ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Observations on British Protozoa. By T. Strethill 

 Wright, M.D., F.R.C.P.E. 



ZOOTEIREA RELIGATA (Pls. VIII and IX). 



I FORMERLY described Zooteirea* as found on oyster shells 

 dredged from deep water in the Firth of Forth^near Edinburgh. 

 Although the animals are not common, yet we occasionally 

 meet with a shell completely covered with a dense forest of 

 them, each consisting of a clear, glassy stalk, surmounted by a 

 silvery star ; and it is difficult to imagine a more gorgeous 

 microscopic display than such an assemblage affords, especially 

 when illuminated by oblique sunlight of various colours under 

 loAv powers. 



Zooteirea is an Actinophrys mounted on a contractile 

 pedicle, and consists of two parts — the body, or star-like head, 

 and its supporting stalk. 



The body, like that of Actinophrys, is formed of two very 

 distinct tissues, to which I have given the terms ectosarc and 

 endosarc, terras since adopted by Dr. Carpenter in his recent 

 learned work on the Foraminifera.f The ectosarc, or external 

 layer, is a transparent " sarcode,^^ possessing some amount of 

 opalescence, being of a blueish-white when seen by reflected 

 light and tinged with the complementary pale yellowish-brown 

 by transmitted light. This colour is probably the result of 

 interference, and due to molecular matter disseminated through 

 the clear sarcode. The whole of the ectoderm is capable of 

 being produced into a thick, radiating brush, of most delicate 

 contractile "palpocils,^^J like threads of spun glass, which 



* 'Edin. New Phil. Journal,' July, 1859. 



t ' Introduction to the Study of the Foraminifera,' p. 14. 



I I have used the word "palpocil" for the motionless prehensile cilia 

 which are found extensively on the bodies of many of the lower animals, 

 such as the Hydroida, Acalephae, and Annelida, very frequently associated 

 with thread-cells. 



VOL, II. NEW SER. Q 



