JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 



AUGUST, 1880. 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 



XVI. — Notes on Acineiina: Trichojylirya episfyliclis, and Podo- 

 jplirya qiuidripartita. By John Badcock, F.R.M.S. 



(Bead 10th March, 1880.) 

 Plate XIV. 



Eakly in November 1879 I found on some filamentous Algae in 

 one of the ponds in Victoria Park, a curious amoeboid form of what 

 seemed to be an Acineton, and which I subsequently found had 

 been originally discovered by MM. Claparede and Lachmann, 

 and named Trichophrtja epistylidis. They found it parasitic on 

 the Epistylis, and being struck with its singular character, con- 

 sidered it entitled to rank as a new genus under the above name. 

 They give a somewhat brief account of it. It is, however, very 

 singular that those authors should have contrasted this form with 

 Podophrya quadripartita (originally discovered by Baker, and 

 subsequently found by Stein). Stein had argued in favour of 

 the theory of the ^cme^a*-state in the life-history of many of the 

 Infusoria, and among others had described P. quadripartita as 

 the Acineta of Epnstylis plieatilis, because they were generally 

 found together, and Claparede and Lachmann say that for the 

 same reason T. epistylidis might be inferred to be similarly related 

 to the Epistylis, for " The one, hke the other, seems in eflfect to 

 lead the life of a parasite, almost exclusively on the branches of 

 EpistyUs." 



It would be a curious commentary on the disputes of those 

 high authorities on these matters if it could be shown that Ti'i- 

 chophrya epistylidis and Podo'phrya quadripartiia are one and 

 the same species in different stages, and that EpistyUs has nothing 

 to do with either. Such I believe to bo the case, as the following 

 observations will show, if not conclusively, yet as probable in the 

 highest degree. 



I do not think that the identity of the organism which I found 



* This theory has since been abandoQcd by Stein. 

 VOL. III. 2 r 



