248 Miscellaneous. 



endures almost fresh water at Bornholm and Gothland in the 

 Baltic." 



Mr. Kent informs me that Embletonia Qrayii is very nearly allied 

 to E. pallida, and it was found in. company with Daphnia, Floscu- 

 laria, and many other freshwater Entomostraca and Rotifera. — 

 J. E. Grat. 



Siliceous Spicules of Solanderia. 



Since I sent the extract from Dr. Mobius's description of Solan- 

 deria to the ' Annals,' Dr. Mobius most kindly sent to me a small 

 portion of the specimen he described, for comparison with those in 

 the British Museum. When I examined the fragment, I found that 

 the surface was covered with a parasitic Halichondria; and as it 

 formed a whitish coat, I feared that it might have been regarded as 

 part of the coral. I have since received from Dr. Mobius the follow- 

 ing correction of his description : — 



"The specimen of Solanderia verrucosa described by me was over- 

 spread on all its twigs with the sponge whose needles I have figured 

 on tab. 1. fig. 6. I found this parasitical sponge (which I erro- 

 neously regarded as a dermal formation of the polype) not merely 

 on the lower part of the stem, but going up to the very points of 

 the twigs. Your Homophyton Gattyice (Proc. Zool. Soc. Jan. 9, 1866) 

 appears to me to be very like my Solanderia verrucosa. This comes 

 also from the coast of South Africa (Algoa Bay)." — J. E. Gray. 



On the Anatomy of the Test of Amphidetus (Echinocardium) Vir- 

 ginianus, Forbes ; and on the Genus Breynia. Bv P. Martin 

 Duncan, M.B., F.R.S., Sec. G.S., &c. 



The Miocene Amphidetus from the Virginian Tertiaries and the re- 

 Gent species of the genus from the European and Australian seas form 

 a group of very closely allied forms. The Crag specimen of A. 

 oordatus described by Forbes could not be found ; but the examina- 

 tion of a series of recent specimens decided that they were not 

 specifically different from the Miocene form. 



The unusual form of the ambulacral spaces, the nature of the 

 fasciole crossing them, and the resulting absence (more or less) of 

 pores within the fasciole, were asserted to be of a third-rate cha- 

 racter as regards structural importance ; and the author did not 

 consider that the genera Echinocardium, Breynia, Lovenia, &c. 

 had a common origin, or that there was a close genetic relationship 

 between them, because they had this fasciolar structure. He con- 

 sidered the fasciole to be an appendage to several generic group* 

 which were distinctly separated by other structural distinctions. 

 The result of an examination of the Nummulitic Breynia? in the 

 Society's collection satisfied Dr. Duncan that there were only race 

 characters separating them from Breynia AustraUensis — a recent 

 Echinoderm. The persistence of these species, widely distributed 

 and of great geological age, was verv remarkable. — Proc. Geol. Soc. 

 Nov. 25, 1868. 



