230 Miscellaneous. 



Mr. Brandt received a specimen from Japan, which had been used 

 as an ornament, in which nine specimens of this coral are grouped 

 together in the hole formed by a Pholas in a soft rock. He figures 

 this specimen ; but I am convinced that this is not the way in which 

 the Coral is naturally produced, and that they must have been arti- 

 ficially inserted into this perforation in the rock by the Japanese. 



Mr. Reeves' specimen, which I first described, is the only one 

 which has yet been described as imbedded in what I believe to be 

 its proper habitat a peculiar kind of Sponge ; and I am confirmed 

 in this opinion by the very intimate manner in which the Sponge is 

 attached to the Coral in the above specimen. 



Mr. Brandt figures two specimens to which more or less large 

 portions of Sponges are attached, and he considers these Sponges to 

 belong to the species which he calls Spongia spinicrucis and Spongia 

 octancyrte, t. 1. f. 3, 4 & 5. 



Mr. Brandt divides his specimens into two genera : 1 . Hyalonema, 

 of which he describes two species, H . Sieboldii and H. affinis ; 

 2. Hyalochceta, containing a single species, H. Possieti; but I must 

 say, from the variation in the several specimens of this Coral which 

 have come under my examination, I am very doubtful if they are 

 more than varieties of the same kind : at any rate, we want much 

 more material before I could admit them to be distinct. The genera 

 appear to differ only in the elongation and non-elongation of the 

 cells, which will doubtless vary according to the manner in which 

 the specimen is preserved. 



On the Generative Organs of the Scarabceideous Beetles. 

 By C. ROUSSEL. 



In all the Scarabceidce the testes are formed of spherical, but 

 more or less depressed capsules. A single genus is known to furnish 

 an exception to this, namely Onthophagus, in which they are coni- 

 cal. Their number, which varies sometimes, even in nearly allied 

 groups, is never above twelve or below six in each testis ; the latter 

 number is by far the most frequent. They are usually more nume- 

 rous in the Cetoninte, and in this tribe their mode of insertion like- 

 wise presents a peculiar character: the cords which support these cap- 

 sules usually arise from each other, instead of having a distinct origin. 



The form and structure of the penis clearly separates the Geotru- 

 pintE and Coprince from the rest of the family. In the former of 

 these tribes it is short, straight, broad, and thick, and appears at the 

 first glance to be composed only of a single, entirely horny piece. 

 But of the two joints which compose this organ in all the Scara- 

 bceidce there is only a vestige of the superior one, whilst the inferior 

 piece has been developed at the expense of the abortive one. In the 

 Coprmce the two joints are nearly of the same size, but the upper one 

 presents a characteristic border near the top. The position which it 

 affects furnishes another means of distinction. In the other tribes it is 

 directed from left to right, whilst in this it is always from right to left. 



Beyond these two groups the penis presents a very remarkable 



