OF THE ASTASIA A OR EUGLEJ^^A. 



541 



The following species are described by Dujardin : — 



A. coiitorta (x^^II. 49, 50). — Colour- 

 less, semi-transparent, containing pale- 

 yellow granules ; cylindroid, enlarged in 

 the middle, obtuse at each end, and 

 marked with oblique striae, giving rise 

 to a twisted appearance. 1-450". In 

 sea-water. 



A. injlata. — Semi-transparent, dia- 

 phanous, contractile, ovoid, obliquely 

 but regularly plaited or striated. 1-560". 

 In sea- water. 



A. Umpida (xviii. 48 a, h, c). — Dia- 

 phanous, smooth, very variable, fusiform, 

 more or less obtuse at each end, cleft 

 anteriorly, and often obliquely doubled 

 on itself or twisted. 1-650" to 1-530". 

 In ditch-water. Perty remarks that 

 Dujardin is \\Tong in identifjdng Astasia 



pusilla and A.Jlacicaus with this species. 

 Mr. Carter (A. N. H. 1859, iii. p. 15) treats 

 this organism as an undoubtedly animal 

 fomi, and describes it as having a 

 stomach or digestive cavity, into which 

 it receives food from without. Unlike 

 Euglena, which it outwardly resembles, 

 it contains no chlorophyll. He also con- 

 siders that it is the same being which 

 Ehrenberg has described and hgiired as 

 Trach elius tinchophorus. 



A. longijilis (Perty). — Hyaline, with 

 pale-green internal granules ; filament 

 at least three times longer than the 

 body : a lateral plait or figure is seen in 

 the anterior half Form imchangeable. 

 Motion tolerably fast. 1-1000". 



Genus AMBLYOPHIS (XVIII. 45). — Free, with a single eye-speck and 

 flabellum, but no tail. The flabellum or filament serves as an organ of 

 locomotion, and is situated at the fore extremity, which, says Ehrenberg, is 

 cleft, so as to represent a two-lipped mouth, the filament being very readily 

 distinguished on the upper lip. The colour of the animalcule is derived from 

 the closely compressed mass of green granules, which nearly fills the body. 

 Near the middle of the creature is a large, bright, globular, together with five 

 wand-like bodies, two of which are situated before, and three behind the 

 former ; these structures together were supposed to be male generative organs. 

 No contractile vesicle has been observed. Self-division is unknown. The 

 coloiu-ed speck is very highly developed. Towards the anterior part of the 

 body, and just behind the filament where the mass of granules commences, 

 there is a bright-red and somewhat lengthened spot (resembling, as to situ- 

 ation and colour, the eye of the Rotatoria and Entomostraca), in the clear 

 space beneath which is a mass of matter of a very peculiar description, of a 

 globular form, having, to Ehrenberg's apprehension, the appearance of a 

 nervous ganglion, and being most probably connected vdih. the organ of 

 vision. This genus is not distinct from Eiof/Iena ; for the absence of the so- 

 called tail is insufficient to distinguish it, and, what is more, Perty has seen 

 AmhJyopMs viridis proceed from Euglena viridis in the process of reproduction. 



Amblyophis vindis (xviii. 45). — 

 Large, elongated, cylindrical, distended 

 or compressed, and abruptly rounded at 

 the posterior extremity ; gi-een, head 

 colourless : eye -speck large, bright red. 

 The motion of this creature is sluggish 



and sei-pentine, and by its evolutions 

 might easily be mistaken for the Euglena 

 Spirogyra, were that creature, like this, 

 tailless. Found with Euglence^ chiefly 

 in the spring. 1-210" to 1-140" (vide 

 p. 194). 



Genus EUGLENA (XVIII. 37-44, 46, 51, 52, 54).— This beautiful genus 

 of the family Astasiaea is characterized by being furnished with an eye, a 

 single thread-like filament, and a tail, and by being free. The locomotive 

 filament is seen in nine species out of the eleven, and has a double appearance, 

 in E. sangidnea ascribed to the condition of the animalcule preparatory to 

 seK-division. In Euglena liyalina, E.pleuronectes, and E. longicauda, vacuoles 

 are generally visible ; but in the other species they are obscured by the masses 

 of green granules which colour their bodies. Certain internal appearances 

 have been recognized, which Ehrenberg supposed to be of a male generative 



