AMOEBA ACTINOPHORA. 4U 



an envelope " of thickened ectoplasm, which is capable 

 of being absorbed or dissolved by the more fluent 

 endoplasm, during pseudopodal extension, or on the 

 assumption by the animal of a quiescent phase. In 

 this latter phase the body becomes rounded or oval, 

 or discoid, the granular endoplasm occupying a central 

 position, with a translucent band of ectoplasm sur- 

 rounding it. The animal in this condition is devoid of 

 colour except from the presence of a few green par- 

 ticles contained in the endoplasm. It remains quiescent 

 for an indefinite time. 



Dimensions : Diameter when at rest (discoid phase), 

 30-40 p. 



In ponds, Cheshire, July, 1903. 



The above specific characters are those given by 

 Gruber (loc. cit.), with whose figures our Cheshire 

 examples essentially agree, although the " double- 

 contoured " character, said to be presented by the 

 organism in the active state, was not apparent. The 

 author cited remarks that the periphery, in his ex- 

 amples, was for the most part quite smooth, and that 

 only at one point did the animal extend a larger or 

 smaller number of lobed pseudopodia. There was, he 

 says, no persistent membranous structure, but " during 

 the flow of the animal the cortical layer became amal- 

 gamated with the rest of the sarcode." The body 

 became flattened, and the " cortical zone " disappeared, 

 its place being taken by a broad border of clear ecto- 

 plasm, which surrounded the darker and richly- 

 granular central mass. In this state the nucleus 

 becomes distinctly visible. 



Gruber, at the time he recorded his observations, 

 considered this organism to be identical with Cochlio- 

 podium bilimbosum Auerb., but the latter has a dis- 

 tinctly permanent, though very supple, hyaline 

 envelope. Penard (loc. cit.) reunites A. actinophora 

 with the genus Cochliopodium, remarking that it has a 

 smoother envelope, which is also more delicate and 



4 



