76 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
for preserving them, but treatment with 1/2 per cent, chromic acid and 
slow transference to alcohol succeeded. 
The largest were 15 mm. long by 7 mm. broad after preservation ; 
the inner tentacles averaged 3-4 min , the outer 35—40 mm.; each cirole 
included 12-15 tentacles. Yanborfen describes six genital septa and 
six filament septa, the order in which the septi develope, aud the micro- 
scopic structure of ect )derm and endoderm. But it is perhaps enough to 
say that he entirely confirms the close resemblance between Araclinactis 
and Cerianthus , which previous observers have noted. In following the 
development, however, all previous investigators have mistaken pos r erior 
for anterior. Boveri was mistaken, too, in regarding Araclinactis as 
related to the Edwardsia type. Yanhoffen does not agree with Vogt in 
giving this form a un que place ; he agrees with Gosse, Agassiz, Andres, 
and Boveri that Araclinactis is a young Cerianthus. 
Laws of Budding in Medusae.* — Prof. C. Chun first discusses the 
Sarsiidae, especially Dipnrena dolichogaster Haeck. and Sarsia gemmifera 
Forbes, in which the buds decrease in size in a distal direction, the 
upper or proximal being oldest and largest. Each daughter-bud repeats 
the same process, its buds also decreasing in size in a distal direction. 
In Ratkea octopunctata several circles of buds, each of four, are 
formed on the interradial surfaces of the stomach. All the daughter- 
buds lie on four interradial bands, and decrease in size distalwards. 
On ground plan the line passing through buds 1, 5, 9, 13 is opposite 
the liue passing through 2, 6, 10, 14; the line through 3, 7, 11, 15 (to 
the left) is opposite the line through 4, 8, 12, 16 (to the right). 
Chun has many other important results to communicate ; thus in 
Ratkea octopunctata the bud is due only to the ectoderm. He says 
that the germinal layers are “ predisposed ” neither histologically nor 
organogetically. In fact, the homology of the layers rests only on their 
relative positions. The author also discusses Lizzia Clapuredei Haeck., 
whose budding agrees with that of Ratkea and Cytacis macrogaster 
Haeck. 
Medusae of Liverpool Marine District.f — Mr. E. T. Browne has a 
report on the Medusae of the Liverpool Marine District. Although the 
author has not found any new species he has added a few of interest to 
the list of Manx Medusae, and he shows that some, which have been 
described as species, are stages in the development of others already 
recorded. The present paper is to be regarded only as preliminary, as 
the author hopes at a later date to publish an account of each species 
with figures. He remarks that the great obstacle which prevents pro- 
gress is the inability to collect sufficient specimens of a species, so as to 
trace its development, and to see how far it is necessary to allow for 
variation. So far his attempts to rear Medusae from their hydroids or 
to keep them in confinement have been failures. The rearing of a 
Medusa in confinement is the only safe method for tracing its life-history, 
and until this can be done the uncertain method of catching a sufficient 
quantity of specimens must be adopted. Unfortunately the majority 
of species have not the characteristic features that mark a few, and it is 
* Bibliotheca Zoologica (Leuckart and Chun), Heft 19, pp. v. and 1-51 (2 pis. 
and 4 figs.). t Proo. and Trans. Liverpool Biol. Soc., ix. (1895) pp. 243-80. 
