140 



NATURE 



[December 10, 189] 



Dr. William Ewart and Mr. Frederick Treves have been 

 appointed Additional Examiners for the Third M. B. Examina- 

 tion, for which the number of candidates is unusually large. 



Candidates for Lord Walsingham's Gold Medal in Biology 

 and Physiology are requested to send in their essays to Prof. 

 Newton by October i, 1892, 



An interesting report on the course of study pursued in 

 Cambridge by the Local Lecture students during the Long 

 Vacation, 1891, appears in the Reporter of December 8. 

 Scientific courses on invertebrate palaeontology, chemistry, 

 physics, and physiology were given with success in the Univer- 

 sity Laboratories ; while single lectures, with the object of in- 

 spiring interest in other departments, were given by Dr. Hill, 

 Dr. D. MacAlister, and Prof. Darwin. Courses in general 

 literature and art were also arranged, and the result of the whole 

 is deemed by the Syndicate so satisfactory that they propose to 

 regard the Long Vacation scheme as part of their regular work. 

 Forty-seven students took advantage of the facilities offered by 

 the University for acquiring a closer know ledge of the subjects 

 they had commenced under the University Extension Lectures. 



It is proposed that two new Syndicates shall be appointed — the 

 first, to be called the Engineering Laboratory Syndicate, is to 

 make arrangements for the further development of the Engineer- 

 ing School in the University, and in particular to endeavour to 

 raise funds for its adequate endowment ; the second is to consider 

 the establishment of an Honours Examination in Mechanical 

 Science. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science for June 

 1891 contains : — On the renal organs of certain Decapod Crus- 

 tacea, by W. F. R. Weldon (plates xxi. and xxii.). It would 

 appear that the nephro-peritoneal sacs of the Decapoda should 

 be regarded rather as enlarged portions of a tubular system, 

 such as that found in Mysis and in the Thalassinidas, than as 

 persistent remnants of a "coelomic" body-cavity, into which 

 tubular nephridia open. — On the nephridium of Lumbricus and 

 its blood-supply, with remarks on the nephridia in other Chseto- 

 poda, by Dr. W. Blaxland Benham (plates xxiii. to xxv.). In this 

 memoir the author settles the nomenclature of the parts of the 

 nephridium and the course of the various regions ; details the 

 structure of these regions in Lumbricus ; institutes a comparison 

 with the nephridium in other genera ; describes the nephrostome 

 or funnel in Perichceta malamaniensis, n.sp., and some other 

 genera ; and describes and figures the vascular supply of the 

 nephridium in Lumbricus and in Arenicola. — Notes on the Naidi- 

 form Oligochseta, containing a description of new species of the 

 genera Pristina and Pterostylarides, and remarks upon cepha- 

 lization and gemmation as generic and specific characters in the 

 group, by Dr. A. Gibbs Bourne (plates xxvi. and xxvii.). — On 

 Pdomyxaviridis, sp.n., and on ttie vesicular nature of proto- 

 plasm, by Dr. A. Gibbs Bourne (plate xxviii.). This new species 

 of Pelomyxa was found in the mud of a small tank in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Madras Presidency College ; it would seem to 

 be about the largest known species of the Lobosa, spread out 

 specimens average one-third of an inch in diameter; the vesicles 

 contained chlorophyll, and were numerous ; the protoplasm was 

 densely packed with bacteria, the "crystals" of Greef-; the 

 pseudopods were coarse and blunt ; no reproductive processes 

 were noted ; nuclei and nucleoli were present in numbers. — On 

 the medusEe of Millepora mtirrayi, and on the gonophores of 

 Allopora and Distichopora, by Dr. Sydney J. Hickson (plates 

 xxix. and xxx.). From specimens from Torres Straits, pre- 

 served by Prof. Haddon, the author has determined that the 

 ampullse described in the hard parts of this Millepora by Quelch 

 are the cavities containing male medusse. The medusa of Mille- 

 pora is a transformed zooid — that is, it is not from the first modi- 

 fied to bear the spermarium, but it is an ordinary zooid of the colony 

 changed into a medusa after the migration of spermospheres 

 into its ectoderm, which are subsequently developed there ; 

 these medusae escape from the ampullas before the spermatozoa 

 are matured. The male gonophores of Distichopora differ from 

 those of Allopora, but the female gonophores of these genera 

 closely resemble one another. The gonophores of the Hydro- 

 corallinse and Hydromeduss are carefully compared ; those 

 of the former are not degenerate medusae.— On a red pigment- 

 forming organism, Bacillus coraUinus, by C. Slater (plate 

 xxxi.). 



October 1891 contains : — On immunity against microbes, by 

 Dr. Armand Ruffer, Part 2 (plates xxxxii. and xxxiii.). 

 While the first part of this memoir treated of the struggle which 

 takes place in the healthy body between micro organisms and 

 amoeboid cells, this part details what happens where these 

 organisms have found their way into the tissues of animals. It 

 would be impossible to do justice to the contents of this valuable 

 memoir by an abstract.— On the formation and fate of the 

 primitive streak, with observations on the archenteron and 

 germinal layers of Rana temporaria, by Dr. A. Robinson and 

 j R. Assheton (plates xxxiv. and xxxv.). The primitive streak is 

 formed in the frog by concrescence of the lips of the blastopore 

 from behind forwards ; the ventral moiety of the primitive 

 streak, shortly after the perforation of the anus, ceases to exist 

 and splits up ; the dorsal moiety becomes folded upon itself, 

 like and along with the neural plate, and becomes separated 

 from the skin ; it gives rise to the whole of the tail with the 

 exception of the greater part of the skin. — On some points in the 

 histology and development of Myriothela phrygia, by W. B. 

 Hardy (plates xxxvi. and xxxvii.). — On the structure of an 

 earthworm allied to Nemertodrilus, Mich., with observations 

 on the post-embryonic development of certain organs, by Frank 

 E. Beddard (plates xxxviii. and xxxix. ).^ — On some points in the 

 development oi Scorpio fuhnpes, by M. Laurie (plate xl.). The 

 development of this form adds another to the numerous types of 

 development in the Arrachnida ; it is, as shown by its mode of 

 nutrition, a highly specialized form. There is no doubt that 

 the type of development represented by Euscorpius is the more 

 primitive of the two. The chief arguments in favour of 

 this are the remarkable facts of the formation in Scorpio 

 fulvipes of a rudimentary amnion, and the formation of yolk- 

 spheres in the earlier stages, and a mass of yolk round which 

 the gut is formed. — Abstract of Maupas's researches on 

 multiplication and fertilization in Ciliate Infusorians, by Dr. 

 Marcus M. Hartog. — On the occurrence of pseudopodia in the 

 Diatomaceous genera Melosira and Cyclotella, by J. G. Gren- 

 fell (plate xli.). The author states that he has found pseudo- 

 podia in Cyclotella kutzingiana, and in one or two small species 

 of Melosira. "At Heylesbury, in Wiltshire, the River Wiley 

 and the brooks were found full of a Melosira in small isolated 

 frustules, with long delicate pseudopodia ; a good set of Cyclo- 

 tellas with pseudopodia were found at Kew Gardens." In the 

 large pond in the gardens of the Botanical Society of London, 

 frustules of Melosira gathered with some specimens o\ Archerina 

 boltoni were found with these pseudopodia ; sometimes they were 

 easily seen for a part of their length with a \ object-glass, but 

 in some cases, as in the diatoms from Kew, " they are generally 

 invisible, even when specially looked for." These pseudopodia 

 are best seen on " well dried material," they are fairly stiff, and 

 are non-retractile to ordinary observation. In length they vary, 

 in Cyclotella from two and a half to six times the width of the 

 valves ; they are very permanent, in specimens kept in water 

 they remained apparently unchanged for months ; they are 

 generally fairly straight, but sometimes they branch and some- 

 times two or three spring from a short thickened base. " As to 

 the use of these pseudopods, and the question why other 

 Diatoms do not have them, the chief point to be remembered 

 is that these little Melosiras and Cyclotellas occur mainly as 

 isolated frustules, and are ^without the power of locomotion. 

 Under these circumstances the pseudopodia serve the purposes 

 of protection, means of attachment, and floats." The author 

 says: "facts point conclusively to the substance of these pseu- 

 dopodia being protoplasm." It is quite probable that "some 

 kind of cuticle is secreted by the protoplasm." As to the pos- 

 sibility of these growths not being pseudopodia at all, he combats 

 the idea, and institutes a comparison between them and the 

 radiating structures met with in Archerina (the reference to 

 Prof. Ray Lankester's description of this very interesting form 

 should be Q. /. M. Sc, vol. xxv., 1885, p. 61), but it will be 

 remembered that Prof. Ray Lankester refers to the "delicate 

 but stiff filaments" in his description of Archerina, and only 

 uses the term pseudopodia in a conventional sense. As yet we 

 are not convinced by a perusal of Mr. Grenfell's paper that the 

 Diatoms possess pseudopodia in any sense of this term, or that 

 they have any affinities with the Heliozoa. — A very ably written 

 review, signed by George Bidder, on '"' Dendy's Monograph of 

 the Victorian Sponges, Part I.," which has just been published 

 at Melbourne, concludes this part and volume xxxii. (N.S.)of the 

 /oternal. The first part of Dr. Dendy's monograph is devoted 

 to the account of the Calcareous Sponges, a group on which Mr. 



NO. II 54, VOL. 45] 



