576 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
SUMMARY 
OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY 
( principally Incertebrata and Cryptogamia ), 
MICROSCOPY, Ac., 
INCLUDING ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS FEOM FELLOWS AND OTHERS.* * * § 
ZOOLOGY. 
A. VERTEBRATA Embryology, Histology, and General. 
a. Embryologr-t 
Origin of Vertebrata.i — Prof. A. Lameere does not agree with those 
who think that the ancestor of the Vertebra ta is to be found among 
Worms : he thinks that everything shows that they are derived from an 
Actinozoon in which the neural face remained superior in position. It 
was probably pelagic in habit, and did not, like most of its allies, become 
fixed after a free larval stage. For such an animal it would be a great 
advantage to be provided with a thickening of the endoderm which 
would give rise to a rigid axis ; it would be still more advantageous if 
the tentacles were, as organs of locomotion, provided with proto- 
vertebras ; it is, in fact, in Amphioxus and Fishes that derivates of these 
are used as locomotor organs, the fins serving only as directing organs. 
There would appear to be no direct relationship between the Chordata 
and the Echinodermata or V errnes. 
Fertilization of Newts.§ — Dr. E. Zeller observes that the females of 
Triton (T. alpestris , T. taeniatus , Ac.) are active in availing themselves of 
the spermatophores. But it is not true, as he formerly believed, that the 
female removes the mass of sperms by the open lips of the cloaca. The 
female brings herself into contact with the end of the tag of sperms, and 
these attach themselves to the closed cloacal slit. The spermatozoa 
actively insinuate themselves through the slit of the cloaca, and are col- 
lected in the receptaculum seminis. 
* The Society are not intended to be denoted by the editorial “ we,” and they do 
not hold themselves responsible for the views of the authors of the papers noted, 
nor for any claim to novelty or otherwise made by them. The object of this part of 
the Journal is to present a summary of the papers as actually published, and to 
describe and illustrate Instruments, Apparatus, &c., which are either new or have 
not been previously described in this country. 
t This section includes not only papers relating to Embryology properly so called, 
but also those dealing with Evolution, Development, and Reproduction, and allied 
subjects. 
X Bull. Soc. Beige de Microscopie, xviL (1891) pp. 91-121. 
§ Zeitschr. f. Wise. Zool., li. JS91) pp. 737-41 (1 fig.). 
