SOME OBSERVATIONS ON ACINETARIA. ano 
not blackened by osmic acid, and which were stained by 
safranin, and also, though less brilliantly, by carmine. 
He called these bodies “ Tinctin-kérper,” and noted that 
in some individuals they seem to be altogether absent. 
When present they are usually more or less rounded bodies 
measuring up to ‘006 mm., but occasionally they assume 
“eine wurst-formige unregelmissig langliche Gestalt und 
erreichen dann auch eine viel betractlichere Grosse.” 
At first he was inclined to believe that these bodies were 
equivalent to the micronuclei of the Ciliates, but he concludes 
by stating that the present state of our knowledge “ lisst es 
rathsamer erscheinen sie vor der Hand nur als eigenartige 
Produkte des Stoffwechsels anzusehen.”’ 
Schneider also observed these structures inStylocometes, 
but was inclined to believe that the “ Tinctin-kérper”’ are 
the products of the degeneration of the old macronucleus 
after conjugation. 
This view is also upheld by Biitschli (in 1889) “Ich halte 
diese Ansicht fur recht wahrscheinlich um so mehr, als wir 
ja auch bei den Ciliaten erfuhren, dass die Fragmente des 
Alten Ma. N. haiifig sehr lange erhalten bleiben, und bei 
der Theilung auf die Nachkommen ubergehen kénnen, wie es 
fiir die Tinctinkorper der Dendrocometinen gilt.” 
Sand (1901) in his monograph puts forward the view 
(p. 31) that “lorsqt’un Acinétien suce une proie, le sarcode de 
celle-ci, dés son entrée dans le cytoplasma du Tentaculifére 
s’amasse en sphéres de mémes dimensions que les sphéres de 
tinctine; comme le cytoplasma mort est trés colorable, et que 
du reste, les spheres contiennent, outre le cytoplasma le noyau 
de la proie, elles se colorent fortement par les teintures 
nucléaires.”’ 
Personally I believe that under the name of “ Tinctin- 
kérper” chromatic granules which may originate in one of 
three distinct ways are confused—those derived 
(1) From the ingested nucleus of the prey, 
(2) From the degenerating macronucleus after conjugation, 
(3) Possibly to a very slight extent in some cases from 
