674 General Notes. [June, 
almost motionless, while the ciliary action may be well observed. 
A parasite has been lately found on the skinof a young 
trout, by M. Henneguy, those in an aquarium at the College of 
France having suffered much fron it. The organism is a flagel- 
late Infusorian, and is named, provisionally, Bodo necator. 
Echinoderms —The stalked Crinoids of the Carribean sea have 
been worked up ina preliminary way by Mr. P. H. Carpenter in 
the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy—the final 
report to appear in those of the Challenger Expedition. ——Among 
the numerous interesting finds of the Travailleur in recent cruises 
is a new Eudiocrinus, being the fifth species at present known. 
These animals belong to the family of the Comatulide. The new 
animal is distinguished as Æ. atlanticus, the four others having 
been found in the Pacific. It was dredged in the Bay of Biscay, 
in a depth of 896". The Eudiocrini have only five arms (while 
the other Comatulz have at least ten). While those of the new 
form are simple, they are far from being of primitive type 
The animal is not able (like the others of the same group) to fix 
itself firmly to foreign bodies; it probably rests on the sea-bot- 
tom with arms and cirri spread out, not having to fear either 
waves or currents, But the muscular masses of its arms show 
that it must be a good swimmer. Fifteen specimens were 
tained. Oe 
Mollusks —From C. Ashford’s observations (Journal of bie 
chology, July, 1882), on the action of the heart in the snails ( i 
cidæ) during hibernation, it appears that circulation gocs ia 
slowly when the thermometer is not below 26-28° F. One 
were not made at a lower temperature than this, owing to cern 
ness of the Enylish winter, but Mr. Ashford thinks that ree 
statement that the heart remains motionless throughout hit Ai 
tion needs modification. In this country, with its cold ee : 
it would be comparatively easy to examine the question an Aë 
haps settle it. The Bulletin of the United States Fish are if 
contains an article translated by J. A. Ryder, from the oie a 
Dr. R. Hoorst. That observer speaks of artificial inp eal 
as impossible in the case of the common oyster. gs nt, if 
the bivalve shell develops from a simple unpaired rudiment, 
opposition to the observations of Lacaze-Duthiers an Teredo, a5 
The description of the development of the shell in rat in the 
given by Hatschek, agrees with that observed by Hoo gui 
oyster, and the latter thinks it safe to assume that the pent out 
` of the shell in all mollusks takes place the same way, whic advo- 
the monophyletic theory of the descent of the mollusca, 20°" 
cated by Von Ihering. i 
sFr i athique de 
Vertebrates—In the Bulletin de la Société Philom 
Paris M. Al. Thominot describes Saccodon cranocephalunh Sy and 
acinid from the Rio Guyaquil. The teeth are small, sm 
