158 GILBERT C. BOURNE. 
are several Ciliata which have as many as one hundred nuclei, 
e.g. Holophrya oblonga, Lagynus elongatus, and 
Uroleptus roscovianus.’ I do not include as multinuclear 
those forms in which, as in Trachelocerca phenicopterusor 
Chenia teres, the chromatin is scattered throughout the proto- 
plasm in the form of minute granules. Those Protozoa only may 
be considered multinucleate in which there are several well- 
defined aggregations of chromatin. And even if the Ciliata 
above mentioned may not be considered truly multinucleate, but 
to possess onlya fragmented nucleus, there can be no doubtabout 
some Ameebe, e.g. Ameba quarta and others described by 
Gruber.2. In the last-named the multinuclear state is con- 
stant; as Gruber says, “es sich nicht etwa um vorubergehende 
Entwicklungszustiinde handelt.”” He watched these Amebe 
for a long period, expecting that the large number of nuclei 
would at last find its explanation in reproduction by multiple 
fission, but he was unable to observe any such culmination. 
Dr. Gruber is a great authority, and he, equally with Zeller 
and others, is quite positive that the multinuclear Protozoa 
are truly unicellular. His reasons are, that closely allied 
species are uninuclear, and that the protoplasmic body is con- 
tinuous—contained in the case of Ciliata by a single cuticular 
coat. But even he admits that the only reasonable interpreta- 
tion of the multinuclear condition is that it is a prelude to 
reproduction, that is, to cell division.*? It is, therefore, a con- 
dition intermediate between the unicellular and the multi- 
cellular condition, or, as I should like to call it, a hypopoly- 
cytial condition, and nothing more need be affirmed of it. 
Zeller is quite precise as to his reasons for regarding 
Opalina as unicellular. “ Die kleinsten Thierchen aller be- 
kannten Opalinen, so wie sie von Neuem sich zu entwickeln 
beginnen, besitzen nur einen einfachen Kern und entsprechen 
1 Maupas, “ Etudes des Infusoires ciliés,” ‘Arch, Zool. exper. et gen.’ (2), 
i, 1883. 
2 ¢ Zeit. fiir wiss. Zool.,’ xli, p. 186. 
3 Aug. Gruber, “ Ueber vielkernige Protozoa,” ‘Biol. Centralblatt,’ iv, 
p. 710. 
