4SS Miscellane.ous. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Anatomij of certain Agnathous Pulmonate Molhisls. 



To the Editors of the ^Annals and Magazine of Natural Jlistorj/.' 



Gentlemex, — In the ' A nnals " for January 1 90 1 is a paper by Mr. W. E. 

 Collinge with the above title. The author saj's " he is unable to con- 

 firm many of my statements " published in the ' Proceedings of the 

 Malacological Society of London,' vol. i. (1893). I think, however, 

 two errors into which I was led can be explained. The drawings 

 on pi. i. figs. 10 & 12 represent parts magnified, and drawn, with 

 the aid of a camera liicida, as presented to me. The vas deferens 

 joined the penis where I have shown it, and is free from that 

 point ; so far that drawing is not incorrect, for there was nothing to 

 indicate that it continued, hidden by tissue, to the distal end of 

 the penis*. The specimen is in the Natural History Museum; 

 with more material and in better condition I might possibly have 

 detected what Mr. Collinge was enabled to do. Next, as to 

 the " knob-like process '•* and " nipple-like crenulations"': here I was 

 certainly deceived by appearances caused by myself during dissection. 

 On slitting up the more open part of the penis-tube as far as it was 

 possible, and turning back the severed sides, a solid end was pre- 

 sented (fig. 12), and the nipple-like crenulations I saw were, no 

 doubt, I think now, nothing more than the broken ends of the 

 rugose lining of the organ meeting together where the tube became 

 closely contracted. This certainly did not strike me at the time, 

 and it is evident they have no structural existence as papillate 

 growths round a central main papilla f. It is satisfactory to find 

 these points of detail more clearly defined by Mr. Collinge : the only 

 way in which science can advance is to frankly compare and criticize 

 one another's results. We are all liable to make mistakes — more 

 liable to make false deductions — and the sooner they are put right 

 the better. I must, however, take exception to the following sen- 

 tence : — *' On the supposition that the vas deferens in this species 

 was very short &c., Godwin-Austen proposed to place the genera 

 Puryphanta, ^lea, and Schizoglossa in a new subfamily." This is 

 not exactly what I said. I did not single out any particular organ 

 or specify any minor details of the anatomy. I came to my con- 

 clusion on the broad grounds of general structure of an Agnathous 

 group, and more particularly mentioned the more or less perfect 

 shell-bearing and slug- like species occurring in the families and 

 subfamilies referred to. 



Yours &c., 



Nore, Godalming, H. H. Godwin-Austen. 



15th April, 1901. 



* This is a character in itself 



t Nothing at all like this, in fart, is found which my drawing would 

 indicate. 



