604 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



acids ; after it has been used for the specimens hardened in alcohol, the 

 sections may be coloured by hematoxylin, and afterwards decolorized 

 by very dilute formic acid. 



North- American Cephalopods.* — Professor A. E. Verrill has 

 published the second portion of his paper, j in which he deals chiefly 

 with smaller forms, though the commencement is occupied by an 

 account of a young example of the gigantic ArcMteutMs harveyi. 



Observations on the habits of squids tell us that the fish captured 

 are devoured with great rapidity, and it would seem that the jaws are 

 the principal organ, while the odontophore plays only a subordinate 

 part. The differences in anatomical structure between Loligo and 

 Ommastrephes are carefully pointed out ; in the latter there is not one 

 large, but two small oviducts, and the nidamental glands are smaller 

 and simpler ; though, it is to be remembered, they were not examined 

 in the breeding season. 



A new genus, Chiloteuthis, allied to Enoploteuthis, is formed for 

 a creature with a very complicated armature ; the sessile arms have 

 sharp incurved claws, arranged in four rows on the ventral arms, and 

 in two rows on the others ; other characters are detailed and an 

 account is given of 0. rapax n. sp. The family Desmoteuthidse is 

 formed for genera which have been confounded hitherto with the 

 Crambidse and Loligopsidae ; Desmoteuthis n. g. has for its type 

 Leachia hyperborea. 



The sexual differences in Loligo pealei are examined, and it is 

 stated that the hectocotylized condition of the arm in the male is, 

 contrary to the opinion of Steenstrup, developed in proportion to 

 the development of the internal organs, and is not noticeable in 

 the youngest males. Notes on the development and rate of growth 

 follow. 



A new species of Bossia (B. megaptera), remarkable for the great 

 size of the fins and eyes, and for the length of its tentacular arms, was 

 taken off the southern coast of Newfoundland. It appears to be a 

 species adapted for greater depths than its congeners. 



Another new family is that of the Alloposidce, allied in some 

 respects to Philonexis and Tremoctopus. The arms are extensively 

 webbed ; the mantle-edge, as in Desmoteuthis, is united directly to the 

 head. 



In an appendix the author describes several other new forms, 

 and enters into some critical remarks on the work of other 

 naturalists. 



Marginella and the Pseudomarginellida. X — J. Carriere com- 

 mences with a notice of the four zones found at the island of Goree, 

 each of which has its own fauna, different to that of the other zones. 

 In the deepest we find, among other molluscs, Marginella glabella. The 

 statement of Adanson that Marginella is to be found in the upper 

 zone is not exact, for the shells there found, and so called, belong 

 to quite a different kind of mollusc. Till lately the animals which 



* Trans. Connect. Acad. Sci., v. (1882) pp. 259-446 (28 pis.). 



t The first portion in torn. cit. pp. 177-257. 



% Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool., xxxvii. (1882) pp. 99-120 (1 pi.). 



