THE MVXOSPOKIDIA, OR PSOROSPERMS OF FI.SIIES. 257 



Myxospnrifh'um.— The following may refer to tliis st;^ge. To me it is 

 rather obscure: 



Between the tiiiled sjiores were ftmud isi great iininbcrs protoplasmic bodies of the 

 size of a blood corpuscle or smaller, which were round and contained "semen" 

 (f spores). The protoplasm of these bodies was seminal (fsporigenous). The nucleus 

 was sharply defined and contained several semiua (? granules). 



^i?ore.— Roiiiul or oval with a sharj) anterior end; shell donble-con- 

 toiired; substance homogeneous, texture reminding one of chitin, unaf- 

 fected by acids and by alkaline hydrates; capsules 2, anteriorly plaee<l; 

 lilanients gradually extruded under the influence of gentle heating. 

 By means of staining \yith fuchsin or methylen l>lue performed after 

 warming, there appeared in the spore a sharply detined " nucleus". Tail 

 single or double, consisting of a substance similar to the shell, thick at 

 its origin, attenuating gradually to its free extremity; shape similar to 

 that of the tail of M. psorospermicus as figured by lUitschli.^ 



Micro-chcmis'tri/. — Fuchsin and jnethylen blue stain the spores and 

 the extruded capsular filaments, but not the shell or the tail. 



Habitat. — Cysts irregularly distributed in the interstitial connective 

 tissue ot the thoracic and intercostal muscles of Coregonus. Loosely 

 united to the surrounding muscular tissue by spongy connective tissue 

 and easily separable therefrom by its rupture. 



As to the relation of this species to the next, see next page. 



82. Myxobolus sp. incert. 



Psorospernis of muscles of Coregonus f era, Claparedo, 1S74, in Lunel's Hist. nat. 

 d. poissons du bassiu du L6man, p. 113. 



Cyst. — Five in number, varying in size from that of a filbert to that 

 of a small Avalnut. Characters constant. Contents, a milky fluid or 

 (from resor])tion of the more liquid portions) a caseous mass. This 

 fluid or semifluid mass consists of psorosperms in great number, with a 

 granular protoplasm between them. 



MyxoHporidium. — This granular protoplasm is without doubt the 

 remains of the amtjeba at the ex[)ense of whose ])rotoplasm, and within 

 which, the psorosperms were formed. Tiie protoplasm iji fact contains 

 ^'vacuoles'' (pansporobkists) which in the beginning are destitute of 

 l>roper walls, but which form the point of departure for psorosperm 

 produ(!tiou. The examination of one fragnient of protoplasm is suflicieiit 

 to show all transitions between the sim[de vacuoles (pansporoblasts) and 

 the vesicles containing the 2 oval corpuscles [capsules] characteristic 

 of the ))S()rosperm, and a third corpuscle, whence will be derived the 

 "blastema'' (sporoplasin) which fills tiieposterior part of the body of the 

 psorosperm. It is only a step from these vesicles to the imperfectly 

 developed psoros[)erms disseminated through the protoplasm. These 

 last already %\\t)\v all essential traits of the fully developed psorosperm 



' I3roim'9 Tlucp-Reicl), 1882, i, pi. 38, fig. IG, 

 FC 17 



