1874.] Prof. P. M. Duncan on the Nervous System of Actinia. 263 



Hornstem (C.) Ueber die Abhangigkeit cler tiiglicheu Variation des 

 Barometerstandes von der Eotation der Sonne. 8vo. Wien 1873. 



The Author. 



Houk (Mrs. Gr. W.) Diminution of Water on the Earth, and its per- 

 manent conversion into solid forms. 8vo. Drayton, Ohio 1873. 



The Author. 



Klein (E.) The Anatomy of the Lymphatic System. I. Serous Mem- 

 branes. 8vo. London 1873. The Author. 



Salmon (Dr. Gr.), E.E.S. A Treatise on the Analytic Geometry of 

 Three Dimensions. Third Edition. 8vo. Dublin 1874. 



The Author. 



"Willson (W. G-.) The. Cyclone in the Bay of Bengal in June 1872. 8vo. 

 Calcutta 1872. The Author. 



Les Eaux Thermales de Tile de San-Miguel (Azores), Portugal. 8vo. 

 Lisbonne 1873. Comte Da Praia Da Victoria. 



" On the Nervous System of Actinia" Part I. By Professor 

 P. MARTIN DUNCAN, M.B. Lond., F.R.S., &c. Received 

 October 9, 1873. 



I. A Notice of the Investigations of ffomard, Haime, Schneider and 

 Rotteken, and others on the subject. 



MM. Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime* wrote as follows in 1857 

 concerning the nervous attributes of the group of Coelenterata called 

 Zoantharia : " They (les Coralliaires) enjoy a highly developed sensibi- 

 lity ; not only do they contract forcibly upon the slightest touch, but they 

 are, moreover, not insensible to the influence of light. Nevertheless, neither 

 a nervous system nor organs of special sense have been discovered in them. 

 It is true that Spix described and figured ganglions and nervous cords 

 in the pedal disk of Actiniae ; but the observations of this naturalist, so far 

 as the polypes are concerned, are not entitled to the least confidence. 



" Some naturalists have supposed that the ' bourses calicinales ' of the 

 Actiniae are eyes, and M. Huschke believes that certain capsules in the 

 trunk of Veretilla, which contain calcareous bodies, are the organs of 

 hearing. But these hypotheses do not rest upon any proved facts." 



* Hist. Nat. des Coralliaires, vol. i. p. 11. 



