806 EECOED OF CUEKENT EESEARCHES RELATING TO 



regarded as not being infested by psorosperms, but he has been able to 

 detect them in examples of E. proteus. They were figured by 0. F. 

 Miiller in his 'Zoologia danica,' but were taken by him for the 

 first two stages in the development of the young Echinorhynchus. 



In the same note he states that in Tcenia expansa he has seen a 

 large number of corpuscles very closely allied to the organism which 

 produces pebrine. Once, also, he detected them in T. denticulata, but 

 the specimen in question was associated with an example of the former 

 species, which was full of these organisms. 



Bodies found on Meat.* — On the refuse of certain meat from the 

 abattoir at Nancy, M. Poincare has found bodies, which were in no 

 way encysted, among the muscular fibres, to which, however, they 

 were so intimately attached as to seem at first sight as if they occu- 

 pied a zone in the cavity of the sarcolemma ; they were found to be 

 independent of it, and, indeed, no examination is, in most cases, neces- 

 sary to demonstrate this, as the bodies become isolated spontaneously. 

 The body is cylindrical, with two conical extremities, with a distinct 

 cuticle, and presenting a number of lines which circumscribe the 

 large cells ; within, there is a granular mass, but no distinct signs of 

 internal organization were to be made out. The bodies were, on the 

 average, • 05 mm. wide, and • 28 mm. long ; the size varied a good 

 deal. Notwithstanding the absence of any distinct organization, they 

 appear to be independent organisms, and it is suggested that they are 

 examples of some one phase in the metamorphoses of tsenioid forms. 

 For the moment, the author contents himself with directing attention 

 to their presence. 



Floscularia ornata.f — Mr. T. B. Eosseter, when watching this 

 floscule, saw enter its mouth a large brown mass which was too 

 large to pass from the funnel into the vestibule ; the latter began to 

 swell, the contractile rim gradually opened, the whole of the setae on 

 the lobes were turned inwards and thrust down the trochal disk on to 

 the brown jelly-like mass, piercing it like so many needles, thrusting 

 it from the vestibule through the contractile rim into the mouth, 

 which instantly became distended, and the prey passed down into the 

 stomach; the lobes were drawn upwards, and again resumed their 

 feather-like appearance. 



Prothelminthus, a new low Vermian Form.| — The species 

 described by M. Jourdain under this new generic name was, like 

 Intoshia leptoplance of Giard, found on the Planarian Leptoplana 

 tremellaris ; it was found, however, on the surface of the body, instead 

 of in the gastric caeca, but is, notwithstanding, probably the same 

 species. It lives alone in a cavity in the integuments of the worm, 

 similarly to IntosMa linei, as discovered by Giard. 



There are two kinds of individuals. Both have a vermiform 

 shape, are roimded at both ends, and divided into more or less distinct 

 segments, and are entirely covered by cilia, of which the terminal 



* 'Comptes Rendus,' xci. (1880) p. 177. 



t ' Sci.-Gossip,' 1880, p. 182. 



X ' Rev. Sci. Nat.,' ii. (1880) p. 68 (1 plate). 



