i 



Miscellaneous. 69 



families have a very widely open branchial orifice : in the former 



the intermaxillary alone forms the free border of the upper jaw ; in 



the Litter the maxillary forms part of it ; and thus it would be the 



Scopelidse that Eurypharynx would approach, especially as it does 



not present the hyoidean barbel which has hitherto been indicated 



as characteristic of the Stomiatidse. However, of all fishes it is to 



Malacosteus niger, Ayres, placed in the latter family by zoologists, 



that we are tempted to approximate the animal here under consider- 



tion ; they alone present the simple arrangement of the suspensorium 



indicated above. But, finally, it is perhaps with the Anacanthini 



that its relations seem to be most real, whether we consider the 



form of the body, which greatly resembles that of Maerurus, or the 



absence of ventral fins, which is usual in certain animals of the 



group ; thus several Ophidiidae and all the Lycodidae (the latter 



even having their branchial orifice reduced, although not to the 



degree that occurs in our animal) increase the probability attaching 



to this view. However, the characters of Eurypharynoc arc so 



strongly marked that in any case it is necessary to regard it as the 



type of a new family ; and of this it would be the sole representative, 



unless subsequent investigations show that we must unite with 



it the genus JMalacosteus. — Comptes llendus, December 11, 1882, 

 p. 1226. 



The Suctociliata, a new Group of Infusoria, intermediate between 

 the Ciliata and the Acinetina. By JI. C. be Merescukowsky. 



Constant and very well-marked characters separate the ciliated 

 Infusoria from the Acinetina ; the former are clearly, distinguished 

 by the presence of vibratile cilia from the latter, which never pre- 

 sent them, at any rate in the adult state, and which, on the 

 other hand, always possess special organs known by the name of 

 suckers. 



Hitherto no intermediate form has been indicated as forming the 

 passage between these two very distinct and well-marked groups. 

 The sole character that approximates the ciliated Infusoria to th< 

 Acinetina and establishes a relationship between the two groups 

 consists in the fact- that the Acinetina in certain stages of their de- 

 velopment, like the Infusoria Ciliata, present cilia, which, however, 

 soon disappear. 



"While studying the Protozoan fauna of the Bay of Xaples during 

 last summer, I met with a form intermediate between the two 

 groups, presenting at the same time the cilia of the ciliated Infu- 

 soria and the suckers of the Acinetina. This new type conies in 

 luckily to fill up the gap existing between the two groups already 

 recognized, and serve, in its quality of an intermediate form, to 

 establish their genealogy. 



The Infusorian that I desire to make known is one of the com- 

 monest in the Bay. At the first glance it might be taken for a 

 Ualterine, to which it presents some resemblances in organization. 



