754 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



prolonged, it is possible to produce senile degeneration, has made experi- 

 ments of a similar kind with some of the Metazoa which multiply 

 parthenogenetically and by budding. He has succeeded with some 

 species of Rotifers and oligocheetous Annelids. Cyclogsena lupus, a car- 

 nivorous Rotifer, was nourished on Rotifer vulgaris, and was kept at a 

 temperature of 19-23° C. The ova were incubated in fifty-tvvo or three 

 hours, and the young took sixty-five to seventy hours to mature their first 

 ovum. The maximum number of ovipositions was thiee a day. A 

 herbivorous species of Notommata was followed through twenty-two 

 uninterrupted generations from February the 6th to May the 18th ; the 

 length of incubation of the ova was from forty-seven to forty-eight hours 

 at 15° C. and thirty-five at 19° C. CalUdina vaga was followed through 

 twenty-nine generations. Of Oligochseta, Nais elinguis and Pristina sp. 

 were followed through a few generations only, but Chsetogaster dia- 

 strophus through an iminterrupted series of forty-five generations. In no 

 one of these cases was sexual generation observed. The author is not, 

 at present, able to continue these investigations. 



a. Annelida. 



Polyodontes maxillosus.* — :M. R. Saint-Loup has discovered near 

 Marseilles the large Aphroditid which is called Polyodontes maxillosus. 

 It is two metres long, and the diameter of the b ;dy near the head 

 20 mm.; further back it is only slightly attenuated. Yarious errors in 

 Claparede's figure of the external characters are pointed out. The. 

 proboscis, when extruded, is ratber wider than the body ; it has, in front, 

 four denticulated jaws, and the longest denticle is 4 mm. The cephalic 

 lobe carries the eyes at the end of two stalks, which are fused along their 

 line of contact ; the projection of these organs is such that the worm can 

 see in front of it, even when the proboscis is protruded. The delicate 

 fringes which ornament the extremity of the proboscis are provided with 

 ultramarine, phosphorescent granulations, which probably serve as a 

 lantern at night. 



Notes on Oligocliseta.f — Mr. F. E. Beddard states that in the sexual 

 form of Dero there are invariably two setae only in each of the ventral 

 bundl'-s of the fifth segment ; this worm appears to differ from other 

 Naidomorpha by the entire absence of ventral setae from the sixth 

 segment ; there is a single unpaired sperm-sac and egg-sac. In a new 

 large species of Perichseta from Borneo the spermatheca showed a marked 

 asymmetry. Some remarks are made on Dr. Rosa's recent criticigm of 

 some of Mr. Beddard's descriptions and systematic views. 



Oligochsetous Fauna of New Zealand.^ — Mr. F. E. Beddard points 

 out that, though all the species from New Zealand described by 

 Dr. Hutton are referred to the genera Lumbricus and Megascolex, most 

 belong to other genera and especially to Acanihodrilus. Fourteen 

 species, several of which are new, are enumerated in the present paper. 

 Bhododrilus is a new genus which comes nearest to Cryptodrilus and 

 Megascolides ; its atria are tubular, penial setae are present, and the 

 clitellum occupies segments xiv.-xvii. It would appear that the oligo- 

 chsetous fauna of New Zealand differs markedly from that of Australia ; 



* Comptes Eendus, cix. (1889) pp. 412-4. 



+ Zool. Anzeig., xii. (1889) pp. 533-6. 



X Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1889, pp. 377-82. 



