1 8 Transactions. 



points of a single circle of the recurved hooks; then with a 

 sudden motion the proboscis is thrust up to its whole extent, 

 the sharp, glittering hooks forming a beautiful sight as they 

 come out in rapid succession, resembling the bayonets of a 

 company of soldiers rushing out of a sally-port and quickly 

 forming to right and left. 



If the points of the first circle of hooks touch any animal 

 tissue, these, striking from a center outward, are first anchored 

 and serve as a fulcrum for projecting the snout its whole 

 length into the tissue. 



It is this beautiful mechanical contrivance to which I wish 

 to call your attention, for it would be impossible to conceive 

 anything more perfectly adapted to accomplishing the end 

 in view. 



EUGLENA AND TRACHELOMONAS. 



BY R. HITCHCOCK. 



Certain fresh -water ponds about Port Morris are covered 

 during the summer with a bright-red or scarlet coating, when 

 the sun is shining brightly. My attention was first drawn to 

 this appearance by President Hyatt, and I have found the 

 organisms which produce it very interesting for study. The 

 color is caused by some species of Euglena which does not 

 exactly correspond with any species described by Ehrenberg 

 or Dujardin, but I am inclined to the belief that the specific 

 characters in this genus, as given by authors heretofore, are 

 by no means constant or reliable. 



The particular form which I have most carefully examined 

 undergoes many changes. At first it appears of a bright 

 green color, shaped like an elongated flask with two long 

 cilia in front, and a red pigment-spot. The body is finely 

 granular, very soft, and as changeable in form as an Avixba, 

 It swims freely by the aid of the cilia, or crawls along the 

 slide like a leech. Forms, in every way identical with this, 

 are also found without the cilia. Owing to the location of 

 the ponds, somewhat inaccessible to me, I have not been 

 able to follow the successive stages in- the life-history of the 

 organism through every detail, so I refrain from giving my 

 inferences, hoping for an opportunity to study them more 

 completely. However, it will be in place to describe some 



