ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 53 



head bears a pair of rounded protrusive slightly arched lobes, or 

 " tentacles" ; the numerous eyes are disposed in two narrow bands ; the 

 pharynx is a cylindrical pharynx plicatus ; beside the uterus is a large 

 seminal vesicle. 



Rotifera. 



Rotifera of Victoria.* — J. Shephard gives a list of 114 species of 

 Victorian Rotifers which have, so far, been observed by himself and 

 others. Of this number only nine species are peculiar to Australia, 

 or rather have not as yet been found elsewhere. The remainder are 

 well-known species, occurring in most parts of the world. Two new 

 species of Brachionns are figured and described — B. l//ra(us iind B. dicho- 

 tomtis, the latter of remarkable shape, with two very large frontal horns 

 and two still larger posterior spines. The males of Lacinularia reticulata 

 and L. elUptka are figured and described for the first time. 



Echinoderma. 



Antarctic Echinoderms.f — R. Koehler makes a preliminary report 

 on the very rich collection made by the ' Pourquoi-Pas.' There are four- 

 teen new Asteroids, including four new genera, Autasterias (an Asterid), 

 Leueaster (a Solasterid), Psevdonasier (an Odontasterid), and Frimaster, 

 type of a new family near the Archasterids. The diameter of Primaster 

 is 44 cm. ; the ambulacral tubes are remarkable in being quadriserial. 

 The curious genus Cryaster is included in the collection. 



There are six new Ophiuroids, including two new genera. In some 

 specimens of Ophionotus vidorise the diameter of the disc reaches 44 mm. 

 A new genus of Echinoids, Parapneustes, is reported, and there are five 

 new species. On Eurocidaris perrieri sp.n., Roule found the curious 

 parasite, Echinophyces mirabilis, previously discovered by Morteusen, and 

 referred by him to the Myxomycetes. It develops in the calcareous tissue 

 of the large spines and produces remarkable modifications. The author 

 calls attention to the richness of the Echinoderm fauna in the Far South, 

 to its quite remarkable appearance, and to the absence of any bi-polar 

 forms. 



Tuberculation of Holectypoida.| — N. L. Hawkins has studied the 

 tuberculation of the Holectypoida, which in many ways bridge over the 

 contrast between the Regular and the Irregular Echinoids. The general 

 tendency of the evolution of surface ornament (and therefore of the 

 radioles) in Holectypoida was a dual one. The large tubercles became 

 gradually restricted to the adoral surface, and often reduced in number, 

 while the actual density of the tuberculation increased. This increase 

 was attained by a simple multiplication of the normal vertical series, 

 as in Disco'idea (this being sometimes associated with the transformation 

 of granules to tubercles at the ambitus), or by a more uniform distribu- 

 tion of those series over the area of the plates, and the frequent sub- 

 stitution of two tubercles in the place of one, as in Connlm. Both these 

 types of change lead away from the primitive, " regular " condition of 



• Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, xxiv. n.s. (1911) pp. 46-58 (2 pis.). 

 tlComptes ReDdus, cliii. (1911) pp. 735-7. 

 X Geol. Mag., viii. (1911} pp. 442-54 (2 figs.). 



