M. N. Lieberkuhn on the Anatomy of the Infusoria. 319 



XXVIII. — Contributions to the Anatomy of the Infusoria^, 

 By N. Lieberkuhn. 



The essential characters, discernible by direct observation, as- 

 signed by Ehrenberg to the genus Ophryoglena, are, that the 

 mouth and the anal point do not lie at the same end of the 

 body; that the body bears cilia over the whole surface, and that 

 a forehead-eye exists ; and, more particularly, " the mouth is a 

 pit below the forehead, and the anal point is observed on the 

 back at the base of the tail/' 



Of the three species, Ophryoglena atra, acuminata smdiflavicans, 

 the latter is thus described : — O.corpore flavicante,ovato,turgido, 

 postico fine attenuato obtuso, ocellorubro frontali. Size y^g^^ ^^ 

 a line. It is added of O. flavicans, — " It resembles a Bursaria, 

 and I only distinguish it from this by the eye- spot, hitherto 

 unknown in the family, the physiological importance of which I 

 established. The cilia of the mouth are longer than in the 

 preceding species. The mouth, passing away from the forehead, 

 forms a deep pouch, and near this there always exists a light, 

 but not so distinct, spot as in the preceding species.^' It was 

 made to take in indigo. 



During last winter and spring, I frequently found in the 

 water of the Spree, where Spongillse were present, an Infusorium 

 which shares the essential peculiarities of Ophryoglena flavicans, 

 and manifests, in addition, some hitherto unknown. Its yellowish 

 body is entirely covered with cilia ; the cilia are placed in lon- 

 gitudinal rows; it is ovate, attenuated towards the posterior 

 extremity, without becoming prolonged into a point. At the 

 part called by Ehrenberg the forehead {Stirn), it bore a pigment- 

 spot varying from brown-red to dark brown, situated close 

 by the mouth, which formed a deep pouch. According to 

 Ehrenberg, the spot is not always so distinct as in the other 

 species, and the animalcule in question likewise exhibits this 

 irregularity ; the pigment-spot of Ophryoglena atra, which I 

 found frequently in the stagnant water near Pichelsberg, is 

 ordinarily more distinct. The inconstancy of the colour of the 

 eye-spot of our Infusorium affords no essential distinction, if 

 we entertain Perty's statement, that the pigment- spot of Ophryo- 

 glena griseovirens is reddish in young specimens and blackish in 

 old ones (Perty, zur Kenntniss kleinster Lebensformen in der 

 Schweiz, p. 142). 



The animalcule I observed differs in size, which amounted to 

 :^th of a line, and also in the constant presence of two contractile 

 vesicles ; for Ehrenberg ordinarily saw only one, rarely two, 



* Translated from Miiller's Archiv, January 1856. 



