ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC, 383 



and cells with refractile granules or globules. The coelouiic pouches or 

 tunnels described by Beddard and Fedarb in Pheretima postlmma were 

 found by Thapar only in one specimen out of many, and appear there- 

 fore to be inconstant. J. A. T. 



Oligochseta of Inle Lake. — J. Stephenson {Records Indian 

 Museum, 1918, 14, 9-lS, 5 figs.). Specimens of Branchiura sowerhyi 

 have enabled the author to demonstrate the presence of a penis (perhaps 

 a pseudopenis, according to Micliaelsen's definition), and to show that 

 in this form, as in Kaivamuria japonim, the muscular coelomic chamber 

 is the apparatus for extrusion. The number of gills was forty to forty- 

 seven in the shorter worms, and over ninety in the longer specimens. 

 One fragment had 140 pairs. They vary considerably in length. The 

 description of a posterior sucker in Chsetogaster bengalensis seems to be 

 a mistake. The posterior attachment is effected by hooked setas. 



J. A. T. 



Monograph on Polychasts. — R. Horst {Monographie Siboga Ex- 

 peditie, 1917, 24 lb, 45-14.3, pis. xi-xxix). This portion of the Siboga 

 monograph on Polychaeta Errantia deals with the two families Aphro- 

 ditidge and Chrysopetalida3, and includes a large body of microscopic 

 detail in regard to the seta; and scales. J. A. T. 



Nematohelrainthes . 



Reproduction in Nematodes. — Paul S. Welch and L. P. Wehrle 

 {Trans. Amer. 3Iicr. Soc, 191 s, 37, 141-76). Two species, Gephalobus 

 dtibins Maupas and DipJogaster serivora Cobb, were studied in culture 

 continuously for over three years. In the former no males were found ; 

 the average duration of oviposition is sixteen days ; the average number 

 of eggs per individual was 139 ; the larvae emerge in •2-5-4 days after 

 oviposition and reach maturity in eight to fourteen days ; growth usually 

 ceases three to six days after sexual maturity ; the average daily increase 

 in body-length is about 0-020 mm.; the length of life varies from 

 twenty to sixty-one days. In DipJogaster serivora the sexes are separate ; 

 one female may unite with several males and one male with several 

 females ; fertile ova follow mating for a time, after which infertile ova 

 are laid until a second mating, after which the same sequence usually 

 occurs ; it seems that the supply of spermatozoa received by the female 

 becomes exhausted ; viviparity occurs from time to time, and the young 

 as produced devour the mother from within ; the viviparous young 

 develop from fertilized eggs and develop into normal males and females ; 

 females are in the majority, but males are common ; the cessation of 

 o-rowth occurred on the eighth to ninth day ; the length of life follow- 

 ing cessation of growth varies from six to fifteen days ; the average 

 length of life wasabout eighteen days for both sexes. J. A. T. 



Toxic Constituent of Nematodes. — Torai Shimamura and Hajimb 

 Fujii {Journ. Coll. Agric. Univ. Tokyo, 1917, 3, 189-258, 4 figs.). 

 From the perivisceral fluid and the dried powder of Ascaris lumbricoides 



