38 SUMMARY OF CUERENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



toads, as well as in their eyes. Blue light is the most effective stimulus 

 in the production of responses, while green, yellou', and red form a de- 

 creasing series, corresponding only roughly to their relative positions in 

 the spectrum. Red light, when used singly, is not much more effective 

 than darkness in the production of responses, and when paired with other 

 lights this slight effectiveness is even more decreased. The sensitiveness 

 of the skin to differences in wave-lengths is less than that of the 

 eyes. The reactions when the whole animal was exposed to the light 

 showed the influences of the slight differences in sensitiveness of the 

 ■eyes and of the skin. When tested with a narrow beam of blue light 

 the skin of eyeless toads was equally sensitive on all parts that were tested. 

 The effects of each light were specific, and due probably to specific 

 chemical changes produced by each. These effects were, primarily, a 

 function of the wave-lengths, and secondarily, of the absorption of the 

 light. The intensity in the several lights used could have had no specific 

 effect on the reaction of the toads to the different lights, for each light 

 contained approximately the same amount of energy. 



INVERTEBBATA. 



Mollusca. 

 «. Cephalopoda. 



Spirula australis.* — Carl Chun gives an account of a well-preserved 

 ■specimen captured off the west coast of Sumatra. The head, arms, and 

 posterior pole showed the purple-violet colour characteristic of many 

 deep-sea animals. The central nervous system shows closest relationships 

 ■to that of Sepiolida? ; the anterior salivary glands agree with those of 

 Eossia ; the liver is penetrated by the oesophagus and the aorta ; the 

 genital artery arises directly from the heart ; the urinary papillte are not 

 sessile, but drawn out like a sharping-stone. These data tell against 

 Pelseneer's argument that Spin/la is related to the Oegopsidse. 



The following characters all point to Myopsid affinities. The internal 

 shell is calcareous and chambered ; the liver is bipartite and traversed by 

 the oesophagus and aorta ; the muscular hepatic sac is quite closed, and 

 the depressor of the funnel has a l)road and truncated end behind it ; 

 the urinary sac is perforated by the mid-gut ; the genital artery springs 

 directly from the heart ; the oviduct is developed on the left side only ; 

 there are accessory nidamental glands ; the spermatopbores are fastened 

 in the vicinity of the mouth. Only the eyelid is Oegopsid-like. Chun's 

 conclusion is that Spirula requires a special family among the Myopsid^e. 



An account is given of the structure of the much-discussed terminal 

 disk. The most plausible interpretation seems to be that which com- 

 pares it to the luminous organ of some Oegopsids. It has certainly 

 nothing to do with fixation. Everything points to the conclusion that 

 Spirula swims about very actively at great depths. 



Californian Cephalopods.f — S. S. Berry reports on some Cephalopods 

 from Californian and Alaskan waters, e.g. a fine specimen of Dosidicus 



* Ber. k. Sachs. Ges. Wiss. Leipzig (1910) No. 4, pp. 171-88 (2 pis. and 3 figs.), 

 t Univ. California Publications (Zoology) viii. pp. 301-10 (2 pis. and 4 figs.). 



