Miscellaneous. 467 



Oh the Orffanization of the Genera Phyllosoma and Sapphirina. 

 By Prof. Gegknbaur. 



Ill this memoir M. Gepcnbnur publishes a detailed anatomy of 

 riiijllosonui tnrffiferrauca, a little crustacean which has often been 

 arranged amonp: the Stomapodn, but which appears to be a true 

 Decapod, and of Sapp/iirina fitff/cti.s, a little Coj)epodous crustacean. 



In reference to the circulation, the author believes that in the 

 P/njl/oxoiiue there exist true orifices which effect a communication 

 either of the arterial capillaries or the large vascular branches with 

 the abdominal cavity. These Crustacea, notwithstanding they are 

 Decapoda, have therefore a lacunar sanguinary system, and are re- 

 moved, in this point of view, from the common Crab, in which the 

 vascular circulatory system is perfectly closed, as M. Ilseckel has 

 lately shown. The liver of FInjIlosoma is formed of two bundles of 

 blind membranous tubes, which M. Gucrin has described as circula- 

 tory organs. However, the secreting activity of the liver appears to 

 be very small, and it frequently happens that the food passes from 

 the stomach into the interior of the hepatic tubes. 



The Sapphirince have the pro[)crty of shining in the light with 

 most brilliant colours, passing alternately from a sapphire blue to a 

 golden green or a splendid purple. This brilliant colouring is seated, 

 according to the author, in the layer of cells which secretes the chi- 

 tine of the skeleton. Under the microscope, the cells are seen to 

 pass alternately from one colour to the other ; and it may be ascer- 

 tained that the variations of colour of each cell are independent of 

 those of the neighljouring cells. This remarkable property vanishes 

 with life. The Sapphirince possess two well-developed eyes, each 

 furnished with a cornea and crystalline cone. Between the two eyes 

 is placed a little three-lobed body, which is put in communication 

 with the central nervous system by a small nervous filament. This 

 bndv contains several refracting corpuscles, and M. Gcgcnbaur regards 

 it as the remains of the single eye of the larva. It is well known 

 that the single eye of the larva persists in several Crustacea {Daphnia, 

 Artemia, liranchipus, ^Irffulus, kc.) in the form of a spot of pigment. 

 The two eyes of Sapphirina would not therefore be the morpho- 

 logical analogues of the single eye of other Cope[)oda {Cjjchpidoe), 

 but of the more perfect eyes observed in the Argidina, Daphniadcey 

 Phijllopoda, &c., and which are absent in CyclopidcB. — Mailer's 

 Archiv, 1858, i. p. 43. 



On the Metamorphosis of the Pranizae into Ancei. By M. Hesse. 



The author states that he has ascertained by continued experi- 

 ments that the Pranizee are the larvae of Ancens. — Comptes Rendits, 

 March 22, lH.-)8, p. ')6H. 



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