966 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Bipalium kewense.* — Though Mr. E. Trimen has found Bipalium 

 keioense at the Cape of Good Hope, he is unable to give us any information 

 of its exact habitat, for all the specimens seen by him have been found in 

 cultivated grounds. He has observed multiplication by transverse fission, 

 and the growth of the pieces. Abundant moisture is necessary to keep the 

 worms alive. 



New Rotifer.^— Mr. J. Hood describes a new species of the Eattulidse, 

 Mastigocerca hicristata, which he has found in marsh pools in Fifeshire and 

 Perthshire. It is about 1/40 in. in total length, the long slender toe being 

 nearly as long as the body. It feeds on Confervse, desmids, and diatoms, 

 and deposits its eggs among Confervas or vegetable debris. The female only 

 has been observed. 



Balanog^lossus Larva from the Bahamas.^ — In reference to his com- 

 munication § on this subject, Mr. W. F. E. Weldon states that Prof Spengel 

 has convinced him that his series really belong to the normal order of 

 development. He withdraws, therefore, his previous statement, and 

 expresses regret for having published " an erroneous doctrine." 



Echinodermata. 



Development of Calcareous Plates of Amphiura-H — ^Mr. J. W. Fewkes 

 has studied the development of the well-known viviparous Ophiurid, 

 Amphiura squamata. He finds that the intestine of the bisymmetrical larva 

 is early developed, and later in development undergoes atrophy ; the mouth, 

 and possibly the oesophagus of this larva are formed by an epiblastic in- 

 vagination during the time that the larva is still inclosed in its sac, and 

 remains attached to the parent. The provisional skeleton of the bilateral 

 larva is not always symmetrical, and sometimes developes on one side ; the 

 first formed rod is not always a trifid calcification; the first calcareous 

 plates which form on the abactinal hemisome are the first five radials, and 

 a little later, the dorso-central ; the radials arise before the terminals. The 

 first ambulacral are the plates which are first formed on the actinal hemi- 

 some; the second pair of adambulacral plates bear club-shaped spines, 

 which are homologous with the spines of the lateral plates of the arms. 

 The first-formed ventral plate belongs to the first pair of adambulacral plates, 

 and not to the lateral arm-plates ; though not belonging to the portion of the 

 arm which is free from the disc, this ventral plate is homologous with the 

 other ventral arm-plates. 



The radial shields arise before the " underbasal " is formed between the 

 dorso-central and the primary radials, and while there are but two inter- 

 mediate plates in each of the interradii ; the author discusses the homology 

 of the plates which are looked upon by Carpenter as the basals, and doubts 

 whether the particular ones selected by him are truly basals. The ambu- 

 lacral plates do not always arise in the form of trifid spicules, for they 

 sometimes appear as parallel unbranched rods. 



The ova of a parasitic Crustacean (? Copepod) T were often found, and the 

 specimens which contained them were distinguished by having one or more 

 of the interradial regions of a reddish colour, and more swollen than the 

 rest. "While the eggs of the Crustacean are bright red or pink, and arranged 

 in packets, those of Amphiura are red and orange and are not in free 

 packets. The adult form of this parasite is also found in Amphiura. 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1887, pp. 548-50. t Sci.-Gossip, 1887, p. 173 (2 figs.). 



X Proc. Roy. Soc. Lend., xlii. (1887) p. 473. § See this Journal, ante, p. 597. 



li Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Cambridge (U.S.A.), xiii. (1887) pp. 107-50 (3 pis.). 

 1[ Cf. this Journal, ante, p. 587. 



