Miscellaneous. 4i^7 



On the Organization of the Genera Phyllosoma and Sapphirina. 

 By Prof. Gegenbaur. 



In this memoir M. Gegenbaur publishes a detailed anatomy of 

 Phyllosoma mediterranean a little crustacean which has often been 

 arranged among the Stomapoda, but which appears to be a true 

 Decapod, and oi Sapphirina fulgeiis, a little Copepodous crustacean. 



In reference to the circulation, the author believes that in the 

 PhyllosomcB there exist true orifices which effect a communication 

 either of the arterial capillaries or the large vascular branches with 

 the abdominal cavity. These Crustacea, notwithstanding they are 

 Decapoda, have therefore a lacunar sanguinary system, and are re- 

 moved, in this point of view, from the common Crab, in which the 

 vascular circulatory system is perfectly closed, as M. Hseckel has 

 lately shown. The liver of Phyllosoma is formed of two bundles of 

 blind membranous tubes, which M. Guerin has described as circula- 

 tory organs. However, the secreting activity of the liver appears to 

 be very small, and it frequently happens that the food passes from 

 the stomach into the interior of the hepatic tubes. 



The Sapphirince have the property of shining in the light with 

 most brilliant colours, passing alternately from a sapphire blue to a 

 golden green or a splendid purple. This brilliant colouring is seated, 

 according to the author, in the layer of cells which secretes the chi- 

 tine of the skeleton. Under the microscope, the cells are seen to 

 pass alternately from one colour to the other ; and it may be ascer- 

 tained that the variations of colour of each cell are independent of 

 those of the neighbouring cells. This remarkable property vanishes 

 with life. The Sapphirinae possess two well-developed eyes, each 

 furnished with a cornea and crystalline cone. Between the two eyes 

 is placed a little three-lobed body, which is put in communication 

 with the central nervous system by a small nervous filament. This 

 body contains several refracting corpuscles, and M. Gegenbaur regards 

 it as the remains of the single eye of the larva. It is well known 

 that the single eye of the larva persists in several Crustacea {Baphnia, 

 Artemia, Branchipus, Argulus^ &c.) in the form of a spot of pigment. 

 The two eyes of Sapphirina would not therefore be the morpho- 

 logical analogues of the single eye of other Copepoda (Cyclopidce), 

 but of the more perfect eyes observed in the Argulina, DaphniadcBy 

 Phyllopoda, &c., and which are absent in Cyclopidce. — Mailer's 

 Archiv, 1858, i. p. 43. 



On the Metamorphosis of the Pranizse itito Ancei. By M. Hesse. 



The author states that he has ascertained by continued experi- 

 ments that the Pranizce are the larvae ofAnceus. — Comptes Rendus, 

 Marcb 22, 1858, p. 568. 



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