98 QUARTERLY CHRONICLE OF MICROSCOl'ICAL SCIENCE. 



Bathyhius, but Haeckel's. Professor Huxley suj^orested the 

 association of the coccoliths and coccospheres Avith the albu- 

 minoid slime which he clearly demonstrated to exist in spe- 

 cimens of Atlantic ooze, and which gives to that ooze a pecu- 

 liar glairy character. Professor Haeckel removed the 

 coccoliths from association with this albuminous material, 

 showing that they were either formed in a. Radiolarian fre- 

 quenting the surface, or were independent surface-organisms 

 taken in as food wear the surf acehy \.\\?ii Radiolarian. There re- 

 mained, then, the albuminous ooze-cement, which Professor 

 Haeckel still considered as a definite organism, and of which 

 he gave some drawings in the form of networks derived from 

 the study of Atlantic ooze preserved in alcohol. No one would 

 certainly bemore willing to admit than both Professor Huxley 

 and Professor Haeckel, that Bathyhius now became a very sug- 

 gestive subject for investigation, but could not be admitted as a 

 satisfactorily established independent organism. The deep- 

 sea explorations of the Lightning and Porcupine brought 

 no news of Bathyhius. To establish its claim, what was ob- 

 viously necessary was the observation of it in fresh ooze, 

 in the living state. Professor Wyville Thomson, in his 'Depths 

 of the Sea,' is exceedingly cautious in dealing with ^a^7^y5/M5. 

 He gives a graphic account of the presence of this slimy 

 matter, and he also says it ttiayhe seen in movement, but not 

 that he has himself seen it. He also speaks of " the viscid 

 streams" of Bathyhius, but has not stated that he has himself 

 witnessed the phenomenon of ' streaming' in the albuminous 

 slime in question. Finally, he states that he is by no means 

 satisfied that Bathyhius is the permanent form of any distinct 

 living being. Different samples differ in appearance and 

 consistence, and Professor Thomson thinks it not impossible 

 that a great deal of ' bathyhius' is a formless condition, con- 

 nected either with the growth and multiplication or with the 

 decay of many different things. From the Challenger we 

 hear that one of the naturalists has paid great attention 

 to the ooze, with the object of ' making out' Bathyhius. 

 He finds that the Globigerina mud is full of the pseudo- 

 podia of that Foraminifer, worked up more or less into 

 a general slime. When alcohol is added to this the pseu- 

 dopodial matter is precipitated, and this is the precipi- 

 tate figured by Haeckel as Bathyhius. If large living spe- 

 cimens of the Foraminifera are separated by the sieve from the 

 mud, and then placed in alcohol, a similar precipitate is ob- 

 tained. So far, the prospect is not very hopeful for the 

 ultimate success of Bathyhius. But it would be a mistake 

 to give uj) the hypothesis as yet. Professor Edouard van 



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