194 SUMMARY OF GURliENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Irish Marine Fauna.* — In the second report of the Dredging Com- 

 mittee of the Eoyal Irish Academy, Prof. A. C. Haddon gives a general 

 account of the forms observed. The erect variety of Epizoanthus 

 papillosus with a Pagurus was taken ; this form has the remarkable 

 power of dissolving away the hard molluscan shell, and replacing it with 

 its own sand-impregnated tissues ; in this way the shelter of the Pagurid 

 is formed entirely by the Actinian, and as it grows with the growth of 

 the hermit-crab, Paguri associated with EpizoantJius have not to seek a 

 fresh home after each moult. Strongylocentrotus lividus was found in 

 Lough Hyne merely resting on the rock ; it is probably on account of 

 their sheltered position that these specimens had not made " nests " for 

 themselves, as do specimens found on the exposed coasts of Clare and 

 Kerry. Ninety-two specimens of Pontaster tenuispinus and ten of 

 Brisinga endacnemos were obtained. Holothuria tremula was dredged not 

 far from the coast. A fine addition to our fanna is Chitonactis richardi, 

 of Marion, first found in deep water in the Bay of Biscay. This is a 

 very useful report to those who are interested in the fauna of our seas. 



Marine Invertebrates of Bermuda Islands.j — Prof. A. Heilprin 

 gives a list of species collected within a depth of 16 fathoms in the 

 lagoons of the Bermuda Islands. Although the Actinozoa were numerous 

 the common genus Madrepora appears to be absent ; the largest specimen 

 of " brain-coral " obtained had a diameter of 28 in. ; one was seen which 

 was four feet in diameter, but efforts to dislodge it were unsuccessful. 

 Of the Echinodermata four novelties were found among the Holothurians, 

 viz. Holothuria ahhreviata, SticJiopus diaboli, S. xanthomela, and Sempieria 

 Bermudensis. Pacific and old-world types were recognized both among 

 the Crustacea and the Mollusca ; of the former no new species are 

 recorded, though the list of species now given is much longer than any 

 of its predecessors ; more than one hundred species of Mollusca were 

 obtained, and among these Octopus chromatus, Aplysia sequorea, Chromo- 

 doris zebra, and Onchidium (^Onchidiella) transatlanticum appear to be 

 new. 



Zoology of Victoria. J — The seventeenth decade of Prof. F. M'Coy's 

 Prodromus contains further descriptions and figures of Polyzoa by Mr. 

 M'Gillivray; thirteen species of Cellepora are now described. The 

 author considers that the holostomatous and schizostomatous divisions of 

 Cellepora are of generic value, and he retains the name of Cellepora for 

 the former, and proposes that of Schismopora for the latter ; nine of the 

 species appear to be new. A new genus of Squid — Ommastrephes 

 Gouldi — is described by Prof. M'Coy; it appears to be most closely 

 allied to 0. equipeda Kuppell, 



Mollusca. 

 /3. Pteropoda- 



Morphology of Pteropods.§ — Prof. C. Grobben writes in regard to a 

 passage from one of his papers, which has been misunderstood by Boas 

 and Pelseneer. By " Riickdrehung " he meant the movement of the 

 visceral sac on the dorso-ventral axis, not an " AufroUung " or untwist- 



* Proc. E. Irish Acad., i. (1888) pp. 29-56. 



t Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1888, pp. 302-28. 



X ' Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria,' xvii. (1888). 



§ Arbeit. Zool. Inst. Uiiiv. Wien (Glaus), viii. (1888) pp. 155-7. 



