196 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
The Genital Organs of the Genus Helix.* — Herr 0. Schuberth refers 
to the reproach often hurled at conch ologists, “ that they treasure the 
shell and throw away the contents,” and submits this research in 
evidence that “ malakologists ” are now wiser than their forbears. For he 
has studied the genital organs (and more than these) of scores of species 
of Helix, justifying his research and also the conchological classification. 
On anatomical grounds, he confirms the distinctness of most of the 
species in Kobelt’s catalogue. It is true that Helix personata Lam. 
cannot, on “ malako-zootomical ” grounds, be retained in the sub-genus 
Anchistoma, but must be referred to the Campy] ea type ; and there are 
some other results of the same nature. Herr Schuberth chrouicles not 
a few local variations of the same species, not only in their genital 
parts, but also in other characteristics. He also notices many micro- 
scopic features hitherto unobserved, and gives for the first time an 
anatomical diagnosis of many species. 
Innervation of Epipodial Processes of Nudibranchs.t — Prof. W. 
A. Herdman and Mr. J. A. Clubb find that the innervation of the ceratal 
processes is not the same in all Nudibranchs. In Polycera, Arcula, 
Tritonia, and Dendronotus the epipodial nerves arise from pleural ganglia 
or from the ventral and posterior parts of cerebro- pleural masses. In 
JEolis, on the other hand, the chief epipodial nerves are from the pedal 
ganglia, but there are also smaller nerves from the pleurals. 
Organization of some French Neomeniae.l — M. G. Fruvot gives a 
large number of details as to the organization of some French Neomenians, 
but declines to enter into any general considerations till a knowledge 
of their embryology has been acquired. The author has been so 
fortunate as to discover several new forms of this group on the 
French coast, and we drew attention to his discovery at the time § ; a 
table by which the various genera and species may be distinguished 
is now given. 
It is, of course, impossible to follow the author through all his 
anatomical details, but we may draw attention to one or two points. 
Contrary to most anatomists he believes that the genital ducts are 
completely uninterrupted in their course, and that they are entirely 
distinct from the general cavity. The longitudinal nerve-trunks present 
some variations in the manner in which they end, and there is not 
the difference between Neomeniee and Chsetoderma as was formerly 
supposed. Proneornenia vagans has a copulatory organ similar to that 
of Neomenia carinata, save that it has lost all connection with the rest 
of the genital apparatus, and serves only as an organ of excitement. 
Molluscoida. 
a. Tunicata. 
Larvae of Ascidians.|| — Herr Hartmann gives a brief account of the 
larvte of Ascidia patellseformis. He compares what he cautiously calls 
“ the (noto-) chord-like strand in the tail ” with the notochord of Amphi- 
* Arch. f. Naturgesch., Ivin. (1892) pp. 1-65 (6 pis.). 
t Rep. Brit. Ass., 1891 (1892) pp. 692-3. 
* Arch. Zool. Expe'r. et Gen., ix. (1891) pp. 699-805 (7 pis.). 
§ This Journal, 1890. p. 581. 
[| SB. Gesell. Nat. Freunde Berlin, 1891, pp. 4-7. 
