EEPTILIA AND BATRACHIA. 
16 Bejpf. 
F. Gasco has renewed on the A.xolotl his successful investigations on 
the fecundation of the Newts. During the night the male deposits his 
spermatophores on the ground. These sperm atophores are conical, 
adhering to the ground by their base ; at their summit is a group of 
spermatozoa. The spermatozoa are then gathered by the gaping lips of 
the female’s cloaca, as in the newts, and fecundation takes place. In one 
instance the female took five days to deposit her ova ; these were 1047 in 
number. The author is inclined to admit that, contrary to what has 
been hitherto believed, no cloacal contact takes place in any tailed 
Batrachian, and that, in those species in which the male clings to the 
female, this is done only with the object of stimulating her. Zool. Anz. 
iv. pp. 313-334, and Bull. Soc. Z. Fr. 1881, pp. 151-162. 
Hertwig, 0. Die Entwicklung des raittleren Keimblattes der Wirbel- 
thiere. 1. Theil. Die holoblastischen Eier. Das mittlere Keimblatt 
der Amphibien. a. Triton tcmiatm. Jen. Z. Nat. (n.s.) viii. 
pp. 288-340, pis. xii.-xv. 
F. Lataste brings out a paper on the fecundation in the tailed 
Batrachians. He particularly analyses Gasco’s important memoir on the 
fecundation of the newts [cf. Zool. Rec. xvii. Re})t. p. 12], and retraces 
all that is known on copulation in these Batrachians. Copulation takes 
place normally in the genera Euprockis, Triturus, Plcurodeles, and Sala- 
mandra. He also adds some observations made by the Recorder on a 
case of copulation between Salamandra atra $ and S. maculosa $ ; in 
that case the male lay underneath the female, and not above as stated, 
probably by mistake, by Schreibers, and quite recently by Pfitzner. Rev. 
Int. Sci. iv. pp. 158-163. 
Schorl, J. Ueber die Blutgefasse des cerebrospinalen Nervensystems 
der Urodelen. Arch, mikr, Anat. xx. pp. 87-92, pi. v. 
Stirling, W. On some Points in the Histology of the Newt. J. Anat. 
Phys. xvi. pp. 94 & 95. 
. On the Nerves of the Lungs of the Newt. L. c. pp. 96-105, 
pis. iii. & iv. 
J. V. Bedriaga observes that, in 1864, Nauck made remarks on the 
copulation of newts ; Zool. Anz. iv. p. 157. 
Euproctus. Camerano remarks upon E. rusconii and E. montanus, and 
admits they are distinct species ; Zool. Anz. iv. p. 183. 
GlossoUga hagenmuelleri, sp. n., Lataste, Le Nat. 1881, p. 371. 
Siredon lichenoides. Observations on this species by W. E. Carlin, 
P. U. S. Nat. Mus. iv. p. 120, and Ann. N. H. (5) viii. p. 235. 
APODA. 
Urceotyphlus oxyurus (D. & B.) : remarks on the skull of this species by 
Peters, SB. nat. Fr. 1881, p. 90. 
Ichthyophis glutinosus occurs in the Himalayas ; Blanford, J. A. S.B. 1. 
pt. 2, p. 243. 
