540 Miscellaneous. 



were not attached to roots. They appeared to be carefully attended 

 by the auts which surrounded them. The larva alluded to was 

 almost six millimetres long, was covered on the back with a thick, 

 white, cotton-like secretion. It was also carefully attended by the 

 ants, which were frequently observed to stroke it with their antennae. 

 The ApMdes and Cocci were all in good condition, but without visi- 

 ble means of subsistence excepting the neighbouring grass-roots 

 partially extending into the earth beneath the stones, to which it is 

 probable they were at times transferred by their masters. — Proc. 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1877, p. 145. 



On some Points in the Organization of the Bryozoa. 

 By M. L. JoLiET. 



In a preceding note (April 9, 1877) I have stated the reasons 

 which prevented me from regarding as of a nervous nature the sup- 

 posed colonial nervous system of the Vesicularice. The investiga- 

 tions that I have made at the Laboratory of Eoscoff since the month 

 of May enable me to extend this opinion to the entire group of the 

 Brj^ozoa, and have furnished me with the following data as to the 

 nature and function of this tissue. 



The so called colonial nervous system exists under various forms, 

 sometimes as a branching trunk, sometimes in the form of a plexus 

 in all the Bryozoa that T have examined ; almost throughout it 

 attains a great development, and throughout it is composed of the 

 fusiform cells which I have noticed in Bowerbankia imbricata. It 

 is in these cells that are formed the floating corpuscles (" floating- 

 cells," " fett-kroppar " of Smitt) which float in the interior of the 

 chambers ; it is at the expense of the same tissue that the polypide 

 with its muscles is developed ; and, further, it is in its bosom 

 that both the ova and the mother cells of the spermatozoids are 

 formed. 



By its great development, by its presence in all Bryozoa, and by 

 its important and multiple functions, this system deserves to be 

 regarded as a fundamental and constituent tissue of the Bryozoan, 

 quite as essential as the endocyst, for which I propose the name of 

 endosarc. In all respects the parenchyma of the stems and stolons 

 of the Pedicellinae must be assimilated to it. 



The endocyst, which, as Smitt has demonstrated, is not organized, 

 and only presents cellular structure at the peripheral extremities, is, 

 80 to speak, charged with the vegetative function — the increase of 

 the colony by the formation of new chambers. The special function 

 of the endosarc is to produce the polypides or the reproductive 

 elements. It is itself derived from the endocyst by simple differen- 

 tiation of the cells of the extremities in course of growth. 



My researches have further enlightened me as to the significatior 

 of the brown body, as well as on the mode of fecundation of thf 

 ovum and the development of the larva in several species. 



The brown body is throughout and in all cases the residue of t 

 polypide which previously inhabited the chamber. It is formed b] 



