ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
479 
Comatulids of Indian Archipelago.* * * § — In a preliminary communi- 
cation Dr. 0. Hartlaub confines himself to a description of twenty-four 
new species of Antedon and two of Actinometra ; most of them were 
collected by the late Prof. Brock. A key to the new forms, much after 
the method of that adopted by Dr. P. H. Carpenter, precedes the 
descriptions. 
British Species of Asterias.'f — In the course of a discussion as to 
the specific distinctness of Asterias violacea from A. rubens, Prof. F. Jeffrey 
Bell brings forward a considerable amount of evidence as to the great 
variations which are to be seen when a large collection of British speci- 
mens of Asterias rubens is examined ; these are shown not to depend 
on depth or station. A well-marked form called A. Muirayi sp. n. is 
described from the West Coast of Scotland, where alone has it yet been 
obtained. 
Ccelenterata. 
Protanthea— a new Actinian.f — Herr 0. Carlgren describes a new 
and simple Actinian — Protanthea simplex g. et sp. n. — which he found 
on Ascidians off the Swedish coast at a depth of 20-30 fathoms. The 
animal is 10 mm. in length, of a salmon colour, with thin smooth walls 
without warts or cinclides, but with longitudinal furrows corresponding 
to the insertions of the mesenteries. There are about 100 tentacles, 
apparently in six groups ; the oral disc bears radial furrows ; the 
oesophageal tube is marked by six longitudinal grooves, of which two 
form the siphonoglyphes. There are 24 mesenteries, 8 reaching the 
oesophageal tube and resembling those of Edwardsia , 12 arranged in six 
pairs with intraseptal muscles, and 4 so disposed that each pairs with 
one of the complete lateral mesenteries. All bear reproductive organs 
and mesenteric filaments. Herr Carlgren inclines to place the genus 
Protanthea between Hexactiniee and Edwardsise, but would include it 
along with Gonactinia (if that be indeed an adult form) in a new tribe 
Protanthefe, which he defines as follows : — Actiniaria with paired mesen- 
teries of which only eight are complete in the Edwardsia- stage, with two 
siphonoglyphes in the oesophageal tube, and with an ectodermic nervous 
and muscular layer. 
Bolocera.f — Herr O. Carlgren has a contribution to our knowledge of 
Bolocera, of which he describes a new species, B. longicornis , from the 
west coast of Sweden. The most interesting point in the structure of 
the tentacles is the presence of a circular muscle to constrict them off. 
At the base of the tentacle there is an infolding of mesoderm towards 
the lumen of the tentacle ; if this fold contracts strongly, the lumen is 
completely shut off from the coelenteric space. If the tentacle is dis- 
tended with water and there is a powerful contraction of the circular 
muscle, the tentacles break off at the point where the fold is formed. 
Nothing is suggested as to the cause of this self-mutilation. 
The mesoderm of the upper part of the mesenterial filaments is 
* Nachrichten K. Ges. Wiss. Gottingen, 1890, pp. 1 68-87 . 
f Aun. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vii. (1891) pp. 469-79 (2 pis.), 
j Oefvers. af Forhandl. K. Svensk. Vet.-Akad., 1891, pp. 81-9 (4 figs.). 
§ Ofvers. K. Yet. Akad. Forh., 1891, pp. 241-50. 
