the occipital crest to the end of the premaxillary. The smallest American species is considerably less in size. The specimens referred to are from the upper cretaceous of Western Kansas. It is considered an interesting fact by Professor Marsh that the localities and geological horizon of these specialized, toothless pterodactyls are precisely the same as those of the Odontornithes, or birds with teeth, and the two doubtless lived together in the same region.-4 D, June,

1876.

A FOSSIL REPTILE WITH MAMMALIAN CHARACTERS IN PRINCE

EDWARD ISLAND.

In a paper by Professor Owen on the former existence of Theriodont reptiles in the Ural Permian deposits as well as in South Africa, he states his belief that Leidy's Bathygnathus borealis, from the red sandstone, "probably of Permian age," in Prince Edward Island, was a Theriodont allied to Lycosaurus of the karoo beds of South Africa. Similar fossils from the Ural region had been described in 1838 by Kutorga as probably mammalian. Similar animals occurred in the conglomerates at Bristol, England.-Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., August.

REPTILES OF COSTA RICA.

Professor Cope has published an important paper on the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica, with notes on the reptiles of Nicaragua and Peru, in the quarto journal of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Most of the Costa Rican materials were obtained from the researches of Dr. William M. Gabb, who was engaged for several years in exploring that country in behalf of the Costa Rican government, by which he has added very largely to our knowledge of the geography, geology, general natural history, and ethnology of the region. He has already published many papers in all these departments, and it is to him we owe our only reliable information in regard to the Costa Rican aborigines. The first series of all the collections. made by Dr. Gabb have all been presented by him to the National Museum, in Washington, and they constitute a highly valued portion of the extensive collections of the establishment.

Other collections used by Professor Cope in this memoir are those of Dr. Van Patten and Mr. C. N. Riotti, these covering the region extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Eighty-nine species were furnished by Professor Gabb, of which thirty-seven were new to science. The total number of species known from all investigators in Costa Rica is one hundred and thirty-two, and it is probable that a large number yet remain to be discovered, showing that the region is rich in terrestrial cold-blooded vertebrates.

SNAKE-EATING SNAKES.

Some years ago Professor Cope described the snake-eating habits of Oxyrrhopus plumbeus, a large snake which was ob served to have swallowed the greater part of a large fer-delance, the largest venomous snake in the West Indies. More recently a specimen was brought by Mr. Gabb from Costa Rica, almost five feet in length, which had swallowed three feet of a large harmless snake (Herpetodryas carinatus) about six feet in length. Still more recently Dr. J. G. Cooper records the fact that in California a garter-snake was swallowed whole by a milk-snake (Lampropeltis boylii). The two snakes were so nearly of a size that he did not, at a casual glance, notice any difference between them; the garter-snake was over two feet in length.-Am. Nat., Mar. and Aug.,

1876.

REMARKABLE HABIT OF FROGS.

Professor Peters has recently described the mode of laying its eggs employed by a species of tree-frog (Polypedates) from tropical Western Africa. This species deposits its eggs, as is usual among batrachians, in a mass of albuminous jelly, but instead of placing this in the water, it attaches it to the leaves of trees which border the shore and overhang a water-hole or pond. Here the albumen speedily dries, forming a horny or glazed coating of the leaf, inclosing the unimpregnated eggs in a strong envelope. Upon the advent of the rainy season the albumen is softened, and, with the eggs, is washed into the pool below, now filled with water. Here the male frog finds the masses, and occupies himself with their impreg nation.

REPRODUCTION IN THE PROTEUS.

It is not a little remarkable that until recently nothing was known of the mode of reproduction of the Proteus anguineus, a salamander-like animal living in the subterranean waters of the caves of Carniola, in Austria, and characterized among its congeners by the absence of eyes, and as possessing other peculiarities. Quite lately, however, Mr. Franz E. Schulze has published in Kölliker's Zeitschrift an article on this subject, in which he remarks that while at Adelsberg in September last, he heard that the Proteus in possession of the keeper of the caves had laid eggs. He made an examination of the specimens referred to as preserved in alcohol, and then established their character by a dissection of a gravid female, and now reports that the number of eggs laid is between forty and fifty, and that they are about five millimeters in diameter. Although the eggs were kept in water after being laid by the female, no special development seems to have taken place, and consequently nothing has yet been ascertained about their interior structure. It is probable, now that attention has been directed to this subject, it will not be long before all the phenomena in regard to the species, which doubtless embrace some interesting peculiarities, will be brought to light. The egg, as represented in the drawings, is about the size of that of a salmon.—36 C, XXIV., 350.

HABITS OF THE MEXICAN AXOLOTL.

In a letter to Mr. Henry Lee, published in Land and Water, Captain Mayne Reid suggests some new ideas in regard to the occurrence of the axolotl in the lakes of Mexico. This species resembles the larval or immature condition of many American salamanders, especially those occurring under logs in damp places. Much interest has attached to this animal from the fact that, although in its native waters, at the altitude of the City of Mexico, it always remains in the larval condition, laying eggs and reproducing its kind, yet when individuals were taken to Paris, many years ago, they threw off their gills, and became transformed into true salamanders, living out of the water, and developing a totally different and much more brilliant style of coloration, with other changes in regard to the lungs, the teeth, and entire anatomy.

The special object of Captain Reid's letter was to express astonishment that descendants of the real axolotl were kept in fresh water in the Brighton Aquarium, whereas they occupy the Lake Tezcoco-a body of water so salt that even fish can not live in it.—2 A, March, 1876, 180.

SPERMATOZOA OF AMPHIUMA.

Dr. Christopher Johnston, of Baltimore, has made some interesting observations on the very large spermatozoa of Amphiuma tridactylum. The length of these was about 's of an inch. From the junction of the head with the body to the extremity of the tail was a double filament, in lively motion, so that a delicate spiral seemed to wind from the head to the caudal termination so long as the zooid was free; but the motion was instantly reversed as soon as the head became attached or entangled. When at rest, the spiral resolved itself into a most delicate, undulating membrane. The red corpuscles of the blood of the Amphiuma rival in size the spermatozoa, being of an inch in their larger axis, and of an inch in their conjugate diameter.-Monthly Microscopical Journal, May, 1876.

RESEMBLANCES OF PLESIOSAURS AND ICHTHYOSAURS TO OTHER

VERTEBRATES.

Professor H. G. Seeley points out, in an extended article in the Journal of the Linnæan Society, not only the relation in the bones of these fossil gigantic reptiles to those of other orders of reptiles, fossil and extinct, but also their similarity in certain features to birds and even mammals.

RAFINESQUE'S FISHES OF THE OHIO.

The work of Rafinesque, entitled "Ichthyologia Ohioensis," etc., has become so rare, and his labors so generally overlooked, that Professor D. S. Jordan has published a paper in the Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Sciences (vol. iii., No. 3, 1876), giving a list of the genera, sub-genera, and species described in this work, with the names which they should in Mr. Jordan's opinion now bear. This is of special importance, as Rafinesque's names for our fishes have priority of date over those of almost all other authors who have written on the ichthyology of our inland waters, except Lesueur.

THE PILOT FISH.

That the stories concerning this fish are true is reaffirmed by Mr. A. H. Burnell, who says that eleven years ago, while on a voyage from India to this country, his vessel was beset by many calms while crossing the "line." On one of these occasions, while some of the passengers were amusing themselves looking over the stern of the vessel, two beautiful pilot fishes (Naucrates?) were seen, and soon after a portion of an unusually large shark. Immediately a hook baited. with salt pork was thrown overboard. When it touched the water these pilot fishes were seen to approach it, and then suddenly dart under the vessel. Soon a very large shark appeared and received the bait. As soon as safely secured the sailors drew him on deck. When a suitable opportunity was given for examining him, these two pilot fishes were seen attached to the body. At what particular portion they attached themselves he was unable to state. They were removed and placed in a bucket of salt water, where they swam about as if nothing had happened.-Am. Natural., Nov., 1876.

NEW WORK ON EUROPEAN FRESH-WATER FISHES.

Professor Von Siebold, the eminent zoologist of Munich, is about publishing a great work on the fresh-water fishes of Europe, in which he invites the co-operation of English naturalists. He also desires specimens of Artemia salina, or the salt-brine shrimp, for the purpose of making comparisons with the varieties of this genus found throughout the world. A work upon the fresh-water fishes of the United States, corresponding to those of Europe, is a very great desideratum, and it is much to be hoped that some of our naturalists may undertake this labor before long.-12 A, March 7, 1876, 306.

SOME CURIOUS AUSTRALIAN FISHES.

The interest that attaches to the Australian fish known as the Ceratodus (C. forsteri) is well known to naturalists. M. Castelnau, in Gervais's Journal of Zoology, calls attention to several other Australian species of equal interest. These are the Neoceratodus blanchardi and the Osteoglossum leichardti.

The Ceratodus forsteri attains a length of six feet, and its