356 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
in the region of the rostrum. The cilia are numerous and long in all 
parts of the body. There is a terminal anus, and no contractile vacuole. 
This new generic type has affinities with Stentor , Bursaria , and Climaco- 
stomum , and may be placed near this last among the Stentorinm. 
New Pelagic Zoothamninm.* — Dr. G. du Plessis calls attention to 
a pelagic species of Zoothamnium , fine colonies of which are to be found 
off Villefranche. They never become, even temporarily, fixed. Like 
other pelagic forms they are absolutely transparent, swim incessantly, 
and die rapidly in captivity. They are in the form of a star with from 
four to twelve rays ; each ray is a miniature tree, and the branches of 
the second and third order carry elegant Yorticellids on very long 
stalks. Along the free edge there are immense cilia which are as long 
as the whole body. This peristome describes several spiral turns, and 
near the mouth there is a strong membranella. 
A few forms are sessile ; these are larger and their peristomial cilia 
are shorter than in the rest ; these are the macrogametes which are 
characteristic of the genus Zoothamnium. 
Contraction and extension are very sudden, and it is because of these 
movements that these transparent creatures are detected. They are best 
killed by a drop of glacial acetic acid, added at the moment of extension. 
They may be coloured by methyl-green and mounted in glycerin. In 
specimens so prepared the ribbon-shaped nucleus may be detected. 
Dr. du Plessis proposes to call this new species Z. pelagicum. 
Estuarine Foraminifera of Port Adelaide River.f — Mr. W. Howchin 
reports the presence in this area of fifty-one species, belonging to fifteen 
genera. The fauna, as a whole, is characteristic of shallow water and a 
temperate climate Two-thirds of the forms are living in British waters, 
while nearly all the rest are Australian or sub-tropical species. The 
most interesting are the nine arenaceous species. The rare Trochammina 
injlata occurs in considerable numbers high up the stream; the still 
rarer Haplophragmium cassis, previously known only from a few points 
on the borders of the Arctic circle, is not uncommon in some portions of 
the river. Bheophax nodulosa is also a characteristic cold water species, 
living at abyssal depths, where the temperature is low, and reaching its 
greatest development in size in Arctic and Antarctic waters. B. jindens 
is a very rare species, hitherto known from two localities only, one of 
which is the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
New Sporozoa | — M. P. Thelohan describes two new sporozoa, from 
the muscles of Cottus scorpio and Callionymus lyra. They resemble 
the parasite which Gluge described in the skin of the stickleback, a 
form which M. Thelohan proposes to call Glugea microspora g. et sp. n., 
and also that which Henneguy found in Gohius albus and in Palsemon 
rectirostris. 
Sarcosporidia.§ — Sig. A. Garbini has found in the muscles of Palse- 
monetes varians a Sarcosporid closely resembling but not identical with 
the form which Henneguy discovered in Palsemon rectirostris. Instead of 
* Zool. Anzeig., xiv. (1891) pp. 81-3. 
t Trans. Roy. Soc. South Australia, xiii. (1890) pp. 161-9. 
i Comptes Rendus, cxii. (1891) pp. 168-71. 
§ Atti R. Accad. Lincei — Rend., vii. (1891) pp. 151-3 (1 fig.). 
