THE AUSTRALIAN FRESHWATER RHIZOPODA. 

 By R. v. Lendenfeld, Ph.D. 



Part I. 



It is intended to enumerate the Australian species and describe 

 such as may be new, in this paper. 



1. Amoeba villosa. Wallich. 



I have seen a great number of Amoeba3 recently from various 

 parts of the Botany Swamps, and they all seem to be very similar 

 to the species described as A. villosa, by "Wallich. These Australian 

 specimens are very large and creep about very rapidly between the 

 roots of Sphagnum. The posterior end — that is the one behind 

 in motion — generally possesses the short villi-like pseudopodia 

 characteristic of the above species. These, however, appear not to 

 be present invariably ; often ordinary lobate pseudopodia are seen 

 on all sides. 



The outer layer of protoplasm is hyaline ; in the interior there 

 are small and highly refractive granules in great abundance, and 

 others of larger size and spherical in shape. These are very 

 numerous in the large specimen, but the younger ones appear more 

 transparent. 



The nucleus is large and spherical ; being, however, very soft, 

 its shape is liable to great variations as the animal moves along. 

 The whole inner portion is occupied by a transpai'ent vacuole which 

 is enclosed in a very clear reticulation. The chromatin threads of 

 the superficial reticulation do not extend to the interior of the 

 nucleus, which is occupied by achromatin only. 



Osmic acid specimens and also acetic acid specimens show this 

 particularly well. 



