Minutes of Proceedings. xxvii 



that the embryos, after hatching, live for a time on the eggs which are 

 not so far advanced, one case being found which seemed to indicate 

 that the advanced embryos devour those less advanced. A male fish 

 of about the same size (2 feet) has also been found, and showed a 

 peculiar copulatory organ in accordance with the fact that the female 

 is viviparous. 



Both fish were found in the deeper waters near the Agulhas 

 Bank during the investigations of the Government trawler Pieter 

 Faure. The only other specimen of this fish that has yet been 

 found was the type specimen procured by the Challenger in the 

 Messier Straits, and this was evidently immature, being only 7 inches 

 in length. 



Mr. J. Stuaet Thomson, RL.S., exhibited specimens of Cephalo- 

 discus, a possible primitive vertebrate, procured for the first time in 

 South African waters by the Government trawler Pieter Faure. 

 Colonies of this remarkable genus were obtained from three different 

 localities, namely, off Cape St. Blaize, off Cape St. Francis, and off 

 Cove Eock, East London. Cephalodiscus was discovered during the 

 voyage of the Challenger in the Strait of Magellan, and was firstly 

 supposed to be a compound Ascidian. When it was found not to 

 belong to this class, and after having been examined by various 

 authorities, it was sent to Professor Mcintosh, F.E.S., in the hope 

 that it might be found to possess affinities with Annelids. In his 

 Challenger Eeport, Mcintosh places Cephalodiscus with the Polyzoa, 

 but at the same time notes its possession of certain characters 

 common to Balanoglossus. In an appendix to this report, Harmes 

 drew emphatic attention to more important affinities between 

 Cephalodiscus and Balanoglossus, and proposed that the former 

 should be entirely removed from the Polyzoa, and be placed with 

 Balanoglossus at the base of the Phylum Vertebrata. Later, Masterman 

 held that Cephalodiscus, Phoronis, and Bhabdopleura should be in- 

 cluded in a specially constituted class, the Diplochordata, as 

 distinguished from the Hemichordata, including Balanoglossus. 

 He founded this classification mainly on the supposed occurrence 

 of a double notochord in these three genera. The re-discovery of 

 Cephalodiscus is of interest in two connections, firstly that it may 

 be possible to trace out the development, which it has not been 

 possible hitherto to investigate, and thus light would be thrown 

 on its true affinities ; and, secondly, one of the specimens dredged 

 by the Pieter Faure is apparently a different species from that 

 discovered by the Challenger. 



