ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. MICROSCOPY, ETC. 649 



boundary-line can be made out between this substance and the subjacent 

 ground-substance. The membranes described by Sollas and Dendy 

 api)ear to be nothing more than the boundaries — sometimes jiarticularly 

 distinct — of the substance which lies between the collared cells. 



Korotnewia desiderata and the Phylogeny of Horny Sponges.* — 

 Dr. N. Polejaetf finds in a peculiar horny sponge called Korotnewia 

 desiderata that the substance of its fibres corresj)onds only to that of 

 the medulla of the heterogeneous horny fibres ; the elements that form 

 the fibres are all jDolyhedral. The author believes that this discovery 

 confirms his view that the polyhedral cells form the medulla of the 

 fibres and the cuj)-shaped cells their margin, and that every horny fibre 

 has from the first its definite thickness. As the polyhedral are less 

 specialized than the goblet-shajied elements, it follows that the skeleton 

 of the ancestral form of the horny sponges is not to be sought for in the 

 Spongeliidee, but rather among the Darwinellidae. The fact that the 

 canal system of the Darwinellidee is less difterentiated than that of 

 the SpongeliidaB 6uj)ports this view. As to the modern speculations 

 suggesting the {lolyphyletic origin of the Keratosa, the author remarks 

 that one ought not to separate artificially what one can unite naturally. 



New British Sponge. f — In his account of the Porifera of the Liver- 

 pool Marine District, Dr. E. Hanitsch describes a new genus Seiriola, 

 for which he institutes a new family. This belongs to Sollas' group 

 Streptastrosa, for it is an astrophorous sponge in which one of the micro- 

 scleres is some form of spiraster ; the family is defined in the following 

 terms: — "The ectosome forms a cortex. Chief megascleres triaenes. 

 The choanosomal mesoderm is cystenchymatous. S. coinpacta sp. n. was 

 found at Puffin Island, where it forms a knob-like mass. In this report 

 seven species are added to the list of forms recorded from that neigh- 

 bourhood, one of which — Bmiera semitululosa — is new to British seas. 



Protozoa. 



Chlorophyll in Animals.:]: — M. P. A. Daugeard, who remarks that 

 chlorophyll-corpuscles have never yet been observed in the Flagellata, 

 reports its j)resence in Anisonema viridis [«] sp. u., which contains a 

 large number of green granules, placed in the ectoderm. The author, 

 who believes that these green bodies are parasitic Alga3, notes that their 

 presence is connected with the existence of a gelatinous secretion, in the 

 interior of which the individuals are reproduced by division. A similar 

 gelatinous investment is found in Ophrydiain versatile, where the cysts 

 resemble a large Pleurococcus ; the protoplasm seems to be coloured 

 uniformly green, the membrane is thick and striated by bands which 

 intercross like those oi the cysts of Stijlonycliia mytilus. We do not yet 

 know how the green corpuscles behave when the host is encysted ; if they 

 lose their individuality the author recognizes that it will be necessary to 

 abandon the idea of their being parasitic. It is possible, however, to be 

 certain by means of reagents that the green corpuscles remain distinct. 



Biitschli's Protozoa.§ — Prof. O. Biitschli continues his systematic 

 description of the Ciliata. The second suborder, or Spirotricha, is 



* Zool. Anzeig. (1S89) pp. 366-7. 

 t Liverpool Biol. Soc, iii. (1889) pp. 155-73 (3 pis.). 

 X Comptes Kendus, cviii. (1889) pp. 1313-4. 



§ Bioiiu's Klasseu u. Ordnungen, i., Protozoa (1889) pp. 1713-1840. 

 1889. • 2 Z 



