678 SUMMAEY OF QUERENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



the author emphasises the thoroughly pelagic adaptation of the larva, 

 the sedentary habit of the adult, and the fact that the metamorphosis, 

 which puts a stop to the vital functions, must be brief. The affinities 

 with Pterobranch Bryozoa and with Chordata (not including Entero- 

 pneusta) are finally hinted at. We have previously noted some of 

 Koule's work, the paper now summarised may be useful as a terse and 

 vivid general account of a very interesting life-history. 



Rotatoria. 



Notogonia ehrenbergii.* — Mr. J. C. Smith, in a short note, gives a 

 figure of this rare rotifer, and states that he has found it in abundance 

 in an old well near New Orleans. It may be noted that this species has 

 been re-named Metopidia 'notogonia by Dr. Ternetz, and to this genus 

 it undoubtedly belongs. 



Echmoderma. 



Treatise on Echinoderms."f — We welcome this first published part 

 of A Treatise on Zoology, edited by Prof. E. Eay Lankester, which deals 

 with Echinoderma. The bulk of it is by Mr. F. A. Bather, who has 

 been assisted by Prof. J. W. Gregory and Mr. E. S. Goodrich. That 

 it will be a valuable book for " the serious student of zoology," for 

 whom, as the preface states, it is intended, is certain ; and we cannot 

 but regret that the Eleutherozoa have not been allowed a more propor- 

 tionate place. Mr. Bather's careful discussion of the Pelmatozoa 

 occupies pages 38-216, and the Eleutherozoa occupy pages 217-332. 



Movements of Antedon rosacea.'!— Herr H. Bosshard has made a 

 careful study of the connections of the skeletal parts in the arms and 

 cirri of this Crinoid. The ventral arm-muscles are so different histo- 

 logically from the dorsal fibres and those of the cirri, that the latter 

 cannot be called muscular. Oral curvature is the result of muscular 

 contraction, the bending towards the apex of the calyx seems referable 

 to the elasticity of the non-contractile fibres. This — the older — view 

 is supported by physiological experiments. 



Ccelentera. 

 Gigantic Hydroid.§ — M. Miyafima speaks of the commotion caused 

 at the Marine Biological Station at Misaki, when, on January 1, 1899, 

 there was brought in a gigantic Coelenterate, 700 mm. in height, of a 

 prevailing transparent scarlet colour (a magnificent natural size figure 

 is given), which turned out to be nearly allied to Branchiocerianthus 

 urceolus Mark, and apparently the same as Allman's Monocaulus im- 

 perator. The author started with the idea that he was dealing with an 

 Actinian, but he soon swung round to Allman's Monaeaulus. There is 

 strongly expressed bilateral symmetry ; the hydranth cavity is divided 

 into two parts, of which the upper is in its outer part again divided into 

 many radial canals visible even on the surface of the disc ; the filiform 

 tentacles are in two sets, — distal and marginal ; a dendritic appendage 



* Trans. Amer. Micr. Soc, May 1900, pp. 95-6 (1 fig.). 



t ' A Treatise on Zoology,' edited by E. Ray Lankester. Part II. The Echino- 

 derma. London, 1900, 344 pp., many figures (numbered separately for the different 

 sections). % Jenaische Zeitschr. Naturwiss., xxxiv. (1900) pp. (i5-U2 (6 pis.). 



§ .Tourn. Coll. Sci. Tokyo, xiii. (1900) pp. 235-62 (2 pis.). 



