EXTRACTS AND ABSTRACTS FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 153 



which are free at their inferior margin, and plaited on either side ; a 

 great number of oblique striae may also be seen, of a violet colour, and 

 on submitting them to the microscope, M. Edwards is convinced they 

 constitute the sexual apparatus of these Acalephee. Thus, in some he 

 has met with granules having all the appearance of ovules, and in ano- 

 ther individual, where these bodies did not appear the same, he saw a 

 multitude of zoosperms escape, which were extremely lively, and ana- 

 logous in their form and movements to the spermatic animalcules of the 

 Aureliadse, and various other Mollusca. It therefore appears evident 

 these lamellae are either ovaries or testicles, according to the individuals 

 examined, and that in relation to the reproductive organs, the jEquoridece 

 differ from the ordinary Medusa, not because they are deficient of a 

 special generative apparatus, or that it is concealed, but solely by the 

 external position and arrangement of the sexual organs; among the 

 Acalepha named Phenerocarpia, these organs are deeply imbedded among 

 the roots of the prolongation of the mouth, and enter into the compo- 

 sition of the walls of the stomach ; whilst among the jEquorida, which 

 have received the name of Cryptogamia, these very organs are altogether 

 distinct from the central digestive cavity, and freely float at the external 

 part under the inferior surface of the expansion (ombrelle). October, 

 p. 198. 



Milne Edwards on the Microscopic Examination of the Tissue of some 

 Acalepha. In his description of Beroe Forskalia, it is stated, that on 

 subjecting the tissue of Acalephce to the microscope, a multitude of 

 extremely delicate filaments may be seen crossing each other in various 

 directions, and which might possibly be of a muscular nature. There 

 also exists(?) near the surface of the body, an immense number of pyriform 

 corpuscles terminated by a sort of tail, very slender and very much resem- 

 bling those covering the skin of certain Medusa, whose office is probably 

 that of secreting organs. M. Edwards imagines these small glands might 

 be the source of that phosphorescence so well known in the genus 

 Beroe ; but on carefully examining this luminosity it appeared to pro- 

 ceed principally from the vicinity of the ciliated margins, whilst it is 

 in the interval comprised between these margins that the pyriform 

 granules are found. The light given out by these animals, had been 

 noticed by Forskal and more recently by Rolando ; it is of a greenish 

 hue, and is sometimes very vivid ; to cause the animal to emit it, excite 

 the same by mechanical irritation; but when the discharges rapidly 

 succeed each other, their intensity becomes very much diminished. 

 October, p. 215. 



Eschricht on the Diceras rude of Rudolphi. Several of these Ento- 

 zoa were voided by the little girl of M. Grove, physician at Raenne in 

 the island of Bornholm, some months since, and sent to Professor Esch- 

 richt for examination. He considers it to be truly one of the Entozoa, 

 which may be or not adapted to Rudolphi's system, and describes it as 

 being in every respect analogous to that described by Sultzer of Stras- 



