316 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Bdelloids and other moss-haunting Rotifers is worth repeating here. 

 The moss is washed vigorously in a vessel of water ; the water is then 

 strained through a coarse silk net (No. 6 bolting silk), which retains all 

 moss stems, leaves and larger debris, but allows all Eotifers to pass 

 through. The water is then strained a second t:me, or condensed, 

 through a silk net (No. 16 or 17) fine enough to retain all Rotifers. 

 The condensed material should be examined as soon as possible, as many 

 species do not live long under these altered conditions. 



Rotifera of Kew Gardens.* — In a volume published by the Director, 

 and giving an account of the Wild Fauna and Flora of the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Kew, C. F. Rousselet enumerates 120 species of 

 Rotifers which he has observed in the waters within this area. Some 

 interesting forms were obtained, but no new species was discovered. 



Marine Rotifera of Norway .| — 0. I. Lie-Pettersen has studied the 

 marine Rotifers of the Norwegian coast district near Bergen, including 

 the fjords and brackish water pools on the islands, and enumerates 31 

 species, 9 of which, mostly Synchastfe, are Plankton Rotifers living in 

 the open sea. The following 5 species are described as new : Synchceta 

 curvata, Notommata gravitata, Pleurotrocha bidentata, Dighna rousseleti, 

 Mastigocerca marina, which seems to be identical with Diurella marina 

 of Daday. The drawings of the jaws are obviously incorrect, as they 

 cannot possibly work, and the manubria are joined to the rami instead 

 of to the unci. 



Rotifera of Norfolk.^: — R. Freeman, having studied for one week in 

 11)04, the Rotifers at the Norfolk Biological Station at Sutton Broad, 

 gives a list of 120 species observed by him, with a few remarks on their 

 occurrence, and on the method of collection and work. 



Ciliated Infusorians within Egg's of Rotifer. § — H. Charlton 

 Bastian describes the occurrence of a single large specimen of the 

 ciliated Infusorian Otostoma inside the egg of Hydatina, and also the 

 segmentation of the apparent contents of the egg into 12-20 spherical 

 masses, which develop into young forms of Vorticella and Oxytricha. 

 He believes that the egg-substance is actually transformed into the 

 Infusorian or Infusorians— a case of heterogenesis — and he carefully 

 notes the stages of the transformation. Those who are unable to accept 

 Bastian's interpretation must offer some other — e.g. that Rotifers' eggs 

 are liable to be parasitised. 



Echinoderma. 



Skin-Glands of Echinaster.|| — Ph. Bartels finds that the large skin- 

 glands of Echinaster sepositus are wholly epithelial invaginations. Into 

 the lumen of the simple gland cells are liberated from the periphery and 

 burst, giving rise to mucus. The glands are surrounded by strong con- 



* Kew Bulletin, add. ser., v. (1906) pp. 68-73. 



t Bergens Museum Aarbog, x. (1905) pp. 3-44 (2 pis.). 



X Trans Norfolk and Norwich Nat. Soc, viii (1905) pp. 138-47. 



§ Proc. Roy. Soc, series B, lxxvi., No. B 511 (1905) pp. 385-92 (1 pi.). 



|| Zool. Anzeig., xxix. (1906) pp. 639-40. 



