Miscellaneous. 95 



Bojani, and in the majority of cases we may say that the segmental 

 organs are independent of those bodies. 



Hitherto we have been acquainted with three species of herma- 

 phrodite Spirorbes ; a fourth must be added, namely Spirorbis com- 

 munis, which abounds at Roscoff. 



In the group Gephyrea, in Phascolosoma vulgare, we find, on the 

 anterior part of the two long blackish sacs, a tube furnished with a 

 pavilion with two broad ciliated lips. The structure of the sacs 

 shows them to be renal bodies, to which the segmental organs are 

 annexed. The genital gland, male or female, is situate at the base 

 of the posterior pair of the retractor muscles of the proboscis. The 

 racemose gland is attached to an elastic thread, which is probably a 

 blood-vessel. The ovum is remarkable for the presence of cilia at 

 the surface of the vitelline membrane, which, when observed in 

 front, appears finely striated. 



In the subintestinal blood-vessel, in the midst of the elliptical 

 blood- globules, we find encysted trematodes, which are carried along 

 even into the papillae of the proboscis, by the cilia with which this 

 vessel is furnished. Tho above-mentioned papillae appear to play a 

 great part in respiration ; in fact the whole circlet is in communi- 

 cation with the circulatory apparatus. The globules ascend along 

 the walls and descend by the centre of the papilla. Processes of 

 the walls in the interior of the papillary cavity cause the globules 

 to remain a certain time in contact with the delicate wall of these 

 organs, and thus facilitate an exchange of gases. This may explain 

 why the animal, when quiet in a trough filled with sea-water, 

 exserts its proboscis every moment. — Comptes Rendus, May 26, 1870, 

 p. 1092. 



Morphological Notes on the Limbs of the Amphiumidce, as indicating 

 a possible Synonymy of the supposed Genera. By John A. Rydek. 



Little attention has apparently been given to the comparative 

 history of the limbs of the known species of Amphiuma. Very 

 young specimens do not seem to have been usually collected for 

 museums. I have had the opportunity to study such a series, vai y- 

 ing from 6 to 8 inches in length, and about \ inch, or a little more, in 

 diameter ; they were obtained in the vicinity of Biloxi, Mississippi, 

 and arc the property of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. 



From these it appears that the digital elements of the limbs are 

 variable, or liable to variation, in the same individual ; so that in 

 some the number of digits (two) is characteristic of Amphiuma, 

 and in others (three) they are characteristic of Ilura'nopsis. This 

 blending of the characters of the two genera may be illustrated as 

 follows, indicating the number of digits on each limb by numerals 

 arranged in fours, the first pair representing the digital formula of 

 the fore limbs, thus :— (1) f f ; (2) f f ; (3) f § ; and (4) f § ; 

 there was also a form which exhibited no outward indication of 

 toes on the front pair of limbs, the digits being enclosed in a com- 



