Kirk. — Notes on Tiuo Marine Gymnomyxa. 521 



of an Amoeba preparing for division. It will be noted that the 

 animal frequently draws itself out into two or more masses 

 before finally dividing. In this case the preparatory stages 

 occupied thirteen minutes. The new Amoeba to the left in 

 fig. 27 divided again in five minutes ; that to the right in fifteen 

 minutes. 



Streaming of the endoplasm is very marked and often very 

 rapid, with sudden reversal. Streaming and change of shape 

 eease at the same moment. At this moment the animal has 

 become somewhat pear-shaped, the broad end leading. Then 

 comes reversal of streaming and of movement, either immediately 

 or after a very short rest. It is usual for the animal to move 

 four or five times its own length before reversal, i j 



The food of the animal consists, so far as it is visible, mainly 

 of small diatoms and other unicellular plants. When the 

 animal comes near a diatom the latter approaches it at a very 

 rapid pace, appearing to rush to it. I could observe no mecha- 

 nism to account for this. Food-vacuoles could not be detected. 

 Fseces were eges'^ed slowly or quickly; if quickly, at the end 

 of a pseudopodium. 



The average diameter of the animal is about O'l mm. 



Myxoplasma rete, n. gen. et sp. Plate XXVI. 



Body flattened, apparently because the protoplasm is too 

 fluid to resist gravitation. This flattened body may surround 

 two or more large spaces and several smaller ones. Delicate 

 pseudopodia are emitted, and these often anastomose. Th(> 

 protoplasm streams along these pseudopodia, gathering itself 

 into larger or smaller masses here and there. At first the 

 pseudopodia do not contain granular endoplasm, but this 

 streams in and often becomes separated from the main granular 

 mass. A notable feature of the pseudopodia is that they often 

 exhibit waving movements like those of the tentacles of many 

 hydro ds. This movement is generally slow. At times a mass 

 of granular matter detached from the main granular portion 

 and surrounded by non- granular matter may be observed to 

 move rapidly along the margin of the body, as though its non- 

 gi'anular isthmus actually rushed along. This indicates great 

 contractility, and at the same time great fluidity of the non- 

 granular matter. Nuclei were not observed. In general appear- 

 ance the body resembles closely an active plasmodium of a 

 Mycetozoan ; but whether it originates as such a plasmodium 

 does I am unable certainly to say. 



A slide that had been under observation for eight davs was 

 left unobserved for three days during my absence. When I 



