KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 27 



be circular, part (a relatively small number) being decidedly oblong. The 

 circular ones were marked with either one or four spots (figs, a and h); the 

 oblong ones with two or three (figs, c and d). The single spot in a circular 

 figure was itself apparently circular; the four spots in some appeared circu- 

 lar or roughly rounded (6), while in others they were plainly quadrants of a 

 circle (e). From my working notes I take the following: "Circles light, 

 spots black (as in b and e); changing the focus slightly, the spots become 

 red; changing the focus still more, they become light, and the portion of 

 circle between them becomes black, making dark cross on light ground" (as 

 in/). 



A BCD 



(g) © (||) ©© ®> OD 



r^ 



(^ ® (§)© 



An expert microscopist could, I doubt not, interpret these appearances, 

 and draw from them accurate and complete conclusions regarding the struc- 

 ture of the objects. This I freely confess I cannot do. However, I infer — 

 more from appearances under a lower power than from these — that the dark 

 spots are either actual holes, or else consist of a very transparent medium. The 

 red color developed in the spots at a certain pocibion may have been caused 

 by either absorption or refraction, and may perhaps be accounted for by the 

 conditions of observation. The objects and objective were both immersed 

 in glycerine, and the light was from an argand gas-burner. With natural 

 light, I do not remember having seen the red color. 



The spots on the oblong figures were either circular (c) or oblong {d) ; when 

 there were three, they were oblong in every case I observed. 



No details could be made out upon the rod-shaped forms; they were sim- 

 ply rods {g) of different lengths, and comparatively rare. ^ 



With a stage micrometer I made approximate measurements. The circu- 

 lar and oblong forms varied much in size — a fact evident at first glance 

 without a micrometer. The very largest were about ^oW inch in diameter, 

 many had a diameter of about 30V0 inch, and many of no more than one- 

 half (possibly as low as one-third) this figure. The rods were in length one 

 to three times the diameters of the larger disks. 



The figures in the cut give an idea of the relative sizes of the objects de- 

 scribed ; they are of two or three times the apparent diameter with the one- 

 sixteenth objective employed. 



The perfect forms here described were somewhat rare, fragments and 

 shapeless masses constituting the greater part of the material examined. 



