474 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Alciopidae of Berlin Museum.* * * § — Dr. C. Apstein reports that the 
collection of Alciopidae at Berlin consists of forty-seven specimens, be- 
longing to thirteen species ; of these species, Vanadis violacea , V. Studeri, 
Callizona Moebii , and Corynocephalus Gazellse are new. There are more 
or less detailed notices of the species already described. 
Maxillary Apparatus of Euniceidae.f — M. J. Bonnier, referring to 
the criticisms made by Claparede and Grube on the classification of the 
Euniceidae proposed by Ehlers, which is chiefly based on the structure 
of the upper jaw, shows that in one and the same species the two typical 
forms described by Ehlers may be seen at different stages of growth. 
The author gives an account of his observations on Ophryotrocha puerilis, 
where there occur successive modifications which have not till now 
been described. To complete our knowledge of the genus the male form 
must be discovered. 
New Organ in the Lycoridea4 — Mr. E. S. Goodrich finds that 
Nereis diversicolor has in every segment, except the first and last few, a 
pair of large, highly differentiated, ciliated patches of coelomic epithe- 
lium — the dorsal ciliated organs. These organs seem to occur through- 
out the Lycoridea, as they have been found in all the genera examined. 
The nephridium of N. diversicolor consists of a compact mass, per- 
forated by a convoluted canal, which communicates with the exterior by 
a short duct which leads to a nephridiopore on the ventral surface. A. 
long canal springs from the main body of the nephridium, and ends in 
front by a nephrostome which opens into the next segment ; this 
nephrostome is provided with long ciliated processes. 
The author is of opinion that the dorsal ciliated organs may be 
considered as a not fully developed genital duct, and he points out that 
the Capitellidse, which are the only other Polychaetes that are known to 
possess a nephridium like that of Nereis , have in many segments a large 
ciliated patch of coelomic epithelium, which becomes funnel-shaped, and 
functions as a genital duct. He thinks that recent researches point to 
the conclusion that in most Polychaetes the nephridium is a compound 
organ formed from the fusion of a tube with an outpushing of the 
coelomic epithelium (Meyer) ; in the Capitellidse this funnel is partly 
nipped off as the genital duct, while in Oligochaeta, and perhaps also 
the Lycoridea, this coelomic funnel has either never joined the nephri- 
dium at all, or is afterwards mostly or entirely separated off as a genital 
duct. 
It has been suggested by Prof. Lankester to Mr. Goodrich that 
primitively the coelom of Chaetopods may have been ciliated all over — 
as, for instance, in Bhynchobolus. If it were so the ciliated organs might 
have been formed by the restriction of the cilia to a definite area, and 
the consequent specialization of the epithelium. 
Arenicola marina.§ — Prof. E. Ehlers communicates some interesting 
information in regard to the lobworm. In a recent memoir on the 
“ auditory ” organs, he expressed a doubt whether the gelatinous balls 
* Arch. f. Naturg., lix. (1893) pp. 141-50 (1 pi.), 
t Comptes Bendus, cxvi. (1893) pp. 524-6. 
t Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., xxxiv. (1893) pp. 387-402 (2 pis.). 
§ Nachr. K. Gesell. Wiss. Gotting., 1892, pp. 413-8. 
