8. OBSERVATIONS ON LIVING BRACHIOPODA. 

 BY EDWARD S. MORSE. 



(Read November 20, 1901.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE following observations on living Brachiopocla were made many years ago. My 

 work at the outset was more in the way of a reconnaissance of the group to sustain my 

 contention that their affinities were with the chaetopod annelids and that their molluscan 

 affinities were remote or entirely wanting. Before the observations on Glottidia, He- 

 mithyris and Terebratuliua were put in shape for publication, I visited Japan solely for the 

 purpose of studying the Brachiopoda of the Japanese seas, and this step led to my accept- 

 ing the chair of zoology in the Imperial University at Tokyo. Gradually I was drawn 

 away from my zoological work, into archaeological investigations, by the alluring problem 

 of the ethnic affinities of the Japanese race. The fascinating character of Japanese 

 art led to a study, first of the prehistoric and early pottery of the Japanese, and then to 

 the collection and study of the fictile art of Japan. Inexorable fate finally entangled me 

 for twenty years in a minute study of Japanese pottery. The results of this work are 

 embodied in the Catalogue of Japanese Pottery, lately published by the Museum of Fine 

 Arts, Boston. With this work off my hands, I turned back with eagerness to my early 

 studies of the Brachiopoda to find that my work on Lingula and alcoholic Discinisca had 

 been in many details anticipated by the interesting work of Joubin and the incomparable 

 memoirs of Blochmann. In looking over my notes and memoranda, however, I find that 

 there are many points not touched upon by these zoologists nor by those who have 

 worked on the more complex Testicardines, notably the otocysts, the pharyngeal glands, 

 the accessory hearts of Hancock, the strand-like spermaries, the external glands, the pal- 

 lial circulation, the life attitudes of various forms and particularly the varied and graceful 

 movements of the brachia, and certain other features. With the assurance that some of 

 the points will be new and that the confirmation of others will be acceptable to those 

 interested in this fascinating group of animals, I present the contribution without further 

 apology. It is but fair to state that, since I began this work, the staining of tissues and 

 section cutting have become dominant in the biological laboratory. I have neither the 



