Miscellaneous. 67 
dition the animal remains for some time, increasing in size, until it 
is about an eighth of an inch long, the proboscis being about half 
the total length of the body. The tip of the proboscis is used by 
the larve to attach themselves by suction to foreign bodies, though 
apparently no special suctorial organ exists. As the body grows, the 
posterior band of cilia becomes wider and the cilia themselves longer 
and coarser, while the direction of the band alters slightly. From 
the appearance of fresh specimens in this stage, treated with acetic acid, 
I believe that several pouches arise from the gut which probably are 
destined to form the other gill-slits; but this is quite uncertain, 
though of course sections will at once decide this question. I have 
been unable to procure any specimens older than these, and of the 
changes by which this larva becomes converted into Balanoglossus 
I can therefore say nothing. Possibly the animal remains in this 
condition during the winter and awaits the spring for its final de- 
velopment. I hope to be able to observe the subsequent stages at 
some future season.—Johns Hopkins University Circulars, Noy. 1883. 
On the Development of the Branchia in the Cephalopoda. 
By M. L. Jounin. 
The investigations of Kolliker upon the development of the Cepha- 
lopoda, while throwing much light upon the embryogeny of those 
animals, have nevertheless left in obscurity the origin of the organ 
of respiration. I have set myself, in the laboratories of M. de 
Lacaze-Duthiers, to fill up this gap by studying principally the 
Sepia officinalis, the eggs of which are easily procured. 
The branchiz of the embryo make their appearance at the begin- 
ning of the development in the form of two small buds, situated 
symmetrically with relation to the antero-posterior plane upon the 
middle of what will eventually become the posterior wall of the 
palleal cavity. The bud, produced by a pushing forth of the epi- 
thelial layer by the cells of the subjacent layer, soon elongates and 
forms a small well-differentiated eminence, rounded at the apex 
and attached by a broad base. I found it impossible, even in the 
youngest embryos that I could obtain, to ascertain the presence of 
vibratile cilia upon the branchia, although the palleal cavity is lined 
with them. ‘The bud afterwards flattens so as to present two sur- 
faces—a posterior one, applied against the visceral mass, and an 
anterior one, which is subsequently covered by the mantle which 
bounds the respiratory cavity superiorly. 
Upon this little lamina, which is about 1 millim. in length, a first 
horizontal fold appears towards the middle, then a second nearer to 
the point, then a third still nearer to the free extremity, and so on. 
These folds form depressions upon one of the surfaces correspon- 
ding with elevations upon the other surface ; the branchial bud has 
therefore become an undulated lamina; gradually other folds appear, 
always towards the point, while the whole organ at the same time 
increases in dimensions, so that a length of 13 millim. corresponds 
with a dozen folds. But the latter do not oceupy the whole surface 
