New seriated Amathia species in Japan, with a redescription of A. acervata Lamouroux, 1824 (Bryozoa: Ctenostomata).

The status of seriated Amathia species (Bryozoa: Ctenostomata) in Japan is reviewed. Several historical specimens and materials recently collected from several localities along the Japanese coast are examined in this study. Amathia acervata Lamouroux, 1824, collected from Japan by Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius in 1804, was examined and is redescribed from a reconstituted fragment of the sole type specimen. Material previously reported from Wakayama Prefecture is very similar to Amathia acervata, but differs in having fewer autozooid pairs per cluster, which spiral in different directions; the species is described as a new species Amathia brevisilva n. sp. Measurements of colony characters vary according to the effects of fixation, but stolon length, the ratio of autozooid clusters on stolons, spirality and pigmentation are useful characters for the identification of Japanese seriated Amathia. In addition, two new species are described, Amathia reptopinnata n. sp. and Amathia fimbria n. sp. Amathia reptopinnata n. sp. is characterized by its robust form, dark colour, dichotomous branching, long stolons, long autozooidal clusters and pinnately arranged prostrate zooids. Amathia fimbria n. sp. was found only in the Showa Emperor collection, and is characterized by its compact colony form, remarkably short internode length and trichotomous branching.

[Occupational eczema with photosensitivity caused by contact with Bryozoa]. / Eczéma professionnel avec photosensibilité par contact de bryozoaires.

Contact eczema to Bryozoa is a very invalidating fishermen's disease. Described in the North Sea ("Dogger Bank itch") and in the eastern Channel, it begins with the hands which have touched Bryozoa, these being microscopic "moss-like animals", unrelated to algae, which form coralliform, encrusting and filamentous colonies attached to the sea-floor. Sensitization results from handling nets (drag-nets and trammels) or, less frequently, fish trays. Bryozoa responsible for the disease are Alcyonidum hirsutum and, mostly, Alcyonidum gelatinosum. The case of occupational eczema presented here discloses two hitherto unrecognized allergens: another Bryozoa species, Electra pilosa, which proliferates in the early summer and forms encrusting colonies on various supports, and a sea-weed, Sargassum muticum, which up to now had not been held responsible for skin lesions. The summer outbreaks, from May to September, and the fact that the face and upper chest are involved are classically ascribed to the natural cycle of Bryozoa (colonies multiply in the warm season and regress in the winter) and to contact with uncovered parts of the body. The results of our photobiological exploration suggest that the distribution of the eczema might well be due to an additional photoallergic reaction.

[Systematic value of the larval structure and details of postlarval morphogenesis in Bryozoa gymnolaemates]. / Valeur systématique de la structure larvaire et des particularités de la morphogenèse post-larvaire chez les Bryozoaires Gymnolaemates.

Among the various species of Bryozoa Gymnolaemata, the larvae and their development were studied, comparing the larval structure and the evolution of their cellular categories during the post-larval morphogenesis the existence of nine well-defined larval types could be revealed. Cases of insufficiently described larvae are discussed. The present systematic of Bryozoa Gymnolaemata is compared with the classification of various larval types. For the major part of cases, each systematic family is marked by a precise type of larva; however there are some exceptions, especially in the ordre Ctenostomata. These discordances may suggest some rearrangements of the classification utilized at the present time.

The use of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in animal systematics, phylogeny, and ecophysiology.

In the 1980s, the use of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) was popular. But more recent developments in other electrophoretic techniques have resulted in this method being less widely used. However, it is adequate for the needs of naturalists for issues which do not require high-performance methods, such as in systematics, phylogeny, studies of intraspecific or clinal variability, ecology and ecophysiology. We illustrate the application of PAGE by the results of a research program on marine and terrestrial invertebrates which was conducted from 1979 to 1992, but which is still used to initiate graduate students to the research. Thus, issues faced by the zoologist can be clarified by this method, not yet obsolete and still useful in natural history despite considerable advances in other electrophoretic methods.