not only interrupted, but stopped, through the unwise action of a handful, not of politicians, but scientists. The result has proved, we fear, that it would have been better to have let well enough alone, for during the past season little or no geological exploration has been carried on in the Western Territories; small parties were sent to Leadville and the Eureka mines and the Comstock lodes and the California gold fields, no general geological work having, apparently, been done at all! The people want and are expending money for more information about the unsurveyed lands of the Far West; the scientific world demand and should have widely extended and thorough topographical, geological and biological surveys of that vast region, such as have been inaugurated and carried on in the past; these, as we have always felt should be directed by one mind, and for this reason some members of the National Academy voted for the consolidation of the different surveys then in the field. For a United States Survey of the Public Lands to expend a large or moderate proportion of its money and means in one or several of the Eastern States, such as Tennessee, or one of the New England States, is absurd and uncalled for, and interferes with the work that may be going on or is in prospect in such State. American scientists hope and expect that geological explorations under the new regime will, hereafter at least, not be inferior in breadth of treatment, scientific accuracy and extent, to what it has been in the past; certainly that the zeal and previous success in field and general geological work of the Geologist of the Fortieth Parallel may not be lessened, but fulfill the expectations of the American people and scientific public.-Editors Naturalist.

-Prof. B. F. Mudge, formerly Mayor of Lynn, Mass., died in Kansas on Friday last. Mr. Mudge was born at Orringford, Me., August 11, 1817; his parents removed to Lynn when he was about a year old. He attended the common schools until he was 14 years old, when he went to work at shoemaking, at which he worked six years. Then fitting for college he entered Wesleyan University, where he graduated in 1840, subsequently taking up the study of law. In 1842 he was admitted to the bar and practiced his profession at Lynn until 1859. He was elected the second mayor of Lynn, serving in 1852 and 1853. He went West and became chemist for the Breckinridge Oil and Iron Company of Kentucky. When the war broke out he went to Kansas, and in 1863 was appointed State Geologist. In 1865 he was elected Professor of Geology and Associated Sciences at the State Agricultural College, and remained in that position for eight years. Since 1874 Mr. Mudge has been employed in exploring the geological formations of Western Kansas. He was also employed by Dr. Hayden in describing the tertiary and cretaceous formations in Kansas, and he made extensive collections for Prof. E. D. Cope, in that State, during which he discovered the first specimens of

toothed birds. Prof. Mudge spent the greater part of his later years in camp life beyond the settlements in the employ of Prof. Marsh as field geologist for Yale College. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of other scientific bodies, and was instrumental in founding the Kansas Academy of Sciences, of which he was the first president. In 1876 the office of State Superintendent of Public Institutions was offered him, but he preferred to continue his field work. In 1846 Mr. Mudge married Miss Mary E. A. Beckford, of Lynn. Six children were born to them, of whom three are still living.

-During his voyage near Behring Straits, Professor Nordenskiöld obtained numerous remains of Steller's manatee, of which only a few bones have hitherto existed in the St. Petersburg Museum. This large Sirenian, it will be remembered, became extinct in 1786.

-The death of A. H. Garrod, F.R.S., Oct. 17th, at the age of thirty-four, is announced in the English papers. He was making an excellent reputation as a comparative anatomist and physiologist.

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PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Twelfth Annual Meeting. Prof. B. F. Mudge, the president of the academy, lectured on the mound-builders of America. Papers were read by the president on the metamorphic deposits in Woodson county, and on Indian mounds in Davis and Riley counties, also by Dr. A. H. Thompson on Indian graves near Topeka. The report of the Commission on Botany was read by Prof. J. H. Carruth, who announced the discovery of about 120 species new to the State. A paper was read by Hon. F. G. Adams, of Topeka, on the phonetic representation of the Indian language, describing the systems or alphabets invented by the Cherokee, Sequoyah, and by Mr. Meeker, a missionary who formerly resided in Johnson county. The alphabet formed by Mr. Meeker was said to be adequate to the perfect phonetic representation of any Indian language, and books were printed in the characters of that alphabet in eleven different dialects.

BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, Nov. 5th.-Mr. W. O. Crosby spoke on the Evidences of Compression in the Rocks of the Boston basin, and Mr. J. W. Feukes on Abyla pentagona, and its relation to a theory of bilateral symmetry. Nov. 19th.-Mr. Ernest Ingersoll read a brief survey of the native oysters of Massachusetts. Prof. A. Hyatt spoke on some remarkable changes undergone by fresh water snails (Lymnæa megasoma) in captivity, as observed by Mr. A. P. Whitfield. Dec. 3d--Mr. J. S. Diller remarked on the felsites and their associated rocks north of Boston.

APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB, Nov. 12. The councillors reported as follows: Mr. J. R. Edwards on topography, Prof. C. E. Fay on exploration and Dr. W. B. Parker on improvements. Rev. John Worcester described the excursion to Tuckerman's ravine, made in connection with the field meeting at North Conway. Prof. Charles R. Cross gave an account of the Congress of Alpine clubs, held at Geneva the past summer, which he attended as the representative of the club.

Dec. 10.-Prof. J. H. H. Huntington reported as councillor of natural history. Mrs. Phebe M. Kendal presented her report as councillor of art. Prof. E. S. Morse read some notes on Japan, illustrated by the large maps of Jap in recently received by the club. A copy of Prof. Guyot's new map of the Catskill mountains, presented by the author, was shown and an explanatory paper, written by him, was read.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, Nov. 18.-The Earl of Dunraven read a paper on moose and caribou hunting in the wilds of Canada. Dec 9-Rear Admiral Ammen presented a paper on the proposed inter-oceanic ship canal across Nicaragua.

NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Section of Biology, Dec. I. -Prof. Geo. Macloskie read a paper on the proboscis of the house fly.

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SELECTED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS, Dec. 15th-Artificial fertilization of oyster eggs, and embryology of the American oyster, by W. K. Brooks. Origin of the Loss, by G. C. Brodhead. New Jurassic reptiles by O. C. Marsh.

GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE, NOV.-Further notes upon the form of volcanoes, by J. Milne.

JENAISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR NATURWISSENSCHAFT, Oct. 29-On the comparative anatomy of the digestive system of birds, second part, by H. Gadow. The distribution of the fresh and brackish water fishes of Africa, by C. Dambeck. The anatomy and histology of the actinians with special reference to the nervo-muscular system, by O. and R. Hertwig.

SIEBOLD UND KÖLLIKER'S ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTLICHE ZOOLOGIE, Oct. 29th--Researches on the structure and development of sponges, eighth part, by F. E. Schultze. Germ layers and formation of the organs of Echini, by E. Selenka. Contributions to the natural history of the Daphni te, by A. Weismann,

ANNALES DES SCIENCES NATURELLES, Sept., 1878 (just received) --On the scales of teleosaurian fishes, by M. Carlet. On the geographical distribution of bats compared with that of other terrestrial mammals, by M. Trouessart.

AMERICAN

THE

NATURALIST.

VOL. XIV. FEBRUARY, 1880. No. 2.

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE HABITS, STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF AMPHIOXUS LANCEOLATUS.

BY HENRY J. RICE.

[Concluded from the January number.]

Nervous System.-This system consists of a central and a peripheral portion. The central portion, or chorda spinalis, is a long, slender, slightly tapering body, nearly round in section, and extends from the posterior to within a short distance of the anterior extremity of the dorsal aspect of the notochord. The anterior end is somewhat larger, for a short distance, than the rest of the chorda, and forms a sort of elongated head with a short, pointed, beaklike termination, which lies close upon the notochord. Upon the left side of this "head," and near the end or anterior portion, there is a slight cone-like projection, which is in close proximity to and points towards the ciliated pit or depression of the left side of the body. This projection is considered to represent a single olfactory nerve or lobe, and if the pit is indeed a nasal fosse, then undoubtedly this protuberance is an olfactory organ. With the exception of this nerve or lobe this end of the chorda does not. present the slightest indication of the divisions or lobes which form the brain of all other vertebrates.

The posterior extremity of the chorda makes a short upward bend, at nearly right angles to its former direction, and expands just above the end of the notochord, into a small, button-like termination, which probably through some accident in finishing the plate, is not shown in the figure of the adult animal, Between the two ends and along the center of the chorda there extends a narrow canal, which is of considerable size in the head portion, where it is enclosed by the anterior walls, but gradually diminishes in calibre towards the posterior extremity, where it is represented by

the merest traces of a cleft or opening, as seen in the center of the "button" of this end.

The sides of this canal, throughout its entire length, are marked by small, black, roundish pigment spots, which are sometimes aggregated into small clusters, but more commonly are scattered along at varying intervals from each other. In the substance of the anterior, beak-like extremity, and just in front of the end of the central canal, there is a large pigment spot which is generally thought to represent the rudiments of a median eye; but if it does not, then Amphioxus is entirely lacking in such an organ. Prof. Quatrefages, in 1845,1 described and figured a prominent protuberance as existing upon the side of the cord at this end, and claimed that it showed at its extremity a distinct and rather well-developed crystalline lens, thus representing a stalked eye, with the staik pointing towards the anterior extremity of the body; but later observers have failed to confirm his observations in this respect, the only short protuberance which is formed along this portion being considered as representing, as already mentioned, an olfactory rather than an optic organ.

The peripheral portion of the nervous system consists of a succession of pairs of nerves given off from the upper part of the sides of the chorda dorsalis along its entire length. They originate in single roots, and arise at intervals corresponding to the divisions between each two of the muscle plates. With the exception of the first and last pairs, all the nerves are of nearly uniform size, and, with the same exceptions, they pass outward and downward branching two or three times in their course, to be distributed along the middle and lower portions of the sides of the body. Besides the lower branches, each of these nerves sends off, at a short distance from its origin, a branch which proceeds upwards to the dorsum of the animal, Fig. 6, Pl. II. The nerves, which form the first pair, arise anterior to the body muscles and from the anterior portion of the head of the chorda. They are quite large at their bases, and extend straight forward from the sides of the chorda towards the anterior end of the body, dividing in their course into a large number of branches which are distributed above and below, and all about the extremity of the notochord. These branches terminate, or at least many of them do, in the cells of the exoderm, or else in small bell-like knobs which are wedged in among the exodermic cells, and resemble them very 1 Annales des Sciences Naturelles. 3me série, Zoologie. Tome 4me, pp. 197248, pls. 10-13, 8vo Paris, 1845.