RAPHIDIOPHRYS VIKIDIS. 35 



LEIDY Rep. U.S. G-eol. Survey. XII. 1879, p. 248, pi. xlvi, ff. ], 2. 

 PENARD Heliozoaires, 1904, p. 165, figs. 

 Raphidioplirys glomerata 



PENAKD Rev. Suisse Zool. IX, 1901, p. 297, pi. xvi. ff. 9-11. 



Body spherical, usually in closely-packed colonies 

 surrounded by a common outer gelatinous investment 

 crowded with comparatively long, awl-like spicules 

 with cone-shaped accumulations around many of 

 the pseudopodia ; plasma usually filled with green 

 zoochlorella cells living symbiotically ; endoplasm 

 placed eccentrically ; nucleus single, placed eccen- 

 trically, spherical, containing a central spherical 

 nucleolus ; contractile vesicles normally absent ; central 

 granule present from which the pseudopodial axes 

 radiate ; pseudopodia long, straight, their axes thinly 

 covered with plasma. 



Diameter of individual bodies 60 JJL to 90 /A ; diameter 

 of colony up to 190 p or over; length of pseudopodia 

 may equal twice the diameter of the colony ; length 

 of spicules up to 32 p.. 



Habitat. Amongst aquatic vegetation in moorland 

 pools, etc. 



Distribution. IRELAND. Carrig Mountain and Tin- 

 nehely, Wicklow; Multyfarnham, Westmeath; Grlen- 

 gariff, Co. Cork (Archer). 



Solitary individuals are occasionally found but 

 spherical colonies containing five to twelve are the 

 rule ; these probably result from incomplete binary 

 fission; the common investment which surrounds 

 these colonies is crowded with spicules throughout 

 except a narrow zone on its inner periphery. 



The spicules are silicious and of peculiar form 

 which is characteristic of the species ; they are either 

 hyaline or yellowish in colour. For their examination 

 and exact determination it is necessary to isolate 

 them as they are so refringent (especially in Canada 

 balsam) that their outlines in the mass are quite 

 indistinct. 



As Archer pointed out the spicules are clustered 



