30 
Notes on some Microscopic Organisms. 
was of course unprepared to assign them to a position in the chain 
of life without further study. To decide this question if possible, 
and ascertain the origin of these wandering masses of protoplasm, 
I watched them at intervals for the better part of two days, and I 
saw the following changes take place. From an almost hyaline 
condition the Amoeba became gradually more and more granular, 
the granules increasing in dimensions until the individuals appeared 
to be packed almost full of dense oil- globules. Then they came to 
a rest, or at least their hitherto lively movements were arrested, 
and presently near one end appeared evolved, so to speak, from the 
mass cilia, one after the other, until a crown of them was seen 
surrounding what was plainly now a defined locality. At the same 
time a change was going on all over the Amoeba, by reason of 
which at last from this simple mass of albuminoid material a true 
ciliated animalcule, belonging, I believe, to either the genus 
Kolpoda or Paramecium, which resemble each other very much, 
was evolved. 
The question at once, then, presents itself, Is not the amoeba, 
in this case, the young motile condition of the ciliated animalcule ? 
Such is my opinion. But we will require many more observa- 
tions to decide whether, as I am of opinion is the case, they all 
pass through this condition, and also, at the same time, to throw 
more light upon a field in which I have spent much time in 
observation, namely, the origin of these simple organisms like the 
Amoebae. At some future time I may take the opportunity of 
detailing what I have seen in this direction. — Bead before the 
Lyceum of Natural History, New York. 
