58 SUMMAEY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Xenophyophora of Indian Ocean.* — A. Scliepotieff olbtained from 

 coral reefs of Ceylon and southern India a number of remarkable 

 organisms, which he has been able to refer to the Xenophyophora — a 

 group of deep-sea Ehizopods established hj F. E. Schulze. A ramified 

 Plasmodium (" Granellars ") with granular enclosures of Barium .sul- 

 phate, with a brauched system of " Stercomavs " (filled with stercomes 

 and xanthosomes), and with foreign bodies (xenopliya) filling up the 

 gaps, and sometimes bound together by threads or linellas. This com- 

 plex of granellars, stercomars, and xenophya form the " body " ; but 

 true body is that portion which has a protoplasmic content. The author 

 describes Fsame'.ta globosa F, E. Sch., Stamiopyllum zonarum Hkl., 

 Cerelasmas^., takes a survey of the group, gives a revised diagnosis, and 

 decides that the position of these remarkable organisms is near the 

 Mycetozoa. He puts them with Glilamydomyxa and Labijrinthida in a 

 sub-group Mycetozoidea, along another sub-group Mycetozoa, both in- 

 cluded in the group IMyxozoa. 



Nuclear Division of Large Amoeba from Liver Abscesses.f — C. H. 

 Martin describes the breakdown of the karyosome into irregular lightly- 

 staining masses, the subsequent concentration of the chromatin into a 

 large number of deeply staining granules irregularly scattered through 

 the nucleus, and the grouping of these in masses on the equatorial plate 

 of the spindle. At no stage in the division was there any evidence of 

 the existence of a centriole. 



Structure of Fabrea salina.| — E. Faure-Fremiet describes this 

 heterotrichous ciliated Infusorian discovered by Henneguy in salt 

 marshes. The cytoplasm is typically alveolar ; in the central portion 

 there are numerous mitochondria ; the macrouucleus is like a twisted 

 piece of intestine and shows no internal structure ; the black pigment, 

 with reddish reflections, occurs as a precipitate of minute granules in the 

 cytoplasm, and is soluble in alcohol and acetone. 



Occurrence of Amphidinium operculatum in vast quantity at 

 Port Erin.§ — "W. A. Herdman records the occurrence of vast quantities 

 of this Peridinian on the sand about half-tide mark at Port Erin. It 

 has been previously recorded in huge quantities on the beach at Norder- 

 ney, but it does not seem to have been previously noticed in British 

 waters. It lived on the surface layer of the sand and was very active ; 

 it was not found in plankton gatherings. It appeared to alternate in its 

 profuse occurrence in the hollows of the ripple marks with a golden- 

 yellow Diatom — one of the Amphisba?na group of Navkida. The author 

 notes that there seems to be a slight but definite cuticle, that the two 

 charftcteristic Dinoflagellate grooves cei'tainly join, that stages in longi- 

 tudinal fission were frequent, and that what appeared to be conjugation 

 was seen in one instance. 



New Trypanosome in a Fly.|] — E. Roubaud describes from the 

 intestine of a species of LucUia in tropical Africa a new Trypanosome 



» Zool. Jahrb., xxxii. (1911) pp. 245-86 (2 pis.). 



t Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., Ivii. (1911) pp. 279-81 (7 figs.). 



X C.R. Soc. Biol., Ixxi. (1911) pp. 419-20. 



§ Journ. Linn. Soc. (Zool.) xxxii. (1911) pp. 71-5 (1 pi.). 



II C.R. Soc. Biol., Ixxi. (1911) pp. 306-8 (1 fig.). 



