A416 Miscellaneous. 
Holothuriz. The cells with granular contents are always ovoid or 
spherical ; they exist in the anterior intestine and in the anterior 
part of the middle intestine, and then entirely disappear. The 
cells with contents resembling those of the mucous cells of the 
peritoneal cavity are much more general; but they vary in form, 
distribution, and number in the different regions of the digestive 
tube. Thus they are ovoid and large at the commencement of the 
middle intestine, but soon become club-shaped and so numerous 
in the greater part of that region, that the epithelial cells seem to 
have entirely disappeared. In the terminal part of the middle in- 
testine and in the posterior intestine they form spherical cells, and 
then resemble the mucus-cells of Vertebrata.—Comptes Rendus, 
September 25, 1882, p. 565. 
On Animal Polymorphism. By H. B. Witson. 
This paper gave a brief discussion of the nature of polymorphism 
in animal colonies, with especial reference to the so-called polymor- 
phism of the Pernatulacea. In studying the development of the 
colony in Renilla it was found that the peculiar and characteristic 
mode of budding shown by the sexual polyps is characteristic also 
of the rudimentary polyps or “ zooids.” There is a manifest rela- 
tion between this mode of budding in the sexual polyps and the envi- 
ronment of the organism ; and in view of the structure of other Pen- 
natulacea, we seem to be justified in the conclusion, in accordance 
with the prevailing views of symmetry, that the mode of budding in 
the sexual polyps is directly dependent on the relation of the organ- 
ism to its environment. If this conclusion is well founded, then it 
follows with considerable probability that the rudimentary zooids 
cannot have acquired their present mode of budding in their present 
position; for they agree with the sexual polyps in the law of bud- 
ding, but differ widely from them in their relation to the environ- 
ment. And, furthermore, it is impossible to conceive how the zooids 
can ever have occupied such a position as to agree with the sexual 
polyps in this relation. 
From these considerations it seems probable that the zooids are 
not degenerated polyps, but are new formations which have inhe- 
rited certain peculiarities from the sexual polyps. It is immaterial 
whether we call them organs which simulate individuals or indivi- 
duals in a state of arrested development ; in either case the various 
members of the colony are not of morphological equivalence ; that 
is, they are not the direct descendants of like individuals. This 
suggests that in such organisms as the Siphonophora a similar con- 
dition may exist, some of the members being the direct descendants 
phylogenetically of fully developed buds, while others have arisen 
de novo, and are to be regarded morphologicaliy as organs or as im- 
perfectly developed buds. This view would harmonize the conflicting 
theories of Leuckart, Hickel, Gegenbaur, and others on the one 
side, and of Huxley and Metschnikoff on the other.—Johns Hopkins 
University Circulars, May 1882, p. 203. 
