Miscellaneous. 167 



very interesting peculiarities. Its axis is formed by a hard polypary, 

 resembling Corallium rubnim in appearance, except that its colour 

 is a greyish white. A transverse section of this polypary shows that 

 it is not calcareous throughout, but formed of regularly alternating 

 concentric layers of white calcareous matter, and a black substance, 

 analogous to the horny matter (comeine) which forms the axis of 

 the Goryonice. The polypes are eight-armed. Their coenenchyma 

 is covered vvith calcareous scales, and their mouth is surrounded by 

 eight valvules, which are likewise calcareous. These characters ap- 

 proximate it to the PrimnocB (P. lepadiferd), which alone among 

 the octactinian polypes are furnished with a hard covering of this 

 kind. The genus Primnoa belongs to the Goryonidce. This family, 

 according to Milne-Edwards, shares with that of the Isidince in the 

 character of possessing a sclerobasic axis wholly or partially soft, of 

 a horny or corklike texture, in opposition to the Coraliinidce, in 

 which the common axis is entirely stony. Milne-Edwards adds 

 that in the GoryonidcB a little carbonate of lime is sometimes united 

 with the corneine, but that this salt never predominates in such a 

 manner as to give the axis a stony consistence, like that of coral. 

 Lithoprvnnoa, however, forms an exception to this rule, and the 

 characters of the family must therefore be modified. It will also be 

 necessary to give uj) the subdivision of the GorgonidcB into Gorgo- 

 nacecB and Goryonellacece. The former of these groups was charac- 

 terized by the horny consistence of the sclerobasic axis, whilst in the 

 second this axis should be cerato-calcareous. Tlie author shows 

 that the quantity of carbonate of lime is too variable to admit of 

 such a distinction. 



M. Gruhe remarks, in passing, that a great part of the chemical 

 characters ascribed to corneine l)y Valenciennes are inexact, or not 

 generally applicable. Vak-nciennes states, for example, that corneine 

 is insoluble in caustic potash with the aid of heat. M. Lothar 

 Meyer has found it to be constantly soluble in that agent. — Bibl. 

 Univ. March 1863, Bull. Sci. p. 240. 



On the Crustacea which live in Species of Ascidians. 

 By T. Thorell. 



We have hitherto known only a small number of Crustacea para- 

 sitic on the MoUuscoida. Diiben was the first to describe a Lei'ncea 

 living on a compound Ascidian of the Norwegian coast. Subse- 

 quently Clans found a Sapphirina inhabiting the respiratory cavity 

 of SalpoE ; and AUman described, under the generic name of Noto- 

 delphys, a new type of parasites from the respiratory cavity of the 

 simple Ascidians ; lastly, Leuckart found a Crustacean of the genus 

 Nolopteropho7-HS of Costa in the respiratory cavity of a Phallusia. 

 Incited by these observations, Thorell has studied the Ascidians of 

 the shores of Bohuslaen in regard to their Crustacean parasites. Of 

 these he has found twenty species, nineteen of which are new. By 

 far the greater part belong to the two families Notodelphyidce (13 

 species) and Sapphiriiiidcs (4 species). 



The family NotodelphyidcB thus gains greatly in importance. The 



