ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
197 
Cirrophore of Polynoidae.* — G. Darboux fils distinguishes on the 
dorsal cirrus of Polynoidae the cirrophore and the cirrostyle. The cirro- 
phore is a protrusion formed by an evagination of the whole musculo- 
cutaneous envelope. At the base of this there is a glandular pocket 
where the cirrostyle is inserted on the cirrophore by a delicate annular 
epidermic membrane. The delicacy of this membrane explains the 
caducous nature of the cirrostyles. Moreover, when the animal is irri- 
tated the pocket is filled with mucus which strains the line of insertion 
between cirrophore and cirrostyle. A simple figure would have made 
the paper more readily intelligible. 
Irish Annelids.f — Prof. W. C. McIntosh gives an annotated list of 
collections from the Museum of Science and Art in Dublin, and from 
Prof. A. G. Haddon. Two new forms, Harmothoe Fraser- Thomsoni and 
Sthenelais sp. (imperfect) are recorded. 
New British Echinuroid.if — Prof. W. A. Herdman describes Thalas- 
sema Lankesteri sp. n., female specimens of which were dredged in fifty 
fathoms off the Isle of Man. The specific diagnosis runs : — Length about 
20 cm. ; proboscis nearly as long as trunk, and in most of its extent 
wider ; tip of proboscis truncated and slightly indented ; surface evenly 
tuberculated all over ; colour apple-green on the trunk, paler on the 
proboscis ; longitudinal musculature not divided into bundles ; a single 
pair of anterior nepliridia ; nephrostomes spirally twisted ; cloacal ne- 
phridia branched, with numerous ciliated funnels on the ends of the 
branches. 
Herdman’s new species agrees with Hamingia in having branched 
cloacal nephridia, while in all other respects it either agrees with or 
comes nearer Thalassema. 
The green pigment has been examined by Prof. Sherrington, Dr. 
Noel Paton, and Miss Newbigin, with the result that the substance, 
which may be appropriately called thalassemin, is shown to be unre- 
lated to haemoglobin or chlorophyll, not a respiratory pigment, but on 
the whole nearer to bonellein than to any other known pigment. 
Ch8etopterin.§ — Prof. E. Kay Lankester gives an account of what is 
known in regard to this pigment, which he discovered in 1861 in the 
intestinal wall of Chseiojpterus. He describes its mode of occurrence 
and its optical properties. After discussing the colour and absorption 
spectra of bonellein, which is widely different from chaetopterin, he 
records the measurements of the absorption spectra of both pigments 
recently made by Prof. Engelmann. 
Nematobelminthes. 
Vitality of Young Round- Worms. || — Herr G. Fritsch made an 
osmic acid preparation of a mature female of Anguillula aceti , and sealed 
it up with asphalt. For fourteen days the embryos showed signs of 
life. This is another striking illustration of the extraordinarily small 
respiratory demands of these organisms. 
* Comptes Rendus, exxvi. (1898) pp. 257-9. 
t Proc. R. Dublin Soc., viii. (1897) pp. 399-401. 
j Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., xl. (1897) pp. 367-84 (2 pis.). 
§ Tom. cit , pp. 447-68 (4 pis.). |j Zool. Anzeig., xxi. (1898) pp. 110-2. 
1898 P 
