_ 
THE MIcROSCOPE. . 55 
digested food of the termite, the parasite often assumes a helicoidal 
form at its anterior extremity, similar to the form observed by Pro- 
fessor Leidy in Triconympha agilis. Simmons inclines to the belief 
that on one or other, or it may even be on both, of these occasions 
the animalcule is taking in food. In two cases animalcules bearing 
two tubes terminating in asingle cap were observed. Is this a 
phenomenon connected with reproduction, probably by longitudinal 
fission? On one occasion a parasite was seen apparently under- 
going transverse fission. 
Associated with the animalcule is another smaller and rarer 
infusorian. It entirely lacks the mouth-parts to which special atten-_ 
tion has been called, though it also is not identifiable with any of the 
figures in Kent’s “‘ Infusoria.”” Whether or not this form differs specifi- 
cally from the capped animalcule is not determined. Its shape is less 
variable. The cilia at its posterior extremity are slightly longer 
than those distributed over the rest of the body; and though the 
ciliation at the anterior end is directed forwards, it does not assume 
the appearance of the ciliary wreath or collar observable in the 
capped animalcule. 
The habitat of these parasites in the intestinal tract of the 
white ant, is probably restricted to the ileum and the colon, as they 
have not been observed in either the cesophagus, the proventriculus, or 
the chylific ventricle. 
REGENERATION OF Cross-sTRIPED Muscir.*—Leven, after a series 
of interesting experiments, arrives at the following conclusions: At 
first can be seen in some part of the muscle a faint dimming of the 
striee, a slight differentiation of the contractile substance, and a very 
great increase in the number of nuclei; then, suddenly, as the sarco- 
lemma sheath vanishes, an extraordinary proliferation of nuclei, and 
the whole contents of the muscle bundle becomes a mass of muscle 
cells, Besides muscle cells and their protoplasmic coats there are now 
visible the so-called ribbon-shaped plates, which behave just as the 
regenerating muscle bundle behaves, only they have less energy of 
proliferation, and their stages are consequently slower. 
A few steps are still required before the arrival at the fully 
formed new muscle, and these steps are not as yet quite surely deter- 
mined. In about ten days multitudes of muscle cells arranged in rows, 
are found with delicate threads knitting their pointed extremeties, 
these threads being probably direct and indirect derivatives of a mus- 
cle cell, each cell having its own set. The growth of these threads 
* Medical Chronicle, Nov., 1888. 
