474 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



is doubtless a statocyst, and not an auditory organ. Particular attention 

 is given to the " otoconia " and " otosomes " at different stages and their 

 relations to the macular and cristse acusticse. In a comparative survey 

 of the state of affairs in Vertebrates generally, the author deals in turn 

 with (1) the otoconial membrane or otolith membrane ; (2) the otoliths 

 or statoliths ; (8) the cupula terminalis ; and (4) the membrana 

 tectoria. 



Epidermoid Sensory Cells in Larval Lamprey.* — F. K. Studnicka 

 gives an account of sensory cells which occur in the single-layered 

 epidermis of the young larva. They are most abundant about the head, 

 e.g. on the margin of the " upper lip." They are probably tactile. 

 They appear after the disappearance of the yolk, and are spindle-shaped 

 transformations of epidermic cells. At the outer pole there are project- 

 ing cilia, usually two. As regards nucleus and cytoplasm, as well as in 

 shape, the tactile cells are quite distinct from the ordinary epidermic 

 cells. 



Studjiicka proposes to give the name " pro-Ammocoete " to the early 

 stage, under 15 mm. which shows these probably primitive sense-cells 

 (scarce or absent in the Ammocoete). The " pro-Ammocoete " is also dis- 

 tinguished by the very primitive stage of the ear and by the pineal-like 

 character of the lateral eyes. 



Moll's Glands in Pig.j — R. Argaud and M. Falloury have studied 

 Moll's glands in the eyelid of the pig, where they are as well developed 

 as the human axillary glands. They have all the characters of sudorific 

 glands which have reached full development. The chondriome is repre- 

 sented by chondriomites and mitochondria which occur both in the 

 supra-nuclear and the infra-nuclear zone of the cell. Some of the 

 glands open freely between the lashes ; others open into the hair-follicles, 

 either separately or in confluence with sebaceous glands. In certain 

 glomeruli the glandular epithelium proliferates so as to obliterate the 

 lumen, and the ordinary merocrinal secretion is replaced by holocrinal 

 secretion. 



Structure of Bone in Fishes. J — Edwin S. Goodrich has shown that 

 the so-called " ganoid " scales of fishes are of two kinds, differing funda- 

 mentally in minute structure and mode of growth. There are " cosmoid " 

 scales, typically covered with an outer layer of cosmine, and growing by 

 the addition of new cosmine at the edge and new layers of bony tissue 

 on the inner surface. These occur in the Dipnoi and Osteolepidoti 

 (extinct Crossopterygii) and in these only. And there are the true 

 ganoid scales, growing by the addition of new complete concentric 

 layers, formed of cell-less ganoine on the outer surface and bony tissue 

 on the inner surface. True ganoid scales occur only in the Actino- 

 pterygii and Folypterini (which probably belong to the Actinopterygii). 



Moreover, it is shown that the ganoid scales can be distinguished 

 into two varieties : the Palfeoniscoid and the Lepidosteoid. The former 



* Anat. Anzeig., xliv. (1913) pp. 102-V2 (5 ^igs.). 

 t C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, Ixxiv. (1913) pp. 1272-4. 

 + Proc. Zool. Soc. (1913) pp. 80-5 (4 figs.). 



