,8^. NOTES AND COMMENTS. 335 



his interest " or " withhold the use of his pen." Mr. George Massee 

 undertakes the responsibility of carrying on the work, and will 

 endeavour " to accomplish the desire expressed by the editor in the 

 first volume ; that of describing or recording new discoveries — 

 •especially British — in every section of Cryptogamic Botany, also, by 

 abstracts and notices, to indicate the results of work done in other 

 countries, biological, morphological, and systematic." Assistance has 

 been promised by well-known specialists, and Mr. E. A. L. Batters 

 will take entire charge of the section devoted to Algae. We are glad 

 to notice that each number is to contain " one or two plates, plain or 

 ■coloured, as occasion may require." 



In a preliminary note on the Foraminifera dredged by the Prince 

 -of Monaco off the Azores, contributed to the Mem. Soc. Zool. France 

 (vol. v., 1892, p. 193), M. Schlumberger describes and figures for 

 the first time the young free stage oi Polytnnia miniaceum (Linn.). A 

 median section shows an assemblage of three spherical chambers 

 having thin walls pierced with few perforations, and arranged as 

 the embryonic chambers of a Globigerina, except that there are no 

 special openings from one chamber to the other. Around these 

 three chambers are numerous others, irregular in size, and present- 

 ing the adult exterior characters of Polytrema. M. Schlumberger 

 adds that the embryonic form may be found in adult specimens, a 

 little above the surface of attachment. 



M. E. L. Bouvier has published some observations on the power 

 of Hermit Crabs to adapt themselves when young indiscriminately 

 to left-handed and right-handed Gasteropod shells [Bull. Soc. Philovi. 

 Paris, ser. 8, vol. iv., pp. 5-9, 1892). He concludes that the 

 majority become adapted to the right-handed twist, because shells of 

 this character are by far the most numerous. When immature, the 

 crabs seem to be indifferent as to the direction of the twist, though, 

 as already remarked by A. x\gassiz, there is a tendency in the 

 abdomen to curve to the right even in very young individuals that 

 have not yet dwelt in a shell. 



The mode of formation -of the well-known chitinous envelope of 

 the larvae of Dragon-flies (Libellula) has recently been investigated 

 anew by M. Joannes Chatin {Comptes Rendus, vol. cxiv., pp. 1 135-1 138). 

 Contrary to the prevailing belief that this covering arises as a secretion, 

 M. Chatin concludes that it originates by the direct modification of 

 the cells of the epidermis itself. The process as described is peculiar, 

 and the results of the investigation, if confirmed, will necessitate 

 some modification in current views as to the true nature of the skin in 

 insects. 



