The Cambridge Spitsbergen Expedition, 1938 (Polar Record No. 17, p. 4), was led by L. H. McCabe for intensive geomorphological work in the Campbell Range at the head of Billen Bay, Ice Fjord. The principal work on nivation and corrie erosion (McCabe, 1939) was supplemented by topographical and geological survey, while some detailed investigations were made on the raised beaches and “soil polygons.” During this work a party of three crossed the ice divide by sledge to East Fjord, Wijde Bay, and spent ten days working from the northern side of the Stubendorff Glacier. The Stubendorff Mountains in this region were chosen for comparison of corrie erosion on account of their contrasting geological constitution. They are carved out of tough folded metamorphic rocks while the Campbell Range is formed of softer horizontal Carboniferous rocks.

The sphincter valve between the end sac and the duct in the antennal gland of Gammarus pulex was first described by Vejdovsky (1901) as consisting of “three cells forming a funnel-apparatus surrounded by a ring muscle.” According to this author “one can convince oneself of the muscular cell producing the fibrils of the muscular ring” (p. 382). Zavadsky (1914) confirmed the presence of fibrils, but failed to find a muscular cell apart from the valve cells, and concluded that “the muscle ring appears as a differentiation of the nephridial wall” (p. 97). Recent work by Cannon (1923, 1925, 1926, 1931, 1940) and by Cannon and Manton (1927) indicated that fibrils found in connection with a valve are invariably situated within the valve cells.

The presence upon the ulna of many birds of a row of smaller or greater tuberosities, their variety in size and conformation, and the presence of other appearances on the surface of the ulna suggested that an investigation of these variations and of the development of the structures might yield points of interest.

Owen (1848) was apparently the first (we have been unable to consult Brandt's paper, quoted by Gadow) to draw attention to these ulnar markings, related to the quills of the secondary remiges. In that year he published a schematic outline drawing of the avian forelimb. Neither in this nor in a subsequent publication (1849), however, did he describe the linear series of markings on the ulna shown in the drawing; but in 1866 he stated that “on the ulnar and anconal sides of the shaft are the rows of quill-knobs (in Raptores) for the secondaries; the anconal row is most marked in longipennate Natatores, and is the only row in many birds.” He mentioned also that this character is wanting in the flightless and some other birds. Pl. I, fig. 1, will be seen to correspond closely with his description.

In a letter to Nature published in 1881, J. D. Dana recapitulated his reasons for suggesting, first in 1846 and on frequent occasions afterwards, that “the continents have always been continents … and have never changed places with the oceans.” This view of the permanency of continents and oceans became generally adopted by Sir Charles Lyell (1868) and other leading naturalists during the middle of the last century: it became recognised as what might be called the orthodox doctrine.

Water economy is a necessary complement of terrestrial life, for the limits of life upon land are, in part, determined by the organism's ability to utilize and conserve the water of its environment. For small organisms of terrestrial habit, the large surface-to-mass ratio and consequent surface evaporation makes the problem of water conservation particularly acute. It is therefore remarkable that the insects constitute the most numerous and varied group of terrestrial animals; and it follows that their success is, in large part, due to their ability to utilize and conserve water in widely divergent environments.

The apparatus described was developed in connection with a study of the growth and development of the stick insect, Dixippus morosus. The principle is that of simple displacement, and consistent results are obtained with objects as small as 0·007 millilitre.

Treatment of the immature animal with æstrogenic or gonadotropic substances has been described by a number of authors in diverse experiments, and vaginal cornification, enlargement and typical histological changes in the uterus, ovulation, mating, and fertilisation, have all been produced, but no successful implantation. The histological changes which occur in the uterus and vagina of the treated immature animal are considered (Reynolds and others) to be characteristic of heat and similar to those in the adult uterus during heat. Nevertheless, it is suggested that the failure to procure implantation in treated immature animals may be due to an unfavourable condition of the uterine endometrium. If that is so, there must exist some difference between the response of the treated immature uterus and that of the mature uterus during cestrus which has thus far escaped detection. Recently we have described (Bacsich and Wyburn, 1940b) a cyclic vascular change in the uterus of the guinea-pig in the form of antimesometric hyperæmia present only during normal heat, and, moreover, have been able to induce this vascular response in spayed animals by hormonal treatment (Bacsich and Wyburn, 1941). As this cyclic vascular change provides a particularly delicate test of a complete response of the uterus to ovarian hormonal activity and may influence the site and the course of implantation, it seemed of interest to ascertain if the “characteristic” œstrogenic response of the immature uterus included antimesometric hyperæmia.

In previous contributions the writer has described the structure and behaviour of the mitochondria and Golgi material of the egg of the mouse (Gresson, 1933, 1938 and 1940 b), and more recently has traced the cytoplasmic inclusions through the stages of maturation, fertilisation and the first cleavage division (Gresson, 1941). As the result of observations on the sperm middle-piece it is claimed that the mitochondria of the sheath are liberated into the ooplasm of the fertilised egg, and are shared out between the first two blastomeres; and further, that a Golgi element is present in the middle-piece, and that this breaks up and its products are distributed through the cytoplasm of the fertilised ovum (Gresson, 1940a, and 1941).

Various species of the lamellibranch Gryphœa have received much attention from palæontologists in the past twenty years, partly because careful collecting appears to have produced continuous series of forms (lineages) and partly owing to the problems which are raised by their progressive development from more normal oysters.