72 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTES. 



On the Occurrence of a Species of Salp in Port Phillip. 

 — On a recent visit to Black Rock, near Beaumaris, I found the 

 beach strewn for two or three miles with specimens of a Salp. 

 In many places they formed a band about five or six inches 

 broad along the sand, where they had been thrown up by the 

 waves. In the water they could be seen floating about in chains 

 up to a length of six inches. Unfortunately, I was without any 

 means of preserving them, and had to leave them there. I 

 returned on the following day with the necessary jars, but found 

 that only a few stragglers of the immense shoal remained. I 

 collected as many as I could find, and, by filling my jars with sea- 

 water, was enabled to bring them alive to the University on the 

 following day. The chains which they form are easily broken, 

 and none of the individuals remained long in contact. Their 

 swimming powers are fairly active, and they move either back- 

 wards or forwards with a succession of jerks, by suddenly con- 

 tracting the muscle-bands round the body, and thus driving the 

 water out of either end at will. At times they performed a 

 rapid somersault backwards. Under the microscope the rapid 

 movement of the cilia on the endostyle was clearly noticeable. 

 The mantle wall was full of lath-shaped crystals, either single or 

 united in all degrees of complexity up to closely rayed stars. 

 Certain species of of Salps possess siliceous spicules in the test ; 

 but as these were crystals, and were readily soluble in dilute acid, 

 without effervescence, I am at a loss as to their true nature. 

 They are not a post-mortem development, as the Rev. W. Fielder 

 noticed them in the living specimens. A comparison with 

 figures of Salpa democratica-mucronata showed that our specimens 

 must be referred to this species, as the form of the body 

 and the arrangement of the muscle bands are identical. This 

 species was obtained in Bass Strait, and off Port Jackson, 

 in great numbers by the Challenger, but the occurrence of such a 

 strictly pelagic form in a land-locked harbour like Port Phillip 

 must always be a rarity, for which it will be well for the biological 

 members of the Club to be on the alert. — T. S. Hall. Melbourne 

 University, nth June, 1894. 



Baron F. von Mueller, K.C.M.G.,has been elected member of 

 the French Institute, in succession to the famous botanist, the late 

 Alphonse de Candolle. The distinction is one highly valued by 

 men of science, and ranks next to that of the gold medal of the 

 Royal Society of England. 



Errata. — On page 44, lines 1 and 2, for u Columbidae " read 

 " Colymbidse." On page 56, line 21, for " Menurus " read 

 " Malurus." 



