532 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
the Alcyonaria into five sub-orders. With regard to the first, the Proto- 
alcyonaria, he remarked that the immense amount of work done in recent 
years has produced no confirmatory evidence of the existence of any 
sexually mature solitary genus of Alcyonaria, and it seems probable 
that this sub-order may have to be abandoned. 
He directed attention to characters that should be used with great 
care in naming and forming species. The literature of the Alcyonaria 
is sufficient to impress the worker with the enormous number of species 
that had been founded on very imperfect observations and descriptions, 
so that the confusion in the group is now appalling. In many cases 
new species have been made on the strength of one character only, such 
as the form or number of spicules, or the size of the polypes, or the 
power of contractility, or the colour of the tentacles. These characters, 
when taken alone, and in spirit specimens, are extremely misleading ; the 
form and size of the spicules of Alcyonarian colonies vary much, and 
the spicules are no guide to the determination of species, unless it is 
distinctly stated from what part of the colony they are taken. More- 
over, specimens dredged in shallow water have been found to have much 
more numerous spicules than those taken from deep water. The size of 
the polypes is a character which by itself cannot be relied on. As to 
the power of contractility, it depends very much on the method adopted 
for killing and preserving the specimens. 
Protozoa. 
Protozoa of Illinois.* — Mr. A. Hempel reports that eighty species 
of Protozoa have been observed in this locality, four of which appear to 
be new. They do not seem, however, to exhibit any characters of 
especial interest. 
New Ciliata.j — Herr H. S. Wallengren describes Cliilodocliona g. n., 
which he places in a new family, Chilodochonina, and along with Spiro- 
chonina, Kentrocliona, Heliochona , Styloc/iona ?, and Spirocliona in a new 
section, Chonotricha. He found one species, Ch. Zvennerstedti [sic], as a 
commensal on the maxillae and maxillipedes of a small crab, Ebalia 
turnefada [sic] Mont., and on the moutli-parts of Portunus depur at or 
Leach. Another form — Ch. microchilus — perhaps only a variety, was 
found in the maxillipedes of the last-named crab. 
Another new Ciliate — Pleurocoptes Hydradinise g. et sp. n. — was 
found as an ectoparasite on Hydradinia echinata Johnst. It seems to 
belong to the order Trichostomata and sub-order Aspirotricha, near 
Lembadion Perty and Pleuronema Djsd. 
Phseocystis.f — Herr G. Lagerheim describes an abundant Plankton 
Flagellate Phseocystis Poucheli (Har.) Lagerh., which was previously 
regarded by Pouchet and by Hariot as an Alga, of the genus Tetraspora. 
A more careful study leads, according to Lagerheim, to the conclusion 
that the form in question is a Flagellate Infusorian. It is yellowish- 
brown in colour, and forms vesicular colonies. These consist of round, 
fixed, vegetative cells, with 2-1 parietal chromatophores. Multiplica- 
* Bull. Illinois State Laboratory, iv. (1896) pp. 313-6 (2 pis.). 
t Biol. Centralbl., xvi. (1896) pp. 547-56 (8 figs.). 
X Ofversigt K. Yetensk. Akad. Forhandl., liii. (1896) pp. 277-88 (7 figs.). 
