62 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



anchorate, anc^ 3 being tridentate equi-, and anc anc 3 tridentate 

 inequianchorate ; anc 2 is bidentate ancliorate. But (rutrum, a 

 shovel) palmated ancliorate. 



For the Hexactinellid, or, as Vosmaer prefers to call them, 

 Triactinellid, types (those with three distinct axes), the general de- 

 nomination is ha (initials of ef and a^wv) ; the different radii are desig- 

 nated by jB or r ; thns when four of the six rays are small and two 

 large, the formula for the spicule is (4 r -f- 2 ^) ; sp may be added 

 for spined. Where the spicules are fixed, i. e. skeletal, a line is 

 drawn over the formula ; thus the skeleton spicule of Farrea becomes 

 ha (4: B -\- 2r sjj) ; but the "fir-trees" of Hyalonema, &c., become 

 ha {ir -^ B f sp). 



For Tetractinellid forms the general sign ta is used (reaaapc;, 

 a^wv) ; in the common case in which one ray is longer or shorter 

 than the rest, this odd ray is termed M (manubrium), and the others 

 d (dentes) ; if these are bifurcate, hif is added to d. For the angles, 

 that which M makes with the three fZ's — almost the only angle which 

 varies — is termed ^ ; > is greater tlian, < is less than. A triradiate, 

 being reckoned as a tetractinellid with one ray aborted, is expressed 

 by ta (ill = 0). Thus porrecto-ternate of Bowerbank is ta (^ > 90°), 

 j)atento-ternate is <a (0 = 90^), rccurvo-ternate (<^ < 90°); bifurcated- 

 ternate is ta. d. hif. If necessary, such a formula as ta (^ > 90°) 

 d. hif (d' > cZ < M) could be used, where the three rays are bifurcate 

 and of different sizes, but less than the odd ray. 



Polyaxial forms, i. e. globates and stelhxtcs, may be termed gl 

 (globulus) or st (stella), globo-stellates (with large ball for a centre) 

 gl. st. For the spiral or double stellate (e. g. of some Suheritidce), st'^ 

 is employed. 



Protozoa. 



Flagellata.* — J. Kiinstler states that in an incubating chamber 

 Cryptomonas ovata germs found at different stages in development 

 presented the following characters. The less advanced were formed 

 by a nucleolus surrounded by a layer of protoplasm ; soon one of their 

 poles developed more rapidly than the other, and elongated. After 

 it had reached a certain size it gave rise at its free extremity to an 

 axial cord of protoplasm, which constitutes the first stage of the diges- 

 tive tube. Here there appear some large vacuoles, which divide and 

 rapidly multiply, and soon a cavity commences to be developed in the 

 body, beginning as a lateral space, one on either side. In Chilomonas 

 paramoicium there is, similarly, a vestibule to the digestive tube, an 

 antero-lateral constriction, locomotor, striated, and other prehensile 

 flagella, a stomach with granular walls, an intestine terminating in 

 an anus, four tegumentary layers, and a nucleus with several nucleoli, 

 whence is given off a tube which dilates into the incubating chamber 

 in which the germs are developed. In Chlamydomonas pulvisculus 

 there are four, and not two, striated flagella, which are inserted 

 around an orifice leading into a small cavity, and giving off delicate 

 tubes to the contractile vesicles. 



A new species is Astasia costata, the ribbed form of which is due 



* Comptes Kendus, xciii. (1881) pp. 746-8. 



