QUARTERLY CHRONICLE. 163 



organs, but a simple juxtaposition. At the same time, 

 M. Semper has established the existence of fine strands, 

 which pass from the rete mirabile to the follicles of the 

 pulmonary tree, and lose themselves in the connective tissue 

 of this organ. It is true that, to judge from the expressions 

 of the author, these " cordons " do not appera* to enclose 

 vessels, and that the respiratory function of the so-called 

 lungs remains as ever somewhat problematical. 



'Ihe new Holothurise collected by M. Semper have been 

 figured with very great artistic skill, some by the author 

 himself, others by Madame Anna Semper. Many among 

 them are remarkable not only for their form, but also for 

 their size, since we find among them Synaptae of five or even 

 of seven feet in length, to which the natives of Celebes have 

 with reason given the name of sea-serpents. Among the 

 anatomical and zoological details which accompany the de- 

 scription of each of them, we find many new and interesting 

 facts. 



The anchors of the Synaptae are by no means, as is often 

 believed, locomotive organs ; when they have laid hold of 

 any part, the animal cannot disengage itself without sacri- 

 ficing them. They are, it is true, movable on their basilar 

 plate, but there are not any muscles destined to move them, 

 and the will of the animal has no action on their movements. 

 Besides, the body of the Synaptae does not cling to the hand 

 except when one touches it roughly. In reality the Synaptse 

 crawl on stones and plants without hooking on to them, 

 and in Synapta Beselii, the anchors are lodged so deeply 

 in the skin that M. Semper believed in their complete absence 

 until microscopic examination showed him the contrary. 

 M. Semper has increased the number of known Synaptae in 

 a considerable manner. The Archipelago of the Philippines 

 ranks to-day as one of the best known tropical regions, 

 thanks above all to the researches of Mr. Cuming, that 

 "prince of collectors," as he has been called; and although 

 before M. Semper's work only a single Synapta was known 

 from that archipelago, the number is now, owing to his re- 

 searches, increased to eleven, without counting a Chirodota. 

 It is true that Mr. Cuming appears to have collected among 

 Invertebrates only those animals Avith a hard shell, since he 

 has completely neglected the Cephalopods, which so abound 

 in tropical seas. In 1859 the total number of known S}nap- 

 tids was thirty-three species. This number ought to be in- 

 creasecl now-a-days by fifty-seven per cent. ; for if we con- 

 sider the fact that the majority of the new species come from 

 the Philippines, and thence too from a single locality (the 



