CLAPAREDE, ED.-Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Gephyrea. Arch. Anat. 1861, p. 537. Ueber Polydora cornuta, Bosc. Ibid. p. 542. COBBOLD, T. S.-On the Cystic Entazoa from the Wart-Hog and Red River Hog. Zool. Proc. 1861, p. 93. List of Entozoa, including Pentastomes, from Animals dying at the Zoological Society's Menagerie, between the years 1857-60 inclusive, with Descriptions of several new species. Zool. Proc. 1861, p. 117. COLIN, G-Sur la présence d'une Linguatule dans les ganglions mésénteriques du Mouton; et sur sa transformation dans le nez du Chien en Pentastome tenioïde; (Extract.) Comp. rend. lii. p. 1311. CORMANE.-Hirudoculture: Mémoire relatif aux plans du marais couvert pour l'education des sangsues, par A. Cormane, éleveur. 4to. Montelimart; (Paris, P. Asselin.) Sur le même sujet : a. Essai médical sur les sangsues, par Rochette. Paris, 1803. 8vo. b. Histoire naturelle et médicale des sangsues, contenant la description anatomique des organes de la sangsue officinale, avec des considérations physiologiques sur ces organes, des notions très étendues sur la conservation domestique de ce ver, sa reproduction, ses maladies, son application, etc., par J. L. Derheims. Paris, 1825. 8vo. 168 pp. avec 6 pl. c. Recherches sur le genre Hirudo, par MM. Pelletier et Huzard fils. 8vo. 4-23 pp. avec 3 pl. col. Journal de Pharmacie, 1825, t. xi. p. 105. d. Monographie des sangsues médicinales et officinales, par A. Charpentier. Paris, 1838. 8vo 64 pp. e. Sur la multiplication des sangsues, par M. Huzard fils. Paris, 1841, In-8, 43 p., avec 1 pl. 1 fr. 50. f. Monographie de la famille des Hirudinées, par M. Moquin-Tandon, professeur d'histoire naturelle médicale à la Faculté de médecine de Paris, membre de l'Institut de France. Nouvelle édition revue et augmentée. Paris, 1846, in 8 de 445 p. avec atlas de 14 pl. gravées et coloriées. 15 fr. DAVAINE, M.-Traite des Entozoaires et des Maladies vermineuses de l'Homme et des Animaux. 8vo? Paris, 1861. DIESING.-Revision d. Nematoden. Plate. Vien. Sitz. vol. 42. p. 595. EBERTH.-Ueber Strongylus tenuis, (Mehlis.) Wurz. Zeitsch. ii. 1861, p. 47. Ueber die Muskeln und Seitenlinien des Trichocephalus EHLERS, E.-Ueber die Gattung Priapulus Lam. FILIPPI, F. DE.-Troisième Memoire pour servir à l'histoire génétique des Trematodes. Tur. Mem. xviii. p. GRUBE, E.-Beschreibungen neuer oder wenig bekannter Seesterne und Seeigel. In-4 avec 3 pl. color. Jena, Frommann. 5 fr. 50. Acta Academiæ naturæ curiosorum. HODGE, G.-On the Common Brittle Star (Ophiocoma rosula), with some Remarks on the Growth of the Rays and their Appendages. Tynes. Trans. v. 1861, p. 41. On the Occurrence of Uraster glacialis at Seaham Harbour. Tynes. Trans. v. 1861, p. 62. HOUGHTON, W.-Remarks on the Glossiphonidæ, a Family of discophorous Annulata. Q. J. M. Sc. New Ser. i. p. 33. HOWSE, RICHARD.-On the Occurrence of Goniaster equestris on the coast of Northumberland. Tynes. Trans. v. 1861, p. 59. KEFERSTEIN, W.-Ueber parasitische Pilze aus Ascaris Mystax. Z. w. Z. xi. p. 135. Einige Bemerkungen über Tomopteris. Arch. Anat. 1861, p. 360. AND EHLERS.-On the Anatomy of the Sipunculi. A. N. H. 3 ser. vii. p. 486. (From. Gött. Nachr. Nov. 13, 1860; Bibl. Univer. (Bull. Scient.) p. 387. KEBERLE. Des cysticerques de ténias chez l'homme. 8vo. Paris, Gazette hebdomadaire. 1861. LAWSON, HENRY.-On the Affinities of the Groups Trematoda Planariæ and Hirudinei; and on the Formation of a new class of Annulosa for the Reception of these Animals. Roy. Dubl. Soc. Journ. July, 1861. LEYDIG, FRANZ.-Die Augen und neue Sinnesorgane der Egel. Arch. Anat. 1861, p. 588. Haben die Nematoden ein Nervensystem? zu dieser Frage. Arch. Anat. 1861, p. 606. Bemerkungen LYMAN, THEODORE.-Descriptions of new Ophiuridæ, belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, and to the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge. Bost. Proc. 1860, p. 193, 252. Description of a new Star Fish. (Astrophyton Caryi, Lym.) Bost. Proc. vii. p. 424, 1861. MOLIN, R.-Prodromus Faunae Helminthologicae Venetae adj. disquis. anat. et crit. 15 plates. 15 plates. Vien. Denk. xix. p. 189, and 4to. Vienna, 1861. On the Retrograde Metamorphosis of certain Nematode Worms. A. N. H. 3 ser. vii. p. 491. (From Wien. Sitzungsb. xxxviii. p. 706. NORMAN, ALF. MERLE.-On an Echinoderm new to Science, from Ireland, (Strephenterus claviger.) A. N. H. 3 ser. vii. p. 112. ROBIN, C.-On the Spermatophora of some Hirudinei. (Compt. rend. Aug. 1861.) A. N. H. 3 ser. viii. p. 431. SALTER, S. J. A.-On the_Structure and Growth of the Tooth of the Echinus. R. Soc. Proc. xi. p. 166. SALZMANN, DR.-Einige Notizen über Taenien. Wurtz. Jahrb. xvii. p. 102. SCHMIDT, OSCAR.-Ueber Planaria torva Autor. Untersuchungen über Turbellarien von lonia nebst Nachträgen zu früheren Arbeiten. Z. w. Z. xi. p. 87. Corfu und ČephaIb. p. 1. SCHNEIDER, A.-Einige Bemerkungen zu O. Schmidt's "Untersuchungen über Turbellarien von Corfu und Cephalonia." Arch. Anat. 1861, p. 783. STEWART, J. A.-Description of Asteronyx loveni, Mull. et Trosch., a new British Starfish. Zool. Proc. 1861, p. 96. STEWART, T. H.-Observations on the Anatomy of the Echinoderms. Zool. Proc. 1861, p. 53. WALLICH, G. C.-Remarks on some novel Phases of Organic Life, and on the Boring Powers of minute Annelids at great depths in the Sea. A. N. H. 3 ser. viii. p. 52. WEINLAND, D. F.-Beschreibung zweier Taenioiden aus dem Menschen; Ueber die Bandwürmer der Indianer u. Neger; Monströsität von Taenia solium L. u. Versuch einer systematik der Taenien. 5 plates. Nov. Act. xxviii. and 4to. Jena, 1861. WHITE.-Description of a new Species of Gordius. (G. trifurcatus.) Bost. Proc. 1860, p. 175. WYVILLE-THOMSON, J. On the Embryology of Asteracanthion violaceus. Q. J. Mic. Sc. New. Ser. i. p. 99. Miscellanea. NOTE ON THE HABITS OF THE VIPER. IN reference to the "Note" on this subject in our last number (p. 118) we have received several interesting communications from Dr. J. Davy, to whom specimens of the young vipers reported to have taken refuge in the maternal mouth, were forwarded for examination. Dr. Davy remarks that, if, as Mr. Norman appears to be sure, the eleven young Vipers were all found in the same situation (in the interior of the mother) he has little doubt that that place was the uterus and not the stomach. His reasons for coming to this conclusion will be found in the following observations, consisting for the most part of extracts from his letters. "Neither of the three specimens," he says, "examined by me bore any marks of having breathed, or of being in a state sufficiently advanced, as I imagine, for independent existence. The poison fangs were not fully developed, though whether at the time of birth these organs are fully formed or not, I do not know. Probably, considering how small and feeble the young snakes would then be, those organs would then be little more than rudimentary, and if so that may account for Vipers, which are so prolific, not being more common, defenceless as they would thus be, and exposed to the attacks of so many enemies.' "The lungs again were perfectly collapsed. If respiration had taken place, I should not have expected this; and I do not think that there would be a complete absorption of the air by the spirit. The stomach was quite empty, as also the intestine, with the exception of the lower portion, which contained some yelk from the included vitellus." "The circumstance that in some of the specimens a portion of vitelline sac was still external to the body, is, I think, adverse to the conclusion that any of them had left the uterine cavity. For were the young ones born with the vitellus thus exposed to the rough friction unavoidable in locomotion, on land, such a delicate structure could hardly but suffer injury." With reference to the circumstance that the young vipers appeared to be moulting, Dr. Davy remarks : : "That this was very distinctly the case in two specimens, the fine cuticle readily separating and exposing a surface of a brighter hue." But this moulting he apprehends is not incompatible with their having been taken from the abdominal (or uterine) cavity. May it not be supposed," he observes, "that the young of the snake before birth are subject to several moults, necessary as they increase in size after the integument has been fully formed." In some fœtal vipers dissected by him less advanced than those in question such was the condition of the skin; the colouring and markings were distinct and precisely similar to those of their parent. In these instances also the poison fangs though formed could not be detected until the specimens were dried, when, the soft enveloping tissue shrinking, their points came into view. On the supposition that Mr. Norman's gamekeeper was not deceived in what he saw, but that he really witnessed the swallowing of two or three of its brood by the parent Viper, may it not probably be assumed that she actually devoured them? A prima facie objection to this supposition, lies in the fact above pointed out by Dr. Davy, that the specimens of young examined by him were in an immature condition and had not breathed, and consequently that they had not been born at all. To this it may be answered, that it is by no means certain that the Viper produces the whole of its brood at once. young may be issued one or two at a time as they reach maturity, the rest remaining in the uterine cavity. Those which were swallowed might have been more perfect than the individuals examined by Dr. Davy. The That excellent observer, considers it not at all improbable that the parent snake may occasionally devour its own young when pressed by hunger, and if so, that the seeing it in the act may have led to the popular notion. In order to show the occasionally stupid and blind voracity manifested by Reptilian animals, Dr. Davy relates an instance, in Ceylon, of one snake in confinement with another swallowing his companion though about the same size as itself. And an incident in the same island was related to him by the person who witnessed it of a Python owing its death to an attempt to swallow a Deer, the horns sticking in its throat. Other instances of the same kind might be cited, and amongst these, as noticed by Dr. Davy, one which occurred in the Zcological Gardens a few years since of a Python swallowing its blanket. He also relates an anecdote, for the accuracy of which he can vouch, of a large Frog, in Ceylon, which, reversing the usual order of things, attempted to avenge the wrongs of its race by trying to swallow a Duck. Both were found dead, the head of the Duck in the gullet of the too ambitious Frog. In further support of the opinion that the Viper may on occasion commit infanticide, Dr. Davy notices an interesting account of the Slow Worm (4. fragilis) given by D. Rankin, Esq. in the 5th volume of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. In speaking of the food of this Reptile, Mr. Rankin remarks; "I have good grounds for believing that its own young are not rejected," and gives an instance of his having witnessed the deed. "Of a brood," he says, "during the first day one was no doubt devoured by its parent, for I found half the tail unconsumed, which the little creature had, in all probability, wriggled off in an instinctive struggle. The parent and young ones were confined in a box." Now, if the Slow-Worm, Dr. Davy pertinently asks, “occasionally devours its young, why should not the Viper ?" ON COLLECTING AND PRESERVING SPECIMENS OF FISHES Through the zealous efforts of the present able head of the Zoological department at the British Museum, the series of specimens of cold-blooded Vertebrata preserved in spirits has of late years received very considerable accessions. From one of the most indifferent in Europe, our national collection is, as regards this class of zoological preparations, now become one of the finest, if not the very best, in the world, embracing as it does about 7000 specimens of Reptiles and 20,000 of Fishes. A well known and accomplished German naturalist, Dr. A. Günther, has been engaged for these last three years in arranging and cataloguing this vast mass of materials. Dr. Günther has already prepared and published catalogues of the Batrachia salientia and the Colubrine Snakes, and is now engaged in working out the extensive series of Fishes, of which he has already issued three thick volumes, relating to the Acanthopterygians. But although so much has already been done towards the investigation of these extensive departments of the Animal Kingdom, still more, we may safely say, remains to be done. The Reptilian Faunas of many parts of the globe are as yet comparatively but little known, and in the class of Fishes still larger discoveries remain to be made. So little trouble is involved in the preparation of this class of Zoological Specimens, that it is easy for any person resident abroad, however little leisure he may have, to give important assistance to science in this matter. For the following directions how to set about this in the most simple way, we have to thank the kindness of one of our correspondents who is greatly interested in the subject. We |