NOTES ON A GREGARINE OF THE EARTHWORM. 423 
gregarines, all conjugating. Here it might be suggested that 
if the gregarines were the cause of the illness of their host, the 
state of health of the latter had in turn affected them, and that 
this preparation for the formation of spores on their part was 
in view of the imminent death of the worm, the destruction of 
their home and their own dispersion over the soil,—to be taken 
in perhaps as falciform bodies in the earth swallowed by other 
worms, and so to find another habitation. 
I have not been able to observe any movement in these 
gregarines, nor does their circular form seem adapted to pro- 
gression. 
Microscopical Details.—Cuticle.—Coming to micro- 
scopical details, little need be said about the cuticle. It is, as 
described in other gregarines, very elastic, of a granular 
appearance, presenting in sections a distinct double contour. 
It dissolves rather slowly in strong acids, more rapidly in 
potash, but in each case becomes so transparent before dis- 
solving that its actual disappearance is difficult to follow. 
Paraglycogen Granules.—In a teased specimen the bulk 
of the animal appeared to consist of round granules of various 
sizes, colourless or of a faint greenish colour by transmitted 
light. They appeared quite circular, and the largest measured 
as much as 15 w in diameter. In those Gregarines which I first 
examined and which had been preserved in alcohol the granules 
presented a very curious appearance, many of them containing 
what looked like a crystal in the form of a three- or four- 
pointed star (fig. 3, 6. c.). The same was seen in stained 
sections, the apparent crystal being even more marked and 
seeming in double-stained preparations to take a different 
colour from the rest of the granule. The granules from a 
fresh specimen were quite homogeneous, so that it was evident 
that the crystal, if such it really were, was produced by the 
reagents used in hardening. Experiments tried on the fresh 
granules gave the following results :—The addition of absolute 
alcohol and then of benzol produced at first no apparent 
result ; on washing out the benzol, however, with alcohol the 
star-like appearance was produced, and on again adding benzol 
