Note on the Embryo of the Date-Palm. By Prof. ALEXANDER DICKSON, M.D.

On the Foundation of Zoological Stations. By Dr. ANTON DOHRN. Dr. Dohrn gave an account of his exertions in Naples to construct a large building close to the sea, containing waste aquariums, extensive laboratories, and observatories, a scientific library, and whatever belonged to the practical pursuit of marine zoology. He asked the moral assistance of the British Association for overcoming some possible resistance at Naples, as the place for the establishment was to be had only by cession of territory of the Villa Reale, the celebrated park of the city of Naples.

He added remarks on the importance of zoological stations in other parts of the world, and said that his scheme was worked out with the view of facilitating the foundation of such stations.

On the Habits of the Indian Rock-snake (Python molurus).
By Sir WALTER ELLIOT, F.L.S.

The Rock-snake (Python molurus, L.) inhabits the whole of India, but prefers the dense forests clothing the base of the mountain-chains and extending, according to Mr. Swinhoe, even to China. In these haunts it attains its greatest size; and the statements made relative to its bulk and power of swallowing its prey, current among the natives, require to be carefully scrutinized, and only received with the greatest caution. Credible instances have been related by Capt. (afterwards Sir) Murray Maxwell of a specimen on board the 'Alceste' which swallowed a goat, the horns of which were seen distending the skin for many days afterwards. Lord Walden, President of the Zoological Society (when Lord Arthur Hay), described, in the Madras Journal of Literature and Science,' an individual 17 feet long which had swallowed a gravid axis deer. The case which I wish now to mention rests entirely on native testimony; but it was carefully sifted and tested by a very competent judge, the late Sir Mark Cabbon, K.C.B., Commissioner for the kingdom of Mysore. A Parsi merchant whom he had long known as a contractor for the commissariat when he (General Cabbon) was Commissary-General, called on him at Bungalore in 1835 or 1836, and in course of conversation mentioned that on landing at Coompta, from Bombay a few days before, on the Malabar coast, he had seen a rock-snake that had just been killed, having swallowed a bison (Bos gaurus). Although his informant was a person deserving of credit, the General determined to investigate the matter fully, and sent for the evidence of the most respectable eye-witnesses and who appeared most trustworthy. The sum of their testimony showed that the snake had been upwards of 30 feet long, that it had swallowed a young bison cow with the horns fully developed, and that it had been so completely gorged in consequence, that it had been unable to retire to its lair, which led to its discovery and easy destruction. The relation is given for what it is worth. It rests on what is allowed to be a sufficient amount of evidence for the establishment of a matter of fact, viz. the concurring testimony of a large number of eye-witnesses, recorded with care immediately after the event.

A specimen 11 feet long, kept in captivity for several days, showed no fear of man. It tried to seize fowls, dogs, &c. which approached it, but was checked by the rope which confined it. When the cord was lengthened it used to glide perpendicularly with the greatest ease up the smooth stem of a tamarind-tree near which it was picketed, and lie all day coiled on a branch. At length, wishing to destroy it, the basket in which it was secured at night was sunk for 36 hours in the river; but on being taken out it was found to be as lively as ever. Duméril and Bibron, however, state that all the Pythonidæ are aquatic in their habits, and P. molurus the most so; but its continued vitality after such prolonged immersion shows it to be amphibious.

Abnormal Petals on Flowers of Ranunculus aquatilis. By THOMAS GIBSON. A clump covering some 6 or 8 feet in diameter, showing from 150 to 200 fullblown flowers, the principal part of which were beneath the surface, at depths

varying from a few inches to a foot or more, was discovered in a pit. The water was about 4 feet deep and quite clear, and gave full effect to the splendid array of such very unusual flowers.

When the stem is cut and left in the water, the petals of flowers which blow on the detached branch are not inflated, and are in form and size like those produced by Ranunculus petalus-floribundus, being broader and shorter, and having the nectary much more produced than those of R. heterophyllus.

It has no floating leaves, and its capillary or submerged ones are quite rigid, and having the peduncle opposite on a stem which is rather slender, very hollow, of a whitish-green colour, and semitransparent. The stipules are like those produced by Ranunculus heterophyllus.

The author has paid great attention to this Ranunculus each year, and has found abundance of flowers; but only a small portion of them with inflated petals, and those generally under water and always without a calyx.

After studying the habits of this curious plant carefully for the last five summers, he has come to the conclusion that it is capable of making a great effort to extricate itself when the water suddenly becomes too deep for it; and so, just as a man who had fallen into the deep would throw off his coat and his shoes to enable him to keep his head above water, this little plant, when in like difficulty, throws off its calyx and inflates its petals to enable it to reach the surface and there perform its usual functions in the sunshine in its usual way.

In 1865 there had been a heavy and rather sudden fall of rain, and the pit was much fuller of water than usual, which fully accounts for the great number of inflated flowers which were to be seen at that time.

Parasitic Habits of Pyrola rotundifolia. By THOMAS GIBSON.

During a few months' residence at Southport in the summer of 1869, the author spent some time and labour with a view of clearing up a difficulty respecting this plant, some naturalists considering it to be a parasite, while others hold the opposite opinion. He examined a large number of roots, but failed to find any situation where the Dwarf Willow (Salix repens) was not in company with the Pyrola, the roots being frequently so matted together as to render it almost impossible to separate them.

The long stoloniferous root of the Pyrola differs from the root of any other plant which has come under the author's notice. It is smooth, of a yellowish-white colour, and about one line or the tenth of an inch in thickness; it runs underground at from 2 to 3 inches below the surface, and threads its way amongst the roots of other plants for yards together, throwing off at various distances others, which, after threading their way for some distance, generally terminate by sending a young plant to the surface; the root-stock still proceeding and frequently making a turn almost at right angles, especially where it comes in contact with the root of Salix repens, the vicinity of which it never leaves.

Clumps of the Pyrola covering a piece of ground were frequently found several yards in circumference, which was evidently all growing from one underground root-stock or stolon. This root-stock sent out at intervals on the underside little tufts of small fibrous roots, of a dark but bright claret-colour, which contrasted beautifully with the white stolon out of which they grew. The roots of the Dwarf Willow are much thicker than those of the Pyrola, very woody, and of a light brown colour. Out of these roots there also grew at various distances little tufts of claret-coloured fibre, so like those which spring from the root-stock of the Pyrola, both in colour, shape, and size, that it was impossible to find a difference even with a good lens. These tufts of fibre, so much alike in both plants, were frequently matted together in such a manner as to render it almost impossible to separate them without breaking either one or the other.

Only one instance was found where the two plants were in actual contact with each other. One of the lateral shoots from the stolon of the Pyrola had penetrated the root of the Willow and stuck fast in it. The root was about the thickness of a good-sized office pencil, and in a state of decay. Whether that decay was caused by the root of the Pyrola sucking the sap, and so causing the death of the plant, or

whether its being in a state of decay, and of course soft, was the cause of the Pyrola entering; the author is inclined to think that the former was the case, and that for three reasons:

1st. It had evidently been in contact some time, because the side shoot of the Pyrola had attained the full thickness of the parent root, which is not usually the case with the lateral shoots.

2nd. The white shoot, after entering the Willow, had become of the same brown colour, and the two roots were so incorporated together that it was impossible to say for a certainty where the one ended and the other began.

3rd. That the root did not go through the Willow, and so proceed on its way, as in all probability it would have done had the Willow been soft with decay when the Pyrola entered.

The author concludes that the two plants have a kind of sympathy for each other; and if it does not amount to the Pyrola being a parasite on the Willow, it certainly must have some mysterious affinity for it. He has found Orobanche hedera with much less proximity to the Ivy than the disputed plants are to each other, and has also seen Monotropa hypopitys with no appearance of parasitic habits, and yet all naturalists believe these plants to be parasites.

Now, except it can be disproved by its habits and associations in localities which he has not yet had the opportunity of studying, the author must conclude the Pyrola to be a parasite upon the Willow.

On the Vegetable Products of Central Africa. By Col. J. A. GRANT, F.R.G.S. [For an abstract of this paper, see Appendix.]

Notes on the Whalebone-Whales of the Southern Hemisphere.
By Dr. J. E. GRAY, F.R.S.

[Printed in an extended form as the "Geographical Distribution of the Cetacea," in the 'Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist.' November 1870.]

On the Portuguese Globular Anchor-Sponge (Pheronema Grayi).
By Dr. J. E. GRAY, F.R.S.

[Printed in extenso in the 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' October 1870.]

On the Abnormal Growth of Ferns. By TOWNSHEND M. HALL, F.G.S. In this communication the author gave some results of his observations with reference to the increasing prevalence of abnormal structures amongst certain species of ferns in the south-west of England, but especially in Devonshire. He stated that his remarks did not in any way relate to the variations of ferns which had been subjected to artificial treatment under cultivation, but simply to the changes which appeared to have taken place during the last few years amongst those commoner species which abound in every wood and hedge-row. From the profusion in which they grow in the south-west of England, there are several species which may be looked upon as affording an excellent indication of that change, which, whether it may be called development, or whether it be considered retrogression, is so rapidly effecting an alteration amongst this tribe of plants.

Of the various species of ferns, the Scolopendrium vulgare appears to have been amongst the first to assume bifid and multifid forms, and so rapidly have they increased, either by sowing the spores or by inoculation, that there are now many localities where plants bearing abnormal fronds are the rule instead of the exception. Other common forms of this fern are the crisped and crested, narrow and ramose; all showing, however, the marked tendency of the species to depart from its normal structure.

Many other ferns, such as the following, have also recently appeared in the Devonshire lanes with bifurcated leaves:

Polypodium vulgare (common polypody).
Lastrea filix-mas (male fern).
Pteris aquilina (brake fern).
Blechnum boreale (hard fern).
Polystichum angulare (shield fern).
Athyrium felix-femina (lady fern).

Asplenium adiantum-nigrum (black spleenwort).

Asplenium trichomanes (wall spleenwort).

Osmunda regalis (royal fern).

The abnormal growth of several of the above-named ferns is by no means constant; although under cultivation some of the variations of Lastrea filix-mas, Polypodium vulgare, and Polystichum angulare may be not only retained, but also improved upon. As an illustration of this the author mentioned a plant of Polystichum angulare, which he transplanted from a neighbouring lane into his fernery a few years ago, when it had only two or three fronds which were bifurcated, the remaining leaves being in their normal condition. Within twelve months all the fronds became bifurcated, and the succeeding year brought them out with a thickly crested multifid termination; whilst at the same time a fresh element of variation appeared in the bifurcation of each of the pinnæ or side leaves. In another season the pinnæ also had become crested, and so the whole plant has gone on, becoming more and more divided and subdivided, until all its original character has passed away; and the twenty-nine fronds of which the plant at present consists, and which ought of course in a normal state to have only as many terminations, have now become multiplied to such an extent that on the smallest and least crested of all the fronds may be reckoned no less than 137 small but well-defined terminations, whilst some of the larger leaves have upwards of double that number. During all this time the plant had never been moved or meddled with in any way, and the only attention it received was an occasional watering during the spring and whilst the fronds were sprouting out.

The fern which, in its natural state, is at the present time undergoing the greatest amount of change is the Pteris aquilina, or common brake. The observations of the bifid and multifid forms of this species were said to date from five years ago; up to which time the author knew of only one locality where an abnormal plant could be met with. Now the variations have increased to such an enormous extent that even in this short space of time this species bids fair to outstrip Scolopendrium vulgare in its race towards what, in strict botanical language, would perhaps be called "teratological metamorphosis."

The warm and moist climate of the south-west of England and the corresponding portion of Ireland appears more especially favourable to the growth of such ferns as have a tendency to depart from their original and recognized type; whilst, on the other hand, in the drier atmosphere of France and Italy, Spain and Switzerland, it was noticed that the ferns did not seem to have reached an equally advanced stage of abnormal growth. This question of geographical distribution was one of considerable importance, and as such was deserving of a full investigation.

In conclusion, the author said that the change now taking place so extensively amongst the Cryptogamia deserved to be especially observed, because it appeared to be a change of comparatively recent date. As far as he was aware, no instance of a fern with an abnormal growth had hitherto been noticed amongst the fossilized remains of the Old Red Sandstone, or in the still more luxuriant and diverse flora of the Carboniferous period, or even in any of the Mesozoic strata, lower, middle, or upper; whilst, advancing a step further into the recent period, it was remarked that up to the time of De Candolle there was scarcely a botanist who had made any investigations in this department of botanical science.

Note on the Larval State of Molgula, with Descriptions of several new Species of simple Ascidians. By ALBANY HANCOCK, F.L.S.

The author of this paper shows that in two members of the genus Molgula the usual tadpole-like larva is developed, notwithstanding M. Lacaze-Duthier's recent discovery, that in a certain species stated to belong to this genus there is no such tadpole-larva, but that the young on escaping from the egg is a comparatively inactive Amoeba-like creature. There is some probability, however, that the

species examined by this distinguished foreign naturalist belongs to another genus. Should this prove to be the case, the interest of his discovery will not be lessened on that account, as it would seem to establish the fact that the tadpole-larva condition is non-essential in the development of the Tunicata, and may have important influence on the doctrine of Kowalevsky respecting the relationship of the Tunicata to the Vertebrata.

The paper concludes with the description of two new genera, namely Corella and Eugyra, and nineteen new species of simple Ascidians.

On the relations of Penicillium, Torula, and Bacterium.
By Professor T. H. HUXLEY, LL.D., F.R.S.

On a Pentacrinus (P. Wyville-Thomsoni) from the Coasts of Spain and Portugal. By J. GWYN JEFFREYS, F.R.S.

During the recent deep-sea exploring expedition in H.M.S. Porcupine' Mr. Jeffreys dredged, at a depth of 795 fathoms, between Vigo and Lisbon, specimens of a fine Pentacrinus, about a foot long. Associated with it were Leda obtusa and other arctic species of Mollusca, besides several kinds of simple and compound Corals and Hydrozoa. The tentacles or arms of the same species of Pentacrinus were afterwards taken by the dredge, in 364 fathoms, near the entrance to Cadiz Bay. In the latter dredging the Mollusca were mostly of a southern character, but included Verticordia acuticostata (a crag and Sicilian fossil, as well as living in the Japanese sea) and a few northern species, such as Pleurotoma turricula and Trochus amabilis. There were likewise some remarkable and apparently new Echinoderms, Corals, and Hydrozoa. This was stated by the author to be the first instance of a true Pentacrinus having been found in the European seas. Two species inhabit the West Indies, viz. the well-known P. caput-medusa and P. Mülleri. The species now exhibited had evidently not been attached at its base, which is quite regular and free, although it was imbedded in sandy mud, with the lowermost cirri serving to keep the Pentacrinus in an upright position, like the horizontal and spreading roots of a fir tree.

On an existing Favositoid Coral*. By W. SAVIlle Kent.

In this communication the author gave a description of an existing coral closely allied to the Paleozoic genus Favosites, which he last year discovered among the collection of Madrepores contained in the Paris Museum. Unfortunately no record of the habitat of this interesting form has been preserved, though, at the same time, its recent origin is undoubted. The author has proposed to distinguish this form by the name of Favositipora Deshayesii. The author pointed out its close affinities to Alveopora, an existing genus common throughout the Red and Eastern seas, and from which it differed only in its possession of irregulary disposed, but perfectly developed tabulæ. Through Koninckia, a coral of the Cretaceous formation, it is immediately allied to the Paleozoic genus Favosites; and he affirmed to having recently discovered among the collection of fossil corals contained in the British Museum a form having no history attached to it, but undoubtedly referable to the American Devonian or Carboniferous deposits, in no way differing generically from the existing coral in the Paris Museum. He distinguishes this species by the name of Favositipora paleozoica. The author regarded the structure of F. Deshayesii as strong evidence in refutation of the theory advocated by Professor Agassiz, "that all the tabulate corals are to be referred to the Hydrozoa," its near ally Alveopora being such a well-known Actinozoon. He also expressed his opinion that no septate coral could justifiably be referred to that lower group,septa being essentially intermesenteric developments, which could consequently be possessed by Actinozoa alone.

The author likewise referred to this form as bearing out his opinion that the

This coral is figured and fully described in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History' for November 1870.