ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
317 
Echinoderma. 
Connection between Blastomeres in the Egg of the Sea-TJrchin.* — 
Dr. J. Aug. Hammar has studied in fresh material and in sections the 
nature of the connection between the cells of the segmenting egg in 
Echinus miliaris. He finds that it is most distinct in the two-celled 
stage, but is also visible even in the late blastula stages. He finds that 
the ectoplasm does not divide during cell-division, but persists undivided, 
giving the appearance of a clear sheath round the products of division. 
As this sheath crosses the spaces between the cells it appears to be a 
band connecting the cells, but in origin it belongs to the ectoplasm. 
Coelentera. 
Microscopic and Systematic Study of Madreporarian Types of 
Corals.t — This paper is an abstract of a communication by Dr. Maria 
M. Ogilvie read before the Royal Society. The author finds that the 
skeleton of the Madreporaria arises from an actual calcification of ecto- 
dermal cells (calicoblasts), and not by a secretion laid down outside the 
cells. This calcification is followed by a formation of fibro-crystalline 
groups of aragonite, and a disintegration of the organic cell-remnants 
which produce carbonaceous flecks and bands in the crystalline deposit. 
The author then traces the grouping of these calcified calicoblasts into 
fascicles, which are the structural units of the coral-skeleton, and dis- 
cusses in detail the nature of the skeleton in typical genera. As a result 
of her investigation she finds that the subdivision of the Madreporaria 
into the sub-orders Rugosa, Aporosa, and Perforata is entirely artificial, 
and prefers to classify them into a number of families of equal rank. 
These families she arranges in accordance with the views as to their 
descent which she deduces from her investigations. 
Classification of Antipathidse. — Herr L. Schultze has studied a 
collection of Antipatharia made by Prof. Kukenthal off the coast of 
Ternate. He dissents from the view of Brook that the Schizopathinaa 
show any real dimorphism, beyond a division of the body into nutritive 
and reproductive regions; and finds his basis of classification in the 
number of septa which extend in the upper part of the polyps be- 
tween gullet and body- wall. Three groups of Antipathidae are thus 
established : — 
(1) 6-chambered: Cladopathes Brook. 
(2) 10-chambered : Cirripathes Blainv. (em. Brook). 
Stichopathes Brook. 
Antipathes Pallas (em. Schultze). 
Aphanipathes Brook. 
Parantipathes Brook. 
(3) 12-chambered : Leiopathes Gray (em. Brook). 
Schultze also gives the diagnoses of the following new species : — 
Parantipathes simplex , Aphanipathes thamnoides , Aph. spinulosa , Antipathes 
ternatensis, and Ant. delicatula. 
* Arch. f. Mikr. Anat., xlvii. (1896) pp. 14-28 (1 pi.). 
t Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xvii. (1896) pp. 219-28. See also Proc. Roy. 
Soc., lix. pp. 9-18. % Zool. Anzeig., xix. (1896) pp. 89-92. 
1896 
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