Invertebrata. Zoological Collections, 113 



midst of the deserts of Africa, afforded no Infusoria, whilst eight species 

 swarm in the pits of the oasis of Jupiter Amnion. " 



The investigations made on the Infusoria, during M. de Humboldt's last 

 journey, extend over more than 50° of longitude and 14° of latitude, — Anru 

 des Sciences Nat. Oct. 1830. 



Heart of the BiphorcB M. de Freminville, amongst other observations 



made during a voyage along the coasts of Africa and Brazil, has ascertained 

 that the organ in the Biphoroe, which M. Cuvier supposes to be a heart, is 

 perceptibly endowed with systolic and diastolic movements ; and that this 

 heart is attached to a long vascular canal, divided transversely into numerous 

 chambers by little membranes, which undergo an alternating and perpetual 

 motion. M. de Freminville conjectures that this organ, which is analogous 

 to a structure observed in some Medusce, and other Radiata, may belong to 

 the respiratory system. — Ibid. Sept. 1830. 



Notice of a species of aggregated Medusa. — M. Sors, a naturalist of Bergen 

 in Norway, in the 1st Fasciculus of a series of observations on the natural 

 history of marine animals, describes a very small species of Medusa, remark- 

 able for being composed of many individuals joined, ^pg^eth^rip^^gpi^fnon 

 mass, similar to the Biphorce. -Ibid. ,<^nq^iodj jshJ'iirr;.' * 



Extracts from the Analysis of the proceedings of the Academy of Sciences during 



^AeT/ear 1826; % Baron Cuvier. Paris, 1830. ( Continued from Vol. 



II. p. 458.) 



Zoology (continued.) — MM. Quoy and Gaymard on a new and remarkable 



tribe of Zoophytes In a very interesting memoir, addressed to the Academy, 



MM. Quoy and Gaymard describe an almost entirely new tribe of zoophytes, 

 every species of which contains individuals of two forms, always connected in 

 pairs, and partly inserted into each other. M. Bory St Vincent has already 

 described, in a summary way, one of these animals ; and M. Cuvier has 

 arranged it in his Regne Animal, under the name Diphyes. They are as trans- 

 parent as glass, and their body is more or less pyramidal or prismatic. That 

 one which is received into the other by its extremity, and which may be called 

 the anterior animal, is composed of a cavity, situated nearly in its axis, open 

 anteriorly, and provided at its orifice with some fleshy processes, and a canal 

 formed along one of its sides by two projecting folds of its surface. The 

 individual which receives its fellow has three cavities; one to receive the 

 extremity; another open, like that of the' anterior animal, with fleshy points 

 or tentacula at its orifice ; and from the third a kind of chapelet passes 

 across the second into the canal of the anterior animal, from which it hangs. 

 This chapelet, seen through the microscope, is composed of an irregular 

 number of small fleshy suckers, and of filaments carrying globules, which 

 may be considered as ova. In the species where it is most developed, the 

 stem of the chapelet traverses a multitude of small membranous cups, and 

 from each of which depend a sucker and an oviferous filament. These 

 animals may be separated from each other without loss of life, and they do 

 not attempt to reunite. It may be remarked, that the posterior one retains 

 its vitality for a long time. 



The forms of the two bodies, and their relative size, characterize the 

 species. In that which M. Bory discovered, (the Diphyes,) the two indivi- 

 duals are pyramidal, and differ little in size. In another, which MM. Quoy 

 and Gaymard name Calpa, the anterior animal is the largest, and in the form 

 of a five-sided pyramid; the other is very small, and almost cubic. In a 

 third, named Abyla, the anterior animal is a three-sided pyramid ; the poste- 

 rior is smaller, and cup-shaped. The fourth, which is named NaceUa, has its 

 anterior animal in the form of a cone or an obtuse-angled pyramid ; the 

 posterior, which differs little from the former in size, may be compared to a 



VOL. III. P 



