614 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol.. VIII. No. 201. 



The last number of the ProceediDgs of 

 the Malacological Society* contains several 

 articles of more than average interest. The 

 anatomy of Mulleria has long been a desid- 

 eratum and the typical Columbian species 

 M. lobata is still undescribed. Very unex- 

 pectedly a second species turned up in 

 southern India, and from specimens of this 

 form M. F. Woodward has been able to give 

 a very complete account of its anatomical 

 features. It is known that in the young 

 the usual anterior adductor of Pelecypods 

 is developed, but the creature soon be- 

 comes sessile and the adult shell presents 

 a remarkable resemblance to an oyster 

 and, like the oyster, preserves only its 

 posterior adductor. The gills are nor- 

 mal, reticulate, and so attached to the 

 mantle as to separate the anal and 

 branchial chambers ; but the margins of 

 the mantle remain free. The foot is entirely 

 abortive, but the pedal ganglia remain ; the 

 rectum is entirely free from the pericardium 

 and heart, and there is no provision for a 

 branchial marsupium, as in the Naiades. 

 On the whole the characters support the 

 opinion previously based upon the shell, 

 that Mulleria is related to the Naiades, but 

 presents extreme modifications due to the 

 sessile habit. 



In the same number (pp. 85, 86) Dall gives 

 an account of the macroscopic anatomy of 

 the two peculiar New Zealand genera, Ee- 

 sania and Zenatia, Gray ; of which nothing 

 ■was previously known. Their relationship 

 to the Madracea is established. In Resania 

 the anal and branchial chambers are sep- 

 arated (as in Verticordia) by a fleshy septum 

 independent of the gills, and the ctenidia in 

 five adult specimens agreed in being asym- 

 metrical and in having the pendant laminse 

 on the left side discontinuous longitudinally, 

 the anterior portion being separated from 

 the posterior by a vacant space. 



We have also (pp. 94-104) a discussion 



*Vol. III., No. 2, July, 1898, pp. 63-110. 



of the classification of the slugs of the family 

 Arionidw by Professor H. A. Pilsbry, pre- 

 ceded by an account of the anatomy of 

 Anadenus and notes on Geomalacus. He 

 finds the modifications of the free muscles 

 most fundamental in this group. Geo- 

 graphically the family occupies three widely 

 separated areas which have no common 

 genera. The most primitive forms are 

 American, and an American origin for the 

 family is regarded as probable. Their 

 phylogenetic tree is supposed to have its 

 roots in the Endodontidce and its culmina- 

 tion in the genus Avion. Binneya is re- 

 garded as a connecting link with the En- 

 dodontidce, and the family may have spread 

 to Asia by way of an Alaskan land connec- 

 tion. 



One of the most interesting recent contri- 

 butions to malacology is that on the fresh- 

 water mollusks of Celebes by the brothers 

 Sarasin.* In the heart of the island, amid 

 high mountains, is the large Lake Passo, ly- 

 ing in a depression of ancient non- volcanic 

 rocks. Close to its shores, covered with a 

 moderate depth of water, is a sandy border 

 which descends abruptly into much deeper 

 water, which has a muddy bottom. On the 

 sandy terrace live many fresh-water shells, 

 and the beaches are abundantly strewn with 

 them. Other lakes have a not very differ- 

 ent shell fauna, but in Lake Passo was found 

 the curious Limnaeid genus Miratesta, one 

 of the prizes of the expedition. The shell 

 is heavy and sinistral, with coarse sculpture, 

 and the animal possesses a large and well 

 developed gill and a peculiarly muscular 

 buccal mass. The dentition is close to that 

 of Limncea and Isidora. The latter genus 

 also occurs, and the authors show that Pul- 

 mobranchia Pelseneer (as pointed out in this 

 Journal, n. s., IV., p. 772, 1896), is syn- 

 onymous with Isidora Ehrenberg {Ameria 



* Die Siisswasser-mollusken von Celebes, von Drs. 

 Paul and Fritz Sarasin. Wiesbaden, C. W. Kreidel. 

 1898. VIII., 104 pp., 13 pi., 4to. 



