602 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
determination of species, literature lists, and notes as to habits and life- 
history. 
Platyhelminthes. 
New Pelagic Nemertean.* — Prof. W. McM. Woodworth gives a 
preliminary account of Planhtonemertes agassizii g. et sp. n., a new 
pelagic Nemertean from the ‘Albatross’ collection, which, like the only 
other genus, the c Challenger ’ Pelagonemertes, was taken in the Pacific 
Ocean, and in trawls from considerable depths. There are many points 
of resemblance between the two forms — in form, colour, and even finer 
structure — but a comparison shows the necessity of establishing a new 
geuus in Moseley’s family Pelagonemertidae. The distinctive features 
are : — a common external opening for the mouth and proboscis, supra- 
oesophageal ganglia smaller than suboesophageal, median dorsal vessel 
present, and lateral diverticula of the intestine very numerous. As with 
the ‘ Challenger ’ forms, the specimens (except one which was not sec- 
tioned) proved to be females. 
Adhesion of Cestodes to Intestinal Wall.f — Pio Mingazzini has 
studied, by means of sections, the different modes of adhesion. There is 
considerable diversity. The majority of the scolices are superficially 
attached to the mucous membrane, and their hooks only penetrate 
between the epithelial cells ; others, e.g. Calliobothrium, have very strong 
hooks which reach to the subjacent connective-tissue, destroying the 
epithelium at the points traversed ; others, e.g. Stilesia , cause con- 
siderable inflammatory neo-formation of vessels and connective-tissue ; 
others, e.g. some species of Calliobothrium , destroy a considerable tract 
of epithelium, and actually penetrate into a blood-vessel. 
New or Rare Trematodes. J — Herr M. Kowalewski has found 
specimens of the rare Echinostomum spathulatum which infests Botaurus 
minutus , and which has only been once described previously. Its most 
interesting peculiarity is the presence of two ventral suckers, which act 
like the ambulacral feet of Echinoderms, in that the dermal muscles do 
not act upon them directly, but upon the excretory system, whose contents 
then enter the sucker. The other interesting peculiarities of the parasite 
are figured and described in detail. The paper also includes descriptions 
of three new forms of Ojpisthorchis , and a general discussion on the species 
of this difficult genus. It describes in detail the occurrence of that re- 
markable inversion of sexual symmetry which has already been noted. 
It is remarkable that in this genus, of the individuals living in one host, 
half will be found to have the unsymmetrical sexual organs at one side 
of the body, and the other half at the other side, so that the one set form 
mirror images of the other. The biological significance of this remarkable 
fact is unknown. The paper also includes some account of the anatomy 
and habits of Bilharzia polonica. 
Incertae Sedis. 
New Zealand Species of Balanoglossus. § — Prof. W. Blaxlaud 
Benham gives a short account of Balanoglossus otagoensis sp. n., the first 
* Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, xxxv. (1899) pp. 1-4 (1 pi.). 
t Atti R. Accad. Lincei, viii. (1899) pp. 597-603 (6 figs.). 
i C.R. Nat. Ac. Sci. Cracovie, xxxv. (1898) pp. 106-64 (2 pis.) (Polish). German 
abstract in Zool. Centralbl., vi. (1899) pp. 691-3. 
§ Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., xlii. (1899) pp. 497-501 (1 pi.). 
