304 SUMMARY OP CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
a product of disassimilation, deposited in certain tissues which thus 
function as reins d’ accumulation” 
Anatomy of Malayan Pulmonates.* — Ilerr A. Jacobi has made a 
detailed investigation of the structure of Amphidromus chloris and A. 
interruptus, amplifying previous studies by Semper and Fr. Wiegmann. 
New Species of Doris.f — Mr. W. Garstang describes, under the 
name Doris maculata, a small Dorid of striking appearance, which has 
been several times obtained at Plymouth. The largest specimen was 
nearly one inch in length. The notaeum is usually about twice as long 
as broad ; the rhinophores are large, distinctly laminated, and com- 
pletely retractile ; the circumanal gills are five simple pinnate com- 
pletely retractile plumes; the anterior margin of the foot shows a 
transverse groove, which separates a slender propodial lip from the rest 
of the foot ; there is an oral tentacle on each side of the oral protuber- 
ance. But the most distinctive feature is the presence, on the back, of 
a number of conspicuously coloured tubercles of a deep purple colour, 
in sharp contrast to the bright yellow of the body. 
Bryozoa. 
“ Excretory Organ” of Fresh- water Polyzoa.J — Hr. Asajiro Oka 
has investigated, by means of sections, the so-called excretory organ in 
the Phylactolaematous Polyzoa, in order to decide whether or not it is a 
true nephridium. The species studied was Pectinatella gelatinosa Oka, 
but for purposes of comparison sections were also made of Barentsia 
misakiensis Oka and Phoronis Kowalevshii Caldwell. The author’s con- 
clusion is that the so-called nephridium, although it opens from the 
body-cavity to the exterior, is not glandular, and does not function as an 
excretory organ. The tube-like appearance of the organ is only ap- 
parent, and is produced by a Y-shaped partition which divides the 
epistome from the rest of the body-cavicy ; the so-called excretory organ 
is therefore only a portion of the body-cavity in which the lining epi- 
thelium is well provided with cilia. As the result of his comparative 
investigations, the author draws up the following conclusions as to excre- 
tory organs in the Polyzoa. In all Ectoprocta the function of excretion 
is carried on by free mesodermal cells, which leave the body by a pore 
at the base of the median tentacle, and carry refuse particles with them 
(cf. the researches of Harmer and Cori) ; their removal from the body is 
aided by the ciliation of the epithelium in the neighbourhood of the 
pore. In the Phylactolaematous Polyzoa a complication is introduced in 
the presence of the partition mentioned above, which produces the 
peculiar structure hitherto described as a nephridium. In all essentials, 
however, the process of excretion is identical in Gymnolaemata and Phy- 
lactolaemata. In the Endoprocta, on the other hand, there are two 
tubular nephridia, consisting of a row of cells, the proximal of which 
is a flame-cell. They closely resemble the excretory organs of mesen- 
chymatous worms, and may be called pro-nephridia. In Phoronis the 
* Arch. f. Naturgesch., Ixi. (1895) pp. 293-318 (1 pi.). 
f Journ. Marine Biol. Ass., iv. (1896) pp 167-8. 
+ Journ. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Japan, viii. (1895) pp. 339-63 (2 pis.). 
