418 Mr. J. Nietner on new Ceylon Coleoptera. 



the water passing thence into the cavity of the Actinia, and 

 assures us that whatever is then found in the Actinia will have 

 been formed in it. 



Mr. Gosse's observations are directly contradictory of ours. 

 He found the fluid always presenting a milky reaction, except 

 once, and always presenting definite morphotic elements. I 

 regret that he did not also employ ]Mr. Couches precaution of 

 filtering the water ; it would have given more weight to his ob- 

 jections. Nevertheless, as the matter now stands, a glaring 

 contradiction needs to be reconciled. Mr. Gosse, justly enough, 

 places entire reliance on his results ; but he cannot object if 

 I still place reliance on the negatives reached by Mr. Couch and 

 myself, until they are satisfactorily explained. Perhaps some of 

 your readers may feel interested enough in the question to exa- 

 mine it carefully and furnish materials for a decision. I am at 

 present too busily engaged in other researches to repeat the 

 observations with the requisite caution. 



The problem to be solved is this : — Can albumen be detected 

 as a constant ingredient ? Are there any constant, definite mor- 

 photic elements capable of being received as incipient blood- 

 disks, or chyle-corpuscles? 



The xnere presence of albumen, or of corpuscles, is what a priori 

 would be expected : but this proves nothing ; for animalculse are 

 equally present, and various other substances. It is the con- 

 stancy of albumen and corpuscles — and this alone — which can 

 have any physiological import in the present question. 



Mr. Gosse very properly criticises an expression of mine re- 

 specting the yellow spheres " which make solid the tentacles of 

 the Anthea/' — an unhappy word, certainly ; but it was meant to 

 convey an idea of the greater consistence of the tentacles in 

 Anthea, in consequence of which, as I conceive, the tentacles 

 are but slightly retractile. Inasmuch as I had elsewhere de- 

 scribed the tentacles as " tubes,^^ it is clear that by calling those 

 of the Anthea " solid^' I used an inaccurate expression, but could 

 scarcely have meant more than that the spherules lined the tubes. 



I remain, Gentlemen, 



Yours truly, 

 G, H. Lewes. 



XLIV. — Descriptions of new Ceylon Coleoptera. 

 By John Nietner, Colombo, Ceylon. 



[Continued from page 183.] 



Amongst the 300 species of BembidiidcB which have been de- 

 scribed from almost all parts of the world, with the exception 



