ZOOLOGY AND BOTANV, MICHOSCOPY, ETC. 39 



and in describing Lis species discusses tho position of the genus. It 

 was founded by Langerbans for a Syllid without dorsal cirri. The 

 author's species, P. perrieri, is larger than that of Langerbans, and 

 shows well-marked differences. The four specimens were all males, and 

 consisted each of a stock and a sexual stolon. As to the genus, the 

 condition of the parapodia shows that it is to be regarded as including 

 the simplest of the Syllids. It is nearest to the genera Virchowia and 

 Autolytus, both more highly specialised forms, and the relations of the 

 four genera of the Autolytus group are indicated by the author as 

 follows : — 



Procerastea 



Virchowia Autolytus 



.1 . 

 Myrianida 



A Viviparous Syllid.* — Mr. E. S. Goodrich notes the discovery, in 

 a tank at the Naples zoological station, of a Syllid which is apparently 

 Syllis vivipara Krohn. Krohn's description is somewhat vague, and his 

 statement that his worm is viviparous has been doubted by later authors. 

 Goodrich's specimens, whether specifically identical or not, place the 

 occurrence of viviparity in the Syllida3 beyond a doubt, and he figures 

 adults showing well-developed embryos within the ccelom. He is how- 

 ever entirely unable to solve the problem as to how the eggs are 

 fertilised, if they are fertilised. The fact that there is no obvious path 

 by means of which sperms from another individual could reach the ova, 

 seems to leave only two possibilities ; (1) that the eggs develope par- 

 thenogenetically ; (2) that the animals are hermaphrodite and self- 

 fertilised. Of the latter suggestion no proof in the shape of ripe 

 spermatozoa could be obtained ; so the question remains undecided. 



Spermiducal Glands of Australian Earthworms, f — Miss Georgina 

 Sweet has investigated the structure of these glands and the associated 

 parts in 32 species of earthworms from Australia aud Tasmania. She 

 finds that in the species examined it is possible to show that a complete 

 series exists connecting the simplest tubular form of the gland with the 

 complex lobular condition. To this statement, however, the spermiducal 

 gland of Acanthodrilus sydneyensis forms an exception, for it cannot be 

 referred to any position in the series afforded by the other forms. 



Regeneration in Lumbriculus variegatus Gr. \ — Dr. Franz von 

 "Wagner finds that in this worm the process of regeneration depends firstly 

 •on the formative activity of the epidermis, which under special circum- 

 stances is capable of producing a mass of regeneration-cells, and secondly 

 ■on the capacity which the gut epithelium displays for producing new ele- 

 ments without disturbance of its existing organisation. Except for the 

 food-canal, all regenerated organs and parts of organs originate from the 



* Journ. Linn. Soc, xxviii. (1900) pp. 105-8 (1 pi.). 



t Tom. cit., pp. 109-39 (2 pis.). 



j Zool. Jahrb. (Abt. Anat.), xiii. (1900) pp. 603-82 (4 pis.). 



