340 M. M. Mercaur 
some form of proteid. The appearance of myelin after solution 
(K6uscH) would favor the presence of Lecithin. [Nutrition in a form 
similar to glycogen seems to be present.]| The Opalinae live longer 
in this oxygen-free culture fiuid if certain substances be added. 
Addition of egg albumin, maltose (?), and uric acid especially a mixture 
of uric acid and dextrin, produce this result. It is not certain 
whether in the case of egg albumin the Opalinae form an extra- 
cellular enzyme which digests it, or whether the egg albumin is 
acted upon by anaérobic bacteria and is changed to a liquid 
dialyzable form. In the case of uric acid it is doubtful if the effect 
is an indirect one, or if the acid is used as food. Pivrrer says 
that after a few days in the cultures rather numerous instances of 
conjugation [doubtless really longitudinal division] and of transverse 
division appear. 
Faurt-Fremier (1905 a and 6b, 1906 a and 6 discusses the re- 
fractive spherules in the Protozoa, referring with approval to KuNsTLER’s 
[KunstLer & Grineste’s| interpretation of these bodies in Opalina as 
a secretory apparatus. He distinguishes [upon grounds that are not 
clear] between “spheroplasts of internal secretion” and “spheroplasts 
of external secretion”. The spherules of Opalina are said to belong 
to the latter group. They are regarded as fundamental elements of the 
cell, comparable to the “leucites” of plants and to the nucleus, in 
this regard. 
Harroe (1906) notes Opalina’s positive galvanotaxis and refers 
to Daur’s experiments which show that the direction of motion varies 
with the nature and concentration of the medium; “It would thus 
be a reaction to the ion liberated in contact with the one or the 
other extremity of the being”. Opalina is classed among the Fla- 
gellata in the group Protomastigaceae. The author says “The numer- 
ous similar long flagella of the Trichonymphidae afford;a transition 
in the genus Pyrsonympha to the short abundant cilia of Opalina, 
usually referred to the Ciliate Infusoria”; and again “The Opalinidae 
have also an investment of cilia, which are short and give the 
aspect of a Ciliate to the animal. But despite the outward resem- 
blance, the nuclei, of which there may be as many as 200, are all 
similar, and consequently this group cannot be placed among the In- 
fusoria at all”. 
Kunstier & Gineste (1906 a@ and c) describe for O. dimidiata, a 
mouth and spiral oesophagus, a cup-shaped depression, in front of 
the mouth, into which opens an excretory tube whose branches ra- 
mify through the body, and retractile papillae at the posterior end 
