ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 47 



Adipogenic Function in Vertebrates and in Crustacea.* — C. 

 Deflandre finds that in Astacus there is abundance of adipo-hepatic 

 reserves in March, April and May, it is lessened by October and 

 November, and absent from December to February. There are seasonal 

 variations also in crabs. In Amphioxus the hepatic function of the 

 •caecum is indicated by the green coloration of its walls and the presence 

 of fine fatty granules in the cells. In fishes the function is greatly 

 developed, but is seasonal. In the carp fatty reserves are stored in- 

 creasingly from February to April ; from this time they decrease, and are 

 exhausted in December. In reptiles there is but slight development 

 of this function. In land birds it is not usual, save in cases of over- 

 feeding and at the breeding season. Aquatic birds are always rich in 

 fatty material. 



Microscopic Fresh-water Animals from Asia Minor.f — Eugen von 

 Daday gives an annotated list of forty-three small fresh-water animals 

 from Asia Minor, including Mastigocerca heterostyla sp. n., PedaUon 

 mirum, Onychocamptus heteropus g. et sp. n., and Limnkythera dubiosa 

 sp. n. Seven forms in his list are known only from Asia Minor. 



Fresh-water Micro-fauna of Turkestan.} — E. v. Daday gives a very 

 full account of the Protozoa, Ccelentera, Nematohelminthes, Rotifera, 

 Entomostraca, etc., of this region. Cosmopolitan forms, he finds, occur 

 in greatest numbers, though many of these have not yet been observed 

 in other Asiatic regions. It may reasonably be maintained that the 

 micro-fauna of Turkestan is a duplicate of the European. 



Tunicata. 



New Type of Ascidian.§ — W. E. Hitter discusses the structure of 

 •Herdmania claviformis g. et sp. n., from the coast of California — a 

 unique type requiring a family for itself (Herdmaniidas). The colony is 

 composed of crowded but entirely free zooids, arising by budding from 

 short, much-branched, closely interwoven stolons. The body of the 

 zooid is large, long and narrow, consisting of three regions — thoracic, 

 digestive, and cardiogenital. There is a peculiar grouping of the nu- 

 merous branchial tentacles. The oviduct serves as a uterus, in which the 

 embryos go through their development to nearly the period of meta- 

 morphosis. Quite unique is the presence of two epicardiac tubes, separate 

 throughout their length. The new type seems to be a divergent offshoot 

 from the Polyclinid branch. 



^Estivation of Botrylloides gascoi.|| — Frank W. Bancroft studied 

 at Xaples the hitherto unobserved partial dying-down of the compound 

 Ascidian Botrylloides yascoi. In a colony kept in an aquarium a yellow 

 lobe containing no zooids was developed ; later on all the zooids de- 

 generated, and finally all the colony, except the yellow lobe, died. The 



* Journ. de l'Anat. et Phys., xl. (1904) pp. 305-3G. 



t SB. Akad. Wiss. Wien, oxii. (1903) pp. 139-G7 (2 pis). 



; Zool. Jahrb., xix. (1904) pp. 409-553 (4 pis.). 



§ Mark Anniv. Vol., 1903, pp. 237-61 (2 pis.). 



|| Tom. cit., pp. 147-66 (1 pi.;. 



