824 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 309. 



Professor L. Cuenot {Arch, de Biologic, 

 XVI., 1899) has published some interesting 

 researches on the excretory organs and 

 their functions in a variety of mollusks. 

 In these he shows how different portions of 

 the nephridia excrete different effete ele- 

 ments of the fluids of the body and how 

 these functions are distributed. The mem- 

 oir has been crowned by the Eoyal Bel- 

 gian Academy. 



An unusual condensation of embryonic 

 stages has been observed in two nudi- 

 branchs, Cenia cocksi by Pelseneer, and in 

 Pelta coronata by Vayssiere. These em- 

 bryos do not exhibit the usual embryonic 

 velum and shell of other Opisthobranchs, 

 but the body at an early stage becomes cov- 

 ered with vibratile cilia and rotates in the 

 fluids of the egg (Zool. Am., XXIII., 1900). 



In the Proceedings of the Malacological So- 

 ciety (IV., No. 3, October, 1900), Mr. M. F. 

 Woodward gives some important informa- 

 tion in regard to the anatomy of three 

 members of the Volutacea, the significance 

 of which is, however, somewhat obscured 

 by the author's want of knowledge of the 

 present state of the nomenclature. The 

 paper gives a general account of the mac- 

 roscopic anatomy of Neptuneopsis Gilchristi 

 Sowerby, a newly described and peculiar 

 form from South Africa, and of ' Valuta ' an- 

 eilla and ' Volutilithes ' abyssieola, Adams and 

 Reeve. Of the anatomy of the latter nothing 

 was known. The Neptuneopsis was described 

 in a South African publication which has 

 not reached this country, and is gener- 

 ally inaccessible, so it is to be regretted that 

 Mr. Woodward did not recapitulate the 

 shell characters for the benefit of students. 

 The radula also had been abstracted from 

 the specimen before it was received by him, 

 so that the chief aids to systematic classifi- 

 cation are wanting. However, it seems 

 pretty certain, from the characters of the 

 nervous system, that the animal is nearly 

 related to the Volutidse, and, since it has 



an operculum, probably to the true volutes 

 which Mr. Woodward calls Volutolyria, a 

 name which is an absolute synonym of 

 Voluta (L.) Lamarck. Until more informa- 

 tion is received it would be rash to come to 

 more precise conclusions as to its sys- 

 tematic place. 



The only data in relation to the anatomy 

 of Volutilithes properly speaking (as far as 

 one can judge from the shell, the type 

 being Voluta spinosa Lam., a fossil spe- 

 cies) were given by me in the Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus. (XII., No. 773, p. 315, 1889) from 

 an examination of V. Fhilippiana Dall., 

 from the South American coast. To the 

 data there supplied it may be added that 

 the dentition consists of a single longitudi- 

 nal row of 50 tricuspid teeth, the cusps be- 

 ing long, thornlike and somewhat decurved. 

 It has no operculum and is blind. This 

 radula is most like that of Cyniba olla L. and 

 Volutilithes doubtless belongs to the Scaphel- 

 lidae as does Cymbiola (or Scaphella) ancilla. 

 In 1890 I separated the group to which 

 ' Volutilithes ' abyssieola belongs, as a sub- 

 genus Volutocorbis, as it obviously could not 

 be classed with the original Volutilithes. 

 This course is now fully justified by the 

 anatomical details supplied by Mr. Wood- 

 ward, the most remarkable of which is the 

 radula, which has two rows of unicuspid 

 laterals, one on each side of the rhachidian 

 tricuspid tooth. This radula is unlike any 

 of the Volutacea yet known, as Volutomitra, 

 which Woodward compares with it, has, 

 like the others, only a single row and Tros- 

 chel in his text explains how the deceptive 

 appearance of laterals in one of his figures 

 arises from the crushing of the base under 

 a cover glass. The single rhachidian of 

 Voluto7nitra is well figured by Stimpson 

 (Bidl. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 37, pi. xxxiv.. 

 Fig. 7). The radula of Volutocorbis is inter- 

 mediate between that of Vasum and that of 

 Oliva. The group will now take rank as a 

 distinct genus. If it remains in the Volu- 



