ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
535 
and Oligochacta. Another suggestion of general interest is found in the 
contrast which the author draws between direct and indirect nephridial 
excretion. In the latter the nephridia serve simply to conduct to the 
exterior the products of excretion elsewhere accomplished, e.g. by the 
chloragogen cells. The predominance of the one or the other method 
is a factor influencing the arrangement of nephridial tubules. 
Plasmic Processes emitted from Serpula Eggs.* — Prof. E. A. 
Andrews describes “ spin processes ” in the eggs of Scrpula similar to 
those which G. F. Andrews observed in Echinoderm ova. They were 
first seen arising from the surface of the egg all around the polar bodies, 
and extending to the raised membrane. At the two-cell stage more were 
seen at both poles, and some were branched. They also occurred in 
later stages. “ The occurrence of such filose activity of the surface 
of the eggs of an animal so widely separated from the Echinoderm 3 
supports the idea that such phenomena are universally properties of 
protoplasm,” a view maintained in a recent work by G. F. Andrews, 
entitled c The Living Substance as Such and as Organism ’ (1897). 
Notes on Polychaeta.f — Prof. W. 0. MTntosh makes four notes on 
Polychfleta. The first records the phosphorescence of Gattyana ( Nychia ) 
cirrosa, a commensal Polynoid in the tubes of CJisetopterus , and Amphitrite 
debilis Dalyell. Irritation in the dark causes the scales to gleam with a 
pale yellowish light, often extremely faint, and thus in contrast with 
Harmothoe imbricata and Polynoe scolopendrina , in which the phospho- 
rescence is more vivid. A second note describes Evarne atlantica from 
Rockall. In the third note the author maintains that Pholoe inornata 
and P. eximia should be regarded merely as varieties of the typical 
P. minuta. The fourth note discusses a collection of Annelids made by 
Canon Norman in Norwegian fjords, and records three new species, 
Evarne Normani , Sthenelais Sarsi, and Sth. heterochseta. 
Growth of Ovum in Sagitta.J — T. Aida has made an interesting ob- 
servation in regard to the cells of the stalk which connects an ovarian 
ovum with the germinal epithelium. These stalk-cells are produced 
from the cells of the germinal epithelium by a succession of amitotic 
divisions, and they fuse one after another with the ovum until the latter 
becomes mature. Enlike the nutritive eells, the ova themselves arise 
hj mitotic divisions. 
Nematohelminthes. 
Excretory Cells of Ascaridse.— Mr. A. E. Shipley § comments on 
Prof. Spengel’s remarks on Nassonow’s interesting discovery that certain 
large cells in the body of Ascaris megalocephala take up granules of 
carmine and Indian ink, when these substances are injected into the 
body-cavity. Spengel reproached Nassonow for neglecting the records 
of previous work, and noted that the cells in question are not always 
lateral, but also occur medianly, on and under the gut. But Shipley 
points out that this very fact, which Spengel declares to have been over- 
* Amer. Nat., xxxi. (1897) pp. 818-20. 
t Ann. Nat. Hist., xx. (1897) pp. 167-78 (1 pi.). 
t Annot. Zool. Japon., i. (IS97) pp. 77-81 (1 pi.). 
§ Zool. Anzeig., xx. (1897) p. 342. 
2 p 
1897 
