QUARTERLV CHRONICLE. 47 



are formed of protoplasm in the embryo, and the same in 

 the adult, at any rate for a f>reat part of their thickness. 

 With high powers granulations may be detected here and 

 there, just such as may be observed in protoplasm. The 

 conditions which determine the contractions of the finest 

 capillaries are not known, nor are those which determine the 

 contractions of protoplasm in other forms of life. 



Mem. Acad. Imp. de St. Petersb, — " On the Anatomy of 

 Balanoglossus,^'' by M. A. Kowalewsky. 



Under the name of Balanoglossus, Delle Chiaje described 

 a vermiform animal of the Bay of Naples, known to the 

 fishermen as lingua di hue. It has since attracted but little 

 attention from naturalists, and the very incomplete investiga- 

 tion of it made in 1860 by M. Keferstein taught us nothing 

 of importance about it. Balanoglassus, according to M. 

 KowaleAvsky, is a vermiform animal having its body com- 

 posed of a series of successive regions — of Avhich the first is a 

 tactile organ, the second a mouth-bearing muscular collar, 

 the third a branchial region, presenting within a perforated 

 sac, like that of Ascidians, and apertures above, by which 

 the water taken in at the mouth is expelled; the fourth 

 region bears the sexual glands, and succeeding it are 

 numerous papillse, into which diverticula of the intestine 

 pass ; lastly, there is a smooth, finely annulated caudal 

 region. The vascular system is simple, consisting of a dorsal 

 vessel impelling the blood forAvard, and a ventral vessel 

 carrying it in the opposite direction. M. Keferstein has 

 ascribed to these very interesting animals a position amongst 

 the Nemertida, whilst M. Kowalewsky especially approxi- 

 mates them to the Annelida. Another writer considers it 

 necessary to make the Balanoglossi a distinct group of 

 Vermes, allying that sub-kingdom to the Vertebrata. It will 

 hardly do, we think, to refer every animal with a segmented 

 body to Vermes, without reference to other structural 

 characters. 



Annals of ¥at. Hist. November. — " On the Structure of the 

 Annelida" by E. Claparede. 



Professor Claparede is without doubt one of the most care- 

 ful and reliable of zoological observers ; he is eminently well 

 fitted to undertake the decision of disputed questions, and 

 his observations and opinions have the very highest autliority. 

 During a sojourn of some six months at Naples, he has, in 

 spite of the ill-health which caused him to go there, investi- 

 gated minutely the Annelida of the Bay, and has now in the 

 press a Avork on these animals, Avhich is to be illustrated by 

 thirty -one quarto plates of his beautiful drawings. In this 



