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‘Vol. XXVI.

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No. :

PAGE,

I - DIFFICULTIES IN THE HEREDITY THEORY.

(Continued. ) (Ilustrated.)

Henry Fairfield Osborn. 537

; PLEMENTARY INVESTIGATION AT TICK ISLAND,

; Ilustrated.) . Clarence Bloomfield Moore. 568

R M -NTAL ogress greet: (Ulus.

a : gee ae . A. Andrews. 580

_ (Continued.) .

NU Alice PA 593

r Books AND PAMPHLETS. . . . .- z

ie Crystalline Rocks of Tammela, Fin-

CONTENTS.

. 607 |”

land—Petrographical Notes—Mineralogical New

Zoology.—Temperature and Color in Lepidopter

—A Curious Compound Ascidian—The Devel

ment of the Teeth of ee in

Ungulates. . .

Embryology —On hë Speticante o of §

genesis—Non-Sexual Reproduction in Spon

Archaeology and Ethnology. — e

"e a a

Screntific News, . 2 2 on

PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST

rr

Vor. XXVI. July, 1892. 307

THE DIFFICULTIES IN THE HEREDITY THEORY.

By Henry FAIRFIELD OSBORN.

THE CARTWRIGHT LECTURES For 1892, II.

(Continued from Page 481, Vol. XXVI)

“ Nur muss ich nochmals betonen, dass nach meiner Auffassung der Anfang einer

neuen Reihe erblicher Abweichungen, also auch der Eintritt einer neuen Art ohne

eine vorausgegangene erworbene Abweichung undenkbar ist.”—VIRCHOW.

State of Opinion.—The above quotation from one of the

most eminent authorities of our times represents the unshaken

conviction of a very large class upon one side of the question

of transmission of acquired characters, which is met by equally

firm conviction upon the other side.

Herbert Spencer, whose entire system of Hitoy. psychol-

ogy, and ethics is based upon such transmission, says: “

will only add that, considering the width and depth of the

effects which acceptance of one or other of these hypotheses

must have on our views of Life, Mind, Morals, and Politics, the

question Which of them is true? demands, beyond all other

questions whatever, the attention of scientific men.” This

shows that Spencer considers the matter still sub judice, and

lest you may think I am bringing before you an issue in

. Which learning and experience are ranged against ignorance

ve and prejudice, I have taken some pains, by correspondence

=o Century, 1889.

538 The American Naturalist. [July,

with a number of friends abroad, to learn the present state of

opinion. The two leading English and French authorities

upon this subject express themselves doubtfully.

Galton’s mind is still wavering, as in his work of 1889:!

“Iam unprepared to say more than a few words on the obscure,

unsettled and much discussed subject of the possibility of

transmitting acquired faculties. . . . There is very little

direct evidence of its influence in the course of a single gener-

ation, if the phrase of Acquired Faculties is used in perfect

strictness and all inheritance is excluded that could be referred

to some form of Natural Selection, or of Infection before birth,

or of peculiarities of Nurture and Rearing.”

Ribot, although in the center of the French Lamarckians,

gays: “Notwithstanding these facts the transmission of

acquired modifications appears to be very limited, even when

occurring in both of the parents.”

Excepting from Kölliker; His, the Leipzig anatomist ;

Pflüger, the physiologist; Ziegler, in pathology ; and De Vries,

in botany, Weismann has not found much sympathy from his

own countrymen in his opinion “that acquired characters

cannot be transmitted; . . . that there are no proofs of

such transmission, that its occurrence is theoretically improb-

able, and that we must attempt to explain the transformation

of species without its aid.”? Besides Virchow? and Eimer,‘

Haeckel has expressed himself strongly against Weismann.

My colleague, Professor Wilson, writes me (Munich, Decem-

ber 31, 1891) that, while Weismann’s modified theories as to

the phenomena in the productive cells are pretty generally

accepted, Hertwig, Hofer, Paully, Boveri, and others are pro-

nounced advocates of the acquired-character-transmission

theory.

In Paris, Brown-Séquard, who was among the first to test

this problem experimentally by observing the inheritance of

the effects of nerve-lesions; his assistant Dupuy, Giard, Duval,

‘Natural Inheritance, 1889, p. 14.

*Biologisches Centralblatt, 1888, pp. 65 and 97.

3Ueber den Transformi » Archiv. f. Anthropologie, 1889, p. 1.

‘Organic Evolution, upon the Law of Inheritance of Acquired Characters.

Tiibingen, 1888. Trans.

1892.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. ; 539

Blanchard, and others are on the affirmative, or Lamarckian

side. :

Physiologists generally have fought shy of the question,

although I think in the end they will be forced to take it up

with the morphologists, and give us the physio-morphological

theory of heredity of the future. Professor Michael Foster of

Cambridge, and Professor Burdon-Sanderson, of Oxford, both

write me that the question has hardly come into the physio-

logical stage of inquiry at all. Yet in England Weismann

has found his strongest supporters among some of the natur-

alists: Wallace, Lankester, Thiselton Dyer, Meldola, Poulton,

Howes, and others; while, excepting Windle, the anatomists,

including Mivart and Lawson Tait, with Sir William Turner as

the most prominent, are all Lamarckians. Huxley, Romanes,

and Flower are said to be doubtful. In this country the

opinion of naturalists is directly the outgrowth of the class

of studies in which each happens to be engaged. So far as I

know every vertebrate and invertebrate paleontologist is a

Lamarckian,! for in this field all evolution seems to follow the

lines of inherited use and disuse; most of those engaged upon

invertebrate zoology incline to follow Weismann. I have con-

versed upon this subject with many physicians, and find that

without exception the transmission of acquired characters is

an accepted fact among the profession.

Exact Statement of the Problem.—It is important at the

outset to state most clearly what is and what is not involved

in this discussion. Weismann’ does not claim that the repro-

ductive or germ-cells are uninfluenced by habit; on the other

hand, he admits that most important modifications in these

cells may and do result from changes of food, climate, from

healthy or unhealthy conditions of the body; also from

infectious disease, where it is quite as possible that the

microbes may enter the reproductive cells as any other cells

of the body; from alcoholism, where the normal molecular

action of the protoplasm of the germ-cells may be disturbed,

-1See the writings of Hyatt, Cope, Ryder, Dall, Scott, and others.

Essays upon Heredity and Kindred Biological Problems, 1889. Trans.

540 The American Naturalist. [Jaly,

resulting in abnormal development, and there are some very ©

interesting experiments which I shall cite on this point; from

some nervous disorders which profoundly modify cell-function

in all the tissues; in other words, ovum sanum in corpore sano.

But to accept all this, and even to include all our rapidly

increasing knowledge of the direct relation between such phe-

nomena as production of deformities and determination of

sex, and the influences of environment upon the ovum; or

the influences of the mother upon the foetus—this is all aside

from the real question at issue.

It may be stated thus: Given G, the ova and spermatozoa,

the germ-cells or material vehicles of hereditary characters;

S, the body of somatic cells of all the other tissues conveying

the hereditary characters of nerve, muscle, and bone; V, the

variations in these body-cells “acquired” during lifetime;

given these factors, the real question is: Do influences at work

producing variations in certain body-cells of the parent so

affect the germ-cells of the parent that they reappear in cor-

responding body-cells of the offspring? To take a concrete case,

will the increased use of the cells of the extensor indicis mus-

cle in the parent so stimulate that portion of the germ-cells

which represents this muscle that the increment of growth

will in any degree reappear in the offspring?

This is what is required of heredity upon the Lamarckian

hypothesis, and I think you will see at once that while this

hypothesis simplifies the problem of evolution it in a corres-

ponding degree renders more difficult the problem of heredity

—for we have not the first ray of knowledge of what such a

process involves. There is no quality more essential to the

scientific progress than common honesty; if we take a posi-

tion let us face all its consequences; the more we reflect

upon it, the more serious the Lamarckian position becomes.

In the present lecture let us first briefly review the progress

of the science of heredity which has led up to the present

discussion. Second, Let us examine the evidence for and

against the Lamarckian theory, and inquire how far natural

selection can explain all the facts of evolution. Third, Let us

examine the evidence for such a continuous relation between

1892.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 541

the body-cells and the germ-cells, as must exist if the Lamarck-

ian theory is the true one.

History of the Heredity Theory.—In a valuable summary

of the past theories of heredity’ J. A. Thomson distinguishes

three general problems, which are often confused. 1st. What

characters distinguish the germ-cells from other cells of the

body ? 2d. How do the germ-cells derive these distinguish-

ing characters? 3d. How shall we interpret “ particulate ”

inheritance, or the reappearance of single peculiarities in the

offspring ?

The various theories may be grouped under two heads,

“ Pangenesis of Germ-cells” and “Continuity of Germ-cells,”

according to the dominating idea in each.

1. Pangenesis—The idea prevading pangenesis was first

expressed by Democritus that the “seed” of animals was

derived by contributions of material particles from all parts of

the bodies of both sexes, and that like parts produced like.

Two thousand years later, Buffon revived this conception of

heredity in his “molecules organiques.” In 1864 Herbert

Spencer suggested the existence of “physiological units,” derived

from the body-cells of the parent, forming the germ+cells and

‘then developing into the body-cells of the offspring.

It is interesting to note the course of Darwin’s thought upon

this matter in his published works and in his “Life and

Letters.” He was at first strongly opposed to the views upon

evolution advanced by Buffon, by Erasmus Darwin, his

grandfather, expanded by Lamarck, and now known as

Lamarckian. But gradually biddining convinced that his

own theory of natural selection could not account for all the

facts of evolution, he unconsciously became a strong advocate

of Lamarck’s theory, and contributed to it a feature which

Lamarck had entirely omitted, namely, a theory of heredity

expressly designed to explain the transmission of wiquired

characters. Darwin’s? “ provisional hypothesis of pangenesis ”

postulated a material connection between the body-cells and

1See Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., 1888, p

- See Animals and Plants under aiaiai, 1875, vol. ii., p. 349. -

542 The American Naturalist. [July,

the germ-cells by the circulation of minute buds from each

cell; each body-cell throws off a “ gemmule” containing its

characteristics; these gemmules multiply and become espec-

ially concentrated in the germ-cells; in the latter they unite

with others like themselves; in course of development they

grow into cells like those from which they were originally

given off. (See Diagram II.)

Galton} who has always been doubtful in regard to use-

inheritance, while advancing a theory of “ continuity,” partly

approved Darwin’s pangenesis idea in the cautious statement :

“ Each cell may throw off a few germs that find their way

into the circulation and thereby have a chance of entering

the germ-cells.” At the same time Galton contributed very

important experimental disproof of the existence of “gemmules,”

and, in fact, of the popular idea, of the circulation of heredi-

tary characters in the blood, by a series of careful experiments

upon the transfusion of blood in rabbits; he found that the

blood did not convey with it even the slightest tendency to

transfer normal characteristics from one variety to another.

Professor Brooks? of the Johns Hopkins University, then

contributed an original modification of pangenesis in which

the functions of the ova and spermatozoa were sharply differ-

entiated. (1) He regarded the ovum as a cell especially

designed as a storehouse of hereditary characteristics, each

characteristic being represented by material particles of some

kind; thus hereditary characters were handed down by sim-

ple cell division, each fertilized ovum giving rise to the body-

cells in which its hereditary characters were manifested and

to new ova in which these characters were conserved for the

next generation (this portion of Brooks’s theory is very sim-

ilar to Galton’s and Weismann’s). 2. The body-cells have the

power of throwing off “gemmules,” but this is exercised

mainly or exclusively when its normal functions are disturbed,

as in metatrophic exercise or under change of environment.

3. These gemmules may enter the ovum, but the spermato-

zoan is their main center. According to this view the female

1Contemporary Review, vol. xxvii., p. 80-95.

2The Law of Heredity, 1883.

1892.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 543

First Second Third

generation. generation. generation,

ne

Uneoeser--—a

Vise eeressseustoe®s

f. o., fertilized ovum or embryo, containing materna) ar nd paternal characteris S, soma, Baires aer body,

containing #, $, mt, d, v, somatic ya of the various tissues ; and G, germ-cells af Pi

i HisroGEnesis.—Showi ing the successive rise G, and union f. 0. of the maternal and paternal come by

direct histogenesis.

Il. PANGENESIS.—Showing the tissues of the body S, ae to the germ-cells G, so that each f. o. is

con of elements from both eg somatic and germ-ce!

IIL. Conrinurry.—Showing th ivision of the embryo, J- 0., into somatoplasm, s (from which arise the

body-cells), and germ-plasm, G ( cells Js

544 The American Naturalist. [July,

cell is rather conservative and the male cell progressive; the

union of these cells produces variability in the offspring,

exhibited especially in the regions of the offspring correspond-

ing to the regions of functional disturbance in the parent.

This hypothesis was well considered, and while that feature

of it which distinguishes the male and female germ-cells as

different in kind has been disproved, and the whole concep-

tion of gemmules is now abandoned, the fact still remains that

we shall nevertheless be obliged to offer some hypothesis to

explain the facts disregarded by Weismann for which Brooks

provides in his theory of the causes of variation.

2. Continuity of Germ-cells—The central idea here is an

outgrowth of our more modern knowledge of embryogenesis

and histogenesis, and is, therefore, comparatively recent; it is

that of a fundamental distinction between the “ germ-cells,”

as continuous and belonging to the race, and the “ body-cells,”

as belonging to the individual. Weismann has refined and

elaborated this idea, but it was not original with him.

Richard Owen, in 1849, Haeckel, in 1866, Rauber; in

1879, in turn dwelt upon the distinction which Dr. Jaeger,

now of manufacturing fame, first clearly stated:

“Through a great series of generations the germinal proto-

plasm retains its specific properties, dividing in every repro-

duction into an ontogenetic portion, out of which the individ-

ual is built up, and a phylogenetic portion, which is reserved

to form the reproductive material of the mature offspring.

This reservation of the phylogenetic material I described as

the continuity of the germ protoplasm. . . . Encapsuled

in the ontogenetic material the phylogenetic protoplasm is

sheltered from external influences, and retains its specific and

embryonic characters.” The latter idea has, under Weismann,

been expanded into the theory of isolation of the germ-cells.

Galton introduced the term “stirp” to express the sum

total of hereditary organic units contained in the fertilized

ovum. His conception of heredity was derived from the

1See Parthenogenesis, in his Anatomy of Vertebrates.

Generelle Morphologie, vol. ii., p. 170.

3Zool. Anz., vol. ix., p. 166.

1892.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 545

study of man, and he supported the idea of continuity in the

germ-cells in order to account for the law of transmission

of “latent” characters; it is evident from this law that only

a part of the organic units of the “stirp ” become “ patent” in

the individual body; some are retained latent in the germ-

cells, and become patent only in the next or some succeeding

generation. For example, the genius for natural science was

“patent” in Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of the great natur-

alist, it was “latent” in his son, and reappeared intensified in

his grandson, Charles Darwin. I have elsewhere’ summed up

as follows Galton’s general results, which so remarkably

strengthen the “continuity” idea: We are made up, bit by

bit, of inherited structures, like a new building, composed of

fragments of an old one, one element from this progenitor,

another from that, although such elements are usually trans-

mitted in groups. The hereditary congenital constitution

thus made up is far stronger than the influences of environ-

ment and habit upon it. A large portion of our heritage is

unused, for we transmit peculiarities we ourselves do not

exhibit. The contributions from each ancestor can be

estimated in numerical proportions, which have been exactly

determined, from statistics of stature in the English race;

thus the contributions from the “patent” stature of the two

parents together constitute one-half; while the contributions

by “latent” heritage from the grandparents constitute one-

sixteenth, ete. One of the most important demonstrations by

Galton, is the law of regression ; this is the factor of stability in

race type which acts as gravitation does upon the pendulum;

if an individual or a family swing far from the average char-

acteristics of their race, and display exceptional physical or

mental qualities, the principle of regression in heredity tends

to draw their offspring back to the average.

Now how shall we distinguish regression from reversion?

Very clearly, I think; regression is the short pull which tends

to draw every variation and the individual as a whole back

to the contemporary typical form, while reversion is the long

pull which draws the typical form of one generation back to

Atlantic Monthly, March, 1891, p. 359..

546 The American Naturalist. [July,.

the typical form of a very much earlier generation. These

forces are evidently akin, and in the shades of transition from

one type to another we would undoubtly find a constant dimi-

nution numerically in the recurrence of characters of the older

type, and thus “regression” would pass insensibly into

“ reversion.”

Weismann has carried the idea of continuity to its extreme

in his simple and beautiful theory of heredity, which is

founded upon the postulate that there is a distinct form of

protoplasm, with definite chemical and molecular properties,

set apart as the vehicle of inheritance ; this is the germ-plasm,

G, quite separate from the protoplasm of the body-cells or

somatoplasm, S. Congenital characters arising in the germ-

cells are called blastogenetic, while acquired characters arising

in the body-cells are somatogenetic.

To clearly understand this view, let us follow the history of

the fertilized ovum in the formation of the embryo. . It first

divides into somatoplasm and germ-plasm (see Diagram III),

the former supplies all the tissues of the body—n, s, m, d, v,

nervous, muscular, vascular, digestive, etc—with their quota

of hereditary structure; the residual germ-plasm is kept dis-

tinct throughout the early process of embryonic cell division

until it enters into the formation of the nuclei of the repro-

ductive cells, the ova or spermatozoa. Here it is isolated

from changes of function in the somatoplasm, and in common

with all other protoplasm is capable of unlimited growth by

cell division without loss or deterioration of its past store of

hereditary properties ; these properties are lodged in the nucleus

of each ovum and spermatozoan, and these two cells, although

widely different in external accessory structure (because they

have to play an active and passive part in the act of conjuga-

tion), are exactly the same in their essential molecular struc-

ture, and the ancestral characters they convey differ only

because they come along two different lines of descent. When

these cells unite they carry the germ-plasm into the body of

another individual. Thus the somatoplasm of each individual

dies, while the germ-plasm is immortal; it simply shifts its

abode from one generation to another; it constitutes the

1882.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 547

chain from which the individuals are mere offshoots. Thus

the germ-plasm of man is continuous with that of all ancestors,

in his line of descent, and we have an explanation of the

early stages observed in development in which the human

embryo passes through a succession of metamorphoses resem-

bling the adult forms of lower types.

In order to emphasize, as it were, the passage of the germ-

plasm from one generation to another without deterioration in

its marvellous hereditary powers, Weismann added the idea

of its isolation. Not only does he repudiate the pangenesis

notion of increment of germ-plasm by addition of gemmules,

but he believes that it is unaffected by any of the normal

changes in the somatic or body-cells. As this continuity and

isolation would render impossible the transmission of charac-

ters acquired by the somatoplasm, Weismann began to examine

the evidence for such transmission, and coming to the conclu-

sion that it was insufficient, in his notable essay on “Heredity,”

in 1883, he boldly attacked the whole Lamarckian theory and

has continued to do so in all his subsequent essays.

Being forced to explain evolution without this factor, he

claimed that variation in the germ-plasm was constantly

arising by the union of plasmata from different lines of

descent in fertilization, and that these variations are constantly

being acted upon by Natural Selection to produce new types.

He thus revived Darwin’s earlier views of evolution, and this

in part explains his strong support by English naturalists.

It will be seen at once that there are a number of distinct

questions involved.

The matter of first importance in life is the repetition and

preservation of type, the principle which insures the unerring

accuracy and precision with which complex organs are built

up from the germ-cells; the force of regression and the more

remote forces of reversion all work in this conservative direc-

tion; the theory of the preservation of these forces in a speci-

fic and continous form of protoplasm is by far the most plausi-

ble we can offer at present. The matter of second importance,

but equally vital to the preservation of races, in the long run,

is the formation of new types adapted to new circumstances of

548 The American Naturalist. [July,

life. I shall now attempt to show that the facts of evolution,

while not inconsistent with the idea of continuity of the germ-

plasm, are wholly at variance with the idea of its independ-

ence, separation, or isolation from the functions of the body.

This can be done by proving, first, that the theory of evolution

solely by natural selection of chance favorable variations in

the germ-plasm is inadequate ; second, that the inheritance of

definite changes in the somatic cells is also necessary to evolu-

tion, and therefore there must exist some form of force or

matter which connects the activities of the somatoplasm with

those of the germ-plasm.

In the following table are placed some of the facts of human

evolution which we have observed in the first lecture, and as

they are part of inheritance, they also constitute the main

external phenomena of heredity :

Phenomena of Heredity.

Conserv Neutral. Progressive

(toward past type). (toward future type).

a. Repetition of paren- Fortuitous a. Definite Variation

tal type. in single characters,

and by accumulation=.

b. Regression (in b. Definite Variation

many characters) to Indefinite in many characters

contemporary race (from contemporary

type race type).

. Reversion(mainly Variations.

in single characters)

to past race type.

D

What are the causes of these various phenomena ?

Factors of Evolution.—The term “ kinetogenesis ” has been

applied to the modern form of the Lamarckian theory, for it

is an application of kinetic or mechanical principles to the

origin of all structures such as teeth, bone, and muscle. It

would be fatal to this theory, if it could be shown that the

1892.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 549

changes taking place in course of a normal individual life,

under the laws of use and disuse, are inadaptive, or do not

correspond to those observed in the evolution of the race.

The Relative Growth of Organs.—Ball,' in his long argument

against Lamarckianism, claims that such is the case, and that

use-inheritance would be an actual evil: “ Bones would often

be modified disastrously.. Thus the condyle of the human

jaw would become larger than the body of the jaw, because as

the fulcrum of the lever it receives more pressure. Some

organs (like the heart, which is always at work) would

become inconveniently or unnecessarily large. Other abso-

lutely indispensible organs which are comparatively passive

or are very seldom used would dwindle until their weakness

caused the ruin of the individual or the extinction of the

species.” He later cites from Darwin? the “Report of the

United States Commission upon the Soldiers and Sailors of

the Late War,” that the longer legs and shorter arms of the

sailors are the reverse of what should result from the decreased

use of the legs in walking and increased use of the arms in

pulling. A little reflection on Mr. Ball’s part would have

spared us this crude exception, for whatever difficulties may

arise from theoretical speculation as to the laws of growth, or

from statistics, the fact remains that activity must increase

adaptation in every part of the organism; otherwise the run-

ner and the trotting horse should be kept off the track to

increase their speed, the pianist should employ as little

finger-exercise as possible. If the growth tendencies in single

organs are transmitted, it is evident that the adaptive adjust-

ments between these tendencies will also be transmitted.

The Feet—In point of mechanical adaptation, man, with

the single exception of his thumb and forearm, has not pro-

gressed beyond the most primitive eocene quadruped. The

laws of evolution of the foot in the ungulate or hoofed animals,

which have been especially studied by Kowalevsky, Ryder,

Cope, and myself, afford a conclusive demonstration that the

skeletal changes in the individual coincide with those which

lOp: cit., p. 129.

-Descent of Man, p. 32.

‘

550 The American Naturalist. [July,

will mark the evolution of the race. In the earliest ungulates

the carpals and tarsals are disposed, as in man, directly above

each other, with serial joints, as in A; in the course of

evolution all these joints became interlocking, as in B, thus

producing an alternation of joints and surfaces similar to

those which give strength to masonry. In studying these

facts Cope’ reached a certain theory as to the motion of the

foot and leg in locomotion. In trying to apply this, I found

it could not be harmonized with all the facts, and I worked

out an entirely different theory.” This I found subsequently

coincided exactly with the results previously obtained by

Muybridge, by the aid of instantaneous photographs, and

summarized by Professor Harrison Allen, of the University of

Pennsylvania.’

Radius Ulna Radius

Index Med? Ann?

peg “ide of te

1 by SI Q! e cle

middle toe, IIT. "ena of toes would pier Rang oF E All Joints “broken aA

use separation of the carpals. radius, the bones receiving greatest impact

in in walking. Lateral toes, V., degen-

The monodactylism of the horse was attained by the

atrophy of the lateral toes, and concentration of the major

axis of body-weight and strain upon the middle finger and

toe. Man is also tending toward monodactylism in the foot

1AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1887, p. 986.

*See Trans. of American Philosophical Society, p. 561. Philadelphia, 1889.

The Muybridge Work at the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, 1888.

1892,] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 551

by the establishment of the major axis through the large toe

and atrophy of the outer toes. The present atrophy of our

small toe is as good a parallel as we can find of the changes

which were occurring in the eocene period among the ances-

tors of the horse.

The Teeth—But how about the teeth, in which there is an

absolute loss of tissue in consequence of use? This is another

objection raised by Ball, Poulton, and others which disappears

upon examination.

The dental tissues, while the hardest in the body, and,

unlike bone, incapable of self-repair, are not only both living

and sensitive, but, to a very limited degree, plastic and capa-

R.—frd, protoconid (anterior buccal

ial cusp): hyd, hypoconid (posterior

t i Fig. 1.—

ig. ing of ancestral cusps

Fig. 6.—Eocene carnivore = Eocene lar crown s, ved

high crown mz. Fig. 7.—

lingual cusp, fad, disappears.

ble of change of form. Ex hypothesi, it is not the growth, but

the reaction tendency which produces the growth, which is

transmitted. The evolution of the teeth, therefore, falls into

the same category as bone.’ In the accompanying figures I

‘See especially the papers of Ryder, Cope, and the writer, “ Evolution of Mammal-

ian Molars to and from the Tritubercular Type,” American Naturalist,

; 552 The American Naturalist. [July,

have epitomized the slow transformation of the single-fanged

conical reptilian tooth, such as we see in the serpents, into the

low-crowned human grinder. We now know all the transi-

tion forms, so that we can homologize each of the cusps of the

human molar with its varied ancestral forms in the line of

descent. For example, the anterior lingual or inner cusp of

the upper true molars traces its pedigree back to the reptilian

cone. The anterior triangle of cusps, or trigon, seen in the

mosozoic mammalia, and persisting in the first inferior true

molar of the modern dog, is still seen in the main portion of

the crown of the human upper molars (pr, pa, me). To this

was added, ages ago, the posterior lingual cusp, or hypocone,

which, as Cope has shown, is exhibited in various degrees of

development in different races and is an important race

rigon-

Lower molar. Bi paeen r and lower molars opposed. Upper molar.

Kev To Pian A UPPER AN MOLARS IN ALL MAMMALS.—Each tooth oe of a

triangle, ¢rigon, with the protocone, fr, at the met, The apex is on the inner side of the upper

molars and on the outer ike of the lower molars

index. A glance through the diagrams shows that the

development of the crown has been by the successive addition

of new cusps. Without entering upon the details of evidence

which would be out of place here, I may say briefly that the

new main cusps have developed at the points of maximum

1The upper molars in many Esquimaux are triangular (as in ten 11); in most

negroes they are square (Fig. 12). In our race they are intermediat

1892.] - The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 553

wear (i. e., use), and conversely in the degeneration of the

crown, disuse foreshadows atrophy and disappearance.

Upon the whole, with some exceptions which we do not at

present understand, the course of evolution of the teeth

supports the evidence derived from the skeleton, that, whether

any true causal relation has existed or not, the lines of indi-

vidual transformation in the whole fossil series preceded those

of race transformation.

pe ae

seus inte: or THE Human Upper Morars.—Fig. uf enim 11r É a lower eocene mon-

key. Fig. 10,—4 An upper eocene monkey ey. Fig. 12 = 12.--= Esquimaux ; 12, negro.

See addition of “ talon,” Ay, to ‘* trigon ” composed of

The Rise of New Organs—We owe to Dr. Arbuthnot Lane a

most interesting series of studies upon the influences of various

occupations upon the human body. He proves conclusively

that individual adaptation not only produces profound modifi-

cations in the proportions of the various parts, but gives rise

to entirely new structures.

His anatomy and physiology of a shoemaker’ shows that

the lifelong habits of this laborious trade produce a distinct

type, which if examined by any zoological standard would be

unhesitatingly pronounced a new species—homo sartorius.

The psychological analysis which a Dickens or Balzac would

draw, showing the influences of the struggle for existence

upon the spirit of this little tailor could not be more pathetic

than Dr. Lane’s analysis of his body. The bent form, the

crossed legs, thumb and forefinger action, and peculiar jerk of

the head while drawing the thread, are the main features of

sartorial habit. The following are only a few of the results:

The muscles tended to recede into tendons and the bony sur-

faces into which they were inserted tended to grow in the

1Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 1888, p. 595.

39

554 The American Naturalist. [July,

direction of the traction which the muscle exerted upon them.

The articulation between the sternum and the clavicle was

converted into a very complex arthrodial joint, constituting

almost a ginglymoid articulation. The sixth pair of ribs

were anchylosed to the bodies of the vertebre, indicating that

they had ceased to rise and fall with sternal breathing, and

that respiration was almost exclusively diaphragmatic. The.

region of the head and first two vertebree of the neck was still

more striking: the transverse process of the right side of the

atlas, toward which the head was bent, formed a new articu-

lation with the under-surface of the jugular process of the

occipital bone, “a small synovial cavity surrounded this

acquired articulation, but there was no appearance of a capsu-

lar ligament ;” the left half of the axis was united by bone to

the corresponding portion of the third cervical; there was

found a new upward prolongation of the odontoid peg of the

axis, and a new accessory transverse ligament to keep it from

pressing upon the cord. In short, “the anatomy of the shoe-

maker represents the fixation and subsequent exaggeration of

the position and tendencies to change which were present in

his body when he assumed the position for a short period of

time.

Rate of Inheritance.—This illustration serves also to empha-

size the great contrast between the rapidity of individual

transformation and the slowness of race transformation. No

one would expect the son of this shoemaker to exhibit any of

these acquired malformations. Yet Dr. Lane thinks he has

observed such effects in the third generation by the summa-

tion of similar influences.

All paleontological evidence goes to show that the effects of

normal habits, if transmitted at all, would be entirely imper-

ceptible in one generation. The horse, for example, has not

yet completely lost the lateral toes which became useless at

the end of the upper eocene period. This objection as to rate

of evolution may be urged with equal force against the

natural-selection theory. It is obvious that the active pro-

gressive principle in evolution, whatever it is, must contend

with the enormous conservative power of inheritance, and

1892.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 555

this, to my mind, is one of the strongest arguments against

the possibilities of the rise of adaptive organs by the selection

of chance favorable variations in the germ-plasm.

Application to Human Evolution.—Principles underlying

these illustrations may now be applied to some of the facts in

human evolution brought out in the first lecture. They show

that if functional tendencies are transmitted we can compre-

hend the distinct evolution history of each organ; the rise

and fall of two organs side by side; the definite and purposive

character of some anomalies; the increase of variability in the

regions of most rapid evolution; the correlation of develop-

ment, balance and degeneration in the separate organs of the

shoulder, hand and foot.

Yet even granting this theory, there still remain difficulties.

The relation of use and disuse to some of the contemporary

changes in the human backbone is rather obscure. I would

hesitate to pronounce an opinion as to whether our present

habits of life are tending to shorten the lumbars, increase the

spinal curvatures, and shift the pelvis, without making an

exhaustive study of human motion. Among the influences

which Dr. Lane has suggested’ as operative here are the wear-

ing of heeled shoes and the increase of the cranium. He

considers the additional or 6th lumbar vertebra as a new

element rather than as a reversion, and works out in some

detail the mechanical effects of the presence of the foetus upon

female respiration (i.e, in the sternal region) and upon the

pelvis. Now, if it be true that the female pelvis is relatively

larger in the higher races than in the lower, I do not think that

Dr. Lane can sustain his point, because in the lower races the

foetus is carried for an equally long period, during a much more

active life, and in a more continuously erect position. There-

fore, if these mechanical principles were operating, the pelvis

in the modern lower races should be larger than in the

higher. On the other hand, the form of the female pelvis in

the higher races is one of the best established selecting or

eliminating factors, a large pelvis favoring frequent births

- Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 1888, p. 219.

556 The American Naturalist. [July,

and the preservation of those family stirps in which it occurs.

I mention this to show how cautious we must be in jumping

to conclusions as to kinetogenesis.

The transformism in all the external features of the skull,

jaws, and teeth may be attributed to inherited tendencies

toward hypertrophy or atrophy; but how about the convolu-

tions of the turbinal bones or the complex development of the

semicircular canals and cochlea of the internal ear and the

many centers of evolution which are beyond the influences of

use and disuse? These are examples of structures which

fortify Weismann’s contention, for if complex organs of this

character can only be accounted for by natural selection, why

consider selection inadequate to account for all the changes in

the body?

Difficulties in the Natural-Selection Theory.—The answer,

I think, is readily given: We do not know whether use and

disuse are operating upon the mechanical construction of the

ear; we do know that the organ can be rendered far more

acute by exercise; but even if it were true that habit can

exert no formative influence, the ear is one of those structures

which since its first origin has been an important factor in

survival, and may therefore have been evolved by natural

selection. Now the very fact that selection may have to care

for variations in such prime factors in survival as the ear,

renders it the more difficult to conceive that it also is nursing

the minutie of variation in remote, obscure,.and uncorrelated

organs.

Even in the brief review of human evolution in the first

lecture I have pointed out eight independent regions of

evolution, upward of twenty developing organs, upward of

thirty degenerating organs. A more exhaustive analysis

would increase this list tenfold. Now, where chance variation.

should produce an increase in size in all the developing

organs, and a decrease in size of all the degenerating organs,

and an average size in all the static organs, we would have

all the conditions favoring survival. But the chances are

infinity to one against such a combination occurring unless

the tendencies of variation are regulated and determined, as

1892.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 557

Lamarckians suppose, by the inheritance of individual ten-

dencies. But may not the favorable variations in the body be

grouped to either outweigh or underweigh the unfavorable

variations? This would be possible if combinations occurred,

but we can readily see that combinations, such as we observe

in the separate elements in the foot alone, completely neutral-

ize each other so far as “survival ” is concerned; how the foot

would neutralize the hand, or the foot and hand would neu-

tralize the lumbar region.’

It is this consideration of single organs, the observation of

their independent history, the rise of new compound organs,

by steady growth from infinitesimal beginnings of their separ-

ate elements, the combined testimony of anatomy and palæon-

tology which force us to regard the theory of evolution by the

natural selection of chance variations as wholly untenable.

With the utmost desire to regard the discussion in as fair a

spirit as possible, the explanations offered by the adherents of

Weismann’s doctrine strike me as strained, evasive, and

illogical.’

We can, however, by no means undervalue or dispense with

natural selection, which must be in continuous operation upon

every character of sufficient importance to weigh in the scale

of survival. I need hardly remind you that this selecting

principle was first discovered in 1813 by Dr. W. C. Wells, of

Charleston, in connection with the immunity from certain

tropical diseases enjoyed by negroes and mulattoes.’

The eliminating factor in selection is illustrated almost

daily in cases of appendicitis. I regret I have not had time

to ascertain whether or not this disease is considered due purely

to accident or to congenital variation in the aperture of the

appendix, which favors the admission of hard objects. If so,

modern surgery is only benefiting the individual to the

detriment of the race by its efficient preventive operations ;

a have expanded this idea fully in recent papers upon the theory of evolution

the horse. See “ Are Acquired Variations Inherited?” AMERICAN NATURALIST,

February, 1891.

See Weismann’s last essay, Retrogressive Development in Nature, Biol. Mem.,

trans., in press.

3See Introduction of Darwin’s Origin of Species.

558 The American Naturalist. [July,

and every individual who succumbs to this disease can reflect

with melancholy satisfation that he does so pro bono publico.

Conclusions as to the Factors of Evolution —The conclusions

we reach from the study of the muscular and skeletal systems

are therefore as follows: 1st. That individual transformism in

the body is the main determinant of variations in the germ-

cells, and is therefore the main cause of definite progressive or

retrogressive variations in single organs. 2d. That evolution

in these organs is hastened, where all members of the race are

subject to the same individual transformism. The contrast

between the rate of individual transformism and race trans-

formism is due to the strong conservative forces of the germ-

plasma. 3d. That evolution is most rapid where variations

are of sufficient rank to become factors in survival. Then

selection and use-inheritance unite forces, as active progressive

principles opposing the conservative principle in the germ-

plasma. 4th. That fortuitous and chance variations also

arise from disturbances in the body or germ-cells; they may

be perpetuated, or disappear in succeeding generations.

Applying these views to variation there should, theoretically,

appear to be just those two distinct classes of anomalies in the

human body which we have seen actually occurring. First,

those in the path of evolution, arising from perfectly normal

changes in the somatoplasm and germ-plasm. Second, those

wholly unconnected with the course of evolution, arising

fortuitously or from abnormal changes in the somatoplasm or

erm-plasm ; to this head may be attributed the whole scale

of deformities. Thus transformism and de-formism should be

kept distinct in our minds. Nevertheless the facts of de-form-

ism contribute the strongest body of evidence which we can

muster at present to prove that there does exist a relation

between the somatoplasm and germ-plasm which renders

transformism possible.

*

The Relations between the Somatoplasm and Germ-

plasm.—We have seen reasons to take a middle ground as to

the distinct specific nature of the body cells and germ cells,

and this position is, I think, strengthened the more broadly

1892,] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 559

we extend our inquiry into all the pan of protoplasmic

activity.

There are three questions before us.

1. What is the evidence that the germ-plasm and somato-

plasm are distinct?

2. What is the specific nature of the germ-plasm ?

3.What is the nature of the relations which exist between

the two?

1. The separation of the germ-plasm is in the regular order of

evolution upon the principles of physiological division of

labor. The unicellular organisms combine all the functions

of life in a single mass of protoplasm, that is, in one cell. In

the rise of the multicellular organisms the various functions

are distributed into groups of cells, which specialize in the

perfecting of a single function. Thus the reproductive cells

fall into the natural order of histogenesis, and the theory of

their entire separation is more consistent with the laws gov-

erning the other tissues than the theory which we find

ourselves obliged to adopt, that while separate they are still

united by some unknown threads with the other cells.

The morphological separation of what we may call the

race-protoplasm becomes more and more sharply defined in

the ascending scale of organisms. Weismann’s contention as

to the absolutely distinct specific nature of the germ-plasm

and somatoplasm has, however, to meet the apparently

insuperable difficulty that in many multicellular organisms,

even of a high order, the potential capacity of repeating

complex hereditary characters, and even of producing perfect

germ-cells, is widely distributed through the tissues.

For example, cuttings from the leaves of the well-known

hot-house plant, the begonia, or portions of the stems of the

common willow-trees, are capable of reproducing complete

new individuals. This would indicate either that portions of

the germ-plasm are distributed through the tissues of these

organisms, or that each body-cell has retained its potential

quota of hereditary characters.

Among the lower animals we find the same power; if we

cut a hydra or bell-animalcule into a dozen pieces each may

560 The American Naturalist. [July,

reproduce a perfect new individual. As we ascend in the ani-

mal scale the power is confined to the reproduction of a lost

part in the process known as recrescence. As you well know,

in the group to which the frog and salamander belong, a limb

or tail, or even a lower jaw may be reproduced. The only

logical interpretation of these phenomena is that the heredi-

tary powers are distributed in the entire protoplasm of the

organism, and the capacity of reproduction is not exhausted in

the original formation of the limb, but is capable of being

repeated. There has been considerable discussion of late as to

the seat of this power of recrescence. It seems to me not impos-

sible that in the vertebrates it may be stored in the germ-cells,

-and it would be very interesting to ascertain experimentally

whether remoyal of these cells would in any way limit or affect

this power; we know that such removal in castration or ovari-

` otomy sometimes profoundly modifies the entire nature of the

organism, causing male characters to appear in the female,

and female characters to develop in the male.

So far as man is concerned it has been claimed by surgeons

that genuine recrescence sometimes occurs; for example, that

a new head is formed upon the femur after exsection; but my

friend Dr. V. P. Gibney informs me that this is an exaggera-

tion, that there is no tendency to reproduce a true head, but

that a-pseudo-head is formed which may be explained upon

the principle of regeneration and individual transformism by

use of the limb. |

Pfliiger’s opinion is that recrescence does not indicate a

storage of hereditary power, that there is no pre-existing germ

of the member, but that the re-growth is due to the organizing

and distributing power of the cells at the exposed surface, so

that as new formative matter arrives it is built up gradually

into the limb. This view would reduce recrescence to the

level of the regeneration process, which unites two cut sections

of the elements of a limb in their former order. It is partly

opposed to the facts above referred to, which seem to prove the

distribution of the hereditary power. Yet it seems to me quite

consistent to consider these three processes—a, reproduction of

a new individual from every part; b, reerescence of a new

1892,] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 561

member from any part; c, regeneration of lost tissues—as

three steps indicating the gradual but not entire withdrawal

of the reproductive power into the germ-cells.

I have not space to consider all the grounds which support

the view of the separation of the germ-cells in man. Some of

the more prominent are the very early differentiation of these

cells in the embryo, observed with a few exceptions in all the

lower orders of animals, and advancing so rapidly in the

human female that several months before birth the number of

primordal ova is estimated at seventy thousand, and is not

believed to be increased after the age of two and a half years.

The most patent practical proof is that we may remove every

portion of the body which is not essential to life and yet the

power of complete reproduction of a new individual from the

germ-cells is unimpaired. Among the many reasons advanced

for pensioning the crippled soldiers of our late war you never

hear it urged that their children are incapacitated by inherit-

ance of injuries. The strongest proof, however, rests in the

evidence I have already cited from heredity of the extraordi-

nary stability of the germ-cells, which is the safeguard of the

race.

2. The specific nature of the germ-plasm must be considered

before we consider its relations. Wherein lies the conserva-

tive power of the germ-plasm, and in what direction shall we

look for its transforming forces? You see at once that mar-

vellous as is the growth of cells in other tissues, the growth of

the germ-cell is still more so.

We find it utterly impossible to form any conception of the

contents of the microcosmic nucleus of the human fertilized

ovum, which is less than x of an inch in diameter, but which

is, nevertheless, capable of producing hundreds of thousands

of cells like itself, as well as all the unlike cells of the adult

organism. We can only translate our ideas as to the possible

contents of this nucleus in the terms of chemistry and

physics.’ .

Spencer’ assumed an order of molecules or units of proto-

'See Ray Lankester, Nature, July 15, 1876.

- *Principles of Biology, vol. i, p. 256.

562 The American Naturalist. [July,

plasm lower in degree than the visible cell-units, to the inter-

nal or polar forces of which and their modification by exter-

nal agencies and interaction, he ascribes the ultimate responsi-

bility in reproduction, heredity and adaptation. This idea of

biological units seems to me an essential part of any theory ;

it is embodied in Darwin’s “gemmules,” in Haeckel’s “ plas-

tidules,” yet, as Lankester says, the rapid accumulation of bulk

is a theoretical difficulty in the material conception of units.

In the direction of establishing some analogy between the rep-

etition power of heredity and known function of protoplasm,

Haeckel' and Hering” have likened heredity to memory, and

advanced the hypothesis of persistence of certain undulatory

movements; the undulations being susceptible of change and

therefore of producing variability, while their tendency to per-

sist in their established harmony is the basis of heredity.

Berthold, Gautier and Geddes? have speculated in the elabora-

tion of the idea of metabolism; the former holding the view

that “inheritance is possible only upon the basis of the funda-

mental fact that in the chemical processes of the organism the |

same substances and mixtures of substances are reproduced in

quantity and quality with regular periodicity.”

I have merely touched upon these speculations to show that

the unknown factors in heredity are also the unknown factors

in operation in living matter. All we can study is the exter-

nal form and conjecture that this form represents matter

arranged in a certain way by forces peculiar to the organism.

These forces are exhibited or patent in the somatic cells; they

are potential or latent in the germ-cells.

The last stage of our inquiry is as to the mode in which the

action of habit or environment upon the somatic cells can be

brought to bear upon the germ-cells.

1Perigenesis der Plastidule oder die Wellenzeugung der Lebenstheilchen. Jena,

1875.

"Ueber d. Gedichtniss als eine allgemeine Function d. organischen Materie.

Vienna, 1870.

3See also Thomson, op. cit., p. 102.

‘Berthold : Studien über Protoplasma-Mechanik. Leipzig, 1886.

PO Re II TOR? See

ape N

EMP eal reese TE

See eS ee ey

ne a na a da eae re a EE eer See

1892.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 563

The Nature of the Relation Between the Body-cells

and Germ-cells.—I have already shown that we are forced to

infer that such a relation exists by the facts of evolution,

although these facts show that the transmission of normal ten-

dencies from the body to the germ-cells is ordinarily an

extremely slow process.

Virchow' says every variation in race character is to be

traced back to the pathological condition of the originator.

All that is pathological is not diseased, and inheritance of a

variation is not from the influence upon one individual neces-

sarily, but upon a row of individuals. This isin the normal

condition of things. In the abnormal condition the rate of

transmission may be accelerated.

Does this transmission depend upon an interchange of mate-

rial particles or upon an interchange of forces, or both?

There are three phenomena about which there is much scep-

ticism, to say the least, which bear upon the question of a pos-

sible interchange of forces between the body and germ-cells.

These are the inheritance of mutilations, the influence of pre-

vious fertilization, and the influence of maternal impressions.

They are all in the quasi-scientific realm, which embraces

such mental phenomena as telepathy. That is, we incline to

deny them simply because we cannot explain them.

Mutilations—Since the publication of Weismann’s essays

the subject of inherited mutilations has attracted renewed

interest. I would first call attention to the fact that this mat-

ter has only an indirect bearing, for a mutilation is something

impressed upon the organism from without; it is not truly

“ acquired ;” the loss of a part by accident produces a sudden

but a less profound internal modification of the organism than

the loss of a part by degeneration. Most of the results are

negative; many of the so-called “certain” cases prove upon

investigation to be mere coincidences. Weismann? himself

experimented upon white mice, and showed that nine hun-

dred and one young were produced by five generations of arti-

1Ueber den Transformismus, Archiv f. Anthropologie, 1888, p. 1.

*Biological Memoirs, p. 432.

564 The American Naturalist. [July,

ficially mutilated parents, and yet there was not a single

example of a rudimentary tail or of any other abnormality in

this organ. The cases of cleft ear lobule have recently been

summed up.’ Israel reports two cases of clefts in which the

parent’s ears were normal. Schmidt and Ornstein report

affirmative cases. His shows that an affirmative case, cited by

V. Zwieciki, is merely an inherited peculiarity. The entire

evidence is unsatisfactory, and upon the whole is decidedly

negative.

Not so, however, in cases, where the mutilation results in a

general disturbance of the normal functions of different

organs, as in the experiments conducted by Brown-Séquard?

upon guinea-pigs, in which we see “acquired variation ” inten-

sified. In these, abnormal degeneration of the toes, muscular

atrophy of the thigh, epilepsy, exophthalmia, etc., appeared in

the descendants of animals in which the spinal cord or sciatic.

nerve had been severed, or portions of the brain removed. It

was also shown that the female is more apt to transmit morbid

states than the male; that the inheritance of these injuries

may pass over one generation and reappear in the second;

that the transmission by heredity of these pathological results

may continue for five or six generations, when the normal

structure of the organs reappears. These cases, which are

incontestable, at first sight appear to establish firmly the trans-

mission of acquired characters; they were so regarded by

Brown-Séquard. These lesions act directly upon the organs,

and the abnormal growth in these organs appears to be trans-

mitted. But can they not be interpreted in another way,

namely, that the pathological condition of the nerve-centers

has induced a direct disturbance in those portions of the germ-

cells which represent and will develop into the corresponding

organs of the future offspring?

Previous Fertilization —Consider next the influence exerted

upon the female germ-cell by the mere proximity of the male

1 Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 1891, p. 433.

*Comptes-Rendus, March 18, 1882. These experiments have been confirmed by

Obersteiner.

1892.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. . 565

germ-cell, as exhibited in the transmission of the characteris-

tics of one sire to the offspring of a succeeding sire observed

in animals, including the human species, also in plants. The

best example is the oft-quoted case of Lord Morton’s mare,

which reproduced in the foal of a pure Arab sire the zebra

markings of a previous quagga sire.

Some physiologists' have attempted to account for these

remarkable indirect results from the previous fertilization or

impregnation, by the imagination of the mother having been

strongly affected or from interchange between the freely inter-

communicating circulation of the embryo and mother, but the

analogy from the action in plants (in which there is no gesta-

tion but early detachment and development of the fertilized

cells) strongly supports the belief that the proximity of male

germ-cells acts directly upon the female cells in the ovary.

All that we can deduce from these facts is that in some man-

ner the normal characteristics and tendencies of the ova are

modified by the foreign male ET without either contact

or fertilization.

Maternal Impression.—The influence of maternal impressions

in the causation of definite anomalies in the fœtus is largely

a matter of individual opinion.

It is denied by some high authorities, led by Bergman and

Leuckart? Most practitioners, however, believe in it, and I

need hardly add that it is a universal popular belief? sup-

ported by numerous cases. I myself am a firm believer in it,

from evidence which I am not free to publish. The bearing

which the subject has upon this discussion is this: if a devia-

tion in the development of a child is produced by maternal

impression we have a proof that a deviation from normal

hereditary tendencies can be produced without either direct

vascular or nervous continuity.

e see an analogy between the experiments of Brown-

Séquard, the influence of the previous sire, and the maternal

1See the cases cited by Ribot and Darwin: Animals and Plants under Domestica-

tion, vol. i, p. 437.

2Handworterbuch der Physiologie, Wagner, Artikel “ Zeugung,” Leuckart.

3See Medical Record, October 31, 1891, an article by Joseph Drzewiecki, M. D.

566 The American Naturalist. [July,

influence. Neither, in my opinion, directly supports the theory —

of transmission of acquired characters, for they do not prove

that normal changes in the body-cells directly react upon the

germ-cells; they all show that the typical hereditary develop-

ment of single organs may be diverted by living forces which have

no direct connection with them according to our present know-

ledge.

What the nature of these forces is I will not undertake to

say, but I believe we must admit the existence of some

unknown force, or rather of some unknown relations between

the body-cells and germ-cells.

A year ago, recognizing fully the difficulty of advancing

any theory of heredity which would explain the transmission

of acquired characters, I came to the following result: “ It

follows as an unprejudiced conclusion from our present evi-

dence that upon Weismann’s principle we can explain inher-

itance but not evolution, while with Lamarck’s principle and

Darwin’s selection principle we can explain evolution, but not,

at present, inheritance. Disprove Lamarck’s principle and we

must assume that there is some third factor in evolution of

which we are now ignorant. g

In this connection it is interesting to quote again from my

colleague, Professor E. B. Wilson. He writes that the tendency

in Germany at present is to turn from speculation to empiri-

cism, and this is due partly “to the feeling that the recent

wonderful advances in our knowledge of cell phenomena have

enormously increased the difficulties of a purely mechanico-

physical explanation of vital phenomena. In fact, it seems

that the tendency is to turn back in the direction of the vital-

force conception. . . As Boveri said to me recently, ‘ Es

gibt zu viel Vorstand in aor Natur um eine rein mechanische

Erklärung der Sache zu erméglichen.’”

In the final lecture we turn to the forces exhibited in the

germ-cells.

Ai sant Sic oa) oa

Sail cy Sone eee ae Nae

1892.] The Difficulties in the Heredity Theory. 567

Notre.—Bearing upon the experimental evidence for the

hereditary transmission of multilations, I have recently

received, through Dr. Charles E. Lockwood, of New York, a

letter,’ in regard to some experiments upon mice, which were

continued over more generations than those of Weismann,

and with affirmative results: j

“T selected a pair of white mice on account of their rapid

_ breeding. I bred them in and in for ninety six generations,

as they breed every thirty days, and when they are thirty days

old they are able to reproduce themselves. I destroyed all

sickly and defective ones by breeding only the fittest. I bred

all disease out of them, and had a pure-blooded animal, larger

and finer every way than the original pair. In breeding

their tails off, I selected a pair and put them in a cage by

themselves, and when they had young I took the young and

clipped their tails off. When old enough to breed I selected

a pair from the young and bred them together, and when

they had young I clipped their tails. I continued this breed-

ing in and in, clipping each generation, and selecting a pair

of the last young each time, in seven generations. Some of

the young came without tails until I got a perfect breed of

tailless mice. I then took one with a tail and one without a

tail and bred them together, and by changing the sexes each

time—a male without a tail, a female with a tail, and next a

female without a tail, and a male with a tail—I was finally

rewarded with all-tail mice.”

There is such general scepticism now in regard to the

inheritance of mutilations that it will be necessary to repeat

such experiments as these in some well-known physiological

laboratory. As told above, they seem to be trustworthy, but

facts which go against a theory must be doubly attested.

1From A. J. S. Shiddell, Lexington, Ky.

568 The American Naturalist. [July,

SUPPLEMENTARY INVESTIGATION AT

TICK ISLAND.

By CLARENCE BLOOMFIELD Moore.

In the February, 1892, number of the American NATUR-

ALIST, I gave an account of certain investigations made by

me at Tick Island, Volusia Co., Florida. The readers of that

article will recall that into the great sand mound at that place

numerous trenches and shafts were made, resulting in the

discovery of a number of objects of interest archeologically,

and the formation by me of a theory as to the construction of

the mound. This theory has not in any way been modified

by a supplementary investigation continued with a party of

seven assistants through January 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 1892.

The mound is built upon a circular heap of shell converg-

ing to an apex at the center. This heap was probably

brought from neighboring shell deposits or a low heap already

formed was used for the purpose. I am inclined to believe,

however, that the shell was brought with a view to the forma-

tion of a solid base in the swamp, since irregular ridges and

elevations of shell do not extend beyond the margin of the

mound as is so often the case where sand mounds have been

piled upon previously existing shell heaps. It will be

remembered that a ridge of pure white sand with sloping ends

ran north and south almost through the mound, this ridge

being covered with brown sand having at times a certain

admixture of shell,and that this covering of brown sand, com-

paratively small at the extremities of the ridge, attained great

thickness on its sides to the east and west thus completing

the conical shape of the mound.

On the western side of the mound, beginning at the mar-

gin of the base, was made a diverging trench, 8 ft. in breadth

at the start, 54 ft. in length, or 4 ft. beyond the center of the

mound. At 44 ft. from the starting point the breadth of the `

trench was 14 ft. and its depth 10 ft. From this point to the

end the breadth of 14 ft. was maintained to a depth of 6 ft.

1892.] Investigation at Tick Island. 569

and two inches through the brown sand and converging to a

width of 10 ft. through the white sand. No effort was made

to penetrate the compact mass of shell at the base of the

mound save at one or two points, where the usual debris of

the shell heaps was found. The trench, when digging was

discontinued (having followed the upward slope of the shell

base) was 11 ft. and 10 in. in depth, of which the white sand

above the shell was 5 ft. 8 in. and the upper layer or brown sand

6 ft. and 2 in., leaving to the shell base a thickness of 5 ft. and

5 in. above the level of the margin of the base of the mound.

At a distance of 30 ft. from the start the side of the white

sand ridge was encountered, the trench up to that point run-

ning through the brown sand layer. The first skeleton was

met with 24 ft. from the beginning of the trench. Previous to

this many bones entirely disconnected, and mainly the larger

bones of the skeleton, were found. With the exception of the

articular portions the bones were not affected by decay to a

marked extent as were those subsequently found covered by

the white sand. It is possible that they are of a later period

or that the lime salts from the admixture of shell have con-

tributed to their preservation. As before stated these bones

were not in association with each other but must not be con-

founded with the form of burial practiced on the east and

west coasts of Florida and in at least one mound on the St.

John’s, namely Ginn’s Grove, south of Lake Monroe, where

piles of larger bones previously exposed were found buried

Horizontally surmounted by the skulls. Neither were the

bones in any way crushed, split or charred, suggestive of the

methods of many of the shell heaps of the St. John’s River,

nor did they show any signs of the breakage of necessity

occurring when decayed bones are disturbed by the aid of

implements. In the plateau constituting the summit of the

mound were flexed burials (probably intrusive) in anatomical

order and others were numerous on the slope bordering the

plateau. Unless the disconnected bones were washed down

when the mound was larger and not asat present held compactly

together by the roots of vegetation, I can form no hypothesis

to offer as to their condition when found.

40

570 The American Naturalist. [July,

In the white sand ridge as before, lying upon the shell base,

were found burials in anatomical order, while differing from

our former investigation some interments were met with in

the white sand considerably above the shell.

Owing to decay and to the pressure of sand no crania

were saved though great pains were taken and preservative

agents were at hand. In this connection I may say that from

seventeen burial mounds on or near the St. John’s River

more or less thoroughly explored by me, I have taken but one

whole skull in good condition. So great is the pressure

exerted by heavy masses of sand that often the shafts of

tibie found at the base of burial mounds have been crushed.

Such being the case it can readily be conceived how slender

are the chances to recover a skull in perfect condition.

As before no mark of decay was found in any of the teeth

though many showed signs of excessive wear. Many of the

bones gave evidence of having served in frames endowed with

great muscular strength, the ridges being very noticeable.

In the femurs the linea aspera was prominent, some with

a tendency towards the “pilaster.” But two femurs of the

many found possessed the articular portions sufficiently intact

to allow measurement as to length.

Of the two of which measurements were taken the length of

one was 18 in. (tape) to the tip of the great trochanter and that

of the other 164 in. (tape) to the upper margin of the head.

Taking .275 as the ratio of the length of the femur to the

entire stature it will be seen that no great height is indicated.

Of course no general rule can be drawn from two cases but a

large number of femurs exhumed from the Tick Island —

mound with articular portions more or less decayed were at

least in sufficiently good condition to allow a fairly close

estimate and of these and of hundreds of others met with in

burial mounds and shell heaps in Florida I can say that none

indicated a stature of six feet. Four tibie exhumed intact

measured respectively 143 in., 123 in., 12 5-6 in., and 14} in.

in length (tape).

i

PRR eee ee RE a eS eee ey pre en ee

1892.] Investigation at Tick Island. 571

PLATYCNEMISM.

It will be remembered that in recent years a marked lateral

flattening of the tibiz has been noticed as a characteristic of

early and savage races in various parts of the world. This

flattening exists in a varying degree and is frequently found

in connection with anterior curvature. Measurements are

usually made where the nutrient artery enters the bone and

the percentage of the lateral diameter as compared with the

antero-posterior diameter, ascertained.

According to Topinard (Anthropology p. 299 et seq.) the

peculiarity was first commented upon in relation to the family

buried at Cro-Magnon. He furthermore states that in two

hundred Parisian tibiz dating from the fourth to the tenth

centuries 5.25% were platyenemie while 14% were bent.

Unfortunately the degree of flattening is not given.

Prof. Wyman (Fresh Water Shell Mounds of the St. John’s

River, Florida, page 67) says “the proportion of the transverse

to the fore and aft diameter in whites as compared with

Indians, comprising mound builders, is as follows: The fore

and aft diameter being taken as 1.00 the transverse in twelve

whites 0.70, in twelve from the mounds of Florida 0.64, in

seven from mounds in Kentucky 0.63,in two from Osceola

mound (a shell heap now known as Crow’s Bluff) 0.59, three

from the mound on the St. Clair River 0.60, five from the

mound on River Rouge 0.53, in an Aleutian islander 0.56, in

an Eskimo 0.60, in a Californian 0.53, in a tibia from the

Merrimac River 0.60, in a Peruvian 0.50, in a Gorilla (male)

0.57, Gorilla, (female) 0.71, Chimpanzee 0.65.” It must be

borne in mind that Prof. Wyman’s researches into the burial

mounds of Forida were very superficial (see foot-note Fresh

Water Shell Mounds, page 47) and his measurements pro-

bably relate to tibiz of intrusive burials, though between the

tibiæ of later Indians and those from original interments in

various sand mounds of the St. John’s the difference in

flattening is-not marked.

Another point carefully to be borne in mind is that the

measurement of a single tibia amounts to little in the estab-

572 The American Naturalist. [July,

lishment of a race characteristic. Between the maximum and

minimum degree of flattening among the tibiæ found at Tick

Island was a difference of 31%.

Prof. Edward S. Morse (Shell Mounds of Omori) gives the

percentage of nine recent Japanese tibiæ as 0.74, one tibia

from the shell heaps of Omori 0.62, one from a shell heap in

the province of Higo 0.5002. 7

In Michigan platyenemism has been noticed to a marked

degree. Mr. Henry Gillman (Smithsonian Report for 1873

page 368) cites nine tibia from a number found by him in the

great mound on the Rouge River and in the circular mound

on the Detroit River. Of these the average was 0.486, the

lowest being 0.402. i ;

It is to be regretted that the average of the entire number

found is not given.

Of the very many tibiæ exhumed at Tick Island fifty-five

were in condition for measurement, many being broken at a

point too low for determination, while others were crushed.

It is of course apparent that all tibie must be discarded

where a lateral flattening exists through causes acting on

the bone after interment, since measurements made without

due care in this respect would give and unfairly, a very low

percentage to the lateral diameter.

All measurements are made with calipers in hundredths of

an inch. Of the fifty-five tibiæ the least platycnemic meas-

ured transversely .96 inch and antero-posteriorly 1.16 inch, a

percentage of 82, while the two lowest (now in my possession)

were respectively .72x1.41 and .75x1.45 or 51% and 51.7%, the

average for the fifty-five tibie being 63.9%. ;

In this connection it is possible that statistics as to tibiæ

found by me in other mounds of the St. John’s may be useful

for purposes of comparison.

Per cent.

Burial mound at Ginn’s Grove near Lake Jessup ; three

tibiæ, intrusive burials, average T F

Thirty-three tibiæ, original burials from base of

mound average SE ana‘ an

64.

ENTS pent

pie phos Se Ct ioe 3 i a

OS FST ay ere eee SE ey wr mae ee NCO re a ee ws fee" he See ae Ne fee e: ee se

1892.] Investigation at Tick Island. 573

Persimmon mound, about twenty miles south of Lake

Harney; burials in shell heap, 4 tibie . . . . 583

Orange mound, near Persimmon mound; original

burials in shell, three tibie . . . 58.

Raulersons, south-eastern end of Lake Hiri: burials

(?) nine tibiæ 62.5

Small burial EY Stark’s aioe: tain Heroiini:

one tibia 84.

Shell heap, near ‘Econlockhatchee Creek ; burials )

three tibie . . 59.9

Burial mound on Blue orke near Ak; one tibia 64.8

Burial mound, Thornhill Lake, near Lake pitom i ; two

tibiæ, three feet from surface . . 60.4

Three tibiæ, original burials . . e OOS,

Burial mound opposite Huntoon Island: “oFiginal

burials, five tibie . . teeter OA.

Intrusive burials, five ibis i taste 64.

Burial mound, Fort Taylor, Lake Winder; ‘original

burials,fourtibie . 64.8

Mulberry mound, near Lake Poinsett: “original burials,

sixty-six tibie . . 66.2

Bluffton, sand mound; ithinive panita hi tibise 70.7

PERFORATION OF THE HUMERUS.

The perforation of the wall between the fosse at the lower

end of the humerus seems to be a characteristic of early and

unmixed races. The perforation does not necessarily occur

in both humeri of the same person. Mr. Henry Gillman

(AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1875, page 427) noticed itin the mounds

on the Detroit and Rouge Rivers, Michigan, but unfortunately

bases the percentage of its occurrence on an estimate.

Topinard (Anthropology page 298 et seq.) furnishes an

interesting table as to the frequency of the occurrence of the

perforation of the humerus at various periods in France.

Number of humeri. Per cent.

66 Caverne de l'Homme Mort (La Lozere) . . . 10.6

368 Dolmensof LaLozere . . ~- 106

128 Stations of Vaureal, Orrouy a Chamans 1 2

574 The American Naturalist. [July,

(Polished stone period.)

44 Pre-gallic station of Campans . . aces hi ae

42 Mountaineers of the Ain (5th Gente) si PA Ci Cig Aa

69 French Basques . OR pero ASA

200 Parisians of the 4th to the 10th century Sree eee

218 Parisians of the middle ages . . peek. ce

150 Parisians anterior to the 17th century Sr ee

1000 (?) Merovingians of Chelles . . . eet ok ee

It is well to remember in examining the olecranon fossa

that the partition, if it exists, is often extremely thin and when

sand or earth is removed with a pointed instrument an

artificial perforation may result. In the humeri examined by

me at Tick Island and other burial mounds, data as to which

are furnished for comparison, all foreign substances were

removed from the cavity with the aid of a soft brush. It is

therefore believed that none but pre-existing perforations are

enumerated.

Per cent.

46 Humeri, Tick Island, 16. Perforated .. . 348

42 Humeri, Ginn’s Grove, OiPotiornted isc... oe

7 Humeri, Persimmon

mound, oe Pond o . . Or

4 Humeri, Orange mound, 0 Perforated . . .

19 Humeri, Raulerson’s 8 Perforated . . . 42

2 Humeri, Lake Beresford 0 Perforated

3 Humeri, Econlockhatchee -

Creek 1 Perforated: = «. .. 83.48

9 Humeri, Thornhill Lake 6 Perforated . . . 66.66

14 Humeri, opposite

Kustosi Island 1- Forforatod: . 1: -00

4 Humeri, Fort Taylor 1 Perforated’ ono 26

76 Humeri, Mulberry mound 40 Perforated . . . 52.7

3 Humeri, Bluffton 3 Perforated. . . 100.

229 95 41.5

1892.] Investigation at Tick Island. 575

PATHOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.

In the former excavations a number of tibie were found

with marked anterior curvature and increase in the circum-

ference of the bone with roughened surface. But one of this

nature was met with upon the last visit to Tick Island, at five

and a half feet from the surface and twenty-five feet from the

margin of the base of the mound.

PERFORATED CRANIA.

One cranium with perforation at parietal eminence .7 in.

antero-posteriorly and .6 in. transversely was the only skull

found showing perforation and in this case the uneven mar-

gin showed it to be the result of a blow from a pointed instru-

ment, having nothing in common with the round and even

perforations found in Vapo of two crania during previous

investigations.

POTTERY.

Throughout the entire upper stratum were found fragments

of pottery, the large majority undecorated but some ornamented

with parallel lines.

Fic. 1.

576 The American Naturalist. [July

In the white sand layer were found bits of pottery in

immediate association with every skeleton, many plain, some

rudely ornamented in the same manner as those found in the

stratum above.

One piece found near the bottom of the white sand layer

bore a pattern not met with by me in any other sand mound

or in several hundred excavations in shell heaps on or near

the St. John’s. (Fig. 1.)

At forty-two feet from the circumference of the base and ten

feet from the surface of the mound, at the bottom of the white

sand layer, with the crumbling bones of a skeleton was found

in perfect condition a small earthenware pot with sides deeply

grooved, of a pattern entirely unfamiliar to me. (Fig. 2.

Fic. 2;

Pottery decorated with knobs, of which several specimens

were found last year, was not met with during these supple-

mentary investigations at Tick Island nor have I seen them

on or below the surface in mound or shell heap on the St.

John’s River between Palatka and Lake Washington, a dis-

tance by water of about three hundred (300) miles. This

knobbed pottery was sent to the Peabody Museum of Arche-

ology and a report from the very high authority there could

not fail to be of interest.

1892.] . Investigation at Tick Island. 577

FRAGMENTS OF POTTERY SHAPED IN THE FORM OF

SPEAR AND ARROW POINTS.

Reference was made to this subject in my former paper.

During the supplementary investigations many bits of

pottery broken in triangular shapes, were found particularly

with the burials in the lower sand layers. At least two frag-

ments of pottery were found giving unmistakable evidence

of the arrow-head shape having been conferred through

design, the sides being chipped rudely to imitate the point of

the arrow. Since the writing of my first paper I have secured

so much evidence tending to show that the Indians of the

earlier burial mounds substituted with their burials the imi-

tation for the real in the way of arrow-heads and spear points

that I regard the question as virtually settled.

In the mound at Ginn’s Grove, south of Lake Monroe, the

custom was very apparent; the great sand mound on Lake

Winder emphasized the fact, while in the small burial mound

discovered by me near Lake Poinsett nearly every piece of

pottery was broken or chipped in the form I have described.

IMPLEMENTS, ORNAMENTS, ETc.

About three feet below the surface, not in association with

any skeleton, a very beautiful polished celt 8} in. in length

was brought to light. This implement cannot however be

regarded as belonging to the period of the construction of the

mound.

Other objects of interest were:—a piece of coquina rudely

fashioned in the form of a spear head; two flakes of flint;

portion of “conch” shell; two pieces of madrepore ; shell

implements of doubtful attribution; handful of shell beads

with skeleton of child five feet below the apex of the mound.

With the beads were a fragment of calcined bone and a flake

of flint. Two feet distant was the claw of a large animal,

probably a bear. On the shell base not far from the center of

the mound were found a number of pieces of what Professor

Putnam pronounces to be soft coal and furthermore states that

578 The American Naturalist. [July,

any previous discovery of this commodity in Florida is

unknown to him.

POSSIBLE INDICATIONS OF CANNIBALISM.

At the bottom of the white sand ridge, nine feet four inches

from surface and thirty-five feet from circumference of the

base of the mound, was found a skeleton very badly decayed.

Immediately below were apparently the remnants of a feast

consisting of a fragment of charred bone and four pieces of

bone showing no action of fire, of which two were human.

These fragments entirely unassociated with any others were in

a better state of preservation than the skeleton immediately

above owing to the shell below them. In every way they:

resembled the bones of the shell heaps.

From one fragment, a portion of the lower jaw of a child,

every tooth was missing. While no definite conclusion can

be arrived at in this connection it may be permissible to sug-

yest that the process of boiling would be conducive to the

loosening of the teeth. No other isolated human bones were

found in the white sand layer.

An INTRUSIVE BURIAL.

As before stated intrusive burials were frequent in the Tick

Island Mound. A description of one of these may be of

interest. It will be rememberd that flexed burials vary

greatly in the mounds of the St. John’s as to the degree and

form of flexion.

Near the apex of the mound, eighteen inches from the sur-

face, lay a skeleton in a fairly good state of preservation,

though the skull was crushed beyond recovery. The body

lay belly down, the face rotated to the right with the neck

flexed in that direction. The left lower extremity had the

thigh flexed to the abdomen, the leg flexed on the thigh with

the foot extending downward. The right lower extremity

had the thigh abducted and rotated externally to the transverse

plane of the body and flexed to a right angle, the leg flexed

on the thigh and the foot extended. The arms were somewhat

1892.] Investigation at Tick Island. 579

disturbed by digging but enough was seen to show that they

were not folded on the abdomen as is often the case. The

skeleton was of a man, the length of one femur was 16} in.

One humerus was perforated, of the other the portion neces-

sary for determination was decayed. One tibia was 14} in. in

length. The lateral diameter was .82 in., the fore and aft

measurement at the same point 1.44 in. giving a percentage

of 57.

COMPARATIVE AGE OF THE MOUND.

As was the case during previous investigations no object

indicating intercourse with the whites was found. Taking

into consideration the quantity and quality of the pottery it is

probable that the Tick Island Mound is of more recent con-

struction than certain other burial mounds on the St. John’s

in which no pottery is met with, for judging from its almost

universal association with skeletons in so many mounds we

must consider it probable that no cause save ignorance of the

art of its manufatture can explain its absence in other burial

mounds.

In a careful investigation of the shell heaps of the St. John’s

made by me, extending to Lake Washington, during which

several hundred excavations were made in upwards of sixty

localities, nothing in anyway indicating the presence of the

whites was ever brought to light. It will be remembered that

Prof. Wyman’s investigations had the same result. There are

then strong reasons to believe that the last shell heap was

completed prior to the arrival of Europeans.

` In a large shell heap of the upper St. John’s I was fortunate

enough to discover under several feet of shell a stratified

burial mound, particulars of which I hope to publish later.

From this discovery and from the fact that presence or

absence of pottery in the mounds as a rule coincides with

neighboring shell deposits I am inclined to believe that the

larger burial mounds including Tick Island are contemporar

with the later shell heaps at least and were abandoned prior

to the coming of the whites.

580 The American Naturalist. [July,

EXPERIMENTAL EMBRYOLOGY.

By E. A. ANDREWS.

(Continued from May number, p. 382.)

Schultze’ holds that the black pole becomes the dorsal region

on which the medullary folds are formed, and that the blasto-

pore arises and remains near the tail end of the animal, at the

highest part of the white yolk, when the egg is, as is normal

he says, inclined about 45°. There is, however, a rotation of

the egg about a horizontal axis at right angles tothe plane of

symmetry, a rotation that carries blastopore downward 80°.

Yet this is compensated for by a reverse rotation upward of

90°, so that there is little absolute change after the blastopore

is closed ; the ingrowth of entoderm during gastrulation being,

he surmises, the cause of these revolutions, since the egg is

thereby overbalanced, first one way then thé other.

After this digression beyond the limits of experimental

embryology into the hazy ground of unverified hypotheses we

may turn attention to a work rich in experimentation, the only

French contribution that we are acquainted with, the very

suggestive work upon the ascidian egg by Chabry, whose

paper appears not to have met with the appreciation it

deserves.

Having made a very careful study of the cleavage phenom-

ena in normal eggs of Ascidia aspera in the summer seasons —

of 1884 and 1886, the author was in a position to appreciate

the remarkable abnormalities sometimes occurring in the a

development of this ascidian. As these abnormalities to some

extent correspond with the results of artificial treatment of a |

the eggs, some account of them cannot be passed over here,

10. Schultze, Ueber Axenbestimmung des Froshembryo. Biol. Centb., vii, 1888,

pp- 577-588.

*Contribution a l’embryologie normale et tératologique des ascidies simples. Jour.

de l’ Anatomie, 1887, pp. 167-313, plates 18-22.

1892.] Experimental Embryology. 581

especially as they furnish in themselves interesting facts bear-

ing upon our interpretation of embryological phenomena.

Without apparent cause, unless, as the author inclines to

believe, old age of the adults is here concerned, all the ascid-

ians obtained late in one season gave rise to abnormal eggs,

few amid the entire number developing in the normal way for

any length of time. These natural monsters or deficient eggs

can be explained only on the assumption that the parent

organism made them imperfect from the start, or at least fur-

nished abnormal conditions of environment for them before

they were laid, as they may develop in the same aquaria with

other eggs that follow a typical series of changes without any

abnormalities. Moreover the eggs from one adult often show

some common defect or tendency to be abnormal in certain

lines, though there is gront individual difference between even

these eggs.

These abnormalities of unknown or natural origin are class-

ified under the following seven heads: Ist, change from the

normal position of the cleavage planes; 2d, retarded cleavage ;

3d, cleavage confined to the nuclei; 4th, absence of cleavage ;

5th, fusion of cells; 6th, unusual migrations of cells; 7th,

death of cells. The presence of one or more of the above fac-

tors and their various combinations gives rise to the numerous

monstrosities found during the cleavage, gastrulation and

larval life; moreover one abnormality gives origin to others

later on in development, so that larve with great defects are

classed as cases of death, for instance, of one or more cells in

an early stage.

In addition to the various abnormalties thus classified some

other forms, such as a larva with well-developed double or bifid

tail, were observed but not traced back to any of the above

seven categories.

The interest of these various modes of irregularity lies, for

our present purposes, in the fact that all seven conditions have

been artificially brought about by M. Chabry by various

mechanical stimuli applied either to the egg of the ascidian

or to that of the sea urchin. The results upon the ascidian

were for the most part obtained by means of traumatic inter-

582 The American Naturalist. [July,

ference, and lead only to the death of cells. These abnormal-

ities are the ones described in the sequel, while other classes

of abnormalities are either obtained by other methods applied

to the egg of the same animal or else refer to the egg of the

sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus lividus, and are not mentioned in

detail in the present paper.

Wounding the cells of Ascidia aspera in early stages leads to

the death of these cells and to subsequent abnormalities of

development identical with those resulting when the cells die

naturally or without apparent cause.

The method of inflicting injuries upon one or more cells of

the minute eggs studied by M. Chabry is as simple in princi- -_

ple as it is successful in operation, given sufficient delicacy in

manipulation. The eggs are observed under the microscope

in capillary tubes of glass, each egg lying without undue

pressure in a separate tube of right diameter. The tube is

mounted in water and covered by a cover glass so that a clear

view of the egg is obtained with quite high powers. To see

all sides of the egg the tube is revolved by a small crank and

wheel attached to one end, turning freely in two rings of glass

fixed to the microscopic slide.

The other end of the tube bears the exceedingly sharp

pointed needle that is to perforate the egg. This needle is the

most difficult part of the apparatus to manufacture, being 4

glass rod drawn out to a point of excessive acuteness and also

straight. When once made the needles are provided with a

protecting piece of capillary tubule, which may either pass

into the capillary containing the egg or else be joined to its

end by a surrounding tube according as the egg capillary is

large or very small. To move the glass dart in and out,

towards and away from the egg when it has been first rightly

adjusted, a small lever attached to the microscope by an inge- _

nious and simple arrangement of spring and screw enables

one to thrust the point, whilé observing it under the micro-

scope, into the egg for a given distance and not further, and

then to withdraw it quickly. Thus stabs are made that need

affect but a single cell and any known and chosen cell. :

1892.] Experimental Embryology. 583

Such is the accuracy and delicacy of this apparatus that the

sea urchin’s egg, only one tenth of a millimeter in diameter,

was actually pierced by the finer glass needles.

To begin with this latter experiment upon the sea urchin,

the needle is followed by sea water, which remains in part

within the egg when the needle is withdrawn but yet grad-

ually disappears as the egg closes in over the wound and does

not afterwards exercise any evil influence upon the subsequent

development of the egg. An egg entirely pierced from one

side to the other subsequently formed a normal pluteus.

In the ascidian, however, the perforation of the egg or of

one of its cells gives rise to its death. Within a minute after

the stab is made in the protoplasm of the cell an appearance

of opacity or turbidity is seen rapidly extending through the

entire cell; the cell dies. Later the protoplasm coagulates and

remains fixed in whatever form it was fashioned by the press-

ure of adjacent cells when it died. This death of the cell by

stabbing is a different, much more rapid, process from the

gradual death observed to occur in many eggs of abnormal

origin. The part of the egg not injured develops, however,

just as when the death of its fellow cell was natural or of

unknown origin. In this development certain definite rear-

rangements of the cells take place, since they are no longer

held in normal positions by the attraction of the dead cell ;

then cleavage continues and finally imperfect larve result.

Some examples of the results obtained may be given here

in detail. In normal cleavage the egg divides first into

a right and a left cell, these divide into anterior and pos-

terior cells, and the four resulting cells then divide equa-

torially into oral and aboral cells. If, in the two-celled

stage the left one be killed, the right divides into an anterior

and a posterior cell as if nothing had happened to the egg, and

then these two divide as usual but arrange themselves much

as if the dead cell were not present, pressing together into a

spheroidal mass so that the posterior. upper and anterior

lower cells come into contact diagonally on one side next

the dead cell or median plane, just as do the other two cells on

the outside or right of the egg. Thus under the influence of

584 The American Naturalist. [July,

mutual attraction the four cells move so that they are arranged

in a tetrahedron rather than in a square. The next changeis

a division of each by a plane parallel to the median plane or

to the face of the dead cell.

This illustrates a marked tendency in all natural cases of

death; that is, the planes that normally would be nearly

meridional, turn so as to become parallel to the dead cell, par-

allel to a plane passing through the center of the egg.

From this eight-celled stage the development proceeds till

a larva is formed, having a normal tail, three distinct germ |

layers, a pigmental area representing the nervous system and

one papilla for attachment. Having begun to secrete its cel-

lulose mantle it died.

Other cases were obtained showing the same results. Figure

2, R, R’, R” shows three successive stages in the develop-

ment of one of these artifi-

cial right-half embryos com-

pared with successive stages,

L, L’, L’’, in the develop-

ment of a left-half embryo

of natural or unknown ori-

gin.

Again, when the posterior

left of the normal four cells,

after two planes have oc-

curred in diaa iskilled by the needle, an ovoid larva is

obtained. In this the tail adheres along the trunk and there

are three papillæ of attachment and two pigment spots. Sim-

ilar monstrous forms are found when the right posterior cell is

killed. When the right anterior cell is killed the tail is well

formed and free from fusion with the trunk, and there are no

pigment spots or imperfect ones. When the left anterior cell

is killed the larva has a perfect tail, a papilla for fixation, a

pigment spot and active movement. It escaped from most of

the egg membranes and secreted a tunic, into which migra- :

tory cells were passing when it died.

Killing two diagonal cells of four is followed by a normal

cleavage of the two remaining cells, but the experiment was

FIGURE 2.

1892.] Experimental Embryology. 585

interrupted here. Killing both left cells of the four, results in

the formation of larvee which are imperfect in that there is but

one papilla for attachment and one atrial invagination with

one pigment spot or eye. Similar monsters result from killing

both right cells, but the eye spot is absent.

When three of the four cells are killed the remaining one

divides normally and forms a rounded mass of cells arranged

in two germ layers, but the development does not continue

further. Likewise by thrusting the needle amongst the cells

of a cleaving egg, though some are killed a few may be sepa-

rated and then live isolated in the sea water. Such a cell

divides, with karyokinesis, into two, four, eight cells by planes

at right angles, then the normal rearrangement and adjust-

ment of the cells take place as if an entire egg were in ques-

tion. The cleavage planes also occur at intervals of 20 min-

utes as in the entire normal egg. There results after some

hours a rounded mass of twenty or so cells, larger than the

original one, but there the development ceases.

In such experiments M. Chabry sees a new method of ana-

tomical research ; the history of each cell may be followed

from early to late stages by killing it and observing the conse-

quent lack in the resulting imperfect later stages. Though it

is unsafe to conclude from the disappearance of an organ after

the death of some particular cell at an earlier stage that that

cell would have formed the organ, yet by killing all the other

cells, one by one, and finding the organ present in all the

resulting stages, its dependence in the normal condition upon

the cell first killed becomes conclusive. In this way the author

traces the eye to the right anterior cell of the first four of

cleavage, the otolith to the right posterior cell; the two pa-

pillee for attachment come from the two anterior cells while the

chorda is formed by both anterior and posterior cells. Never-

theless as left-half larvæ are sometimes found with an eye, and

other such cases occur, the above is upheld by the author only

by aid of the supposition that the surviving cells change their

habit after the death of the one, so that they now produce

organs they would not normally. Thus the eyes are poten-

tially two, though but the right one is normally produced.

41

586 The American Naturalist. [July,

Similarly the notochord is to be regarded as double or com-

posed of two halves, one in each of the first two cells.

Nevertheless, M. Chabry regards the egg of Ascidia aspera

as containing potentially but one adult, the organs of which

seem to be localized in different parts of the egg. That this

is necessarily true of other eggs he emphatically denies; the

results here obtained cannot, he thinks, be extended to other

untried cases. Granting that there is this localization of some

organs in the ascidian egg it is evident from the author's

account that all the structures are not divided by the first

cleavage but rather that each cell has for the main part all

that the other has, hence result active larve from either right

or left cell, if the other be killed, larvee which are deficient in

only a few organs and by no means real half-larve as the

author calls them.

Finally we may consider some of the experimental work

that has been recently attempted upon eggs of lower animals,

the echinoderms especially.

Oscar and Richard Hertwig' subjected eggs of Strongylocen-

trotus lividus to the action of heat, poisons and mechanical

insult, to judge from the effects upon external and internal

fertilization and upon cleavage as to the nature of the forces

involved in the normal course of events. All these unusual

agents act upon the egg so that it is unable to keep out more

than one sperm, and hence is penetrated by several or many

sperm, exhibiting the abnormal phenomena of polyspermy.

Weak reagents cause only a few eggs to take in two or three

sperms, while strong reagents cause most all the eggs to take

in four or more sperms. The substances used and the strength

as well as time are given in the following tables :

WEAK REAGENTS.

Nicotine.) icalan et drop to 1000 for 10 minutes

Strychnine. s- 1 oo- < DORs for 20 minutes

Morphine 660s = o a a do S. foe A hait

10. and R. Hertwig. Ueber den Befruchtungs- und Theilungs- vorgang des their-

ischen Eies unter dem Einfluss ausserer Agentien. Jen. Zeit. xx, 1887, pp. 120-

227, 477-510, plates 3-9.

1892.] Experimental Embryology. 587

PINs > ori oe et Re for 5 minutes

GOE e sc Soe ii for a NGA for 5 minutes

WOR s,Q ee Seto eee 2% for 12 minutes

Bene oor ire ae 31°C. for 10 minutes

STRONG REAGENTS.

PAIN E wht ante see be phic tigtr R 9 SOR

SEVOODING co ke cw hel ws OLS for: 20 minutes

MODRE e 000 tay Janie wants dh <i aint AN. Tor -5 hours

ONIN e ea i 5 te es a arg asda, (ae ee A S manuto

Monino n eai py py kash sto cae tO (hone

Cora a a ae a ee eS bori

SRO co wih ered ae cate a sk ale Ne kOe A, minios

These do not all act alike; quinine, chloral and probably

cocaine and overheating temporarily stops the movement of

the sperm, a diminution in size of the fertilization elevations

upon the egg, postpone cleavage one-half to one and one-half

hours, interrupt cleavage of nucleus, sometimes making it

take retrograde steps, and interfere with formation of rays

within the protoplasm of the egg.

Nicotine and strychnine, on the other hand, seem to increase

the activity of the sperm and the contractility of the egg pro-

toplasm. Morphine appears to have an intermediate action.

The authors explain the occurrence of polyspermy after the

_action of these agents as being due to the lack of normal sen-

sitiveness on the part of the ovum. For normally the entrance

of one sperm causes the egg to throw off a membrane which

prevents the entrance of others, a membrane which is seen to

be formed even upon fragments of eggs shaken loose before

cleavage, yet when acted upon by these drugs the protoplasm

of the egg is not sufficiently stimulated to form a membrane

until several sperms have entered.

The internal fertilization, fusion of male and female nuclei,

may be also retarded as much as one hour, and various unusual

phenomena introduced in connection with the supernumerary

sperms, without necessarily preventing the ultimate develop-

ment of the oosperm.

588 The American Naturalist. [July,

Omitting many interesting facts bearing upon the value of

male and female nucleus and cell protoplasm we pass to the

effects upon the cleavage processes. The results are similar,

whether the drugs act to produce polyspermy or whether they

are subsequently applied after normal fertilization. Quinine

or chloral acting upon an egg having its cleavage nucleus in

the spindle stage transforms this spindle into a cluster of vesi-

cles, but if the egg is now allowed to recover in sea water the

nucleus divides into four with the formation of four combined

spindles. The protoplasm, however, remains affected, and

does not follow the subsequent division of each of the four

nuclei.

The above work was supplemented soon after by a paper by

Oscar Hertwig! describing the effects of cold upon the ferti-

lization of the eggs of the sea urchin, and also recording the

occurrence of abnormal eggs in most of the specimens found

at Triest in the Spring of 1887; this result being apparently

due to the unusual cold which prevented the animals collect-

ing as usual when ripe (he finds the females discharge ova in

the aquarium when a male has discharged sperm), and hence

led to an overripe condition of the eggs, accompanied by sub-

sequent abnormalities in development.

Eggs, he finds, may be kept for several hours at a tempera-

ture of 2° to 3°C. and yet recover, but they finally enter into

a cold rigor. The cooling prevents the egg from forming its

protective membrane and diminishes the receptive elevations

upon the egg, and thus polyspermy results if the rigor does not

intervene before the sperms have entered. Cooling after exter-

nal fertilization may arrest the progress of the sperm, which is

yet able to advance again when warmed. Cooling during the

cleavage affects the nucleus so that various abnormal changes

result, but the egg may still divide regularly when warmed, at

least in a few cases.

One other suggestive experiment was made, namely, the

treatment of sea urchins’ eggs with methyl blue. This acts like

a poison in causing polyspermy, yet weak solutions may be

1Oscar Hertwig. Experimentelle Studien am Tierischen Ei während, und nach

der Befruchtung. Jen. Zeit., xxiv, 1890, pp. 268-310, plates 8-10.

1892.] Experimental Embryology. . 589

used to stain the egg a violet color and yet not prevent it

developing into a blastula in which the central fluid, the

migratory cells and the inner ends of the outer cells are violet.

The method of inflicting mechanical injury upon sea urchin

eggs used by the Hertwig’s resulted in breaking them in some

cases; this means of separation has been ingeniously put in

action by Boveri in the attempt to solve a most important

problem. Though the perusal of this paper! does not inspire

one with as much confidence in the strength of the conclu-

sions drawn as the reader would wish to have in evidence

advanced in so important a case, yet the experiments are in

themselves very suggestive and worthy of frequent repetition.

To prove that the nucleus is the bearer of inherited charac-

ters we may try to combine a nucleus with a cell and see

which or if both transmit their peculiarities.

Using Hertwig’s method he shook eggs of the sea urchin in

test tube till many lost the nucleus; these could be fertilized

and developed. In this way dwarf larve, about one-fourth

the normal size, were reared as late as the seventh day, when

the normal larve died also. Now the great interest of these

experiments for the present question lies in the fact that the

eggs belong to one species and the sperm to another.

When true bastards between normal eggs of Echinus micro-

tuberculatus and sperm of Spherechinus granularis are formed

the resulting larva has always a middle form between the

larvee of these species, both in general proportions and in

arrangement of skeletal spicules. When, however, broken

fragments of the eggs of the first species are fertilized by

sperm of the second we find beside some true bastards from

the normal eggs and some small ones from nucleated frag-

ments, some larvee exactly like those reared from pure eggs and

sperm of the second species alone, Echinus microtuberculatus.

These larve are regarded by Boveri as due to the fertiliza-

tion of denucleated eggs of the other species by the sperm of

the species they resemble.

1Boveri. Ein geschlechtlich erzeugter Organismus ohne mutterliche Eigenschaf-

ten. Sitzb. d. Gesellschaft f. Morphologie u. Physiologie in Munich, v, 1889, pp.

73-80.

590 The American Naturalist. [July,

The larve, when killed and examined, are found to have

abnormally small nuclei, which is accounted for by the suppo-

sition that the single male nucleus of the sperm does not fur-

nish as much material as the male and female nuclei normally

do when combined.

If we accept these statements we have, indeed, most conclu-

sive proof that in a male nucleus the sperm may transfer toa

new organism the qualities of its parent.

The difficulties of the experiment lie in the unfavorable

nature of the hybridization, only one in a thousand eggs being

fertilized, so that of 200 actually isolated none happened to

develop ; then again the various abnormalities, half embryos

and dwarfs that we may assume occur, make it a difficult ques-

tion, we think, to decide as to the specific characters of the

larvee being due to inheritance or accidental resemblance from

imperfect development.

The recent work of Driesch’ is the last contribution in exper-

imental embryology that has come to our notice. To deter-

mine the effect of light upon cleaving eggs he exposed the

eggs of Echinus microtuberculatus, Planorbis carinatus and Rana

esculenta to daylight and to complete darkness as well as to

variously colored light. The result was that not only cleavage

but also the formation of organs took place quite normally in

time and form, entirely irrespective of the presence or charac-

ter of light.

The more noticeable and unexpected part of the paper, how-

ever, deals with the question of self differentiation, as illus-

trated by experiments upon sea urchin eggs (as yet he has not

succeeded in applying appropriate methods to eggs of frogs

and Planorbis).

The eggs of the sea urchin in the two celled stage are shaken

vigorously for five minutes in a test tube (some may need

repeated shaking), and then such isolated cells as are present

are quickly picked out and examined under the microscope in

separate dishes of sea water.

1Hans Driesch. Entwicklungsmechanische Studien. I. Der Werth der beiden

ersten Furchungs-zellen in der Echinodermenentwicklung. II. Uber die Beziehung

des Lichtes zur ersten Etage der theirischen Formenbildung. Zeit. f. wiss. Zool.,

liii, 1891, pp. 160-183, plate 7.

1892.] Experimental Embryology. 591

In this way as many as fifty cells were isolated from the two

celled stages and kept separate in small vessels in which they

could be examined microscopically and actually seen to

develop. The separated cells develop at first, as do the unin-

jured cells of the frog in Roux’s experiments, but the ultimate

result is that each cell (of the two after the first cleavage of

egg) may give rise to a complete though small larva.

This is found to be the case in both Echinus and Spheer-

echinus.

In the normal cleavage of Echinus, according to Selenka,

there are formed two, four, eight cells, and then four at one

pole bud off four small cells, while the four at the other pole

divide equally. Now in the cleavage of the half egg Driesch

finds two and then four cells, followed by an eight celled stage

which is formed by or budded from two little cells at one pole,

as opposed to an equal division of the two cells at the other

pole; thus the eight celled stage is exactly the half, in form

and arrangement, of the normal sixteen celled stage.

These half formations, however, become over night con-

verted into complete blastulas having half the normal size, but

apparently made up of cells of normal dimensions, so that we

may infer there is half the normal number of cells. About

thirty dwarf blastulas were obtained from isolated cells, and

from these normally formed gastrulas, and eventually, in three

cases normally formed dwarf plutei were reared. Thus it

would be possible to obtain two plutei from one egg by sepa-

rating the first two cells of cleavage.

The application of this to the explanation of the occurrence

of twins is made easier by the actual finding of numerous

abnormal stages in cleavage and gastrulation resulting in the

production of twin gastrule or larve, or in some cases of com-

bination of three-fourths and one-fourth blastule. As these

occur so frequently in material submitted to the shaking pro-

cess, which variously effect different eggs, we have reason to

suppose the twins are directly due to the mechanical separa-

tion or disturbance of the material in the egg.

The heterogeneous character of the various experiments

referred to in the present article and the conflicting and often

592 The American Naturalist. [July,

apparently meaningless results obtained by one or the other of

the experimenters, while preventing an immediate incorpora-

tion of the facts of experimental physiology with those

recorded by the purely observational school should not blind

us to the importance of the work thus far done, both as a good

beginning in a promising field and as already furnishing val-

uable controls for the guidance of speculations upon some of

the most fundamental questions in biology.

“Toutes les expériences, toutes les mutilations qui én fait

subir à un oeuf normal, contribuent, en effet, à devoiler sa

structure, et cest certainement là une des plus belles recher-

ches que le naturaliste puisse se proposer.”

1892.] Mental Evolution in Man and Lower Animals. 593

MENTAL EVOLUTION IN MAN AND THE

LOWER ANIMALS.

By Arce BopIxGrToN.

(Continued from page 494.)

Among the lower animals the eager jumping of a dog

when he is anxious to go for a walk, his growling, howling

and barking to express various emotions are on a similar

psychological level with the first demonstration of wishes on

the part of the infant. Some of the signs and sounds

expressed by domestic animals are indeterminate and some

determinate, and every owner of a dog or cat can supply

examples for himself.

The next step in advance taken by the infant is the utter-

ance of articulate sounds; first various vowels and labials,

vaguely uttered without definite meaning; then similar sounds

with a definite meaning, as mamma, dada, tata, etc. These

early sounds have a very extended meaning, as in Chinese the

same word “ bye-bye” means bed and bed-clothes, sleep and to

goto sleep. But as the application of these simple syllables

is usually taught to the child we are not quite at the stand-

point of primitive man, who had no one to teach him. There

are three different sets of opinions as to the origin of spoken

words which have been named the “ Pooh-pooh,” the “ Bow-

- wow ” and the “ Yo-heave-o” theories respectively. The first

assigns the origin of language to interjectional sounds, the

second attributes it to imitation of cries of animals and sounds

in nature, and the third considers speech arose from the

various noises made by men during concerted action. A

fourth assumes language to be a heaven-sent gift and that

primitive language began with abstract ideas. Applying the

inductive method of reasoning and watching the development

of speech in infants and the condition of language in low sav-

ages we can hope to form some idea as to how much or how

594 The American Naturalist. [July,

little truth there is in the above theories. We shall probably

come to the conclusion that the first two theories account for

a considerable number of words and that “ Bow-wow” or imi-

tative language may have given rise to many words whose

imitative origin is now obscured. But watching as before the

progress of the child we find that it possesses a faculty hardly,

if at all, used by its elders, of coining new words to suit its own

convenience. These words will in many cases be utterly dif-

ferent from the words which the child hears grown-up people

apply to an object, yet the new word, having been coined by

the child, will be rigidly applied to the particular object or

action it was first applied to. Mr. Romanes gives several

instances of children who possessed this faculty to a remark-

able degree, up to the point indeed, of speaking a language of

their own invention. One case is that of twin boys living in

a suburb of Boston, “ who, at the usual age began to talk, but

strange to say, not their mother tongue. It was in vain that

a little sister five years older than they tried to make them

speak in ordinary English’ They had a language of their

own, and no pains could induce them to speak anything else.

Not even the usual first words ‘papa,’ ‘mamma,’ did they

ever speak. In fact, though they had the usual affections,

were rejoiced to see their father at his returning home each

night, playing with him, etc., they would seem to have been

otherwise completely taken up with each other. They passed

the day playing and talking together in their own speech with

all the liveliness and volubility common to children. They

had regular words, a few of which the family learned to dis-

tinguish, as that for example for carriage, which was ‘ni-si-

boo-a,’ of which the syllables were sometimes so repeated as

to make a much longer word.” The next case is quoted from

Dr. E. Hun, who recorded it in the monthly Journal of

Psychological Medicine. “The subject of this observation is 4

girl aged four and a half, sprightly, intelligent and in good

health. It was observed she was backward in speaking, and

at two years old only used the words ‘papa,’ ‘ mamma.’

iPaper read by Mr. Horatio Hale, published in the Proceedings of the American

Association for the Advancement of Science, Vol. xxxv, 1886.

1892.] Mental Evolution in Man and Lower Animals. 595

After that she began to use words of her own invention, and

never employed the words used by others. Gradually she

enlarged her vocabulary. She has a brother eighteen months

younger than herself who has learned her language, so that

they can talk freely together. He, however, seems to have

adopted it only because he has more intercourse with her than

with the others; he will use a proper word with his mother,

and his sister’s with her.”

The mother has learned French, but never uses that

language in conversation and the servants speak English with-

out any peculiarities. “Some of the words and phrases have a

resemblance to French, but it is certain that no person using

that language has frequented the house. Of words formed by

imitation of sounds the language shows hardly a trace. The

mewing of the cat evidently suggested the word “ mea,” which

signified both cat and furs. In some of the words the liking

which children and some races of men have for the repetition

of sounds is apparent. Thus we have ‘migno-migno,’ signi-

fying water, wash, bath; ‘ go-go,’ delicacies, as sweets or des-

sert; and ‘ waia-waia,’ black, darkness, or a negro.” “Gum-

migur,” we are told, signifies all the substantials of the table,

such as bread, meat, vegetables, etc., and the same word des-

ignates the cook. A number of additional instances of this

strange vocabulary are given.’ “They show,” says Mr.

Romanes, “ that the spontaneous and arbitrary word-making

which is more or less observable in all children beginning to

speak may, under favorable circumstances, proceed to an aston-

ishing degree of fulness and efficiency; that although the

words thus invented are sometimes of onomatopoetic origin,

as a general rule they are not so; that the words are far from

being always monosyllabic;* that they admit of becoming

sufficiently numerous and varied to constitute a not inefficient

language; and that the syntax of this language presents

obvious points of resemblance to the gesture language of man-

kind.” This faculty of coining fresh words, now almost lost by

adults, must once have existed as a normal state of things

IMental Evolution of Man, p. 140.

?Where a child uses a A renenaysiabes word it constantly doubles the syllable-—A. B.

596 The American Naturalist. [July,

among human beings or it would not survive in the child.

Next to the impression made upon cells by their environment,

producing the most profound and extraordinary changes of

structure and functions, nothing can be more strange than the

persistent heredity or atavism in cells. We can find a paral-

lel for these two opposing forces in the centrifugal and centri-

petal forces which keep the planets in their orbits. What

millions of ages must have elapsed since the ancestors of man

diverged from the primeval worm-like hermaphrodite form!

Yet not only do numerous organs survive in a more or less

rudimentary condition, pointing conclusively to this origin,

but there is every now and then a strange relapse to the her-

maphrodite condition. The branchial arches found in every

mammal with loops of blood-vessels running up to them point

to an ancestry less remote, yet for all that, almost unimagin-

ably far away in the past. The pineal gland deep hidden

under the immensely developed brain of man, still tells of a

third eye which could once look through an opening in the

skull. Anda small bone of the wrist, of no imaginable use to

any mammal at present, may be a survival of an amphibian

ancestor's sixth finger. So we may well believe that the faculty

of fresh word-making which is being killed out in our children

by the use of language ready-made in all around them is

capable of a sudden revival. No doubt many of my readers a

will recall from their own experience the power of coining

fresh words possessed by their children and the curious redu-

plication of syllables employed by them. We may conclude

that if miocene man did not coin fresh words for himself and

insist upon employing them as he chose, he was incapable of

doing what his young descendant can do every day.

With regard to the theory that abstract terms were the first

words used we have not only the objection that all abstract terms

used by us can be traced back to material objects and actions;

and the objection that no one could have understood ready-

made abstract terms without a miracle ; but the still stronger

argument that numberless savage and semi-savage peoples

cannot understand and do not use abstract terms to this day.

Even so simple an abstract idea as “tail” or “ tree” is beyond ee,

1892,] Mental Evolution in Man and Lower Animals. 597

the scope of their minds. Numerous instances of this fact are

given by Mr. Tylorin his Primitive Culture, but I will cite

some of those given by Mr. Romanes. “The Society Island-

ers have names for dog’s tail, bird’s tail, sheep’s tail, ete., but

no word for tail itself, i. e., tail in general. The Mohicans

have words to signify different kinds of cutting but no verb ‘to

eut;’ and forms for ‘I love him,’ ‘I love you, ete., but no

verb ‘to love;’ while the Choctaw’s have names for different

species of oak, but no name for the genus ‘oak.’ Again the

Australians have no name for tree or even for bird, fish, etc.,

and the Esquimau, although he has verbs which signify to

fish seal, to fish whale, etc., has not any verb ‘to fish.’ ‘Les

langues’ De’ Ponceau remarks ‘ généralisent rarement, and he

shows they have not even any verb to imply ‘I will’ or ‘I

wish,’ although they have separate verbal forms for ‘I wish to

eat meat,’ ‘I wish to eat soup;’ neither have they any noun

substantive which signifies ‘a blow,’ although they have a

variety which severally mean blows with as many different

kinds of instruments.” Similarly Mr. Crawford tells us “ the

Malay is very deficient in abstract words; and the usual train

of ideas of the people who speak it does not lead them to

make a frequent use even of those they possess. With this

poverty of the abstract is united a redundancy of the con-

crete,” and he gives many instances of the same kind as those

cited from other languages. So likewise we are told ‘the dia-

lect of the Yubes is rich in nouns denoting different objects of

the same genus, according to some variety of color or defi-

ciency of members or some other peculiarity, such as ‘ white

cow,’ ‘ brown cow,’ ‘red cow ;’ and the Sechuano has no fewer

than ten words all meaning ‘horned cattle.’ Cherokee pre-

sents thirteen different verbs to signify different kinds of wash-

ing without any to indicate washing itself. The Tasmanians

had no words representing abstract ideas; for each variety of

gum tree, wattle tree, etc., they had a name, but none for tree;

neither could they express abstract qualities, such as hard,

warm, soft, cold, long, short, round. A Kurd of the Yuga

tribe who gave Dr. Latham a list of native words was not able

598 The American Naturalist. [July,

to conceive of a hand or father except so far as they were

related to himself or.to someone else.”

In Prof. Duncan’s learned Analysis of the Cherokee Language

he confirms the view that savage tribes cannot express such

simple abstract terms as ‘ hand’ or ‘write.’ He says “ Human

language is not always or necessarily expressive ; it is some-

times merely suggestive. In the lower grades of social life the

words are generally few in number and limited in meaning.

Many of them can, indeed, hardly be called words; they are

more like unintelligible exclamations whose office it is not to

imprint an idea or a thought upon the apprehension of the

person addressed as do the words of a cultured tongue, but

rather to arrest the attention and direct it to the subject in

hand, leaving the desired impressions to arise in his mind as

the result of his observation and reflexion. In these rudimen-

tary tongues sentences are to be found in an embryonic state.

The Cherokee is not aware that his language contains any

word for hand; it is always ‘ äquayānē’ (my hand); that is

the idea of hand is always attended in expression with a con-

ception of the person to whom it belongs. Now if we should

resolve this word and assign to each idea its respective part it

would stand thus: ‘ Aqui ayiné’ (my hand), yet if these words

should pass under the eyes of a Cherokee he would doubtless

fail to recognize them and be apt to repudiate them as some-

thing foreign to his native vocabulary.

“While what we have said here is largely true in reference to

the nouns it is much more so as to the verbs. The Cherokee

never expresses the idea of an action except in connection

with that of the actor, and often of the person acted on. And

the adjective in expressing a quality seldom loses sight of the

object to which it belongs.” Speaking of the Cherokee word

signifying write Prof. Duncan says: “It is to be doubted

whether it was ever heard or written except in some such con-

glomeration of vocables as ‘ Wétséyawétlénétéyé,’ of which the

portion ‘ awal’ conveys the idea of writing or drawing.’” In

its abstract state the word would, however, be quite unintelli-

gible and requires combination with various pronouns, tense

‘AMERICAN NATURALIST, p. 775, September, 1889.

1892.] Mental Evolution in Man and Lower Animals. 599

and mode signs before it can be understood or used by a Cher-

okee.

It is not contended, of course, that a savage has no

general or abstract ideas because he may be incapable of

expressing them. Animals have general ideas which they

cannot express in language. And the savage who has no

name for trees would be extremely surprised if he saw one

standing on its tips with its roots in the air; one may be sure

he has a general idea of a tree, with its roots in the ground

and its tip towards the sky. In the same way the horses and

camels at Batoura which were inordinately terrified at the first

sight of a carriage and pair knew they saw something quite

fresh and unaccustomed, though they had no word for it.

And the horses and cattle which have grown accustomed to

trains have a general idea that the rushing, screaming, roar-

ing object is perfectly harmless, though they cannot say so.

Moreover they acquire this conviction from experience.

If, then, we can accept ontogeny as a guide in understand-

ing the primitive beginnings of human speech we may con-

clude that the steps consisted of screaming, varied in tone as

fear or anger was to be expressed; vague labials formed by

the passing of the air through the lips and gums; then labials

uttered with a distinct purpose, followed in many cases by

new words invented by the child for objects.. My efforts to induce

a child of my own to say “ milk” resulted in the invention of

the word “ningey ” for that article of diet, and the attempt to

teach two other children to say “nurse” resulted in the

christening of that functionary as “wo” and “nan,” respect-

ively ; in fact, the invention of a completely new word is as

easy for achild as it is notoriously difficult foran adult human

ing.

One of the most extraordinary boundaries that could have

been selected as the “ Rubicon of mind” has been fixed in

the possession of a verb which once expressing such simple

concrete ideas as “to stand,” “to breathe,” has acquired the

abstract signification “to be.” “If a brute could think ‘is’

brute and man would be brothers.” Here is the point where

instinct ends and reason begins. It is not possible to produce

600 The American Naturalist. [July,

a brute which can say “is” (whatever it may think), for the

simple reason that brutes do not employ articulate language.

But languages belonging to the highest ancient civilizations,

as “well as the languages of savages, have also no word for

“is.” Taking one instance only, the Coptic, it has been

observed! “what are called the auxiliary and substantive verbs

in Coptic are still more remote from all essential verbal char-

acter than the so-called verbal roots. On examination they

will almost always be found to be articles, pronouns, particles

or abstract nouns, and to derive their verbal functions entirely

from their accessories or from what they imply. In fact, any

one who examines a good Coptic grammar or dictionary will

find there is nothing formally corresponding with our ‘am,’

‘art, ‘is, ‘was? The Egyptians had, however, at least half

a dozen methods of rendering the Greek verb substantive

when they desired to do so.” Instead of saying ‘Petrus est,’

‘Maria est,’ ‘Homines sunt,’ it is quite sufficient and per-

fectly intelligible to say ‘ Petrus hic,’ ‘Maria hoce, ‘ Homines

hi.” Theabove forms, according to Champollion and other

investigators of ancient hieroglyphics, occur in the oldest

known monumental inscriptions, showing plainly that the

ideas of the ancient Egyptians as to the method of expressing

the category ‘to be’ did not accord with those of some mod-

ern grammarians..... Every Semitic scholar knows that

personal pronouns are employed to represent the verb sub-

stantive in all the known dialects, exactly as in Coptic, but

with less variety of modification. .... The phrase ‘ Ye are

the salt of the earth’ is in the Syriac version ‘ You they (i. e.,

the persons constituting) the salt of the earth. Nor is this

employment of the personal pronoun confined to the dialects

above specified, it. being equally found in Basque, in Gala,

in Turco-Turanian and various American languages "eee

“Malayan, Japanese and Malagassy grammarians talk of

words signifying to be; but an attentive comparison of the

elements which they profess to give as such, shows clearly that

they are no verbs at all but simply pronouns or indeclinable

particles commonly indicating the time, place or manner of

1Garrett on the Nature and Analysisof the Verb. Proc. Philo. Soc., Vol. iii.

‘

BF en 5 ty ge Seay

ie pee La oaa nea Bee

airhe eaa aay ee aN E SEE EG ARADO aD Beck BaP ge ON eens ee ee

1892.] Mental Evolution in Man and Lower Animals. 601

the specified action or relation. .. . A verb substantive such —

as is commonly conceived, vivifying all connected speech and

binding together the terms of every logical proposition, is much

upon a footing with the phlogiston of the chemists of the last

generation—voz et præterea nihil. . . . If a given subject be ‘I,’

‘thou,’ ‘he,’ ‘this,’, ‘that’ ‘one;’ if it be ‘here,’ ‘there,’

‘yonder,’ ‘thus, ‘in, ‘on, ‘at, ‘by;’ if .it bo ‘sits,’

‘ stands,’ ‘remains,’ or ‘appears’ we need no ghost to tell us

that it is, nor any grammarian or metaphysician to proclaim

that recondite fact in formal terms.”

It seems then that no more unfortunate point could have

been chosen than the use of the verb “to be” as constituting

the Rubicon of mind; it has only served to accumulate proofs

that there is no Rubicon in the sense of a distinct barrier

between the minds of men and animals, and that if a dividing

line be arbitrarily drawn it must be not between man and

brute, but between the lower animals, young children and

savages on the one hand and civilized man capable of true

abstract ideas on the other.

A young child has made a distinct step in advance when he

speaks of himself in the first person. But many tribes of

savages have never yet risen to this consciousness of the

“ego;” but for such an expression as “I will eat the rice” we

have recourse to the form “ The eating-of-me-the-rice.” *

If a child exclaims “black man” at the sight of a negro he

expresses the same idea that we do in saying “that man is

black ;” if he says “dit ki” (sister is crying), “dit dow ga”

(sister is down on the grass), “dat a big bow-wow” (that is a

large dog), he is implicitly predicating certain facts and form-

ing certain judgments precisely as if he formally used the

copula. “The child perceives a certain fact and states the per-

ception in words in order to communicate information of the

acts to other minds, just as an animal under similar circum-

stances will employ a gesture or vocal sign.” A cat cannot

express in words the ideas “my kitten is shut in a drawer;

‘Malayan and Polynesian Languages. Mental Evolution of Man, p. 313.

*See p. 208, Mental Evolution of Man.

` 42

602 The American Naturalist. [July,

you can take it out if you come;” but she can eloquently

express her meaning by vocal signs and gestures.

Another clue to the evolution of language may be found in

the sign language of educated deaf-mutes and its grammat-

ical construction. The deaf-mute does not make the statement

“bring a black hat,” but “hat black bring ;” not “I am hun-

gry, give me bread,” but “hungry, me bread give.” The

Abbé Sicard says: “A pupil to whom I put this question,

‘who made God?’ replied ‘God made nothing.’ I was accus-

tomed to this inversion usual amongst the deaf and dumb,

and I went on to ask him ‘who made the shoe?’ and he

answered, ‘the shoe made the shoemaker.’ Laura Bridgman

would spell on her fingers ‘that door, ‘give book,’ which she

had been taught, but when she made sentences for herself she

reverted to the usual deaf-and-dumb system, ‘Laura bread

give, ‘water drink Laura, to express her wish to eat or

rink.

Mr. Tylor says: “The gesture language has no grammar

properly so-called; it knows of no inflections of any kind

more than the Chinese. The same sign stands for ‘ walk,’

‘walkest,’ ‘ walking,’ ‘ walked,’ ‘walker.’ Adjectives and verbs

are not readily distinguished by the deaf-and-dumb. ‘ Horse,

‘black,’ ‘ handsome,’ ‘ trot,’ ‘canter,’ would be the rough trans-

lation of the signs by which a deaf-mute would state that a

handsome, black horse trots and canters. The deaf-mute

strings together the signs of the various ideas he wishes to

connect, in what appears to be the natural order in which

they follow one another in his mind, for it is the same among

the mutes in different countries, and is wholly independent of

the syntax which may happen to belong to the language of

their speaking friends.

With regard to the sign language of Indians Mr. Tylor

says: “There is no doubt that the Indian pantomine is not

merely capable of expressing a few simple notions, but that to

the uncultured savage, with his few and material ideas, it is a

very fair substitute for his scanty vocabulary.” Forty-three

examples of this gesture language are given, collected by Mr.

Pehoff, as occurring between Indians of different tribes. Colo-

1892.] Mental Evolution in Man and Lower Animals. | 603

nel Mallery in his Dictionary of Indian Signs observes: “The

sign language of the Indians, and the gesture system of deaf-

mutes, and of all peoples, constitute together one language—

the gesture speech of mankind—of which each system is a

dialect.”

In Italy the power of expression by pantomine is particu-

larly strongly developed, and whole plays are carried out

through the use of gestures alone, and are thoroughly enjoyed

by the people. Even in England, where gestures are less used

than in any other country, one is astonished at the number of

ideas which we can, and do, express by gestures. Knowing

the strong influence of atavism, it is a legitimate deduction

from the world-wide prevalence of gesture language that ges-

tures formed an important part of the original means of com-

munication between human beings, and if we are to judge

from ontogeny, preceded the imitation of sounds in nature and

the arbitrary invention of words, and developed pari parsu

with the original howls and shrieks of primitive man. Tribes

still exist whose words are unintelligible without the aid of

gesture, and who are unable to carry on a conversation in the

dark.

Researches into the mental faculties of civilized children

and uncivilized men, as well as into the mental faculties of

the highest animals, such as the elephant, the monkey and the

dog, show, as was said at the beginning of this article, a dif-

ference of degree but not of kind. Immense is the distance

between the mind of a Shakespeare or a Newton and the mind

of a Hottentot. But the distance is also immense between the

green scum, the one-celled alga of our ponds and ditches and

the lordly oak ; yet each belongs to the vegetable kingdom,

and there is no break in the innumerable forms which fill up

the wide space between the pond scum and the oak.

With regard to the theory that language is a divine gift

from the very beginning bestowed upon man and denied to

the lower animals, some light is thrown by the condition of

what may be called ‘relapsed man;’ those cases where chil-

dren have either been reared by and with wild animals or

604 The American Naturalist. [July,

have run into the woods when’ young and managed to sur-

vive.

An instance recently occurred on Mount Pindus, in Thes-

saly. The warden of the King’s forest on Mount Pindus was

strolling up to a shepherd’s hut whilst on a shooting expedi-

tion, to procure a drink of milk. He heard a rustling in the

bushes, and was raising his gun when the shepherd called out

to him not to shoot. He saw a naked creature in the form of

a man running in front of him, sometimes on its feet, more

often on all fours. It reached the hut and began eagerly suck-

ing up the buttermilk out of a trough into which cheeses had

been pressed. The shepherds said the child was a Wallach-

ian by birth. His father died, and his mother, distributing

her children amongst her neighbors, went back to her own

country. This boy had escaped into the woods and had kept

himself alive there for four years. In the summer he drank

buttermilk daily and ‘lived well;’ in the winter he took shel-

ter in the caves and eat herbs and roots. The warden, pitying

the child, bade the shepherds catch and bind him witha rope

and then took him to his home at Trikala. Here he fed and

clothed his little Orson, and placed him with a person who

endeavored to teach him to talk, or kept the child when

possible under his own charge. But the boy has never learned

to speak a word, though he imitates the voices of many wild

creatures. The same inability to speak has been shown in

the cases of other ‘wild’ children found in India, collected

by Colonel Sleeman, the able officer who helped to suppress

thuggism. In a district near the Goomtee River in the

Province of Oude, wolves are never killed by the villagers

from a fear of the ill-luck which their death might bring

upon the village, and wolves consequently abound. A native

trooper saw a large she-wolf leave her den, followed by three

whelps and a little boy, all on their way to the river to

drink. When chased by the trooper they all escaped to

their den, the boy running on all-fours as fast as the young

wolves. The whole party was dug out; the wolves were dug

~ out and bolted; the boy was caught, bound with a rope, and

1See Spectator, Jan. 9th, 1892.

1892.] Mental Evolution in Man and Lower Animals. 605

after four days sent to an English officer, Captain Nicholetts.

He was kindly treated, but he never learned to speak; he

would fly at children and try to bite them, and ran to eat his

food on all-fours. But he was friendly with a pariah dog, and

would let him share his food. He would suck up a whole

pitcher of milk. He never laughed or smiled, destroyed all

his clothes, and in two years and a half ended his short life

of piteous degradation, speaking once or twice as he la

dying, the words for water and aching head. Another child,

caught in the same neighborhood, was even more savage, and

would only eat raw flesh, on which he put his hands as a dog

puts its fore-feet. His knees and knuckles were quite hard

with running on all-fours. He was quite untamable, and at

last lived in the village street with the pariah dogs, going

every night into the jungle. A third boy, caught at Hasan-

pur, exhibited the same characteristics, his favorite playmates

being the jungle wolves, which would caper round him and

lick him. In all these cases the characteristics of relapsed

man are the same; he walks and runs well on all-fours, can-

not be taught to speak, lives on raw food, and drinks by suc-

tion, as a horse or cow drinks.

Now if language be a God-given endowment exempt from

the usual laws of evolution, a wild boy with uninjured brain

should be able to learn to speak readily; indeed, he should be

- able to evolve some form of speech by himself. If, however,

articulate speech is the result of long ages of evolution from

- speechless ancestors we can understand that the centre for

articulate speech in the human brain requires stimulating and

cultivating from early infancy; and if not so stimulated and

cultivated will fail to exercise a faculty acquired comparatively

late in the evolution of the species. With regard to other

characteristics, every little child goes on all-fours, and not like

any other animals, on the toes or soles of the feet, but on the

knees. And every infant at first tries to “drink like a calf,”

putting its mouth into a cup to suck up the milk, and only

slowly learning to drink from the edge.

It seems to me that the weight of evidence afforded by facts

is in favor of the hypothesis that the human mind has fol-

606 The American Naturalist. [July,

lowed the laws of evolution like everything else we know of

in the universe; and that the apparent abyss between the

intellect of man and that of the lower animals lies, as I have

said before, in the nature of the organ which has been

specially evolved in Homo sapiens.

1892.] Recent Books and Pamphlets. 607

RECENT BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

Abstract Proceedings Delaware Valley Ornithological Club of Philadelphia,

1890 and 189

Acassiz, A.—Calamocrinus diomedæ, a new Stalked Crinoid. Memoirs Mus.

Comp. Zool. Harvard College, Vol. XVII, No. 2, 1892.

— General Sketch of the Expedition of the “ Albatross ” from February to May,

1891. Bull. Mus. Comp, Zool. Harvard College, Vol. XXIII, No. 1, 1892. From

the author.

BETHUNE, G. A.—Mines and Minerals of Washington. From the Tacoma

Acad. Science (Annual Report of the State Geologist for 1890)

BopINGTON, A.—Strange Phenomena of Reproduction in Ficus roxburghii. Extr.

Internatl. Jour. Micros. and Nat. Sci., Oct., 1891. From the author.

B L.—Tobacco, Insanity and Nervousness. St. Louis, 1892. From the

author.

Bull. of the United States Geological Survey, No. 82,1891. From the Smith-

sonian Institution.

Bull. No. 15 Iowa Agricultural Station, Ames, Iowa.

Catalogos de la Flora y la Fauna del Estado de Oaxaca, 1891.

CHAPMAN, F. M.—A Preliminary Study of the Grackles of the Subgenus Quisca-

lus. Ext. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. IV, No. 1. From the author

Cinquiéme Congrès Géologique International, Washington, 1891. Proces-

Verbaux yt Séances.

CLARKE, W. H.—The Civil Service Law, second edition, 1891. From the author.

DALL, W. H,—Tertiary Molluscs of Florida. Ext. Trans. Wagner Free Inst.,

Vol. 1. From the Institute.

Dawson, W. J.—Notes on Prehistoric Man in Egypt and the Lebanon. London,

1886. From the author.

De Vis, C. W.—Remarks on Post-Tertiary Phascolomyidz ; The Incisors of Scep-

arnodon; In Confirmation of = —, hoon so-called. Ext. Proceeds. Lien.

Soc. N. S. W., Vol. VI, 2d seri F

yan S. G.—Apparatus for okai Water for Bacteriological Examination.

Ext. The 1 and Register, Oct., 1891.

Address before the State Board of Health of Pennsylvania, 1891.

From the i

Drxon, S. G. and W. S. ZUILL.—Reaction of the Amide Group upon the Wasting

Animal PETEA Ext. Times and Register, Sept. and Oct., 1891, and Feb., 1892.

From t t

ALDSON, H. H.—Anatomical Observations on the Brain and Several Sense-

of the Blind Deaf-Mute, Laura Dewey Bridgman. Ext. Am. Jour. Hae

Vol. III, 1890, and Vol. IV, 1891. From the author :

DonaLpson, H. W. and T. L. BoLtoNn.—The Size of Several Cranial Nerves in

Man as Indicated by the Areas of Their Cross Sections. Ext. Amer. Jour. Psych.,

Vol. IV, 1891. From the authors.

608 The American Naturalist. [July,

EIGENMANN, C, H.—On the Precocious Segregation of the Sex Cells in Microme-

trus seii Gibbons. Ext. Jour. Morph., Vol. V, No. 38. From the author

Fe—Short Notes on Some Cansdlan Minerals. Ext. Canadian Rec-

ord a Dec., 1891. From the a

First Annual Report of the pe Committee of Fifty fora New Philadel-

phia. Jan. Ist, 1892. From F. B. Reev

Fourth Annual Report of the Marine l Laboratory, 1891. From the

Trustees.

Francis, M.—Liver Flukes. Bull. No. 18, Texas Agri. Exp. Station, 1891. From

the Station.

Gace, S. H.—Life pies of the Vermilion Spotted Newt. Ext. Am. NAT.,

Dec., 1891. me the a

AUR, Dee Cécalanhinge am Mitteldarm w UA Uber den

Conus arteriosus pie Fische. Ext. Morphologische gon No

OE F.—Über mE Miilhausen, "hoe Pe the author.

Hise, C. R. vAN.—The Iron Ores of the Mar s uette Diaa of Michigan. Ext

Amer. Jour. a val XLIII, 1892. From the a

Horn, H. G.—-Variations of Color akaa of Coleoptera. Ext. Proceeds.

Pik Sect. Phila, Aca., Feb., 1892. From the author.

IVES —Reptiles and fo es from Northern Yucatan and Mexico. Ext.

Pidededs, ‘Phila. Acad., 1891, p

JAEKEL, O.—Die Selachier aus ae Oberen Muschelkalls Lothringens. Abhand-

lungen zur Geolog. Specialkarte von Elsass Lothringen. Band III, Hept. IV, 1889.

——Ueber Kelehdecken, von Crinoiden und Keichds cke von Ex tracrinus ges

Blumenb. sp. (= Pentacrinus briareus Miller), Sonder abdruck aus No. er

Sitzungs-Berichte der Gesellschaft naturforsch. Freunde Jarhg., 1891.

——Ueber Fossile Ichthyodorulithe en. Ueber Phaneropleuron und Hemistenodus

n. gen. Ibid, Jahrg., 1891.

—Referate über die in den letzen Jahren erschienenen Arbeiten über Pleuracan-

thiden. Ueber mikroskopische Untersuchungen in Gebiet der Paleontologie, Neun

Jahrbuch fiir Mineral. Geolog. und P;

——Ueber Holopocriniden mit besonderer Berlicksichti igung der Stramberger

Abdruck a. d. Zeitschr. d. Deutsch Geolog. Gesellschaft, Band XLIII, Heft

ry “01. 8, From the author.

Jastrow, J.—Address before the Section of Anthropology, A. A. A. S., August,

pets Ext. Proceeds. A. A. A. S,, Vol. XL, 1891. From eg autho

iste Génerale des Membres. Congrés Géologique forain, Washington,

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LYDEKKER, R.—On a Collection of beppe Bones from Mongolia. Ext.

pa Geil. Surv. India, Vol. XXIV, part 4, 1891. From the author.

Maj . J. F.—Le Gisement ET A de Mitylene. Lausanne, 1892. From the

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MERCERAT, A.—Sobre la Presencia de Restos de Monos en el Eóceno de Patago-

nia. Estracto Revista del Mus. de La Plata, Tomo II, 1891. From the au

Morcan, T. H.—The Growth and Metamorphosis of Tornaria. Ext. fr

Morph., Vol. V, No. 3. From the author.

Paquin, P.—The Supreme Passions of Man. Little Blue Book Pub. Co., 1891.

From the Publishers,

3

1892,] Recent Books and Pamphlets. 609

maa’ of the American Society of Naturalists. Vol. I, part 9.

ps, S. N.—The nae Habits of the Florida Burrowing Owl. Ext. The

fra Vol. Ix, 1892. From the author.

SCLA’ . L.—List of sehen’ in ibe Indian Museum. Calcutta, 1891. From

the Eo

TT, W. B.—On the Osteology of Poebrotherium. A contribution to the Phyl-

ogeny of the wh Ext. Jour. Morph., Vol. V, No. 1. From the author.

SHUFELDT, R. W.—Concerning the Taxonomy of the North American Pygopodes,

based upon their hae Ext. Jour. Anat. and Physiol., Vol. XXVI. From the

author. i

SWINGLE, W. T.—Treatment of Smuts of Oats and Wheat. Farmers Bull. No. 5,

U. S. Dept. Agri., 1892. From the author.

TAYLOR, M. C.—The Art of Putting Things. Tacoma, Wash., 1892. From the

author.

Thirteenth and Fourteenth Annual Record of the North Carolina Agri. Exper.

Station, 1890 and 1891.

ENR M.—Sur une Phtiriase du cuir chevelu, causée, chez un enfant d

cinq mois, par le Phtirius inguinalis. Ext. Comptes Rendus, Dec., 1891. From dia

author.

WHITEAVES, J. F. e En of a New Species of Panenka from the Cornif-

erous prany of Onta

n the Oiio of Paucispiral Opercula of hoa in the Guelph

Slee: ie Ontario. Ext. Can. Rec. Sci., Dec., 1891. m thea

Winstow, A.—A Preliminary Report on the Coal Depost of eesse Pub-

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610 The American Naturalist. [June,

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY.'

The Basalt of Stempel.—Bauer’s’ description of the basalt of

Stempel, near Marburg, and its concretions and inclusions is one of

the most excellent pieces of petrographical work that has appeared in

a long time. A favorable opportunity has enabled the author to secure

a splendid suite of specimens of this rock so noted for its beautiful

zeolites. It consists of the usual constituents of basalt, viz.: plagio-

clase, augite and olivine in a groundmass of augite and feldspar

microlites in a base of glass. The plagioclase is andesine without

peculiar characteristics. The augite is also without special features

except that it is frequently zonally developed, with a dark-green ker-

nel and brown-colored coats, in which the extinction decreases from 48°

to 36°. The olivine is so well bounded by crystal planes that the rela-

tions of the shapes of the cross-sections to the crystallographic axes

have been well worked out. Twins parallel to PX are not uncommon.

The liquid inclusions, upon careful study, are found to differ from

those of the olivine of the concretions (Knollen), and the glass inclu-

sions are learned to have a different composition from the glass form-

ing the groundmass of the rock. One of the most interesting features

of the rock is the occurrence of amygdaloidal cavities, coated within

by a layer of glass, whose limits are sharply defined. Sometimes a —

partition of this glass divides a cavity into two, and occasionally sev-

eral concentric partitions give rise to a series of chambers that are

strikingly like the chambers in Idding’s lithophysae. The olivine

bombs included in the rock consist largely of bronzite and chrome-

diopside grains cemented by olivine substance. The bronzite is pres-

ent in two varieties, one an almost opaque greenish-brown kind, and

the other a transparent olive-green variety. Picotite is also present

quite abundantly in grains and aggregates of grains in most of the

bombs. The effect of the action of the rock magma upon its inclu-

sions is seen in the granulation of the pyroxenes, and the effect of the

material of the bombs upon the magma is shown in the presence of micro-

lites of hypersthene in the veins of the rock that ramify the bombs.

Since the minerals of the bombs contain characteristic inclusions not

common to lherzolitic rocks, and since, moreover, the olivine and bron-

zite are sometimes found in forms never seen in lherzolite, the author

1Edited by Dr. W. S. Bayley, Colby University, Waterville, Me.

2Neues Jahrb, f. Min., etc., 1891, ii, p. 156.

1892.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 611

concludes that these bodies are not inclusions torn from a deep-seated

basic rock as is sometimes thought, but that they are concretions of the

basic minerals of the basalt, formed during the intratellurial period of

its magma’s history. Another interesting feature of the Stempel

occurrence is the abundance and variety of true inclusions found

therein. These are limestone, quartz, feldspar and amphibolite frag-

ments and others torn from a cordierite rock. The limestone has pro-

duced but little effect upon the surrounding rock other than rendering

its texture coarser by increasing the size of its feldspathic constituents.

The limestone itself has suffered little change. The quartz fragments

are all surrounded by rimsof green augite crystals, and in their inter-

ior they are filled with swarms of cavities either empty or filled with

liquid. Sandstone inclusions now consist of grains of quartz, cemented

by a glass that has originated in the fusion of the cement of the origi-

nal rock. This glass sometimes contains trichites and magnetite grains,

when it is colorless; sometimes it is devoid of them and is colored

brown. The glass cement also frequently contains drops of glass that

differ from the enclosing material in that it dissolves readily in hydro-

chloric acid, while the latter is unaffected by this reagent. The inclu-

ded substance is regarded as the pure glass produced by the solution

of the cement of the sandstone, while the insoluble variety is that to

which silica has been added by the corrosion of the quartz grains.

The finer grained sandstones have yielded basalt-jasper. In their

glassy constituent are numerous crystals of apatite that are similar in

most of their properties with the nepheline and cordierite crystals

observed by Zirkel in some of the basalt-jaspers described by him.

The orthoclase inclusions are penetrated by tiny veins of glass. Both

the feldspar and the glass contain small violet octahedra of some

spinel and blue pleochroic needles of glaucophane, while tridymite

plates occur in the latter substance. An aggregate of orthoclase and

ioclase contains flecks of green glass between the grains that is

thought to be fused mica, while the feldspar is filled with sillimanite

needles. The other inclusions present features that are worthy of

notice, but they cannot be described in the present place. The article

will well repay the reader for its perusal.

The Crystalline Rocks of Tammela, Finland.—The archean

rocks in the vicinity of Tammela, in the South-western part of Fin-

land, are crystalline schists, granites, gabbros, porphyrite and vitro-

phyres. A gray granite, Sederholm’ thinks, is closely related to the

1Min. u. Petrog. Mitth., xii, p. 97.

612 The American Naturalist. [July,

gabbros and diorites of the region, which appear as though basic

separations from the same magma as that yielding the granite. The

most abundant rock is a muscovite granite. Next in importance is a

uralite-porphyrite, whose uralitic phenocrysts are complete pseudo-

morphs of augite. All the constituents of the rock show much alter-

ation. The plagioclase is changed to epidote and zoisite, and between

the secondary products of this mineral are newly formed plagioclase

and hornblende, and in addition there are frequently accumulations of

biotite, whose form leads to the supposition that they are pseudomorphs

after olivine. In its original condition this rock was probably a basalt.

A plagioclase-porphyrite, an amygdaloid and glassy rocks with the

composition of an acid basalt also occur in the region. Tufas accom-

panied the outflow of basalt, but in this as in the other rocks described

the character of the original substance has been greatly obscured by

alteration. In discussing the cause of the chemical changes that have

been effected, the author ascribes the most powerful action to water in

connection with pressure. Many of the rocks show evidences of

dynamo-metamorphism. A schistosity has been superinduced in nearly

all of the types, but the crushing and breaking of grains that are such

striking phenomena in most instances of this kind, are here absent.

The pressure exerted its influence principally in increasing the solvent

power of the water. Very little change in the chemical composition

of the rocks has resulted from the alteration, in spite of the fact that

their mineralogical composition has been totally changed.

Petrographical Notes.—The breccias and porphyries of Pilot

Knob, Mo., have repeatedly been stated to be metamorphised frag-

mentals. Haworth? has examined their relations to other rocks and

has carefully studied their thin sections with the result that they are

pronounced by him true eruptives, the latter, quartz-porphyries,

exhibiting flowage structure, and other evidences of having once been

liquid, and the former, porphyry breccias, with fragments of porphyry

cemented by a groundmass that was once a fluid volcanic lava.——

Cordierite-bearing chiastolite schists are briefly mentioned by Klemm*

as forming part of the contact belt of the Lausitz granite at Dubring,

and dykes of hornblende-porphyrite as cutting the granite at this

place and at Schmerlitz, in Saxony——lIn a brief communication

Kemp’ speaks of the existence of several dykes of a very much altered

1Bull. No. 5, Geol. Surv. of Mo., p. 5.

*Zeits. d. d. Geol. Ges., xliii, 1891, p. 526.

3Amer. Jour. Sci., Nov., 1891, p. 410.

1892.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 613

peridotite in the Portage sandstones near Ithaca, N. Y. In a horn-

blende-andesite inclusion in the Capucin trachyte Lacroix’ finds one

cavity containing magnetite, biotite, fayalite and hypersthene—a dif-

ferent association of minerals from that in any other cavity. The

most interesting of these minerals is the fayalite, which occurs in tiny

crystals with a golden yellow color, due to a ferruginous pigment.

Mineralogical News.—A series of new analyses of amarantite

from the Mina de la Campania, near Sierra Corda, Chile, give: SO, =

35.46; Fe,O, = 37.46; K,O = 11; .Na,O = 59; HO = 28.29,

corresponding to Fe, 8,0, + 7H,O. The mineral has a specific grav-

ity of 2.286, and at 110° it loses three molecules of water. Its axial

ratio as ag by Penfield’ is a : 6: ¢ = .7692: 1 : .5738 with

a == 95° 38’ 16”; p = 90° 23’ 42”,7 = 97° 13’ 4”, and 2Ena =

63° 3’. ti ssctions parallel to the trachy-pinacoid the extinction is

16°-17° in acute £. Sideronatrite from the same place occurs in fine

orange or straw-yellow fibres, with orthorhombic symmetry (not mon-

oclinic as Raimondi asserts). Its density is 2.355. A mean of sev-

eral analyses yielded :

SO, FeO, NaO H,O

44.22 21.77 16.39 arose, SO, Fe, 8,0, + 7H,0.

The mineral suffers a loss of four molecules of water at 110°. Asso-

ciated with sideronatrite are little white masses composed of a sub-

stance with hexagonal optical properties. It is positive with o —

1.558, « = 1.613 for doo light. Its density — 2.547-2.578, and its

composition is: H,O = 11.89; SO, = 51.30; Fe O, = 17.30: tet

= 19,68 + KO == cas T6, corresponding to 3Na, SO,, Fe,(SO,), +

6H,0. With these analyses are also given those of a pieropharmaco-

lite from Joplin, Mo., of pitticite from the Clarissa Mine, Utah, of

gibbsite from Chester Co., Pa., and of atacamite from Chile. The

analysis of the first mentioned mineral leads to the formula (H, Ca

Mg), As, O, + 6H,O. The pitticite gave: H,O = 17.64; As,O, =

39.65; Fe,O, = 33.89 = 4Fe,(As O,),. Fe(OH), + 20H,O. The

mineral is not a mixture of the sulphate and arsenate of iron as is the

German variety. No definite conclusion was reached as to the compo-

sition of the gibbsite other than that it is a hydrous aluminum phos-

phate.——Though columbite has been known to exist in the Black

1Bull. Soc. Franc., d. Min., xiv, p. 10.

2Zeits. f. Kryst., xviii, p. 585.

614 The American Naturalist. [July,

Hills in Dakota for some six years past, the first accurate account of

its occurrence and of its composition has but just been communicated

by Mr. Headden.' The mineral together with tantalite is often pres-

ent in the stream tin of the hills. It is also found imbedded in beryl

at the Etta Mine and associated with other minerals at the various

other mines in the district. Fourteen analyses of crystals obtained

from the different localities are given. Some of these correspond with

the formula 3R Cb,O, + 2R Ta,O,, with R = Fe, Mn, As the den-

sity of the mineral becomes greater the proportion of tantalum to

columbium increases, passing from 1:6 to 1 : 14; thus indicating

that columbite and tantalite are isomorphous substances. Analyses

follow: I. Turkey Creek, Col.; II. Yolo Mine, S. Dak.; III. Tanta-

lite, associated with stream tin at the Grizzly Bear Gulch, S. Dak.;

IV. Manganiferous columbite, from Advance Claim, 14 miles S. of

Etta Mine.

Cb,O, Ta,O, SnO, WO, FeO MnO CaO Sp. Gr.

d ADAD 2274 ak CILIA TABQ). O40. Ok. 6.886

II. 24.40 57.60 Al 14.46 2.55 .73 6.592

Il. 3.57 82.23 32 12.67 1.83 8.200

IV. 47.22 34.27 32 1.89 16.25 6.170

Mr. Headden’s results are interesting as indicating the widespread

occurrence of these two rare minerals in the Black Hills region, and

his paper is valuable for the great number of analyses contained in it.

Laspeyres’ has reexamined the saynite (of V. Kobell) from Grube

Griineau, in Kirchen on the Sieg, in Germany, where the mineral

occurs in crystals. He finds it to be a mixture of polydymite with

other sulphides, as he declared it to be some time since. Ullmanite

crystals from Siegen, in the same neighborhood, are described as con-

sisting of cubes with striations parallel to the pyritoid edge, or of

cubes, dodecahedrons and octahedrons combined with more complica-

ted forms, among which are many parallel hemihedral ones. Its erys-

tallization thus corresponds with that of the Sardinian Ullmanite

described by Klein.’ A rare chance was also afforded Laspeyres for

the study of the crystallization of wolfsbergite, from Wolfsberg, in the

Harz. The new crystals obtained by him are tabular parallel to oP,

1Amer. Jour. Sci., Feb., 1891, p. 89.

*Zeits. f. Kryst, xix, 1891, p. 417.

5Neus. Jahrb. f. Min. etc., 1883, i, p. 180 and 1887, ii, p. 169.

1892.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 615

and have the macro-zone more highly developed than the brachy-zone.

They show clearly that Groth is correct in regarding the mineral as

isomorphous with amplectite, scleroclase and zincenite. The axial

ratio, calculated from pyramidal faces that gave good reflections, is

a@:b:c¢ = 5283: 1: .6234. The little-known members of the

mesotype group on the Puy-de-Dém have recently been described by

Gonnard' in some detail as regards localities. An analysis of the nat-

rolite from the Puy-de-Maman yielded: SiO, = 48.03; AI,O, =

26.68; Na,O = 15.61; H,O = 9.62; and that of the Tour de Gev-

illat gave: SiO, = 47.88; Al,O, = 26.12; Na,O = 15.63; CaO =

: The same author’ has made a crystallographic

study of the hadties of the Puy-de-Dém. All crystals of this substance

are beautifully modified but none show new forms. A peculiarly hab-

ited aragonite from the Neussargnes Tunnel, Cantal, containsthe new

forms Pz% and $P. The investigation of the nature of the nitro-

gen Gindi in uraninite, promised some time ago, has been continued

by Hillebrand‘ without, however, very great success. The most care-

ful analyses of specimens from Glastonbury, Ct., and from Arendal,

Norway, yield respectively :

UO, UO, ThO, ete. PhO CaO HO N Fe,0, er at T sg

23.03 59.93 11.10 3.08 IF .43 241 .29

26.80 44.18 13.87 10.95 .61 undet. 1.24 .24 » =

The principal result of the analyses is to the effect that all uraninite

contains more or less nitrogen, sometimes amounting to as much as

24%. The condition in which the element exists is unknown, but it is

probably different from any hitherto observed in the mineral kingdom.

Another result indicated is that the formulas that have been accepted

as expressing the composition of the mineral do not do so. Specimens

from many of the classical localities have been analyzed, and in nearly

every case errors have been detected in the original analyses. The

author concludes that while uraninite in general contains the same

constituents, it varies widely in composition, and its physical character-

„istics are often as distinct as are the chemical differences.——The

keramohalite from Pico de Teyde, in the Canary Isles, is in little imper-

fectly developed crystals imbedded in a yellowish white hygroscopic

‘Bull. Soc. Franç. d. Min., 1891, xiv, p. 165.

*Ib., xiv, p: 174.

3Ib., xiv, p. 183.

*Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey, No. 78, p. 43.

616 The American Naturalist. [July,

granular mass, in the neighborhood of solfataras. The soluble sub-

stance extracted from this mass by Hof? gave:

SO, AlO, FeO, FeO CaO MgO Na,O H,O

38.62 13.96 94 .66 22 04 2.37 42.01

The form of the crystals as determined by Becke’ is tabular parallel

to © Pa. They have a weak negative double refraction. The axis

of mean elasticity is inclined 48° to œ Po, and that of the least elas-

ticity 13° to +Po. The crystallization is ‘inbnndlinis with a: b:¢=

? : 825 2 = 97° 34’——In the druses of a massive garnet used as

a flux in the copper smelters at Kedobek, Caucasia, are found crystals

of garnet that rival in beauty the famous Tyrol varieties. They are

bounded by the forms 202, œ O and occasionally 303, and all the

faces are brilliant. Their color is wine to honey-yellow and their com-

position? is represented by :

SiO, CaO AlO, FeO, Loss :

39.12 85.84 2273 1.76 15 Ca Al,(i0,),

—— According to Branner* inexhaustible beds of beauxite occur near

Little Rock and Benton, Ark., that are supposed to be genetically

related in some way with eruptive granites. The material is pisolitic

in structure. The composition of one variety as shown by a partial

analysis is:

ALO, SiO, FeO, TiO, Loss

55.64 10.38 195 3.50 27.62

The handsome calcite’ twins from Guanajuato, Mexico, that have

been known for some time, are usually the scalenohedron R°, twinned

parallel to —?R. Corresponding pairs of faces on each individual are

so developed that their combination has a monoclinic habit, resembling

strongly the swallow-tailed twins of gypsum. The forms recognized in

the crystals are mentioned in the paper and six figures accompany it.

1Min. u. Petrog., Mitth. xii, p. 39.

*Ib., p. 45.

3Müller : Neues. Jahrb. f. Min., etc., 1891, i, p. 272.

4Amer. Geologist, vii, 1891, p. 181.

5Pirsson: Amer. Jour. Sci., Jan., 1891, p. 61.

1892.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 617

Frenzel’ has made a new analysis of gordaite and has found it to

be identical with ferronatrite, while Arzruni has examined its crystals

and declares them to be rhombohedral with a: c =1 : 55278. C.

Schneider’ gives good analyses of six basaltic hornblendes, all of

which contain over 4% of TiO,.

IZeits. f. Kryst., xviii, p. 595.

*Zeits. f. Kryst., xviii, p. 579.

618 The American Naturalist. [July,

ZOOLOGY.

Temperature and Color in Lepidoptera.—At the meeting,

March 24, 1892, of the South London Entomological and Natural

History Society, Mr. F. Merrifield exhibited examples of Selenia illus-

traria, S. illunaria, S. lunaria, Vanessa urtice, Platypteryx falcataria,

Chelonia caia, Bombyx quercus and var. callune, to illustrate the

effects of temperature on these species. He prefaced his remarks by

referring to the experiments of Weismann and Edwards which were

made on seasonally dimorphic species, and said that his results were

consistent with those of these gentlemefi; but he went further than

they did, and he found that by subjecting the pups to certain temper-

atures he invariably, in the majority of specimens, obtained certain

results, a lower temperature generally producing darker and more

intense colors than higher temperatures. In illustraria, a brood

divided into two portions, and one placed at a temperature of about

80°, produced normal specimens, while the other portion, placed at

50° or 60° were strikingly darker in color. The same results, but in

less degree, were obtained with other forms. In V. urticæ some of the

examples closely approached var. polaris, the specimens exposed to the

lower temperature being generally darker and the blue crescents more

intense in color. In conclusion Mr. Merrifield said that a temperature

of 47° seemed to stunt the size and produced a large proportion of

cripples, and higher temperatures than this seemed more conducive to

health and vigor. It had been suggested that the results he obtained

were attributed to the unhealthy conditions to which the pupz were

exposed, but this was not at all a correct explanation; in the 172 spec-

mens he exhibited 150 were not cripples. Extreme temperatures pro-

duced crippling, but moderate temperatures were quite sufficient to

account for the extreme difference in coloring. Mr. Fenn said he had

since 1859 paid great attention to the earlier stages of Lepidoptera,

and he assumed that variation was either natural or artificial.

Natural variation might again be divided into three nearly equal

causes: heredity, moisture and natural selection. In artificial selection

the causes might generally be said to be abnormal or diseased. By

disease he meant a general weakening of the constitution by unnatural

influences; the least deviation from natural conditions might produce

variation. Mr. Fenn had had considerable experience in breeding E.

autumnaria, one of the species relied on, and in the series he exhibited

a

a

an

k

.

i

a

E

ig

"g

ia

1892.] Zoology. 619

there were many paler and many darker than any shown by Mr.

Merrifield; and the larve and pupx had been kept under usual

conditions, and the greater proportion of them followed the parent

forms. In conclusion he said that such variation as was shown by

Mr. Merrifield was impossible in nature except as a result of disease.

Several gentlemen continued the discussion, Mr. Tutt following Mr.

Fenn in attributing the variation to disease, and saying that to a large

extent it was caused by preventing the proper development and forma-

tion of the coloring pigment. He thought the action of temperature

indirect, producing variation by interfering with the normal develop-

ment. Mr. Merrifield agreed with many of Mr. Fenn’s observations

and thought most of them consistent with his own experiments. In

any case he thought that in the species studied by him the temperature

was so moderate as not to interfere with health, and yet it produced,

with great uniformity, considerable differences in color. In some

other species no considerable changes were produced unless the tem-

perature was so extreme as to produce crippling or imperfect develop-

ment.—(Entom. Monthly Magazine.)

A Curious Compound Ascidian.—In a current number of a

Japanese zoological journal,’ Mr. A. Oka, now of Freiburg, i | Br.,

Germany, describes an interesting phenomenon in the life of a com-

pound Ascidian, Diplosoma, which he collected some years ago at

Misaki, Japan. As an examination of the accompanying diagram

will show, the esophagus of each indi-

vidual Ascidian is divided into two

branches (o and 0”), each branch ter-

minating in one branchial basket (b’

and b”) respectively. The branchial

basket indicated by the dotted line (b”)

is old, while the other basket (b’) is

young and functional. On the other

side of the cwesophagus is represented a

young bud (0) which, when fully un-

folded, becomes a functional branchial

apparatus, and takes the place of (b’); the oldest basket (b”) having

disappeared by that time. Various intermediate stages indicating this

state of transition have been observed. In such forms the esophageal

end of the alimentary canal shows division into three branches. The

! The Zoological Magazine (Japanese), vol. iv, no. 42, pp. 144-146, April 15, 1892.

Tokio, Japan.

620 The American Naturalist. [July,

anus (a) opens in Diplosoma, as in Appendicularia, independently by

itself; hence, the anus does not share with the branchial basket the

phenomenon of occasional regeneration, but persists throughout life.

In one individual, then, such as is shown in the accompanying diagram,

there exist five openings, viz., the old incurrent pore (i”), the old

excurrent pore (e”), the young incurrent pore (i’), the young excur-

rent pore (e’) and the permanent anus (a).

This regeneration of a complete organ, not as a result of artificial

mutilation of the organism, nor as the result of the removal of any

part, but as a result of a normal physiological process is very remark-

able. Mr. Oka thinks it similar to certain phenomena common in the

vegetable kingdom.—-(Translated and abstracted by Dr. Watase,

Clark University.)

The Development of the Teeth of Man.—Dr. Carl Röse has

studied the development of human teeth and comes to the following

conclusions.’ The first trace of the primary dental ridge appears

simultaneously (34-40 days) in both jaws. It is in section a semi-

circular ingrowth of not yet differentiated cells of the epithelium of

the jaw. It appears at the same time with Meckel’s cartilage. At

about 48 days (17 mm) the primary dental ridge splits into two ridges

lying at right angles to each other. Of these the one going vertically

into the jaw is the labial groove ridge, the other, going horizontally into

the jaw, is the true dental ridge. The deepest layer of the epithelium

is of high cylindrical cells. The labial groove ridge continues to grow

‘ deeper while its upper layer becomes resorbed, thus giving rise to the

furrow between the lip and the jaw, the process beginning at the mid-

dle and extending each way. The slight dental groove which runs

along the line of the union of jaw epithelium and dental ridge is at —

first on the outer surface of the jaw and gradually wanders in a spiral

line over the jaw to the posterior surface, the middle advancing more

rapidly than the sides.

The dental ridge which at first was horizontal changes its position

as a result of the growth of the milk teeth, and becomes more and

more vertical. Its free edges become produced into undulatory out-

growths, ten in number, which become spherical and form the first

anlagen of the milk dentition. At the tenth week (embryo of 32 mm

length) there begins simultaneously, or in quick succession, the push-

ing in of the papillz into these outgrowths, and these connective tissue

1Arch. f. mikr. Anat. xxxviii, 447, 1891.

1892,] Zoology. 621

papille do not push into the deepest but into the lateral portion. In

this way the dental ridge can continue its growth behind the milk-

teeth unhindered by the process of separation of these teeth, which

begins in the fourteenth week. At the same time the ridge shows

irregular outgrowths and three weeks later these have become more

evident, and in the region of the incisors a partial fenestration of the

ridge is begun.

At the twenty-fourth week the dental ridge, in the region of the

anterior teeth, has become converted into a sieve-like plate with irreg-

ular projections; in the molar region it is as yet smooth and unbroken

and its under margin retains the thickened and undulating character.

In front of and mesial to these thickenings are the milk teeth, and

from the side of these milk teeth the papillæ of the permanent teeth

(the incisors first) encroach upon the thickened margins of the dental

ridge. The dental ridge grows behind the second milk molar in the

fourteenth week and at the seventeenth its end is thickened, and from

this thickening is developed the first permanent molar.

At the time of birth the ridge extends behind the first molar as a

short thickened plate which at the sixth month has extended farther

backward and has become thickened for the second molar which is

formed as before. In the child of three and a quarter years the con-

dition behind the second molar is like that in the child at birth, behind

the first molar. The wisdom tooth arises about the fifth year by a

lateral ingrowth like that of the other molars. Owing to the extra-

ordinary adaptability of the dental ridge there is a possibility of a

fourth molar behind the wisdom tooth and also of a third dentition in

the anterior portion of the jaws.

Odontogenesis in the Ungulates.—Julius Laecker, of the

Veterinär Institut of Dorpat, has just completed a most interesting

series of studies upon Odontogenesis in the Ungulates. He undertook

their investigation with the purpose of determining how far the embry-

ological development of the crowns of the molar teeth repeats the

palzontological development, and especially to test the theory of

bunodont origin advocated by Cope and Gaudry as opposed to the

earlier Riitimeyer-Kowalevsky hypothesis that the primitive molars of

ungulates were crested or lophodont. His method of research was

an improvement of that introduced by Klever' upon the molars of

the horse but his material included not only embryos of the horse, but

1« Zur Kenntniss der Morphogenese d. Equidengebisses,” Morph, Jahrb. xv, p-

308, 1889.

622 The American Naturalist. ` a

of the pig as a modern bunodont, and as selenodont types a number

of elk (Alces palmatus) embryos, one stage of the deer (Capreolus

caprea), abundant material of the ox and sheep as hypselenodont

types, and of even greater interest, an embryo of one of the rare and

transitional ancient group of Tragulide. As, in course of his investi-

gation, he found abundant evidence in support of the remote trituber-

cular origin of these modern highly modified teeth, he adopts Cope’s

theory and Osborn’s nomenclature and homologies, so that the reader

can readily compare his plates and descriptions with the palæonto-

logical series as recently figured by Cope, Scott, Lydekker, Schlosser

and others.

We may now quote his conclusions: “Asa result of my investiga-

tions it is evident that both the bunodont Suide, and selenodont rumin-

ants present a closely similar initial bunodont stage; according to

which the Cope-Osborn opinions are in general conformed by embryo-

logical data, although in many points, especially as regards the (more

elevated position of the) protocone, ontogenesis is no longer parallel

with phylogenesis.

2. The differentiation soon follows whegeby the separate cones and

conids in the pig transform into pyramids and in the ruminants into

crescents.

3. The transformation of the cones affects the separate cones in suc-

cession, not beginning with the protocone but with the earlier devel-

oped paracone. [The author has unconsciously strengthened his proof

here, for it is well known that in the fossil series, the external upper

cusps, i. e., the paracone and metacone, assume the selenoid form earlier

and more universally than the protocone. ]

4. In the last two upper deciduous premolars (D* D’) from an

originally conic metacone is developed a tooth with two cones, by the

addition of the paracone; then, in D* at least, appears the protocone

and finally the hypocone. In D’ the protocone is the last cusp added.

[Here again the author demonstrates an approximate parallelism be-

tween the ontogenesis and phylogenesis; he is evidently not aware of

the observation of Schlosser that the upper premolar cusps do not

appear in the same order and are therefore not homologous with the

molar cusps. The actual order of evolution of the premolar cusps

was observed by Osborn’ in Hyracotherium as follows: A cusp

analogous with the paracone (really the protocone) first appears,

then the outer cusp divides into two, paracone and metacone,

1 MSS. of chapter upon the Æguide for the “ American Fossil Mammals.”

asap ge eat ee ae OTE Se ATN E TERE eae et a: a See ere ge Teeter Mee Pee ee ee

Se eee ee ge

DS ae ye Re EE ne Rede Ce re ee NA

RO ig ea T e eo

1892.] Zoology. 623

or more commonly the protocone appears second, and the metacone

third, then the protoconule appears, the hypocone, followed finally

by the metaconule. Similarly the lower premolars do not repeat the

ancestral lower molar history, the order is protoconid, hypoconid,

metaconid, entoconid. “Scott! has worked this out in the Artiodactyla

as follows: 4th. upper premolar—paracone (protocone), protocone

deuterocone), metacone (tritocone), hypocone (tetartocone). 4th. lower

premolar—protoconid, metaconid (deuteroconid), hypoconid, ento-

conid.] Turning again to Laeker’s investigation we find that:

5. In the lower jaw the fourth milk molar the order is protoconid,

? paraconid, (anterior cusp) hypoconid, metaconid, entoconid. [The

homology of the paraconid is somewhat uncertain. ]

In considering the exceptions between ontogenesis and phylogenesis

here noted, we must remember the extreme antiquity of some of these

structures, dating back to the middle and lower Eocene, for upon the

whole the parallelism is most striking —Hrnry F. Ossory, American

Museum of Natural History, New York, May 23rd, 1892.

1“ Osteology of Potbrotherium,” Journ. of Morphology, June 1891, pp. 48-49.

624 The American Naturalist. (July,

; EMBRYOLOGY.

On the Significance of Spermatogenesis.’™—Auerbach has

recently shown that a characteristic of the ovum and of the sperm is

the fact, that the nucleus of the former takes on a red color, while that

of the latter takes a blue, when both are treated exactly in the same

way; to use Auerbach’s expression, the hereditary substance of the

male is cyanophilous, while that of the female is erythrophilous. I

have tried this method of differentiating the sexual cells in the follow-

ing animals: Asterias, Loligo, Unio, Limax, Rana, Bufo, Necturus,

Diemyctylus, Mouse, Rabbit, Dog, Cat, Tortoise, Fowl, and Man. I

used three kinds of aniline colors, viz., Cyanine, for the blue staining,

and Erothrosine and Chromotrop for the red. These anilines do not

appear in the list of colors used by Auerbach, but they give the char-

acteristic stains for the sperm and the ovum as described by him.

In all of the animals mentioned, the nuclear contents of the well

developed spermatozoon is eminently cyanophilous, that is, it takes

cyanine in preference to chromotrop or erythrosine, and the nuclear

contents of the ovarian ovum, particularly the nucleolus, is erythro-

philous, that is, it takes either erythrosine or chromotrop in preference

to cyanine.

It is difficult, however, to tell how much of the contents of the

nucleus of the ovarian ovum, before a portion of its chromosome has

been removed in the formation of polar globules, is directly com-

parable with the nuclear contents of a single spermatozoon, and we

are therefore in doubt as to how far a color contrast obtained in differ-

ential staining of the two sexual cells actually indicates the real

nature of the chromosomes contributed by two parents to the body of

anembryo. It seems important to bear this point in mind, for, in

instituting comparisons between the nucleus of the spermatozoon and

of the ovarian ovum, as representative elements of the maternal and 7

the paternal organisms, one is left to infer that the protoplasmic con-

tents of the two are in an analogous stage of development—an infer-

ence open to objection. If the germinal vesicle of the well-developed

ovarian ovum is to be compared with any structure in the a

organism, it ought to be compared with the nucleus of the sperm

mother cell or the spermatocyte, and not with that of the spermatozoon.

1This department is edited by Dr. E. A. Andrews, Johns Hopkins University.

*An abstract of a paper read before the Biological Club, Clark University, Wor-

cester, Mass., March 10, 1892.

1392,] Embryology. 625

As I have already indicated in my previous note on the Sertoli’s

cell, the cyanophilous quality of the spermatozoon nucleus is only the

final phase of the varied series of color-reactions, which the sperm-pro-

ducing cell presents at different stages of its development. The male

germinal substance is not always blue in its color reaction. The male

germinal substance at the beginning (spermatogonium stage), is not

eyanophilous, but its color reaction is violet, due probably to a mix-

ture of blue and red color; while at the next stage (spermatocyte), the

color reaction of the chromosome is decidedly green, with one or two

intensely erythrophilous nucleoli.

The transition of the chromatophilous qualities of the nuclear

substance of the male cell from violet (spermatogonium), green

(spermatocyte), greenish-blue (spermatide) and deep blue (sper-

matozoon), each new color-reaction corresponding to the mor-

phological change in the sperm-cell, is certainly very instruc-

tive as clearly shown in my preparations illustrating mammalian

spermatogenesis. The change in the chromatophilous quality of the

male cell at different stages of its existence, may be due to corre-

sponding changes in the quality of the protoplasm itself, and the

whole phenomena of the successive series of forms of the sperm-cell

must be due to the corresponding alteration in the nature of the proto-

plasmic material: when the male cell assumes its final stage as a well-

developed spermatozoon, with its complicated apparatus for locomo-

tion, accompanied, as in many cases, with an accessory apparatus,

which facilitates the penetration of the sperm-nucleus into the substance

of the ovum (as the head-spine for boring and the recurved hook at its

tip, etc.), the quality of the protoplasmic substance has changed so

much as to take an entirely different color from that of the ovum,

which maintains the typical characteristics of an animal cel]. That

the ovum and the sperm become differently colored is, then, just what

we might expect on a priori grounds, knowing the analogous differ-

ences mentioned in the history of the spermatozoon alone.

The critical point one is most interested to know is, whether the

blue color, which characterized the nucleus of the spermatozoon, still

persists or not, after the sperm-cell has entered into the substance of

the ovum, and the form of its nucleus has undergone change by

becoming spherical again. According to Auerbach’s theory of hered-

ity, the blue color must persist. Iam not able to say anything defi-

nitely on this point, for I have not yet finished my research on this

particular subject. I have said enough, however, to show, that the

1This Journal for May, 1892, p. 442.

626 The American Naturalist. [July,

cyanophilous quality of the paternal nucleus is by no means a con-

stant character. It does not appear improbable that, after the sperm-

nucleus had become transformed into the male pronucleus, indistin-

guishable from the female pronucleus in its contour, in its size, in the

arrangement and the number of its chromosomes—the points strongly

emphasized already by many workers in this field—the quality of the

“male” and the “female” substance may no longer be more distin-

guishable in color reactions than they are in other respects; and that

such differences as exist between them may be simply those that differ-

entiate one organism from another of the same species.

We may say then, that the differentiations of the germ cells in the

two sexes, which are shown not only in their form and size, but also in

their chemical qualities, indicated by differential staining, are the

device indicated (to use figurative language) to secure the union of

two different individuals, with a special view to effect the transit of the

male cell to the ovum and that with the successful union, or the close

approximation, of two germ pronuclei, the “sexes” of the pronuclei

become lost and they become non-sexual.

Just what determines the sex of the resulting embryo, which starts

from this non-sexual stage, is quite another question.

Since, in general, it is the male that deviates most from the original

or non-sexual form, the formation of the sperm-cell by a process much

more complicated than that of the ovum may find a parallel among the

similar facts in the evolution of the so-called “ secondary sexual char-

acters.” The “primary” sexual structure—the germ-cell—may be

said to undergo a series of changes parallel to those that take place in

somatic structures. The significance of the complicated process of

spermatogenesis when compared with oogenesis lies in the fact that it

is part of a general law.

But if the “ primary sexual character,” a structure taking a direct

part in reproduction, pursues in its development a path similar to that

of the development of a “ secondary sexual character,” or structure

taking only an indirect part in reproduction, it follows that the distine-

tion between “ primary ” and “ secondary ” sexual character is more or

less a nominal one—S. Warase, Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

Non-Sexual Reproduction in Sponges.'—Prof. H. V. Wilson

of Chapel Hill, N. C., makes an interesting contribution to the subject

of sexual and non-sexual reproduction of animals in a paper upon the

1892.] Embryology. 627

development of certain undescribed silicious sponges, found upon the

Massachusetts Coast and in the Bahama Islands.

Though the egg development was studied in a number of sponges it

is only the non-sexual development by gemmules that is of special

interest in this connection,

In Esperella fibrexilis n. sp. of Woods Holl, Mass., the first appear-

ance of the gemmules was traced to certain plump cells in the meso-

derm. Such cells collect into groups of varying size: in each group

the central ones are rather closely packed while the outer ones arrange

themselves in the form of a follicle. Such clusters are the gemmules.

Though it is possible that some gemmules may be formed from single

cells, most are aggregates of many separate cells and in all growth

takes place not only by cell division inside the gemmule, but by the

actual fusion of large and small gemmules; so that the ultimate mass

is of complex multicellular origin.

When the gemmule is full grown it forms a spherical mass of closely

packed cells with faintly marked boundaries and full of yolk. The

entire mass now projects into a water-canal, suspended as it were by

the stalk-like attachments of the follicle.

In this ripe gemmule a remarkable process of subdivision now takes

place. The solid aggregate of cells breaks down into clusters of cells,

which are separated by liquid. The division continues until all the

cells of the gemmule became separated from one another. Then the

outer ones rearrange themselves to form an outer layer covering a

central mass of ameeboid cells, all connected together by processes,

though separated by liquid.

The outer layer becomes ciliated and rich in orange colored pig-

ment. At one pole, however, this change does not take place and at

the same pole the inner cells crowd together to form a dense mass in

which spicules appear.

In this condition the larva breaks out of its follicle, leaves the

sponge and swims about actively in the water.

The gemmule larva thus closely resembles an egg larva in having

an outer layer of pigmented, ciliated cells (ectoblast) replaced at the

anterior pole by a thin layer of cells not pigmented nor ciliated ; while

the mesenchymatous central mass is dense and has spicules only at this

same anterior end.

The larva attaches itself by its anterior end, but obliquely, so as to

lie upon its side. Even before this a change extended from the ante-

rior pole over the rest of the larva, the ectoderm becomes gradually

‘Journal of Morphology, V, 1891.

628 The American Naturalist. [July,

flat and single. The sponge grows out as a circular disk, later becom-

ing irregular. It is covered by the flat ectodermal membrane and

inside contains spicules all through the mesenchymatous substance of

the body.

The various canals and cavities of the sponge arise here and there

with no arrangement. Later they connect with one another and

break through to the surface as oscula and pores. The ciliated cham-

bers are formed in the midst of special clusters of bulky mesoderm

cells that divide to make walls about the intercellular space thus

bounded. The way in which these special cells form the ciliated cham-

bers varies in different larvae.

In discussing the remarkable gemmule development the author

points out that, if it has any value as indicating the past history of

sponges, it is evidence of the former existence of a solid ancestor as

maintained by Metschnikoff. It is mainly, however, the resemblance

of this non-sexual larva to the egg larva of other sponges that is to

be emphasized. Pointing out the resemblance in the formation of

“germ layers” and the peculiarites of the anterior pole and changes

of the “ectoderm,” Dr. Wilson then accentuates the comparison by

applying certain views of Prof. Weismann. As any mesenchyme cell

may, apparently, produce an ovum so any mesenchyme cell may unite

with others to make a gemmule. The gemmule cell has, alone, but

little histogenetic plasma, but an aggregate can form a larva. The

gemmule cell is thus a germ-cell differing from the ovum in having its

germ plasma not partly converted into ovogenetic plasma. Some such

likeness between the egg cell and the gemmule cell is necessary to

explain the observed resemblances between the egg larva and the

gemmule larva.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY.

MAN AND THE MYLODON.

THEIR POSSIBLE CONTEMPORANEOUS EXISTENCE IN THE MISSISS- _

IPPI VALLEY.

In one of the alcoves of the Museum of the Academy of Natural

Sciences, Philadelphia is to be seen a considerable number of fossil

bones of extinct animals belonging to the pleistocene period. In color, —

texture and general outward appearance they have a remarkable sim

1This department is edited by Dr. Thomas Wilson, of the Smithsonian Institution. |

1892.] _ Archaeology and Ethnology. 629

ilarity as though they had belonged together. They are well pre-

served, firm in texture, and of a dark chocolate-brown color which has

been attributed to ferruginous infiltration. They consist of a nearly

entire skeleton of Megalonyz jeffersoni, teeth of the Megalonyx dissim-

ilis and the Ereptodon priscus, bones of the Mylodon harlani, bones and

teeth of the Mastodon americanus, and teeth of Equus major and Bison

latifrons. Along with them is the os innominatum of a human subject.

The question affecting the antiquity of man is whether these subjects,

the bones of which were found together, were, when alive, contempor-

aneous, and whether the evidence of age in one is evidence of age in

the other. They were all presented to the Academy by Dr. Dickeson at

the meeting in October, 1846; description thereof is to be found in

the Proceedings of the Society for that year, vol. iii, p. 106. Dr.

Dickeson reported at that time that they were discovered by him in a

single deposit at the foot of the bluff in the vicinity of Natchez, Miss-

issippi. He says “ The stratum that SARE these organic remains

is a tenacious blue clay that uvial drift east of Natchez,

and which diluvial deposit abounds in bones and teeth of the Mastodon

giganteum; that they could not have drifted into the position in which

they were found is manifest from several facts, first, that the plateau

of blue clay is not appreciably acted on by those caùses that produce

ravines in the superincumbent diluvium ; second, that the human bone

was found at least two feet below the three associated skeletons of the

Megalonyz, all of which, judging from the position or proximity of

their several parts, had been quietly deposited in this locality inde-

pendent of any active current or any other displacing powers; and

lastly, because there is no mixture of diluvial drift with the blue clay,

_ which latter retains its homogenous character equally in the higher

parts which furnished the extinct quadrupeds and in its lower part

which contained the remains of man.” These specimens thus found

associated were made the subject of investigation by Sir Charles Lyell,

and afterwards by Dr. Joseph Leidy, the latter having published a

memoir with illustrations of the human bone in the Transactions of

the Wagner Free Institute of Science, vol. ii, p. 9. He says “ It differs

in no respect from an ordinary average specimen of the corresponding

recent bone of man.”

Dr. Leidy says Lyell expressed the opinion that, although the human

bones may have been contemporaneous with those of the extinct ani-

mals with which it has been found, he thought it more probable that

it had fallen from one of the Indian graves and had become mingled

with the older fossils which were dislodged from the deeper part of

630 The American Naturalist. [July,

the cliff, and Dr. Leidy adds: “In the wear of the cliff the upper

portion, with the Indian graves and human bones, would be likely to

fall first, and the deeper portions with the older fossils, subsequently on

the latter.”

Although Dr. Leidy testifies to the general similarity of appearance

of the human with the other bones, it does not seem to have occurred to

him to have them analyzed and compared. Remembering the story told

by the analysis and consequent comparison of the Caleveras skull with

that of the rhinoceros skull found in a formation corresponding in age,

though in a different locality ; and of the fact apparent therefrom that

the Caleveras skull was in an equally advanced stage of fossilization

as the rhinoceros skull, I deemed it wise to make an examination and

test by analysis. To this end I applied to Prof. Angelo Heilprin, and

through him to the authorities of the Philadelphia Academy, so a few

months since specimens certified by Prof. Heilprin have been taken,

one from the bone of the man and the other from one of the bones of

the mylodon, choosing those which for size, texture and general appear-

ance bore the greatest likeness one to the other. These were submitted

by me to Prof. F. W. Clarke, Chemist of the United States Geological

Survey, on duty at the National Museum, who has just returned the

result of his analysis, which is here published for the first time.

Two Foss. Bones.

Man. Mylodon.

Per cent. Per cent.

‘Loss at 100°C Aonar? EO 6.77

Loss on ignition 16.54 21.18

Silica OJ... 22.59 3.71

Phosphoric acid P Oa 17.39 23.24

Alumina........... (AL 0J.: 3.21 4.02

Tron: protoxides..0..c080 00.8085: (Fe O)...... 5.65 4,44

Maganese protoxide................. (Mn O)...... 1.65 3.40

Lime (Ca O)...... 25.88 30.48

Magiida 005. cide, (Mg 0)...... 0.95 0.78

98.41 97.02

Alkalies, carbonic acid and fluorine were not looked for, owing to-

small amount of available material, hence the low summation.

The importance of this analysis will be apparent at a glance. The

human bone is in a higher state of fossilization than is that of the

1892.] Microscopy. 631

Mylodon. It has less lime and more silica. In their other chemical

constituents they are without any great difference. Of lime the bone

of the Mylodon has 30.48%, while that of man has but 25.88%. Of

silica the Mylodon has 3.71%, while man has 22.59%. I am well aware

of the ordinary uncertainty of this test when applied to specimens

from different localities and subjected to different conditions; but in

the present case no such differences exist. The bones were all

encased in the same stratum of blue clay, and were subjected prac-

tically to the same conditions and surroundings. As one swallow does

not make a summer so the discovery of one specimen does not prove

the antiquity of man; but it is to be remarked that upon each dis-

covery and in almost every investigation the evidence found points

towards higher antiquity of man and tends to show the occupation of

the earth by prehistoric man to be more and more extensive. This

discovery is simply a fact to be put down to the credit of the high

antiquity of man. We should proceed in the same direction to dis-

cover other evidences, to investigate the value of those already found ;

and as they accumulate, each one or all together should be given their

fair value, in the endeavor to arrive at a truthful conclusion independ-

ent of a priori theory or preconceived idea.

MICROSCOPY.

Methods of Decalcification. Continued.—V. von Ebener’s

Hydrochloric Acid and Sodium Chloride Method?—To avoid the swell-

ing caused by hydrochloric acid the author gives she following for-

mula:

Hydrochloric acid 2.5 parts.

We NINE oes eee as ee 500. 4

Sodium chloride bo a a

Distilled water 100. < *

The fixed and hardened tissue is placed in this solution, which is

daily strengthened by the addition of a small quantity of acid; when

decalcified the preparations are washed in a half saturated aqueous

solution of sodium chloride; when the solution shows an acid reaction

it is neutralized by the addition of ammonia; this is repeated until

the acid is entirely removed.

1Edited by C. O. Whitman, Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

*Wien. Sitzungsber., 1875, Zeit. f. wiss. Mikros., Bd. viii, p. 6, 1891.

G32 The American Naturalist. [July, i

Waldeyer’s Hydrochloric Acid and Palladium Chloride Method!— —

Small pieces of fixed and hardened tissue are decalcified in a solution

consisting of:

Hydrochloric acid 10. parts.

Palladium chloride..... | ee

Distilled water ow A O00 eam

If not softened at the end of 24 hours the solution should be

renewed ; when decalcified the objects are washed in 70% alcohol

until the acid is removed.

Bone Cells.—Chiarugi’s Method’—Small pieces of fresh bone are

decalcified in picro-nitric acid prepared by adding 2 c.c. nitric acid to

100 c.c. saturated aqueous solution of picric acid; this solution is then

diluted with two volumes of distilled water; when decalcified the

tissue is washed in alcohol of increasing strengths. The sections are

stained for a few minutes in a 1% eosine solution and decolorized in a —

3% solution of potassium hydrate. The ground substance becomes

colorless, while the bone cells and their processes are deeply stained.

To fix the eosine the sections are washed and mounted in a 1% alum

solution.

Fibres of Sharpey.—Kéilliker’s Method.\—The decalcified tissue

is treated with concentrated acetic acid until transparent, when it is

transferred to a saturated solution of indigo-carmine for a minute and

then washed in distilled water; mount in glycerine or Canada balsam

The fibres of Sharpey are red, the remaining bone substance blue. —

Lithium carmine and safranin also differentiate the fibres.

Another method‘ employed is to heat the section in a crucible. The

calcified fibres are shown with remarkable clearness. 2

Bone Medulla.—Bizzozero’s Method2—The author, after trying

many methods, finds the following most useful in studying the elements

1Arch, f. mikro. Anat., Bd. xi, 1875; Stricker’s Manual of Histology, 18729

1052.

*Rollet. della Soc. trai cult. della Scienza Med. Siena. fasc. viii, 1886; Zeit.

wiss. Mikros., Bd. iv, p. 490, 1888.

Zeit. f. wiss. Zool., Bd. xliv, p. 644, 1886.

‘Zeit. f. wiss. Mikros., Bd. iv, p. 87, 1888.

SAtti della R. Acad. della scienze di Torino, vol. xxv, p. 156; Arch. f. mi

Anat., Bd. xxxv, p. 424, 1890 ; Zeit. f. wiss. Mikros., Bd. vii, p. 513, 1890.

*

1892.] Microscopy. 633

of the medulla. . The fresh tissue obtained by splitting the bone is

fixed in Flemming’s fluid, or still better, in a saturated solution of

mercuric chloride in a 1% salt solution. After 2-3 hours the object

is transferred to a mixture of the 1% salt solution and 90% alcohol,

where it remains for 48 hours. It is then hardened in alcohol. The

best results were obtained by staining the sections in hematoxylin

or an aqueous solution of safranin and decolorizing with picric acid-

alcohol. The amount of picric acid added to the alcohol is a matter

of experiment. The proportions must be such that the protoplasm of

the leucocytes remains uncolored when the nuclei of the red blood

corpuscles are yellow. Miiller’s fluid fixes the red blood corpuscles

better than sublimate. The sections are stained for a minute in a few

c.c.’s of water to which have been added several drops of Ehrlich-

Biondi’s solution, then passed through the grades of alcohol, cleared in

clove oil and mounted. The eosinophilous granules of the leucocytes

are red or rose ; the erythroblasts and blood corpuscles dark orange-red.

Léwit’s Method.'—In the study of leucoblasts and erythroblasts

Léwit employs the following method: Small pieces of bone medulla

are fixed in a 1%-2% solution of platinum chloride in which they

remain from 12-48 hours, then washed in running water for 24 hours,

run through the grades of alcohol and imbedded in paraffine. The

sections are stained for 2—4 minutes in an alcoholic solution of safranin,

thoroughly washed in alcohol and treated with iodine-picric acid,

which is prepared as follows: To a watch glass of 1% alcoholic solu-

tion of picric acid a drop or two of officinal iodine tincture is added.

The sections remain in this solution for 10-30 seconds, when they are

washed in alcohol, cleared in clove oil and mounted. Connective tis-

sue and leucoblasts are yellow, erythroblasts red. If the sections are

left too long in the iodine-picric acid or the solution is too strong all

the elements appear a brownish-red. A little experience will soon

enable one to obtain the desired results.

Demarbaiz’s Method,’—In studying the‘division and degeneration of

the giant cells of the marrow employs the following method: The

tissue is fixed for 24 hours in a mixture of

To Uhromic soid... cists Sli Bitsecvein 14 parts.

Glacial acetic acid 1 part.

Distilled water 18 parts.

1Arch. f. mikro. Anat., Bd. xxxviii, p. 533, 1891.

*La Cellule T. v, p. 27, 1889; Zeit. f. wiss. Mikros., Bd. vii, p. 73. 1890.

tt

634 The American Naturalist. [July,

It is then washed for 24 hours in water, passed through the grades

of alcohol and imbedded in paraffine. The sections are stained with

safranin according to the method of Babes,’ viz.: To a 2% aqueous

solution of aniline oil is added an excess of safranin. Stain in ather-

mostat at 50° C., decolorize for an instant in acid alcohol, mount in

balsam.

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

Recent Deaths.—Dr. Andrew Crombie Ramsay, the geologist,

Dec. 9, 1891, at the age of 76 years. He was largely self-taught

and was appointed Professor of Geology in University College,

London, in 1848. In 1851 he was chosen to the same chair in the

newly formed School of Mines. He was said to be without a superior

as a lecturer. Dr. J. F. Williams, Professor of Mineralogy and Geol-

ogy in Cornell University, was but 29 years old at the time of his

death. He was a graduate of the Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute and

received his doctor’s degree from the University of Göttingen. Before

going to Cornell he was connected with the Pratt Institute, at Brook-

lyn, and with the Arkansas Geological Survey. Baron Achille de

Zigno, the well-known geologist, in Padua, January 18, 1892. Carl

Freiherr von Camerlander, Praktikant in the Museum of the Geolog- |

ical Reichsanstalt, in Vienna, Jan. 17, 1892. J. W. Ewald, geologist,

in Berlin, in December, 1891, aged 81. George Haggar, some forty

years ago a collector of Lepidoptera, at Ore, England, Jan. 10, 1892,

aged 75. Francis Archer, conchologist and entomologist, at Liver-

pool, March 1, 1892, aged 52.

Tufts College, at College Hill, Mass., has established a chair of

biology, and Dr. J. S. Kingsley has been appointed to fill the position.

Prof. J. P. Marshall retains the geology and mineralogy.

In a recent popular work on evolution is a“‘ glossary ” of scientific

terms in which the following typographical error occurs: “ Zoea, the

larva of decayed (? decapod) crustaceans.”

Zeit. f. wiss. Mikro., iv, p. 470, 1887.

AMERICAN

NATURALIS

A MONTHLY JOURNAL

DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES

IN THEIR WIDEST SENSE.

MANAGING EDITORS:

Prors, E. D. COPE ann J. S, KINGSLEY.

ASSOCIATE EDITORS:

Dr. C. O. WHITMAN, Dr. C. E. BESSEY, THOMAS WILSON,

Pror. C. M. WEED, Pror. W. S. BAYLEY, Pror. E. A. AN DREWS.

AUGUST, 1892.

CONFENIS.

PA

THE MOCKING BIRDS LEFT NEW JERSEY—A

GEOLOGICAL REASON.

; Samuel EEE Ph. D. 635

AND THE GERM-CELLS. (Continued.)

“ (llustrated AY o. eny cca fama 642

HEAD OF AN EMBRYO AMPHIUMA.

J S Ku ly 671

ANCE OF THE SCIENCE AND OF THE DEPAR

E OF PREHISTORIC ANTHROPOLOGY.

Thomas Wilson. 681

krpa —An American Book on

the Oak Tree—The Horse,

y in AR sees leas Fur of

squarrosa. pameran

Zoolo, otes on a

Chipping Sparrow. ( (Illustrat

Embryolo, The

.

SCIENTIFIC Hi

Walker Prizes in Natural History.

The Boston Society of Natural History,

oe offers a first. prize of from $60 to $100 anda second

‘ prize of a sum not exceeding $50, for the best memoirs,

in English, on the following subject :

history of Any Plant or Animal.

Each memoir must be accompanied by a scale

script, and must be handed to the Secretary, on or

before April Ist, 1893.

Prizes will not be awarded unless the memoirs

are deemed of adequate merit.

For further particulars apply to

Die SAMUEL HENSHAW,

oston, July, 26, 1892.

pi

Contributions to Our Knowiedge of the Lifes: _

envelope enclosing the author's name and apenail i

by a motto corresponding to one borne by the manu-

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST

Vou. XXVI. August, 1892. he ea

WHY THE MOCKING BIRDS LEFT NEW JERSEY—A

GEOLOGICAL REASON."

By Samvet Locxwoop, Pu. D.

Is it not “past the infinite of thought?” Even though

expressed in numbers, who has a mental grasp of the stellar

distances? And equally inadequate is the time conception of

any working æon taken by nature in sculpturing the features

of our Mother Earth. Still, though we may do no better than

conjecture the time of any special fashioning, so dim is the

distance, yet the geologic record makes clear the fact that the

sea coast of New Jersey formerly extended very much farther

into the Atlantic than it does to-day. In taking soundings off

the coast the lead will drop suddenly into deep gorges in the

ocean bed, thus revealing, as it were, an oceanic valley nearly

parallel to the coast line. Though about a hundred miles

south-east of the present mouth of the Hudson, this seems to

denote the ancient outlet of the river into the sea. All this is

in accord with the facts known concerning the subsidence of

the New Jersey coast. Even when Hudson saw them, the

Highlands of Navesink were somewhat higher than now,

hence with the Squan Highlands, the first land sighted by

homing vessels, were visible further out at sea. These

‘Read at the Ninth Congress of the American Ornithologists’ Union in New York,

Nov. 16, io

Mo. Bot. Garden,

1893

636 The American Naturalist. [August,

Monmouth Highlands mark the extreme south and north

points of the county coast line; for the rest, the New Jersey

shore is mainly a sandy flat, which formerly was thickly

fringed with evergreens, much of it being cedar and cypress,

though the prominences mentioned were densely wooded with

deciduous trees.

In the southern part of the State exists a curious industry—

the mining for cedar—exhuming from their swampy burials

the white cedars, Cupressus thyoides. Some of these noble trees

much exceeded three feet in diameter, with the timber per-

fectly sound. “The lay” of these uprooted trees indicates the

devastation probably of extraordinary cyclones occurring at

immense intervals of time, thus leveling one forest upon

another that had been thrown long before. Even the cedars

standing there to-day are a growth over their long buried

ancestors. Of two at least of these buried forests beneath the

present growth the evidence is indisputable. Counting the

season rings some of these exhumed trees must have taken

1500 and possibly 2000 years to grow. But I am not espec-

ially concerned with the question of time—it is the fact of

subsidence.

And this action is still in progress. Nay, some notable

instances there are which present phenomena appealing to our

eyes. On the south side of Raritan Bay, or rather Keyport

Bay, which is simply an indenture of Raritan, is a clay bluff

that in my own recollection has lost much in altitude. Stand-

ing on this eminence some ten or twelve feet higher than the

line of high tide, I have seen at times of very low tide, in the

distance, stumps of trees, in the same position in which they

were left by the woodman’s axe when he cut down the forest

or grove which grew on that bluff when it reached much far-

ther seaward than now. And perhaps even stranger still, a

little north of this, and something nearer the shore, I once

saw a great number of broken bricks and a well-curb, the

remains, as I learned, of a brick yard, which, like the ancient

bluff, had also gone to sea. But I will leave this for a

moment.

1892.] Why the Mocking Birds Left New Jersey. 637

During a residence of many years at Keyport, N. J., which

is not more than two miles from the bluff, I had cherished a

little grove of native saplings. They were all seedlings and

self-planted. There were scrub oaks, pines, persimmons and a

group of bilsteds, or gum trees.

The last attained a considerable height, and all together

made a dense covert, in which I took great delight. My pleas-

ure was enhanced by its being a resort for robins, catbirds and

some smaller birds. I had thus some good bird music, espec-

ially mornings and evenings. It was a summer eve in 1882

when a Mimus polyglottus took possession of my cherished

grove and opened with a budget of bird musie which aston-

ished me. His répertoire was so voluminous and of such

variety ; indeed, it was a mélange of bird song. The voice

was ringing and clear with a quality which I can only call

golden. The performance was certainly snatchy, but so

rollicking, rapid and impromptu like. The strange thing

appeared to me a phenomenon—an avian improvisatoire gone

stark mad. Such a bubbling stream of ornithic song—such

reckless impetuosity, such phonic exuberance, such imperious

audacity of utterance—this defiant monopolist of bird music

held me enthralled. It was the first time I had ever heard a

wild mocker in the woods. The wonderful creature regaled

me in the same grove for six consecutive evenings, then was

heard no more. The impression was made on me that my

robins and catbirds were also profoundly affected, for on each

evening when this grand mestro sang they observed that

respectful silence which is the homage due to superiority.

This incident set me upon inquiry. I found an old man

who was born in the last century—a native who had spent

his entire life near the bluffs already mentioned. In the par-

lance of the day “ we interviewed ” him; hence the dialogue

as nearly as can be must be reported.

“ How long have you lived in these parts?”

“ All my life. Leastwise was never away long at a time.”

“Did you ever know of any mocking birds about here?”

“ Not of late years, but plenty of ’em when I was a lad.

638 The American Naturalist. [August,

Many’s the time I’ve gone nesting for them in the cedars that

used to be yonder.”

“What do you mean by the cedars that used to be

onder?” `

“On the bluffs just over there (pointing to the Bay). Sixty

year ago that bank was a good deal higher than now, and

reached a sight further into the Bay, though the tide comes up

just as close as it ever did. -But there’s a mighty big change

there. There used to be a thick forest of red cedar on the

bluff, and the mockers, a plenty of them, built there every

summer, and there was no trouble in finding a few nests. But

there’s not been a single cedar there for many years—just how

long I disremember. You see the bluff got going to sea so

fast they had to cut the cedars to save them. You can see the

stumps yet at almost any neap tide. It ’most beats belief that

the bluffs ever reached so far as them stumps. Why in my

time a pretty good farm has gone off to sea. There used to be

a brick yard—that has gone off too. It lay a little north of

them cedars, and something can be seen of it when the tide

suits. Old Auntie Willets, now dead and gone, used to milk

the cows along side of what we called the black rock. That’s

gone too, and I should think it has sunk considerable, for it’s

little more than the top of it that one can see at neap tide.”

I was surprised at the amount of, geology I was abstracting

from my informant, and felt that he was getting away from

the subject in hand, so I asked: “ Have you seen any mocking

birds in these parts of late years?”

“Not one in many years as I can remember. The woods

don’t seem to favor them now. In the time of the cedars they

were plenty.”

To the old man the word “subsidence” incautiously used

by me had no meaning. He had a reason of his own. “ Nat-

urally the sea was uprising, sort of overflow on the land. Was

it not all the time receiving the waters of all the rivers in the

world without any let-up whatever ?”

It was some thirty years ago, perhaps more, when I accom:

panied the late Prof. George H. Cook, the State Geologist, in

an inspection of the entire south side of Raritan Bay, my

MERES aie

1892.] Why the Mocking Birds Left New Jersey. 639

recollection is that the Professor estimated the present subsid-

ing as proceeding at the rate of a vertical half inch in a year,

and the Doctor had gathered other very interesting data, such

as the change of level of tide-water mills. The rate stated

is certainly enormous when compared with the time taken to

produce the subsidence of the cedar swamps or mines.

The cypress and the cedar, also the arbor-vite, but espec-

ially the former, loved the sandy levels of the New Jersey

coast. But with subsidence and the woodman’s axe very little

of these sheltering copses of evergreens is left. Forty years

ago an occasional pair of mockers has been known, even in

the central part of the State by a stream in a deciduous

tkicket, with catbriers interlaced. But the bird even then was

rare—and is much rarer now. The hospitable shelters and

food resources on the shores are gone, and the mocker has vir-

tually left also. The bird has yielded to the fiat of geological

change—the inevitable law to which the flora and the fauna

of the earth must bow.

Our position is not that these birds can no longer live in

New Jersey, but that the situation is less inviting than for-

merly ; in a word, the bird life is harder. As to shelter and

food, the old summer home has become less hospitable. There

is a third factor beyond reach in this discussion, that of cli-

mate. True, we do know something of this as caused by the

denuding of the land of its native forests; but we know noth-

ing of that climate when the shores of the State, far-reaching

into the sea, hugged more closely the thermal Gulf-stream. It

will appear too, that we have taken no note of the effect of

contact with civilization, which in the main is less conserva-

tive than even geologic change.

In the dialectics the principle is accepted that the exception

may establish the rule. This, though often true in the mental

realm, is but rarely so in that of the physical. Hence it is

not only interesting but quite remarkable to find our position

fortified by a geological exception, almost on the spot which

has come directly under our review. Raritan Bay is in part

bounded by the little peninsula of Sandy Hook. While the

main is suffering from subsidence of the land and denudation

640 The American Naturalist. [August,

of the forests, Sandy Hook is increasing in both these respects.

It is lengthening out without narrowing, and maintaining,

protected from the axe, a dense and increasing growth—a fine

virgin forestage on its sandy beaches of the very tree flora

which has so nearly departed from the flats of the State. We

have there also at least nearly the climate which with such

shelter prevailed over the mainland, where now is the inhos-

pitable bleakness of the naked beach. Æolie action is keep-

ing up an undertow on the coast line, carrying to the Hook

and depositing a part of the very material which subsidence

and tidal wash is stealing from the shore southward. And so

dense is the growth of cedars, with grand outliers of the crim-

son berried hollys, that not only are these evergreen groves

opulent in food, but also practically impervious to the winter

winds. Here are rookeries of crows, which almost blacken

the air as they return in the evening from their daily foraging.

Here, too, are robins by “the thousands,” both summer and

winter. And here too in this bird paradise has our Mimus

polyglottus, summer and winter, as far back as the memory of

man goeth, found a hospitable home. With warm housing

and a generous board a fig for “the sunny South.” With

desire satisfied the migratory instinct has died out.

Let me close with a little avian episode. At Sandy Hook is

a military establishment for cannon practice and testing the

new monster ordnance and projectiles. So bold and familiar

are these birds that they seem not to mind the flying and

exploding shells. The wife of the superintendent, having

found a nest of mocking birds, made it frequent visits, to which

the parent birds seemed not to object. The lady’s interest in

her find increased, and when the young became fledglings she

removed them from the nest to a cage and brought them up

as pets. To her surprise the old birds kept near the young

ones, becoming regular visitors, especially at feeding time, thus

sharing with the young the lady’s bounty. Their tameness

became remarkable. The fully feathered young were allowed

their freedom, and parents and offspring would betake them-

selves to the grove, but would return on call of their benefac-

tress at feeding time, when would ensue a scene of interest

is eee hee eae Ae a SS ne ie ee

1892,] Why the Mocking Birds Left New Jersey. 641

often witnessed by the officers. At the summons—“Mockie,

Mockie, Mockie,” the entire family would come and alight,

even upon the lady, accepting her hospitality and permitting

her caresses. All this was kept up through the entire winter.

In March, 1888, occurred the great blizzard. This fearful snow

storm invaded the retreat of the birds, interpenetrating the

hitherto impenetrable asylum. So soon as the storm had sub-

sided the lady went to the woods to look up her little avian

friends. Her customary gentle call resounded through the

dense grove. But no response came from the mockies. At

last her pets were found on the white ground—dead! Thus,

too, it befell many others in the colony, which was then on the

increase. Happily a remnant survived the storm, so that

still, representatively, Mimus polyglottus occupies this little

elysium so typical of the once grander New Jersey home of

his ancestors.

642 The American Naturalist. [August,

HEREDITY AND THE GERM-CELLS.

By Henry FAIRFIELD OSBORN.

THe CARTWRIGHT LECTURES ror 1892, III.

(Continued from Page 567, Vol. XXVI)

According to the general law' the germ-cell is considered

as matter potentially alive and having within itself the ten-

dency to assume a definite living form in course of individual

development. The nucleus must be extraordinarily complex,

for it contains within itself not only the tendencies of the

present type, but of past types far distant. The supposition

of a vast number of germs of structure is required by the phe-

nomena of heredity ; Niigeli has demonstrated that even in so

minute a space as ry; cub. millimetre, 400,000,000 micelle

must be present.

The study of heredity will ultimately centre around the

structure and functions of the germ-cells. The precise

researches of Galton show that the external facts of heredity,

questions of averages and of probabilities, of paternal and

maternal contributions to the offspring, are capable of being

reduced to an exact science in which mathematical calcula-

tions will enable us to forecast the characteristics of the coming

generation.

There will still remain, however, a large residuum of facts

which will present themselves to a mathematician like Galton

as chance or inexact, such as the physiological conditions of

reversion; the causes of prepotency, by which the maternal

or the paternal characteristics prevail in parts or in the entire

structure of the offspring; the material basis of latent heri-

tage upon which reversion depends, and which compels us to

hypothecate either an unused hereditary substance or a return

to an older disposition of the forces in this substance; the

nature and determination of sex. These apparently chance

See Huxley, Article Evolution, Enc. Britannica, p. 746.

1892,] Heredity and the Germ- Cells. 643

phenomena must also be due to.certain fixed laws, and by far

the most promising routes to discovery have already been

taken by Van Beneden, the Hertwig brothers, Boveri, Maupas,

and others

They have attacked the problem of the relation of the germ-

cells to heredity on every side, and by the most ingenious and

novel methods, which are familiar enough in various branches

of gross anatomical and physiological research, but seem

almost out of the limits of application to minute microscopic

objects. For example, the Hertwig brothers have ascertained

the influences of various solutions of morphine and other

drugs, of the alcohols, and of various degrees of temperature

upon the ovum and spermatozoon during the conjugation

_7-—Tyercat CELL Division, SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHROMATIN. (From Par-

ter, ‘tees Carnoy ) A-C, Arrangement of the chromatin in threads ; D-E, Formation of the chro-

in rods and loops; F, Splitting of the loops; G-H, Retraction of the chromatin into the two

ccc

period, with results which are highly suggestive of the causes

of congenital malformations, anomalies, and double births.

he Hertwigs and Boveri have succeeded in robbing ova of

their nuclei, and watching the results of the subsequent

entrance of spermatozoa. In order to further test the relations

of the nucleus to the remainder of the cell, Verworn has

experimented along the same line with extirpations of every

kind from the single cells of Infusoria. Of equal novelty are

644 The American Naturalist. [August,

the recent studies of Maupas upon the multiplication and con-

jugation of the Infusoria, giving us a host of new ideas as to

the cycle of life, the meaning of sex, and the origin of the

sexual relation.

In all this research and in the future outlook there are two

main questions :

1. What is the hereditary substance? What is the material

basis of heredity, which spreads from the fertilized ovum’ to

every cell in the body, conveying its ancestral characteristics ?

Is there any substance corresponding to the hypothetical idio-

plasm of Nägeli?

2. What are its regulating and distributing forces? How is

the hereditary substance divided and distributed? How far

is it active or passive? l

I may say at the outset that the idioplasm of Nägeli, a

purely ideal element of protoplasm which he conceived of as

permeating all the tissues of the body as the vehicle of hered-

ity, has been apparently materialized in the chromatin or

highly coloring materials in the centre of the nucleus. This

rests upon the demonstration by Van Beneden and others that

chromatin is found not only in all active cells, but is a con-

spicuous element in both the ovum and spermatozoon during

all the phenomena attending conjugation.

Secondly, that while the chromatin is apparently passive, it

is played upon by forces resident in the clear surrounding pro-

toplasm of the nucleus, but chiefly by the extra nuclear archo-

plasm, which seems to constitute the dynamic and mechanical

factor in each cell. This, unlike the chromatin, only comes

into view when there is unusual activity, as during cell-divis-

ion, and is not evident (with our present histological tech-

nique, at least), when the cell is arrested by reagents in any

of the ordinary stages of metabolism.

The Distribution of Hereditary Substance.—I may first

review some of the well-known phenomena attending the dis-

tribution of the chromatin substance to the tissues.

I have borrowed from Parker figures by Carnoy to illustrate

the resting and active stages of the cell, and from Watase, a

E

Vite ET ee eS

1892.] Heredity and the Germ- Cells. 645

Japanese student of Clark University, figures representing the

high differentiation of the cell-contents during division (figs.

8,9). They bring out the active and passive elements of the

typical cell.

The phenomena of karyoka which attend the division

and distribution of the hereditary substance throughout the

whole course of embryonic and adult development are well

illustrated in Carnoy’s figures (fig. 7). First we have the qui-

Fic. 8. ibd Diviston. DIFFERENTIATION OF THE CYTOPLASM AND Nuc revs DURING

CeLL Drviston oF a Squip Emsryo, etek (After Watase.) M, The nuclear membrane

F, porcaisnees or TET C, Cytoplasm, or protoplasm outside of the nucleus; A-A, The two

cen of archoplas un eens nuclear ——— filaments, E, Intra-nuclear archoplas-

escent ona which the chromatin presents the appearance

of a coiled, tangled thread; surrounding this is the clear

nucleoplasm (or achromatin) bounded by the nuclear mem-

brane; the extra-nuclear substance, or cytoplasm, is apparently

undifferentiated. As soon as cell division sets in, however,

radiating lines are seen in the cytoplasm above and below the

646 The American Naturalist. [August,

nucleus, these are called the archoplasmic filaments by Boveri,

since they proceed from what is now believed to be the

dynamic element, the archoplasm (fig. 8). As the activity

becomes more intense the filaments are seen to diverge from a

centre—the archoplasmic centrosome—which lies just without

the nucleus at either pole; this radial display of cell-forces

suggested the term “asters” to Fol, and “spheres attractive ”

to Van Beneden. The behavior of the chromatin, or heredi-

tary substance, under these archoplasmic forces, is beautifully

shown in Carnoy’s diagrams (fig. 7). First, the nuclear wall

—Arter Division, INTERI F A DAUGHTER-CELL IN THE Squip. (After Watase.)

Division has just taken place and the daughter, N, shows the chromatin coil. The daughter

is just forming two new centrosomes, A-A, by direct division.

breaks up, then the chromatin coil unfolds into lines of verti-

cal striation which become thread-like, hence the term mitosis,

and then more compact, until finally a number of distinct

vertical rods, chromatin rods, or chromasomes are formed.

A remarkable and significant fact may be noted here, that

the number of chromasomes varies in the cells of different

species, and even in the cells of different varieties (as in the

thread-worm of the horse—Ascaris megalocephala), but is con-

CURSOR ee NII aT Cee eRe Eee EE to ee EE ee eg ee?

ee Se a eee

1892.] Heredity and the Germ- Cells. 647

stant in all the cells of the same variety through all stages;

thus the same number of chromasomes appears in the first

segmentation of the fertilized ovum as in the subsequent cell

division in the tissues.

Carnoy next indicates the vertical splitting of each rod into

a loop or link preceding the horizontal splitting; thus we may

conceive of a thorough redistribution of the chromatin before

it passes into the daughter-cells. The split loops are each

retracted toward a centrosome, suggesting to some authors a

contractile power in the archoplasmic filaments; each chro-

masome being apparently withdrawn by a single filament.

But as the chromasomes separate, the filaments also appear

between them, and are variously termed “interzonal,” “ ver-

bindungs Fäden,” “ filaments réunissant;” there is, therefore,

some difference of opinion as to what the mechanics of the

chromasome divisions really are. The chromatin is now

retracted into two coiled threads, each the centre of tie daugh-

ter-nucleus with asingle centrosome beside it. But as the line

of cleavage is drawn between the two cells (fig. 9), the single

centrosome in each cell divides so that each daughter-cell is

now complete with its chromatin coil and two archoplasmic

centrosomes. This process has been beautifully described by

Watase.”

It thus appears that both the chromatin and archoplasm

are permanent elements of the cell, such as we formerly con-

sidered the nucleus; the apparently passive chromatin is

divided with great precision by the active archoplasm, then

the archoplasm simply splits in two to resume the cleavage

function.

Fertilization—The Union of Hereditary Substances.—

Before looking at the host of questions which fertilization sug-

gests, let us review a few of the well-known phenomena pre-

paratory to the union of the germ-cells, in order to give greater

emphasis to the importance of recent discoveries.

First, the ovum is a single cell, the typical structure of

which, with its nucleus and cytoplasm, is generally obscured

*See Marine Biological Laboratory Lectures, 1889. Boston: Ginn & Co.

648 The American Naturalist. [August,

by a quantity of food-material, surrounded by a rather dense

cell-wall. The ovum is said to be ripened or “matured” for

the reception of the spermatozoon, by the extrusion of two

small “ polar bodies,” containing both chromatin and hyaline

protoplasm, and separating off by karyokinetic division.

After maturation is complete, a single spermatozoon normally

penetrates ; then a reaction immediately sets in in the cell-

wall of the ovum, which prevents other spermatozoa from

entering. The head of the spermatozoon and the nucleus of

the ovum now fuse together to form a single nucleus, which

obviously contains the hereditary substance of two individ-

uals. This is the starting point of the segmentation or distri-

bution process above described, and it follows that the fertil-

ized ovum at this stage must contain its typical complement

of chromatin, archoplasm, etc., for the whole course of growth

to the adult.

How shall we connect these phenomena of fertilization with

the facts of heredity? The most suggestive enigma in con-

nection with the fertilizdtion process has been the meaning of

the two polar bodies, especially since Van Beneden demonstrated

that they contained chromatin. For twenty-five years specu-

lation has been rife as to why the ovum should extrude a por-

tion of its substance in two small cells; why not in one cell?

Why not in a larger number? Thanks to the intense curios-

ity which these polar bodies have aroused, and to the great

variety of explanations which have been offered for them, we

have arrived to-day at a solution which links the higher ani-

mals with the lower, breaks down the supposed barrier between

the sexes, and accords with the main external facts of hered-

ity.

Tt seems to me best to disregard the order of discovery, and

to state the facts in the most direct way. First,a few words as

to the speculations upon the meaning of the polar bodies.

The early views of fertilization’ were naturally based upon

the apparent significance of this process in the human species,

in which the sexes are sharply distinguished from each other

in their entire structure, and the reproductive cells are also

*See also the introduction of Weismann’s last essay, Amphimixis.

1892.] Heredity and the Germ-Cells. 649

widely differentiated in form, the ovum large and passive, the

spermatozoon small and active. The readiest induction was

to regard these elements as representing distinct physiological

principles, corresponding to the essential sexual characteris-

tics—in short, as male and female cells, the former vitalizing

and rejuvenating the latter. Thus one of the earliest definite

“ polar-body ” theories was that the ovum was hermaphrodite,

containing both male and female principles, and that it was

necessary to get rid of the male substance before the spermat-

ozoon could enter.

As Von Siebold and Leuckart had demonstrated that some

ova reproduce parthenogenetically, that is without fertilization

by spermatozoa, Weismann turned to such forms for the solu-

tion of this problem, and was surprised to find that partheno-

getic ova only extrude one polar body; this led him to attach

one meaning to the first polar body and another meaning to

the second, which he viewed as designed to reduce the heredi-

tary substance in the ovum without regard to sex. Thus both

this and the older theory conveyed alike the idea of reduction,

but with an entirely different supposition as to the nature of

the material reduced or eliminated.

Maupas on Conjugation among the Infusoria.—Among the

newer researches which throw light upon this old problem

those of Maupas are certainly the most brilliant. After a most

exact and arduous research, extending over several years, he

collected his results in two memoirs, published in 1889 and

1890.

His experiments were first directed upon the laws of direct

multiplication by fission, which revealed a complete cycle of

life in the single-celled Infusoria and showed that after a long

period this mode of reproduction becomes less vigorous, then

declines, and finally ceases altogether unless the stock is reju-

venated by conjugation of individuals from different broods.

In other words, these broods of minute organisms grow old

and die unless they are enabled to fertilize each other by an

‘Sur la multiplication des Infusoires Ciliés, Archiv de Zoologie expérimentale, Sér.

3, vol. vi, pp. 165-278; Le Rejeunissement Karyogamique chez les Ciliés, vol. vii,

pp- 149-517. See also Hartog, Quart. Journ. Microscop. Science, December, 1891.

650 The American Naturalist. [August,

; 7, Union of the interchanged micronuclei.

th

t

l eee S

F

(From Weismann, after Maupas.) 1, Two Infusoria copulating ; M, meganucleus; 7, micronucleus; 2-5, Succes-

f one of th

Fic. 10.—THE CONJUGATION OF INFUSORIA.

$ RS

sive divisions of micronuclei; 6, Th

E N SEES

1892.] Heredity and the Germ- Cells, 651

exchange of hereditary substance altogether analogous to that

observed in the higher multicellular organisms.

The cultures were made in a drop of water upon a slide, and

feeding was adapted either to the herbivorous or carnivorous

habits of the species. Under these conditions it was found

that the rate of fission or direct multiplication varied directly

with the temperature and food, rising in some species (Glau-

coma scintillans) to five bipartitions daily. With the optimum

of conditions this rate, if sustained for thirty-eight days, would

produce from a single individual a mass of protoplasm equiv-

- alent to the volume of the sun. This rate is, however, found

to be steady for a time, and then the offspring decline into

“senescence,” in which they appear at times only one-fourth

the original size, with reduced buccal wreaths and degenerate

nuclear apparatus. This is reached sooner in some species than

in others; Stylonichia pustulata survives three hundred and

sixteen generations or fissions, while Leucophrys patula persists

to six hundred and sixty generations. Finally, even under

the most favorable condition of environment, death ensues.

Not so where conjugation is brought about by mingling the

offspring of different broods in the same fluid, as in the nat-

ural state. Maupas soon discovered that exhaustion of food

would induce conjugation between members of mixed broods.

He thus could watch every feature of the conjugation process,

and determine all the phases in the cycle of life. These dif-

fered, as in the longevity of the species. In Stylonichia, for

example, “immaturity” extended over the first one hundred

bipartitions ; “puberty,” or the earliest phase favorable to

conjugation, set in with the one hundred and thirtieth bipar-

tition; “eugamy,” or the most favorable conjugation phase,

extended to the one hundred and seventieth; then “senes-

cence” set in, characterized by a sexual hyperzsthesia in

which conjugation was void of result or rejuvenescence, owing

apparently to the destruction of the essential nuclear appara-

tus.

Conjugation begins with the approach of two individuals,

and adhesion by their oral surfaces. There is no fusion, but

an immediate transformation in the cell contents of each indi-

46

652 The American Naturalist. [August,

vidual sets in, concluding with an interchange of nuclear sub-

stance. In each cell Maupas distinguishes between the (M)

meganucleus (fig. 10, the macronucleus, nucleus, endoplast of

authors), which presides over nutrition and growth and divides

by constriction, and the (m) micronucleus (paranucleus, nucleo-

lus, of authors), which presides over the preservation of the

species. The latter contains chromatin; it is the seat of reju-

venescence, the basis of heredity, it divides by mitosis, show-

ing all the typical stages of karyokinesis excepting the loss of

the cell membrane.

The transformation in each of these copulating cells first

‘affects the centres of hereditary substance, viz., the micronu-

clei ; they divide three times; thus the micronuclear substance

is reduced to one-fourth of its original bulk. It is contained

in two surviving micronuclei (the others being absorbed or

eliminated), one of which migrates into the adjoining cell;

the other remains stationary. This migration is followed bya

fusion of the migrant and stationary micronuclei ; this fusion

effects a complete interchange of hereditary substance, after

which the two Infusoria separate and enter upon a new life

cycle. Meanwhile the meganucleus breaks up and is recon-

stituted in each fertilized cell.

Maupas gathers from these interesting phenomena addi-

tional proof that the chromatin of all cells bears the inherited

characteristics and that the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm, or

achromatin, is the dynamic agent, because the micronuclei

bearing the chromatin are the only structures which are per-

manent and persistent, all the other structures—nucleoplasm,

archoplasm, ete.—being replaced and renewed. The reduc-

tion of the chromatin is purely quantitative, the eliminated

and fertilizing micronuclei being exactly equivalent; after the

chromatin has been quartered the cell becomes incapable of

further activity until it is reinforced by chromatin from the —

copulating cell.

No Distinction Between the Sexes in Heredity —The three laws

which underlie these phenomena are: 1. That fertilization —

consists in the union of the hereditary substance of two indi-

viduals. 2. That before union the hereditary substance in )

1892.] Heredity and the Germ-Cells. 653

each is greatly reduced. 3. That there is no line between

male and female, the conjugating cells are simply in a similar

physiological condition wherein’ a mingling of hereditary

characteristics affords a new lease of life. As Maupas says:

“ Les différences appelées sexuelles portent sur des faits et

des phénomènes purement accessoires de la fécondation. La

fécondation consiste uniquement dans la réunion et la copula-

tion de deux noyaux semblables et équivalents, mais provenus

de deux cellules distinctes.”

In this conclusion as to the secondary and superficial, rather

than fundamental, difference between the two sexes, Maupas

simply confirms the views of Strasburger, the botanist, Hen-

sen, R. and O. Hertwig, Weismann, and others, namely, that

sex has evolved from the necessity of cell conjugation; that

even in the higher forms the cells borne by the two sexes are

absolutely neutral so far as sex is concerned, the wide differ-

ence of form of the germ-cells is a result of physiological

division of labor—the mass and yolk of the ovum having

been differentiated to support the early stages of development,

while the spermatozoon has dispensed with all these accessor-

ies and acquired an active vibratile form for its function of

reaching and penetrating the ovum. The evidence of the

Infusoria is paralleled among some of the plants, in which

conjugation between entirely similar cells is observed

The causes finally determining sex may come surprisingly

late in development, and according to the investigations of

Diising and the experiments of Yung’ and of Giron are directly

related to nutrition. High feeding favors an increase of the

percentage of females, while, conversely, low feeding increases

the males. In Yung’s experiments with tadpoles the follow-

ing results were obtained :

Females. Males.

Normal DELOODLARE, aeaa neer irera 57 43

High nutrition 92 8

5See Geddes and Thomson: The Evolution ha Sex, 1891, also, Diising: Die

Regulierung des Geschlechtsverhaltnisses bei d. Vermehrung der Menschen, Tiere

und Pflanzen, Jen. Zeit. f. Natur., Bd. 17, 1884. :

654 The American Naturalist. [August,

Geddes expresses this principle in physiological terms of

metabolism, that anabolic (constructive) conditions produce

females, while katabolic (destructive) conditions produce males.

think we may now safely eliminate the factor of sex from

our calculations upon the problem of heredity, and thus rid

ourselves of one of the oldest and most widespread fallacies.

We shall thus, in using the terms “ paternal” and “ maternal”

imply merely the distinction between two lines of family

descent.

The Theory of Reduction.—This leads us back to the signifi-

cance of the polar bodies. Van Beneden’s discovery that these

sree

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Weismann after Hertwig.) A, prae germ-cell in o c germ-la chromatin rods; B,

Ovum mother-cell—8 rods ; C-D, First polar body extruded; E, Splitting rat at — body. Ovum

still contains 4 rods ; F, Second polar body extruded ; at mature with 2 rods

bodies contained chromatin led gradually to the view that they

were not fragments of the ova, but represented minute mor-

phologically complete cells. Bütschli showed that they were

BURA NP Se ec oe PPR pee ae See eI ene A RR BE SOT T Same ee cane E STRELA? STIS SAT, Spe en RR Se ae eh)

ae Saye mn aes At z Aa ia es Piet:

EE ee AE RA EPI O RS Lae CE Be ee E ee IA Pee S Rees

1892.] Heredity and the Germ- Cells. 655

given off independently of, and prior to, the contact of the

spermatozoon, and, finding in the leeches that the first polar

body subdivides to form two bodies, he considered them as

formed by true cell division, and containing both nucleoplasm

and chromatin. Giard independently reached a similar opin-

ion, assigning an atavistic meaning to the polar cells. Whit-

man, in 1878, advanced the idea that they represented ves-

tiges of the primitive mode of reproduction by fission, while

Mark described them as “ abortive ova.”

At this point speculation subsided until it was revived by

Weismann’s attempt to connect these bodies with his theory

of heredity,’ already referred to. The whole history is clearly

iven in R. Hertwig’s masterly memoir upon Ovo and Sper-

matogenesis in the Nematodes.” Taking advantage of Boveri’s

discoveries in staining technique, and stimulated by Weis-

mann’s prediction that spermatozoa would also be found to

extrude polar bodies, this author examined all stages in the

peculiarly favorable germ-cells of the thread-worm of the

horse (Ascaris megalocephala).

He made the surprising discovery that ova and spermato-

zoa are formed in a substantially similar manner by repeated

divisions, the single difference being that the last products of

division among the sperm-cells are effective spermatozoa, capa-

ble of development in fertilization, while the last products of

division in the ovary are, first, the true ova, and second, the

abortive ova (polar cells) incapable of development. In both

ova and spermatozoa the nucleus contains but one-half the

chromatin which a typical nucleus contains; in the case of

A. megalocephala each of the germ-cells contains but two chro-

masomes while the normal body-cells contain four. The man-

ner in which this maturation of the germ-cells for conjugation

is brought about is beautifully shown in these diagrams, taken

from Weismann’s essay, “ Amphimixis.” You observe that

the number of chromasomes in the primary germ-cells is four

(figs. 11 and 12, A). Then are formed by subdivision the ovum

and sperm “ mother-cells,” in which the chromatin substance

tOn the Number of Polar Bodies and their Significance in Heredity. 1887.

TEi- und Samenbildung bei Nematoden, Archi. mikr. Anat., Bd. 26, 1890.

656 The American Naturalist. [August,

is doubled, so that we observe eight chromasomes. The

mother-cells then divide and the chromatin is reduced to four

rods, a second division rapidly follows whereby the chromatin

is reduced to two rods, or half the original quantity. These

last divisions take place by karyokinesis, but, as Hertwig points

out, they differ from typical karyokinesis in the fact that the

divisions follow so rapidly upon each other that the vesicular

LAY

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Fic. a TOGENESIS IN ASCARIS, (From prege gp Hertwig.) A, Original "E

cell—4 chromatin rods; B, Sperm mother-cell—8 rods ; C-D neg as aa ty with 4 rods ea

E-F, kanae a second daughter-cells, or matvre penn pen 2 rods

resting-period of the nucleus is omitted. Thus, he suggests,

is prevented an over-accumulation of chromatin substance

prior to the fusion of the ovum and sperm.

It is evident that the polar-cells are rudimentary ova, which

do not possess the yolk-mass, etc., essential to development,

and are divided off at a very late stage, sometimes after the

egg has left the ovary, but are in other respects analogous to

the spermatozoa. The reason these polar-cells have not dis-

appeared altogether in either plants or animals is that they

originally possessed a deep physiological importance. As the

first polar-cell subdivides and forms two, it follows that from

both ovum and sperm mother-cells four daughter-cells are

1892.] Heredity and the Germ- Cells. 657

formed, each containing half the chromatin substance of a

normal nucleus. In the ovary three of these daughter-cells

abort and the fourth forms a true ovum; in the sperm-gland,

however, all four daughter-cells form spermatozoa.

We may thus consider the polar-cell problem as in all prob-

ability settled; the whole process is probably an inheritance

or survival of a primitive condition in which all four ova, like

the four spermatozoa, were fully functional.

The Relation between the Chromatin and Heredity—We have

just seen that the last stages in the preparation of the ova and

spermatozoa for conjugation result in halving the number of

rods in the original germ-cells. Now, as Hertwig and Weis-

mann point out, one point is still left in doubt. Why is the

chromatin substance doubled in the mother-cells so that two

successive subdivisions are necessary to reduce it to half the

original quantity? Hertwig has not attempted to answer this

question, as he prefers to wait for further research. Weismann,

however, who is unfortunately cut off from research by failing

eyesight, has offered a speculative solution to this problem

which he trusts may guide future investigation.

This leads me to say a few words in regard to his concep-

tion of the relation of the chromatin to heredity. 1. His first

premise is that in fertilization there is not a fusion of chroma-

tin but that a certain independence is preserved between the

maternal and paternal elements, based upon the observed fact

that the two pairs of rods do not fuse but lie side by side, and

upon the assumption that these pairs are kept distinct in each

cell through all the subsequent stages of embryonic and adult

development. If this be the case, the hereditary substance

contributed by the father would remain separate from that

contributed by the mother, throughout. 2. “Each of these

pairs would be made up of the collective predispositions which

are indispensable for the building up of an individual, but

each possesses an individual character, for they are not entirely

alike. I have called such units “ancestral plasms,” and I

conceive that they are contained in numbers in the chromatin

of the mature germ-cells of living organisms, also that the

older nuclear rods are made up of a certain number of these.

658 The American Naturalist. [August,

- + + Obviously these units cannot become infinitely min-

ute; however small they may be they must always retain a

certain size. This follows from the extremely complicated

structure which we must without any doubt ascribe to them.”

These units are not, however, ultimate, they are in turn

extremely complex, and are composed of countless biological

units of the kind conceived by Niigeli and others. 3. The

reduction of the chromatin only acquires a meaning when

taken in connection with the above supposition of distinct

ancestral plasms, and has no meaning if we accept Hertwig’s

view that there is a complete fusion of maternal and paternal

germ-plasm. This meaning is that reduction in the matura-

tion of germ-cells is sui generis, it does not divide the ances-

tral plasms into two similar groups, but one daughter-cell

receives one set of germ-plasms or hereditary predispositions,

and another daughter-cell receives another; reduction is thus

differential. According to this view the four sperm and ovum

daughter-cells would each contain a different set of ancestral

plasms. 4. The fact that the chromatin substance is doubled

in the sperm and ovum mother-cells, so that we observe

double the number of rods characteristic of the species, is to be

explained as an adaptation to the requirements of natural

selection, for this doubling and subsequent double division

render possible an infinite number of combinations (as many,

in fact, as there are individuals) for Selection to operate upon.

This explanation of Weismann’s is an example of his apoth-

eosis of the theory of natural selection. Every process is made

to suit this theory, which, as we have seen in the first and sec-

ond lectures, is, in his opinion, the exclusive factor of evolu-

tion. But this very high degree of mingling and remingling

of ancestral predispositions would be fatal to evolution, for

after a combination favorable to survival had been established

in one generation it would be broken up into a new combina-

tion, perhaps unfavorable to survival, in the next generation.

This entire essay upon “Amphimixis,” or the theory of

mingling of reduced hereditary substance, will, I believe, mark

a turning-point to decline in Weismann’s influence as a biolo-

A a a Pt ee

1892.] Heredity and the Germ- Cells. 659

gist. His whole reasoning is now in a circle around the nat-

ural selection theory.

The Meaning of Conjugation—Weismann looks upon sexual

reproduction as designed to mingle hereditary tendencies and

to create individual differences whereby natural selection may

form new species. It is evident that these combinations must

be mainly fortuitous and productive of indefinite variation ;

but we have seen that evolution advances largely by the accu-

"mulation of definite variations, or those in which each success-

ive generation exhibits the same tendencies to depart from the

typical ancestral form in certain parts of the body, and that

these tendencies stand-out in relief among the diffused kaleid-

oscopic or fortuitous anomalies.

The fact, moreover, that variability and evolution by the

accumulation of certain variations in successive generations is

also observed in organisms which reproduce asexually, both

among plants and animals, shows that we must look in another

direction for the underlying cause or purpose of sexual repro-

duction. Weismann rightly combats the old idea of “ vitali-

zation ” of the ovum by the spermatozoon, and it is perfectly

evident from the researches of Maupas and Hertwig that the

ovum may as accurately be said to vitalize the spermatazoon

as the reverse. Fecundation is simply the approximation of

two hereditary substances of distinct origin and their incor-

poration into a single nucleus. The action and reaction of

these substances may be considered equal and mutual so far

as we now know.

The remarkably ingenious experiments of Hertwig and

Boveri, above alluded to, strengthen this idea. Some years

ago Weismann wrote: “If it were possible to introduce the

female pronucleus of an egg into another egg of the same spe-

cies, immediately after the transformation of the nucleus of

the latter into the female pronucleus, it is very probable that

the two nuclei would conjugate just as if a fertilizing sperm-

nucleus had penetrated. If this were so; the direct proof that

egg-nucleus and sperm-nucleus are identical would be fur-

nished.” Boveri succeeded in accomplishing a similar feat by

depriving an ovum of its nucleus and subsequently causing it

660 The American Naturalist. [August,

to develop by admitting a spermatozoan which fertilized the denu-

cleated ovum and produced a complete individual !

In opposing the vitalizing properties of the sperm, Weis-

mann, however, went further, and advocated the view that

there is nothing in the nature of vitalization or “rejuvenes-

cence” in conjugation—that, given proper environment, pro-

toplasm is immortal, and runs upon a course of undiminished

activity. This we have seen is not the case in the Infusoria,

and, as recently remarked by Hartog, there is only one class

of organisms which, according to our present knowledge, are

completely agamous and immortal—namely, the Monadina.

It may in future appear that even in the monads there is a

cycle for the development in which conjugation plays its part.

Maupas’s experiments seem to establish the primitive, and

therefore the true, interpretation of the purpose of conjugation

as well as of sex, the latter being a consequence of the former,

namely, that after a long period of direct subdivision of her-

editary material from a single individual, a limit is reached

beyond which the forces of heredity are not reproduced in

their original intensity unless combined with another set of

similar forces of different origin. This combination restores

the original intensity. It is objected to this that two sets of

feeble forces cannot constitute one vigorous force, but this is

met by the observed fact that such union does start a new life

cycle, and is therefore rejuvenescent. We may regard this as

the fundamental meaning of conjugation and the production

of variations as entirely secondary.

The Distribution of the Chromatin—We have now reviewed

some of the main phenomena of fertilization; there still

remains the relation of the hereditary substance to the future

development of the individual. There is, first, the astonishing

fact that, as the chromatin goes on dividing, its mass or vol-

ume remains apparently undiminished ; that is, there is appar-

ently as much chromatin in one of the many million active

cells of the body as in the original fertilized ovum, and there

is still an enigma as to the nature of this chromatin and its —

functions. Secondly, there is the problem of the maternal and

Sa oer nae Lae nce ar ax a ee ee ae ie ae Se ge aS Lee See

ENE ara res Sh ob 7 RP eS Ce at CR oo WS at ee ee BE Poet, Ya me = a ae woe,

eya ie ree ane rae ae RN teh Sg Tae a SMe ee E

ee

ice

1892.] Heredity and the Germ- Celis. 661

paternal elements in each cell; do they lie side by side or are

they fused ?

1st. In plants De Vries* and others believe that all or by far

the greater number of cells in the plant body contain the total

hereditary characters of the species in a latent condition.

Kölliker’ has fully discussed this question and called attention

to Miiller’s early views that, in spite of the physiological divis-

ion of labor producing the tissues, the properties of all the

tissues can be derived from the nuclear substance of a single

tissue, as proved by experiments upon the lower animals.

Weismann, on the other hand, has held that the course of

development is marked by a constant qualitative distribution

of his germ-plasm or hereditary substance, so that, so far as

nuclear content is concerned, there are three forms of cells: 1,

with nucleoplasm ; 2, with nucleoplasm and germ-plasm; 3,

with germ-plasm only. Kölliker opposes this idea and main-

tains that the “ idioplasma” passes into all cells, in which it

divides in course of development; step by step from the

embryonic layers to the tissues, the constructive processes are

under the direction of the nuclei containing this hereditary

substance ; it remains in every nucleus for a long period unal-

tered, in order to finally, here earlier, there later, impress its

constructive forces. In certain elements, as in blood-corpus-

cles, epidermal scales, etc., it disappears, as the last product of

division.

R. Hertwig takes a similar view; since embryonic and adult

cell division is differential there must be a form of differentia-

tion in the nucleus, but this does not consist in the total elim-

ination of some qualities and survival of others, nor of a

reduction in mass. The mass and the properties remain the

same in every cell, the differentiation consists in the activity

of certain elements in certain tissues. Thus we may say with

De Vries, that different “ pangene ” may leave the nucleus and

enter the cell in different tissues, or with Nägeli, that special

“ micelle ” come into activity at certain points; in other words,

*Hugo de Vries: Intracellulare Pangenesis. Jena, 1889.

Die Bedeutung der Zellkerne fiir die Vorgänge der Vaalin. Zeit. f. wiss. Zodl.,

1885. And, Das Karyoplasma und die Vererbung, op. cit., 1886.

662 The American Naturalist. [August,

the potential of the nucleus is differently exerted. Here, again,

we have the idea of patent and latent hereditary elements,

‘such as appear in the entire individual upon a larger scale.

This is one of the most interesting problems for future inves-

tigation, but the direction of research will, I imagine, cover a

larger area of cell-content than the nucleus, as we are now

swinging back to regard the extra nuclear archoplasm as an

important factor in the process.

In the following paragraph Hertwig expressed his view of

nuclear control and cytoplasmic differentiation : ;

“ As I saw in the transformation of the nucleus during fer-

tilization proof that it is the bearer of hereditary substance I

recognized a great advance in the fact that the nucleus leaves

in the same form in every cell, and in its vesicular capsule is

somewhat removed from the metamorphoses of the cells. As

Nägeli spread his idioplasm as a net-work throughout the

whole body, so, according to my theory, every body-cell con-

tained in its nucleus its quota of hereditary substance, while

its specific histological peculiarities were to be regarded as its

plasma-products.”

2d. The next question is the fate of the maternal and pater-

nal contributions to the embryo. Here there is a wide difference

of opinion. On the one side Van Beneden is the leader of

those who regard each cell of the body as in a sense hermaph-

rodite; as we have seen, his views of maturation and the sig-

nificance of the extension of the polar bodies were colored by

this theory, for he regarded the germ-cells as hermaphrodite

until one sex was eliminated. But now that the researches of

Hertwig have given the last blow to Van Beneden’s theory,

and it follows that there can be no male and female chroma-

somes, there still remains room for the analogous view that the

maternal and paternal chromasomes remain distinct through-

out the course of development, not as sexual elements but as

substances with the same racial and specific but different indi-

vidual tendencies. Rabl, an eminent embryologist, shares this

view, and it is supported by Boveri upon the observation that

in each division the paternal and maternal elements are kept —

distinct, and in Ascaris, for example, two of the chromasomes —

1892.] Heredity and the Germ- Cells. 663

of each division figure are paternal and two are maternal. In

favor of this hypothesis we may place the following facts:

1st, that there are an even number of chromasome rods in all

cells; 2d, that the number is constant throughout all the sub-

sequent changes in the tissues; 3d, that the number is fixed

for each species or variety; 4th, that the number is the same

in each sex.

Against this replacement hypothesis we must consider the

extreme complexity of the division process, and the long-rest-

ing, or thread stage, in which the chromatin lies in a confused

coil. Further, Hertwig argues that if the elements are dis-

tinct we should find some evidence that the maternal or pater-

nal part is atrophied or replaced, or excluded from the nucleus,

for both parts cannot share alike in the control of the cell.

These are Hertwig’s grounds for supporting the “ verschmel-

sungstheorie,” or fusion theory, also advocated by Waldeyer,

to the effect that by the complete union of the maternal and

paternal substance a new product is formed; in this fusion the

law of prepotency may come into play, causing one or other

of the parental tendencies to predominate, or there may be an

even redistribution, whereby, as expressed by Hensen, “the

hereditary substance of the son is not that of the father plus

that of the mother, but is his own, with a new hereditary form

resulting from the combination.”

While suspending judgment between these two views as to

the separation or fusion of the chromatin, we may appeal to

the external phenomena of heredity for light upon the proba-

bilities in the question. First, I refer to the very decided

opinion of Francis Galton in regard to particulate inheritance ;

he is so impressed with the fact that we are made up bit by bit

of separate structures derived from different ancestors that he

has even suggested that the skin of the mulatto may represent

not a fusion of white and black but an excessively fine mosaic

in which the colors are so distributed as to give the appear-

ance of blending. We do sometimes observe patches of color

as evidence of uneven distribution. As Galton distinguishes

two types of structures with reference to inheritance, viz., those

which blend and those which do not blend, we might corre-

664 : The American Naturalist. [August,

late these types with prepotency, replacement, and fusion.

Where characteristics do not blend, as in eye-color, it is evi-

dent that, while the offspring must receive from both parents

the material basis for the formation of the complete color of

the eye, either the maternal or paternal material must be pre-

potent and exclude the development of the other; the logical

inference is that the former actively replaces the latter ; but it

is not necessary that exclusion from the cell chromatin should

follow. Now, while some blends seem to support the theory of

fusion, the sum total of facts of heredity are strongly against

this as a universal principle, for many maternal and paternal

structures are preserved in their absolute integrity for genera-

tions without the least indication of mixture.

Cell Forces and Heredity.—We have thus far been con-

sidering only the chromatin as the heredity substance par

excellence, and have disregarded for the time the archoplasm or

_ dynamic material of the cell. If we advance upon the hypoth-

esis that a typical cell contains the more or less passive chro-

matin, and the archoplasm playing upon this chromatin in

course of every phase of redistribution, it seems á priori.

improbable that elements which are associated with every vital

change should be dissociated in the phenomena of heredity.

We might suppose that the mechanics of karyokinesis are

exactly similar in every cell of one individual, but it is highly

improbable that they should be exactly similar in two indi-

viduals. We should, therefore anticipate the joint transmiss- _

ion of the chromatin and archoplasm, implying by the latter

the dynamic centers especially connected with hereditary func-

oi as distinguished from the general functions of metabo-

ism.

This leads us to look for evidence from the life of the cell

in its totality. We owe to Dr. Max Verworn” a fresh treat-

ment of this subject, based upon experimental researches

among the Infusoria, mainly by the extirpation method. As

his experiments included only the phenomena of living cells

AOD epee Bedeutung des Zellkerns, Archiv fiir Physiologie, 1891, pp-

: 5.

1892,] Heredity and the Germ- Cells. 665

in which the chromatin substance was of course undifferen-

_ tiated to the eye, he treats of the nucleus as a whole without

distinction as to chromatin and achromatin. He concludes

that the physiological importance of the nucleus is exhibited

in its constant interchange of materials with the remainder of

the cell body, only through this interchange does it influence

the cell and control its life processes. The interchange is in

triple currents, a, from outside of cell to cytoplasm; b, from

cytoplasm to nucleus; c, from nucleus to cytoplasm. These

movements of interchange are the expression of life phenom-

ena. He compares the rôle of the nucleus to that of a cell

organoid, like chlorophyll, as not constantly present but as

invariably necessary to activity. Thus he believes even the

most lowly organized cells have nuclear centres, and that even

bacteria are differentiated into nuclear and extra-nuclear areas.

Coupled with this idea of nuclear control is the somewhat par-

adoxical statement that the nucleus is not a dynamic centre,

either automatic or regulating, and the conclusion that the

nucleus alone cannot be the seat of fertilization and heredity,

but both the nucleus and extra-nuclear protoplasm must con-

stitute the material basis of heredity. This conclusion is in

the direction of the general reaction of opinion which is now

taking place against the centralization of cell-government in

the nucleus.

Vague as they must necessarily be, our ideas of cell forces

are somewhat further defined by the brilliant experiments of

the Hertwig brothers upon germ-cell physiology and pathol-

ogy, which are full of suggestion as to the causation of abnor-

malities in inheritance. These were begun in 1884 and were

first directed to the influence of gravitation upon the planes

of embryonic cell division, following up the experiments of

Pfliiger and Rauber. In 1885 the conditions of bastard fertili-

zation were studied ; in 1887 the causes of polyspermy or mul-

tiple fertilization ; and in 1890 the effects of extreme heat and

cold upon germ-cell functions." In general the conclusions

reached were that in the normal state there exist regulating

` NExperimentelle Untersuchungen über die Bedingungen der Bastardbefruchtung,

Jena, 1885. See series of papers in Jenaische Zeitschrift.

666 The American Naturalist. [August,

forces in the:ovum which prevent multiple fertilization or

bastard fertilization (i. ¢., by spermatozoa of other varieties),

but these forces are neutralized where the life-energy of the

cell is diminished by reagents or by extremes of temperature.

For example, in the normal state the entrance of a single

spermatozoon produces a reaction in the ovum-wall preventing

the entrance of other spermatozoa, but when the ovum is weak-

ened by chloroform solution two or more spermatozoa enter

before the reaction appears; in fact the degree of polyspermy

is directly proportional to the intensity of the chemical, ther-

mic, or mechanical disturbance of the ovum. Double fertili-

zation or over-fertilization has not in a single case resulted in

the production of twins, so that Fol’s supposition is negatived,

although other forms may behave differently. The cell-func-

tion may be arrested at any stage by thermic influences ; thus

two pronuclei, paternal and maternal, about to unite can be

held apart by lowering the temperature. Polyspermy also

results from a lower temperature. It is noteworthy that the

conditions of bastard fertilization and polyspermy are differ-

ent; chloroform produces the latter but not the former.

Kupffer has, I believe, succeeded in producing twins, or rather

two-headed monsters, by abnormal fertilization in fishes.

These researches, although made with a different object,

re-establish the older views as to the interdependence of nuclear

and extra nuclear activities, and show that no sharp line of

demarcation of function can be drawn between the nucleus as

a center of reproduction and heredity, and the cytoplasm as

the seat of tissue-building and nutrition. In Boveri’s discov-

ery of the archoplasmic centres, or centrosomes, we find posi-

tive ground for this broader view. It is connected with the

cell phenomena of heredity in the following manner: :

While the union of the nuclei in fertilization is the most —

obvious feature, this union is dependent upon the archoplasm,

which rearranges the nuclear elements. If the spermatozoon

contains no archoplasm, this power cannot come from the

paternal side; but Boveri shows that this is probably not the

case and that the spermatozoon brings its centrosome with it,

thus entering the ovum with both the paternal chromatin sub- —

1892,] Heredity and the Germ- Cells. 667

stance and dynamic material. It is certain from this and from

the observations of Roux that the sperm-cell is now to be

regarded as more than a mere nucleus, that it contains both

nuclein and para-nuclein.

Intercellular Forces.—The forces within the different portions

of the cell lead us to consider those which must exist between

different cells. This is an obscure question at present; but, as

I have observed in the close of the second lecture, it is an

extremely important one in connection with the problem of

heredity. As Professor Wilson writes, “My own conviction

steadily grows that the cell is not a self-regulating mechanism

in itself, that no cell is isolated, and that Weismann’s funda-

mental proposition is false.”

It is a long step between an 4 priori conviction and the dem-

onstration by experiment of a correlation of forces between

the cells. This seems to me a most important field of experi-

ment. ‘We haveseen in Maupas’s work that the contact of two

Infusoria initiates a rapid series of internal changes; we have

only to conceive of analogous changes taking place when two

cells are not in actual contact, as in the phenomena of previous

fertilization referred to in my second lecture. Hertwig and

others have shown how gravitation is related to cell activity.

Roux has destroyed half an embryo with a hot needle in the

first stages of segmentation and followed the other half

through the stages of subsequent development. Another clever

experimenter has turned fertilized ova upside down during the

early stages of development, and shown how the protoplasmic

pole and yolk-pole forcibly change places. Driesch has traced

the connection and meaning of the first plane of cleavage in

the embryos of echinoderms, and has succeeded in raising a

small adult from half an embryo artificially separated during

the first cleavage stage. Wilson, in the larva of Nereis, has

shown how a certain stage of division in one group of cells

affects all the other groups. All these experiments are in the

line of determining the relation which exists between internal

cell forces and other natural forces. What we must now seek

to determine is the relation of cell to cell throughout the body,

in connection with the phenomena of heredity.

48

668 The American Naturalist. [August,

Conclusions.—The most impressive truth issuing from our

review of recent researches in evolution and heredity is the

uniformity of life-processes throughout the whole scale of life

from the Infusoria to man. The most striking analogy is that

seen in the laws of fertilization and conjugation, which are

shown by Maupas’s researches to have been established sub-

stantially in their present form at a very early period in the

evolution of living organisms. Such uniformity furnishes a

powerful argument for the advocates of the study of biology

as an introduction to the applied science of medicine. Much

that is now entirely omitted from medical education, because

it is considered too remote, is in reality at the very roots of the

science. To understand the disorders of life we should first

thoroughly understand the essential phenomena of normal

life. Of course we shall never see life as it really is, because

there is always something beyond our highest magnifying

powers; but we come nearest to this invisible form of energy

when, with such investigators as Hertwig and Maupas, we

strip the life-processes of all their accessories and view them

in their simplest external form.

The problems of evolution are found to be inseparably con-

nected with those of heredity. No theory is at all adequate

which does not explain both classes of facts, and we haveseen

that the explanations offered by the two opposed schools—

those who believe in the transmission of acquired characters

and those who do not—are directly exclusive of each other.

We should suspend judgment entirely rather than cease to

gather from every quarter facts which bear upon the most

important and central problem of the transmission of acquired

characters. I have endeavored to point out the opportunities

which medical practitioners enjoy of contributing evidence

upon this mooted question. It must not be forgotten that

while the inheritance of individual adaptation to environment

is the simplest method of explaining race adaptation such as

we observe in the evolution of man, we know absolutely

nothing of how such inheritance can be effected through the

germ-cells. We cannot at present construct even any form of

working hypothesis for such a process. On the other hand, we

1892.] Heredity and the Germ- Cells. 669

have found how untenable is the alternative theory offered to

us by Weismann, that it is solely natural selection or the sur-

vival of the fittest which

“. . . shapes our ends,

Rough-hew them as we will.”

At the same time Weismann’s conception of a continuity of

germinal protoplasm, which we have found to consist in chro-

matin plus archoplasm, helps us over many of the phenomena

of heredity, especially on the retrogressive side, and if it were

not that we must also account for progressive and definite

transformation in heredity, we might credit the distinguished

Freiburg naturalist with having loosed the Gordian knot.

In summing up, the order of treatment followed in the lec-

tures may be reversed, and we can begin with the germ-cells,

and condense the more or less ascertained facts.

the Germ-cells—1. The material substance of hereditary

transmission is the highly coloring protoplasm, or chromatin,

in the nucleus of the germ-cells, probably connected with a

certain form of archoplasm, or dynamic protoplasm, outside of

the nucleus.

2. Before conjugation and fertilization the hereditary sub-

stance of both the male and female cells is reduced to one-

half that found in a typical cell. The substance is, however,

first doubled and then quartered, the meaning of which pro-

cess is not understood.

3 There is a difference of opinion as to whether the pater-

nal and maternal hereditary substances, are fused or lie side

by side during fertilization, also as to how the substance is

distributed through the tissues, during individual growth,

whether en masse or by qualitative distribution.

Heredity—4. No form of physical connection between the

germ-cells and body-cellg is known, but the facts of heredity

seem to render such a connection theoretically necessary.

Several classes of facts witnessed in reproduction seem to

‘support this theory.

670 The American Naturalist. [August, ;

5. The facts of Heredity support the theory of a continuous

and specific form of protoplasm as the basis of repetition of

type.

Evolution—6. The facts of evolution, both in present and

past time, point to transformism by definite progression toward

new types of structure in succeeding generations, opposing the

retrogressive forces of heredity.

7. The theory (Natural Selection) of definite progression fe

the accumulation of fortuitous favorable variations is found

to be not only theoretically improbable, but not to correspond

with the observed laws of variation.

8. The laws of variation (anomalies) lend support to the `

theory of hereditary transmission of individual acquired

variations, but even this (Lamarckian) theory encounters many

difficulties.

I think this is as fair a statement as can be made at the

present time, and it rests upon a general survey of the whole

field.

1892.] The Head of an Embryo Amphiuma. 671

THE HEAD OF AN EMBRYO AMPHIUMA.

By J. S. KINGSLEY.

The following is a preliminary account of some studies of a

single stage of Amphiuma means before hatching. For the

material I am under great obligations to Prof. O. P. Hay, of

Irvington, Indiana. I must also return my thanks to Prof.

Dr. Robert Wiedersheim, in whose private laboratory in the

University of Freiburg i-B., my studies were conducted. Only

one who has enjoyed the privilege of working with him can

appreciate his many kindnesses and extreme helpfulness.

EXTERNAL APPEARANCE.—The general appearance of the eggs

has already been described by Dr. Hay, and is strikingly sim-

ilar to that of Ichthyophis as described and illustrated by the

cousins Sarasin. This resemblance is strengthened by the

fact that the cord connecting the eggs is spirally twisted as in

the Ceylonese Gymnophione described by them.

The external description of the embryo Amphiuma has been

correctly described by Hay in most points, but in a few respects

my specimens differ from his description. According to him

“the gills consist of three pairs, and are of the simply pinnate

form. . . Only once have I observed any of these lateral

filaments to divide. . . Three gill slits are still open.” The

figures which illustrate this are strikingly like those of the

Sarasins of the branchie of the Ichthyophis larve. In the

larvee which I studied the resemblance is not so striking. The

three gills of either side are united at the base into a common

trunk, the gill filaments are not bipinnately but irregularly

arranged, and in none of my specimens have I found more

than one gill cleft open. (Cf. infra.)

CHONDROCRANIUM.—The cartilaginous skull, as it appears in

a wax reconstruction after Born’s method (and compared with

dissections), is more slender than in Hay’s figures; it also pre-

sents minor differences in several other respects from his rep-

672 The American Naturalist. [August, —

resentation and description, to which reference should be made

in reading the following account: .

In front of the pituitary space the trabecule unite into a

broad horizontal plate, the line of junction of the two halves

being entirely obsolete, while still farther forward the cornua

trabecule, instead of being two-lobed, form a broad triangular

plate. Between the two cornua isa deep and narrow notch

with parallel sides in which is imbedded the septum osseum

of the premaxilla to be described below. The trabeculae, on

either side of the pituitary space, are high and compressed.

Just behind the nasal capsules two processes are given off on

either side. The upper one, arising from the trabecular crest

is, as Hay calls it, the rudimentary nasal capsule, and in one

specimen upon one side I found a perforation in this process

which suggests the more extensive fenestration in the nasal

cartilage of the adult Necturus and Protopterus. The lower

process may retain the name, antorbital, usually applied to it,

for Amphiuma presents no evidence that it is the palatine car-

tilage as Gaupp interprets it.

Somewhat farther behind these processes than in Hay’s

figure are two openings through the trabecule for the passage

of the optic and oculomotorius' nerves.

The trabecule are united to the posterior portion of the car-

tilaginous skull by three processes. The upper connects the —

crista trabecule with the ear capsule; the middle, the process —

ascendens of Stohr and other authors, goes from the trabec-

ule to the inner anterior angle of the quadrate; the third, the

radix trabecule, is bifurcate posteriorly, the outer ramus join-

ing the floor of the otic capsule, the other uniting with the

parachordal floor of the cranial cavity.

The parachordal cartilage lies beneath the notochord, as

do the lower ares of the occipital and first cervical vertebra.

Between the parachordals and the otic capsule on either side

is a large oval opening in the cranial floor. The occipital ver-

tebra is confluent below with the parachordal cartilage; on

_ Hay suspected that the posterior of these foramina was for the transmission of —

the third nerve. I have traced the nerve from its origin, through the opening, into the -

proper eye muscles.

1892.] The Head of an Embryo Amphiuma. ` 673

either side it merges with the posterior angle of the otic cap-

sules; above it is incomplete. Between the ventral portion of

the occipital vertebre and its lateral union with the otic cap-

sule is the foramen for the vagus nerve.

The otic capsules are elongate oval. In front they project

slightly beyond the point of union with the criste trabecula-

rum, behind they merge into the occipital vertebra. In the

lower outer surface is the large oval foramen ovale, and just

in front of it is the external opening of the foramen for the

facialis. This foramen does not penetrate the ear capsule

proper, it only passes through its anterior wall. On the inner

lower surface the otic capsule is produced into a narrow ledge

which projects inwards to form a part of the floor of the cranial

cavity, being limited internally by the large opening between

itand the parachordal cartilage. The inner wall of the capsule

is perforated by three subequal openings in the same plane,

and a fourth smaller one above them and between the two

posterior ones. The anterior of these forms a considerable

cavity, in which is situated the acustico-facialis ganglion and

from it nerves go through the adjacent cartilage in the follow-

ing directions: One branch, the ramus palatinus, goes ven-

trally through the floor; a second, the facialis proper, goes

straight outward to reappear, as just mentioned, upon the

outer surface; while the third, the ramus vestibularis of the

eighth nerve, goes upward and backward to the sensory epi-

thelium of the inner ear. Separated by a considerable carti-

laginous interval from the first of these openings is a second,

nearly equal in size, through which the ramus cochlearis of

the auditory nerve enters the ear; the small upper opening

permits the ductus endolymphatieus to pass above the brain

in the same manner that the ductus perilymphaticus goes

through the fourth opening beneath the brain. I have seen

no special opening in the cartilage for the passage . blood-

vessels to the inner ear.

CARTILAGINOUS VISCERAL SKELETON.—The tiiis is

rhomboidal in outline when viewed from the side, the external

surface exhibiting a slight depression. As yet it is connected

with the skull by only the process ascendens, the processes

i

674 The American, Naturalist. [August,

oticus and palatobasale being as yet undeveloped. Behind,

from the posterior angle, is a projection with which articulates

the cylindrical process opercularis (columella), the posterior

end of which is imbedded in the still membranous opercular

membrane (stapes of Hay), which closes the foramen ovale.

Meckel’s cartilage articulates with the lower angle of the quad-

rate, a process extending behind the articulation, for the inser-

tion of the digastric muscle. The two halves of the lower jaw

are united by fibrous connective tissue in front. I find no trace

of Hay’s pterygoid cartilage. The hyoid and branchial arches

call for no remark aside from the fact that they lack the yoke

which binds together the upper ends of the branchial bars in

Amblystoma embryos, and, according to Stöhr, in some other

orms.

OssIFIcaTIons.—These have been well described by Hay and

only a few words are necessary. The ossifications are here, as

Weidersheim has pointed out for all urodeles, perichondros-

toses. They consist of, in the cranium at this stage, premax-

illary, vomeropalatines (better dermopalatines), parasphenoid,

frontals, parietals, squamosals or tympanics, occipital and small

patches surrounding the exits of the vagus nerves. In the

lower jaw dentary and angular bones are seen, while ossifica-

tion occurs on the hyoids. The premaxillary at thissecompara-

tively early stage shows no trace of a double origin, either in

front or in that median osseous process extending backwards,

which separates the two nasal cavities. This is the septum

osseum of Weidersheim, and is clearly a portion of the pre-

maxillary. It is also, I think, the same bone which Cope has

called ethmoid, and upon which both he and the Sarasins have

placed great weight in their association of the Gymnophiona

with the Amphiumide. The squamosal of Amphiuma is

clearly not homologous with that bone which Weidersheim

(and following him Cope) has called by that name in the Cæ-

cilians, but to which the Sarasins have applied the name jugal.

The ossification of the occipital region is peculiar. As is well

known the occipital region of the urodele skull is formed by |

the junction of a primitively separate vertebra with the para-

chordals and otic capsules. In this vertebra, above its carti-

1892] The Head of an Embryo Amphiuma. 675

laginous lower arch and in the fibrous connective tissue on

either side of the notochord is a deposit of bone of such a

character as to suggest the existence here of an earlier verte-

bral centre which has disappeared.

VISCERAL CLerts.—My specimens are too old to throw any

light upon the mooted question of an obsolete visceral seg-

ment between mandible and hyoid, but in the region behind

the last branchial cleft of the ordinary Amphibian some inter-

esting facts are seen. A reconstruction of the floor of the throat

after the method of Born shows the following clefts distinctly :

—a, the hyomandibular or spiracular cleft, which like b and c,

the first and second branchials, is not open to the exterior; d,

the third branchial cleft which is still functional, opening to

the outer world as already described in referring to the exter-

nal appearance. Behind this last cleft comes the fourth carti-

laginous gill arch; and still behind this and between it and

the trachea are two other pits, clearly serially homologous with

the others, and hence to be regarded as the representatives of

the two posterior clefts of the typical elasmobranchs and gan-

oids. Of these the anterior (fourth branchial) has already

been recognized as occurring in the Amphibian ontogeny ; it

is the “ Suprapericardialkérper ” of authors, which Maurer has

shown to be the fourth gill cleft. The posterior, the fifth gill

cleft has not before been recognized in the Batrachia. These

posterior clefts bear such relationships to the trachea as to lend

countenance to that view which would derive lungs and trachea

from modified gill slits. Should this view ever be substan-

tiated, it may be that the laryngeal cartilages will be shown to

be the modified gill-bars of this region. Amphiuma, however,

throws not the slightest light directly upon the phylogeny of

these structures.

In this connection I may state that in the early Siredon

stage of Amblystoma jeffersonianum the posterior (fourth)

branchial cartilage is bifid at its upper and posterior extrem-

ity? in such a manner as to suggest that there was formerly

here an additional arch, the traces of which are disappearing

in the same way in which the posterior gill of Ichthyophis is

2This, of course, bears no relationship to the bifid ceratohyals of the ganoids.

76 The American Naturalist. [ August,

merged with its predecessor. In Amphiuma I find no trace of

any gill bar behind the fourth of the adult.

Nervous System.—The brain of the larva studied varies

considerably from that of the adult as described by Osborn.

The account of the internal structure is reserved until later.

Externally it is characterized by its shortness and longitudinal

compression, this being more marked than in any adult Batra-

chian except that of the Gymnophiona as described by Wald-

schmidt and Burckhardt. It exceeds in this respect the brain

of Protopterus as figured by Fulliquet. Asin the latter form

the cerebral hemispheres are pushed back upon and wedged

apart by the twixt brain, while behind, the mid-brain and cere-

bellum are so folded over upon the medulla that the lateral

angles of the ‘fossa rhomboidalis’ extend nearly to the pos-

terior lobes of the cerebrum? The brain flexure, however, is

apparently slight, the primary bend being corrected by a

secondary one. The cerebral hemispheres are distinct above

and in front of the lamina terminalis; the olfactory lobes are

not distinct from the hemispheres. The floor of the twixt

brain is very short and the infundibulum and hypophysis are

very broad, the latter being wider than the mid-brain in its

widest place. The choroid plexus of the anterior ventricles is

well developed, but calls for no special remark. The cavity of

the pinealis is still in connection with the cavity of the brain

and its enlarged distal portion, which reaches nearly to the

roof of the cranial cavity, is considerably lobed and folded.

The olfactory nerve arises by a single root,‘ goes laterally

from the tip of the hemisphere and, in the nasal capsule, divides

into upper and lower branches which innervate the nasal epi-

thelium and Jacobson’s organ respectively.

The optic and oculomotor nerves call for no comment. I

failed to find the fourth (trochlearis) and the sixth (abducens)

in my preparations.

The fifth nerve presents several features of interest. As my

3Cf. Waldschmidt’s account of the Gymnophionan brain.

‘Weidersheim formerly thought that the double origin of the olfactory in the Gym- —

nophiona had great morphological importance, but the studies of the Sarasins and of

Burckhardt show that such is not the case

1892.] The Head of an Embryo Amphiuma. 677

material was none too well preserved, I am not able to say

how many roots the nerve has, as it comes from the brain.

Several distinct groups of fibres go from the anterior.angle of

the medulla to the gasserian ganglion. This latter structure

is single and shows none of the double character described by

von Plessin and Rabinowicz’ in Salamandra maculata. Nor

do my studies of the nerve fibres agree with their accounts of

the nerves. The Gasserian ganglion is oval in shape. It lies

in the angle formed by the otic capsule, the processes of the

trabeculae and the process ascendens of the quadrate. From

its hinder surface a commissure connects it with the ganglion

acustico-facialis. From its outer surface arises the maxillaris

inferior, and from its anterior end, at different levels, the rami

ophthalmicus superficialis, ophthalmicus profundus and max-

illaris superior. The maxillaris inferior and the maxillaris

superior, after leaving the ganglion, pass from the cranial cav-

ity between the process ascendens of the quadrate and the otic

capsule. According to von Plessin and Rabinowicz these rami

are different in cerebral origin in Sal. maculata, but in my sec-

tion some of the fibres which compose each are easily traced

to a common origin. Of the distribution of these nerves

nothing need here be said.

The two ophthalmici leave the cranial cavity through the

foramen below the process ascendens of the quadrate. The

ophthalmicus profundus passes beneath the optic and oculomo-

torius and breaks up into fibres at the posterior wall of the

nasal capsule. Fibres from the ganglion of the seventh are

traced through the gasserian ganglion into the ophthalmicus

_ superficialis.

The compound facialis-auditory ganglion is long and nar-

row. From it arises the palatine branch which goes through

‘According algae’ authors the Gasserian ganglion consists of two distinct and

e a ventral principal ganglion and a more dorsal accessory portion.

The chief ai has its proper medullary root, while the root of the accessory

ganglion is close by and a little dorsal to the root of the acustico-facialis. From the

principal ganglion arise two nerves, called respectively mandibularis (== maxillaris

inferior) and nasalis (= ophthalmicus profundus); from the accessory ganglion arise

the supramaxillaris superior (= maxillaris superior) and the frontalis (= ophthalmi-

cus superficialis).

678 The American Naturalist. [August,

the floor of the otic capsule to be distributed as usual. The

facialis branch divides into two portions just outside the era-

nial wall and behind and below the quadrate; the very large

posterior branch runs backward to innervate the posterior belly

of the digastric muscle. The anterior ramus has the usual

distribution.

An especially noticeable feature in connection with the

twelfth nerve is the persistence of the dorsal ganglion. Wald-

schmidt’s observations on Protopterus and those of von Plessin

and Rabinowicz upon Salamandra are interesting in this con-

nection.

The nasal organ has a well developed organ of Jacobson,

though on a simpler type than that of the Cecilians. The

sensory epithelium of the nose, is in these embryos, not differ-

entiated as in the adult.

Conciustons.—Following such students of the Batrachia as

Cope and the Sarasins it is with some diffidence that I dissent

from their conclusions, for both regard Amphiuma as a con-

necting link between the Cecilians and the Urodeles. That

both Gymnophiona and Amphiuma are degenerate goes with-

out question, but it seems to me that their many peculiar

resemblances are those of homoplassy rather than derivations

from a common ancestor. Then again, some of these resem-

blances have been founded upon mistakes. Thus the possess-

ion of an ethmoid by Amphiuma cannot be maintained. The

external gills of the larve are not so similar as has been sup-

posed ; the derotrematous condition which appears later has

one important difference: In Amphiuma only the third gill

slit persists to open through the round external opening to the

exterior, and my material shows that when the other slits were

open they had separate openings upon the side of-the neck-

In Ichthyophis, on the other hand, the observations of the

Sarasins show that both the second and third slits have a com-

mon external opening.

On the other hand, there are certain differences to be empha-

sized. The presence of an ethmoid in the Gymnophiona (and

its absence from Amphiuma and other Urodeles’) the exist-

“The ethmoid of H. H, Wilder in Siren is clearly not homologous with the bone

eeen called by that name in other vertebrates. It is rather the prefrontal of

authors.

1892.] The Head of an Embryo Amphiuma. 679

ence of a turbinal, the absence of a parasphenoid and the

presence of a basisphenoid are all points of importance, as is

also the frequent presence of two rows of teeth. Again, in the

Cecilians we find a multiplicity of bones such as occurs in the

lower Ichthyopsida but not in the Urodeles, and which conse-

quently cannot be derived from the latter. Regarding the

chondrocranium of the Gymnophiona no comparison can be

made until the appearance of the promised paper by Burck-

hardt.

The view is quite common that the origin of the Batrachia

(sens. lat.) must be sought in the Dipnoi. Thus Cope says

(Am. Nart., xviii, p. 725-6, 1884): “The Batrachia have origi-

nated from the sub-class of fishes, the Dipnoi, though not from

any known form.”

This view had doubtless its foundation in the existence of

both gills and lungs in these forms. As yet, however, no care-

ful study of the distribution of the cranial nerves and of the

ontogeny of the chondrocranium of any Dipnoan has been

published, and until we have more detailed accounts than

have as yet been made it is safe to assume that the resem-

blances which have been pointed out between the Dipnoi and

the Urodeles are those derived from a common ancestry. Of

these resemblances probably the most important is that of the

relation of the mandibular arch to the skull. Thus Huxley

has divided the Ichthyopsida into autostylic, hypostylic and

amphistylic groups, and has shown the close resemblances of

the Amphibia to the Dipnoi, Chimeroids and Marsipobranchs

in the ampistylic character of this connection of the quadrate

with the cranium. It is, however, to be noticed that in the

Urodeles the pterygoid cartilage never has that close relation

to the cranium that this thesis demands, while the autostylic

condition arises comparatively late in development, and never

attains that completeness which a Dipnoan ancestry would

imply. ;

In short, I would prefer to trace the origin of both Dipnoi

and Urodeles from a crossopterygian ganoid ancestry, the

former being the apex of their line of development, the latter

tracing their descent through the Stegocephali.

680 The American Naturalist. [August,

LITERATURE.

E. D. Copr.—Structure and Affinities of the Amphiumide.

Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., 1886.

Note on the Phylogeny of the Vertebrata. Am. NAT.

xviii, 1884.

R. BURCKHARDT.—Hirn und Geruchsorgan von Triton und

Ichthyophis. Zeitsch. f. wiss. Zoologie, lii, 1891.

G. FuLLiqueT.—Cerveau ae Protopterus annectens. Ree.

Zool. Suisse. ii, 1886.

E. Gavrr—-Primordial-Cranium der Amphibien und Rep-

tilien. Verhandl. Anat. Gesell. v, 1891.

P. Hay.—Skeletal Anatomy of Amphiuma. Jour. Morph.,

iv, 1890.

T. H. Huxtey.—On Ceratodus fosteri. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lon-

don, 1876.

T. Mavrer.—Die Kiemen und ihrer Gefiisse bei Anuren und

Urodelen Amphibien. Morph. Jahrbuch, xiv, 1888.

H. F. Ostorn.—Preliminary Observations on the Brain of

Amphiuma. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1883.

von Pressin unD Raprnowicz.—Die Kopfnerven von Sala-

mandra namie. . München, 1891.

. Sromr. hte des Urodelenschidels. —

Zeits. f. wiss. Zool., xxxiii, 1879.

P, unp F. San asin. —Ergebnisse naturwiss. Forschungen

auf Ceylon. Bd. ii. Entwick. u. Anat. der Ichthyophis glutinosus.

Wiesbaden, 1887—1890.

J. WaLpscnmipt.—Zur Anatomie des Nervensystems der

Gymnophionen. Jena. Zeits. xx, 1887.

R. WiepersHem.—Anatomie der Gymnophionen. Jena,

1879. .

——Das Kopfskelet-der Urodelen. Morph. Jarhrb., iii, 1877.

H. H. WILDER.—A contribution to the Anatomy of Siren —

_lacertina. Zool. Jahrbuch, iv, Abth. f. Anat. u. Ontog., 1891.

1892.] Importance of Prehistoric Anthropology. 681

IMPORTANCE OF THE SCIENCE AND OF THE

DEPARTMENT OF PREHISTORIC

ANTHROPOLOGY.

By THomas WILsoN.

Prehistoric Anthropology is a new science. During the past

eighteen hundred years the Christian, and consequently the

civilized world, has, until the beginning of the nineteenth

century, lived on in the belief that man’s appearance upon

earth dated no more than 4,000 years before the commencement

of our era, and it was without knowledge of the prehistoric

man, nor did it have a suspicion of his existence.

The wise men of Denmark in the early part of the nineteenth

century, while studying the characters engraved on their runic

stones and the legends in their sagas, discovered evidences of

a human occupation of their country earlier than any of which

they had heretofore known or suspected. This occurred about

1806, and in 1836 Mr. Thompson, the renowned Danish arch-

eeologist (who founded and for fifty years directed the prehis-

toric museums at Copenhagen), published his first memoir in

regard to prehistoric civilizations, which he named after the

material principally employed for cutting implements, “The

Ages of Stone, Bronze and Iron.” These divisions have ever

since been universally accepted. :

In 1854 Dr. Ferdinand Keller recognized at Meilen, on Lake

Zürich, Switzerland, certain evidences which developed into

our present knowledge of the Swiss Lake Dwellers, although

it has since been proved that lake-dwellings existed in many

other countries in Europe.

Beginning with 1841 M. Boucher de Perthes, residing at

Abbeville on the river Somme, discovered certain flint imple-

ments rudely chipped in the shape of an almond or peach

stone with the cutting-edge at the point. He had found them

deep in the gravelly terraces of the river Somme, and in such

position and association as to force the conclusion that they

682 The American Naturalist. [August,

were the handiwork of man and of an antiquity before unsus-

pected. He continued his labor, gaining converts with indif-

ferent success, until the year 1859, when, by agreement, a

committee of fifteen gentlemen, supposed to be the best quali- |

fied for the task, and in their departments certainly the most

learned men of Frahce and England, met on the ground to

make personal investigations. After discussion, dispute, and

difference of opinion, of which I need not speak here, it was

_ finally decided that M. Boucher de Perthes was correct in his

. theory, and that these implements were the work of men and

of an antiquity heretofore unknown.

Here was born the new science of Prehistoric Anthropology,

and since then it has not only become recognized as a science,

but whenever and wherever studied and understood it has

increased in dignity and importance.

I said a few lines back that the civilized world had, until

the beginning of the nineteenth century, lived without knowl-

edge of the prehistoric man and without even a suspicion of his

existence. This is more true in Europe than in America.

The knowledge of prehistoric man began on this continent

several hundred years before it did in Europe. Columbus

formed his acquaintance on the discovery of America. The

white men on arriving beheld the prehistoric man face to face,

and had ample opportunities for knowing, studying him, and ~ 3

finding out everything that was discoverable from contact with

him. Though many books have been written about the pre-

historic man of America, and their authors have described him

as they saw him, yet we know but little of his true nature.

The scientific study of this subject has begun only of late

years, and we are still ignorant concerning his history or life

prior to the discovery of America in 1492; whence he came,

to what race he belonged, or what were his habits, customs or

monuments. We are even wanting in knowledge of those

things peculiar to him since that time, and which have been

manifested to us in every period of our contact with him.

The study of his language, socialogy, religion, mythology, has

just commenced. Many men have written descriptions of

their visits to the Red Man of North America, have given his-

1892.] Importance of Prehistoric Anthropology. 683

tories of their travels, and have written entertaining books on

the subject; but these have largely been fugitive, isolated and

without connection with any other than the tribe visited, the

voyage described, or the travel undertaken. Nor was there

any connection proposed between these writers who might have

taken up the same line of investigations with other tribes or

other parts of the country. I would not dwarf or belittle the

labors or discoveries of our pioneers, but conceding for them

all that their friends can claim, they have done but little

towards giving an accurate anthropological and ethnological

history of the North American Indians. As to their history

in prehistoric times, before Columbus, no attempt- was made

by these historians. Collections have been made of the imple-

ments of the North American Indian, and large prehistoric

museums established in nearly all parts of the United States,

beginning back a hundred years or more, which are and will

be of great interest and value in writing such a history. But

in the majority of these cases the work has been that of col-

lectors, sometimes for commerce, but more often to gratify that

thirst for things of antiquity which seems to be second nature

of mankind. A study of anthropology will scarcely be claimed

by any one as the motive on which these collections were

based. So, while we have had an earlier knowledge in Amer-

ica of prehistoric man, yet it has not attained to that dignity

and importance as a science as it has in Europe.

The Smithsonian Institution, National Museum, Bureau of

Ethnology, Peabody Museum, and several other institutions

whose names will occur to the reader, are exceptions to this

statement. The number of private persons who are giving

serious attention to this science and are doing faithful and val-

uable work in this connection are increasing every year. My

remarks have not been intended as any reflection upon them

or as criticisms of their methods, but are aimed at that great

body of persons who, interested or pretending to be interested

in the study of anthropology, are naught but collectors of

Indian relics, who gauge the value of their specimens, if not

solely from a monetary point of view, from their number,

beauty, and rarity. They do not count their collections as

49

684 The American Naturalist. [August,

of value to the sciences or as an aid in solving the great prob-

lem of prehistoric man, but regard them as so many trinkets

to gratify their own pride or excite the envy of their less for- _

tunate neighbors.

I have considered as part of my duty the endeavor to

awaken and elevate the public mind to the importance of the

science of prehistoric anthropology, to so far as possible pre-

vent the search for Indian relics as a matter of commeree, and

cause collectors to regard these objects in their true light as

aids to science, not as gewgaws and trinkets.

In the performance of this duty I have, during the past

year, delivered ten public lectures, distributed from my office

a thousand or more copies of Circular 47, descriptive of the

prehistoric exhibit at the Cincinnati Exposition that has a — i

bearing in this direction, and my Handbook of Prehistoric

Anthropology, No. 743, which, it is to be hoped, will not be

without effect.

There has also been prepared a circular (No. 49) relating to

prehistoric anthropology and containing information for the

guidance of explorers and collectors.

Despite the fact that the discovery of prehistoric man in

Europe was made so many years, possibly so many hundreds of |

years, after his discovery in America, yet I am compelled by the

facts to declare that Europeans, because of their interest in the

new science, have established prehistorie anthropology on a

much broader basis and a firmer foundation, and have given to

it more thorough and scientific treatment than has been done

in the United States. -If I make a comparison in this regard

between the two countries as to the detriment of our own itwill

only be that we may benefit thereby, may take warning _

and so redouble and direct our efforts, using the opportunity

and material which we have in such improved methods and = 4

increased endeavors that in future years the difference will not

be to our disadvantage. If the following statements will

_ direct the attention and increase the energy of our scientists _

to proper exertion in this regard I shall feel amply repaid for

: my labor. ee

1892.] Importance of Prehistoric Anthropology. 685

Our acquaintance with the aborigines of this country began

with Columbus in 1492, but the real history and our first

actual knowledge of them began no earlier than 1600, proba-

bly 1604 or 1608, now only 280 years since. Americans, there-

fore, of the present day, are only removed from the prehistoric

man of the whole country by that period, nor is it even so

long, for this was the commencement of our knowledge. The

authors at that time saw him face to face, were able to describe,

and wrote their histories of him. He has continued with us

ever since, and we have from that time to the present had full

and ample opportunity to increase our informatien concerning

him by investigation, examination and personal contact.

In France and England, in fact over Western Europe, the

period when the last possible contact with prehistoric man

could have taken place, the time when all our knowledge con-

cerning him acquired from observation ended with the inva-

sion of Cæsar. So that while the American has not to go back

farther than 280 years to study the prehistoric man of his

country, and has had him present ever since, the Englishman

and Frenchman has to go back nigh 2,000 years; and their

opportunities of personal contact ended then if it had not

before. It is not at all certain that the Gaul and Briton ‘of

that epoch is the real prehistoric man. He may have been

related to him, possibly his descendant, but it appears that the

prehistoric bronze age had practically ended in that country,

and the iron age begun from four to nine hundred years before

the advent of Cæsar.

-I have said this much to show the difference in the respec-

tive opportunities for the study of prehistoric man between

Europeans and Americans.

The territory of France is about 200,000 square miles; that

of the United States is about 3,600,000, eighteen times larger

than France. Mile for mile and acre for acre, the United

States will yield as much to the student of prehistoric arche-

ology as will that of France, yet with this difference in area

of equal fruitfulness, the United States government is far

behind that of France in its interest and assistance given to

this science.

.

686 The American Naturalist. [August,

Compare the National Museum of France, to wit, that of St.

Germain, with my department of the National Museum of the

United States. The St. Germain Museum is installed at St.

Germain-en-Laye, a few miles out of Paris, in the palace of

that name, built by Francis I. I have not the exact dimen-

sions, but it is in the form of a triangle. The front or shortest

leg is, I should say, 400 feet long. It is given up entirely to

the officers of the institution, and the chambers are living

apartments of the officers. The other leg of the right angle

has been fire-proofed throughout and completely restored, and

it now consists of exhibition halls. This restoration is being

continued upon the other wing. The work began in 1879 and

is not yet completed. The building is four stories high, and

there are now twenty-five halls filled with prehistoric objects

open to the public. One entire story is devoted to each the

_ paleolithic and neolithic periods of the stone age, and one to

the bronze age, while the basement contains the heavy stone

principally architectural monuments of the Roman occupa-

tion. Except in the latter, the display made, the objects shown,

the epochs, periods, or ages represented, are the same as those

now crowded into my one hall. With all her wealth of anti-

quity, with all the extent of territory, eighteen times greater

. that of France, the United States devotes to the objects and

implements of her prehistoric races less than one-eighteenth

part of the museum space occupied by France.

In the management and direction of this museum and of

the matters pertaining to this new science there exists about

the same difference. The Director of the Museum of St. Ger-

main is a member of the Institute, and approximates in the

dignity and importance of his position, to that of the Secre-

tary of the Smithsonian Institution and Director of our entire

National Museum. The work belonging to our Bureau of |

Ethnology is in France committed into the hands of a com-

mission of savants, to which M. Henry Martin, the great

French historian, was and M. Gabriel de Mortillet, Depute 1s

the chief. :

I shall not attempt to compare the work of this commission

with its representative in the United States, but I may indi-

1892.] Importance of Prehistoric Anthropology. 687

cate the difference when I say that the monuments belonging

to the prehistoric age which are attached to the soil and part

of the real estate, which have been purchased, restored and

are now owned by the Government of France are to be num-

bered by the hundred.

The Department of Prehistoric Anthropology in the British

Museum has for its curator a person, eminent in the ranks of

the science, who receives a salary of fifteen hundred pounds per

annum, equal to $7,500, a greater sum than is expended in any

one year for my entire department. $6,000 are set aside yearly

for purchase of specimens.

The Museum of the Irish Academy of Dublin possesses a

. greater value in prehistoric gold ornaments alone than it has

cost the United States for our entire Museum with all its spec-

imens, service, management and furniture.

The Prehistoric Museum of Antiquities at Edinburgh, Scot-

land, is also extensive. It is devoted exclusively to the ant-

iquities of its own country and forms a complete museum of

itself. It has for curator and staff, Prof. Anderson; Dr. Arthur

Mitchell and Mr. Black, names that stand as high in their

science as do any others of their country in any science.

The Prehistoric Museum at Copenhagen is so extensive and

rich that it might be classed as one of the wonders of the world.

It occupies the entire Prinsens Palais, has eight exhibition halls,

with a full corps of professors, curators, etc., who occupy the

highest rańks in science. The riches of this museum are

almost beyond computation; 10,000 polished stone hatchets

and axes, the contents of eleven workshops, one of which

alone furnished 200 hatchets, 58 perforators, 4,000 scrapers,

1,426 arrow-heads, trenchant transversal. Fifty-one cases of

bronze implements and ornaments, gold objects so numerous

and valuable that kept, of course, during the day under lock

and key, they are taken out each night and stored for safety |

in an immense steel safe.

Stockholm has a National Museum devoted entirely to pre-

histories, for which the government has organized a bureau

and erected a fine museum building, with Messrs. M. Hilder-

brand as curator and M. Montelieus as assistant.

688 The American Naturalist. [August,

The University of Lund devotes the basement story to its

prehistoric museum, with Prof. Soderberg for its professor and

lecturer.

The University of Upsala, one of the finest and oldest in all

Europe, is engaged in the same direction.

The University at Christiana, Norway, has the same kind of

arrangement. Rygh and Undset are its professors. An idea

can be had of the importance with which this prehistoric sci- 73

ence is viewed in this country when I say that while the

Numismatic Museum at Christiana possesses a finer collection

of United States coins and medals than does our National

Museum, yet their desire to keep their own antiquities is so

great that they refuse to exchange them for those of any q

foreign country. q

The mention of these Scandinavian museums with the `

names of some of their professors will give but a faint idea of :

the dignity which has been accorded to the science of prehis- i

toric anthropology in these countries, and the attention which

it has there received. These countries are entitled to the pri- ;

ority of discovery of prehistoric man, and they have main-

tained a leading place in the science. So much so that he who —

was its acknowledged head in Europe and the world, Worsaae,

was taken into the King’s Cabinet and served the latter years

of his life as Minister of Public Instruction. ‘

I need not mention the great prehistoric museums of Ger- e

many. That at Berlin with Virchow, probably the leading

anthropologist of the world, at its head, Dr. Johanas Rankeat

Munich, and so they are dotted over the country in every city

from the Baltic to the Alps.

Much might be expected from Switzerland, for it is the land

of the prehistoric lake dwellers, and she has not disappointed i

our expectations. Bern, the capital, has no less than three i

4 governmental prehistoric museums; one belonging to the

Republic was purchased by it lately from Dr. Gross, of Neuve-

ville, for the sum of 60,000 francs. The canton and the city

each own a museum of no mean extent, where are gathered

and displayed all objects found in the neighborhood. The

other cities and cantons of Switzerland are equally alive to

1892.] Importance of Prehistoric Anthropology. ` 689

the importance of this science, and equally active in its study

and pursuit. Geneva, with Dr. Gosse at its head, Lausanne,

with Morel-Fatio, Yverdon, Neuchatel, Bienville, Steen, Con-

stance, Ziirich, all are active, energetic and industrious in

gathering the objects in their vicinity, in enlarging their

museums, in instructing the people, and in the general increase

and diffusion of knowledge concerning their prehistoric ances-

tors and people.

The same story may be said with regard to Italy. Genoa,

Pisa, Turin, Milan, Verona, Vicenza, Parma, Regio, Bologna,

Imola, Marzabotta, Florence, Arretzo, Cortona, Perugia, Chiusi,

Corneto, all possess extensive museums, and so down to Rome,

where are to be found three or four great governmental estab-

lishments organized with -presidents and professors, and

approaching the dignity of institutes and colleges with muse-

ums attached, all devoted to the study of antiquities almost, if

not quite, prehistoric.

This list might be extended indefinitely. Austria, Hun-

gary, Pologna, Russia, are all interested in this new science

and are devoting themselves to the spread of its knowledge

and to the increase of their museums.

I have failed largely in the purpose if before this time I

have not convinced the reader that the United States, both

government and people, have not been aroused to an appre-

ciation of this new science and have not attached to it the

importance which it receives in other countries.

(To be continued.)

690 The American Naturalist. [August,

RECENT LITERATURE.

An American Book on Fungi.—A few months ago the bota-

nists of the country were greatly pleased with the announcement that

J. B. Ellis and B. M. Everhart, the well-known publishers of the

“ North American Fungi,” would soon bring out a book on the Black

Fungi (Pyrenomycetes) a group presenting many difficulties to the stu-

dent and collector. Early in May the work was completed and sent

out to subscribers. It is a thick volume of about 800 octavo pages,

accompanied by forty-one excellent plates, the latter the work of the

lamented F. W. Anderson.

It is unnecessary to say here that this book will be useful. It could

not be otherwise. Even the possessor of Saccardo’s “Sylloge ” must

have this American work, and no beginner can afford to do without

For the help of beginners a freer use of synopses would have been

useful, and it is to be hoped that such will be prepared for future edi-

tions.

The descriptions are full, and spore measurements are quite gener-

ally given, with many critical notes. Some changes in nomenclature i

are made, the merits of which need not be discussed in the present

notice. Itis pleasant to notice that the exact method of citation of

authorities is followed, the name of the author first publishing the spe-

cies being retained in parenthesis in case of a removal of the species

from the genus in which it was first placed. In this connection the

authors significantly remark that “the piratical practice of omitting

the first name and substituting the second in its place can not be too

strongly condemned.” —CHARLEs E. BEssEY.

A Study of the Oak Tree.'—If the pretty volume by Prof.

Marshall Ward, recently brought out by Appleton, finds readers enough

to warrant author and publisher in bringing out others, English speak-

ing botanists will have cause for congratulating themselves upon the

progress of botanical science among the people. Here is a strictly sci-

entific popular. book, confidently put forth by the publisher, at no little

expense. That it should be brought out at all is a most encouraging

sign, especially as it is not written to fill “a long felt want,” nor is it

The Oak, a popular introduction to forest botany, by H. Marshall Ward, M. A.,

F. R. S., F. L. S., Professor of Botany at the Royal Indian Engineering College.

1892.] Recent Literature. 691

designed to be used as a text book in the schools. It appeals to that

constantly increasing class of intelligent readers and students who are

` interested in natural objects, and who cultivate natural history in the

same way and for the same purpose as others cultivate literature,

history or music. This growth of the study of nature as a means of

broader culture is a significant feature in modern life, and books like

the one under MEDRET will do much to foster and encourage it.—

CHARLES E. Bess

The Horse. A Study in Natural History.'—Mr. Flower’s

Study of the Horse is the second of the Modern Science Series, edited

by Sir John Lubbock. The author, in his preface, refers to the num-

ber of works on horses and equitation, but offers as a reason for adding

to their number the fact that knowledge has accumulated recently from

various sources which enables the writer to treat the subject from the

standpoint of an evolutionist.

The subject divides itself naturally into fossil and recent horses.

The relations of each are discussed, and of the one to the other, so that

the horse is shown, not as an isolated form, but as one term in a vast

series.

The last two chapters are devoted to the structure of the horse.

Since the anatomy has been so thoroughly worked out and so minutely

described Prof. Flower has selected a few of the most important parts,

describing them in language which may be understood by those who

are not professional anatomists. Particular attention is given to the

parts most specialized—viz., the teeth and limbs

Prof. Flower is fortunate in having his book well illustrated by

engravings from original photographs. That of the quagga is espec-

ially interesting as being from the only photograph known to have

been taken of this animal in a living state.

Prof. Flower’s account of the ancestry of the horse is in accordance

with the latest paleontologic discoveries. He traces the line backward

to Phenacodus, as is done by American paleontologists; but his sug-

gestion that the European Hyracotherium is the same is not according

to the evidence at present accessible as to the characters of the two

genera. Prof. Owen’s descriptions and figures of Hyracotherium sus-

tain the view of Cope and Lydekker, that it is one of the Lophiodon-

tidze, and allied to Pliolophus.

1The Horse. A Studyin Natural History, by William Henry Flower, London,

1891. Modern Science Series, edited by Sir John Lubbock.

692 The American Naturalist. [August,

The Fur of Animals.’—This volume forms one of a series on

arts and trades, and the author has treated the subject from that point

of view. He gives first the structure, form and coloration of the skins

of those animals useful to man either for clothing or for furniture.

To this is added a classification based on the uses to which the hides,

hair, wool or fur is put. Following this technical part is a description

of the animals mentioned, their haunts, the methods of hunting or

trapping them, the principal markets and the prices paid for the pelts.

- Lacroix—Dauliard has added much to the interest and value of

his book by discussing the parasites that attack the skins, as well as

those which injure the manufactured materials. The best known are

‘the Dermestes, the Anthrenus, the Attagenus, the Teignes and the

Acarians. Various ways of destroying these pests are mentioned, but

the most effectual, in the author’s judgment, is frequent exposure to

light and air.

Eighty-nine well-shown figures illustrate the text ‘and contribute

much to the attractiveness of the book.

"Le Poil des Animaux et les Fourrures, Lacroix—Dauliard. Bibliothéque des

Connaissances Utiles. Librarie J. B. Bailliére et Fils., 1892.

1892.] ~ Geology and Paleontology. 693

General Notes.

GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY.

The Mexican Meteorites.—Geologists are indebted to Mr. J.

R. Eastman for a concise account of the Mexican meteorites. In a

paper read before the Philosophical Society of Washington Jan. 2,

1892, he presented the latest and most complete information upon the

subject, in a compact form convenient for reference. A list of the

iron meteorites, with a table of their weights was given, followed by

remarks as to the relative occurrence of iron and stony meteorites.

From the available data the ratio of weight of the former to the

latter is as 1 to 12.23. The aggregate weight of meteoric iron observed

and discovered to date on this continent is about 153 tons. If the

above ratio is true in all cases there should have been a fall of about

1,880 tons of stony meteorites, or in all over 2,000 tons of meteoric

matter precipitated upon the earth.

Mr. Eastman offers the following theory to account for the apparent

excess of iron over stony meteorites: When a stony meteorite falls to

the earth it generally breaks into many fragments, and the ruptured

surfaces plainly indicate the nature of the catastrophe. The author

knew of no case where an iron meteorite showed any indication of

having been twisted, broken, or torn off from another mass of the

same material.

The true type of meteorite which reaches the earth from outer space

is probably like that which fell in Iowa county, Iowa, on Feb. 12,

1875. This meteorite is composed almost wholly of stony matter, but

scattered through the mass are small grains of nickeliferous iron. This

iron may exist in the stony matrix in all forms and sizes, from the

microscopic nodule to the mass weighing several tons. When the stony

mass comes in contact with the earth’s atmosphere the impact breaks

up the matrix, sets free the iron bodies and they reach the earth in the

same condition, so far as mass and figure are concerned, as they exist

in the original formation. In such cases it is probable that the stony

portion of the original body is rent into such minute fragments by the

explosion, that they would not reach the earth in any appreciable size.

The larger the masses of iron the more complete would be the destruc-

tion of the original body, and the larger stony meteorites would be

694 The American Naturalist. [August,

those that contain the smaller granules of iron. (Phil. Soc. Washing-

ton, Bull. Vol. xii, pp. 39-52.)

On the Separation and Study of the Heavy Accessories

of Rocks.—For the past few years Prof. Orville Derby, of the Geo-

logical Survey of Brazil, has employed the method of washing rock

powder in water as the best means of isolating the accessory elements

in rocks from the more abundant essential elements. His process dif-

fers from that of Cordier and Thurach in that he uses the batéa or

Brazilian miner’s pan instead of the glass or porcelain dishes of the

laboratory.

The knack of washing is readily acquired, and the whole operation,

from the preliminary crushing to the mounting of a microscopic slide,

can be performed in a few minutes.

The delicacy of the process is well illustrated by the grouping of the

minerals during the last stages of the washing. On throwing the sand

out into a trail it will be found to be transversely streaked with differ-

ent colors as the minerals arrange themselyes according to their spe-

cific gravities. In a decomposed granite, for instance, the outer part

will be white with quartz, then a reddish band of garnet, then a black

band of titaniferous iron, and, finally (if magnetite be not present), a

white band of zircon, oy white and yellow if monazite is also present.

Prof. Derby’s observations incline him to think that the use of the

batéa will prove valuable in work which is more strictly geological, for

the following reasons :

1st. Most of the prominent rock groups afford residues which are

characteristic, either through the presence of accessories peculiar to

each group, or by the relative abundance or peculiarities of form and

structure of those that are common to several groups.

2d. Many of the most common heavy accessories are practically

indestructible, and can therefore be recovered in recognizable form

eyen when the rocks or their debris are so completely altered that their

original type is not otherwise recognizable.

If rock types can be identified by their residues many rock masses

can be taken into account which otherwise must be left out.

For purposes of identification only material decomposed in situ

should be washed.

Prof. Derby also suggests that this method of study of the heavy

accessories of rocks may be of value in investigating those rocks which

have suffered alteration by metamorphism.

1892.] Geology and Paleontology. 695

The kind and condition of a mineral constituent may be a means

of distinguishing the metamorphosed eruptive from the metamorphosed

sedimentary.

After discussing the subject in his usual comprehensive manner,

Prof. Derby concludes that there is a reasonable probability that zir-

con, and to a less degree monazite, may prove to be guide minerals by

which eruptives and their derivations can be certainly identified, no

matter what degree of alteration they may have suffered. This prob-

ability gives additional interest to the study of the heavy residues of

rocks which, it is hoped, will lead geologists to thoroughly test this

hypothesis in other parts of the world. (Proceeds. Rochester Acad.

Sci., Vol. i, pp. 198-206.)

A Section of the Strata at Rochester, New York.—A

boring made by the firm of Otis & Gosline in a search for gas in the

vicinity of Rochester, N. Y., has made known some interesting facts

concerning the thickness of the rock strata of that region. The drill

was sent to a depth in the rock of 3,078 feet, where the exceeding

hardness of the rock made further progress very difficult. Small

quantities of gas were found at various depths. A little brine was

encountered at a depth of 1,330 feet.

From a carefully kept well record Prof. H. L. Fairchild has pre- ,

pared the following condensed section of the Rochestet well.

Altitude 484 feet above tide.

Horizon. THICKNESS. Kinp or Rock. Dept.

> Niagara limestone, es ra

Niagara 156 ft. f ak ale C Clicked Kina ee 156 ft.

22 ft. Clinton upper green em ‘le

Clinton 15 ft. Clinton (Pentham) limestone

35 ft. Clinton lower green shale 228 ft.

Red Medina 1075 ft. Red sandstones and shales 1308 ft.

25 ft. Blue shaly sandstone

aman 45 ft. Hard gray sandstone

ego) 13 ft. (Dark gray shaly sandstone 1386 ft.

Hudson and Utica 598 ft. Dark shales 1984

Trento 954 ft. Dark limestone 2938 ft.

10 ft. Gray pene

30 ft. Drab limes

Calciferous ? 50 ft. 4 Dark gray lin ai with shale

44 ft. Black magie limestone

3 ft. Dark calcareous — 3075 ft.

Algonkian ? 2ft. f White quartz sandsto

or Archean ? 1 ft. f Powdered anois just: 3078 ft.

696 The American Naturalist. [August,

The fact that at the nearest exposures the calciferous lies directly

upon crystalline rock is the author’s reason for referring the last two

doubtful rocks to the Algonkian or Archean. (Proceeds. Rochester

Acad. Sci., Vol. i, p. 182.)

MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY!:'

The Eruptives of Cabo-de-Gata.—The eruptive rocks of the

Cabo-de-Gata region in southeastern Spain are pumiceous, glassy and

granular liparites, andesites, dacites and an occasional basanite. The

liparites are rare as fragments in a liparitic tufa and as small dykes

cutting the fragmental rocks. The dacites cover a large stretch of

country. They are the most abundant types in the region, and are

developed in great variety. Two principal groups are distinguished.

The first is characterized by the abundance of its phenocrysts, among

which are large hornblendes, and by the possession of augite and hypers-

thene. Augite occurs in their groundmass, quartz is scarce, and their

feldspar is almost exclusively plagioclase. In the second group phen-

ocrysts are less common. Biotite is the predominant colored constit-

uent. Quartz and sanidine are both plentiful and the rock thus

verges toward the liparites. All the components of these dacites have

been very minutely described by Osann? But few of them present

special peculiarities. The most interesting features connected with

them are the alteration of hornblende into pyroxene and the intergrowth

of augite and bronzite, with the pinacoids and prisms of the two minerals

parallel. The andesites, which are best developed in the southern and

southeastern parts of the region, are hornblendic and biotitic varieties.

mica andesite from the Rambla del Esparto contains an enormous

number of granular inclusions composed of cordierite (?) biotite,

spinel, sillimanite, corundum, andalusite, plagioclase, rutile, zircon,

garnet, quartz and apatite. They are regarded as having resulted

from the metamorphism of blocks brought from below, and the crys-

tallization of andesite components upon them. The spinel occurs in

dark-green and grayish-red crystals, the former sometimes surrounding

the latter. A dacite from Mazarron contains phenocrysts of cordier-

ite,’ whose prismatic crystals often reach a length of 1 cm. The forms

_ 1 Edited by Dr. W. S. Bayley, Colby University, Waterville, Me.

*Zeits. d. Deutsch. Geol. Ges. 1891, xliii, p. 688.

"Cf. AMERICAN NATURALIST, 1890, p. 69.

Sry See eee ae T

BOON NAS eI EE NS

1892.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 697

observed on them are æ% P, œ» PX%, œ Pæ, oP, P, and 4P. In the

neighborhood of ore veins the mineral is changed into pinite.

A Melilite Rock from North America.—From the bed of the

Ottawa River, near Ste. Anne, not far from Montreal, Can., Mr. Adams*

has obtained the first melilite rock described from North America, It

occurs as a dyke in Potsdam conglomerate. The rock, which has a

fine-grained, dark groundmass, often contains phenocrysts of green and

red olivine, biotite and pyroxene. The matrix in which these lie con-

sists of small biotites, olivines and pyroxenes, between which lies a

still finer aggregate of melilite, pyroxene needles and a small quantity

of a colorless mineral that may be nepheline. Perofskite, apatite and

magnetite are also present in it. The brown biotite is an anomite, with

a small biaxial angle. It consists of an interior inclusion-free nucleus,

usually with a rounded outline, surrounded by a zone filled with augite

microlites and bounded by crystal faces. The olivine contains but

little iron (12.65%). The red color of some grains is due to inelu-

sions of iron oxide. Its alteration is sometimes into serpentine, but

more frequently into ferriferous magnesite and breunerite, whose

composition is Mg CO, = 64.83; Fe CO, = 26.16; Ca CO, = 1.66;

impurities = 7.35. The alteration begins along cleavage cracks and

proceeds inward from the peripheries of the olivine grains. The pyrox-

ene phenocrysts are colorless and have an extinction of 42°. Like

the biotite the augite grains are also bordered by a zone of alight brown

color, which is of the same substance as that of the smaller phenocrysts

and of the needles in the groundmass. The extinction in the zone is

often 16° greater than that of the nucleus. The characteristic mineral

of the rock, the melilite, possesses the peg structure and all the other

peculiarities of this component of the Alnö specimens. Basal sec-

tions have rectangular or octagonal outlines, while prismatic sections

are often flattened parallel to oP. The rock differs from the type alno-

ite in possessing no feldspar. The author thinks it is connected in some

way with the Montreal volcanic center, forming Mt. Royal, which, as is

well known, consists largely of eleolite syenites and related rocks.

The composition of the rock follows :

SiO, TiO, AlO, FeO, FeO CaO MgO K,O Na,O Co, H,O

35.91 .23 11.51 2.35 5.38 13.57 17.54 2.87 1.75 9.40

The Sanidinite Bombs of Menet and Monac.—The sani-

dinite bombs included in the trachytes of Menet, Cantal and of Monac,

‘Amer. Jour. Sci., April, 1892, p. 269.

698 The American Naturalist. [August,

Haute-Loire, France, contain many interesting minerals, short descrip-

tions of which are given by Lacroix.’ In those from the first-named

locality are vitreous orthoclase, anorthite microperthite, zircon in bril-

liant, transparent, wine-red and in colorless or brown and light ruse

erystals, sphene, apatite, corundum and biotite. The last named min-

eral is an original component of the rock yielding the bomb, while the

zircon, sphene and apatite are certainly new products. The Monac

sanidinites differ from those of Menet principally in being saturated

with secondary substances.

Igneous Rocks from Montana.—Among the rocks found in the

mountains of Montana and described by Lindgren’ are dacite, trachytes,

basalts and augite-syenites. One variety of basalt consists of fresh

olivine, augite and analcite in a groundmass composed of magnetite,

apatite andanalcites of a second generation. The rock was described

in one of the Tenth Census Reports, where the analcite was stated to be

in all probability an alteration product of nosean. The author now

regards the mineral as unquestionably original.

Petrographical News.—Mr. Cole’ describes a section of devitri-

fied perlitic obsidian from Rocche Rosse, Lipari, in which the rock is

much shattered. Around the fragments of glass thus formed spheru-

litic substance has resulted from the devitrification of their material.

Beginning at the cracks separating the fragments the devitrification

has progressed inward until a spherulitic zone now surrounds

each piece of glass——The mica schist around the granite 0

the Schneekoppe in the Riesengebirge, Silesia, has heen changed by the

eruptive from a muscovite-garnet-quartz-schist to a schistose aggregate

of quartz, muscovite, biotite, andalusite, and new, blood-red garnets.

The biotite is in isolated small plates that are quite different in char-

acter from the flakes of muscovite adhering to the quartz grains in the

original rock. A few augite, saussurite and quartz diorites, a gabbro

and several porphyries, porphyrites and diabases from the hills sur-

rounding the Muir Glacier, in Alaska, are briefly described by Will-

iams’ in an appendix to Reid’s account of the glacier. In the oli-

vine diabase of a dyke cutting the Sioux quartzite, in Minnehaha Co.,

Bull. Soc. Min. d. Fr., xiv, 1892, p. 314.

®Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 2, vol. iii, p. 39.

TMineralogical Magazine, ix, p. 272.

*Zeits. d. Deutsch. Geol. Ges. xliii, 1891, p. 730.

Nat. Geog. Mag., Washington, iv, p. 63.

PLATE XX.

SS

Cte ATEN

; Sea ; Lone a Lh

è ET SLOL SAA

: x

To)

oO

LO

Dang,

8

Norris, on Grindelia.

pon

oy

Pc

4]

sors

0

be

ears)

Geese ree

ORE gill

ERITA ey

eg

wee

J Spe

C4 1 OF

1892.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 699

S. Dak., Messrs. Culver" and Hobbs find that the reddish to yellowish-

brown diallage is strongly pleochroic.

Mineralogical News.— General COrystallographic.—W yrouboff,

in the continuation of his crystallographic study of closely related

double salts of sulphuric, selenic and chromic acids, has reached some

exceedingly interesting results bearing upon isomorphism. After care-

fully measuring the crystals of ten of these compounds and comparing

their optical properties, he finds that while several of them are crys-

tallographically similar these same compounds possess quite different

optical characteristics. Fe K,(SO,),, Mn K,(SO,), and Mn K,(SeQ,),

are optically as well as morphologically similar. Since the optical

properties of crystals change when they are subjected to changes of

temperature it follows that these properties are dependent upon the

arrangement of the molecules—upon the character of the crystal net-

work. Isomorphous bodies are those that possess identical networks,

consequently isomorphous bodies are those that are similar morpholog-

ically and at the same time optically, and in which the changes suffered

under similarly changed conditions are similar. The magnesian sul-

phates with seven molecules of water are good examples of a truly

isomorphous group. There is another kind of isomorphism embracing

those bodies in which the morphological properties are similar but the

optical ones different. In such bodies, since the arrangements of the

molecules in the two intermingled substances are different, there should

be evidence in these of optical anomalies, which are not apparent in

the simple compounds, and this is found frequently to be the case. A

further conclusion drawn by the author from his experiments is to the

effect that while in general, substances whose chemical composition is

analogous have similar crystalline forms, it does not necessarily follow

that isomorphous bodies possess analogous compositions; they need

merely to be built upon the same plan, possess identically arranged

networks. Many of the views put forth in the paper are novel, and

some of them are rather startling. We shall look forward with much

interest to their discussion by German mineralogists. The relation

between symmetry and the chemical composition of crystals continues

to attract the attention of mineralogists theoretically inclined. Fock"

now suggests that the method by which the problem is to be attacked

is through the aid of stereochemistry. He assumes that the erystal

particles have the same symmetry as the crystal individual, and seeks

Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., viii, 1891, p. 206.

NZeits. f. Kryst., xx, p: 76.

50

700 The American Naturalist. [ August,

to trace the symmetry of the particle to the symmetry of the chemical

molecule as its source. According to the conception of most chemists

the carbon atom may be represented by a point with four bars extend-

ing toward the four corners of a circumscribed tetrahedron. The sym-

metry of the carbon molecule is thus comparable with the symmetry

of the crystallized carbon—diamond. With this suggestion as a basis

the author shows how the crystallization of graphite and of some of

the carbonates may be explained, but at the same time he confesses

that few practical results can follow from the suggestion until we know

more about the composition of solid substances.

Notes.—An attempt to discover the reason for the variation in the

pyramidal angles of arsenopyrite and to settle its composition has -

been made by Weibull,” who has examined crystals from Silfberg,

Delane, and other localities in Sweden, and from the well-known i

occurrences in Europe. Among the Silfberg crystals three types were -

recognized, on the first of which the predominant forms are œ P an ‘

P Their axial ratio is .6841 : 1 : 1.1910, and composition (Fe Co -

Ni) (S As), On the second type the same forms are observed with a

the addition of PZ, but the — are usually prismatic parallel to

a. Their axial ratio is .6830 : 1 : 1.1923 and composition Fe S As.

Crystals of the third type are ie prismatic in the direction of ¢ and

are bounded by the same are as are found in the second type.

Their axial ratio is 6724: 1; 1.1896. Crystals from other localities

show differences in pl eat and in axial ratio, and these differences

are expressed in differences in habit. The formula best representing

the composition of the mineral is thought to be Fe(S As), and varia-

tions from ` are thought to be due to inclusions in the material anal-

yzed. If Fe(As S), be considered the normal arsenopyrite ten per

cent. of Fe S, may be replaced by Fe As, or the reverse, and the

replacement will affect the axial ratio to a noticeable extent, an increase

in Fe S, tending to increase the lengths of a and e. The substitution

of Co and Ni for Fe affects the axes in the same way. an

exhaustive article on the mineral deposits of Leogang in Salzburg,

Buckrucker" gives a brief account of the region and a detailed descrip- ;

tion of the many minerals occurring therein. Thirty-two distinct spe- :

cies are referred to in the article, some briefly, others very extensively. |

Among the latter are dolomite, aragonite, strontianite and celestite. 2

E x, for aragonite is 30° 43.5. 2 V x, for strontianite is 6° í 59’ 12”

“Ib, p. L

MZeits. f. Kryst. xix, p. 113.

~ 1892.] Mineralogy and Petrography. 701

and 2 E x, for celestite is 87° 40’ 20”.——-Miigge™ has made an inter-

esting study of quartz crystals imbedded in eruptive rocks. These

were isolated by treatment of thin slices of the rocks with HF, and

the etched figures produced upon them by the reagent were investi-

gated. Of 888 individuals examined 382 were found to be simple, 506

twins of either right or left handed crystals, and 12 twins of right and

left crystals. Pyrogenous quartzes like those deposited from solution

are thus found to be more common in twinned than in simple forms.

Lacroix” contributes a few notes on French minerals, especially

those from the Central Plateau. He finds /eucite forming veins in the

basalt of Mt. Doré, with peripheral bands of feldspar. Christianite

crystals imbedded in calcite occur in calcified inclusions in a basalt

dyke at Montaudoux, Puy-de-Dém. The same mineral is in the sani-

dinite bombs of Monac, and is associated with chabasite at Araules in

the Haute-Loire. Mesotype, analeite, zircon, sphene, vivianite, molyb-

denite, kermesite and pyrite are the other minerals mentioned in the

article Schrauf describes the metacinnabarite crystals of Idria,

Auer and discusses their origin as well as that of the associated mer-

cury and cinnabar. The crystals have a density of 7.66. They form

the outer coating of spherules that within are massive metacinnaba-

rite. Their crystallization is regular and habit dodecahedral.

Pearce" calls attention to the existence of tellurium and bismuth in

nearly all the sulphides of the Leadville region. Hills recently

exhibited to the Colorado Scientific Society pseudomorphs of malachite

after azurite on which are implanted crystals of a second generation

of the last named mineral with the same orientation as the original

azurite. Lacroix and Baret” find bertrandite at Mercerie in the

Commune of La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, France. Its crystals are elon-

gated parallel to the base, and are associated with orthoclase, albite,

quartz and apatite in a granite—-—The supposed sulph-antimonite of

nickel, korynite, from Siegen, according to an analysis made by.

- peyres and Busz,” is a normal ullmanite, whose composition is :

MNeues. Jahrb. f. Min., etc., 1892, i, p. 1.

Bull. Soc. Franç. d. Min., xiv, p. 318.

Jahrb. d. k. k. geol. Reichsanst., 1891, xli, p. 349.

Proc. Col. Sci. Soc. 1890, iii, p. 257.

18Ib., p. 258.

Bull. Soc. Franç. d. Min., xiv, p. 189.

%Zeits. f. Kryst., xix, 1891, p. 8.

702 The American Naturalist. [August,

S Sb As Bi Fe Co Ni Sp. Gr.

16.22 42.93 10.28 .68 AO. 133 ' 28.91 6.488

A rose-red tourmaline from Urulga, Siberia, has a composition

corresponding to the formula 12 SiO,, 8 Al,O,, 3 B,O,, 2(FeO MnO),

Na,O(K,O Li,O), 3 H,O. Genth” has revised Kerr’s report on the

minerals of North Carolina, and has published the amended and

enlarged revision as a Bulletin of the Survey. All the minerals known

to occur within the State are mentioned and described briefly, and a

synopsis of the mineral wealth of the different counties is given in tab-

ular form. The sixth part of Hintze’s Handbuch der Mineralogie

has recently appeared. It discusses serpentine, nepheline, kaolin,

sodalite, cordierite and related minerals. A series of new measure-

ments of wollastonite™ crystals from Vesuvius adds considerable to our

accurate knowledge of their morphological characteristics.

“1Stchusseff. Ib., xx, p. 93.

2Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 74, Wash., 1891.

3Zeits. f. Kryst., xix, p. 604.

1892.] Botany. 703

BOTANY.

Development of the Ovule in Grindelia squarrosa.—The

ovule in Grindelia arises by tangential division of the cells of the first,

second and perhaps third hypodermal layers, resulting in an up-push-

ing of the floor of the ovarian cavity (figs. 1-4). As Coulter’ says of

Taraxacum, the ovule does not appear exactly at the bottom of the

cavity of the ovary, but a little at one side. The ovule springs from

the axis of the flower as is shown by the passing of the fibrovascular

bundle directly from the axis to the funiculus. In this respect Grindelia

agrees with Helianthus (figs. 16 and 17) and differs from Taraxacum

in which, according to Coulter, the fibrovascular threads of the funi-

culus come from a carpellary branch of the axis. The young ovule

early begins to curve upon itself, the single integument appears on the

upper convex surface and, by growth beyond and around, completely

enwraps the apex of the ovule, the nucellus (figs, 5-7). At this time

we distinguish three portions of the ovule—funiculus, integument and

nucellus. The nucellus consists of an axial row of cells covered by

the epidermis. In the apex of the nucellus, immediately beneath

the epidermis, is the archesporium (figs. 5 and 6). This divides into

two and then four cells (figs. 7 and 8). By accelerated growth the

most deeply situated of these cells absorbs or pushes the others toward

the apex of the nucellus and becomes the embryo-sac (figs. 9-11). At

the same time the epidermis of the nucellus shrinks and disap-

pears. Concomitant with the degeneration of the nucellar epidermis

the adjacent layer of the integument becomes greatly modified, form-

ing what Hegelmaier’ terms the “ Endodermis.” Its cells lengthen

radially, and the cell walls become much thickened and resistant to

the section knife. Of the stages between the embryo-sac with but one

nucleus and the mature state of the same I have found few represen-

tatives. Enough was seen, however, to indicate that the typical order

is followed (figs. 12-14). The nucleus undergoes a three-fold division.

A tetrad is seen in the micropylar end. The usual number of the

antipddal cells is two (fig. 13), though rarely a third is seen (fig. 14).

They are situated in a linear series with the embryo-sac, being early

1Development of a Dandelion Flower, AMERICAN NATURALIST, Vol. xvii, No. 12,”

Dec., 1883.

Uber den Keimsack einigen Compositen und dessen Umbiillung. Bot. Zeitung.

Nos. 50-52, 1889.

704 The American Naturalist. [August, :

marked off from the latter by distinct cell walls. They persist for

some time after fecundation, and as in Helianthus, send out vermiform

protoplasmic extensions that assist in tearing down the adjacent tis-

sues. Shortly prior to fecundation the tissue just outside the endo-

dermis begins to degenerate by losing its protoplasmic contents. With

the development of the endosperm and the growth of the embryo, this

absorption of the tissue of the ovule proceeds to such an extent that,

as Hegelmaier* notes in Helianthus, the endodermis, with its contents,

can be removed with ease. While this is going on the one-layered

endodermis has become many layered except at its micropylar and

antipodal ends (fig. 15). Its cells become rich in protoplasm: at the

expense of the surrounding tissue now rapidly becoming depauperate.

The suggestion of Hegelmaier that this condition in Helianthus may

be due to cultivation, ete., is of Jittle value, since the same condition

occurs in Grindelia and also in uncultivated Helianthus. Later, as

the seed matures, the endodermis as such disappears, being represented

only as a thin, compressed coat of the embryo.

It is thus seen that the development of Grindelia agrees closely

with that of Senecio described by Warming‘ and Vesque; though the

latter of course was considerably in error. Conyza, described by

Guignard’ has a similar development, but the antipodal cells are more

numerous than in Grindelia. Helianthus, studied by Hofmeister,’ and

later by Hegelmaier,’ agrees very closely with Grindelia. As in

Helianthus the endodermis is strongly developed, in marked contrast

to Ageratum where it is scarcely differentiated. Hegelmaier observes

in the mature embryo-sac of Senecio five nuclei: the two synergide,

the odsphere, and two secondary nuclei of the embryo-sac. The same

is seen in Grindelia.

In a short notice of this kind, for the most part merely confirma-

tory of similar studies of others, it seems hardly worth the while to

Loc. cit.

*De l’Ovule. Ann. Sc. Nat. 6, Sér. v. 1878, p. 176.

5 Développement du sac embryonnaire des Phanérogames, Ann. Sc. Nat. 6 sér-, vi,

1878, p. 237. Nouvelles recherches sur le développement du sac embryonnaire des

végétaux phanérogames angiospermes. Ann, Sc. Nat. 6 sér., viii, 1879, p. 261.

6Recherches sur le sac embryonnaire des Phanérogames. angiospermes. Ann. Sc,

Nat. 6 sèr.. xiii, 1882, p. 136. :

TEntstehung des Embryo. Leipzig, 1849,

euere Beobachtungen über Embryobildung der Phanerégamen. Pringsheim’s

Jahrbiicher, i, 1858, p. 82.

Loc. cit.

- 1892.] Zoology. 705

attempt to give titles of even the most important of the literature on

the subject.—H. W. Norris, Grinnell, Iowa.

EXPLANATION OF FIGURES, PLATE XX.

Abbreviations used.

, archesporium ; ax, daughter cells of archesporium; amt, antipodal cells; axf,

iis bundles of the axis of the flower; z, embryo-sac; em, embryo; end,

endodermis ;” esf, endosperm; f, funiculus; 7, integument; #, nucellus; 2, ovule,

of, fibrovascular bundle of ovule; ov, cavity of ovary; v, part of vermiform extension

of ey sgh of an antipodal cell

Figs. 1-16 are of Grindelia EERUN

Fig. 17 is az Helianthus annuus.

ZOOLOGY.

Notes on a Nematode Parasite from the Chipping Sparrow

(Spizilla socialis)—I have received from Mr. Wm. B. Marshall,

any, N. Y., a parasite from the thoracic

cavity of the chipping sparrow which ap-

pears to be new.

The sparrow was shot by Mr. Marshall on

May 14, 1892, and the worm was found

lying directly against the heart of the bird.

The color of the worm while alive was a

brilliant red. It is a male; the head is

damaged but otherwise the specimen is

perfect.

Although the diameter of this specimen is

proportionally many times 5 saa nea that

of any recorded species of Trie the

Fic. 1. body being not at all hair-like ; adbhceg

the posterior spicule and its sheath present some difficulties when com-

pared with descriptions of the various species of Trichosoma and the

related genus Trichocephalus, I prefer to refer the specimen to the

former genus, to which it is certainly closely allied, rather than to

erect a new genus for its accommodation. I therefore place the speci-

men provisionally in the genus Trichosoma and propose the name

Trichosoma rubrum for it.

The specimen has the following characters: Body cylindrical, with

somewhat yielding walls, and presenting three distinct regions; an

706 The American Naturalist. [August,

anterior region, slender and containing the esophagus; a thicker me-

dian region, containing the dark-brown intestine

and the convoluted generative tube; a posterior

slender region sharply marked off from the

median region by a constriction, containing the

uncolored posterior portion of the intestine and

the posterior portion of the generative tube. The

latter region terminates in an enlarged and gib-

bous copulatory bursa, which is denticulate with

about two rows of blunt teeth on its rim, and

contains a single, club-shaped spicule. The

anterior and median regions are smooth or with

faint longitudinal striations; the posterior region Fic. 2,

is transversely wrinkled

e cesophagus is cox slender and communicates by a rounded :

base with the intestine, which is broader than the cesophagus, abruptly 4

truncate at its origin and continues of nearly uniform size throughout a

the median portion of the body. The walls of the intestine in the -

median region of the body were seen to contain polygonal, mostly hex- |

agonal, cells (Fig. 5]. The intestine loses its dark-brown color as it

passes from the median to the a

posterior region of the body.

The anal aperture is at the base :

of the copulatory bursa [a, Fig.

3]. The generative apparatus.

isa single tube which extends

from the anterior end of the

intestine to the copulatory bursa,

where it opens beside the papil-

lary termination of the intes-

tine, [vd, Fig. 3]. In the cen- Tii

tral region of the body it is

much PREG sin ee posterior region of the body it is nearly Pe

straight and thick-walled, i ; oy

mee The spicule [Figs. 2, 3, 4], is a

fe club-shaped, somewhat spiral

in its middle portion, about

twice the length of the bursa

and less than one-fifth the

length of the posterior divi-

sion of the body.

The following measure-

ments were made on the Fic, 4.

pory i

A S sity E E LE a T Va

~

Fic. 5.

specimen in acetic acid:

1892,] Zoology. 707

‘ Millimeters,

Length bonis ue pr he i 25.00

Length of anterior division or enn ak eae AN

Length of median division, body aipe . ; 17.30

Length of posterior division : ‘ : 5.50

Diameter, median Š : i é à 0.90

Diameter, anterior end á : ; 0.42

Diameter, 1mm. from kiteia nid > ‘ : 0.32

Diameter of bursa i ; ; à " i 0.36

Length of spicule ‘ : ‘ : ` ; 0.42

Diameter of spicule, apex. i i i ‘ 0.01

Diameter of spicule, middle ‘ é ‘ i 0.015

Diameter of spicule, base . : 0.04

The anterior division of the body or sie passes yy rather abrupt

enlargement into the body proper. The diameter of the œsophagus at

base is 0.18 mm; and the breadth of the intestine at its anterior end is

0.3 mm.

The posterior, transversely-wrinkled portion may, possibly, be retrac-

tile, although the appearance is against this supposition.

The single specimen, upon which this description is based, is in the

possession of Mr. Wm. B. Marshall, State Museum, Albany, N. Y.

EXPLANATION OF FIGURES.

==

pæ >

Q

p

Specimen, head missing, x 6. a, neck; b, body; ¢, posterior

region of body separated from bady proper by a constriction ;

p, esophagus ; í, intestine; t, reproductive tube.

Fig. 2. Bursa and spicule, x 75.

Fig. 3. Bursa, optical section, x 150, a, anal aperture; d, denticulate

rim; sp, spicule; vd, termination of reproductive tube.

Fig. 4. Portions of spicule, x 200, a, apical, and b, basal portions,

Fig. 5. Polygonal cells in wall of dark-brown portion of intestine, x `

about 150. Epwiy Linton, Px. D.

Washington and Jefferson College.

Washington, Pa., June 1, 1892,

708 ; The American Naturalist. [August,

EMBRYOLOGY:

The Development of Paludina vivapara.’—R. von Erlan-

ger contributes two papers on this subject which form a comprehensive

and valuable study of the development of this species. He describes

concisely and clearly the development of the tissues and organs, giving

special attention to the origin of the mesoderm and to the formation

of the pericardium, heart, primitive kidneys, permanent kidneys, renal

ducts, reproductive organs, and nervous system. The author had an

abundance of material and believes he was able to fully verify all his

results. Heretofore no one has succeeded in keeping alive the embryos

after removing them from the opaque albuminous capsule which

encloses them. The author found they would live for a timein a solu-

tion of 20cc. of egg albumen, 1g. of common salt and 200cc. of

water; so that he was able to observe the processes of development in

the living embryo. Of the fixing agents used Kleinenberg’s picro sul-

phuric acid with a drop of 5% osmic acid added was by far the most

successful.

The mesoderm arises from the archenteron at the time of the forma-

tion of the velum. The ventral wall of the archenteron pushes out as

a single large sac, which soon pinches off from the rest of the ento-

erm. For a time it has the form of a closed vesicle lying in the ven-

tral half of the embryo between the ectoderm and entoderm. This

-vesicle enlarges, its cells becoming somewhat flattened in the process.

Later the walls of the vesicle break up into their constituent cells, the

disintegration beginning at the mid-ventral point of the vesicle. Some

of the cells apply themselves to the ectoderm (somatopleure), some to

_ the entoderm (splanchnopleure), others, star shaped, form an extensive

net-work filling the segmentation cavity ; processes from the somato-

pleuric and splanehnopleuric mesoderm cells also join the net-work.

The different organs now begin to make their appearance. The

coelom of Paludina, according to this description, arises as a single,

~ median, ventral evagination from the archenteron.

At the time when the rudiment of the stomadæal invagination

appears there can be seen in the posterior part of the embryo, below

This department is edited by Dr. E. A. Andrews, Johns Hopkins University.

ees seh eect der Paludina vivapara. R. von Erlanger, Morph. Jahrb., vol.

vii, 1891; Part I, August; Part II, October. ya

1892.] Embryology. 709

the ventral wall of the gut, a paired mass of spindle-shaped mesoderm

cells (each half of this mass of cells contains a cavity). This is the

rudiment of the pericardium. It varies greatly in different individ-

uals, but always has a paired origin. The two halves fuse later, but

for a considerable time there remains a septum between the cavities of

the two sides. The right cavity is from the first the larger of the two.

Erlanger says: “ I was not able in Paludina to see the immediate

transformation of the coelom into the pericardium, since the whole

secondary body cavity is so early wholly filled with irregularly dis-

posed, spindle-shaped mesoderm cells; yet the rudiment of the peri-

cardium is formed between the two mesoderm layers, one of which

clothes the inner surface of the ectoderm, the other the outer surface

of the gut.

“ The question then arises whether the pericardium represents the

whole secondary body cavity (which would be greatly reduced) or

merely a part of it, so that then the rest of the coelom would coincide

with the primary body cavity or segmentation cavity. I now incline

toward the second view, and think that the coelom only partially per-

sists as such in the pericardium, while by far the greater part of it is

obscured by the spindle-cells which fill it and so simulates the primary

body cavity [—und daher sich mit der primären Leibeshéhle deckt].

The development of Paludina, described in this paper, appears to me

to uphold this conclusion, and my other not yet completed researches

in regard to the manner of formation of the blood-vessels strengthens

me in this view.”

The kidneys arise as evaginations, right and left, of the pericardial

wall, while the embryo is still untwisted. They are first indicated by

thickened areas of this wall. These thickened areas push out toward

the mouth chamber until they assume a tubular form. The rudiments

of the renal ducts arise at the same time with the latter, as evagina-

tions, right and left of the walls of the mantle chamber, toward the

rudiments of the kidneys. The right kidney rudiment and the rudi- -

ment of the right renal duct unite to form the permanent kidney.

The left kidney is never fully formed, its rudiment never uniting with

that of the left renal duct. Each of these persist for a time, but

during the subsequent spiral twisting of the embryo each is obliter-

ated. The secretory portion of the kidney arises then, from mesoderm

and not from ectoderm, as has been claimed. Its excretory duct arises

from the ectoderm of the mantle chamber.

The heart arises as an invagination of the dorsal area of the peri-

cardium, forming an antero-posterior furrow. Soon this furrow con-

710 The American Naturalist. [August,

stricts in the middle, indicating the line of demarkation between auri-

cle and ventricle. The heart furrow sinks more and more into the

pericardial sac until it becomes a closed tube distinct from the latter,

except at its two openings, one on the originally anterior, the other on

the originally posterior face of the pericardium. At the same time

art has divided into an auricle (posterior) and a ventricle

(anterior), as was before indicated by the constriction in the heart —

furrow.

By the twisting of the body of the embryo the heart is brought upon

the left side and the kidney to the middle line. The kidney grows

larger, its opening into the pericardium becomes narrower, and the

external orifice of the renal duct grows smaller and smaller. At the

same time the cells of the wall of the kidney enlarge and in different

places the walls push into the lumen of the gland, forming strands

which by further development are converted into a mass of spongy

tissue. The kidney, then, is not a typical acinous gland.

The primitive kidneys (“ Urnieren”) arise from mesoderm, one on

each side of the embryo, just behind the velum. They first appear

at the time of the stomadeal invagination, while the embryo is still

wholly symmetrical. Each rudiment is at first a solid mass of cells.

Soon a cavity appears within the mass, and at the same time it

approaches the surface. It soon breaks through the ectoderm cells to

the surface. Its cells can be distinguished from the ectoderm and the

rest of the mesoderm by their large size, clear protoplasm and deeper

staining. It is still a closed vesicle. Now it elongates, becoming

tubular, and soon it gains an external opening. There is no inte

opening for the primitive kidney. Its inner end is formed by a mass

of spindle-shaped and star-shaped mesederm cells, at least one of which

bears long cilia, which are active in the living embryo. No concre-

tions or excretory granules are present. In the absence of any inter-

nal opening the primitive kidney of Paludina resembles the excretory

organs of Plathelminths, “ yet it may be possible that this departure —

from the ordinary condition is only the result of a certain degenera-

tion.” Erlanger thinks that in the pair of primitive kidneys and the

pair of permanent kidneys (only one of which fully develops) we may

have represented the segmental organs of two segments, comparable to

the segmental organs of the worms.

The author shows that each of the ganglia of the nervous system

arises by a sort of delamination from thickened areas of the ectoderm.

All but the visceral ganglion arise fom paired rudiments. The vis-

1892, ] Embryology. Til

ceral ganglion arises from a single thickening of the wall of the man-

tle chamber near the pericardium.

There is no “Scheitelplatte,” the two rudiments of the cerebral

ganglia being from the first distinct. They arise by delamination from

two distinct thickenings of the ectoderm of the pre-velar area, situated

one on the right, one on the left of the centre of the area.

The pedal ganglia next appear, arising in the same way by delami-

nation from two distinct ectodermal thickenings. The pallial ganglia

develop from similar paired rudiments. The buccal ganglia are formed

later from paired thickenings of the ectoderm of the ventral wall of

the stomodeum. Two thickenings of the anterior border of the man-

tle give rise to the two intestinal ganglia, which are at first right and

left. The twisting of the embryo soon brings the right one above the

intestine (supraintestinal ganglion) and the left one below (subintesti-

nal ganglion). The subintestinal ganglion does not appear in the

adult. The visceral ganglion is formed from the posterior part of the

floor of the mantle chamber. It arises from the ectoderm, but does

not have a paired origin, differing in this respect from all the other

ganglia.

As seen in the order of description, the ganglia arises progressively

from before backward. e commissures and connectives arise in the

same order. The cerebral ganglia first connect with each other, then

with the pallial, the pedal and the buccal ganglia. The pedal ganglia

next unite and then the buccal ganglia. No commissure connects the

pallial ganglia. Of all the connectives between the cerebral ganglia

and the other nerve centres the cerebro-pedal connectives are the last

to appear. This is the only exception to the rule that the nervous

system develops progressively from before backward. Because of the

small size of the ganglion cells Erlanger was unable to demonstrate

the origin of the nerve fibres.

“ The circulatory system of Paludina arises in the manner typical

for the Mollusca.”

The origin of the sexual organs is interesting. It is the same in both

sexes. The ovary, or testis, is formed from an evagination of a por-

tion of the pericardium, almost, or exactly, in the place where earlier

the rudimentary left kidney was formed. The duct arises as did the

rudimentary left renal duct and from the same region of the mantle

chamber. The tubular rudiment of the “sexual gland” separates

from the pericardium and forms a hollow vesicle, which, later, con-

nects with the sexual duct. The sexual organs are formed, then,

apparently by the reopening of the left kidney, which appeared and

712 The American Naturalist. [Augnst,

atrophied at an earlier stage in the development. This manner of

development, though peculiar, corresponds fundamentally to the Mol-

luscan type. The renal ducts probably originally served as sexual

ducts also (e. g. Chiton). In Paludina we have, associated with the

twisting of the body, a differentiation in function, by which the right

uro-genital duct comes to serve simply as a renal organ and the left —

as a sexual organ.

Among the most valuable features of this paper is the review of the

literature of the subject. The author’s discussion of the relationship

of the Mollusca to the annelids and flat worms is not so important.

Many points in the paper and some whole sections (e. g. the develop-

ment of the sense organs) have been passed over in this brief review.

I trust, however, that reference has been made to the points of special

interest, and such points are not few. The author’s clearness and con-

ciseness of statement make his paper a very readable one—MAYNARD

M. METCALF.

ENTOMOLOGY.

Classification of the Mites.—A paper of much value to stu-

dents of the Acaroidea has recently been published! by Dr. Troues-

sart. Itis entitled “ Considérations générales sur la classification des

acariens, Suivies d’ un essai de classification nouvelles.” The author

first gives a historical sketch of the classifications that have been pro-

posed for the group, from that of Latreille in 1795 to that of Canes-

trini in 1891. He then discusses the characters upon which the class-

ification should be based, gives the tabular statement of his new classi-

fication (translated on the following page) and concludes with a useful

review of the families, subfamilies and genera, with the characters of —

the families and subfamilies. Dr. Trouessart thinks the mites should

form the sub-class Acaroidea, of the class Arachnida, and divides them

into two orders, the Acarina and the Vermiformia—C. M. W

Color Preferences of the Carpet Beetle.—-During the past May

the Buffalo carpet beetles ( Anthrenus scrophularie) have been abundant

on the tulip beds at Hanover, N. H., taking advantage, no doubt, of

the open windows of the house-cleaning period to fly out and get some —

pollen for food. In a small bed containing about three dozen tulips,

three-fourths of which were of red colors, and the rest of white and —

1Revue des Sciences Naturelles, 1892. :

713

Entomology.

1892.]

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rit Sant The American Naturalist. [August,

yellow, the beetles were found almost exclusively upon the latter

varieties, apparently preferring white to yellow, and undoubtedly choos-

ing one of these in preference to the red. On bright days a dozen

would sometimes be found in a single -white tulip, and two or three

hundred beetles were collected from the patch. l

It is probable that at the time these visits were made the beetles had

not yet laid their eggs. Some were observed mating. Consequently

gathering and destroying them on these early spring blossoms is a sim-

ple means of checking their increase. I saw a few on white and yel-

low crocuses, but none on other flowers, wild or cultivated, except the

tulips—CLarence M. WEED.

Association of Economic Entomologists.—Mr. F. M. Web-

ster, Secretary, has issued the following announcement concerning the

next meeting of this body : In accordance with an action of the Asso-

ciation, taken at the Washington meeting, the fourth annual meeting

will be held at Rochester, New York, two days prior to the meeting of

the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

All members intending to present papers are requested to forward

titles to the Secretary before August 1st, in order that the program

may be prepared in proper season.

The proceedings of our meetings are attracting the attention of

working entomologists of other countries, and it is to be hoped that

members will spare no efforts to make the coming meeting even better

than those which have preceded it. Owing to the continued ill-health

of President Lintner, and in order to relieve him of as much labor as |

possible, all correspondence, unless of a nature necessitating his atten-

tion, may be addressed to the Secretary, at Columbus, Ohio.

Dr. Lintner’s seventh report on the injurious and other insects

of the State of New York has lately been published. It covers the

year 1890, and forms a very creditable volume of more than 200

pages. The injurious insects treated of include the poplar saw-fly

( Aulacomerus lutescens), the black and red woolly bear (Pyrrharctia

isabella), the prolific Chlorops (O. prolifica), the chrysanthemum fly

(Phytomyza chrysanthemi), the bean weevil (Bruchus obsoletus), the

lentil weevil (Bruchus lentis), and the periodical Cicada (C. septende-

cim). Then follows a large number of interesting notes on various

insects, an account of two injurious arthropods, the clover mite (Bry-

obia pratensis) and a household centipede ( Cermatia forceps), two ento-

_ mological papers of general interest, and a list of publications of the

1892.] Entomology. 715

entomologist. The whole volume shows the same careful preparation

as its predecessors, and is well illustrated, a number of the figures

being new.

Notes on the Clover Mite.—This little creature (Bryobia pra-

tensis) has been extremely abundant during the past spring at Han-

over, N. H. It appeared in swarms early in April, congregating on

window-sills of houses and other buildings, and continued abundant

until early in June. In Dr. Riley’s recent Insect Life article upon the

species it is surmised that at the north the mite passes the winter in

the egg state, but this evidently is not the case in the latitude of Han-

over.—C. M. W.

Entomological Notes.—A bulletin (No. 19) of unusual interest

comes from the Colorado Experiment Station. It contains Prof. Gil-

lette’s “Observations Upon Injurious Insects, season of 1891.” It

includes discussions of the fruit-tree leaf-roller (Cacoecea argyrospila),

box-elder leaf-roller ( C. semiferana), grape-vine leaf-hopper ( Typhlocy-

ba vitifex), gooseberry fruit-fly (Trypeta canadensis), imported cur-

rant borer (Sesia tipuliformis), and several others. There are twelve

good illustrations, all but one being original.

Number 4 of the current volume of the Ohio Station Bulletin con-

tains an extended discussion of the “ insects which burrow in the stem

of wheat.” by Mr. F. M. Webster. Eight species are enumerated.

At the next meeting of the Association of Agricultural Colleges and

Experiment Stations, Chairman Lawrence Bruner, of the Committee

on Entomology, proposes to describe the working facilities, library, col-

lections, equipment, etc., of the various entomologists represented in

the Association.

Prof. S. A. Forbes, in charge of the entomological exhibit at the

World’s Fair, is endeavoring to get together a biological collection of

all the insects whose life histories have been worked out in whole or in

part by the experiment stations.

In Bulletin No. 19 of Hatch Experiment Station of Massachusetts

Prof. C. H. Fernald has published an excellent account of the present

status of the gypsy moth ( Oenerea dispar), illustrated by.an admira-

ble colored plate showing the various stages of the moth, a map of the

51

716 The American Naturalist.

region infested in 1891, and four reproductions of photographs of the —

effects of the caterpillars work. The same bulletin contains an

account of certain cranberry insects and of various entomological

experiments. ios

In the April, 1892, issue of Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine Dr. E.

Bergroth describes as Dulichius wrongtoni n. sp. an ant-mimicking

hemipteron found in India. It mimics the Indian ant (Polyrrhachis

spiniger Mayr), to which it is said to have a most striking resem- —

blance. 2

In the same issue of the same magazine Mr. Chas. Fenn describes

“the pole system” of collecting Tortrices. It consists essentially of

the use of a net of large diameter on a very long pole made of jointed |

bamboo rods, by means of which small moths flying about the tops of

trees can be captured during the day.

1892.] ) Scientific News. 717

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

— Tuar attempts made in past years by the paleontologist of the U.

S. Geological Survey to prevent other paleontologists from making col-

lections in the west are now familiar to most of our readers. A

recent enterprise in this direction quite equals any of the former ones

in effrontery. We learn on the best authority that Prof. O. C. Marsh

has been pursuing his old tactics in the case of Prof. Osborn, of the

Museum of Natural History of New York. He commenced hisattack,

as heretofore, by charging that dishonest methods were employed by

the Professor of the Museum in obtaining specimens which really

belonged to him, Prof. Marsh; and so to damage the character of Prof.

Osborn with the management of the museum. These charges having

been refuted, he proceeded to inform the trustees that he could not, as

Government paleontologist, permit collections to be made on Govern-

ment land. This not producing the desired effect, he preferred a claim

based on scientific comity that he had a fair right to exclusive work in

the Laramie field. The trustees of the museum failed to see the jus-

tice of this proposition, even if the claim of priority were true, which

it is not. Prof. Marsh then descended to other and quite childish

forms of appeal not necessary to mention here.

It remains to be seen what the U. S. Geological Survey will do with

tbis psychological phenomenon. The demonstration of Prof. Marsh’s

unfitness for the position is now ample, and more is to come. But

apart from all personal characteristics, such as are above described, we

think it would be well if the Government material could be properly

worked up and reported on. His only volume published by the pres-

ent survey, that on the Dinocerata, is a good example of perfunctory

work. Of the, say twenty-seven, species included in it, the remains of

but one or two are described from the material actually enumerated by

Prof. Marsh, the remainder of the work being left to some successor

who may feel disposed to attempt a task for which all the credit has

been already assumed by another. The neglect of other authors dis-

played in all his writings become more conspicuous recently, is also

reason enough for the withdrawal from him of the aid and counte-

nance of the U. S. Geological Survey.

—M. Francots Bocourt, the distinguished author of the Herpetol-

ogy of the Mision Scientifique de Mexique, has been retired from his

718 The American Naturalist. [August,

position in the Museum of Natural History of Paris. He is replaced

by a retired officer of artillery, whose fitness for the place remains to

be demonstrated. M. Bocourt, besides his special zoological knowledge,

is an admirable artist, and his plates of reptiles are the most beautiful

and accurate ever published. His retirement is greatly to be regretted,

and the suspension of his work before completion will be a discredit to

France. It is to be hoped that this action will be reconsidered, or if

not, that provision will be made for the completion of his great work.

Biology at the Leland Stanford Junior University.—

Biology had no prejudices to conquer at Leland Stanford Junior Uni- i

versity. The President has faith in the Biological Sciences and sym-

pathy with the laboratory methods in their study, while of the students

who at the beginning applied for work in the University a fair pro-

portion looked to these sciences for a part of their training. So, from

the start, departments in biological lines were established, laboratories

arranged for, and students have come forward to fill them. ,

Departments were established by the appointment of Dr. Douglas ;

H. Campbell to the chair of botany, of Dr. Charles H. Gilbert to the

chair of zoology, Prof. John H. Comstock to that of entomology, and

of Dr. Oliver P, Jenkins to that of physiology and histology. To each of : |

these gentlemen was left the direction and equipment of the department

to which he was called. The appointments came at a time when it :

was impossible to predict the attendance in general for the present

year, or what would be the number of students to be accommodated in

each department. The pleasure of ordering a lot of new apparatus —

was spiced by the attempt to plan it for an unknown and an unknow-

able class. To attempt, for example, to order such a number of micro-

Scopes as would neither, as unused, stare one in the face for a yearand

reproach him for his extravagance, nor leave him to increase his work

with relays of students on a short number, was a problem which-

demanded careful consideration. Most concluded to take their chances

on the first horn of the dilemma to find themselves later hung up on

the second. Thus it has turned out that some of the first orders have

had to be supplemented or even duplicated.

The two buildings assigned to these departments were not originally

intended for laboratories and are to be soemployed only until the per-

manent biological laboratories shall be built, which exist in the plans

for the near future. At present the departments of botany and phys-

iology share one of the two buildings on the west side of the quadran-

. gle. Itis a stone building, well lighted, very pleasant, and with the —

1892.] Scientific News. 719

lecture rooms and offices, store room and large laboratory conveniently

connected.

The planning of the furniture of the laboratories was left to the

professors of the various departments. This necessitated the doing of

a great deal of such work in a short space of time, and resulted in

some delays. But when it is considered how much was to be done,

both in furnishing and in getting together apparatus and books from

such great distances, it is remarkable how few and short these delays

re.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, work began in the departments

with the very opening day. Not all orders were in, but enough were

in to start things going, and where tables had not arrived the packing

boxes of newly arrived apparatus were improvised for their support,

and abandoned carpenter benches performed new duties, becoming

daubed with paraffine, doused with alcohol and littered with interest-

ing Pacific coast forms of animals and plants. Of these latter there

is no lack. They preceded the apparatus and bid fair to keep in excess

of all appliances.

The botanical laboratory is furnished with forty-one compound

microscopes, including one new Zeiss stand with a series of apochro-

matics, also microtoms, imbedding apparatus, aquaria and the neces-

sary glassware, sterilizing apparatus, and all the most used reagents.

During the past year thirty-five students have occupied tables in

the botanical laboratory.

In the department of physiology and histology thirty-two students,

three of whom were graduate students, have been in attendance. For

work in these subjects the laboratory is supplied with thirty-six com-

pound microscopes, a number of dissecting microscopes, two Minot’s

microtomes, imbedding apparatus and material, a plentiful supply of

fixing, hardening and staining reagents, mounting materials, ete. For

work in experimental physiology there are provided kymographs of

different forms, two registering cylinders of Ludwig’s form and one

for continuous paper, a pendulum myograph, apparatus for muscle and

nerve phenomena, galvanometers and other apparatus for electrical

experiments with nerve and muscle, oncometers, plethysmographs,

various forms of electrical signals, manometers, time markers, tuning

forks for time, apparatus for respiration, = the study of optical and

auditory phenomena, tambours, cardi , tonometers,

spectroscope, polariscope, spectrophotometer, apparatus for urinalysis,

for digestion experiments, dissecting instruments, batteries, etc.

720 The American Naturalist. [August,

The department of zoology has been quartered in the building at

the southwest corner of the quadrangle, containing a lecture room,

two laboratories, a small museum room and an office. For the work

there are provided twelve compound microscopes, dissecting micro-

scopes, dissecting instruments, collecting apparatus, museum specimens,

a series of skeletons, and the other usual appliances of such labora-

tories. Abundant material for the work has been obtained from the

coast. ‘

Advanced work in ichthyology has a considerable stimulus in the

presence of a very valuable collection of fishes consisting of over

2,000 species. These are made up in part of carefully selected species

from the great collection which had accumulated at the Indiana Uni-

versity by the work of Drs. Jordan and Gilbert and their former stu-

dents, and in great part by the deep sea dredging of the Albatross in

the Pacific, made mainly under the direction of Dr. Gilbert; and in,

addition a considerable collection of fishes from the Sandwich Islands

made by Dr. Jenkins. Thirty students, two graduate students have

been accommodated in the department.

The laboratory for the department of entomology is in one of the

buildings in the west end of the quadrangle. Prof. Comstock was

present during January, February and March of the present year;

the work is carried on during his absence by an assistant. The labor-

atory possesses already a considerable collection of California insects,

and there has recently been purchased a very valuable collection of

Lepidoptera containing about 2,000 species. Twenty-three students,

one graduate student, have taken the work during the year.

The number of students who have applied for work in all these

laboratories has been so great that new quarters for their accommoda-

tion for the coming year have been arranged for.

The biological work of the University is to continue through the

summer at the newly established Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, located

at Pacific Grove, on Monterey Bay. The building, now completed, 1s

a substantial wooden structure 60 by 20 feet, especially planned for

| the work, and exceptionally well lighted. It has on the lower floor

two general laboratories, a library and reading room, and a store

room ; on the upper floor are one general laboratory and six private

rooms. In all about fifty students can be comfortably accommodated.

The building is a gift of the Pacific Improvement Company and the

people of Pacific Grove. The general furnishing, including the pump-

_ ing plant, aquaria, tables, etc., are furnished through the liberality of

Mr. Timothy Hopkins. The microscopes, microtomes, collecting and

-1892,] Scientific News. 721

other apparatus, as well as the books used are from the University.

The location of the laboratory is a most charming one, on the edge of

a low cliff overlooking a beach which presents greatly varied collect-

ing grounds. The forms of both animal and plant life are extremely

rich in both number and species.

Drs. Gilbert, Jenkins and Campbell are the directors. Three classes

of students will be provided for: Students in the biological sciences in

the Leland Stanford Junior University; teachers and others wishing

to take an elementary course, and investigators. To the last class the

use of the laboratory is granted free. The first two classes pay a mod-

erate fee to cover running expenses. Great effort is being made by

the directors to get together the means for comfortable and efficient

work, and everything bids fair for a profitable summer at the new

workshop of science.—O. P. J.

The paleontological exploring expedition sent out by the Museum

of Natural History of New York is reported to have been successful

in its researches in the Puerco district of New Mexico. Dr. J. L.

Wortman, who is in charge, states that the weather was very unpleas-

ant, owing to wind, dust, heat and drought, but that many valuable

specimens were obtained. He goes later to the Laramie region to col-

lect Agathaumide and other characteristic forms of that horizon.

The session of the Summer School of Science for the Atlantic Proy-

inces of Canada, which opens in St. John on Monday evening, August

1st, will, from present appearances, be largely attended. Arrange-

ments are being made to secure the comfort of those who attend.

Intending visitors should make early application for boarding houses,

stating what price they wish to pay. Arrangements have been made

for reduced fares by rail and steamer. A large gathering from Nova

Scotia is promised, and the New Brunswick teachers are expected to

be present in considerable force——Educational Review.

722 The American Naturalist. [August,

RECORD OF NORTH AMERICAN ZOOLOGY.

Continued from Vol. XXVI, p. 395.

CRUSTACEA.

Benepict, J. E. and Rarupun, M. J.—The Genus Panopeus.

Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xiv, 3 , 1891.—39 species, P. bermudensis,

hemphilli, angustifrons, ovatus, dissimilis, areolatus are new.

Bumrus, H. C.—The Embryology of the American Lobster. Journ. —

Morph., v, 215, 1891.— Vide Am. Nat., xxvi, 77, 1892.

Herrick, F. H.—The development of the American Lobster.

Zool. Anz., xiv, 133, 143, 1891.

Ives, J. E—Echinoderms and Crustaceans collected by the West |

Greenland Expedition of 1891. Proc, Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1891,

479.

Marsu, C. D.—Preliminary list of deep water Crustacea in Green

Lake, Wisc., U.S.A. Zool. Anz., xiv, 275, 1891.

Parker, G. H.—The eyes in blind crayfishes. Bull. M. C. Z., xx,

153, 1890.— Vide Am. Nat., xxv, 832.

Parker, G. H.—The compound eyes in Crustaceans, Bull. M. C.

Z., xxi, No. 2, 45, 1891.— Vide Am. Nat., xxv, 832 :

TURNER, C. H.—Notes upon the Cladocera, Copepoda, Ostracoda,

and Rotifera of Cincinnati, with descriptions of new species. Bull.

Dennison Univ., VI, 57, 1892.

ARACHNIDA,

Banks, N.—Notes on the Dysderide of the United States. Can.

Ent., xxiii, 207, 1891.—Segestria pacifica, nov. Key to genera.

Banxs, N.—Notes on the North American Chernetide. Can. Ent., f

xxiii, 161, 1891.—Key to genera and species; some new. ‘

Banxs, Nathan.—A classification of North American Spiders.

Canad. Entom, xxiv, 88, 1892.—Key to Families.

Jonnson, H. P.—Amitosis in the embryonal envelopes of the |

scorpion. Bull. M. C. Z., xxii, 127, 1892.

Kinestey, J. S—The Northern limit of Scorpions. Am. Nat.,

xxv, 834, 1891.

Murprtre cpr, M. E.—Longevity and Vitality of Argas and Trom- —

bidium. Can. Ent., xxiii, 248, 1891.

1892.] Record of North American Zoology. 723

PacKarD, A. S.—Farther studies on the brain of Limulus poly-

phemus. Zool. Anz., xiv, 129, 1891.

WEED, C. M.—The Harvest spiders of North America. Proc. A.

A. A. §., xxxix, 335, 1891.

Weep, C. M.—The ash-gray harvest spider. Am. Nat. xxvi, 32,

1892.—Phalangium cinereum.

MYRIAPODA.

Cook, O. F. and Cotiins, G. N.—Notes on the North American

Myriapoda of the family Geophilidae, with descriptions of three gen-

era. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xiii, 383, 1891.—Key of genera. Escar-

yus (n. g.) phyllophilus, E. liber are new.

HEXAPODA.

GENERAL.

Official Minutes of the meeting of the Entomological Club of the

A. A. A.S., 1891. Can. Ent., xxiii, 210, 228, 1891.

ALDRICH, J. M.—Notes of the season from South Dakota. Insect

Life iv, 67,1891. Rep. Ent. Soc. Ontario 82, 1891.—Economice.

BETHUNE, C. J. S—Annual address of the President, 22. Ann. Rep.

Entom. Soc. of Ontario, 1891, p. 11.—Review of Economic Entomology.

BEUTENMULLER, W.—List of writings of late Henry Edwards. Can.

Ent., xxiii, 260, 1891.

CocKERELL, T. D. A.—Some Insects common to Europe and

Colorado. Entom. Mo. Mag. xxv, 67, 1891.—13 species.

FLETCHER, J.—President’s Inaugural address [at meeting of Associa-

tion of Economic Entomologists].—Insect Life iv, p. 4,1891. 22 Rep.

Entom. Soc. Ontario 36, 1892.

FLETCHER, J—Entomology for beginners, No. 1. Notes on kill-

ing, preserving, and relaxing insects. Can. Ent., xxiv, 14, 1892.

FLETCHER, J.—Notes of the year in Canada. Can. Ent. xxiii, 252,

1891.—Economic.

Forses, S8. A.—Seventeenth Report of the State Entomologist on

the Noxious and Beneficial Insects of the State of Illinois. Spring-

field, 1891.—General Record ; Habits of Scolytus rugutosus ; arsenical

poison for plum and peach curculio; Habits of American plum borer ;

larve of Lachnosterna and Cyclocephala; Notes on Hessian Fly;

corn root aphis; Diseases of Chinch bug.

Forses, S. A.—An analytical list of the Entomological writings of

Wm. Le Baron, M. D. Appendix of Rep. State Entom. IIL, 1891.

424 The American Naturalist. [August,

GEDDES, G—On some collections in England and the German

Empire. 22 Rep. Ent. Soc. Ontario, 31, 1891.

HAMILTON, J.—Comments on the fifth Report of the U. S. Ento-

mological Commission. Insect Life, iv, 129, 1891.

Hunter, W. N.—Injurious insects of Nebraska. Insect Life, iv,

132, 1891.

Houxianp, W. J.—Clerck’s Icones. Canad. Ent., xxiv, 83, 1892.—

Description of a copy in his possession.

Houtanp, W. J.—Chapters on collecting and preserving Insects in:

Hornaday, W. T., Taxidermy and Zoological collecting. N. Y., 1891.

Husparp, H. G.—Insect Life in the hot springs of the Yellowstone

National Park. Can. Ent., xxiii, 226, 1891.

Hupson, G. H.—Electrie Light collecting at Plattsburgh, N. Y.

Can. Ent., xxiii, 244, 1891.

Lintyer, J. A.—Report of the State Entomologist to the Regents

of the University, State of New York. N. Y. State Museum, 43 Rep.

Regents, 103, 1890. Contains, besides life histories, etc., Bibliography

of J. A. L.

Lyman, H. H.—Can insects survive freezing? 22 Rep. Entom. Soe.

Ontario, 18, 1891. Can. Ent., xxiv, p. 1, 1892.

Morrat, J. A.—Some observations on the pollecting of 1890. Can.

‘Ent. xxiii, 111, 1891.

Osporn, H.—Annual address of the President [of the Entomological

Club of the A. A. A.S.] Can. Ent. xxiii, 211, 2891.

Rizey, ©. V. and Howarp, L. O.—Corrections to Packard’s

Report on Forest Tree Insects. Insect Life, iv, 92, 1891.

_ Scnwarrz, E. A.—Preliminary remarks on the Insect Fauna of

the Great Salt Lake, Utah. Can. Ent.,-xxiii, 235, 1891.

Smiru, J. B.—Staining- Insect tissues. Can. Ent., xxiii, 251, 1891.

Samir, J. B.—Notes of the year in New Jersey. 22 Rep. Ent.

Socy. Ontario, 64,1891. Insect Life, iv, 43, 1891.

Sovuruwicx, E. B.—Entomological work in Central Park. Insect

Life, iv, 59, 1891. 22 Rep. Ent. Socy. Ontario, 77, 1891.

TownsenD, C. H. T.—Notes of interest. 22 Rep. oe Soc. Ontario,

51, 1891.—Occurrence of injurious forms in New Mex

Wersrer, F. M.—[Injuries by insects] Can. Ent. xxiii, 218, 1891.

Weep, C. M.—Entomology at Washington. Am. Nat., xxv, 922,

1891.—Abstract of papers at American Association. a

Weep, H. F.—Work of the season in Mississippi Insect Life, iv,

34, 1891. a

grey

IREEN

R PE A

NATURALIST

A MONTHLY JOURNAL

DEVOTED TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES

. IN THEIR WIDEST SENSE. y

TEn EDIT

Prors. E. D. COPE awo J. hi Si,

ASSOCIA ty EDITORS:

kC O. ig thors De. C. BESSEY, THOMAS WILSON, ss

ane C. M. WEED, Pror. W. S. BAYLEY, Pror. E, A. ANDREWS.

Vol. XXVI. SEPTEMBER, 1892. N

| CONTENTS.

4

i PAGE.

BIFURCATED ANNELIDS. a L Botany.—Yucca Pollination. .

} . Andrews. TD Zoology.—Trematodes—Fishes of

RAIN CENTRES, . . . 5S. V. ma » M. D- 734 | maculatus in the Hudson River—The Foot

CATALOGUE OF THE SNAKES OF NEBRASKA WITH Amniota—Twisting of the Umbilical C

: NOTES ON THEIR HABITS pm DISTRIBUTION.

Edgar Taylor. 742

rates, ae

SERRER —University building in Lincoln, Neb. 753

7 J i Embryology.—Spina Bifida and the 1

GENERAL NOTES.

Geology and Paleontology.—Geological Survey of South

R I dium—

-Missouri—The Pacific Cable Sari eat Note ape ee m

Dinosauria of the Laramie—On a New

malia from the Laramie Formation Publications. . - - . a

ted.)—What is Lophiodon? . . . . - T54 | PROCEEDINGS oF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. .

Minie gy and Petrography—Mt. Hekla Lip- SCIENTIFIC News.

RECORD OF NORTH AMERICAN ZOOLOGY.

tined) o ooon ana a‘

arites—Bostonite and Monchiquite from Lake Cham-

in—The S tine of the = Central Ape

PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.

BINDER & KELLY,

Walker Prizes in Natural History.

The Boston Society of Natural History,

offers a first prize of from $60 to $100 and a second —

prize of a sum not exceeding $50, for the best memoirs,

in English, on the following subject : E

Contributions to Our Knowledge of the Life-

-history of Any Plant or Animal.

Each memoir must be accompanied by a sealed

envelope enclosing the author’s name and superscribed

_ by a motto corresponding to one borne by the manu-

E script, and must be handed to the Secretary, on OF ul

before April Ist, 1893. |

Prizes will not be awarded unless the memoirs —

are deemed of adequate merit. |

For further particulars apply to

SAMUEL HENSHAW,

to n, July 26, 1892. Secretary. .

PLATE XXI.

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Bifurcated Annelids.

THE

AMERICAN NATURALIST

VOL: XAVI September, 1893. dies 2 : 309

BIFURCATED ANNELIDS.

By E. A. ANDREWS.

Abnormal structures among non-vertebrates have come

under the observation of everyone who has carefully exam-

ined a large number of individuals in any group. Just as

there are many cases of duplication of parts occurring among

the higher vertebrates, so among the non-vertebrates we have

recorded cases of the same nature. As might be expected,

this tendency to produce supernumerary parts is most easily

noticed in such groups as the crustacea, insects, echinoderms,

where the nature of the skeleton aids in the recognition of

abnormalities. Even among the soft-bodied animals, however,

many cases of abnormal duplication of parts have been

recorded.

For the group Annelida, such records are scattered and not

generally known or accessible. To bring these together with

the hope of eventually obtaining material for a more complete

view and discussion is the object of the present article.

We will limit the review to cases in which the main axis of

the worm is duplicated, to some extent, at one end of the body,

so that the animal has there two left and two right sides, has

either two heads or two tails.’ .

In the last quarter of the eighteenth century Charles Bon-

net (1), while experimenting upon the power of regeneration

‘The author would be glad to receive references to literature upon this subject and

bifurcations.

if possible the privilege of examining specimens showing such bi

52

*

726 The American Naturalist. [September,

in certain freshwater annelids (naiads) found that there was

sometimes a sort of tubercle formed upon the body, leading,

he imagined, to the formation of new individuals by stolon-

like outgrowths! In one case an individual was cut into

three pieces ; the posterior piece formed a new head for itself

and at the same time gave rise to one of these tubercles, which

Bonnet regarded as a second head. This specimen is shown

in fig. 7, and its bifid anterior end in fig. 8.

Such tubercles occurred at the posterior end also, and in one

case, in another species of fresh-water annelid, two definite

tails were observed. These two cases seem to have been the

only ones noticed among very many individuals carefully

observed during these experiments upon regeneration of parts

after artificial section.

Towards the middle of the present century Edward Grube

(2) cites the case observed by Schiffer, who had made unsuc-

cessful attempts to obtain reproduction of lost parts in the

fresh water annelid Senuris variegatus Hoffm.

In this one case an individual with two definite tails was

found a few weeks after Schiffer had cut the bodies of the

annelids into pieces in the hope of having them form new

ends.

More recently C. Bulow (3) made a long series of experi-

ments upon the regeneration of lost parts in Lumbriculus var-

iegatus Gr., and discovered among his specimens some cases in —

which there were two well-formed tails. In one individual,

5.5 em. long,.each tail was 1.75 em. long.

About the same time Zeppelin (9) found three cases of

bifurcated posterior end in the simple, perhaps primitive,

annelid Ctenodrilus. Two of these are shown in figs. 1 and3.

These were obtained among several hundred specimens care-

fully examined in studying the peculiar reproduction by bud-

ding found in the Ctenodrilide. This process consists largely

in the reproduction of lost parts after the animal has sponta-

neously divided itself into small pieces consisting of only a

few somites.

The above cases of bifurcation of the main axis in aquatic l

oligochætous annelids have been discovered during speci

1892.] Bifurcated Annelids. 727

researches upon these small and not commonly observed ani-

mals. In their terrestrial allies, however, among the well

known earthworms, cases of such striking monstrosities have

fallen under the observation of many casual observers.

In Europe Charles Robertson (4) described and figured

such a case in Lumbricus terrestris. As shown in figs. 4 and 5

the body is divided into two equal posterior parts, at the 85th

somite. Each begins with a perfect somite and thus leaves a

triangular membranous area on the dorsal and ventral sides of

the trunk. The length to the fork was two inches; that of each

caudal portion $ inch. Each portion had about 20 somites

and contained a portion of the forked intestine, chief blood

vessels and nerve trunk ; had well developed setæ and a sepa-

rate anus. The animal appeared to be an adult, having fully

and normally developed sexual organs.

This description was drawn from an alcoholic specimen in

the Oxford University Museum. F. Jeffrey Bell (5), however,

had a live specimen of the same species under observation for

two months. This was a small immature individual repre-

sented in figs. 10, 13 and 14, in which, however, the clitellum

began to appear shortly before death. Before dying, the left

tail, which was shorter, became less and less active and rela-

tively shorter till finally both tails were thrown off or disap-

peared and death ensued.

He also observed a dead specimen of L. fetidus in which

there was a forked posterior end.

Horst (6), in experimenting upon regeneration of lost parts

in earthworms, found one 100mm. long with two tails, each

25 mm. long and quite normally formed. This again was a

living specimen when observed.

On this side of the Atlantic, Asa Fitch (7) seems to have

been the first to record the occurrences of such monstrosities.

Among some interesting observations upon the habits of

earthworms, regarded as L. terrestris, he records finding in his

garden in New York State, a live specimen about three inches

long with the posterior end divided for nearly one fourth of

this length. These appendages are equal, but each only about

two-thirds the normal thickness of the body anterior to them.

j

728 The American Naturalist.

Each appendage possessed a functional anus. The left

appendage appears as a continuation of the body, three

somites serving to form a gradual transition from the thicker

trunk to the thinner appendage. The right appendage springs

out from the gaping suture between the trunk and the first of

the three transitional left somites; where this origin of

the right branch occurs there is a slight constriction not repre-

sented at all upon the left branch. The method of bifurcation —

seems thus similar to that figured by Robertson, fig. 4. E

Very recently C. Dwight Marsh (8) records a two-tailed —

earthworm found in Wisconsin. While alive both tails appear —

of equal importance, but in alcohol one division is markedly —

constricted where it joins the body and appears as a mere lat-

eral branch. Each appendage has a branch of the intestine —

and of the nerve trunk, as well as a functional anus.

alcohol the specimen is only 34 mm. long, the tails each

12 mm. ee

Among the marine polychetous annelids instances of dupli-

cation of the main axis have been recorded for several most

widely separated families.

Thus amongst the sedentary Serpulide, Edouard Claparéde |

(10) found a Salmacina incrustans in which the posterior end

was bifurcated as in fig. 2, each part having an anus. 3

Among the nearly related family Sabellidæ, Brunette (11) 2

found, in an unknown species of Branchiomma, one case in a

which there were two posterior ends, the smaller one making

an angle of 30° with the larger. The smaller end isa newly | a

formed one having the fecal groove less marked than upon

the older end, and the ventral shields scarcely visible. The

whole annelid is small, 6 em. x 6 mm., while the new posterior

end is 1 cm. long and attached about 15 mm. from the tip of the

older posterior end. Here then we have to do with. a case of

unequal bifurcation, one part appearing as a new formation

grown out from the side of the normal animal near its poste-

rior end. : 3

Among the errant Polychete, in the family Syllide, Paul

Langerhans (12) found a remarkable case of bifurcation, not