416 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
West Indian Islands, but occurs more rarely in South America. One 
species of Acanthodrilm is described from Macquarie Islands, and 
Benhamia indica is a new species from Bombay. 
Ccelomic Fluid of the Earthworm.* — Mr. Lim Boon Keng has an 
exceedingly interesting memoir on the coelomic fluid of the earthworm, 
in reference to a protective mechanism. He describes in detail the 
characters and contents of the ccelomic fluid, adding considerably to our 
information with regard to what many of us thought to be a well-known 
fluid. Among other points of interest he shows that micro-organisms 
may live and flourish in this fluid ; he describes the different forms of 
cells which are found in it, and the action of these corpuscles on bacteria. 
With regard to the dorsal pores which are found in some, though not in 
all, earthworms, the author tells us that they are not, as they are usually 
described to be, simple apertures leading into the coelomic cavity, but 
that it is possible in fresh preparations to make out strands of muscle- 
fibre passing across the apertures longitudinally and transversely. 
Some simple experiments made with earthworms show that irritating 
bodies placed on the skin caused large quantities of milky coelomic fluid 
to be poured out through the dorsal pores. This slimy exudation is rich 
in cells, and these cells of the coelomic cavity. They are almost all 
actively amoeboid. It is difficult to inject liquids into the coelomic 
cavity, but the fate of all such is the same ; they are expelled through 
the point of injection, as well as through the dorsal pores. As the 
amoeboid cells of the coelomic fluid possess a remarkable mechanism for 
attacking bacteria, it is clear that when we consider how closely the 
functions of this fluid are correlated with those of the skin, we are able 
to realise the existence in the earthworm of a complicated protective 
mechanism which may effectually exclude parasites. To a highly 
organised animal like the earthworm, inhabiting localities swarming 
with parasites, it must be an enormous advantage to have the power of 
discharging upon its assaulting enemy great numbers of phagocytes. 
There is, at any rate, formed from the coelomic fluid and from the 
mucous glands a slime which possesses considerable complexity of 
structure, and which in addition to active phagocytes, contains sticky 
threads of mucus which form a complicated network ready to entangle 
any parasite that endeavours to bore its way through the skin. 
Oligochaeta of Zurich. f — Herr K. Bretscher gives a list, with de- 
scriptive notes, of the Oligocliaeta he collected round Zurich. The 
following are new : — AEolosoma fiedleri , Homochseta naidina g. et sp. n., 
Macrochseta intermedia g. et sp. n., Ghsetogaster langi, Pachydrilus macu- 
latus , and Fridericia Helvetica. He has some notes on the occurrence of 
the reproductive period and its dependence on external conditions, on 
the presence of sensory papillae in Nais apjpendiculata, EmbolocepJialus 
velutinus , &c., which live in a thick envelope of mud and debris, on 
various parasites which occur in Oligochaeta, and on distribution. 
Occurrence of Enchytrseida in Beetroot.f — Herr A. Stift describes 
how a three-year old beet was found to be affected with Enehytrseida. 
* Phil. Trans., 186 B. (1895) pp. 383-99 (2 pis.). 
t Revue Suisse Zool., iii. (1896) pp. 499-532 (4 figs.). 
X Oesterr.-Ungar. Zeitschr. f. Zuckerindustrie u. Landwirtsckaft, xxiv. (1895) 
p. 999. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 2 te Abt., ii. (1896) p. 244. 
