ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 4<i3 



Avicula and Gorgonid Association.* — T. Southwell reports finding, 

 off Ceylon, quantities of yellow-brown Leptogorgia ltd/cent with its 

 branches thickly encrusted with a yellow-brown Avicula. The bivalves 

 merge into the general habit and appearance of the Gorgonid, obtaining 

 in all probability a considerable measure of immunity from enemies 

 through this resemblance to a spicular indigestible organism. 



Incubation of Cyclas Embryos.f — E. Poyarkoff has studied the 

 incubation of the embryos of Sphoerium corneum. They develop in sacs 

 between the two lamellae of the inner gill-plate, or between the lamella 

 and the mantle. The sacs are described in detail ; they seem to be for 

 the most part mesodermic in origin and due to leucocytes. Indeed, the 

 formation of the incubatory sac may be compared to an inflammatory 

 process. The ectodermic epithelium disintegrates, and its regeneration 

 is described. 



Arthropoda. 



«• Insecta. 



Rhythms in Termite Communities.^ — E. A. Andrews and A. R. 

 Middleton have studied the common termite at Montego Bay, Jamaica, 

 counting the numbers running in and out of the nest hour after hour. 

 They show that the termites do actually work at all times of the day and 

 night, and that there are rhythms in the activities of the entire com- 

 munity. In one case the number of termites going into the nest each 

 hour varied from 1702 between 1 and 2 p.m. to 8100 between 2 and 

 3 a.m., while in the same case the numbers going out of the nest were 

 1194 between noon and 1 p.m., and 6820 between 1 and 2 a.m. 



Insects as Disseminators of Ergot. § — L.Mercier has found evidence 

 that Sciara thomse distributes the conidia of the Claviceps that causes 

 " ergot " in rye-grass. The conidia do not seem to be affected in the 

 food-canal of the fly, and there are also some on the hairs of the body. 



Dissemination of Disease by Stomoxys calcitrans.|| — A. Schuberg 

 and Ph. Kuhn have proved experimentally that this common fly can 

 infect animals with Trypanosomes and SpirochaBts. It is not, of course, 

 the normal host of the disease germs experimented with, but it may 

 share in the dissemination of these and of others. 



Roumanian Mosquitos.^f — N. Leon gives an account of the swarms 

 of mosquitos which infest the marshes by the shores of the Danube, and 

 calls attention to the beneficial work of numerous spiders in checking 

 their increase a little. He reports Anopheles maculipennis,A. bif ureal i/s, 

 Myzorhynchus pseudopictus, Oulex pipiens, C.fusculus, Theobaldia nemor- 

 osa, and Tseniorhynchus richardii. 



East Indian Chironomidae.** — J. J. Kieffer describes numerous new 

 species in the genera Ceratopogon, Cidicoides, Palpomyia, Bezzia, Calyplo- 



* Ceylon Marine Biological Keports, v. (1911) p. 207. 



t Arch. Zool. Exper., v. (1910) Notes ot Revue, No. 5, pp. exxv.-exxxviii. (7 figs.). 

 J Johns Hopkins Univ. Circ, No. 2 (1911) pp. 26-34 (2 figs.). 

 § C.R. Soc. Biol. lxx. (1911) pp. 300-2. 

 || Arbeit, k. Gesundheitsamte, xxxi. (1911) pp. 377-93. 

 \ Centralbl. Bakt. Parasitenk., lvii. (1910) pp. 148-54. 

 •* Mem. Indian Museum, ii. No. 4 (1910) pp. 181-242 (4 pis.). 



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