Taxonomic problems concerning the identity of the cyclostome bryozoan genus Liripora MacGillivray, 1887 are addressed. The valid type species of Liripora is Diastopora fasciculata MacGillivray, 1885, not D. lineata MacGillivray, 1885 as has often been assumed. This latter species is the type species of Desmeplagioecia Canu and Bassler, 1920 erroneously regarded as an objective junior synonym of Liripora. Scanning electron microscopic study of Liripora shows the genus to have an unusual colony construction : autozooids at distal growing edges have interior-walled peristomes that protrude above the level of a laterally extensive kenozooidal space bounded proximally by a sloping interior wall. Skeletally mature autozooids generally lack or have only very limited areas of exterior frontal wall s. s., the upper surface of the colony being formed instead by the calcified exterior frontal walls of the surrounding kenozooids. In addition to the type species, two new species from New Zealand-Liripora pseudosarniensis and L. lobifera are placed in the genus, which appears to be endemic to Australasia. The three nominal species of Liripora are described, together with Desmeplagioecia lineata and a new species-Mesenteripora triregorum-that shows some resemblance to Liripora.

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A species of marine nematode, Chromadorina hiromii sp. nov., is described based on cultured specimens found in an aquarium containing medusae and polyps of Aurelia aurita (Linnaeus, 1758). The native habitat of the species is unknown, but certainly somewhere on the Pacific coast of Central Japan. Chromadorina hiromii resembles C. cervix (Wieser, 1951) and C. bergensis (Allgen, 1932) but differs from them in having a robust gubernaculum with well-cuticularized lateral pieces and five or six precloacal supplements in the male. Chromadorina hiromii is the second species of the genus known from Japan, the first being C. inversa Wieser, 1955, which was described from a single female collected at Shirahama. An examination of topotypic male specimens of C. inversa is required to understand its relationship to C. hiromii.

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Adults and juveniles of a new halacarid genus and species, Acanthohalacarus reticulatus, are described. Adults and nymphs are characterized by numerous spines on the legs ; these adjunct spines are arranged in rows and are most conspicuous on the telofemora and tibiae. They are lacking in larvae. The possible function of the spines is discussed.

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The species of the reduviid genus Empicoris Wolff, 1811 inhabiting the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands are reviewed. Three species are recognized including a new species : E. rubromaculatus (Blackburn, 1889), E. tesselatoides Wygodzinsky and Usinger, 1960, and E. toshinobui sp. nov. Illustrations and an identification key are provided.

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Fishes were collected in freshwater habitats during six consecutive summers (1994-1999) on the 30 major islands of the Kuril Archipelago as part of a joint U. S., Russian, and Japanese biotic survey and inventory, which has come to be known as the International Kuril Island Project (IKIP). A total of 39,269 specimens, representing eight families, 12 genera, and 28 species (including two previously undescribed species, 11 new records for the Archipelago, and 33 new records for various islands), was analyzed in the context of published literature on the freshwater fish faunas of the Kuril Islands and adjacent regions, namely Kamchatka, Hokkaido, and Sakhalin. The geologic history of the Archipelago is reviewed in light of present-day fish distributions. As expected, species diversity, as compared to that of Kamchatka and Hokkaido, falls off abruptly as one moves centrally from both the northern and southern ends of the Archipelago, the number of species dropping to zero on some of the central islands. It appears that differences in island size, and therefore available habitat, are the primary determinant of diversity, coupled with the secondary effects of former connections between landmasses and distance from adjacent source biotas.

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