540 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
not prepared for fertilisation. Premature fertilisation of immature ova 
brings about abortive development, which soon comes to an end in the 
death of the egg. 
Mediterranean Asteroids.* * * § — Prof. H. Ludwig has published a useful 
hand-list compiled from his 4 Naples Monograph ’ (1897), giving diagnoses 
of the 14 genera and 24 known species of Mediterranean Asteroids. 
Coelentera. 
Tubnlaria crocea in Plymouth Sound.f — Mr. E. T. Browne notes 
the occurrence of Tubnlaria crocea (= Parypha crocea Agassiz) on the 
stern of a sailing ship from Peru which stayed for a few days in 
Plymouth Sound. Actinulae were being liberated in large quantities 
when the colonies were taken from the ship ; so it is possible that this 
hydroid may become an interesting addition to the fauna of the Sound. 
The developing ova showed a remarkable similarity to those from the 
medusa of Hybocodon prolifer. The female gonophores showed eight 
apical ridges, the male gonophore had none ; in the European species of 
Tubnlaria the gonophores are either without ridges or the number does 
not exceed four. Variations were noticed in the annulations on the stems, 
in the colour of the colonies, and in the clusters or racemes of gono- 
phores. 
Taxonomy of Hydroids.ij: — Dr. K. 0. Schneider gives a description 
of 49 species of Hydroids from Rovigno, and appends thereto a sys- 
tematic revision of the genera and a discussion of their relationships. 
New Alcyonaria.§ — Herr J. A. Z. Brundin describes a number of 
new forms. A new genus, Suensonia, represented by S. mollis , from the 
Strait of Corea, is thus characterised : — Treelike colony of soft consist- 
ence ; polyps almost free from spicules, cylindrical and non-retractile ; 
tentacles bearing on each side a single row of pinnules ; spicules very 
sparse, mostly twin-structures of hour-glass form without tubercles. 
The following new species are described, — Bellonella rubra, B. cinerea, 
Solenocaulon simplex , Psilacabaria frondosa, Plexauroides verrucosa , and 
Euplexaura anastomosans. 
New Family of Hydromedus8e.|| — Seitaro Goto describes a remark- 
able genus Dendrocoryne, established in 1892 by Inaba, whose paper in 
the ; Zoological Magazine,’ Tokyo, was, unfortunately, written in Japan- 
ese. The stock is strongly built and richly branched ; the] chitinous 
skeleton forms a lattice-work covered by the ectoderm ; the polyps are 
sessile, cylindrical or spindle-shaped ; the tentacles, up to 20 in number, 
are spherically thickened at their tips, and irregularly distributed on 
the body ; the male gonophore, so far as known, is medusoid, spherical, 
closed, without radial or circular canals ; the female gonophore is a 
spherical or ellipsoid medusoid, with ostium and circular canal, and 
sometimes with velum and rudimentary tentacles. Two species, D. misa- 
kensis and D. secunda, both from Misaki, are described. Inaba has 
* Verb. Nat. Ver. Rheinld., liii. (1896) pp. 281-309. 
f Journ. Marine Biol. Ass., v. (1887) pp. 54-5. 
t Zool. Jahrb. (Abth. Syst.), x. (1897) pp. 472-555 (2 figs.). 
§ Bihang K. Svenska Vetensk. Akad. Handlingar, xxii. (1897) No. 3, 22 pp. and 
2 pis. U Annot. Zool. Japon., i. (1897) pp. 93-104 (1 pi. and 8 figs.). 
