INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 187(5. civ 



medusa remains perfectly motionless in a fully expanded form. C. 

 capillata will live for many hours when under the influence of strych- 

 nia, but eventually death supervenes. The animal dies in full dias- 

 tole." 



The Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology contains notes 

 and descriptions of some recent corals found by Mr. A. Agassiz at a 

 height of 2900 to 3000 feet above the level of the sea, at a distance 

 in a straight line from the Pacific Ocean of twenty miles. 



That sea-urchins are sometimes viviparous, not passing through a 

 metamorphosis, was first shown by Philippi (1845) in a South Amer- 

 ican species of Hemiaster. He found young sea-urchins in a sunken 

 ambulacral area of the adult, and regarded them as the young of the 

 Hemiaster. Lately it has been discovered by Grube that the young 

 of Anochanus^ a genus of sea-urchins occurring in the East Indies, 

 live under similar conditions. During the present year Mr. A. Agas- 

 siz has examined some Hemiasters brought home by Dr. J. H. Kid- 

 der, the naturalist of the Transit of Venus Exjjedition, from Ker- 

 guelen Island, and finds that they are viviparous, the eggs (or the 

 imperfectly developed pluteus or larva) probably escaping from the 

 genital openings, readily finding their way into the artificial cavity 

 formed by the spines which conceal the presence of the sunken areas, 

 wdiich serve as brood cavities. 



M, L. Fredericq has studied the anatomy and liistology of the 

 nervous and muscular system of Echini. He finds, as stated in a 

 communication made to the French Academy, that the pentagonal 

 nervous ring which surrounds the a?sophagus, and the five ambula- 

 cral cords which go from it, are contained within a special system of 

 canals which can be readily observed. The famous eye-like spots 

 he claims only exist in the imagination of those who invented them. 

 The nervous ring and the large trunks which are sent ofl;'from them 

 are identical in structure, and should be considered as nervous cen- 

 tres. The muscles are formed of very fine fibres, which are cylin- 

 drical, entirely smooth and homogeneous throughout, with no en- 

 veloping membrane. M. E. Perrier has also published {Archives de 

 Zoologie) researches on the circulatory system of Echini ; while, in 

 the ArcMv fur microslvpische Anatomie^ Professor Alexander Goette 

 gives the developmental history of Comatnla Mediterraiiiensis ; while 

 Dr. R. Teuscher describes the minute anatomy of Comatula and the 

 sand-stars (Ophiuridee). A new Peripatus has been found in New 

 Zealand by Captain F. W. Hutton, wdio calls it Peripatus Novce-Zealan- 

 dice. This animal is a w^orm with tracheal or respiratory tubes in 

 the young stages, and is thus a coiinecting link between the insects 

 and worms. 



During the spring of the year humble-bees are in Europe infested 

 by great numbers of a minute worm, called by Dufour Sphcerularia 

 Bomhi. Says Mr. Colo, in the Journal of the Quickett Microscop- 



