ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 727 



these latter as it arises. They form the beginning of a testis, whicli in 

 the majority of cases degenerates before the spermatozoa become mature. 

 Certain ova similarly unite with buds, and may develop into an embryo 

 while the bud as such becomes aborted ; or the bud may develop and 

 the ovum degenerate. It is not certain whether fertilisation occurs, and 

 the possibility of parthenogenesis is suggested. After the primitive 

 embryo has reached a certain size it divides to form secondary embryos. 

 In C. occidentalis the secondary embryos divide to form tertiary ones, 

 which develop into ciliated larva?. At the close of its proliferation the 

 primary embryo itself becomes a larva. 



Studies in Pacific Coast Entoprocta.*— Alice Robertson describes 

 two new forms of Entoprocta — Myosoma g. n., whose distinguishing 

 generic character is the possession of a muscular calyx, and Gonypodaria 

 ramosa, sp. n., a branching form with four or more muscular expan- 

 sions on the stalk. She notes also the occurrence on the Pacific Coast 

 of species previously described. 



Ascorhiza and Related Alcyonidia.f — Alice Robertson, in a study 

 of fresh material of Ascorhiza occidentalis, gives a detailed description 

 of this form. She describes also a stalked example of Alcyonidium — 

 A. pedunculatum, sp. n., from the Pribilof Islands — whose characters 

 require the expansion of the Family definition as given by Hincks, by 

 the phrase " or zoarium, in whole or in part elevated upon a stalk, or a 

 short peduncle." 



Rotatoria. 



Morphology of the Rotatorian Family Flosculariadse.^: — Thos. 

 H. Montgomery gives a fairly complete description, with figures, of the 

 anatomy of Floscularia campamdata, Apsilus vorax and Stephanoceros, 

 without adding anything of importance that is not already known. One 

 statement however is new, if it proves to be correct, namely that in 

 Stephanoceros and Floscules the mas tax is fully developed, and consists 

 of well formed unci and manubria, fulcrum and rami. A protest should 

 be raised against the author's changing the well-known name of 

 Stephanoceros eichhornii into that of St.fimbriatus, on the ground that 

 Goldfuss in 1820, in a general Manual of Zoology, called this animal 

 Coronella fimbriata. Prof. Ehrenberg, who himself indicates this fact 

 in his Synonymy of the species, has been the founder of this branch of 

 Zoology, and it is quite unnecessary to go beyond him in naming species 

 of Rotifers. If the author's practice were to be followed, many names 

 would have to be changed, with the result of causing endless confusion. 



Echinoderma. 



Phagocytic Absorption of Sex-Cells in Echinocardium corda- 

 tum.§ — Maurice Caullery and Michel Siedlecki have followed a hint 

 given by Giard in a paper in 1877. || They find that in the two sexes 



* Pioc. Calif. Acad, of Sciences, series 3, Zoology, ii. No. 4, pp. 323-48 (1 pi.) 

 t Op. cit. supra, iii. No. 3, pp. 99-108 (1 pi.). 

 % Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. of Philadelphia, 1903, pp. 363-95 (4 pis.). 

 § Comptes Kendus, cxxxvii. (1903) pp. 490-8. 

 : Op. cit, lxxxv., 5th Nov. 1877. 



