ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 177 



intercellular nerve-endings are well known in the epithelia of Verte- 

 brates, the records for Invertebrates are few. He sums up about eight 

 previously described cases in Plathelmintbes, Annelids, and Molluscs. 

 By using Sinirnow's modification of Golgi's method, he has succeeded 

 in demonstrating (in the suail) free nerve-endings in the cutis, in the 

 foot-gland, in the oesophagus and buccal cavity. He suggests that the 

 free nerve-endings may be related to a chemical sense, and he calls par- 

 ticular attention to the interesting fact (which Smirnow also noted) that 

 the endings come into close association, though not connection, with 

 sensory cells. 



Hew Genus of Stylommatophora. * — Dr. Heinrich Simroth de- 

 scribes as OstracoJethe fruhstorfferi g. et sp. n., a Pulmonate Gasteropod 

 from Tonkin, which possesses so many peculiarities that a new family 

 must be created for its reception. The chief peculiarities are in regard 

 to the shell and the relations of the visceral hump, and the presence of 

 a puzzling organ in connection with the reproductive system. The 

 visceral hump is very prominent, and the shell internal, covered by a 

 tough, but thin, mantle. It consists of an anterior calcareous plate, and 

 a large cap-shaped structure of conchiolin, which is of such a shape that 

 a narrow region of it [" ein schlanker Zipfel "] protrudes posteriorly 

 from the mantle-pocket through a cleft. In the absence of a figure the 

 exact relations of shell, mantle, and visceral hump are not altogether 

 easy to make out. 



In regard to the reproductive system, side by side with the vas 

 deferens, which opens into the proximal end of the penis, there runs 

 another structure, which becomes densely muscular below, and is inserted 

 into the distal end of the penis. This muscular band appears to contain 

 a fine canal. At its point of origin there are within the muscular band 

 About fourteen cup-shaped discs, which are arranged in a plate, con- 

 taining each a narrow split-like lumen, and consist of circular and 

 radial muscle-fibres. These discs are possibly comparable to the mus- 

 cular thickenings sometimes seen in the penis of other snails ; they ma; 

 have some function in connection with the promotion of self-fertilisation, 

 but their form and structure make them quite different from any organs 

 previously described. Only one specimen of the new mollusc was ob- 

 tained. 



New Cave Gasteropod. f — Dr. K. Sturnay describes the shell of a 

 new Mollusc obtained from a cave in the island of Curzola, in Dalmatia. 

 The 6oft parts of the new form are not known, but the shell resembles 

 that of Torquilla in general shape, while, from the characters of the 

 umbilicus, it recalls the species of Zospeum, which are also cave-dwellers. 

 The author describes it as Spelaeoconcha paganettii g. et sp. n. 



•y. Gastropoda. 



Fossil Polyplacophora.t — E. Ashby and Dr. W. G. Torr give a 

 systematic account of the valuable collection of fossil Polyplacophora 

 made by the late Prof. Ealph Tate and Mr. J. Dennant, and now de- 



* Zool. Anzeig., xxv. (1901) pp. 62-4. 



t Verhandl. k. k. Zool.-bot. Grsell. Wien, li. (1901) pp. 761-2 (1 fig.). 



t Trans, and Proc. R. Soc. S. Australia, xxv. (1901) pp. 136-44 (1 pi.). 



April 16 th, 1902 n 



