612 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 21. 



favorable results may be explained by the fact that 

 only young plants have been studied. — {Gard. 

 chronicle, May 26. ) G. L. G. [1166 



Z05liOGY. 



{General physiology and embryology.) 

 Spermatogenesis. — J. E. Bloomfield gives a re- 

 sume of the recent papers by Duval, Hermann, Ren- 

 son, Sabatier, and von Brunn on this subject, and 

 points out that they confirm the old idea that the 

 spermatozoa are developed in mother-cells, a part of 

 which remains behind. (The general hypothetical 

 bearing of this fact was first brought forward by 

 Minot. Bloomfield, in an article on spermatogenesis, 

 advanced this view again, and apparently still regards 

 it as original with himself.) — (Quart, journ. micr. 

 sc, 1883, 320.) c. s. M. [1167 



The coloring-matters of the bile of inverte- 

 brates. — C. A. MacMunn communicates to the 

 Royal society the results of a systematic examination 

 of the bile and various extracts of the liver of mol- 

 lusca and other invertebrates. The universal dis- 

 tribution Is proved of a chlorophyll pigment, to which 

 the name of ' enterochlorophyll ' Is applied. It can 

 be found in the bile of specimens of Helix after a 

 six-months fast, and is much more abundant in the 

 liver of mollusca and echinoderms than in Crus- 

 tacea. The presence of reduced haematin is also 

 demonstrated in. the bile of several pulmonate mol- 

 lusks. The bile of the cray-fish and most pulmonate 

 raollusks contains haemochromogen, generally ac- 

 companied by enterochlorophyll, and appears in the 

 Latter group to be more concerned in aerial than 

 aquatic respiration. He concludes that the so-called 

 liver of invertebrates is a pigment producing and 

 storing organ in addition to its functions connected 

 witli the production of digestive ferments. The 

 presence of haemochomogen is apparently connected 

 rather with the mode of life of the invertebrates in 

 which it occurs than distributed according to mor- 

 phological considerations. A drawing of the micro- 

 scopical structure of the liver of Limax, showing the 

 enterochlorophyll within the liver-cells, and maps of 

 tlie most important absorption spectra, described 

 with readings reduced to wave-lengths, accompany 

 the paper. — {Nature, ila.y 10.) w. h. d. [1168 



Protozoa. 



Polemical about protozoa. — In reply to the crit- 

 icism of Biitschli (ante, 273) concerning the view 

 maintained by Balbiani in regard to the conjugation 

 of Infusoria, the latter points out that he accepts and 

 has in part confirmed Biitschli's observations, but 

 differs from him as to tlie conclusions to be drawn 

 from them. From Balbiani's own statement, how- 

 ever, it appears that he has entirely changed his for- 

 mer theories, and essentially adopted Biitschli's; and 

 in stating tliat his old views could still be essentially 

 preserved he seems not ingenuous. — (Zool. am., vi. 

 192.) 



Kiinstler also replies to Biitschli's assertion (ante, 

 269) that Kiinckelia gyrans is a Cercaria: it has no 

 ventral sucker, it swims witlr the tail forward, and 

 shows no trace of cellular organization. K., however, 

 now admits that it is probably a metazoon larva, and 

 not related to the Flagellata. — (Zool anz., vi. 168.) 

 C. s. M. [1169 



Dimorphism of Foraminif era. — It is stated by 

 Munier-Chalmas and Schlumberger that in many 

 genera of Miliolidae there are two forms of the spe- 

 cies. Although the individuals are often alike exter- 



nally, they may be divided into two sets, according to 

 the arrangement of the central chambers. Thus in 

 Biloculina depressa, in form A the central round 

 chamber is large, and the other chambers next it fol- 

 low the bilocular arrangement; in form B, the cen- 

 tral round chamber is very small, and those next it 

 present the quinquelocular order, which, however, 

 is soon suddenly replaced by the usual bilocular ar- 

 rangement. This dimorphism is probably general in 

 the group. The authors' first note on this subject is 

 contained in the Bull. sac. geol. France (3), viii. 300; 

 their second, in the Gomptes rendua, March 26, 1883. 

 — (Ann. marj. nat. hist., ii. 336.) c. s. m. [1170 



Phylogeny of the Siphonophorae. — Fewkes 

 points out the resemblance between the primitive 

 scale of Agalma and the nectocalyx of Monophyes, as 

 well as the close resemblance of the embryonic knobs 

 of Agalma and Halistemma to the tentacular knobs 

 of the Calycophores. 



He believes that these resemblances are an indica- 

 tion of the point in the development of the Sipho- 

 nophora where the separation of the Physophorae 

 from the Calycopliorae, or the separation of both 

 groups from a stem form, took place. —(Amer. nat., 

 June.) w. K. B. 1 1171 



Neiw Brazilian medusa. — In his work on the 

 deep-sea Medusae collected by the Challenger expe- 

 dition, Haeckel describes an interesting genus, Dry- 

 moneura, represented by a single species from Gib- 

 raltar. Fr. Miiller records the occurrence of a second 

 species, Drymoneura Gorge, which he has found in 

 1857, 1860, and 1861, on the coast of Brazil. The 

 Brazilian form was found in a very shallow inlet, and 

 the genus cannot be regarded as a deep-sea form. — 

 {Zool. anz., no. 137.) w. k. b. [1172 



Odonata of the Philippines. — Baron de S^lys 

 gives a list of seventy-seven species, witli descriptions 

 of new species, and notes on those previously known. 

 Twenty years ago hardly one was known from the 

 region. The present paper is due to the collections 

 of Semper; and, with the exception of Hypocnemus, 

 which is figured, all the genera and even sub-genera 

 are represented in other oriental countries. But 

 forty-one of the species are peculiar to the Philip- 

 pines. A single species of the otherwise wholly 

 African genus Libellago occurs. — {Anal. soc. esp. 

 hist, nat., xi.) " [1173 



Scolopendrella. — In a new species described and 

 figured from Massachusetts, peculiar for the robust- 

 ness of the legs, Scudder finds the openings consid- 

 ered by Ryder as stigmata next the bases of the legs, 

 but believes he has also found stigmata in the head, 

 as in some Thysanura. He also compares the coni- 

 cal protrusion of the mouth-parts to those of Podura. 

 — (Proc. Bost. soc. nat. hist., xxii. 64.) [1174 



Growth of the ova in Chironomus. — Jawo- 

 rowski advances some singular notions on this sub- 

 ject. The eggs grow directly from the blood, not at 

 the expense of other cells, or by the intermediation 

 of the follicular epithelium. In pupal life the amount 

 of the blood is reduced to a minimum ; when the eggs 

 are discharged by the imago, they leave a large space; 

 the blood flows in and partly fills it, so that there is 

 less blood left in circulation than can sustain life; 

 hence the insect dies. (It does not appear that the 

 autlior's startling assertions rest upon any observed 

 facts.) — (Zoo;, anz, vi. 211.) c. s. m. [1175 



