ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC, 187 



cells appear to come from the ectoderm. The evidence favours Bateson's 

 comparison of the opening of Hatschek's pit with the proboscis pore 

 in Balanoglossm and the water-pore of Echinoderms. The anterior 

 coelomic sacs of Amphioxus are homologous with the pre-mandibular 

 somites of Craniates, and the tubular outgrowths of the latter opening 

 into or fusing with the hypophysis correspond to " proboscis pores." All 

 are of the nature of coelomostomes. The hypophysis of Craniata is 

 represented in Amphioxus by the wheel-organ, and it is suggested that 

 its original function was to drive food into the mouth. 



Origin of Melanin in Feather-germs of Fowls.* — R. M. Strong 

 has re-investigated the development of melanin pigment in feather- 

 germs of Plymouth Rock and Brown Leghorn fowls. Melanin granules 

 occur occasionally in the so-called cylinder and inner-sheath cells of 

 feather-germs from the common fowl. Further evidence was obtained 

 that the melanin pigment of feathers is epidermal in origin, Melano- 

 phores were found in the dermal pulp at the proximal end of the feather- 

 germs. They are presumably homologous with the dermal melanophores 

 of the skin. Some of these pulp melanophores have processes which 

 are usually relatively short, but they do not appear to distribute pigment 

 to other cells, and they have no part in the histogenesis of the feather 

 or its pigment. A few of these dermal melanophores were found in 

 contact with the basement membrane, but none had penetrated it. 



Agricultural Zoological Survey of Aberystwith Area.j — Chas. L. 

 Walton makes a very interesting report on the agricultural zoology of 

 this area, which includes mountain upland, coastal plateau, and the 

 intermediate fall line. He deals with the occurrence of gid (Multiceps 

 midticeps), Echinococcus, the tapeworms {Moniezia expansa and if. 

 trigonophora) of sheep and lambs, " husk " or verminous bronchiiis (in 

 part at least due io Strong gins filar ia), gape-worm {Syngamus trachealis), 

 Ascaris suilla, various Ixodida?, Red Water or Bovine Piroplasmosis, 

 scab, scaly leg, ten blood-sucking flies, sheep maggot-fly, sheep nostril- 

 fly, and so on. This excellent and suggestive Report should be used as 

 a model for other districts. 



Study of Hilsa.:^ — T. Southwell and B. Prashad have made a study 

 of Hilsa ilisha ( = Clupea ilisha), the highly esteemed Indian shad. It 

 has a wide distribution in the Indian Ocean, where it is hardy and 

 powerful ; but it ascends rivers to breed, and is then delicate and easily 

 killed. They swim rapidly in the river, near the bottom, and seem to 

 fast. The females are much larger than the males. An account is 

 given of the eggs, which swell in water after fertilization from 0*8 mm. 

 to 1 • 8 mm. ; of the fungoid parasite that attacks them ; of the enemies 

 and parasites of the adults ; and so on. 



* Anat. Record, xiii. (1917) pp. 97-108 (6 figs.). 



t Parasitology, x. (1917) pp. 206-31. 



X Dept. Fisheries Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, Bull. No. 11 (1918) pp. 1-12. 



2 



