774 RECORD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



EscJiara foliacea var. angustifolia. In otlier species, however, tho 

 zoarium consists of a flat reticulated or feuestratecT flabelliform 

 lamella, consisting of a double layer of zooecia, having the characters 

 of Lepralia, as we now understand it, according to Mr. Hincks's 

 classification. 



The calcareous stalk, from which grow one or many of these 

 jointed roots, is pointed at the base, and spreads out in the flabelliform 

 manner mentioned. This is strengthened by numerous ribs, which 

 spread through the zoarium, reminding us somewhat of the ribs of 

 a leaf, and these, besides bifurcating, sometimes anastomose. Micro- 

 scopical sections show that these thicker parts, which we are obliged 

 to speak of as ribs, are formed by a thickening of the lamella ; for 

 here, instead of finding the zooecial chambers near the surface, they 

 are found back to back in the median line, and over them is a con- 

 siderable thickness of calcareous growth, which seems to be similar 

 to that four.d in the older parts of Myriozoum and Eschara, where the 

 oral aperture is often covered by a growth two or three times larger 

 than the zocecium. 



All known species of the genus are from Australia and South 

 Africa, and the root structure is sufficiently characteristic for them 

 to be kept together at present, though it may be found advisable in 

 the future to base classification more entirely upon the form of the 

 zooecial cell. 



New Genus of Polyzoa.* — Mr. J. B. Wilson describes a new 

 genus of Cheilostomata closely allied to Catenicella, and to express 

 that affinity the name Catenicellopsis has, at Professor McCoy's sug- 

 gestion, been given to it. The two species as yet known are separated 

 from Catenicella on the same ground that was considered sufficient to 

 justify the separation of Alysidium from that genus, namely, the mode 

 of branching. 



The diagnosis of the genus is : Cells arising, for the most pai-t, 

 from the upper and back of other cells by a short chitinous tube ; 

 cells at each bifurcation commonly geminate ; cells also frequently 

 arising by a short chitinous tube from the side of another single cell, 

 immediately below the lateral process. 



The two species are C. pusilla and C. delicatula, the first growing 

 on Gystopliora in small glassy tufts about -J inch high, and the latter 

 on sea-weed or larger forms of Catenicella in tufts 1 and 2 inches 

 high. 



Arthropoda. 



«. Insecta. 



;•' Little-known Organ of the Hymenoptera.f — The organ, as 

 described by MM. Canestrini and Berlese, consists of a dejjression 

 on the first tarsal joint of the first pair of legs, and of a spur at the 

 apex of the tibia, either simple, bifid, or armed with spines, and often 

 protected by a chitinous sheath. The spur is a modified sj^ine, for 

 two spines are found in the same j)Osition on the second and third 



* ' Journ. Micr. Soc. Vict.,' i. (1880) pp. 64-65 (1 plate). 

 t ' Bull. Soc. Veneto-Trent.,' i. (1880) p. 154. 



