336 NATURAL SCIENCE. jy^v. 



Two noteworthy contributions to knowledge of the Hydrozoan 

 polypes have lately appeared. In studying the common Hydra, 

 Dr. R. Zoja {Rendiconti R. Istit. Lombardo [2] , vol. xxv., pp. 700-712, 

 pi. iii.) has been led to interpret as evidence of a comparatively 

 complex nervous system, certain groups of granules and radiating 

 filaments, which he has been able to observe with great distinctness. 

 In an elaborate memoir on Ceratella {Tvans. Roy. Soc. Victoria, vol. ii., 

 pt. ii., pp. 8-24, pis. ii.-iiiA.), Professor Baldwin Spencer supplements 

 and completes the work of previous observers in describing the anatomy 

 of this remarkable polype. Originally determined to be a sponge by 

 Gray in 1868, Ceratella was first recognised as a Hydrozoan by H. J. 

 Carter in 1873, and Professor Spencer now confirms the belief that it 

 represents a family distinct from that of the Hydractiniidae. 



The supposed salivary glands of the " sea-mouse " [Aphrodite) 

 have recently been examined by M. A. E. Malard, who points out that 

 they are not in the least glandular in character, and ought to be 

 regarded as labial palpi {Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, ser. 8, vol. iv., 

 pp. 15, 16). 



In describing a new Staphylinid Beetle (Trygaeus Javanicns) from 

 Western Java {Notes Leyden Mus., vol. xiv., 1892, p. 61), Dr. D. Sharp 

 expresses his dissent from the current belief that the insect fauna of 

 Japan is more similar to that of the Palaearctic region than to that of 

 the Oriental region. He is of opinion that the belief is due solely to 

 the imperfection of the evidence, and that when as much is known 

 about the insects of the East as is already known about those 

 of Europe, the fauna of Japan will be found to agree most closely 

 with that of the Oriental region. 



The Pharmaceutical Society have just published a Catalogue of 

 the Hanbury Herbarium contained in their Museum at Bloomsbury 

 Square. It forms a small octavo volume of about 150 pages, and is 

 the work of Mr. E. M. Holmes, the Curator of the Museum. Mr. 

 Daniel Hanbury's Pharmaceutical Herbarium and collection of 

 Materia Medica were presented to the society by his executors, on 

 the condition that they should be kept apart and carefully protected 

 from injury or loss. As the specimens are, as a rule, excellently 

 preserved, and complete in detail, they will doubtless, with the help 

 of the catalogue, be of great service to students of pharmacy, who 

 seem to have been in want of something of the kind. 



The classification adopted is that of Bentham and Hooker's 

 '* Genera Plantarum," and the plants are arranged alphabetically 

 under each natural order. Separate sheets of specimens are indi- 

 cated by italic letters, and the specimens on each sheet by ordinary 



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