66 NOTICES OF SERIALS. 



of Breathing in Invertebrate Animals ; (Kellaart, E. F.) Catalogue of 

 Reptiles collected in Ceylon. Proceedings of Societies. Miscellaneous 

 Notices. 



No. 75, March: — (Wright, Thomas) Contributions to the Palae- 

 tomlogy of Gloucestershire — a description with figures, of some new species 

 of Echircodermata, from the Lias and Ooilites; (Blackwell, Y.) Description of 

 some newly-discovered species of Araneidea ; (Williams, Thomas) On 

 Mechanism of Aquatic Respiration, &c, continued ; (Gray, Dr. J.) New 

 Genus and Species of Seals (Helioptoca Atlanticd) from Madeira; 

 (Leighton, Rev. W. A.) Monograph of British Graphideae; (Layard, Edgar 

 L.) Notes on the Ornithology of Ceylon, continued. Proceedings of So- 

 cieties. Miscellaneous Notices. 



Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science. No. VI. 8vo. T. 



Highley. 



January, 1854: — (Boswell, R. S.) Remarks on Actinophrys Sol, sup- 

 plementary to the Paper in the Microscopical Journal, vol. i., pp. 

 25 and 98 ; (Busk) Remarks on the Structure and Function of the 

 avicularean and vibracular organs of the Polyzoa, and their value as 

 diagnostic characters in the classification of these creatures. After 

 describing these curious appendicular organs which are affixed to many 

 of the Cheilostomata of Busk, or Celleporina of Ehrenberg, and ra- 

 pidly reviewing the researches already made into their structure and 

 functions, their importance, as affording excellent and available systematic 

 characters, is briefly discussed. These organs are divided into two kinds 

 apparently with distinct functions — avicularia and vibracula; the one, 

 probably, prehensile, the other defensive ; of those the avicularia are found 

 by far the most extensively, being wanting in but few of the genera con- 

 stituting the Cheilostomatous class of Polyzoa. For the purposes of classifi- 

 cation, they are subdivided into three classes — 1st, pedunculate; 2nd, sessile; 

 and 3rd, immersed. The two latter classes run insensibly into each other, 

 while the pedunculate form is quite distinct, as it presents an additional 

 member in the form of a basal joint. To this form of avicularium the 

 term " birds," or " vulture's heads," is more properly applied. Examples 

 of this form may be found in Bugula avicularia, B. plumosa, and B. 

 flabalata. Another modification of pedunculate avicularium, where it 

 assumes the form of a large trumpet-shaped or infundibuliform tube, exists 

 in Bicellaria tuba. The pedunculate form of avicularium appears to be 

 restricted to the genera Bugula and Bicellaria, though it does not exist in 



