232 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June 



species identified as Nova Scotian up to the present time, are 

 Stercorarius pomarinus ; Larus glaucus ; L. marinus ; L. 

 argentafus ; L. DelsLwarensis ; Chroicocephalus ^Philadelpliia • 

 Rlssa tridacti/la ', Pagopliila ehurnea] Sterna macroiira; S. 

 Wilsoni. To tliis list, it is probable, several other species may 

 be added in the course of time, but in a country like this where 

 the naturalist must rely almost entirely upon his own exertions, 

 to secure specimens and note their haunts and habits, the task of 

 forming anything like a complete list of the several members of 

 any zoological family is not an easy one. I therefore trust my 

 present brief account of the Laridas frequenting the coast of Nova 

 Scotia may merely be received as the commencement of one more 

 complete. — iXova Scotia Institute of Natural Science. 



Position of the Brachiopoda in the Animal Kingdom. 

 — For some time past Mr. Edward S. Morse has had reasons for 

 believing that the Brachiopods, with the Polyzoa, had greater 

 affinities with the worms than with the moUusks. He has 

 studied attentiYelj Tereh^atuUjia and Discina as well as their early 

 stages, and in all points of their structure interprets articulated 

 characters, and not molluscan characters. Without entering into 

 particulars at this time, he states that in the structure of the 

 shell he finds the greatest resemblance to the shell of Crustacea, 

 both as regards the peculiar tubular structure, and the scale-like 

 appearance, and its chemical composition. In Lingida, while the 

 carbonate of lime amounts to only six per cent., the phosphate of 

 lime amounts to forty-two per cent. The horny setss which 

 friniie the mantle are remarkable worm-like. In worms the 

 bristles are enclosed in muscular sheaths, while in other articulate 

 animals the hairs are simple tubular prolongations of the epidermal 

 layer. In the Brachiopods these bristles are secreted by follicles 

 and are surrounded by muscular fibres, and are freely moved by 

 the animal. The structure of these setoe differs but little, if at 

 all, from those of the worms. The lophophore with the cirri is 

 to be compared to similar parts in the tubicolous worms, and the 

 mantle which covers and conceals their arms is to be compared to 

 the cephalic collar, as seen in Sabella, for instance, where we find 

 it spHt laterally, and a portion reflected. If this were greatly 

 developed so as to cover the expanded fronds of cirri, we should 

 recoo-nize quickly the relation between the two. Dr. G-ratiolet 

 has compared the circulatory system of the Brachiopods to that 



