ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 301 



of material largely based on original observation. We select two items : 

 Whitebait, believed to consist mainly of young herrings, is a very mixed 

 collection of small fishes, and Dr. Murie adds 20 to the 11 species which 

 were listed by Frank Buckland in 1879 ; the White Gaby, Aphia pellu- 

 cida, supposed to be rare in the district, is very abundant in March and 

 April, and Dr. Murie throws doubt on Collett's conclusion that it is an 

 annual fish, which dies after breeding. 



Adipo-hepatic Function in Invertebrates.* — C. Deflandre gives 

 the results of investigations on a series of types. The leading points 

 seem to be as follow. In Worms the existence of fat-droplets in the 

 cells of the " stomach intestine " indicate the existence of this func- 

 tion in a simple state. In Echinoderms the function is correlated with 

 that of the genital organs. In the Starfish, near the reproductive 

 period, the hepatic cseca diminish iu volume and liberate their reserve 

 products, which probably aid in the development of the genital ele- 

 ments. The fat abundance corresponds to these variations. When the 

 genital organs have atrophied, the hepatic tubes are hypertrophied, 

 and occupy the whole of the arm. In Urchins there is a thickening 

 of the walls of the middle intestine, and the cells of this part in con- 

 taining fat-droplets show an adipo-hepatic function. In Molluscs the 

 hepatic gland appears to possess secretory and digestive functions like 

 that of the pancreas. It stores all the materials of which the organism 

 has need — iron, lime, glycogen, and fat. In this it is like the liver. 

 It also shows seasonal variations in quantity of fat, e.g. Mytilus, In 

 the Oyster, from November to March (the reproductive period) there 

 is no fat, while from March to November fat is abundant. In Crus- 

 tacea the gland possesses digestive, excretory, absorbent, arrestive, and 

 anti-coagulative functions. There is a large supply of fat, of which 

 there is a seasonal variation, which is constant in a species. 



Tunicata. 



Development of Branchial Apparatus in Tunicata.f — Charles 

 Julin has studied this in numerous types, and has reached a number of 

 important conclusions bearing upon the phylogeny of Tunicates. He 

 finds that Distaplia is a Tunicate provided with two pairs of branchial 

 clefts, subdivided secondarily into several (four) transverse rows of 

 branchial stigmata. As in Appendiculariae, the branchial apparatus of 

 Salpa exhibits only one pair of branchial clefts, which remain un- 

 divided throughout the whole of life. In Pyrosoma we have also to 

 deal with a Tunicate with one pair of clefts subdivided, and the same 

 is probably true of the Doliolidaj. As in Distaplia, so in Clavelina and 

 Perophora there are two pairs of branchial clefts, subsequently sub- 

 divided into several rows of branchial stigmata. In all the simple 

 Ascidians whose development has been studied there are three pairs 

 of branchial clefts. 



Polymorphism of Dolchinia.|— A. Korotneff describes a colony of 



* Joum. Anat. Physiol., xl. (1904) pp. 73-110. \ 



t Zeitschr. wiss. Zool., lxxvi. (1904) pp. 544-611 (42 figs.). 

 \ Biol. Centralbl., xxiv. (1904) pp. 61-5. 



June 15th, 1904- y 



