106 JOURNAL OF THE [October, 



minute that th^y are concealed by the mass of protoplasm above, 

 although this is almost entirely transparent. 



These facts seem interesting and provocative of thought. That 

 a little creature like this, whose protoplasmic body is only yt^t 

 inch in length, should deliberately change its habit of living alone 

 and at a distance from its kindred, is interesting ; but that it 

 should permanently modify the actions of its embryo so as to 

 bring about those altered conditions, is startling. 



A recent writer lays it down as a broad and undisputed propo- 

 sition that changes in form resulting in new species are not the 

 result of slow modifications extending through countless ages, 

 and which those that speculate on the changes induced by the 

 visits of insects so warmly contend for. Changes, the author 

 asserts, are by leaps and not by slow modification. There seems 

 a greater energy at work at times than at others in producing 

 change. It thus seems pleasant to imagine that, in finding this 

 infusorian undergoing its changes into at least a distinct variety, 

 one of these leaps might be actually in the process of taking 

 place. 



The irregular colonies which I have referred to are to be seen 

 in many sizes, from a young cluster of two (the parent and the 

 newly matured infusorian) to older clusters of a dozen or more 

 members, some clinging to the body of the original or parent 

 sheath, others adherent to the more recently formed lorica. 



