Tlie kmw ihM\ Itmnmi km 



" Go forth, under the open sky, and hst 

 To Nature's teachings." — Bryant. 



VOL. I. NEW York, January, 1879. No, 2. 



NEW RHIZOPODS. 



BV PROF. WILLIAM S. BARNARD, B. S., PH. D. 



{Received Nov. 4th, i8j8.) 



In studying American Rhizopods representatives of most 

 European genera are found, and it is seldom, indeed, that a 

 new species is discovered. This wonderfully broad distribu- 

 tion is probably due to their being so exceedingly small that 

 they may be carried from place to place by moving water or 

 air, or in the moisture on the surfaces of aquatic animals, as 

 well as to the fact that the numerous germs, and even adult 

 forms of many, are capable of being dried and wafted, like 

 particles of dust, from one part of the earth to another. 

 Wherever they chance to fall into the water, under favorable 

 conditions, they may revive, live, and multiply. 



Most Rhizopods are extremely interesting and curious, but 

 the following genus is very remarkable. 



Echinopyxis, Clap, et Lachm. {Cetitropyxis, Stein). Claparede 

 and Lachmam characterize it as having '^ a shell furnished not 

 only with a round opening, giving passage to locomotor pseu- 

 dopods, but also with tubular prolongations open at their 

 extremities. Through each of these prolongations can pass 

 out a slender pseudopod, which does not seem to be of any 

 value for locomotion." They describe the only species known 

 as E. aculeata ( Syn. ArccUa aculeata, Ehr., Difflugia acideata, 

 Perty). "Diagnosis: Shell oblong, opening eccentric, like 

 the mouth of a Spatangiis.'' This genus and species, described 

 a few years since in Europe, also exists in America, where I 

 have observed it several times. Externally, the shell (Plate 

 VIII., Fig. 3, a. l\) seems to consist entirely of agglutinated 



