March 26, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



47: 



cUtus tvere subjected to the action of solutions of 

 urea, butyric acid, lactic acid, sodium glycocho- 

 late and ammonium hydroxide. Conclusive results 

 were obtained only with butyric acid and acetone. 



The effects of both these substances are very 

 similar. If Fundulus eggs are subjected to their 

 influence, they will give rise to a great variety of 

 monsters. Cyclopia, asymmetric monophthalmia 

 and neuroplastic development (microembryones, 

 hemiembryones anteriores) were found to occur 

 most frequently. Not uncommonly is the occur- 

 rence of aeardia in malformed embryos. In some 

 eggs a heart and rudimentary blood-vessels have 

 developed without the presence of an embryo. 



The ear vesicles are very often involved in mal- 

 formations, their size being enormous, owing ap- 

 parently to edema. Some locomotor anomalies in 

 embryos, which had hatched, pointed to injury 

 sustained by the semicircular canals. 



The rarest in occurrence, but probably the most 

 significant from the standpoint of experimental 

 embryology, were found some cases where all that 

 had developed in the egg was a fragment of brain 

 tissue which had given rise to an eye. This ' ' soli- 

 tary" eye was found to be almost perfect in some 

 cases, while in others the choroid fissure had 

 failed to close ("coloboma"). Sections of one 

 of these eggs show an eye typical in structure. 

 This would seem to establish the fact of the abil- 

 ity of independent development of the eye. 



Beactions to Light in Vanessa lantiopa, with Spe- 

 cial Reference to Circus Movements: Wm. L. 

 DOLLET, Je. (Introduced by S. O. Mast.) 



The Beactions of the Melanophores of Amhly- 

 stoma Larvae: Henry Laurens. 



A Case of the Change of Fat, in Nature, to Cal- 

 cium Soap: E. W. H. Wolcott. 



The Balance Between the Hydrochloric Acid of 

 the Stomach and the Sodium Carbonate of the 

 Pancreas in Its Belation to the Absorption and 

 Utilization of Sugar: J. B. Muelin. 



The Electric Nerve Centers in the STcates: Uleic 



Dahlgren. (With lantern.) 

 lood Beactions of the Proboscis of Planaria: Wm. 



A. Kepnee and Aenold Rich. 



The removal of part of the proboscis sheath re- 

 sults in exploratory movements of the proboscis. 

 As the sheath is further removed these explora- 

 tory movements become more pronounced. Such 

 movements, however, are not maintained for more 

 than two minutes. 



Sectioning the living animal posterior to the 



base of the proboscis does not disturb in any other 

 manner the proboscis. By removing anterior parts 

 of the body little disturbance of the proboscis re- 

 sults until the plane of sectioning gets quite near 

 the base of the proboscis, when the latter under- 

 goes either mechanical or autoamputation and 

 leaves the proboscis sheath and for at least ten 

 minutes swims about as an independent organism, 

 ingesting food in a futile manner. The proboscis 

 thus freed frequently turns upon its own body and 

 by ingesting it reduces the body to mere pulp. 



It is concluded, therefore, that there is resident 

 in the proboscis an instinct to ingest objects. The 

 inhibitory control of this instinct does not lie in 

 the dorsal ganglia, but in a region of the body 

 anterior to and quite near the base of the pro- 

 boscis. 



Preliminary Beport on the Belations Between the 

 Beactions of Bhabdocosles and Their Environ- 

 ments: Wm. a. Kepnee and W. H. Taiiafeero. 

 In a previous papers the authors showed that 

 Microstoma caudatum when kept under laboratory 

 conditions shows two physiological conditions. In 

 the first place if they are experimented on a few 

 hours after collection they will distinguish be- 

 tween their aquarium water and 5/100 per cent, 

 ordinary salt solution. However, if they are ex- 

 perimented on over a day after collection they do 

 not make this distinction, thus showing that their 

 physiological condition has been lowered. We, 

 likewise, showed that this lowering of physiolog- 

 ical condition is due to the rapid accumulation of 

 bacteria under laboratory conditions. 



While experimenting on a number of other spe- 

 cies of Bhabdocceles we found that some showed 

 this loss of physiological condition just as Micro- 

 stoma, while others showed no lowering of their 

 physiological condition, no matter how long they 

 lived under laboratory conditions. 



To find an explanation of these results, which at 

 first seemed contradictory, we investigated the 

 natural habitat of the various animals. Here we 

 found that those animals which showed a lowering 

 of physiological condition lived rather deep under 

 the surface of the pond, on roots, where there were 

 lelatively few bacteria. On the other hand those 

 that did not show this lowering of condition lived 

 near the surface, in the presence of a great amount 

 of decaying vegetable matter, and hence a great 

 number of bacteria. 



2 ' ' Sensory Epithelium of Pharynx and Ciliated 

 Pits of Microstoma Caudatum," Biol. Bull., Vol. 

 XXIII., No. 1, 1912. 



