ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 519 



Nemerteat: — Baicalonemertes g. n. — without cerebral organs or eyes, but 

 with a scimitar-like stilet, is perhaps intermediate between Meso- and 

 Metanemertini. The interesting Annelid Dyboicscella, described by 

 Nussbaurn, was re-found, represented apparently by a distinct species, 

 D, godlewskii. Korotneff observed pale orange eggs in the tubes, with 

 irregular cleavage and direct development ; therefore the trochophores 

 observed by Dybowski must belong to some other form. Molluscs 

 were represented in the collection by various species of Baicalia, 

 Valvata, Benedicta, &c. Among the abundant Bryozoa was a new 

 Ctenostomid — Echinella placoides g. et sp. n. 



Distribution of Marine Organisms. * — Prof. G. Pruvot, in an 

 account of a dredging expedition off the coast of Gerona, gives a 

 general summary of the contents of the hauls made on the different 

 grounds, in order to show the relation between the bottom deposit and 

 the nature of the fauna. He finds that though in some instances the 

 sand fauna and the mud fauna are sharply separated, in others there is 

 a mingling alike of the faunas and of the deposits, sufficient to justify 

 his inclusion of the sand and mud areas in a single region — the coast 

 region (region cotiere). The intimate dependence between fauna and 

 bottom deposit shows how closely the fauna of any particular littoral 

 depends upon the geological character of the neighbouring land. The 

 author is of opinion that a minute geological study of the coast affords 

 the most hopeful prospect of a solution of the at present obscure pro- 

 blems of geographical distribution. 



Mollusca 



iEsthetic Appreciation of Molluscs.f — Prof. K. Mobius maintains 

 that delight in form and colour was the first impulse to making collec- 

 tions of mollusc-shells. " Beauty-feasts " came before Conchology. 

 " Taste " is not a matter of personal caprice, but is deeply-rooted 

 psychologically. After vindicating his position as a naturalist who 

 takes the aesthetic point of view seriously, Mobius reviews the series of 

 Molluscs, explaining why Spondylus is preferred to Ostrea, and Cyprsea 

 to Voluta, and Nautilus umbilicatus to N. pornpilius, and so on. It is 

 <iuite impossible to agree with all his verdicts, but his analysis of our 

 more or less conscious aesthetic judgments, vaguely referred to taste or 

 prejudice, is very suggestive. 



a. Cephalopoda. 



Chromatophores of Cephalopoda.^ — Dr. Hans Eabl has studied the 

 structure of these remarkable cells in a series of adult examples of the 

 common species. The conditions found in Eledone moschata may be 

 described. As in all Cephalopods, the skin consists of a one-layered 

 cylindrical epithelium whose cells have a cuticular border. Between 

 the epithelial cells are large gland-cells. Beneath the epithelium lies 

 a layer of delicate connective-tissue with muscle-fibres, and then the 



* Arch. Zool. Exper., ix. (1901) pp. 1-42 (15 figs.). 



t Arch. Naturgesch., lxvii. (1901) Beiheft. Festschrift E. von Martens, pp. 1-8. 



* SB. Akad. Wiss. Wien, cix. (1900) pp. 341-404 (4 pis.). 



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