166 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



•The Hon. Mary Palk reports: — 



I occupied the Naples table of the British Association for six months, 

 from November 1909 until the end of April 1910. During that time 

 I was working on the Polyzoa of the Bay of Naples, especially on a 

 variety of Fluslra papyrea (Pallas) with well-developed ovicells. I 

 studied the structure of the oesophageal 'cells, which show transverse 

 striations in the protoplasmic walls as mentioned by Henneguy, and 

 the finer histology of the polypides, also certain bodies lying in the 

 opercular tissue which seem to correspond with the glands described 

 by "Waters in calcareous polyzoa. I was not successful in tracing 

 oogenesis, which must take place at a time of year when I was not 

 there, as I could only find fully formed eggs and embryos and no ovary 

 or young ova. I hope to continue these researches so as to establish 

 the reproduction of the genus. I also made a fairly representative col- 

 lection of the Polyzoa of the Bay of Naples, adding several Cyclostomata 

 to the lists already published by Mr. A. W. Waters. I beg to offer my 

 best thanks to the British Association for the use of the table, and to 

 the staff at Naples for the kind help afforded to me. 



Mr. Geoffrey W. Smith reports: — 



I occupied the table from December 15, 1909, to January 1, 1910. 

 During that time I was working on the effects of Sacculina on its host 

 Inachus, especially with the object of obtaining the stages which show 

 exactly how the gonad is absorbed as the result of the presence of the 

 parasite. Owing to the very large amount of material supplied to me I 

 have been successful in doing this, and also in definitely settling another 

 point of some importance, namely, that the effect of the parasite is really 

 the same on female as on male hosts, making the young female pre- 

 maturely assume adult female characters. The results will be published 

 in the ' Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.' 



Mr. Methuen reports that during his stay at Naples he was working 

 at the internal anatomy of Decapod Crustacea. He made a number of 

 dissections of the alimentary canal of various types and preserved them 

 for the purpose of working out the histology of the digestive glands. 



Mr. E. S. Goodrich, F.E.S., reports: — 



While occupying the British Association table at Naples from 

 March 23 to April 11, 1910, I spent a considerable time carrying out 

 feeding experiments with different colouring substances on young 

 Amphioxus and studying the development of their nephridia in the 

 hinder region of the pharynx. I also worked at the development of 

 Aricia foetida and preserved material for the embryology of this and 

 other Polychasta. The results of the researches have not yet been 

 published, being still incomplete. 



The Committee, in concluding their report for 1909-10, wish to 

 record their sense of the great loss to biological science caused by the 

 death in September last of Dr. Anton Dohrn, the founder and director 

 of the Zoological Station at Naples. Without referring to the high 

 value of his personal researches in zoological science, the Committee 

 may express their profound appreciation of the kindly assistance and 



