108 J. W. JENKINSON. 



and with chlor-zinc-iodine. In the case of the many-layered 

 resting cysts the outer layers were violet ; the inner, as also the 

 single membranes of the qnite young cysts, blue. Tliickenings 

 in the cell-wall stain more deeply and are less easily decolourised 

 than other parts with reagents like iodine green, Congo red, 

 safranin, etc. 



V. The Systematic Position of Chlamydomyxa. 



The views of Janisch, Archer, Geddes, Askenasy, and 

 Biitschli have already been stated. Lankester (9) , while refrain- 

 ing from asserting its exact relation to the other Gymnomyxa, 

 believes, with Archer, its nearest ally to be Labyrinthula. It 

 is held by Hieronymus that this organism is on the border-land 

 between plants and animals, although nearer, by reason of its 

 chromatophores and cellulose membrane, to the former; on 

 the other hand it is, at times, certainly holozooic. This form of 

 nutrition is, however, known in Chromulina and Ochromonas 

 (12), and in Peridinese, even in chromatophore-containing 

 forms (11).^ 



Had Chlamydomyxa no chromatophores it could have been 

 related to Vampyrella ; also the paramylum grains, which 

 are present in this latter, have not been detected in Chlamy- 

 domyxa. 



Assuming, with Biitschli, one single stem for the origin of 

 all organisms, one might (says Hieronymus) regard Chlamy- 

 domyxa as a specialised derivative of Vampyrella ; on the other 

 hand, if we assume with Nageli a polyphyletic origin for 

 organisms, there being between members of the different lines 

 of descent apparent relationships due to convergence, then 

 Chlamydomyxa must be placed in a separate family, which will 

 occupy the lowest grade among the yellow-brown Algae, leading 

 up to the Dinoflagellata and diatoms on the one hand, to the 



' Which is not surprising if we do not (as do a certain section of botanists) 

 go out of our way to make the indefensible assumption that the Flagellata 

 and Dinoflagellata belong to the vegetable series ! — E. R, L. 



