sions into the buccal membrane or the test, if these are made in the intervals between the courses of the nerves, and even after the removal of a considerable portion of the upper hemisphere of the test, containing the anus, a portion of the intestine and genital glands, the terminal nerve-cords and ambulacral vessels. All these results lead to the conviction that the cords described as forming the nervous system are the means by which harmony of movement is produced. Lastly the galvanization of an ambulacral nerve by means of the electrical forceps and induction-coil constantly causes the immediate retraction of all the ambulacral feet of the zone.

If

The following facts seem to be in favour of the existence of a nervous plexus in the skin which covers the outside of the test. a certain spot in this integument be wounded or pricked, the spines and pedicellariæ within a certain radius immediately lower themselves towards the point irritated, evidently for the purpose of defence. This experiment succeeds equally well with fragments entirely detached from the animal. It is in the thickness of the external skin that the means of communication between the irritated point and the muscles moving the spines and pedicellariæ are situated; for by cutting the integument with a fine scalpel, the space that takes part in the above defensive movements may be limited. The author, however, has apparently been unsuccessful in his search for this assumed nervous plexus.- Comptes Rendus, Nov. 13, 1876, p. 908.

On the Motile State of Podophrya fixa. By M. E. MAUPAS.

Claparède and Lachmann were the first to recognize the real organization of the Acinetina, for which they created the order of Infusoria Suctoria. These authors regarded them as essentially fixed organisms; and the Acinetina thus became isolated among their relatives.

The observations of the above-named naturalists upon the ciliated embryos of these Infusoria, with those of Stein, Cienkowski, and others, showed, however, that this isolation was not so profound as had been supposed at first: during their youth the Acinetina are motile and furnished with vibratile cilia.

The author's observations, which he regards as fitted to bring together more closely the Suctoria and Ciliata, were made upon Podophrya fixa, Ehr., which can at pleasure pass from the motile to the fixed state. They were made in November 1875 and October 1876 upon Podophrya obtained from the rivulets of Frais-Vallon near Algiers.

Whether free or fixed, the body of Podophrya fixa is always more or less globular, sometimes quite spherical. The suckers are distributed pretty regularly over the whole body, except only a small region of the periphery, always corresponding to the part of the body where the contractile vacuole is situated.

After observing some of these Podophrya for from half an hour to an hour, the author saw the suckers slowly drawn into the body; and

at the same time the suckerless region became slightly depressed, forming a broad furrow which, becoming deeper, soon gave the body a reniform appearance. On the surface of this groove there appeared some approximated striæ, which, under a high power, were resolved into regular rows of little points or mamillæ, which increased rapidly, becoming elongated into short rigid points, not much thinner than the suckers. The latter continued to disappear more and more in the body. The furrowed region gradually increased on both sides until it formed a girdle round the body; and the points or mamille of this belt, becoming more and more elongated and slender, formed long and thin vibratile cilia which began to oscillate gently. The suckers had then almost entirely disappeared. The body then became elongated pretty rapidly, in such a fashion that the region on which the first rudiments of vibratile cilia appeared was at one of its extremities. This the author calls the anterior end. The body was at the same time depressed in a direction vertical to the plane of the ciliated belt, thus acquiring a more or less regular elongated form, slightly flattened, and ciliated only on its narrow periphery, the broad surfaces being quite destitute of cilia. The movements of the vibratile cilia at the same time became more distinct and caused some slight oscillation of the body. Lastly, the suckers retired completely within the body, the cilia vibrated more and more strongly, the elongation of the body was completed, and the Podophrya moved through the water turning upon itself, but with the anterior extremity always in front. In the case of stalked individuals the body was detached by a few feeble shocks or by turning two or three times upon itself. All these transformations occupied only half an

hour.

The period of activity varies in length in different individuals. In becoming again immobile the Podophrya passes in inverse order through the stages above described: the suckers first appear; the body shortens and becomes broader; the vibratile cilia are retracted gradually; the body is gradually rounded, and in about twenty minutes resumes its globular form with its surface covered with long suckers. The same individuals were observed to pass several times through the whole series of metamorphoses. The author concludes that Podophrya fixa does not suit its name, as it is the most vagabond of known Acinetina; he regards it as an intermediate type uniting the Infusoria Suctoria to the true Infusoria Ciliata.-Comptes Rendus, November 13, 1876, p. 910.

Helix villosa, Draparnaud.

Mrs. David Robertson, of Glasgow, found four living specimens of this land shell, in August 1873, on the moors near Cardiff, Glamorganshire, while searching for Ostracoda in the ditches. It is an addition to our Mollusca. H. villosa inhabits Germany, the east of France, and Switzerland; and it often occurs at considerable heights above the level of the sea. The variety alpestris or alpicola of H. arbustorum has the same difference of habitat: this usually is an

alpine mollusk; but it also lives on the banks of the river Lea, near Broxbourne, in Hertfordshire; and the Rev. T. Wiltshire found a specimen in my grounds at Ware Priory.-J. GWYN JEFFREYS.

On a new Species of Naultinus.

At the Meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society on Nov. 11, 1876, the President, Dr. Buller, C.M.G., read the description of a new lizard of the genus Naultinus, and exhibited water-colour drawings of the adult and young, taken from specimens brought over from Nelson, and presented to him by Mr. Arthur Atkinson. The new lizard, for which the author proposed the name of Naultinus pulcherrimus, is beautifully marked in green and brown, the latter colour predominating. The green, which is very bright, is displayed in large diamond-shaped spots, arranged symmetrically on both sides of the spine, down the whole course of the back; the underparts are pale silvery brown; and on each side of the body there is a series of detached spots of white margined with green. The young of this species is of a bright pea-green colour, varied with transverse bands of paler green, and marked irregularly with minute specks of reddish brown. The author referred to the extreme variability of colour in Naultinus elegans, but pointed out that the present species (of which several other examples have been obtained) is distinguished by an orange-coloured mouth and tongue, these parts being always blue in the other. Apart from the general superficial colouring, which is very pronounced, he considered this a good specific character. He concluded with a general review of the genus Naultinus in New Zealand, in the course of which he mentioned that a large flat-headed species had been brought from The Brothers, where it formed the staple food of the tuatara. Both Dr. Hector and himself had come independently to the conclusion that this form was distinct from the well-known N. pacificus; but as Dr. Günther, the greatest living authority on the subject, had pronounced against it, there could be no doubt that it was merely a local form of the latter.

Dr. Hector said he quite agreed with the President that the orange-coloured tongue separated this lizard as a species from Naultinus elegans; otherwise it might have been taken as a variety of that form with the colours and markings greatly exaggerated. With regard to this large flat-headed species mentioned by Dr. Buller, he might state that he took specimens with him to England and submitted them to Dr. Günther. The type of Gray's N. pacificus in the British Museum was produced, and this was exactly the same; from which it would appear that our common tree-lizard is the aberrant form, and the island one the true N. pacificus. Whether these differences were considered of specific importance or not, he deemed it of the highest interest that descriptions should be obtained of every known variety.

THE ANNALS

AND

MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY.

[FOURTH SERIES.]

No. 111. MARCH 1877.

XV.-Description of Bdelloidina aggregata, a new Genus and Species of Arenaceous Foraminifera, in which their so-called "Imperforation" is questioned. By H.J. CARTER, F.R.S.&c. [Plate XIII. figs. 1-8.]

Bdelloidina aggregata, n. gen. et sp. (Pl. XIII. figs. 1–8.) Arenaceous, sessile, flat, composed of linear chambers successively applied to each other longitudinally on the same plane, more or less curved simply or tortuously; following the irregularities of the surface on which the species may be growing (Pl. XIII. fig. 1). Composition calcareous. Colour grey. Surface uniformly consisting of rounded grains of calcareous sand of various sizes below 5-1800ths inch in diameter, together with fragments of siliceous sponge-spicules set pearl-like in a minutely granular calcareous material, which thus serves as a cement to the larger portions (fig. 3). Furrowed by lines or grooves that indicate the form and extent of the chambers respectively (fig. 1, b), which vary much both in size and shape; tending irregularly though generally to a spiral, planiform aggregation. Presenting on the convexity or outer side of the last-formed chamber a series of circular foramina about 5-1800ths inch in diameter and 10-1800ths inch apart, arranged more or less regularly in a line from one end to the other (fig. 1, a, and fig. 5, a). Chamber constructed on all sides of calcareous sand, &c., similar to that of the surface (fig. 6); more or less interrupted Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 4. Vol. xix.

14

in its cavity transversely by reticulated rugæ of the same material, which, in prominent relief, hanging down from the roof, produce an extremely irregular surface, owing to the large grains of sand of which the rug are composed, but the whole rendered smooth by sarcodic lining throughout; presenting a row of large apertures on each side, about the same size as, and arranged in a similar manner to those on the convexity of the exterior of the last-formed chamber (fig. 4, b b), which, as the latter is successively added, become the septal holes of intercameral communication (fig. 5, a); also presenting a great number of smaller holes varying in diameter below 2-1800ths inch, situated respectively in the deep interstices of the reticulated rugæ hanging from the roof (fig. 4); leading to equally irregular passages diminishing in size and sometimes branched as they extend towards the surface of the test (fig. 6, c, fig. 5, b, and fig. 7, e), where they appear to open in points not larger than 1-20,000th inch in diameter; at least such is the measurement of the closed dry and retracted sarcodic lining viewed in the latero-vertical section close to the surface, although the crevices among the sand-grains through which these points probably opened cannot themselves be recognized on the surface itself; floor of the chamber also more or less similarly foraminated and sulcated like the roof. Cavity of chamber often containing brown fragments of agglomerated sarcode and sponge-spicules. Size of entire specimen variable, the largest which I possess being about 1-6th inch in diameter and rather longer than broad (fig. 2). Chambers very variable in length below 1-60th inch, and equally variable in transverse diameter below the same size.

Hab. Marine, in excavations on the surface of a large globular mass of Siderastræa.

Loc. ? Coral reef.

Obs. The general form of this Foraminifer is, in miniature, that of a group of sucking, half-filled leeches on the human skin, hence the name (Bdéxλa); and the composition of the test, consisting exclusively of calcareous material and fragments of siliceous sponge-spicules, seems to indicate that the coral on which the specimens were found grew on a "reef” where silex in no other shape could be obtained.

There is no doubt from this composition that it belongs to the Lituolida, or to that portion of the Arenaceous Foraminifera which hitherto have been considered "imperforate," simply because no pores on the surface could be detected by the microscope. The same might be said of the frustules of the Diatomaceæ even during active life, when they are in continued motion-with much more reason; for here neither sar