426 General Notes, — [Apri 
All this has taken place in spite of the lakes, of the sandy 
nature of the ground, of the currents, of the disturbance of the 
ova and larve caused by the passage of ships, and of the too 
great saltness of the canal water. : 
MANUAL OF THE SPoNGES.—It will be remembered that a get- 
eral work on the sponges appeared in 1859, as the first volumeo! 
Bronn’s Thierreich. It included the Protozoa and sponges. t 
is now announced that a new work on the sponges for this series 
is to be prepared by Dr. Vosmaer, and the first number on the 
Porifera has lately appeared. Our knowledge of the sponges has 
been revolutionized within a decade and such a work is much | 
needed. i 
THE AFFINITIES OF TETRAPLATIA vVOLITANS.— Tetraplatia voli | 
tans Busch, has been shown by Krohn (Arch. f. Naturg., 1865, and 
Claus., Arch. f. Mikros, Anat., 1878) to be related to animals place!” 
among the Hydrozoa, but its closer relationships are problema 
cal. Its affinities with certain craspedote Meduse are p 
(Leuckart, Arch. f. Naturg. 1878; Haeckel, Das System der Me 
dusen). Are there not also structural features of the Ctenophora? 
The wings of Tetraplatia, although four in number, "E 
homologized with the lobes of Ocyroë. The diverticula from n 
stomach occupy a relationship to the other organs in some” 
spects similar to those of the young Mnémiopsis. The otoy 
of Tetraplatia have no resemblance either in character or p i 
to the otocysts of the Ctenophores. It seems possible that : 
platia, if an adult, as there is probably no doubt is the a 
an intermediate form between the craspedote Medusæ 
Ctenophores, and has affinities with both. The Cte 
tentaculata” have as close relationships with it throu 
genus Ocyroé as with the hydroid Medusa, Ctenaria, from 
they are supposed by some authors to have been dert 
Walter Fewkes. 
OCCURRENCE OF ALAURINAIN NEW ENGLAND Watersi 
18 it 
every summer by those working in the laboratory st 
The absence of this highly interesting genus from ™ The 
discovered, viz: Malaga. The resemblance of my 
the Newport Alaurina to the figures of this genus by = 
Metschnikoff was pointed out to me by Mr. W. 4e =. 
J. Walter Fewkes. 
