442 Miscellaneous. 



in that species. The greatest depth of hody is contained 4| times, 

 the length of the head nearly 3| times, and the breadth of the head 

 almost 5 times in the total length. Liberia. 



Batistes liberiensis exhibits a long, produced head ; the profile 

 of the head runs in a straight line to the muzzle. The length of the 

 head is contained 3^ times and the greatest depth of body twice 

 and one-fifth in the total length, and the eye 44 times in that of the 

 head. The body has large blue-black spots ; the head is adorned 

 with smaller bluish-green spots. 1st D. 3 ; 2nd D. 25 ; A. 27 ; P. 13. 

 Liberia. — Anzeiger der K. Akad. der Wiss, in Wien, March 14, 1867, 

 pp. 63-64. 



On some points in the Anatomy of the Sipunculi. 



By S. JOURDAIN. 



The researches of which I here give the most prominent results 

 relate to the following species : — Sipunculus giyas^ S. obscurus, 

 S. vulgaris f and S. punctatissimus. 



The integuments are destitute of those calcareous corpuscles, 

 sometimes so curious in their form, which are met with in great 

 quantities in iheHolothurice. The spinules which roughen the anterior 

 part of the body of S. obscurus and iS. punctatissimus are dependent 

 upon the epidermic envelope. Glandulse exist in great numbers in 

 the skin of S. obscurus, vulgaris, and punctatissimus, and cause it 

 to appear finely punctate. 



In iS. gigas the general cavity communicates with the exterior by 

 an orifice furnished with a sphincter, situated at the posterior ex- 

 tremity of the body. Two branches springing from the fusiform 

 ganglion, which terminates the nervous chain, surround this orifice 

 with a nearly complete ring. A similar orifice is wanting in the 

 three other species. 



The ova or spermatozoids (for the sexes are not distinct) float in 

 the liquid which fills the general ca\'ity. In the last three species, 

 they can issue only by a bilabiate pore placed upon the neck of the 

 two caeca which open upon the sides of the dorsal region at the 

 level of the anus. In S. gigas there is a pore similarly situated ; 

 but it is possible that the products of generation may be expelled 

 by the posterior orifice, a sort of peritoneal canal in these Anuulata. 

 This well-ascertained arrangement seems to me to be of sufficient 

 importance to justify the creation of a new generic group, to which 

 I propose to give the name of Sipunculoporus ; this genus would at 

 present include only a single species, Sipunculoporus gigas. 



I shall now indicate an anatomical peculiarity which is perhaps 

 connected with the presence of the posterior orifice — namely, the 

 existence of tendinous frsena, or very slender threads, furnished with 

 vibratile cilia, which connect the spiral convolutions of the digestive 

 tube with the walls of the body, and seem to be intended to hold 

 the former in their place. 



The liquid of the general cavity contains two kinds of globules: — 

 (1) colourless discoid corpuscles, very like the globules of human 



