48 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Littoral Polychaeta of Torquay.* -E. V. Elwes continues his notes 

 on these worms, giving a list of the representatives of many families. 

 He gives very useful keys to the genera of Eunicidae, Spionidae, Cirratu- 

 lidae, Maldanidaa, Terebellidae, Sabellidae, and Serpulidae, found on the 

 French and English coasts of the Channel. 



Reactions of Earthworms to Acids.t S. II. Ilurwitz has investi- 

 gated the influence of organic and inorganic acids on the common 

 manure worm AUobophora fmtida Sav. He found that the reactions of 

 the earthworms may be ascribed to the hydrogen ions the solutions 

 contain, and that the reaction-time depends upon the number of 

 hydrogen ions present in the solution of the acid. Using the reaction - 

 time as a basis, the investigator found that the earthworm discriminated 

 more certainly than man between a solution of acids at a concentration 



of t^x- The response of the earthworms to solutions of acetic acid 



was more active than might have been expected from the degree of 

 dissociation of this acid, and in this respect the earthworm's reactions 

 are in agreement with human sensations, as worked out by Kahlenberg 

 and by Richards. 



Caucasian Earthworms.^ — W. Michaelsen reports on eight new 

 species, mostly from the Caucasus and Trans-Caucasus. There are so 

 many Lumbricida? in this region, and so many basal and annectent types, 

 that it seems reasonable to regard the region as the headquarters and 

 centre of dispersion for earthworms. The classification which Rosa and 

 Michaelsen established — mainly on the position of the male gonads and 

 of the receptacula, and on the seta? and pigmentation — is being modified 

 by the discovery of intermediate types. Thus Eiseniella, Eisenia, and 

 Dendrobsena must be included in the single genus Helodrilus. 



Nernatohelminthes. 



New Nematode in Eye of Queensland Fowl.§ — Georgina Sweet 

 describes Oxyspirura parvovum sp. n., which causes "worm in the eye" 

 in Queensland poultry. It is really extra-ocular, like 0. mansoni, occur- 

 ring in numbers beneath the nictitating membrane. Four other Nema- 

 todes are reported, and a list is given of Metazoan parasites recorded 

 from the fowl in Australia. 



Microfilaria in Magpies.|| — J. A. Gilruth, G. Sweet, and'S. Dodd 

 describe larval forms of Microfilaria gymnorhinse sp. n. from the blood 

 of Australian magpies {Gymnorhina tibicen). They are distinctly smaller 

 than those observed by previous workers in crows, and described as larva? 

 of Filaria tricuspis and F. attenuata, but they may turn out to be refer- 

 able to one or other of these species. 



Supposed Nematode in Circular Muscle of an Earthworm.lf 

 Gwynneth Buchanan describes in a Queensland earthworm, Diporochsetii 



* Journ. Marine Biol. Assoc, ix. (1910) pp. 59-81. 

 + Proc. Amer. Acad., xlvi. (1910) pp. 67-81. 



\ Ann. Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, xv. (1910) pp. 1-74. 

 § Proc. R. Soc. Victoria, xxiii. (1910) pp. 242-56 (5 pis.). 

 || Tom. cit., pp. 236-41 (1 pi.). 

 f Proc. R. Soc. Victoria, xxiii. (1910) pp. 99-101 (2 pis.). 



