366 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Japanese Zoology.* — Prof. K. Mitsukuri, in introducing ‘ Annota- 
tions Zoologicae Japonenses,’ which is referred to in detail in this 
number of the Journal, takes an interesting retrospect of the progress of 
zoology in Japan. In the eighth century Japan had its Imperial Uni- 
versity; in the ninth century the Imperial Library contained 16,790 
volumes, some with “ very modern sounding titles ” ; early in the 
eighteenth century there was a treatise on Natural History, in 1000 
parts ; and the naturalist Ono Ranzan, at the beginning of this century, 
had nearly one thousand pupils. Over 300 Japanese works on Botany 
existed before 1868, and the Botanic Garden of the Imperial University 
was established in 1681. The treasury of Western civilisation was first 
opened by a Dutch key. The visits of Thunberg (1775) and Siebold 
(1821) had their due effect on natural history studies. A work on the 
use of the Microscope was published in 1801. With the restoration in 
1868 a new period began, and the modern Japanese school of zoology 
dates from the appointment of Prof. E. S. Morse to the chair of Zoology 
in Tokyo in 1877. Prof. Whitman introduced modern technical methods. 
Since 1881 the development of zoology in Japan has been entirely in 
the hands of Japanese, and a vigorous school has sprung up, as all 
zoologists are now aware. 
Natural History of the Sea.f — Mr. George Murray has written an 
interesting article with this title. It contains some account of pre- 
£ Challenger ’ work, discusses some of the conclusions and suggestions of 
the final £ Challenger ’ volumes, and notices some post- £ Challenger * re- 
searches, e.g. Fischer’s study of Bacteria in the sea, Schiitt’s study of 
Peridinese, and the evidence which Prof. McIntosh and Mr. George 
Murray have furnished, that, as “ all flesh is grass,” so all fish appears to 
be diatom. The article ends with a note on a simple method of con- 
verting a mail steamer into a Plankton expedition. 
Life in the Primeval Ocean.J — Mr. C. Morris draws a necessarily 
speculative picture of the primeval ocean. As its waters ‘‘slowly 
cooled, and inorganic eliemism declined in activity, organic chemistry 
probably set in, aided by the solar rays, then perhaps first freely reaching 
the waters. The material for this new phase of action had been prepared 
before, and existed abundantly in the water and air. . . . Certainly 
organic forms appeared in the waters of that period, and conditions 
favouring their formation must have existed. . . . Seed-forms of organic 
substance may have first appeared — simple carbon compounds. These 
would serve as the basis of more complex molecules, and there may have 
been a long-continued process of de-oxidation and formation of higher 
carbon and nitrogen compounds, till true organic matter appeared. . . . 
The conditions favouring the development of organic material were 
transitory, and no longer exist.” 
Tunicata. 
Budding in Ecteinascidia.§ — Dr. G. Lefevre comments upon the 
absence of parallelism between embryonic and bud-development, which 
* ‘ Annotation es Zoologicse Japonenses, Auspiciis Societatis Zoologies Tokyo- 
nensis, seriatim editse,’ i. (1897) Tokyo, pp. i-xi. 
t Science Progress, i. (1897) pp. 379-96. 
j Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1897, pp. 12-17. 
§ Anat. Anzeig., xiii. (1897) pp. 473-83 (6 figs.). 
