ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 459 



and the details of the cnidoblasts. There is, however, another form 

 (Brauer's Hydra sp., Hefferan's H. monmcia) which is near H. fusca, 

 but different in the shape of the ova and the manner of depositing the 

 ova. It is dioecious, though it is called H. monmia. Weltner describes 

 well-fed specimens of H. grisea, which formed numerous small ova, but 

 showed no hints of testes. The eggs were set adrift and soon broke 

 up. The species is normally hermaphrodite. Unisexual conditions of 

 H. viridis have also been noticed. One of the specimens of H. grisea, 

 which is figured , had nine eggs, a body 1 ■ 1 cm. long, and six tentacles 

 2 • 75 cm. long. 



Cordylophora in Egypt.* — Charles L. Boulenger reports the abun- 

 dant occurrence of Cordylophora lacustris in the brackish water of Lake 

 Qurun. This is the first record of the genus from Africa. The 

 colonies were very vigorous, the hydrocaulus in some attaining the 

 height of 8 or 9 cm. The lake is 150 miles inland, and at present 

 without communication with the sea, except by the Nile. Geological 

 evidence shows, however, that in late Pliocene tiuies the depression in 

 which the lake lies must have been a large brackish fjord in communica- 

 tion with the Mediterranean. 



New Varieties of Hydroids.f — A. Billard describes Thecocarpus 

 myriophyllum L. var. orientals v. n. and perarmatus v. n., from the 

 eastern part of the Indian Archipelago. The interesting features are 

 the presence of a closed corbula and a supplementary asymmetrical 

 dactylotheca. In specimens showing regeneration there are modified 

 hydroclads similar to the phylactocarps of Lytocarpus. The occurrence 

 of this western species in the far east is interesting geographically. 



Limnocnida tanganicae in the Niger.! — E. T. Browne discusses 

 this fresh-water medusa, which the late J. S. Budgett discovered in the 

 Niger delta. He shares the view of Boulenger that Limnocnida is a 

 relic of the fauna of a Middle Eocene sea which stretched across the 

 Soudan to India. This would account for the occurrence of the 

 medusa in localities so far apart as Lake Tanganyika and the Niger 

 delta. It seems probable that a hydroid stage exists, and has still to 

 be discovered. This interesting animal has affinities with the Olin- 

 diadag, but still remains unclassifiable. 



New Gorgonids.§ — W. Kiikenthal gives diagnoses of some new 

 species. Among Priinnoidae he reports three new species of ThouareUa, 

 and two of PrimnoeJla. He regards AmpMlaphis as inseparable from 

 ThouareUa, and he improves the definition of PrimnoelJa. To the 

 genus Acanthoyorgia three new species are added ; Iciligorgia ballini, 

 Spongioderma chuni, and Titan idium hartmeyeri, are interesting new 

 forms. In Erythro podium stechei sp. n., Kiikenthal finds a transition 

 from the Alcyonid to the Scleraxonial type, and to Solenocaulon in 

 particular. 



* Ann. Nat. Hist., i. ser. 8., pp. 492-3. 



t Arch. Zool. Exper., viii. (1908) Notes et Revue, No. 3, pp. lxxiii.-lxxvii. 

 (3 figs.). 



J The Work of John Samuel Budgett. Edited by J. Graham Kerr, Cambridge, 

 1907, pp. 471-80 (1 pi.). § Zool. Anzeig., xxxiii. (1908) pp. 9-20. 



