QUARTERLY CHRONICLE. 275 



>vhich, he said, Lubbock had noticed in the ova of Myria- 

 pods, though he had not regarded them as tubes. As to the 

 question of the movements of cells, they are of two sorts — 

 amoeboid or movements of reptation, and movements of con- 

 traction. These last may be observed in the ovules of Myria- 

 pods and of Arachnida. Thus, in the ovule of Phalangium, 

 the central globule possesses several vacuoles, called gene- 

 rally nucleoli by the German authors. The greater part re- 

 gard them as solid bodies, but La Valette St. George con- 

 siders them as vacuoles. If one examines one of these ovules 

 without the addition of any liquid, on a preparation closed 

 with wax, one sees one of these vacuoles enlarge. It 

 becomes sufficiently voluminous to be excentric relatively to 

 the nucleus, and to make the surface bulge. It bursts 

 then, and is replaced by a depression, and finally disappears. 

 Several of these vacuoles enlarge and burst successively in 

 the same way, which can be confirmed by looking for two 

 hours at the same preparation. This is very diflerent to 

 movements of reptation. A German botanist. Dr. Cohn, has 

 seen similar vacuoles. M. Mecznikow has observed them in 

 the cells of the salivary glands of insects. It is vacuoles 

 similar to these which communicate with the tubes which M. 

 Bal])iani described in various cells. 



M. Balbiani has discovered what he considers to be Psoro- 

 sperms in the jMyriapod Geophyllus. This is interesting, as 

 widening the area of habitat of these parasitic growths. M. 

 Balbiani considers the fungoid growths which occur in the Silk- 

 worm disease to be Psorosperras. If these bodies, which are 

 clearly vegetable, be identified with the Psorosperms of Fish, 

 then must we be very careful to draw a sharp line between Pso- 

 rosperms and Pseudonavicells — the bodies which result fi'om 

 the breaking up of the Gregarinfe ; for it requires very much 

 more proof than we at present possess to admit the Grega- 

 rinse into the group of half-plants half-animals which has 

 been brought to light by Cienkowski's observations on 

 Monad-forms, and De Bary^s on Myxogastres. At present 

 the Gregarinse are known almost solely in the active animal 

 form. 



At the May meeting M. Lionville described corpuscles 

 from serosities of blisters and burns, which are active, and 

 capable of developing movements. They are minute vesicles, 

 with a black central point; others appear as irregular cor- 

 puscles. M. Lionville has also detected vibriones in urine 

 taken fresh from its passage. M. Yulpian remarked that 

 the observations of these motile corpuscles in serosities 

 tended very much to lessen the significance of Hallicr^s 



