926 RECORD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



by the passage of the Jordan waters tlirougli it. Near the shore were 

 found a small shrimp, and the crab Telphusa fluviatilis. A very fine 

 volcanic mud from the greatest depths contained diatomSj foraminifera, 

 &c. No alga was brought up. 



The TJnio shells at the depth of 250 metres were curiously softened, 

 and resembled in condition the fossils of some of the Tertiary strata 

 of the middle of France ; this is probably chiefly due to pressure. 



Fresh-water Microscopic Ors^anisms.* — Professor Maggi has pub- 

 lished a catalogue of the Eotifera of Valcovia, containing fourteen 

 genera, and eighteen species. 



He also gives a list of the fresh-water Ehizopoda of Lombardy, 

 and has come to the conclusion that AmpMzonella fiava is not iden- 

 tical with Pseudochlamys patella, but that it is a developmental stage 

 of some unknown form. He has investigated the plastids found in 

 ciliated Infusoria, and, especially, those which are found in the nuclei 

 of the Oxytricha. When these organisms are treated with a two-per- 

 cent, solution of bichromate of potash, dark granulations are to be 

 observed in the parenchyma of the body, and a black reticulum is 

 also to be made out in the nuclei. 



Mollusca. 



Excretory System of the Cephalopoda.f — One important point 

 to which Dr. Vigelius has especially given his attention in this paper 

 is the homology between the renal organs of the cephalopodous and 

 ■ of the other Mollusca, but unfortunately with no certain result.} 



Commencing with the DibrancMata Decapoda, he finds in all a 

 general agreement in the essential points ; there is but one renal sac, 

 which lies between the gills and communicates with the pallial cavity 

 by two symmetrical efferent ducts or orifices. Various veins, which 

 carry venous blood to the gills, also pass into the renal sac, and enter 

 into close connection with its walls ; they are the bearers of the so- 

 called venous appendages. In the upper or dorsal portion of the sac 

 there are two bile-dacts which finally unite and pass their contents 

 into a gastric cpecum. The sac itself is laterally connected by two 

 orifices with a large, and otherwise closed cavity (viscero-i^ericardial 

 cavity) which contains the arterial heart, the median portion of the 

 branchial veins, the branchial hearts with their appendages, certain 

 organs of the digestive system, and, finally, the generative gland. 



In place of a short account of the different forms examined, a 

 somewhat more detailed history of one form — the common Sepia 

 officinalis —will be j)referable. Some way behind the anus there is to 

 be noti'jcd on either side a cylindrical tubule, which projects freely 

 into the branchial cavity ; there the efferent ducts of the renal sac 

 have thick muscular walls, and their fine lumen opens by a small, 

 rounded, terminal pore ; they are separated from one another by the 

 rectum and by the duct of the ink-bag. These ducts divide the 



* ' Rev. Sci. Nat.,' ii. (18S0) p. 242. 



+ ' Niedcrl. Arch. Zool.,' v. (1880) pp. 115-84. (2 plates.) 

 • J He always speak.s of that part of the body wliich contains the branchial 

 eavity as being ventral in position. 



