184 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
the works of Metschnikoff, Lankester, Greenwood, and others. Their 
general result is to prove that in Hy droids there are two kinds of 
endoderm cells — secreting gland cells, and vacuolated cells for the ab- 
sorption and storage of products of digestion in the fluid form, and that 
in some Hydroids, but not apparently in Hydra , the intercellular diges- 
tion of a portion of the food may occur. In Anthozoa the structure is 
more complicated than in Hydrozoa, and it may be supposed that there 
would be some separation of the cells which in the Hydrozoa perform 
the functions of digestion, and this is probably the case. 
Corals from the Beep Waters of India.* — Dr. A. Alcock reports 
that in addition to three well-known species of deep-sea Madreporaria, 
there have been dredged by the ‘ Investigator ’ three new species, of 
which he gives short accounts. 
Medusae from the Bahamas.! — Mr. A. G. Mayer has a short account 
of some Medusae obtained by Prof. A. Agassiz in the Bahamas. He ob- 
served that after the middle of February, the number of marine animals 
which came under daily notice gradually increased, and among them 
were many larval forms. An interesting characteristic in the distribu- 
tion of pelagic life was the frequent occurrence of “Windrows,” com- 
posed of vast numbers of individuals of a few species. In the harbour of 
Nassau on the night of March 12th, one could not drag a tow-net many 
feet without capturing thousands of the little discophore Linerges mercu- 
rius. After remaining so abundant for several nights they suddenly 
disappeared. The new species described are Hybocodon Forbesii, 
Bougainvillia Niobe, Cubaia Aphrodite, Ireniopsis primordialis, Canno- 
physa Eysenhardti, and C. filiformis. Cubaia and Ireniopsis are new 
genera, but the generic are not distinguished from the specific characters 
in the descriptions. 
Development of Scyphomedusse.J — Miss J. H. Hyde has studied 
the development of Aurelia marginalis , A. jlavidula, and Cyanea arctica. 
Her results confirm Goette’s position. The gastrulation differs in the 
three species, and even in individuals, but there is agreement in essentials. 
The young planula gradually develops into what it is proposed to call 
a scyphula — a stage hitherto overlooked — which is characterized by an 
invaginated ectodermic gullet and radial enteric pouches. Of these 
characters the scyphostoma, which is formed by metamorphosis from the 
scyphula, shows little trace. There are no hydropolyp characters, the 
scyphula is thoroughly Anthozoon. The ectodermic gullet is not again 
evaginated. Part of the gullet is developed into the enteric folds, septa, 
pouch-;processes, and gastral ti laments ; part becomes the oesophagus and 
the second pair of primary pouches. Thus the whole oral apparatus is 
ectodermic, while the main part of the gut (excepting the aforesaid 
ectodermic parts, and the mesodermic connective tissue) is endodermic. 
The tentacles are all inter-septal in their origin. The dominant number 
of parts (four) is shown in the pouches, septa, septal funnels, and longitu- 
dinal muscles. Thus the ancestral form of Scyphomedusse and Anthozoa 
is regarded as a tetrapartite radial scyphula. 
* Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Ixiii. (1894) pp. 186-8. 
f Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., xxv. (1894) pp. 235-41 (3 pis.). 
X Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool., lviii. (1894) pp. 531-65 (6 pis., 4 figs.). 
