440 RECORD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



The following is a list of the new Rpecies, most of which were 

 found in tbo Bay of Naples: — Cephalofrtx stgnatus ; Polia curta, 

 P. minor ; Cerehratulus pantherinus, C. Dohrnii, G. Gruhei, C. tristis, 

 G. hepaticus ; Langia formosa nov. gen. et sp. ; Ampldporus dubius ; 

 A. marmoratus ; A. pugnax ; Tetrasfemma diadema, T. odopunctatum ; 

 Oerstedia vittata, 0. unicolor ; Nemertes Marioni. Dr. Hubrecht 

 promises a full description of these forms, together with coloured 

 figures. 



The Turbellaria. — The work of M. Paul Hallez appears to be of 

 sufficient importance to justify us in following the ' Eevue Scien- 

 tifique ' * in directing attention to it as a whole ; we shall, however, 

 pass by those points to which we have previously t drawn attention. 



The water-vascular or excretory vessels are confined to the Khab- 

 doccela and are not to be found in the Dendrocoela, for the system 

 which Blanchard regarded as having this character in the latter is 

 shown now to be nervous in function. 



Observations on Stenostomiim leucops and Microstomiim lineare 

 demonstrate that, in these animals, the ovaries are formed by budding 

 at the expense of the intestine, while the testicles are derived from 

 the ectoderm; this is an interesting confirmation of the views 

 of E. van Beneden as to the primary origin of the generative 

 products. Although hermaphrodite, the Dendrocoela are at a given 

 time definitely of one sex, and the male organs are, as a rule, those 

 which are first active ; in the Ehabdocoela, on the other hand, 

 spermatozoa and ova are matured contemporaneously. The products 

 of the accessory male glands are shown by Hallez to have the 

 fimction of sustaining the vitality of the spermatozoa, save in those 

 cases where they secrete a veritable poison ; and in these cases it is 

 interesting to note that the walls of the receptaculum seminis secrete 

 an albuminous liquid which takes on the function of the products of 

 the accessory glands. The seminal vesicle and the reservoir of the 

 accessory glands may be (1) distinct and communicating, (2) united 

 into a single vesicle, or (3) completely independent. The third case 

 is only found in those animals in which these glands have a poisonous 

 function. 



With regard to the ova the author is of opinion that they are 

 merely cells detached from the wall of the ovary; and states that 

 he thinks that the soft-shelled ova (summer-eggs) are produced as a 

 result of mimicry. 



The crystalloids of Mesostomum appear to have been carefully 

 studied, and as a result we find that towards the end of summer the 

 protoplasm of the different tissues undergoes a retrograde metamor- 

 phosis by which it is converted into bodies that seem to have the 

 same function as starch-granules. 



The results of his investigations on the development of Leptoplana 

 tremellaris and Eurylepta auriculata are to show that, diiferent as their 

 history is, the earlier phenomena are the same in both ; during and 

 after the period of the extrusion of the polar globules the egg 



* 1879, No. 19, p. 436. t ^ee, ante pp. 90 and 263. 



