2G8 Miss I. B. J. Sollas on a new 



Ie?idetijeldi, var. himalayanus *, which apparently forms a link 

 between the present species and Lophopue crystaHinus. In 

 this variety (i.) processes are present at the ends of some of 

 the statoblasts, but are absent from others ; (ii.) the central 

 process is larger than the others, and bears, in addition to a 

 distal circle of minute, curved, blunt processes, others which 

 are arranged irregularly nearer the statoblast. It is easy to 

 see how, by an increase in size of the central process of a 

 statoblast like that of Lophopits hndenfeldi, var. himalayanus, 

 a statoblast such as we find in Lophopus capensis, sp. n., 

 might have arisen. 



It is interesting also to notice that Pectinatella davenport!, 

 a new species described by Oka, possesses a large number of 

 processes beset with recurved hooks, somewhat resembling 

 those of L. capensis, but differing from them chiefly in being 

 very minute. 



The fact that the statoblasts, although possessing a fairly 

 well-developed annulus, sink to the bottom, calls for some 

 attention ; it may possibly explain the use of the hooks, 

 which by catching in foreign objects would serve to prevent 

 the statoblast from falling too far below the surface of the 

 water to less well oxygenated layers. I have seen as many 

 as six statoblasts linked into a chain by the interlocking of 

 their hooks, and on one occasion, when I carried some of the 

 statoblasts with me on a short railway journey, I found that 

 through the shaking of the train every one of the statoblasts 

 had become entangled in some floating green filamentous alga 

 in the water containing them, and they remained in that 

 position and hatched there. All the others which hatched in 

 my possession were kept in open glass dishes in water not as 

 much as 1 cm. in depth, while those kept in a tall vessel in 

 water say 30 cm. deep did not hatch. 



Braem, in discussing the germination of the statoblasts, 

 emphasizes the importance of a position near the surface of 

 the water for germination. He has shown that suspension of 

 respiration is necessary to render the contents of the stato- 

 blast capable of germination. In general this is brought 

 about by enclosure in ice. But the lack of oxygen in the 

 bottom-mud is so great that a sojourn there was equally 

 effective. In the case of Cristatella, he concludes, on indirect 

 evidence (viz. the fact that statoblasts are found in the 

 slimy bottom-mud), that the hooks, by catching in loose 

 weed which afterwards sinks to the bottom, are the cause of 



* The name himalayanus is given to the new variety on p. 147, tut in 

 the table on p. 148 it is called indica, apparently by oversight. 



