924 RECORD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



vein of a rabbit, and tlie urine subsequently examined, with the follow- 

 ing results : — 



Maltose is partly converted in the blood into grape-sugar, and 

 partly passes out unchanged. Soluble starch yields dextrin and grape- 

 sugar. Achroodextrin (a) suffers only partial change, grape-sugar and 

 maltose being found in the urine, together with dextrin. Achroodex- 

 trin (13) yields a similar result. Achroodextrin (y) yielded no sugar. 



Generally, the results tend to show that the changes which starch 

 undergoes in the body are similar to those which occur when it is 

 submitted to the action of diastase outside it. 



B. INVERTEBRATA. 



Deep-water Fauna of the Swiss Lakes.* — Dr. Asper gives a brief 

 account of his investigations into the fauna of eleven of the Swiss 

 lakes. 



That of the Lake of Zurich would appear to be very rich. The 

 MoUusca are represented by various genera, and those delicate Cyclads 

 — the Pisidia — are always present. The larvee of Diptera were also 

 numerous. Living in small tubes formed from the slime, they are 

 either colourless or of an intense yellow or red colour ; and they chiefly 

 belong to the genera Cliironomus and Tanypus. Acarida were nowhere 

 completely absent. Vermes were richly represented, and chiefly by 

 species of Lumbriculus and Scemiris. Of the latter genus great quan- 

 tities were observed. There was also a colourless Hydra. In the Lake 

 of Lucerne seventy specimens of what apjiears to be Asellus Foreli 

 ■were taken at one dredging. Here, again, Lumbriculids and Dipterous 

 larvfe were very abundant. In the Lake of Sils (Engadine) — to omit 

 many points of interest in other lakes — the Hydroids aj)pear to be 

 especially remarkable. A new species is described and figured by the 

 author under the name of Hydra rhcetica. Of a bright red colour, and 

 often as much as 1^ cm. in size, it gives indications of forming buds 

 which remain permanently attached to it, and so give rise to a colony. 

 The male and female individuals can be easily distinguished. The 

 fauna of this lake was very rich in individuals, though comparatively 

 poor in species. 



Dredgings in the Bay of Biscay-t— The following are some of 

 the more important results to which M. A. Milne-Edwards directs 

 attention. 



The Crustacea were, he says, extremely interesting ; not one of the 

 specimens dredged is also littoral in habitat, and it seems as though 

 there were two faunas placed one above the other, and not mixing. 

 He forms a new genus — ScyramatMa — to contain Aiuathia Carpenteri 

 and Scyra umbonata ; a crab with phosphorescent eyes was found at 

 various depths between 700 m. and 1300 m. (Geryon tridens); this has 

 been already seen in the Norwegian seas. Munida tenuimana^ with 

 large and phosphorescent eyes was not rare. Gnathoplia^isia zoea, which 



* ' Zuol. Auzeig..' iii. (1880) pp. 130, 200. 

 t 'CVtmples Eeudus,' xci. (1880) p. 355. 



