272 Miscellaneous. 
discharge of lasso-cells, it seems to me very probable that this last 
alternative is what takes place in the seizure of prey. 
During my study of the gonophores of Physalia I had also occa- 
sion to make some histological observations, so far as the condition 
of my materials permitted. One of the most interesting of these is 
the protoplasmic connexion of the lasso-cells with each other. This 
I first observed in some siphons mounted zn toto. In these four or 
five, or sometimes more, cells were distinctly seen to be connected 
with each other by means of protoplasmic processes. These cells 
were generally arranged in a line parallel to the long axis of the 
siphon, and each cell was therefore bipolar. In some of the cells, 
however, I have observed one or more lateral processes ; but whether 
these proceeded to other lasso-cells or to ganglionic cells I have not 
been able to make out. All the lasso-cells that I have observed 
connected together were not yet fully developed ; some of them were 
still very young, but in others the vacuole, which afterwards becomes 
the capsule, had already attained a large size, and contained a horse- 
shoe-shaped deeply staining body, which is so characteristic of the: 
lasso-cells in this species. I have tried to demonstrate the same 
connexion in the ripe lasso-cells, but hitherto I have not been 
successful. ‘This I think can hardly be surprising when we consider 
how reduced the cytoplasmic mantle of the capsules finally becomes, 
and how comparatively far they stand from each other, thus necessi- 
tating a considerable lengthening and consequent diminution in 
thickness of the protoplasmic processes, I have observed the same 
connexion in sections of young siphons, although, as is to be 
expected, I have in this case never seen more than two cells con- 
nected together. One or both of them, however, had usually a 
second process. 
The facts already known afford a sufficient clue to the probable 
mechanism, by which a large number of lasso-cells are discharged 
simultaneously ; for, the connexion of the ganglionic cells with each 
other as well as with the lasso-cells being proved, we have only to 
assume the transmission of impulse from one ganglionic cell to 
another, in order that a simultaneous discharge of numerous lasso- 
cells should take place, But the observation above recorded requires 
a certain modification of our conception of the matter, in that it 
does not necessitate us to assume the connexion of every lasso-cell 
with a ganglionic cell. It perhaps justifies us in supposing that 
the protoplasmic connexion among lasso-cells subsists to the last, 
and furnishes the passage for the direct transmission of impulse 
from one cell to another, whether this impulse be originally supplied 
in one or the other of the ways above mentioned. Further obser- 
vation will perhaps bring to light a similar connexion of lasso-cells 
in other forms.—Johns Hopkins University Circulars, vol. xiv. 
no. 119, p. 80. 
