78 BRITISH FRESHWATER RHIZOPODA. 



(= Spliserotilus Kiitzing, Mig.), and are recognized as 

 a distinct species Glndotlinx pelomyxx Veley.* 



The conclusions arrived at by Mrs. Veley with regard 

 to Pelomyxa are summarized in her paper as follows : 



" (1) The rods are symbiotic bacteria, which com- 

 plete their development within the protoplasm of 

 Pelomyxa and are then ejected, breaking down into 

 free ' swarmers,' which are ingested by other Pelo- 

 myxds, and recommence the cycle. 



" (2) The refringent bodies are proteid in nature ; 

 they consist of some form of albumin, which is pro- 

 bably a waste product of the metabolism of Pelomyxa ; 

 they have a two-fold relation to the bacteria, supply- 

 ing them with a point of attachment necessary for 

 their development, and (probably) also with a source 

 of nourishment. 



" (3) The pseudopodia of Pelomyxa are not always 

 blunt and lobose, but often exceedingly attenuated and 

 acute, are often reticulate or anastomosing, and of a 

 different character from any hitherto described for this 

 animal. Classifications based on the lobose nature of 

 the pseudopodia are hereby invalidated. 



" (4) The division of Pelomyxa is of a simple cha- 

 racter, in which the nuclei do not play an important 

 part. The only other form of reproduction observed 

 has been, in a single instance, the production of amoebae, 

 whereby the observations of Greeff and Korotneff are 

 partly, and those of Penard entirely, confirmed. 



" (5) Under certain circumstances a portion of one 

 Pelomyxa may fuse with the protoplasm of a portion of 

 a second Pelomyxa, the inference from this observation 

 being that it may prove necessary to regard Pelomyxa 

 as a plasmodium."t 



The production of acute, sharply-pointed, pseudo- 

 podia (a phenomenon we have never observed), it ought 

 to be stated, is not habitual with Pelomyxa, except 

 under special conditions, " as when a portion is con- 

 stricted off naturally, or the animal is getting rid of a 



* ' Jonrn. Linnean Soc./ Zool., vol. xxix, p. 386. t Loc. cit., p. 393. 



