PEITCHAED S HISTORY OF INFUSORIA. 125 



statement that Dysteria " occupies a position in the zoological scale 

 above the Ciliata," or to conclude with Mr. Gosse "that it is an annectent 

 form between the Eotifera and the Infusoria (**. e. the Ciliata), with a 

 preponderance of the characters of the former class." "Without waiting 

 to discuss the doctrine of affinity implied in the last sentence, we may be 

 permitted to express our surprise that any doubt could have been enter- 

 tained as to the true relationship of Dysteria with the uncinate In- 

 fusoria. 



The survey taken in this section of the ciliated Infusoria may be con- 

 sidered as, upon the whole, a satisfactory review of our knowledge of 

 the organization of these animals previous to the appearance of the sys- 

 tematic works of Stein, Lachmann, and Claparede ; works, it must be 

 remembered, which are not yet brought to a conclusion. With Siebold, 

 the author continues to regard the Opalineae and Peridineae as a sub- 

 group of the Infusoria proper. Such a view of their affinities seems to 

 us far from satisfactory. But in a subsequent paragraph on the " Na- 

 ture of Opalineae," it is rightly stated that " the observations of micro- 

 scopists in general concur to prove that these simple beings are not 

 independent, but the mere embryonic or transitional phases of other 

 animals." And the vegetability of the Peridineae is, we venture to sug- 

 gest, less improbable than many naturalists suppose — the wreath of cilia 

 which surrounds the bodies of these creatures not being, of necessity, 

 at variance with it. 



The short notice of the Gregarinidae and Psorospermia in the same 

 section briefly reviews the principal memoirs which treat of these forms. 



The shelly structure of the Bhizopoda is discussed only in general 

 terms, the Spongida, Echinocystida, and other marine Protozoa, not be- 

 ing described in any detail. The brief history given of the Poraminifera, 

 so far as it goes, is good, and a translation of Schultze's proposed arrange- 

 ment of these animals has here been appended. 



In the section on Eotifera the researches of Ehrenberg, Dujardin, 

 Colin, Leydig, Huxley, Vogt, Williamson, Gosse, and others, are each 

 in turn explained ; and the reader is led to conclude, we think rightly, 

 that the systematic relations of these animals are less with the Crustacea 

 than with the Worms. The close resemblance between some adult Eo- 

 tifers and the larval forms of various Annuloida appears to leave but 

 little room for doubt on this question. 



The last section of the first part comments on the structure of the 

 Tardigrada, a group which the author, following Kaufmann, is induced 

 to consider "the lowest section of the Arachnida, by the side of the 

 Pychnogonida and the Acarina." 



In the systematic division of the work, minute descriptions are given 

 of the families, genera, and species of the Bacillaria, Flagellata, Tardi- 

 grada, Eotifera, Amcebea, and Ciliata, so far, at least, as they are provi- 

 sionally definable. A full review of this part would involve us in a 

 lengthened series of discussions on the constitution of each of the groups 

 whose classification is attempted therein. 



The author and his several coadjutors may fairly be said to have per- 



