238 C. CLIFFORD DOBELL. 
I must here say a few words about some of the descriptions 
which have previously been given of this animal. 
Stein (46) described it as having six flagella and a spherical 
“kernahnliches Korperchen” at the anterior end. He also 
described a terminal mouth and a contractile vacuole, and 
figured forms “mit zwei seitlchen Reihen undulerender 
Fortsaitze am Vorderleibe.” The axostyles are recognisable 
in some of his figures. 
Saville Kent (26) says there is a “spherical, subcentral 
endoplast,” and the body is “frequently with one or two 
longitudinal dorsal sulci”? (? the axostyles). A contractile 
vacuole is said to be present, and is figured at the anterior 
end. Seligo (44) also found a bladder-hke nucleus with a 
nucleolus lying near the middle of the body. 
Apparently the axostyles were first recognised by Grassi 
(23), for he describes the organism as possessing a “ scheletro 
interno (fatto da uno o due pezzi?)” The axostyles were 
indicated by Klebs also (27), when he described the body as 
being furnished ‘mit zwei schraubig verlaufenden seichten 
Langsfurchen, von denen je ein Rand stirker als Langskante 
vorspringt.” No contractile vacuole was observed by him, 
and the nucleus was stated to be anteriorly situate. 
The most accurate account yet given is that of Signa. Hoa 
(18). She describes the anterior flagella as arising, three on 
either side, from a pair of “ blepharoplasts,” and interprets 
the main lateral lobes of the nucleus as “ karyosomes.” And 
she also saw a figured two longitudinal lines (the axostyles) 
running down the body. Her account is evidently based on 
careful observations. 
The body so often described in the middle of the animal 
as the nucleus was probably a food mass. Such masses are 
often present, though how they get there I do not know, as 
there is no mouth. During degeneration, large vacuoles 
usually appear in the protoplasm, a large one often making 
its appearance immediately behind the nucleus. It is these 
vacuoles—which are not normally present—which have pro- 
bably been taken for contractile vesicles. ‘he frequently 
