. Sanfelice nuaintains 
that the red blood-corpuscles originate from leucocytes within the 
medulla of the bones in the four highest classes of Vertebrates, and 
within the lymphoid tissue of Elasmobranchs. In mammals the haematic 
transformation, invading the nucleus, occasions its disap j>earance. The 
giant cells of the medulla of mammals are due to the leucocytes of the 
matrix or to young nucleated red blood-corpuscles ; both kinds are 
retrograde fusions of cells and nuclei. Bleeding or reduction of nutri- 
ment increases the karyokinesis of the leucocytes. In the non-functional 
medulla of the long bones of the fowl there are reserve lymphatic accu- 
mulations ready to be changed into red blood-corpuscles. The elements 
found in the lymphoid tissue at the sides of the oesophagus and in the 
gonads of Selachians are identical with the constituents of the medulla 
in higher Vertebrates. 
7. General. 
Marine Phosphorescence.! — Dr. E. v. Marenzeller has published an 
instructive lecture on this always interesting subject ; attention is drawn 
in it to the work of Prof. B. Ratziszewski, which, though published in 
1880, is not widely known in this country. 
Deep-water Fauna of Clyde Sea-area.j: — Mr. W. E. Hoyle has made 
a critical examination of the species collected, chiefly by Dr. John 
Murray, in an extensive series of dredgings in various parts of the Clyde 
area. The richest fauna is in those basins that are in closest proximity 
to the sea, and the wealth diminishes as we proceed into the more land- 
locked i^ortions of the district. Most of the species are dispersed more 
or less widely over the north temperate regions of the globe, while the 
smaller half is very unequally divided between northern and southern 
species, the former being five times as numerous as the latter. It would 
seem that the bottoms of the remoter basins have a fauna which ap- 
proaches the more seaward basin in respect of variety more nearly than 
do their faunae taken as a whole. It is possible that, in these basins, 
there is, in addition to the fauna derived from the present outer seas, a 
fauna which has been in them for a much longer period. The Clyde 
deep-water fauna has marked Arctic and Scandinavian affinities. 
B. INVERTEBRATA. 
Fauna of Transcaspia and Khorasan. — Dr. 0. Boettger and Dr. 
A. Walter report, the one on the Mollusca § and the other on the 
Galeodidse 1| and Crustacea ^ collected by Dr. Walter in the land lying 
east of the Caspian and in Khorasan. Only forty-nine Molluscs were 
collected, and this number is too small to allow any faunistic comparisons 
which could be regarded as satisfactory. Dr. H. Simroth adds some 
notes on the anatomy of Lijtojpelte and Parmacella. Seven species of 
Galeodidae were collected, among which is a new genus called Karschia, 
* Bull. Soc. Nat. Napoli, iii. (1889) pp. 143-68 (2 pis.). 
t ‘ Ueber Meeileucliten,’ Wien, 1889, sm, 8vo, 27 pp. 
J Journ. Linn. Soc., xx. (1889) pp. 442-72 (1 map). 
§ Zool. Jahrb., iv. (1889) pp. 925-92 (2 pis.). 
; 11 T. c., pp. 1095-1109 (1 pi.). ^ T. c., ] p. 1110-23. 
