ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 595 



parasite often lies in a vacuole in a red blood-corpuscle. The time 

 taken by the parasites to undergo full development would appear to be 

 about fourteen hours, but quinine has an extraordinarily rapid effect in 

 eliminating the parasites from the blood, without necessarily producing 

 the abatement of the clinical symptoms, or preventing a fatal termina- 

 tion. The authors find, however, that malaria may be diagnosed, even 

 after dosing with quinine has eliminated the parasites, by the characters 

 of the leucocytes. In malarial cases, especially during apyrexia, charac- 

 teristic pigmented leucocytes occur, and there is an increase in the large 

 mononuclear elements, and a decrease in the small mononuclear and the 

 polynuclear elements. They have alwa} T s found this peculiarity in the 

 case of blackwater fever, and believe that the quinine may, by its lethal 

 effect on the parasites, free from them a sufficient quantity of toxin to 

 produce the haemoglobinuria of blackwater. In other words, so far they 

 have always found malarial infection in blackwater cases, and have never 

 found any specific blackwater parasites. 



Proteosorna and Mosquito.* — Dr. C. W. Daniels reports on the result 

 of a continuation of Major Ross's experiments on the infection of birds 

 by Proteosorna through the agency of the mosquito. He was enabled to 

 entirely confirm Ross's results in regard to the infection of mosquitos 

 fed on proteosomal birds. Such mosquitos showed the cysts called by 

 Ross " coccidia " on the walls of the stomach. Further the results con- 

 firmed Ross's statements that these " coccidia " contain " germinal 

 threads," which are freed into the body-fluid of the mosquito by the 

 rupture of the cysts, and ultimately find their way into the salivary 

 glands. The attempt to infect birds by the direct agency of mosquitos 

 was less successful than Ross's previous experiments, but this is probably 

 explained by the lateness of the season, the colder months being appar- 

 ently less favourable to the disease than the hot ones. In most infected 

 mosquitos there were found, in addition to the cysts containing the ger- 

 minal threads, others containing black spores. These are very resistant 

 to injurious agents, and until their significance is understood, the life- 

 history of Proteosorna cannot be said to be known. 



Foraminifera from Funafuti.f — Mr. Frederick Chapman finds 

 that the Foraminifera play no inconsiderable part in the formation of 

 coral reefs in the Funafuti Atoll. In the rock material obtained by 

 boring, the Foraminifer Polytrema was found growing in alternate con- 

 centric layers with a calcareous alga, and in the coral sand many 

 other genera occurred. In the present paper the larger forms, many 

 of which are true rock-builders, are dealt with. The most interesting 

 form is Gycloch/peus, which is extraordinarily abundant, and appears in 

 what were at first regarded as numerous varieties. Later it was found 

 that these varieties are stages of one dimorphic species, the two 

 forms having been described as G. carpenteri Brady and C. guembelianus 

 Brady. 



Polytrema miniaceum.J — Herr Fr. Merkel has made a detailed study 

 of this curious Rhizopod. He finds that the shell is dimorphic, as it is 



* Roy. Soc. Lond. Reports to Malaria Committee, 1899-1900, pp. 1-11. 



t Journ. Linn. Soc. (Zool.). xxviii. (1900) pp. 1-27 (4 pis.). 



J Zuitschr. wisa. Zool., lxvii. (1900) pp. 291-322 (2 pis. and 2 figs.). 



