436 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



skeleton only as in Cornularia, or a mcsoskelcton only as in a number of 

 forms, or both an exo- and a mcsoskelcton. There arc a few remarks on 

 development. 



The Alcyonaria are divisible into three suborders ; the Alcyonacca 

 are fixed, and have no independent axis formed by a continuous epithe- 

 lial layer ; the Gorgonacea arc fixed, and have such an axis, but are not 

 polymorphous, while the Pcnnatulacea aro free, formed of a stalk and 

 polyp-supports, with polymorphous polyps which are generally 

 regularly arranged. 



The suborder Gorgonacea contains only one family, that of the 

 Gorgonidae. An account is given of the form and colour of the whole 

 colony, of the axial skeleton and epithelium, the cortex, the polyps, and 

 the spicules. The species found in the Bay of Naples are described ; 

 these are Gorgonella sarmentosa and G. Bianci, Muricea chamseleon, 

 M. placomus and M. bebrycoides (sp. n.), Bebryce mollis, Gorgonia Cavo- 

 lini\i\ (sp. n.), G. verrucosa and G. profunda (sp. n.), Primnoa Ellisii, and 

 Isis elongata. Three analytical tables are given which are destined to 

 aid the student in (1) recognizing the living animal, (2) determining 

 complete colonies, and (3) making out species from fragments. In the 

 last, of course, much assistance is obtained from the characters of the 

 spicules. 



Protozoa. 



Direct Division of Nucleus in Euplotes harpa.* — Herr K. Mobius 

 calls attention to the direct division of the nucleus during the transverse 

 division of Euplotes harpa. This mode of division commences with the 

 appearance of a row of cilia on the ventral surface ; these are at first 

 very delicate and short, and so are scarcely visible ; they soon increase 

 in size, and form a sigma-shaped row. While this has been going on 

 the whole body has elongated, and become constricted in the middle. 

 As the constriction grows deeper the new row of cilia passes completely 

 to the hinder half, and forms its oral circlet. Other cilia appear, and 

 the anterior half looks like a miniature of the mother-individual. The 

 nucleus has the form of a sac placed transversely, gets thin in the 

 middle, and finally divides into two elongated nuclei ; there are no 

 mitotic nuclear figures. 



New Parasitic Infusoria.j — Mr. H. H. Anderson has described to 

 the Microscopical Society of Calcutta a species of Anoplophrya which 

 was found parasitic in the alimentary canal of JEolosoma cMorostictum 

 (MSS. sp.) ; it divides by fusion (? fission), and " in some instances two 

 septa have formed in a single organism." 



Monograph of Tintinnodeae4 — Dr. E. v. Daday discovered at 

 Naples a large number of new species of Tintinnodese, and he has 

 written a monograph on the family. 



After an historical introduction, an account is given of the test, of 

 the external form of the body, and of the structure of its surface ; this 

 last is always ciliated, and in some species there are two kinds of cilia, 

 some stiff, and some finer. In all marine, and probably also in fresh- 

 water forms, the cilia are only arranged in four spiral rows. The 



* SB. Gesell. Naturf. Freunde Berlin, 1887, pp. 102-3. 



t Sci.-Gossip, 1888. p. 38. 



% MT. Zool. Stat. Neapel, vii. (1887) pp. 473-591 (4 pis.). 



