ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 463 



constant in some groups of forms and variable in others. He believes 

 that the most reliable data are got from the male reproductive system, 

 e.g. from the details of prostate, " paratrium," penis. It is important to 

 note whether the sperniothecre contain spermatophores or merely a mass 

 of sperms. Various species are discussed, e.g. Branchiura sowerbyi, 

 Bedd., Taupodrilus coccineus Vejd., Clitellio arenarius Mull., Tubifex 

 nerthns sp. n. 



Leydig's Punktsubstanz in Nerve-cord of Leech.* — E. Mencl dis- 

 cusses the significance of this substance. He finds that it is not 

 one thing but several. It consists of nervous elements or neuro-fibrils, 

 and of neuroglia, the former arising from neuroblasts, the latter 

 from spongioblasts. There is no essential difference between the 

 " Punktsubstanz " of leeches and the grey matter of Vertebrates ; both 

 are the results of the intimate combination of a nervous feltwork 

 and a connective-tissue feltwork. 



Supporting Tissue of the Nervous System of Leeches at the 

 Anterior and Posterior Ends.f — A. W. Jakubski finds that in the 

 reduced neurosomites in Glepsine and Pisckola the number of glia cells 

 is not altered, but there is change as regards position, shape, and size in 

 correspondence with the reduction of the neurosomites. He discusses 

 the state of the glia cells in detail, and some of his conclusions can be 

 stated in summary. Thus he finds in the topographical and structural 

 characters of the cerebral glia tissue, and in the minnte structure of the 

 " brain " as a whole, emphatic reasons for not regarding the brain as 

 homologous with the ventral ganglia. The oesophageal commissures 

 are - not equivalent to those in other parts. They arise from the co- 

 alescence of the lateral portions of the brain and a certain number of 

 sub-cesophageal ganglia, and the connective primordia uniting these. 



Nematohelminth.es. 



Classification of Strongylidse.J — A. Railliet and A. Henry apply 

 the term Ankylostominas to those Strongylida? that have a buccal capsule. 

 They then take into consideration the sides of the caudal bursa and the 

 position of the vulva, and divide the Ankylostomina3 into five sub- 

 families. They also define four new genera. 



Ascaris canis and Ascaris felis.§ — H. Glaue finds that the species 

 A. canis Werner and A. fells = A. mystax Rudolphi are readily dis- 

 tinguished. The dog Ascarid is twice the size of the cat parasite ; the 

 so-called " wing " ridges are different in shape ; the caudal papillre differ 

 in number and arrangement. 



I to v 



Filaria in Human Spleen. || — Rheindorff reports finding a minute 

 Filaria larva in a splenic tumour in a patient who died of nephritis and 

 diabetes. 



* Zeitschr. wiss. Zool., lxxxix. (1908) pp. 371-416(2 pis.), 

 t Bull. Internat. Acad. Sci. Cracovie, 1909, pp. 854-92 (lpl.). 

 \ C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxvi. (1909) pp. 1G8-71. 

 § Zool. Anzeig., xxxiii. (1909) pp. 785-90 (3 figs.). 

 Centralbl. Parasitenk., xlvi. (1908) pp. 332-G (1 fig.). 



