152 Miscellaneous, 



Marine Sponges in the British Museum. 

 By Dr. J. E. Geay, F.R.S. &c. 



Mr. Carter has examined with the microscope, figured, and described 

 in a preliminary manner, the species of sponges in the British Museum, 

 and has determined that there are more than six hundred species of 

 that group in the collection, which he is now describing in detail. 

 Every day brings forward important additions to this immense class, 

 showing that at present we have a very imperfect knowledge of the 

 sponges in existence ; and as yet we have not received any sponges 

 from the Persian Gulf, the beautiful islands of the Pacific, or from the 

 shores of the northern parts of that ocean, and many other localities. 



Hcihits of Terebratula truncata. By Dr. J, E. Geat, F.R.S. &c. 



Mr. Atherstone has presented to the British Museum a series of 

 specimens of Terebratula truncata from the S.E. coast of the Cape 

 of Good Hope, showing that this species, unlike the Terebratulce 

 from the Australian seas, which are generally found on stones and 

 rocks, lives in groups, composed of specimens of all ages, on the 

 stems of the larger Algse, and also on the larger species of Ascidia. 

 The shells vary greatly in the radiating grooves, some being very 

 distinctly ribbed and others smooth, even in the same group. 



On the Reproduction and Mode of Life of the Phyllopoda. 

 By Dr. Friedrich Bratjee. 



The author observed these Crustacea in aquaria. He succeeded 

 repeatedly in rearing both sexes of Ajyus cancriformis, Linn., from 

 the ova, and in witnessing the act of fertilization. In this, the male 

 places himself upon the carapace of the female, and then strikes re- 

 peatedly and quickly with the part of his body which is free from 

 the carapace upon the ventral surface of the female, during which 

 process the seminal matter is evacuated. The male of Ajnis can- 

 criformis, Linn., and that of Apus numicUcus, Grube, constantly 

 possess one footless segment more than their females. Thus the male 

 of Apus cancriformis presents seven, and the female six footless 

 segments at the extremity of the body ; whilst the male of Apus nu- 

 midicus has nine, and the female eight. The author has also re- 

 peated the experiment made more than a hundred years ago by 

 Schafi'er, and, taking a female in the Na^(pIil(S-stage, brought it up 

 in an isolated condition — by which means he obtained ova which 

 were certainly unfecundated, and from which only females were de- 

 veloped, the eggs of which again furnished only female PhyUopoda 

 as a third generation. In opposition to this he obtained chiefly 

 males from the ova of fecundated females. In conclusion, the 

 author refers to the breeding of these and other Phyllopoda in 

 aquaria in accordance with the method invented by Prazak, and 

 describes briefly the mode of Kfe of Branchipus stagnalis, Linn., and 

 Estheria dahatacensis, Riipp. — Anzeiger der Akad. der Wiss. in 

 Wien, May 31, 1872, p. 100. 



