704 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 177. 



nicata were found in the egg-packets on 

 April 6th and on April 17th, though speci- 

 mens with young ai-e not frequent. The 

 eggs of a small gasteropod abounded on 

 the stems of Parypha during the entire 

 month. Five species of nudibranchs, belong- 

 ing to the genus Eolis, have laid their eggs 

 in the aquaria. The hermaphrodite gland 

 of Eolis 2Mpillosa contains giant erythrophil- 

 ous spermatozoa, like those of Paludina vivi- 

 para, which Auerbach has described. Eggs 

 of Ilyanassa were found April 25th and 27th. 

 The ' sand collars ' of ISTatica were found at 

 Hadley Harbor, April 25th. 



Echinoderms. — Echinorachnius imrma has 

 not been examined since the early part of 

 the month, when it was breeding abund- 

 antly. On April 16th the plutei, developed 

 from eggs fertilized on March 22d, were 

 still living in the aquaria. Eggs of this 

 species have also been obtained in June and 

 July. It is a remarkable fact that, though 

 neither Asterias vulgaris nor Asterias forhesii 

 at Woods HoU contain ripe sexual prod- 

 ucts, those of the latter species in certain 

 parts of Narragansett Bay have been full, 

 almost to bursting, of eggs and spermatozoa 

 since the early part of April. The holo- 

 thurians Thyone, Lepto&ynapta giradii and 

 L. roseola, were examined April 24th, and 

 were all full of nearly ripe eggs or sperm. 

 Not the least attractive of the echinoderm 

 eggs are those of the little starfish, Cribrella 

 sanguinolenta. This species is not uncom- 

 mon at Woods Holl, and the eggs, which 

 were frequently laid in the aquaria during 

 the third week in April, are as large as 

 those of Clepsine or Sycotypus. They develop 

 slowly, reaching the two-cell stage in about 

 6 hours. This material would undoubtedly 

 be of great value in solving problems of 

 cleavage and of echinoderm metamorphosis. 



Coelenterates.— The profusion of coelen- 

 terate material was a feature of every col- 

 lecting excursion during the first half of the 

 month. Hydromedusse of many different 



species were abundant in the tow until 

 about the 17th of the month, and since 

 then have been caught in small numbers. 

 Among these, Hybocodon was perhaps the 

 most numerous, although Coryne and Tiar- 

 opsis has been taken frequently. Tima 

 formosa, abundant in 1897 at Newport, has 

 not been seen. Hj'droids of the brilliantly 

 colored Coryne occurred in colonies that 

 could be measured by the square yard, and 

 those of a species of Campanularia could be 

 measured by the square rod. On April 

 26th the Coryne had disintegrated. The 

 large jellyfish, Cyanea arctica, has been rep- 

 resented throughout the month by speci- 

 mens ranging from one-half inch to seven 

 and eight inches in diameter, and Epihyrce 

 were caught as late as the 21st. On April 

 8th the water at Waquoit was full of 

 Aurelia, most of the specimens being from 

 one to two inches in diameter, though some 

 were much larger. Metridium marginatum 

 was examined on the 18th, and was found 

 to be full of eggs, apparently nearly mature. 

 One of the ' sulphur sponges ' was observed 

 to extrude clouds of spermatozoa on April 

 10th. 



The gelatinous alga, so abundant during 

 March and the first half of April, gradually 

 diminished in quantity after the 17th, and 

 on April 25 little or none was found in the 

 nets.* 



A. D. Mead. 



CUEBENT NOTES ON PEYSIOGBAPHY. 

 THE ORIGIN OF PUGET SOUND. 



The long fiords of the submerged moun- 

 tainous coast of Alaska and British Colum- 

 bia naturally give rise to the impression 

 that Puget Sound and its many branches 

 in Washington are also drowned valleys. 

 This off-hand interpretation is combated in 

 an essay on the ' Drift phenomena of Puget 



* The Breeding of Animals at Woods Holl for the 

 month of March was published in 'Science,' April 

 8, 1898. 



