204 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
are so great that one can only imagine a connection at the root ; one 
supposes, that is, that there arose from the Platodes, by the formation of 
a metameric coelom, forms which became, some Annelids and some 
Enteropneusta. 
In Prof. Sprengel’s opinion no relationship can be admitted between 
the Enteropneusta and the Nemertinea, and there does not appear to be 
any better case for the Echinoderma. If we allow there is an affinity to 
Cephalodiscus we are not much advanced in our search, for with what 
other animal is Cephalodiscus itself certainly allied ? 
We cannot refrain from again expressing our admiration for the 
plates in this fresh volume of Dr. Dobra’s great faunistic monographs. 
Larva of Balanoglossus.* — Prof. W. E. Ritter has a notice of a new 
Balanoglossus larva from the coast of California ; it is distinguished 
from all known Tornariae except the Bahama form by the possession of 
tentacles on the longitudinal ciliated bands, but they differ both in 
number and length. 
The most noteworthy points in internal structure are that, like some 
species, but unlike the New England form, the oesophageal evaginations 
which are the beginnings of the first pairs of gills do not appear until 
metamorphosis sets in ; and that there is in the floor of the oesophagus a 
band of high epithelium. The author thinks that this is, functionally, 
at any rate, comparable to the endostyle of Amphioxus and the Tunicates. 
The development of the dorsal nerve-cord is more on the lines of Amphi- 
oxus than of the Balanoglossus larva described by Bateson. 
Echinoderma. 
Recent and Fossil Starfishes.") - — Herr B. Sturtz finds that palaeo- 
lithic starfishes are, in general, provided with the characters which are 
now used for dividing recent forms into families and genera. Most of 
them, however, unite in themselves characters which are now distributed 
among several genera or even several allied families. There has, there- 
fore, since then been not only further development, but still further 
differentiation of the families and genera. The Encrinasteriae, with their 
alternating ambulacral plates, do not otherwise contain any lower types 
than the palaeozoic Eustelleridae. The importance of the alternating 
arrangement of the ambulacral plates is marked by the fact that it is seen 
also in palaeolithic Ophiurids. A characteristic of scarcely less importance 
for certain Palaeostelleridae is the actinal position of the madreporite. As 
this obtains in Ophiuroids it is clear that both divisions are to be referred 
to a stem-form, which had the madreporite, or its equivalent, on the 
ventral surface. The palaeolithic Starfishes are not allied to recent 
littoral forms, but to those that are exclusively abyssal. The fossil fauna 
of Bundenbach is particularly rich in forms which stand near recent 
abyssal species. 
Another striking fact is the wealth of palaeolithic deposits in 
Starfishes which unite the characters of the recent Pterasteridae 
(Hymenasteridae) and Brisingidae. Allies of the Archasteridae, Astro- 
pectinidae, Pentagonasteridae, Pentacerotidae, Gymnasteriidae, Linckiidae, 
* Zool. Anzeig., xvii. (1894) pp. 24-30 (2 figs.), 
t Yerh. Nat. Ver. Preuss. Rheinl., 1. .(1893) pp. 1-92 (1 pi.). 
