ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 45 



nucleolus ; the latter also furnishes the chromatin basis (planeher) of the 

 equatorial plate ; the spindle is formed at the expenso of the nucleo- 

 plasm,which receives in this connection a certain quantity of chromatin 

 from the nucleolus; there is at each pole of the spindle a corpuscle 

 which may be compared to a centrosome ; the cyst of Vampyrella is to 

 be regarded as a sporangium within which the nuclear elements 

 multiply. 



Reaction of Amoeba to Different Colours.* — Messrs. N. R. Harring- 

 ton and E. Learning find that the streaming movements occur in red 

 light, but are delayed, inhibited, or reversed by rays from the violet end 

 of the spectrum. In non-nucleated fragments violet and white rays 

 inhibit the weak streaming. 



Foraminifera from Singapore.f — Dr. R. J. Schubert has examined a 

 specimen of white calcareous sand from Singapore, and finds that Fora- 

 minifera are present together with other organic remains, such as Mol- 

 luscan shells, Ostracod shells, and fragments of coral. Of the Fora- 

 minifera, individuals of Peneroplis pertusus in the typical form and 

 varieties formed about half of the total number of specimens. The 

 remainder were chiefly Miliolidaa. 



Coelomic Coccidia in Insects.} — Louis Leger notes that there are 

 few cases described of ccelomic Coccidia in Insects. In the beetle 

 Olocrates abbreviatus 01. he has found, in the fatty body and the cells of 

 the pericardium, the oocysts of what appears to be the previously de- 

 scribed Adelea akidium. Many of the cysts were degenerate, having been 

 transformed into a brown colloid substance which shone through the 

 skin in the dorsal region, and made the infected insects appear pigmented. 

 Others of the cysts showed undivided granular contents, or commencing 

 sporulation, or 12-20 ripe sporocysts each containing two sporozoites. 

 This is only the third case observed of ccelomic Coccidia in Insects. 



Life-history of Haemamoebidse. § — Major Ronald Ross and Dr. R. 

 Fielding-Ould publish, with a short description, a series of diagrams 

 illustrating the life-history of the parasites of malaria. They state the 

 life-history as follows. Minute amcebulre occur in the red corpuscles 

 of the Vertebrate hosts (man, monkeys, bats, birds), and become mature 

 as (a) sporocytes or (6) gametocytes. The sporocytes arise by the 

 division of the nucleus of the amoebulas, each nuclear mass surrounding 

 itself with a mass of protoplasm ; the spores so formed escape from the 

 corpuscles and infect other corpuscles of the same host. Where the 

 amcebulae become gametocytes nuclear division does not occur, but tho 

 gametocyte in the undivided state is taken up into the stomach of a gnat. 

 Here the male gametocytes (distinguished by their larger nuclei) give rise 

 to a number of motile microgametes, which unite each with a macro- 

 gamete. The resulting zygote becomes motile, forming the vermicule, 

 and travels to the muscular coat of the stomach. Here it becomes 

 motionless, grows rapidly, and divides into eight to twelve meres. Each 

 mere becomes a spherical blastophore, bearing on its surface a number 



* Araer. Journ. Physiol., in. (1900) pp. 9-18. See Zool. Centralbl., vii. (1900) 

 p. 748. t Zool. Anzeig., xxiii. (1900; pp. 500-2. 



% Arch. Zool. Expe'r., viii. (1900) pp. 1-3. 

 § Quart. Journ. Mior, Sci., xliii. (1900) pp. 571-9 (2 pis.). 



