June 15, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



553 



ameter) and whitisli. The pistil secretes nectar, which 

 collects about it or in the hollowed petals. At first the 

 stigma is closely covered by five dilated staminodia, 

 closely inflexed over it for a time, but later separate. 

 In R. pannosa there is well-marked protandry, the 

 staminodia not separating, nor the stigma maturing, 

 until the stamens are all dehiscent. E. corylifolia, 

 on the other hand, is synacmic, the expansion of the 

 sepals and the dehiscence of the stamens occurring 

 in regular succession, and being closely followed by 

 the successive removal of the staminodia from the 

 mature stigma. K. parviflora is intermediate between 

 the two species already mentioned. Its flowers as- 

 sume a rosy color with age, like those of Trillium 

 grandiflornm, Weigelia, etc. — {Sitzungsb. deutsch. 

 bot. yes., 1SS3, i.) V. t. [1088 



Pinus koraiensis Sieb. and Zucc. — Through 

 the kindness of Chief Engineer G. W. Melville, 

 U.S.iSr., Mr. Joslah Hoopes had rec'eived some speci- 

 mens of this interesting species of pine collected 

 during the voyage of the unfortunate Jeannette. 

 Tliey consist of a branch clothed with foliage, two 

 immature cones, and a few mature seeds from east- 

 ern Siberia. The trees were seen along the banks of 

 the Lena, the Yenisei, and the Obi rivers, growing 

 to a height of about thirty feet, with trunks about 

 ten inches in diameter at base. The collector fur- 

 ther states that it fruits abundantly, and that the 

 edible seeds are used by the natives as food, and by 

 travellers as nuts. It is interesting to note that this 

 heretofore comparatively rare species has a wider 

 habitat, and is more numerous, than has generally 

 been supposed. Siebold found it in Kamtchatka, 

 and various authors have described it in the list of 

 Japanese Coniferae as a rare introduced species. 



This nut-bearing pine is well marked throughout, 

 and especially so in its cones and seeds, the latter 

 being wingless, sub-angulate, flatly compressed, leav- 

 ing on both sides of the scale, when remo\'ed, 

 remarkably deep impressions. The cones are very 

 distinctive, with long reflexed scales, terminating in 

 an abrupt mucro-like apex. Murray, in his Pines 

 and firs of Japan, records its height as from ten to 

 twelve feet; but Parlatore, on the authority of Per- 

 fetti, gives it as ' sometimes thirty to thirty-three 

 feet.' The latter is corroborated by Mr. Melville, 

 thus indicating that the tree is a true northern spe- 

 cies, attaining its greatest size only near the extreme 

 limits of arboreal vegetation. It will, no doubt, 

 make a valuable addition to our list of ornamental 

 conifers, as its hardiness is unquestioned, and the foli- 

 age is as attractive as any other of the white-pine 

 group, with the exception, perhaps, of P. excelsa. 

 In England it has proven reliable, and the small 

 plants cultivated by Mr. Hoopes show evidences of 

 success. — (Acad. nat. sc. Philad.; meeting May 8.1 



[1089 

 ZOOLOGY. 

 Coelenterates, 



Recent researches upon the Pennatulida. — As 

 the result of a prolonged study of Renilla, Dr. Wil- 

 son gives a brief summary of his results and conclu- 

 sions upon the following topics : the segmentation of 

 the egg and the formation of the germ-layers, the for- 

 mation of the organs and tissues of the axial polyp, 

 the origin of the community by budding from the 

 axial polyp, the significance of the polymorphism 

 and bilateral symmetry of the community. 



During segmentation the division of the nuclei ap- 

 pears to be nearly regular; but the vitellus may either 

 divide with the first division of the nuclei, or it may 

 remain at rest until a much later stage. In some 



eggs the first division of the vitellus was into thirty- 

 two spheres. After segmentation the ectoderm is 

 separated by delaraination from the solid central en- 

 dodermic mass, and the supporting layer is secreted 

 from the inner ends of the ectoderm-cells. 



The gastric cavity, which has at first no commu- 

 nication with the exterior, is formed by absorption 

 of the central eiidoderm-cells by those which are 

 more peripherally placed, and the oesophagus is 

 formed as a solid invagination of ectoderm, fts cen- 

 tral end is not simply perforated, but absorbed, during 

 the formation of the mouth. The peduncular septum 

 consists of three layers of eudoderm-cells, and the 

 author therefore believes that it is morphologically a 

 fused pair of septa. The muscles are developed as 

 processes from the bases of the endoderm-cells ; and 

 the cell-body, in many cases at least, becomes reduced 

 to a small granular mass enclosing the nucleus, and 

 closely applied to the side of the muscular fibre. The 

 apicules are developed in the interior of cells, and 

 are of two kinds (ectodermic and endodermic), which 

 differ much in form and size 



The buds which are to form the sexual polyps are 

 developed along the axial polyp in pairs, as two sim- 

 ple lateral rows, and each of them soon becomes a 

 secondary axis for two rows of buds which appear in 

 the angles between the older buds. The law of bud- 

 ding is the same for the zooids and polyps. 



The hauptzooid is formed at an early stage as a 

 median bud upon the axial polyp; and its function 

 is to discharge water from the colony, while the other 

 zooids draw in water, as do also the young sexual 

 polyps, but not the adults. Wilson therefore con- 

 cludes that the zooids are homologous with young 

 sexual polyps ; that they are polyps in a state of ai^- 

 rested development. He believes that the polymor- 

 phism of the community has not been brought about 

 by the gradual specialization of an undifferentiated 

 community, but that the ancestors of the zooids 

 never possessed a higher organization than at pres- 

 ent. He believes that the bilateral symmetry of the 

 community has been directly determined by the bi- 

 lateral environment, and he holds that Kenilla is de- 

 scended from a form like the Bathyptileae, and not, 

 as Kolliker believes, from a primitive simple 'Archyp- 

 tllum.' 



The paper is an abstract of an extended monograph 

 which is to be published in the Phil, trans.; but the 

 author is an American naturalist, and the researches 

 were made upon the coast of North Carolina. — ( Proc. 

 royal soc, no. 222.) 



Living specimens of the very rare genus Funicu- 

 lina have been obtained near Lisman Island, and they 

 have been observed and studied by A. Milnes Marshall 

 and William P. Marshall. The immature or young 

 specimens have all the characteristics of Funiculina 

 Forbesii (Verrill), while the full-grown ones are typ- 

 ical specimens of F. quadrangularis (Pallas); and the 

 authors therefore reject VerriU's identification of the 

 northern form as a new species. The paper contains 

 a revision of the literature of the Pennatulidae, and 

 an account of the general anatomy of Funiculina, 

 Virgularia, and Pennatula, but it adds very little to 

 the researches of Kolliker and others. — {Bep. Oban 

 Pennatulidae.) w. K. B. [1090 



Hydro-medusae -writhout digestive organs. — 

 Dr. Lendenfeld describes anew sub-family of hydroids, 

 Eucopellinae, in which the medusa has no digestive 

 organs, and lives only a short time after its escape 

 from the genophore. Only one species, Eucopella 

 campanularia, is known, and this is found in Austra- 

 lia. The larva is a campanularian whose hydranths 

 are carried upon short, unbranched stems, which 



