669 
Chardonnet, le Comte .., Sur les théories mécaniques de la vie. Besançon, 
1884. 80, (11 p.) — Extr. du Bull. de l’Acad. de Besancon. 
Coues, Ell,, Biogen. Speculation on the origin and nature of Life. Boston, 
Estes & Lauriat, 1884. 120. 
Woodward, J. J., Modern philosophical conceptions of Life. in: Bull. Philos. 
Soc. Washington, Vol. 5. 1883. p. 49—84. 
Geddes, Patr., Entwicklung u. Aufgabe der Morphologie. in: Jena. Zeitschr. 
f. Nat. 18. Bd. 1. Hft. p. 1—39. 
Morris, Charl,, Growth, its Conditions and Variations. in: Amer. Natura- 
list, Vol. 18. Nov. p. 1086—1101. Dec..p. 1210—1222. 
Keller, R., Die naturwissenschaftliche Bedeutung der zwecklosen Organe im 
Thierreich. Basel, 1884. 80. (34 p.) 2.4 — 80. 
Fol, Hrm., Lehrbuch der vergleichenden mikroskopischen Anatomie mit Ein- 
schluß der vergleichenden Histologie und Histogenie. 1. Lief. Die mi- 
kroskopisch-anatomische Technik. (Bog. 1—13, mit Fig. 1—84 in Holz- 
schnitt.) Leipzig, W. Engelmann, 1884. 80. 45, —. 
II. Wissenschaftliche Mittheilungen. 
1. Note from the Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory. Development of 
Serpula. 
By H. W. Conn. 
eingeg. 5. October 1884. 
During the last summer I have had the opportunity of studying the 
development of Serpula and the work done in which I have been 
assisted by Mr. E. A. Andrews has given some quite important re- 
sults. Serpula has been hitherto studied as to its development by only 
a single naturalist, Stossich (Sitz. d. k. k. Akad. Wiss. Wien 77. Bd. 
1878), and the results he obtained were in some respects quite surpris- 
ing. In four points in particular it has seemed to me desirable to 
endeavour either to corroborate the work of Stossich or to correct it. 
These four points are, 1) the regular segmentation, 2) the fact that the 
egg chorion becomes the larval cuticle, 3) the conversion of the blasto- 
pore into the anus, 4) the presence and relation of a peculiar body 
known as the anal vesicle. As will appear from the following brief 
account of our investigations, in three of these points the work of 
Stossich is corroborated, while in a fourth Stossich is found to be 
in error. 
Two polar globules are extruded from the egg and in all cases 
observed after contact with the spermatozoan. The opacity of the egg 
prevented observations on the internal changes accompanying fertili- 
zatıon. 
