ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 187 



Swedish Rotifers.* — Niels von Hofsten gives a reasoned and de- 

 scriptive list of 132 species of Rotifers found in the Mastermyr (Gottland) 

 and some other Swedish inland lakes. The author's attempt at a com- 

 plete synonymy of each species can only be commended, and is very 

 useful : but in his endeavour to change the present nomenclature by 

 resuscitating old dead and buried pre-Ehrenbergian generic and specific 

 names, it is to be hoped that no one will follow him. One species, Asco- 

 morpha minima, is described as new. 



Bdelloid Rotifers of South Africa. f— James Murray records forty 

 species obtained from dry moss collected in four localities in South 

 Africa : Pretoria, ^Yoodbush (in the Northern Transvaal), Pondoland, 

 and Knysna (in the south of Cape Colony). Six species are figured and 

 described as new, namely, Philodina africana, CaUidina huUata, C. gun- 

 ninyi, 0. he/citti, C. ■jj^icatula, Hahrotroclia eucullata. The author con- 

 cludes with a resume of all that is known about African Bdelloid Rotifera. 



Echinoderma. 



Hybridization of Echinoids.| — Cresswell Shearer, Walter de Morgan, 

 and H. M. Fuchs have studied hybrid larvse of Echinus miliaris ^ and 

 E. escidentus ? , of E. escidentus ^ and E. miliaris ? , of E. acutus $ 

 and E. miliaris ? , and of E. miliaris ^ and E. acutus 9 • 



They conclude that the early larvae are too variable to afford any 

 definite evidence of parental influence. This is especially true with regard 

 to the skeleton, heretofore considered the chief index of inheritance. 



The paramount influence seems to be maternal, but there is con- 

 sideralde evidence for the view held by Loeb, King, and Moore, that the 

 minor skeletal characters are inherited independently of either parent. 

 The spinous condition of the apical rods is dominant over the smooth, 

 and the clubbed condition over the arched. 



In regard to six late larval characters — relating to anterior and 

 posterior epaulettes, green pigment, and pedicellarise — the egg of 

 E. esculentus fertilized by sperm of E. miliaris develops into a larva 

 with the same sex characters as the late larva of E. esculentus ; and 

 similarly the egg of E. miUaris fertilized by sperm of E. esculentus 

 develops into a larva with the same sex characters as the late larva of 

 E. niiUaris. 



It is shown that an alteration of the alkalinity of the water does 

 not affect the inheritance either of the skeletal characters or of the late 

 larval characters. Young hybrid urchins, some of Avhich are now two 

 years old, are in superficial appearance of the pure maternal type. It 

 is suspected that a considerable amount of hybridization takes place in 

 natural conditions between E. esculentus and E. acutus. 



Reactions of Starfishes and Sea-urchins to Light.§ — R. P. Cowles 

 finds that Echinaster crassispina reacts to changes in the intensity of 

 light even when the eye-spots have been removed. The large heavy 



* Arkiv f. Zool. Stockholm, vi.(1909) pp. 1-125 (27 figs, in text), 

 t Ann. Transvaal Museum, 1911, pp. 1-19 (3 pis.), 

 j Jouru. Marine Biol. Assoc, ix. (1911) pp. 121-41 (7 figs.). 

 § Johns Hopkins Circ, 1911, No. 2, pp. 3-9. 



