ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
77 
difficult to distinguish the early stages of different species. The author 
gives a number of interesting details as to a number of forms, of which 
our space will allow us to mention only a few. For example, he remarks 
that Amphicodon Jritillaria is marked by the interesting feature of the 
Medusa? carrying young bydroids in the umbrella-cavity. So far as 
the author knows this has uot been recorded before in any other Medusa. 
In dealing with Margellium octopunctatum the author takes twenty speci- 
mens to show the change of number of the tentacles, and he points out 
that the increase is not a variation, but that it simply shows stages in 
development. Those who have to do with specimens in museums will 
learn with interest that Mr. Browne’s experience tells him that specimens 
preserved in spirit are not to be relied upon for the presence of marginal 
vesicles. The otolith usually disappears and the vesicle shrivels up. 
Pilema octopus was once fouud represented by several large specimens. 
At times the species would appear to be very numerous otf the Isle of 
Man, for Mr. Walker states that he has seen many hundreds in a day. 
Greenland Ctenophora.* — Dr. E. Vanhdffen found three species of 
Ctenophora in Greenland seas, and his observations, taken along with 
those of Liitken, Levinsen, and Chun, corroborate the accuracy of Fabri- 
cius who over a hundred years ago described four Greenland Ctenophora. 
Vanhoifen mak >s some systematic notes on the three forms lie found — 
Polina septentrionalis, Beroe cucumis , and Mertensia ovum ; the fourth 
circumpolar form is PleurobracJiia pilous. They have been traced on 
the East Coast of North America as far as Florida, in Europe from 
Spitzbergen to the German Ocean and Baltic, and on the west coast of 
America to Vancouver and the Gulf of Georgia, thus well illustrating 
circumpolar diffusion. 
Porifera. 
Sponges from the West Coast of Portugal.! — Dr. B. Hanitsch has 
notes on a collection of Sponges from the west coast of Portugal, all but 
one of which were marine. He has not in all cases succeeded in specific 
identification, and with some of the forms he did not even attempt it. 
Many of the specimens sent him were mere fragments cut from larger 
specimens, and this often made identification difficult, especially with 
the Horny Sponges. W ith regard to some genera he did not seriously 
attempt specific identification, as he considers that a vast number of their 
species are quite insufficiently defined. The collection comprised twenty- 
eight forms, two of which represent new genera and species, and are very 
interesting. These are Amphiute paulina, which is the first instance of 
a calcareous sponge containing large, longitudinally arranged, oxeote 
spicules both in the dermal and gastral cortex, and Physcaphora decorti - 
cans, a tetractinellid sponge with a new type of microscleres. The 
former genus belongs to Dendy’s family Heteropidse, and the latter to 
the Placospongidae. 
Protozoa. 
Nuclear Division of Euglena.j; — Dr. J. Keuten finds that the 
nuclear division of Euc/lena viridis is without doubt mitotic. The 
* Bibliotheca Zooloyica (Leuckart and Cliuu), Heft 20, 1895, pp. 15-21. 
t Proc and Trans. Liverpool Biol. Soe., ix. (1895) pp. 205-19 (2 pis.), 
t Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool., lx. (1895) pp. 215-35 (l pi.). 
