228 [Oct. 



amined during the past thirteen months, in all seasons, and at all ages and sizes 

 of from one up to three inches of the animal, I have invariably found them. It 

 cannot be supposed that these are developed and grow after death, because I found 

 them always immediately upon killing the animal. Whilst the legs of fragments 

 of the nnimals were yet moving upon my table, or one half of the body even 

 walking, I have frequently been examining the plants erowing upon part of the intes- 

 tinal canal of the same individual. And upon the entozoa, these entophyta will be 

 frequently found growing, whilst the former are actively moving about. I 

 found among others an ascaris three lines long, which had no less than twenty- 

 three individuals of Enterobrus, averaging a line in length, besides a quantity of 

 the other two genera growing upon it, and yet it moved about in so lively a man- 

 ner that it did not appi ar the least incommoded by its load of vegetation. This 

 specimen I have preserved in a glass cell in Goadby's solution, and exhibit it to 

 the Aca<lemy. 



The animals were uniformly enjoying good health, i. e. all the organic and ani- 

 mal functions were natural ; they eat, grew, reached their definite size, repro- 

 duced, and in fact, presented all those actions characteristic of the normal state of 

 existence of the animal. 



The genus Julus is an extensive one, and its species are found in all the great 

 parts of the globe, and as their habits are the same, the conditions for the pro- 

 duction of the entophyta will be the same, and I think I do not go too far when I 

 say they will be constantly found throughout the genus in any part of the world, 

 so that naturalists and others, may, upon examination, readily verify or contra- 

 dict the statements which I have this evening presented. 



From these facts we perceive that we may have entophyta in luxurious growth 

 •within living animals, without affecting their health, which is further supported 

 by my having detected mycodermatoid filaments in the ccecum of six young and 

 healthy rats, examined immediately after death, although they existed in no other 

 part of the body. These filaments were minute, simple, and inarticulate, measur- 

 ing from l-5000th to l-1428th in. in length, by 1-16-OOOth of an inch in breadth. 

 With them were also found two species of Vibrio, 



Even those moving filamentary bodies belonging to the genus Vibrio, I am in- 

 clined to think, are of the character of algous vegetation. Their movement is 

 no objection to this opinion, for much higher coriferva;, as the Oscillatorias, are 

 endowed with inherent power of movement, not very unlike that of the Vibrio, 

 and indeed the' movement of the latter appears to belong only to one stage of its 

 existence. Thus, in the toad, (Bufoamericanus,) in the stomach and small intestine, 

 there exist simple, delicate, filamentary bodies, which are of three different kinds. 

 One is exceedingly minute, forms a single spiral, is endowed with a power of 

 rapid movement, and appears to be the Spirillum undula of Ehrenberg ; the second 

 is an exceedingly minute, straight and short filament, with a movement actively 

 molecular in character, and is probably the Vibrio lineola of the same author; 

 the third consists of straight, motionless filaments, measuring 1-1 125th in. long, 

 by l-l.'),000th broad ; some were, however, twice, or even thrice this length, but 

 then I could always detect one or two articulations, and these, in all their charac- 

 ters, excepting want of movement, resemble the Vibrio. In the rectum of the 

 same animal, the same filamentary bodies are found, with myriads of Bodo intes- 

 tinalis ; but the third species, or longest of the filamentary bodies, have increased 

 immensely in numbers, and now possess the movement peculiar to the Vibrio 



