24 



dissolved within the Amoeban lump of jelly. Unwary animalculse 

 have to abandon hope when they once get within reach of the 

 Amoeba. 



In an account of some changes witnessed in the Amoeba 

 and recorded by Professor Edwards of New York, he says he 

 watched them for two days and noticed them pass from an 

 almost glass-like clearness to a granular state in which the 

 granules appeared to resemble densely packed oil globules. 

 Then came a period of rest followed by a development into 

 a regular ciliated animalcule, a Colpoda or Paramecium. Mr. 

 Fullagar said his observations had not confirmed that of Pro- 

 fessor Edwards, which, however, was likely to be correct. He 

 alluded to the fact that Saville Kent in his new manual of the 

 Infusoria places the Amoeba as the central starting point of 

 animal life. 



In the case of the Arcella we have an Amoeban within a 

 shell, convex above, concave below with an opening for the 

 pseudopodia. Amoebas also sometimes became encysted. Mr. 

 Fullagar gave an account of the various changes which he had 

 witnessed in the Amoebas he had under observation. His 

 descriptions would of course be unintelligible without the 

 drawings which illustrated them. On the conclusion of the 

 paper a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Fullagar for his 

 valuable researches. 



Mr. J. Reid expressed the pleasure it had given him to hear 

 the paper. He thought it was desirable in the present state of 

 knowledge of these lower forms of life to be very careful not 

 to conclude that the Amoeba was really an animal. There was 

 so little distinction between the lowest forms of animal life and 

 forms of vegetable life that it was unwise to be hasty in describing 

 such organisms as the Amoeba as belonging to one or the other 

 kingdom. 



MARCH. 



Colonel Horsley exhibited a beautifully prepared specimen 

 of Chirodota. 



This genus belongs to the class Echinodermata and is allied 

 to Synaptidae. The Calcareous particles imbedded in the skin of 

 the Chirodota are wheel-shaped when viewed with a microscope. 

 One species is British, but they are mostly inhabitants of warm 

 seas. In C. Violacea, a Mediterranean species, the skin is full 

 of groups of broad, thin, hyaline wheels lying upon one another 

 and connected by a fine thread. The wheels have five or six 

 flat radiating spokes. The wheels are exceedingly small in the 



