Mr. H. J. Carter on the Organization of Infusoria. 223 



cytoblast, which also is the primary organ of this cell ; and there- 

 fore, perhaps, we might term it the presiding organ, or consider 

 that such are its primary offices over the development and life of 

 these cells respectively. If we trace it from the llhizopoda into 

 the vegetable kingdom, we shall find it occupying the very same 

 position relatively in Amceha that it does in the cell of Serpicula 

 verticillata^. Thus, in some Amoebous cells which settled down 

 from their spherical into the plane reptant forms, the following 

 sequence from without inwards was distinctly seen : viz. 1st, the 

 pellicula and diaphane ; 2ndly, the molecular sarcode bearing the 

 nucleus, and a layer of greenish granules externally ; 3rdly, the 

 aqueous fluid of the centre (figs. 1, 2) ; — and in the spine-cell of 

 the leaf of Serpicula — 1st, the cellulose cell-wall; 2ndly, the 

 molecular protoplasm, in which are imbedded the green granules 

 (viz. cells or organisms in which part of the protoplasm bears 

 chlorophyll) and the cytoblast ; 3rdly, the aqueous fluid of the 

 centre (figs. 63, 64). The difference between cellulose and pel- 

 licula, and the absence of the vesicula, &c. are points which have 

 so little to do with the analogy in question when the latter is 

 followed up through Astasia, Euglena, Navicula, Olosterium, Szc, 

 into (Edogonium, and Nitella to Serpicula, that very little doubt 

 will, I think, then remain, of the offices of the nucleus in Amoeba 

 being similar to those of the nucleus of the plant-cell, whatever 

 these may hereafter prove to be. — Here, again, I would return 

 for a moment to the cause of sphericity in Amoeba, and submit 

 whether the cavity containing the distending fluid is that of the 

 vesicula or the centre of the sarcode ; since the aqueous cavity of 

 the vegetable cell may then be analogous to the vesicula ; for, as 

 before stated, I have never been able to succeed in detecting the 

 vesicula in Amoeba when under a spherical form ; although, the 

 moment it becomes plane and polymorphic, this organ reappears, 

 of its usual size, and endowed with its usual activity. 



Much, however, as the nucleus may at first appear to be a 

 presiding organ, there can be no doubt, from what will presently 

 be stated, that its ultimate destination, in some organisms at 

 least, is to pass into granules which become new beings. 



Ovules, — This term will be applied to a number of discoid, or 

 globular, nucleated cells, which appear together in the sarcode of 

 some of the Infusoria. At an early stage in Spongilla, Amoeba, Eu- 

 glypha. Astasia, and Euglena, these bodies consist of a transparent 

 capsule, lined with a faint yellow film of semi-transparent matter, 

 which, subsequently becoming more opake and yellowish, also 



* This aquatic plant is selected for comparison because the circulatory 

 movement is well marked in the cells which occupy the body of the leaf, 

 and the cytoblast and protoplasm in the spine-cells of the margin. 



