CHLAMYDOMYXA MONTANA. 235 
dant, and varied in shape and size. It is not at all improbable 
that the month of August is either too late or too soon for the 
best chance of observing Chlamydomyxa in the motile condi- 
tion, and I should recommend other observers in the same 
locality to try the latter part of June and commencement of 
July, as affording the best chance of observing Chlamydomyxa 
in the unencysted condition. 
The Chlamydomyxa which I studied in Switzerland, whilst 
agreeing in essential features with Archer’s genus, appears to 
me to be certainly a distinct species, for which I propose the 
name Chlamydomyxa montana, ‘The grounds for this 
distinction will be apparent from the following description. 
Mode of Occurrence.—The specimens of Sphagnum which 
yielded the Chlamydomyxa had a peculiar ruddy-brown appear- 
ance and a glistening surface, differing from ordinary healthy 
growths of the moss. They were old and in a state of incipient 
decay. I scraped the surface of the leaflets of the moss and 
teased them on a glass slide, so as to remove and spread as 
much as possible for observation the matters adhering to the 
surface. 
General Appearances.—I then found, when the preparation 
was examined with the microscope, numerous olive-brown disc- 
like or ovoid bodies from the 535 to the =, of an inch in 
diameter, which very scon showed a movement of the colour- 
less border by which each was surrounded. The colourless 
border seemed to open out and spread itself in the form of a 
network of threads. 
The Threads.—The gradual separation and spreading of 
these threads is a very curious phenomenon, and certainly 
gives the impression that the threads are pre-formed, closely 
packed together, and that they gradually separate and straighten 
out. Iam not prepared to assert that such is the case, but I 
think it very likely. A fully expanded specimen of fair average 
size 1s represented in Plate 14, figs. 1 and 2. It is represented 
in two consecutive phases of expansion, separated by about five 
minutes, as seen under a high power—No. 10 immersion of 
Hartuack. If one taps the cover-glass the whole branching 
