142 CURRENT LITERATURE. 



As a result of a series of experiments upon the propagation of sinistral Helix 

 pomatia, the author finds that after waking up from their Avinter sleep they 

 absorb a large quantity of Avater, equal to about an increase of 40-48 %. Under 

 favourable conditions they then proceed to copulate, and again after the eggs 

 have been laid. The young snaiLs copulate in their first year. Darts are not 

 absolutely necessary for copulation. As a rule H. pomatia copulates during, or 

 after, warm rain and under favourable conditions eggs are laid twice in the same 

 summer, on the other hand many do not lay eggs in the same summer. The 

 laying of eggs takes place from the middle of June to the middle of August, and 

 almost always after the warm rain. Ciiven moderate moisture and warmth 

 nearly all the eggs developc after about 2,5 or 2(5 days, and for 8-10 days remain 

 in the earth, leaving it when rain falls. If the eggs develope under pressure, flat 

 forms arise, but no sinistral ones, and normal growth ensues w^hen the pressure 

 ceases. Sinistral specimens produce dextral ones. Given warmth, moisture 

 and food, the snails are active until the end of November. 



Nierstrasz, H. F — Neue Solenogastren. Zool. Jahrb. (Abth. f. Morph.), 

 1903, Bd. 18, pp. 359-386, T. 35, 36. 



Dr. Nierstrasz describes three new species of Chaetodenna, viz., challengeri, 

 normanni, and canadense, also Uncimenia neapolitana, gen. et sp. nov. 

 Murdoch, R. — On the Anatomy of Paryphanta hushyi, Cray. Trans. N.Z. 

 Inst., 1902, vol. XXXV, pp. 258-262, pi. xxvii. 



An account of the anatomy of Paryphanta hushyi. Gray, has long been looked 

 forward to, and Mr. Murdoch is to be congratulated on having at last obtained 

 an example of the interesting mollusc. 



The alimentary canal, so far as it is described and figured, doeu not appear 

 to differ much from that of P. huchstetteri, Pfr., and the same may be said of the 

 kidney, lung, and pedal gland. The buccal mass and pedal retractors are fused 

 together posteriori}', where they unite with the columella of the shell. The buccal 

 reti'actor is a broad, powerful, band, lying on the doi'sal side of the pedal muscles, 

 branching from the latter are the ocular retractors, which bifurcate towards the 

 anterior ends. The pedal retractors are continuously attached to the foot. 



The generative organs differ from the condition which obtains in P. hoch- 

 stetteri, Pfr., P. edwardi, Suter, and P. urnida, Pfr., in the extreme reduction of 

 the male organs, and the absence of a receptaculum seminis, and exhibit a 

 remarkable resemblance to the generative organs of Schizoglossa novoseelandica, 

 Pfr. 



Melvill, J, Cosmo and Standen, R. — Descriptions of Sixty-eight new Gastro- 

 poda, from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and North Arabian Sea, 

 dredged by Mr. F. W. Townsend, of the Indo-European Telegraph Service, 

 1901-1903. Ann. and Mag. N. H. (s. 7), vol. xii, pp. 289-324, pis. xx-xxiii. 

 Two years ago the authors published the first part of a Catalogue of the 

 MoUusca of the Persian Gulf, etc., enumerating 935 species, of which 77 were new ; 

 to this they now add 68 new Gastropoda. 



Most of the specimens are of small size, though a few — e.g., Murex marjoriae^ 

 Trichotropis pulclierrima, and the superb Plcurotoma navarchus — are more con- 

 spicuous. Special mention may be made of the two new species of Homalaxis, a 

 Fluxina, the first recorded from the Old World, a curious Pissoina (registomoides), 

 a new species of Mdula and many Phurotomidae, while the occurrence of Khi- 

 nella sympiesta, adds a new genu-3 to thi-i region. 



