80 The American Naturalist. [January, 
Bornean over Philippine forms, and farther, that those which must be 
regarded as belonging to the latter group are more extensively modi- 
fied than are those from Bornean sources. 
Bahaman Sea Anemones.—lIn a beautifully illustrated paper 
(Jour. Morphol. U1.), Dr. J. P. McMurrich describes the sea anemones 
of the Bahamas, using as a basis material which he collected while a 
student at the Johns Hopkins summer laboratory. Fourteen species 
in all were found, of which Bunodes teniatus and Auloctinia stelloides 
are regarded as new. The descriptions of the species contain many 
comments upon the synonymy and numerous details of structure im- 
possible to present in abstract. Dr. McMurrich, from a study of these 
forms, concludes that the Bahaman Actinarian fauna is much more 
closely allied to that of the Indo-Pacific than it is to that of the rest of 
the Atlantic, the similarity of many species to those of the Red Sea 
being remarkable. The occurrence of Ledrunnea neglecta in shallow 
water in the Bahamas is interesting, since the other members of the 
sub-tribe to which it belongs occur in the deep seas off the coast of 
Chili. Dr. McMurrich explains this by supposing (with Semper) that 
uniformity of temperature is of more importance than the absolute 
degree of heat and col 
The Siphonophores.—Prof. Ernest Haeckel finds (Jena. Zettsch. 
1888, and Vol. XXVIII. of the Zodlogy of the Challenger Expedition) 
that the Siphonophores embrace two very distinct groups, which agree 
only in being hydroid colonies, the individuals of which must be re- 
garded as Craspedote medusze modified for special functious. These 
two groups are called Siphonanthe and Disconanthe. In the first are 
included the great majority of the species, the Disconanthe including 
only Porpita telella, etc. In the Siphonanthe the colony is to be re- 
garded as a Craspedote medusa, from the proboscis of which have 
budded numerous other medusz which have become specialised for 
their different functions. In the Disconanthe we have a Craspedote 
medusa, with its central proboscis and its marginal tentacles. Instead, 
however, of secondary individuals budding from the proboscis, these 
arise from secondary probosces which bud later from the under side of © 
the disc. This view, it will be seen, is intermediate between the two 
theories of the morphology of the Siphonophores. According to the 
first, each Siphonophore is to be regarded as a single medusa, the 
various organs—swimming bells, gonads, tentacles, etc.—being dislo- 
cated parts of this medusa duplicated by budding. The other view 
is that the Siphonophore is a medusoid colony, each of the appendages 
to be regarded as an (often modified) hydroid or medusa. 



