Miscellaneous. 73 



that an indistinct, imperfectly formed "nucleus" is often seen; 

 and the shadowy substance seen in many of the smaller oviparous 

 cells after they have been mounted for some time is very like that 

 seen under similar circumstances in some of the corpuscles of Mam- 

 malia. Many, too, affirm that these corpuscles do not exhibit that 

 distinction of wall and contents which is generally described. It 

 appears to me that this difference of opinion depends on the changes 

 they are prone to undergo. How far the absence of a distinctly de- 

 fined ^'nucleus" after death depends on their smaller size I am not 

 prepared to say. 



Many questions of course follow. For example, how far is this 

 separation of the substance of a homogeneous * corpuscle into nu- 

 cleus, cell-membrane, and contents to be compared to the coagula- 

 tion of the blood? and how do the agents which are known to 

 influence the one process affect the other? A still further and more 

 important question is. How are these changes in the corpuscles, and 

 in the blood around them, related ? But in this paper I propose to 

 go no further than the statement that the red corpuscle of all verte- 

 brata is, in its natural state, structureless. When living, no distinc- 

 tion of parts can be recognized ; and the existence of a nucleus in 

 the red corpuscles of ovipara is due to changes after death, or 

 removal from the vessels. 



I cannot conclude this paper without acknowledging the great 

 help I have received in this investigation from Mr. Howard Marsh, 

 Demonstrator of Microscopical Anatomy at St. Bartholomew's Hos- 

 pital. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Note on a new Hermaphrodite Clicetopod Annelid. 



By G. MoaUIN-TAKTDON. 



The group of Chaetopod Annelida was long regarded as consisting 

 entirely of unisexual animals. In 1857, Mr. Huxley made known 

 the first exception to this general law in a new Annelid of the 

 English coast, Prottda Dysteri. A few years later, M. Pagenstecher, 

 while staying on the shores of the Mediterranean at Cette, disco- 

 vered the same fact in another species of the same family, Spirorhis 

 spirillum. Lastly, a third fact of the same kind was observed by 

 M. Claparede in a species of Amphic/lena (A. mediterranea). This 

 naturalist also confirmed the exactitude of Mr. Huxley's observa- 

 tions, and showed, by his investigation of a great number of Serpulea, 

 that these cases of monoeciousness are exceptional in this family. 



I have discovered another example of hermaphroditism, but this 

 time in a dorsibranchiate Annelid belonging to the genus Nereis. I 

 believe that this species is new, and propose to name it Nereis mas- 



* By the word homogeneous I do not mean to affirm that the substance of 

 the corpuscle is of equal consistence throughout. The central may be the softest 

 part of it. But I regard the corpuscle, in its whole substance, as " having the 

 same nature." 



Ann. (& Mag. N. Hist. Ser.4. Vol.iv. 6 



