350 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Ccelentera. 
Digestion of Ccelentera.* — M. Marcellin Chapeau finds that in the 
Siphonopliora digestion appears to be exclusively intracellular. In 
Actinice there is also a secretion of fluids capable of dissociating albu- 
minoid bodies, and very slowly peptonizing them ; the fluid in the 
cavity is more alkaline than sea-water, and is able to emulsionize fatty 
substances. The intracellular action rapidly peptonizes albuminoids, 
and produces the saponification of fats and the dissolution of starch. 
The intracellular action is to be considered as preparatory to the final 
and principal process of digestion which is realized within the phagocyte- 
elements of Actinians. The reduction of the food into fine particles 
makes it possible for the cells to ingest them. All the cells of the gas- 
trovascular cavity seem to take part in the intracellular digestion. 
The digestion of Actinians may be considered as a stage in physio- 
logical evolution ; below them there is only intracellular digestion ; in 
them a new function begins which, in higher forms, becomes very 
perfect. 
Minyadse.f — Mr. 0. Carlgren has some notes on these pelagic Ac- 
tinians. In a form whose external appearance recalled Beil’s description 
of Minyas torpedo a peculiar arrangement of the septa was observed ; 
each pair of septa ordinarily consists of a complete and an incomplete 
one ; and has on its outer side a well-developed pad of longitudinal 
muscles, and on the inner the more feebly developed transverse muscles. 
Four pairs, however, form an exception to this rule ; in these the longi- 
tudinal muscles occupy the same position in both septa of a pair. The 
author thinks that this arrangement may be explained by supposing that 
the Minyadas are descended from a ten-rayed Hexactinian in which 
there has been an enlargement of the entosepta ( Binnenfacher ) and a 
diminution of the exosepta (Zwischenf acker). It would be a matter of 
interest to examine the arrangement of the septa in young forms. 
With regard to the systematic position of the group the author does 
not share the inclination of McMurrich or of Haddon and Shackleton to 
place the Minyadse with the ordinary Actiniae (Hexactinise). He 
thinks it would be better to attach weight to the arrangement of their 
septa, and to their peculiar pneumatic apparatus, and to form for them a 
special tribe of Minyae ; this, however, he abstains for the present from 
characterizing. 
Alcyonaria of the Albatross.^ — Prof. T. Studer has a preliminary 
notice of the Alcyonaria collected by the ‘ Albatross ’ in the Pacific. 
Only thirty-four species were collected, but of these fifteen were the 
only forms already described. The new forms are Clavularia gregaria , 
Voeringia pacijica, Pennatula alata, which is about 90 mm. long, 
P. Koellikeri , which is as much as 300 mm. long, and is a magnificent 
form, Stachyptilum superbum, Kophobelemnon affine , which is very near 
K. stelliferum , Umbellula geniculata , Cladiscus Agassizii, a fine species 
nearly 300 mm. high, Distichoptilum Verrilli , allied to D. gracile, 
Anthothela argentea, very near A. grandiflora , Dasygorgia fruticosa, 
* Arch. Zool. Exper., i. (1893) pp. 139-60. 
t Ofv. K. Vet. Akad. Forh., li. (1894) pp. 19-24. 
j Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., xxv. (1894) pp. 53-69. 
