TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 1073 
tip of a young example attached to the former, or stretch from the extremity of a 
parasitic sertularian. 
These filamentous processes are usually at some distance from the nests or tubes 
of the crustaceans which climb actively on them. Whether they give them a 
larger area for the capture of prey in comparative security, or afford a more 
extensive surface for the temporary arrest of minute larval or other forms on which 
they feed, isunknown. It is probable, however, that processes so elaborate subserve 
some useful purpose to the species, and are not the result of mere purposeless 
formation. 
16. On a new British Stawrocephalus. 
By Professor McInrosu, M.D., F.R.S. 
This form was first noticed in a small aquarium belonging to Mr. Sibert 
Saunders, at Whitstable, in 1884, and he kindly forwarded living specimens to the 
St. Andrews Marine Laboratory for examination. It is about 8 or 9 mm. in length 
by 1 mm. in breadth, including the bristles. The number of segments varies on 
each side of 30, exclusive of those without bristles. It is characterised by a 
horseshoe-shaped head furnished with a pair of short dorsal tentacles of two 
segments, and a similar pair on the ventral surface. Four eyes occur dorsally, one 
on each side behind the dorsal tentacle, and a smaller pair just in front of the 
nuchal fold. Each foot has dorsally a short cirrus, and ventrally a somewhat 
larger one, besides a long process of the setigerous region. Dorsally are long simple 
bristles, inferiorly bristles with an articulated terminal piece. The jaws consist 
superiorly of a pair of curved maxillz and about six small dental plates on each side. 
The anterior edge of these in ordinary views from above is minutely denticulated. 
The mandibles present a crown and anterior projection. This form comes nearest 
the Staurocephalus minimus of Langerhans! from Madeira. 
17. On certain remarkable Structures resembling Ova from Deep Water. 
' By Professor McIntosu, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. 
When carrying out the work for Her Majesty’s Trawling Commission, an old 
willow-basket came up in the net on August 15, 1884, fifteen miles S.E. of the 
island of May. This, besides other interesting marine forms, had attached to it 
certain peculiar dull, yellowish structures resembling ova, about an eighth of an 
inch in diameter. They adhered to each other in the form of a single layer along 
the bark of one of the willows. They were nearly circular, with a short, slightly 
curved distal appendage. The capsule was yielding, but tolerably tough, and the 
contents consisted of a soft and cohesive gelatinous substance of a palecolour, The 
minute structure was explained. No change occurred, though kept for a consider- 
able time in the marine laboratory, until decomposition set in. Their relation- 
ships are at present unknown. 
18. On the Ova of Callionymus lyra, L. (the Skulpin), 
By Professor McInrosu, M.D., LL.D., F.RAS, 
So little was known about the breeding of this fish that the most recent work 
on British fishes, viz., that of Dr. Day, gives notlfing worthy of note. At St. 
Andrews it was found that the ovaries were not sufficiently advanced for reliable 
observation in regard to the condition of the eggs till the middle of June, but that 
from this date till about the middle of August several favourable examples 
occurred. The ovaries in a well-developed female form a somewhat cordate mass, 
bifid in front but connate posteriorly, and, like the spermaries, covered with a 
silvery coating of the peritoneal lining. The ova are very minute (:028 to ‘03 of an 
inch in diameter) and translucent, and are truly pelagic. In appearance they are 
characteristic. ach has a very fine hyaline zona radiata, furnished externally 
1 Zeitsch. f. wiss. Zool., BA, XL. p. 257. 
1885. 32% 
