38 



The Larva of Cliironomiis 



Filamen- 

 tous cor- 

 puscles. 



Protoplasmic prominences also, which may be the begin- 

 nings of folds, are often seen on the inner surface of the 

 epidermis, especially on the dorsal wall of the prothorax. 



Peculiar filaments, often much 

 drawn out, as if they were composed 

 of protoplasm or some other plastic 

 substance, are common in the blood- 

 current, and are demonstrable in the 

 more transparent parts of the body, 

 such as the anal feet or the blood-gills 

 (fig. 29, i). No nuclei have been 

 clearly seen within them, and any proj^er motion, or any 

 power of spontaneously changing their shape which they 



Fig. 27. — Diagram to 

 illustrate the probable 

 mode of conversion of one 

 of the thickenings into 

 a fold, c, cviticle. e, epi- 

 dermis. 



Wanderiuj 

 colls. 



Fio. 28.— Ventral blood-gill during ecdysis, showing the epidermis retracted 

 from the old cuticle. 



may have, is masked by the rapidity of their translation. 

 They are so like the drawn-out protoplasmic processes of 

 the epidermis as to suggest that ^ 



they have been detached there- 

 from to float for a time in the 

 blood. 



; Other corpuscles may be found 

 aggregated beneath the epider- 

 mis, and these too are best de- 

 monstrated in the more trans- 

 parent parts of the body. They 

 are irregular in shape, but not 

 extremely elongate (fig. 29, 2). 

 Sometimes they become densely 

 aggregated ; they are not carried along by the blood-stream, 

 so far as we know, though they probably travel. Nuclei 



Fig 29. — Fihxmentous cor- 

 puscles of blood. I , as seen in 

 the circulation. 2, as seen 

 undergoing amoeboid clianges 

 in the ventral blood-gill. 



