94. QUARTERLY CHRONICLE. 
fluid. M. Duthiers concludes, from the facts which he 
adduces, that the blood of the Mollusca, Gephyrea, and 
Zoophyta must be very different from that of Vertebrata, 
on account of the direct connection which it has with the 
external world. 
M. Balbiani, in a later number, records some remarkable 
observations on “ Animal Cells.” Some time since, the author 
described contractile vesicles which he had noticed in the 
unimpregnated ova of various animals, and he now adds 
some observations on the existence of canals communicating 
with these contractile vesicles. His observations have been 
made principally upon the egg of Geophile longicornis ; but 
he has also studied the ova of various Vertebrata, of Annelida, 
and Turbellaria. The facts which M. Balbiani describes seem 
to indicate a sort of circulatory system in these cells similar 
to that of the Infusoria; but some confirmation of his opinion 
will be required before such a remarkable structure can be 
accepted as an undoubted truth. 
Annales des Sciences Naturelles—In the number of this 
journal for last November is a paper by Dr. Lacaze-Duthiers 
on “A new Genus of Ascidians.’? The remarkable little 
molluscoid described in this paper presents characters which 
will doubtless render it the type of a new group of Ascidia. 
While presenting the usual anatomical structure of that class, 
it possesses a bivalved shell, not unlike that of some sessile 
Brachiopoda, and affords a further confirmation to the views 
of Messrs. Huxley and Hancock, who have associated the 
Polyzoa, Truncata, and Brachiopoda. Dr. Duthiers proposes 
to give this Ascidian the generic name Chevreulius. 
The first number for this year is devoted to a part of a 
memoir by M. Jules Chéron, entitled “‘ Researches to serve 
for the history of the Nervous System of the Dibranchiate 
Cephalopods.” This is a very extensive and valuable essay, 
and is illustrated by two plates, illustrating the nervous 
system of Eledone, and another. 
Journal de l’Anatomie et de la Physiologie (Robin’s). 1, 1866. 
—Among various other valuable physiological papers in this 
journal is a microscopical one by Dr. J. F. B. Polaillon, en- 
titled “Studies on the Texture of Peripheral Nervous Ganglia.” 
The present paper is the first part of an essay on this subject, 
and consists of a very able historical review of the literature 
of peripheral ganglia. The author claims for Ch. Robin the 
merit of first propounding the view of “ bipolar nerve-cells ” 
which is now generally current. 
ENGLAND.—Annals and Magazine of Natural History.— 
In the March number of this magazine is a translation of 
