CHYTRIDIALES 127 



IMPERFECTLY KNOWN SPECIES OF SPHAERITA 



? Sphaerita endogena Dangeard 



Pro parte (in Rhizopoda), Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot., VII, 4: 277, pi. 12, 



figs. 22-36. 1886 



Sporangia single or in groups, spherical or somewhat elongate, 

 5-20 \x in diameter, the spores when mature appearing as mulberry- 

 like masses, expelled from the host at maturity and liberated by rup- 

 turing of the wall, apparently without flagella; resting stage not ob- 

 served. 



Parasitic in Rhizopoda, Nuclearia simplex, and Heterophrys dispersa, 

 Dangeard (he. cit.), Amoeba Umax, Chatton and Brodsky (1909:3, 

 figs. 1-3), France; Nuclearia simplex, Constantineanu (1901:370), 

 Rumania. 



Records of the occurrence of Sphaerita endogena and other "species" 

 in parasitic amoebae are frequent in protozoological literature. 



Chatton and Brodsky have emphasized that characteristically the 

 very young thallus has an eccentric nucleus apparently without a 

 membrane. Their studies on fixed and stained material indicated that 

 the thallus is surrounded at all times by a wall, that the nuclei divide 

 simultaneously, and that the spores are formed by condensation of 

 the cytoplasm around each of the nuclei. Secretion of a thin wall 

 follows. The spores were liberated simply by the rupturing of the 

 wall, no special discharge pore being formed. These investigators 

 noted, as did Dangeard. that the liberated spores of Sphaerita endog- 

 ena parasitizing Rhizopoda lacked motility. Dangeard later (1933) 

 emphasized this point as indicative of a possible specific and perhaps 

 even generic difference between S. endogena and the parasite of Eu- 

 glena (S. dangeardii). 



? Sphaerita trachelomonadis Skvortzow 

 Arch. Protistenk., 57: 205, fig. 2. 1927 

 Sporangium broadly ellipsoidal, with broad rounded ends, 20-29 \x 

 long by 18-20 [j. in diameter, wall thin, smooth; zoospores not ob- 

 served; resting spore spherical, with a thick brownish spiny wall. 



