24 i SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



In the present unsatisfactory condition of the classification of the 

 Cirripedia, M. Lacaze-Duthiers temporarily propounds the following 

 scheme : — 



il . Suctoria aut Rhizocephala {SaccuUm, Peltogaster). 

 2. Apoda (Frotcolepas). 

 3. Abdominalia {Crytvphyalus). 

 4. Ascothoracida sive Jihizothoracida {Laura). 



The last sub-order is incontestably higher than the three other 

 groups. 



Vermes. 



Seison.* — Professor C. Claus having lately continued his investiga- 

 tions into the anatomy of this obscure parasitic Eotifer, describes in 

 some detail the organs originally assigned by him to the water- 

 vascular system. The two " transparent canals " of his former 

 account are the ascending portions of an extensive system of tubes : 

 they exhibit, close to their attachment to the integimaent, a pair of 

 strongly ciliated lobes which project into the tubes, but cannot be 

 considered as ciliated excretory funnels. 



In the female the thin transparent main canals already mentioned, 

 commencing at the upper part of the central division of the body, each 

 send a long loop forwards into the neck and themselves pass backwards 

 and downwards through the body to the gland of the " foot " ; here 

 their walls assume a glandular character. The anterior end of the 

 canal having passed the turn which formed the loop, now passes in 

 the same way backwards, and after being twice alternately dilated and 

 constricted, passes up towards the anus and expands into a delicate sac 

 which probably opens with the rectum to the exterior. Into the 

 same sac opens the other (glandular) tube. In the male, the posterior 

 division of the canal is much more slender than in the female, and the 

 glandular character of its wall is wanting. After winding in a com- 

 plicated manner, it passes up towards the dorsal surface at a considerable 

 distance from the abdominal ('• foot-") gland and then becomes in 

 some way connected with the excretory part of the male organs. A 

 similarly striking diflference between the characters of the two sexes 

 is presented by the digestive organs : thus in the female the rectum 

 is sheathed with longitudinal muscles, and ends in a dorsally placed 

 anal slit ; in the male, however, it is altogether wanting from tliis 

 place, for it opens on the neck with the ductus ejaculatorius ; in the 

 male, too, the muscles which move the chyle intestine have quite 

 diiferent insertions and positions fi'om those of the female. 



The jjeculiar bean-shaped organ which receives the vasa deferentia 

 of the male is probably derived from the unpaired portion of the 

 watcr-vascnlar system. On the right of the orifice of the male duct 

 a lobate diverticulum opens, and on its left a multifid glandular mass. 

 A fuller and illustrated account is to appear, and will no doubt throw 

 light on some of these obscure points, 



* Zool. Anzeig., iii. (ISSO) pp. 518-50. 



