ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 529 



organs scattered over the whole surface of the arms and disc ; these are 

 made up of epithelial groove-cells. 



The author regards the presence of two nervous systems as, in con- 

 junction with the other structural characters of Crinoids, indicating 

 that this is the most highly developed group of Echinoderms. 



Large Starfish.* — Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell describes a remarkably 

 large si^ecimen of Luidia Saviiinii from Mauritius, which has nine arms, 

 none of which are injured or bear signs of having been repaired during 

 life. The disc is 95 mm. in diameter, and the longest arms measure 

 370 mm., and the shortest 350 mm., so that the sjjan is about 27 inches. 



Variation in Ophiura panamensis and 0. teres.f — Mr. J. E. Ives 

 has an interesting note on the variations exhibited by examples of these 

 two Ophiurids ; 0. panamensis exhibits a very great variety of colour 

 pattern, due probably to the wide range of the species ; the darker 

 varieties are found in the more northern parts of its area of distri- 

 bution. 



Ccelenterata. 



Pennatulida of Mergui ArcMpelago.:|:— Prof. A. Milnes Marshall 

 and Dr. G. H. Fowler report on the Pennatulids collected by Dr. J. 

 Anderson. Eepresentatives of five genera and ten species, of the latter 

 of which two are new, were obtained. The numerous examples of both 

 Pteroeides Lacazii and P. chinense exhibit great variability, and in each 

 case these may be arranged in two groups ; the same is true, also, of 

 P. esperi. Virgularia Bumphii has colonies which may be as much as 

 900 mm. long ; the swelling at the end of the stalk is shown to depend 

 on the state of contraction of the individual and is a character of no 

 practical value in classification. Fifteen specimens of this f^enus are 

 referred to a new species which is called V. prolifera ; all show the 

 truncation of the upper end of the rachis that is so characteristic a 

 feature of the genus. The other new species in the collection — Policella 

 tenuis — was represented by a single example 252 mm. in length ; it can 

 easily be distinguished from P. maxillaris which was collected with it. 



Lebrunia neglecta.§— Prof. J. P. M'Murrick has a note on this 

 incompletely known Actiuiarian. Its original describers, Diichassaing 

 and Michelotti, were wrong in saying that it has five dichotomously 

 branched processes, for it has six ; these are, to use the recent nomencla- 

 ture of E. Hertwig, pseudotentacles. Allied to this form are, apparently, 

 the deep-sea Actiniee, Ophiodiscus annulatus and 0. sulcatus described 

 by Hertwig from the ' Challenger ' collections, but they are not con- 

 generic. This is proved by the absence in Lehrunia of a circular muscle 

 and of specialized gonophoric mesenteries. It belongs to Hertwic/'s 

 tribe Hexactinite, the three divisions of which formed by Andres appear 

 to be natural ; to these the author propot^es to add a fourth which he 

 calls Dendromelinae. It would include Lebrunia and probably Ophio- 

 discus, and may be characterized by the presence of marginal tentacles 

 arranged in cycles, and by the possession of pseudotentacles arisincy from 

 the column- wall. Further details are promised. 



* Ann. and Mag. Xat. Hist., iii. (18S9) pp. 422-3. 



t Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1889. pp. 76-7. 



X Joura. Linn. Soc. Lond., xxi. (1SS9) pp. 267-86 (2 pis ) 



§ Zool. Anzeig., xii. (1889> pp. 38-40. 



