310 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Mistaken Case of Budding 1 in Polychsets.* — Ch. Gravier has re- 

 discovered a Terebellid in which a peculiar mode of asexual reproduction 

 was described by Yaillant in 1865. Vaillant thought that buds were 

 given off from a membranous lobe in the vicinity of the mouth, but 

 Gravier finds that the bnds are only the tentacles ! The animal, which 

 Vaillant did not name, is designated by Gravier Anisocirrus decipiens 

 g. et sp. n. ; it belongs to the sub-family Polycirridea. It was found at 

 various places in the Gulf of Tadjourah. 



Alaskan Polychsets.f — J. Percy Moore deals with five new species of 

 Pseudopotamilla from the Pacific coast of North America, which are of 

 interest in indicating the inter-relations of the genus with Etidistylia and 

 Sabella. 



Nephridia of Aeolosoma and MesenchytraBus.J — P. Vejdovsky notes 

 that in Aeolosoma the nephridia vary not only in different segments, 

 but on different sides of the same segment. Both the ascending and 

 descending canals of the nephridium are intracellular. The anterior 

 segments have the most complex nephridia (with nephridiostome, 

 glandular loop, and efferent duct) ; there is progressive simplification 

 posteriorly. In 3fesenchytrceus there is also notable variability in the 

 nephridia. The author shows that there is no warrant for supposing 

 that Aeolosoma can liberate its genital products by normal nephridia. 

 There are true gonoducts, and the whole system is after the Oligochset 

 type- 

 Relationships in 01igochaeta.§ — F. Smith discusses the systematic 

 position of Thinodrilus inconstans Smith. A detailed comparison of this 

 species with those of the other genera has led the author to place it in the 

 genus Lumbriculus, which genus, together with its two species, L. varie- 

 gatus 0. F. Muller, and L. inconstans Smith, are re-defined. 



Italian 01igochaeta.|| — R. Issel describes fifteen species of Enchy- 

 trseidas from Val Pellice, five of which are new to science. Some points 

 bearing on taxonomy are raised in the study of this fresh material. For 

 example, the diverticula of the spermatheca are variable, as in Fridericia 

 aurita, where there are three instead of the usual two, therefore these 

 cannot furnish an absolute criterion for taxonomy. Apropos of numerical 

 variations, it is noted that in Mesenchytraus gaudens there are typically 

 four masses of septal glands ; in the hill variety there are five, and in the 

 mountain form seven. In Fridericia mature and immature individuals 

 were found promiscuously, but in Marionina and Mesenehytrmis only 

 immature forms, and that only at certain determinate periods. There is 

 a brief sexual period, during which only the reproductive organs are in a 

 state of complete development. 



Blood Vessels of Sipunculus nudus.f — P. Enriques criticises the 

 conclusions of Ladreyt as to the functions of the blood vessels in this 



* Comptes Eendus, cxli. (1905) pp. 905-6. 

 t Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1905, pp. 555-69 (1 pi.). 

 t SB. k. B5hm. Ges. Wiss., vi. (1905) pp. 1-11 (1 pi.). 

 § Bull. Illinois Lab. Nat. Hist., vii. (1905) pp. 45-51. 

 || Zool. Jahrb., xxii. (1905) pp. 451-76 (2 pis.). 

 1f Arch. Zool. Exper., iv. (1906) Notes et Revue, No. 2, pp. xxiii-vi. 



