Miscellaneous. 181 



While undoubtedly some of the characters of the Mitraria indi- 

 cated above are secondary and special adaptations of limited distri- 

 bution, it is believed that the majority are ancestral for Brachiopods, 

 Bryozoa, and Chaetopods, and that the common ancestor of these 

 three groups is most closely preserved to us in the genus Mitraria. 

 I therefore suggest as a name for the common ancestor of the Bra- 

 chiopods, Chtetopods, and Bryozoa that of Mitraria, which up to 

 the present is applied simply to the larval form of a single genus of 

 Chsetopoda. 



Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

 Cambridge, Mass. 



Aspidophryxus Sarsii, Giard and Bonnier. 

 By the Rev. A. M. xNorman, M.A,, D.C.L., F.L.S. 



The July ' Aunals ' contains a translation of the description of 

 this parasitic Isopod, which I had placed in the authors' hands.- It 

 is, however, erroneously stated that the Erijthro-ps microplithalma 

 upon which it occurred was " dredged by G. 0. iSars himself upon 

 the Norwegian coast," and the Aspidophryxus is said to " have been 

 determined as A, peltatus by G. 0. Sars," I know not how the 

 authors can have fallen into this error. The host with its parasite 

 was dredged by myself in 18S2 in Solems Fiord, Floro, Norway, 

 among dead Zoster a in 5 fathoms, and was named by me A. pel- 

 tatus, as it appeared to be that species when still in the host, and 

 while therefore those small differences on which Messrs. Giard and 

 Bounier have felt justified in establishing a new species were not 

 visible. I have thought it just to correct the statement that my 

 friend Prof. G. 0. Sars had identified it as his A. peltatus. 



July 15, 1889. 



The Sepioljc of the French Coasts. By M. A. Giard. 



The author refers to the two species supposed to be most abundant 

 in the Pas de Calais, namely IS. atlantica and S. RondeUti, and notes 

 that since the researches of Peters (in 1842) it has been supposed 

 that the ink-bag in S. liondeleti presents difi'erent forms at ditt'erent 

 seasons, being trilobate at the time of breeding and simple during 

 the rest of the year. The modifications undergone by the organ in 

 this respect were regarded by Peters as so important that at the 

 first glance they might be regarded as of generic value. Girod (in 

 1882) confirmed Peters's opinion and extended it further to S. 

 atlantica. 



Steenstrup, in a memoir on the Mediterranean species of Sepiola 

 (Overs. Kongl. Dan. Vidensk. Selsk. Forh. 1887, pp. 47-50), de- 

 scribes the results of an investigation of a great number of types 

 from various localities and collected at ditterent seasons, and shows 



