384 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
He also describes Apseudes liibernicus sp. n., Stenothoe crassicornis 
A. O. Walker, and Parapleustes megacheir sp. n., a form which may be 
at once distinguished from all other species of the genus by the shape 
and large relative size of the second gnathopods. 
Phosphorescence of Cypridina Hilgendorfii.* — Mr. H. Watanabe 
finds that the phosphorescent organ of this Ostracod, “ the sea firefly,” 
is a group of elongated unicellular epidermal glands opening to the 
exterior symmetrically on either side of the median line, on the outer 
edge of the upper lip (Claus’s Oberlippendriise, 1873). They secrete 
transparent colourless “ secretive vacuoles ” and yellow homogeneous 
granules, which are stored in the necks of the glands. Physical and 
chemical stimuli cause contraction of the muscles of the upper lip, and 
the secretion of the glands is thereby squeezed out. 
The phosphorescence is a chemical phenomenon accompanying the 
contact of the pigment of the granules with the sea-water. Free oxygen 
in any considerable quantity is not essential, but the presence of water, 
unless it be strongly acid, is a necessary condition. “ As the phos- 
phorescent organs of the Metazoa seem to be generally derived from 
a glandular transformation of the ectoderm, so physiologically they 
are attributable to a pigment-producing change in the glands; the 
phosphorescence being simply a collateral phenomenon due to con- 
tact of a yellowish pigment, capable of changing into red or green, 
with water. It is, generally speaking, a means of frightening other 
animals, possessed by certain aquatic organisms, or those living in a 
moist medium.” 
New Ostracods.f — Prof. G. S. Brady describes some Ostracods — 
residues of the ‘ Challenger ’ collection and from other sources — belong- 
ing to the section Myodocopa. In the family Cypridinidae, the new 
genus Cyclasterope is established beside Asterope, with two new species. 
The following are also new : — Cypridina castanea , C. (?) armata, C. (?) 
squamosa , Philomedes corrugata. 
Annulata. 
Nephridia of Polychseta.J — Mr. E. S. Goodrich describes the 
nephridia of Hesione sicula Dch., TyrrJiena Claparedii Quatref., and 
Nephthys scolopendroides Dch. He begins with the ciliated organ of 
Hesione. It is crescent-shaped, with two free horns, and lies at the 
point where the dorso-lateral blood-vessel first touches the hinder edge 
of the oblique muscles. The surface which faces backwards and away 
from the muscle is deeply grooved and densely ciliated ; the anterior 
surface towards the muscle is lined with flat ccelomic epithelium. There 
is no trace of glandular structure. A pair of ciliated organs occurs in 
the anterior region of every segment after the third parapodium. 
The nephridium opens into the coelom by a simple funnel with long 
stiff curved cilia ; a narrow neck leads to a wide and somewhat twisted 
tube ; this becomes narrower and more convoluted, forming a mass 
* Annot. Zool. Japon., i. (1897) pp. 69-70. 
f Trans. Zool. Soc. London, xiv. (1897) pp. 85-100 (3 pis.), 
j Quart. Journ. Micr, Sci., xl. (1897) pp. 185-95 (4 pis.). 
