290 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Classification of Gordiidse.* * * § — Dr. F. Bomer describes Chordodes bara- 
mensis sp. n. from Borneo, out of a Mantid ( Hierodulci basalis ), Cli. com - 
pressus sp. n., also from Borneo, and C. moluccanus sp. n. from Halmahera. 
He proceeds to a taxonomic survey of the family, describing 16 well 
defined species of Gordius (with notes of 9 doubtful forms) and 16 well 
defined species of Gliordodes (with notes of 4 doubtful forms). Then 
follows a valuable diagnostic table. 
Gordius and Mantis.! — M. F. Lataste describes the emergence of a 
living specimen of Gordius chilensis from a wounded Mantis , its suspected 
host. 
Freshwater Nematodes of Hungary.! — Dr. E. v. Daday gives a 
list of no less than 64 species. Forty-two are confined to fresh water, 
six occur in damp earth and in fresh water, nine live solely in earth 
saturated with fresh water, six are restricted to earth saturated with fresh 
and brackish water, one is confined to earth saturated with brackish 
water. The list of strictly freshwater forms includes 12 found else- 
where in Europe, and 30 which are recorded from Hungary alone. 
Platyhehninthes. 
Development of Nemerteans.§ — Herr J. Lebedinsky describes the 
direct development of Tetrastemma vermiculus and Drepanophorus spec- 
tdbilis. 
The laid egg has two envelopes. It gives off two polar bodies, the 
first with four, the second with two chromosomes. One of them, pro- 
bably the first, divides again. They often get into the segmentation- 
cavity. 
The segmentation is total and approximately equal, and a segmenta- 
tion-cavity exists in the 8-cell stage. The resulting bipolar blastula 
becomes bilaterally symmetrical, an elongated oval with the upper pole 
turned to the anterior end and the lower pole to the posterior end. At 
the upper pole the cells multiply and form the head-gland-area ; at the 
lower pole is formed the endoderm area, bounded by four large round 
cells. The mesoderm is represented by four large round cells, the 
mother-cells of the body mesoderm. The bilaterally symmetrical blastula 
becomes an invaginated gastrula. 
A ^ear-shaped gut arises from an invagination of the endoderm area. 
Subsequently the gut-wall acquires several layers by the transverse 
division of the endoderm cells, and the gastric cavity is much reduced. 
In later stages the gut re-acquires its single-layered wall. The gut^ 
opens by the blastopore, and is connected therewith by a tubular process, 
the future caecum. The gut forms a diverticulum which communicates 
with the rectum. 
The blastopore, at first large, gradually decreases in size, moving 
forwards, and closes very late. As it closes, the tubular process of the 
gut separates from the ectoderm, and forms the caecum. 
The head-groove, or frontal organ, begins as a group of highly 
* Abh. Senckenberg. Ges., xxiii. (1897) pp. 250-95 (1 pi.), 
f Actes Soc. Scient. Chili, vi. (1896) pp. 71-3. 
j Zool. Jalirb. (Abth. Syst.), x. (1897) pp. 91-134 (4 pis.). 
§ Arch. f. Mikr. Anat., xlix. (1897) pp. 503-56 (3 pis.); also pp. 623-50. 
