ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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Phylum IX. Chordonia. 
IX. a. Subphylum 1. Tunic at a. 
Classes: 1. Copelata ; 2. Ascklise ; 3. Thalise. 
IX. h. Subphylum 2. Vektebrata. 
Classes : 1. Acrania ; 2. Cyclostoma ; 3. Pisces ; 4. Dipneusta ; 
6. Amphibia ; 6. Eeptilia ; 7. Aves ; 8. Mammalia. 
Sensitiveness and Adaptability of Organisms to Saline Solu- 
tions.* — Dr. J. Massart finds that the organic excitation produced by 
saline and other solutions varies according to the molecular weight and 
molecular structure of the substance. The repulsion, studied with most 
precision in Bacteria, is inversely proportional to the molecular weight, 
and directly proportional to the “ isotonic coefficient,” or the attraction 
of the substance for water. The unity chosen in estimating this last 
factor is a third of the attraction exercised on water by a molecule of 
nitrate of potassium. Massart experimented not only on Bacteria, but 
on Infusorians, Hydra, the skin of the frog, and the conjunctiva of man. 
The latter is sensitive, not only to solutions more concentrated than 
tears, but also to others less so ; it may be anaesthetized as regards pain 
and touch, while remaining quite sensitive to degrees of concentration. 
He gives numerous illustrations of adaptability of Bacteria, Infusorians, 
&c., to concentrated solutions, the adaptation being due to a permeation 
of the protoplasm by the dissolved substance. An appendix contains 
many interesting facts in regard to the comparative sensitiveness of 
small organisms. A method is suggested by which this variable 
sensitiveness might be taken advantage of to secure the isolation of 
desired specimens and the elimination of others. 
Natural History of Victoria.')' — Prof. P. M‘Coy has issued part 
19 of the Prodromus ; three plates are devoted to Bryozoa, and three to 
the large Melbourne Cuttle-fish (^Sepia apama Gray). 
B. INVERTEBBATA. 
Marine and Freshwater Invertebrate Fauna of Port Jackson and 
Neighbourhood. J — Mr. T. Whitelegge has published a list of the 
invertebrates found in fresh or salt water at or near Port Jackson, 
This will be very useful in the colony, and is instructive to zoologists 
generally. A good deal has still to be done before anything like a 
complete census of this fauna can be attempted. Attention is drawn to 
one starfish which offers peculiar opportunities to the embryologist ; it 
inhabits the zone between high and low water mark ; the eggs are 
deposited under stones in little rock-pools, and the young, when hatched 
out, never leave the spot until they assume the form of the adult. 
Mollusca. 
American Mollusca.§— Mr. W. H. Dali has published a preliminary 
catalogue of the shell-bearing Marine Molluscs and Brachiopods of the 
* Arch, de Biol., ix. (1889) pp. 515-70. 
t ‘ Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria,’ xix. (1889) pp. 297-327 (pis. 181-90). 
X Sydney and London, n. d. [read 3rd July, 1889], 8vo, 161 pp. 
§ Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., No. ‘S7 (1889) 221 pp. (74 pis.). 
