126 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [FEB. 7, 
On motion of Dr. Dean the section approved the bill and the 
Secretary was directed to express the entire commendation of 
it to the Council. 
Dr. Arnold Graf read a paper on “The Structure of the 
Nephridial in Clepsine.” He finds in the cells of the intra-cel- 
lular duct fine cytoplasmic anastamosing threads which form a 
contractile mechanism. These are stimulated by granules which 
are most numerous near the lumen of the cell, and thus a peri- 
stalsis is set up which moves the urine out of the duct. In the 
upper part of the intra-cellular duct, the two or three cells next 
to the vesicle or funnel have no distinct lumen, but are vacuo- 
lated; the vacuoles of the first cell being small, those of the 
second larger, and so on till the vacuoles become permanent as 
alumen. He explains the action of the first cell as being simi- 
lar to the ingestion of particles by the infusorians. The matter 
taken up thus from the funnel by the first cell is carried by the 
rest, and so on till the cells having 1 lumen are reached. The 
presence of the excretum causes the granules to stimulate the 
muscular fibres of the cells; peristalsis results and the substance 
is carried outward. The character of this contractile reticulum 
offers an explanation of the structure of a cilium as being the 
continuation of a contractile reticular thread. 
N. R. Harrington, in ‘‘ Observations on the lime gland of the 
Eaithworm,” described the minute structure of these glands in 
Lumbricus terrestris, and showed that the lime is taken up from 
the blood by wandering connective tissue cells which form club- 
shaped projections on the lamellz of the gland, and which pass 
off when filled with lime. The new cell comes up from the base 
of the older cell and repeats the process. This explanation is 
in harmony with the fact that in all other invertebrates lime is 
laid down by connective tissue cells. Histological structure 
and the developmental history confirm it. 
Dr. Bashford Dean offered some observations on “ Instinct 
in some of the lower Vertebrates.” The young of Amia calva, 
the dogfish of the Western States, attach themselves, when 
newly hatched to the water plants at the bottom of the nest 
