Miscellaneous, 3(37 



70 to 75 fathoms. After careful washing I found it coutained a 

 considerable number of that rare llhizopod, Technitella hiiumen, 

 jS'orman. The tests are in very fair condition, but through over- 

 washing many are broken up, and none Avere found with the 

 coating of sand or mud which sometimes covers them. A very 

 good figure of this Foraminifer was given in this magazine in 1878, 

 and one with the arenaceous coating is given in the ' Challenger ' 

 E/cport, vol. ix. plate xxv. 



Fragments of a spicular test have been found by me in tliree or 

 four other dredgings from the Irish Sea, but this is the first in- 

 stance in which perfect tests have occurred. I should be glad to 

 learn whether any other observer has obtained it in Irish waters. 



Tlie same dredging also contained a number of the very rare 

 Lagena Hertwif/iana, Brady, of which a figure is given in the 

 ' Challenger ' Keport, vol. ix. plate Iviii., and description at p. 470. 

 This makes the fourth locality from which this Lagena has been 

 obtained, the depths at which the others occurred being respectively 

 155 fathoms (Raine Island), 2000 fathoms (south of Australia), and 

 150 to 200 fathoms (near Bergen, I^orway). Very fine examples 

 of Hypercumnina eloiu/ata, Reophax scorpiurus, and Ilajiloplirag inium 

 ps.udospirale were common. 



I may add that examples were submitted for confirmation to 

 my friend H. B. Brady, who unhesitatingly identified them as 

 named, 



19 Hughenden Avenue, Belfast, 

 October 18, 1884. 



On the Occurrence of a Process rc^emhUng Copalat'ion in Comatula 

 mediterranea. By Dr. C. F. Jickeu. 



While I was occupied with this organism in the Zoological 

 Institute at Graz I observed a process which, like that described by 

 H. Ludwig in Asterina gibhosa *, showed the closest resemblance 

 to a copulation, and which I will here communicate, as the state- 

 ments of this nature with regard to Echinoderms seem to me to be 

 very scanty. 



Two specimens of this Comatula^ vflach. were observed for several 

 days in a large aquarium, were found one morning seated close 

 together, with the arms closely entwined. In the evening of the 

 same day, therefore about twelve hours after the discovery of this 

 condition of things, the two individuals were still united ; but on 

 the following morning, or twenty-four hours after the first obser- 

 vation, the union was dissolved. 



Another still less expected process now commenced. The arms 

 fell off simultaneously with the separation of the pinnules, and 



* Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool. Bd. xxxvii. 



