ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
541 
suggested that this new type may he related to that described by 
J. E. Gray (1868) as a sponge, and referred by von Lendenfeld (1885) to 
the Hydractinidse, near Dehitella and Ceratella. The author inquires 
whether the structure of the skeletal lattice-work may not be of interest 
in connection with Graptolites. 
Interrelationships of Madreporidae.* — Mr. H. M. Bernard gives 
reasons for believing that the ancestral parent polyp of the Madreporidae 
possessed the following leading characteristics: — (1) a porous wall, 
with laminate radial structures ; (2) a well-developed saucer-shaped 
epitheca ; (3) the habit of very early budding while the parent polyp 
was still very small ; (4) the production of true buds, starting from the 
smallest beginnings out of the sides of the polyp, and forming their 
skeletons, at least in the first stages, upon and with some slight modifi- 
cation of the radial symmetry of the porous wall of the parent polyp. 
From such a form the five genera studied by the author may be deduced, 
along lines of specialisation which he goes on to describe. He suggests 
the following arrangement of the family : — 
w , . , ( Madreporinee : — Madreporci, Turbinaria , Astrseopora. 
a repon ae j Montiporinae : — Montipora , Anacropora. 
Porifera. 
Non-Calcar eous Sponges of Victoria.f — Prof. A. Dendy continues 
his catalogue of non-calcareous sponges collected by the late Mr. J. 
Bracebridge Wilson in the neighbourhood of Port Phillip Heads. The 
present instalment deals with the families Axinellidas, Suberitidae, and 
Spirastrellidae, and with some forms whose systematic position is difficult 
to determine. Forty species are included in this part, and of these 
twelve are new. It has been found necessary to erect two new genera, 
Sigmcixinella and Pseudoclathria. 
Revision of Asconematidae and Rossellidae4 — Prof. F. E. Schulze 
recognises in the family Asconematidae the following six genera, — • 
Asconema , Hyalascus , Caulophacus , Aulascus, Sympagella, and Saccocalyx. 
He divides the family Rossellidae into three sub-families : — (A) Rossel- 
linae ( Bathydorus , Eossella, Crateromorpha, Aulosaccus, Aulocalyx , Placo - 
plegma , Euryplegma ) ; (B) Lanuginellae ( Lopliocalyx , Mellonympha, Lanu - 
ginella, Caulocalyx) ; and (C) Acanthascinae ( Acanthascus , Bhabdo- 
valyptus). 
Protozoa. 
A Swimming Heliozoon.§ — M. Eugene Penard describes a single 
■specimen of a remarkable Heliozoon which he found near Geneva. In 
most respects its characters are typical — small skeletal elements, probably 
siliceous, vacuolated plasma, radiating pseudopodia, and so on ; but the 
remarkable feature is the occurrence of an investment of cilia or flagella. 
These were active even when the animal was fixed by the pseudopodia ; 
they also served to drive it through the water. The author names the 
animal MyriopJirys paradoxa g. et sp. n. 
* Ann. Nat. Hist., xx. (1897) pp. 117-35 (1 pi.), 
t Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, ix. (1897) pp. 230-59. 
X SB. Pr.euss. Akad. Wiss., 1897, pp. 520-58. 
