MORPHOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY. Coel. 7 
forms the type of a new family (Echinnptilidce) of the Pennatulidce , pro¬ 
bably belonging to the section Spicatce, subsection Junciformes. It is a 
small densely spiculate form, without any skeletal axis. 
Physiology. 
The chromatology of the Actinice has received considerable attention. 
Behrens (5) has a note on the subject; Klebs (24) reviews Graff ’s paper 
of last year \cf. Zool. Rec. xxi. Cool. p. 2]. The most important 
observations are those of MacMunn (36), who states that various kinds 
of pigment occur in different species’of Actinice. In the mesoderm of 
some species a green pigment occurs which gives all the reactions of 
biliverdin. A colouring matter resembling chlorofucin, but not identical 
with any animal or plant chlorophyll, is derived from the “yellow cells,” 
and from them only, of certain Actinice. When “ yellow cells ” are present, 
there appears to be a suppression of those colouring matters which in 
other species are of respiratory value. 
Romanes (45) has brought together his numerous and careful investi¬ 
gations upon the physiology of Medusce ; the results are too numerous to 
epitomize. The great difference in the behaviour of the Hyclromedusce 
and the Scyphomedusce , when subjected to the same experiments, is very 
noticeable \cf. Gotte, No. 17 & p. 8]. 
Reproduction. 
A. Milnes Marshall (37) has a short paper on the morphology of the 
sexual organs of Hydra ; and 
Thallwitz (47) describes, with considerable detail, the development of 
the spermatozoa in Hydroids, and finds that the heads of the spermatozoa 
arise from the nuclei of the spermatoblasts, and not independently of 
them. He finds that the testis-epithelium is of ectodermal origin in 
many cases. 
H. W. Conn, in a paper on “ Marine Larvae and their Relation to 
Adults” (Studies Biel. Lab. J. Hopkins Univ. iii. pp. 165-192, 
pis. viii. & ix.), argues for the Pilidium being an ancestral form of the 
Coelenterates ; the Hydroids and Meclusce can be reduced to an actinula. 
Figures are given of the actinula of Poryplia and larval stages of 
. Cunina. 
Chun (7) has reinvestigated the difficult problem of the cyclic develop¬ 
ment of the Siphonophora, and maintains his previous general conclusions 
[cf. Zool. Rec. xx. Coel. p. 2] :—(1) The cyclic development of Mono- 
phyidee. (2) The relation of Monophyidce to Diphyidoe and Poly- 
phyidee. (3) The Eucloxia groups of the Diphyids and their sexual 
relations. Chun proposes to reserve for P. maxima or cymbiformis the 
generic title Praya, and to erect the genus Lilyopsis (g. n.) for the three 
others, viz., L. diphyes , L. medusa , and L. rosea. Claus also (8) maintains 
his earlier views [cf. Zool. Rec. xx. Cod. p. 2]. 
Fewkes (13), who is also attacking this question, distinguishes three 
stages in the metamorphosis of Ay alma elegcins : (1) the primitive 
