204 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Rotatoria. 



SRotifera of Lake Geneva.* — G. Montet has added records of 

 sixty Rotifers to the faunistic list for the region of Lake Geneva. This 

 brings the total np to 207, and iuchides three new species— Macro - 

 trachela gracilis, Rotifer tridens, and Pleurotrocha minima. Of the 128 

 species collected by the author, 92 were exclusively aquatic — either 

 pelagic or littoral ; 28 were obtained only from mosses ; 8 frequent 

 aquatic plants or terrestrial mosses. Particular attention has been paid 

 to the marshes and the hke in the region around the lake. 



Echinoderma. 



Aristotle's Lantern and the Calcareous Ring in Holothuroids.t — 

 E. Herouard maintains tlie homology of these two structures. The 

 five inter-radial pieces of the ring correspond to the five alveoli of the 

 lantern ; the five radial pieces of the ring correspond to the rotula^ and 

 radii of the lantern. In the development the splanchnopleure gives off 

 a diverticulum in each inter-radial space, and these five diverticula, 

 becoming separated off, fonn the five intra-alveolar sinuses of tlie 

 lantern. It is probable that similar diverticula in Holothuroids remain 

 in communication with the splanchnocoele. The inter-radial skeleton 

 of lantern and ring arises in the ccelopleural connective tissue of the 

 five diverticula, but is restricted in Holothuroids to the external surface. 

 The radial skeleton in both types develops from the coelopleure of the 

 general cavity. The peripheral skeleton is of ectopleural origin. The 

 author points out the importance of Spencer's concept of " architectonic 

 unities," such as the five diverticula must be held to be. 



Oxidations in Egg of Sea-urchin.| — Jacques Loeb and Hardolph 

 Wasteneys have followed up "Warburg's discovery that NaOH raises the 

 rate of oxidations in the fertilized eggs of the sea-urchin, though it does 

 not enter the egg. The inference was that the oxidations raised by 

 NaOH must be located at the surface of the Q^g. The experiments on 

 Arhacia made by Loeb and Wasteneys suggest that a weak base 

 accelerates oxidations both at the surface and beneath the surface layer, 

 while the strong bases are confined in their action to the surface layer. 

 The surface and the adjacent layers appear to be the seat of oxidations, 

 comparatively little diffusing into the cell. 



Ccelentera. 



Coelentera of Chilka Lake.§ — Nelson Annandale reports on sixteen 

 species of Coelentera from this lake, namely, sis Actinozoa, one Scypho- 

 medusa (Acromifus rabanchatu sp. n.), and nine Hydrozoa. The 

 Actiniaria include species of the primitive genera Edwardsia and 

 Halianthus, neither of which appears to have been previously recorded 

 from the Indian Ocean. They also include two new genera Fliytocoetes 



* Rev. Suisse Zool., xxiii. (1915) pp. 251-360 (7 pis.). 



t BuU. Soc. Zool. France, xl. (1915) pp. 117-23 (4 figs.). ■ 



I Jouru. Biol. Chem., xxi. (1915) pp. 153-8 (1 fig.). 



§ Mem. Indian Mus., v. (1915) pp. 67-114 (5 pis. and 10 figs). 



