CHLAMYDOMYXA LABYRINTHULOIDES. 113 
tions, and with a tortuous “labyrinth ” of filaments, as it is 
and well laden with spindles, as it appears, after all merely, 
represents what could be seen in a single focal plane, whilst, 
perhaps, ramifications sufficient to make up several such 
complex “trees”? occur in different planes between the slide 
and the covering-glass, and which can be made out by focus- 
sing up and down, all appertaining to the single main trunk 
and derived in a brief period from the great common central 
head-quarters ; nay, sometimes a secondary colony may be 
carried outwards and left apart at some remote point of the 
field, this latter now itself giving off minor branches and 
filaments back towards the metropolis. (See the more distant 
portion of Pl. VI.) 
We have seen that these little bodies are of a homogeneous 
consistence, of a highly plastic nature, and of a bluish hue; 
they further appear to have no wall or envelope, that can be 
detected ; they do not mutually coalesce, and, however inti- 
mately they may be temporarily applied, a close examination 
will show their individual contours. I have not been able 
to see any subdivision of them. ‘Their motion is a gliding 
one, and, as has been seen, it is alway very gradual and easy, 
though sometimes slower, sometimes quicker, without any 
apparent rule or reason. Just as little rule or reason is 
evident in the course taken by the individuals, now of one 
and the same file—one may go the “‘ main road,” the other 
following it may take a “ byway.”’ Some reason, so far as it 
goes, appears why some should travel up the filaments and 
others remain behind in the general mass, in that it is seem- 
ingly just those which are most external, therefore nearest 
the place of origin, that is the base, of the filaments, which 
betake themselves thereon for the journey. 
But if the variable rate and direction of the movement of 
these bodies be inexplicable, even still more enigmatical 
appears the cause, or the modus operandi, of the motion 
itself. One might suppose, indeed, that, once upon the fila- 
ment, its elongation would cause the separation of the bodies 
and give rise merely to a seeming progression one from 
another. But we have seen their motion is a real one, and, 
in fact, automatic. ‘They “spontaneously ” leave the general 
mass, and, ascending the filament, commence their onward 
progress, and the latter, when once projected, seems to be 
even somewhat rigid, and incapable of imparting to them any 
impetus. ‘The cause of the motion would seem, therefore, to 
reside in the spindles themselves: they are very plastic—they 
must seemingly be very contractile. But as they gently and 
smoothly glide onwards, as if without effort, and free from 
