TBANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. — DEPT. ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. 663 



At the same time it appeared to him that it would be additionally advantageous, 

 besides the characters afforded by the ope}-culu7n, to regard those of the other 

 chituious organs, and notably those of the avicularia. In some few cases other 

 chitinous appendages occur, but to these he need not here refer. 



Not to enter into particidars, he would merely remark that, from his examination 

 of the characters afforded by the chitinous appendages in numerous species of 

 Cellepora, Salicornaria, and Retepora, he has come to the conclusion that, com- 

 bining the opercidar with the avicularian characters, these characters alone will, 

 in nearly aU cases in the genera mentioned, suffice to determine the species, and that 

 with the greatest facility and certainty. He may also add, as regards the family 

 Salicomariidse, or Cellariidae as some prefer to term it, this method of examination 

 has disclosed the existence in that family of special chitinous supports, as they 

 may be termed, on the sides or around the orifice, apparently for the articulation 

 of the ope7'culujn, which, so far as he is at present aware, ha^e not been noticed, 

 and are peculiar to it. 



As this brief notice is merely intended to draw attention to an element in the 

 anatomy of the Oheilostomatous Polyzoa, not hitherto employed as a means of 

 diagnosis except by Mr. "\^ aters, he does not on the present occasion enter into 

 detads, but simply hands round specimens prepared for this method of investiga- 

 tion, and will conclude by a few words as to the mode in which he has found it may 

 conveniently be carried out. 



This consists, in fact, simply in the removal of the calcareous matter by means 

 of dilute nitric or other acid, from a small fragment or portion of a zoarium, 

 which after decalcification should be torn up or 'teased' out into minute pieces, and 

 examined, covered with glycerine, or glycerine and gum. It is as well also, before 

 the decalcified specimen is broken up, to stain it with some colouring matter, of 

 which he has found picrocarmine perhaps the best. 



In preparations thus made, all the chitinous elements will be found clearly dis- 

 played, and — what is of particular interest — nearly all the soft parts as well, and 

 especially the muscular tissue ; and in many cases the general conformation of the 

 polypide may be made out almost as well, if not in some instances better, than in 

 the recent condition. 



The length of time a specimen may have been kept in the dry state, if it were 

 in good condition to begin with, appears to make no difference in the ease with 

 which the soft tissues may be thus, as it were, resuscitated. 



We have thus in our power, from a minute fragment of a zoarium little bigger 

 than a pin's head, to determine its specific and many other characters, in a few 

 minutes ; and, in the case of the genera above cited, with much greater facility and 

 exactitude than by the most laborious examination of the calcareous skeleton alone. 



It is much to be regretted that the method is of course only applicable to 

 recent forms procured originally in the live state, and can afford no assistance in 

 the case of dead or fossil forms, for the distinction of which we are so lamentably 

 in want of sufficient means of diasrnosis. 



3. On the Botany of Madagascar} By J. G. Bakek, F.B.S., F.L.S. 



The fauna of Madagascar exhibits remarkable individuality of character. The 

 island produces many striking- types that are peculiar to it, and on the other 

 hand, many widely-spread and copiously represented genera which inhabit the 

 neighbouring continents are absent. The leading facts in connection with the sub- 

 ject have been fully summarised and illustrated recently by Mr. Wallace in his 

 ' Island Life,' and the whole evidence of the fauna points in the direction of long 

 isolation. 



But when we turn to the botany, the general tendency of the facts is in a different 

 direction, and no attempt has yet been made to summarise them. No special flora 

 of Madagascar has yet been published, but, taking the species that have been de- 



' Printed in extenso in Journal of Botany, beginning Nov. 1, 1881. 



