Saville Kent Research Articles

Extended phylogeny of the Craspedida (Choanomonada)

Currently choanoflagellates are classified into two distinct orders: loricate Acanthoecida and non-loricate Craspedida. The morphologically based taxonomy of the order Craspedida is in need of a revision due to its controversial, paraphyletic and inconsistent systematics and nomenclature. In this study, we add molecular data (SSU and parts of the LSU rDNA) of six new Craspedida species isolated from saline, brackish and freshwater habitats to the existing knowledge. Four of these six organisms could be described as new species: Paramonosiga thecata, “Salpingoeca” euryoecia, “Salpingoeca” ventriosa, “Sphaeroeca” leprechaunica, whereas two are assigned to previous morphologically described species: “Salpingoeca” fusiformis Saville Kent, 1880 and “Salpingoeca” longipes Saville Kent, 1880. Paramonosiga is established as a new genus of the Craspedida based on its phylogenetic position. Extending the dataset by six additional sequences shows that the craspedid taxonomy is still unsolved as the type specimen Salpingoeca gracilis has not yet been sequenced and hence a clear assignment to the genus Salpingoeca is not possible. Trying to assign morphological and ecological data to phylogenetic clades is not successful. We give an improved/emended morphological diagnosis for the two redescribed species and add molecular data for all six species, shedding light on their phylogenetic position.

Clarifying the Taxonomic Identity of a Phylogenetically Important Group of Eukaryotes: Planomonas is a Junior Synonym of Ancyromonas

Ancyromonas was first described in 1882 by Saville Kent, with the modern concept of the genus dating from 1979 with the work of Hänel. Since then, organisms assigned to Ancyromonas have been found to be common in diverse ecosystems, and the group's isolated phylogenetic placement renders it of considerable evolutionary interest. However, in 2008 Cavalier-Smith et al. concluded that all modern accounts of Ancyromonas were of a different organism from that described by Saville Kent, and erected the new genus Planomonas to encompass modern observations of Ancyromonas, and several new species. We critique the rationale for creating this new genus, reexamining the original sources and making additional observations using light and electron microscopy. We find that almost all the differences between the genera are mistaken or insubstantial. In particular, (1) Cavalier-Smith et al. characterized Ancyromonas sensu Saville Kent as anchoring and Planomonas as gliding, while we find that each type of organism actually does both, and (2) it was claimed that Planomonas is flattened while Ancyromonas sensu Saville Kent is not, but this argument is inconsistent. We treat Planomonas as a junior synonym of Ancyromonas, and Planomonas mylnikovi as a junior synonym of Ancyromonas sigmoides. We transfer Planomonas cephalopora, Planomonas micra, Planomonas howeae and Planomonas limna to Ancyromonas. The genus Ancyromonas therefore includes: A. sigmoides, Ancyromonas cephalopora n. comb., Ancyromonas melba, Ancyromonas sinistra, Ancyromonas micra n. comb., Ancyromonas howeae n. comb., and Ancyromonas limna n. comb.

Chloroform Anesthesia and the Saville Kent Murder in 1860

The discovery of the anesthetic properties of chloroform by Sir James Simpson is one of the therapeutic triumphs of the 19th century. Queen Victoria requested chloroform anesthesia for the birth of her second son, Prince Leopold, and from then until the end of century chloroform was the most popular general anesthetic for obstetrics and surgery. Chloroform was so pleasant to inhale that it became a drug of abuse and was involved in all sorts of criminal activity. Despite its wide usage, chloroform was not thought to be part of the brutal murder of 3-year-old Saville Kent on the night of June 30, 1860, outside his manor house in southwest England. The events surrounding and after the murder have recently been documented by Kate Summerscale in a book entitled, "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher," the Detective Inspector assigned to the case by Scotland Yard. According to Ms Summerscale's records, Mr Whicher ignored the possibility that chloroform was involved in Saville's death. However, evidence supports the view that chloroform played a critical role in the crime and indicates that the guilty plea by Samuel Kent's daughter, Constance, for which she spent 20 years to the day in prison, was as inaccurate as it was incomplete.

Environmental influences on the formation and germination of hibernacula in the brackish-water bryozoan Victorella pavida Saville Kent, 1870 (Ctenostomata: Victorellidae)

Brackish-water and fresh-water bryozoans produce asexually derived dormant propagules that allow survival of unfavourable conditions and provide a potential means of dispersal. The propagules of brackish-water ctenostome bryozoans are called hibernacula. We monitored the life-cycle of the brackish-water ctenostome Victorella pavida Saville Kent, 1870 in its natural habitat and investigated, in laboratory cultures, the influence of temperature and salinity on the production and germination of hibernacula and on subsequent colony growth. V. pavida is a protected species in the UK, where its only locality is at Swanpool lagoon, Falmouth. Colonies were collected from Swanpool monthly from January 2004 to January 2005. Hibernaculum germination appeared to be triggered by increased water temperature (c. 13 °C) in the lagoon in March and April. In culture, germination was triggered by transfer from 5 °C to 19 °C in a range of salinities; subsequent colony growth was affected by salinity, with strongest growth at 13, 18 and 36 psu, and reduced growth at 5 and 9 psu. At 3.5 psu, hibernacula germinated, but there was no further development. At 36 psu there was an initial lag in growth, but after 30 d the colonies were comparable with those kept at 18 psu. Hibernaculum formation by colonies occurred from June to October, with production increasing towards October. Hibernacula appear not to have long-term viability but merely to permit survival from one year to the next. The results suggest that any changes in the hydrographic regime at Swanpool could have significant consequences for the survival of V. pavida.

Ceratium Furca and Pedalion Mirum

IN describing the specific characteristics of Ceratium furca, one of the Peridiniae or Dinoflagellates, Saville Kent in his “Manual of the Infusoria” gives the habitat as salt-water, and he appends a note to the effect that, “although usually regarded as entirely marine, M. Werneck has reported the occurrence of an apparently identical species in fresh-water in the vicinity of Salzburg.”

Pearl and Pearl-shell Fisheries

IN connection with Sir West Ridgeway's anxiety, as Governor of Ceylon, to revive the pearl fishery off the north-west coast of the island, and the appointment by the Secretary of State for the Colonies of so able a zoologist as Prof. Herdman to report on the subject—so classic to zoologists since Dr. Kelaart's paper and the display of fine examples of the pearl shells by the Indian Government in the London Fisheries' Exhibition of 1883—it may be interesting to mention the activity of the Queensland Government in this and allied subjects. Besides the work of Mr. Saville Kent and the recent (private) investigations of Mr. Lyster Jameson, the Queensland Government early last year appointed an able young zoologist, Mr. James R. Tosh, to make investigations on the life-history of the species which produces the pearl-shells of commerce, the formation and growth of pearls, and other questions bearing on the pearl fishery. He is now busy on Thursday Island. Moreover, Mr. Tosh informs me that the Queensland Government has just sanctioned a grant of 1500l. for the erection of a marine laboratory on a small island about two miles distant (from Thursday Island), and in the centre of the pearl-fishing grounds, though at some distance from the coral area. This laboratory will have, besides the work-room and quarters for Mr. Tosh and his staff, three concrete tanks for experimental work.

The Echinodermata of Funafuti. VII. The Echinodermata

The collection of Echinodermata comprises one hundred and thirty specimens representing nineteen species, most of which belong to well known forms, common to the Pacific coral reefs. Although devoid of new species, the material includes a few rare examples of great interest not, hitherto represented in the Museum Collection. The following are the Orders represented: Echinoidea, 7 species; Asteroidea, 3 species; Ophiuroidea, 3 species; Holothuroidea, 6 species. The species of interest are Echinothrix turcarum, Echinometra oblonga, Laganum depressum, Ophidiaster cylindricus, Culcita acutispinosa, Ophiarthrum elegans, and Holothuria imitans. The Culcita acutispinosa has been noticed at some length, and the non-specific value of external form has also been pointed out. In a subsequent article by Mr. Waite a note will be found on the commensalism of Fierasfer with Holothuria argus. Mr. Saville Kent has recorded a species of Fierasfer as occurring in in the body cavity of Holothuria mammifera, on the Queensland coast. In this connection I venture to suggest that future observers should try to ascertain if Fierasfer is ever found in members of the genus Muelleria. Possibly the presence of anal teeth in Muelleria may be of use in excluding the fish from the body cavity.

The Affinities of Heliopora cærulea

OWING to absence from Dublin I have but just seen the correspondence on the affinities of Heliopora cærulea in two recent numbers of NATURE (pp. 349, 370). Dr. S. J. Hickson has undoubtedly given the true explanation of Mr. Saville Kent's “curious mistake.” Knowing that the polyps of this Alcyonarian had never before been observed in expanded condition, I took every opportunity when in Torres Straits of examining living specimens in situ. Only on one occasion was I rewarded, and then I distinctly saw the small extruded polyps with their eight flat fringed tentacles; they were nearly colourless, but had a whitish tinge, in fact, they precisely resembled the polyps of the common Alcyonium digitatum. I was unable to sketch them at the time, as my bodily position was unfavourable, and the tide was rising, In no case did the polyps exhibit any sign of vitality when kept in a vessel of water in my laboratory. The only published drawing (so far as I remember) purporting to be the polyp of this form is that given by Quoy and Gaimard, but whatever it may be, it represents neither the polyp itself nor the annelid described by Mr. Saville Kent.

Salmo salar and S. ferox in Tasmania

IN your issue of October 29 is a communication from Mr. Saville Kent, in which he “concludes that no true salmon has yet been established in the lakes and rivers of Tasmania. The fish of large size which abound in the great lakes and other large sheets of water are really essentially the same as the great lake trout, Salmo ferox, of Great Britain.”

A Manual of the Infusoria; Including a Description of all known Flagellate, Ciliate, and Tentaculiferous Protozoa

THE Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London for the year 1677 contain the first published account of the minute organisms to which the term “Infusoria” is now very generally applied. The account is by “Mr. Antony van Leeuwenhoek,” who, taking up the line of study so successfully pursued by his compatriot, Swammerdam, was the first to apply the microscope to the investigation of the otherwise invisible fauna and flora which teem in inconceivable abundance in the waters of ponds, rivers, and seas, in the infusions of organic substances prepared by man's agency, and in even the minutest drops of moisture which accumulate on the surfaces of natural objects. A Manual of the Infusoria; Including a Description of all known Flagellate, Ciliate, and Tentaculiferous Protozoa. By W. Saville Kent, F.L.S., F.Z.S. (London: David Bogue, 1882.)

Kent's Manual of the InfusoriaA Manual of the Infusoria: Including a Description of all Known Flagellate, Ciliate, and Tentaculiferous Protozoa, British and an Account of the Organization and Affinities of the Sponges.W. Saville Kent

Kent's Manual of the InfusoriaA Manual of the Infusoria: Including a Description of all Known Flagellate, Ciliate, and Tentaculiferous Protozoa, British and an Account of the Organization and Affinities of the Sponges.W. Saville Kent

A Manual of the InfusoriaA Manual of the Infusoria; Including a Description of all Known Flagellate, Ciliate and Tentaculiferous Protozoa.W. Saville Kent

Previous articleNext article FreeRecent LiteratureA Manual of the Infusoria A Manual of the Infusoria; Including a Description of all Known Flagellate, Ciliate and Tentaculiferous Protozoa. W. Saville Kent PDF Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The American Naturalist Volume 14, Number 12Dec., 1880 Published for The American Society of Naturalists Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/272678 Views: 50 Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

II.—The General History of the Cephalopoda, Recent and Fossil

Many of the living forms of Cephalopodous molluscs are now, thanks to the Brighton Aquarium, familiar to us all; and, as the habits and characteristics of the squids, octopods, and cuttles have been duly recorded by Mr. Henry Lee in his amusing book on “The Octopus,” published in 1875, I shall here restrict myself to those points in the structure of the living forms which bear upon the history of the class as a whole, giving merely those anatomical details which are absolutely indispensable for a right comprehension of the nature and affinities of the numerous fossil and extinct members of the order. I may, however, observe, en passant, that the existence of a certain sub-stratum of truth in the old stories of giant Cephalopods was ably proved by Mr. Saville Kent, in the “Popular Science Review,” for 1874, and that specimens have been more recently cast ashore in Trinity and Logie Bays, on the coast of Newfoundland, that may fairly claim to be of enormous dimensions. Thus, in a truly formidable calamary, or squid, the tentacular arms measured 30 feet, the largest suckers being one inch in diameter, the shorter (or pedal) arms were 11 feet long, and the body was 10 feet. Professor Verrill has also described a huge cuttle, estimating the total length at 40 feet, the large tentacles were 26 feet long, with a maximum circumference of 16 inches at their union to the body. A new genus of calamary, allied to the Architeuthis of Steenstrup, with arms measuring over 23 feet, was discovered on the island of St. Paul, in the Indian Ocean, by M. Charles Vélain, the naturalist attached to the French Expedition for the observation of the transit of Venus, at that station. The size attained by some of the fossil species will be noted in the sequel.

A further Communication upon certain Gigantic Cephalopoda recently encountered off the Coast of Newfoundland.

Proceedings of the Zoological Society of LondonVolume 42, Issue 1 p. 489-501 A further Communication upon certain Gigantic Cephalopoda recently encountered off the Coast of Newfoundland. W. Saville Kent F.L.S., F.Z.S., W. Saville Kent F.L.S., F.Z.S.Search for more papers by this author W. Saville Kent F.L.S., F.Z.S., W. Saville Kent F.L.S., F.Z.S.Search for more papers by this author First published: January 1874 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1874.tb02509.xCitations: 1Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume42, Issue1January 1874Pages 489-501 RelatedInformation

Permanent Variation of Colour in Fish

A QUESTION of some interest is raised by a letter published by Mr. Saville Kent, in NATURE, vol. viii. p. 25. It is stated that a Plaice, now in the Brighton Aquarium, has “the posterior half of its under surface, usually white, coloured and spotted as brilliantly as the upper one; the line of demarcation between these two colours again, though sinuous, is most abrupt,” and the writer proceeds to say that, on the Darwinian theory, this may be considered as a remarkable instance of reversion—“the Pleuronectiæ being derived from ancestors originally possessing bilateral symmetry, and an equal degree of coloration on each side.”

Societies and Academies

LONDONRoyal Microscopical Society, November 1. - W. Kitchen Parker, F.R.S., president, in the chair. Dr. Braith-waite, F.L.S., contributed further remarks on the structure of the Sphagnacese or bog-mosses. -Confining himself principally to the characters for grouping the numerous species into sub-genera, he advocated the system adopted by Dr. Lindbergof Stockholm, based upon those yielded by the form of the leaves investing certain portions of the stem and divergent branches. -Mr. W. Saville Kent, British Museum, read a paper on Prof. James Clark's Flagellate Infusoria with description of new species. In his communication, Mr. Kent announced the discovery among others of Prof. Clark's minute "collared“types{Codosiga, Bi-cosceca, &c), first made known to the scientific world through the Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History for 1866, but not since corroborated by any European naturalist. Of the eleven species noticed by Mr. Kent, five were identified by him with American forms; the remaining six, while referable to corresponding genera, offering well-marked specific distinctions. The whole series are of exceedingly minute size requiring a magnifying power of 800 diameters and upwards for the recognition of their structural peculiarities, the chief interest attached to them being their striking resemblance to the ultimate cell particles lining the incurrent cavities of sponges, as clearly shown by Prof. Clark in the calcareous, and since demonstrated by Mr. Carter m the siliceous groups. Mr. Kent expressed his dissent from Prof. Clark's views in regard to the nutritive functions of Monas and other Flagellata, in the course of his investigations, he having observed the former to engulf food at any portion of its periphery, after the manner oi Amceba, while in l the collar-bearing species, it was intercepted at any portion within the area circumscribed by the base of that organ, there being in no case a distinct mouth as assumed by Prof. Clark. In the discussion that ensued, Mr. Kent assented to the President's suggestion, that the Flagellata, in the possession of one or more lash-like appendages, represented a higher tvpe of organisation than the Foraminifera, and other Rhizopodous Protozoa; and expressed his opinion that the Spongiadce, as a class, combined the structural characters of the ordinary Rhizopoda and lower Infusoria, having superadded to this a skeletal and aggregated type of organisation essentially their own. Mr. C. Stewart affirming to having observed an appearance of three flagellate appendages to certain cells of Leucosolmia botryoides under a magnifying power of about 300 diameters, Mr. Kent accepted his statement as further corroboration of the existence of a membranous collar, which, under an insufficient degree of magnification, presents the aspect attested to by Mr. Stewart. The entire series of Infusorial forms recorded in Mr. Kent's communication were obtained by him from a pond on the estate of Mr. Thos. Randle Bennett, Wentworth House, Stoke Newington.

Affinities of the Sponges

I HAVE just read with much interest the paper in NATURE by Mr. W. Saville Kent, criticising my friend Carter's article in the “Annals of Natural History” for this month, in which I fully concur. How Mr. Carter can have fallen into such an error, for such I must call it. I cannot imagine, as comparing a group of animals in Botryllus to those sponge cells, even in so highly a developed form as Grantia. For, taking this as the highest known form of sponge animal, it is at most only a monociliated sac, as shown both by Prof. Clark and by Mr. Carter. Now, it is well known to all investigators, and Mr. Carter has shown it himself, that the animals of Botryllus have distinct oral and fæcal apertures, whereas the sponge cell, so far as has yet been seen, has only an oral aperture. Again, the Ascidian Botryllus is shown to be far higher in the scale when we come to compare its internal organisation, and not merely to confine ourselves to the sac-like tunic. The discharge of the fæcal matter into a common cloacal canal is to me not a sufficient reason for comparing these groups of animals to the sponge animals in Grantia.