Japanese RHYNCHITIDAE are systematically reviewed and revised. Four tribes, 17 genera and 62 species are recognized. Original and additional descriptions are given, with illustration sof and keys to their taxa. The generic and subgeneric names of Voss' system are reviewed from the viewpoint of nomenclature. At the species level ,12 new species Auletobius planifron sN,otocyrtus caeligenus ,Involvulus flavus, I. subtilis, I. comix, I. aes, I. lupulus, Deporaus tigris, D. insularis, D. eumegacephalus, D. septemtrionalis and D. rhynchitoides are described and 1 species Engnamptus sauteri are newly recorded from Japan. Six species and subspecies names Auletes carvus, A. testaceus and A. irkutensis japonicus, Auletobius okinatuaensis ,Aderorhinus pedicellari snigricolli sand Rhynchites cupreus purpuleoviolaceu sare synonymized under Auletobius puberulus ,A. jumigatus, A. uniformis ,Ad. crioceroide sand I. cylindricollis, respectively. One new name Deporaus vossi is given as the replacement name of the primally junior homonym D. pallidiventris Voss, 1957 (nec Voss, 1924). Generic and subgeneric classificatio nis revised in the following points. The genus Notocyrtus is revived as an independent genus including subgenera Notocyrtus s. str. ,Exochorrhynchites and Heterorhynchites. Clinorhynckites and Habrorhynchites are newly treated as each independent genera. Caenorhinus is newly treated as a valid subgenus of the genus Deporaus. The genera Neocoenorrhinus and Piazorhynckites are newly synonymized under Notocyrtus and Agilaus, respectively, in generic and subgeneric rank. A subgeneric name, Aphlorhynehites subgen. nov., is established for the 8th subgenus of the genus Rhynchites in Voss' system, which was incorrectly called as Haplorhynchites. Haplorhynchites is treated as an independent genus, following Ter-Minassian (1950). Consequently the following names are newly combined : Notocyrtus sanguinipennis, N. interruptus, N. assimilis and Haplorhynchites funebris. Phylogenetic relationships of Japanese species are considered. Existing taxa in the system are reevaluated on the basis of estimated phylogeny.

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A cursorial description is given of the cranial morphology of Stegodon orientalis Owen, 1870, based on materials collected by W. Granger during 1920-1921 from Yanjingou, Sichuan, China. The cranial vault of S. orientalis shows enigmatic autapomorphies such as loss of the crista nuchae, a pair of prominent domes on the vertex and a shallow groove on the forehead. Beside these enigmatic characteristics, the cranial morphology, the forehead in particular, closely resembles that of S. trigonocephalus and S. ganesa, suggesting a sister-group relationship for S. orientalis and the S. trigonocephalus group (sensu Saegusa, in print)

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Field experiments were conducted at the Yodogawa river in Osaka Pref. in 1988 and 1989 to clarify the effects of different frequency cutting on growth and species composition of the Solidago altissima community. Six plots differing in cutting frequency were examined. This community was retrogressive at three or more cuttings per year. As cutting frequency increased, not only did the number of component species increase, the number and percentage of annual plants per plot increased also. The percentage of annual plants attained 50 percent or more in plots cut three times or more. Seasonal succession was recognized in the floristic composition of this community, whose spring aspect was characterized by winter annual plants, the autumn aspect being characterized by summer annual plants. Though winter annual plants grew in the non-cut plot, summer annual plants did not.

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Corm meristematic tissue of Arisaema yamatense Nakai was cultured on Murashige & Skoog media (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) supplemented with 3% sucrose and growth regulators (NAA, Kinetin, 2,4-D, and BA) in several combinations. Developed corm-like tissues were subcultured. These corm-like tissues differentiated to primordial stems and roots and they grew to stems and roots. This redifferentiation ability has been maintained for two years.

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The Kanyo Formation, distributed in the southern Kwanto Mountains, is the uppermost lithostratigraphic unit of the Middle Carboniferous to Lower Jurassic Nishitama Group. In north of Itsukaichi, this formation intercalates a remarkable intraformational conglomerate containing clasts of pebble- to boulder-size acidic to intermediate igneous rocks and prolific sedimentary rocks. The limestone clasts yield Moscovian to early Artinskian foraminifers, mostly of fusulinaceans. This paper describes the stratigraphy of this formation in north of Itsukaichi and two fusulinaceans: Biwaella omiensis Morikawa and Isomi and Biwaella sp. among the 52 listed foraminiferal species.

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