Miscellaneous. 109 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
A Multicellular Infusorian-like Animal. 
By Prof. Jonannus Frenzer, of Cordova (Argentine Republic). 
After sending to the press a preliminary report upon my investi- 
gations into the microscopic fauna of this locality I discovered, on 
making a fresh examination of asmall salt-water aquarium, a really 
remarkable microscopic creature, exhibiting indeed many relations 
to the Ciliata, but sharply separated from that group on the one 
hand by its multicellular character, and on the other by its well- 
differentiated alimentary cavity, without, however, being directly 
referable to the Coelenterata, owing to the fact that only a single 
layer of cells is present. 
For the investigation of the salt-pit fauna of this region I had pro- 
cured a few litres of a solution containing about two per cent. of salts, 
‘ obtained from a salt-pit in the south of the province of Cordova. It 
was some time before a few Flagellata &c. were developed among 
decaying matter, and these presented so few noteworthy characters 
that I abandoned my researches. On casually resuming my studies 
I found a number of little creatures, of which I would here give a 
brief description; the animals were met with at the bottom as well 
as upon the glass sides of the vessel, but not free-swimming. 
The external form is that of a tube, somewhat pointed in front 
and behind, and slightly flattened dorso-ventrally, so that it may be 
termed bilateral. ‘The ventral surface is flat, the dorsal, on the other 
hand, tolerably evenly arched, so that the transverse section is 
approximately semicircular. 
The ventral surface is clothed with delicate cilia, by means of 
which the animal moves actively along, twisting about at the same 
time like a snake or worm. The dorsal and lateral regions, on the 
contrary, are not ciliated, but bear a sparser covering of short sete. 
In front, nearer the ventral surface, we find an oral opening ; poste- 
riorly, exactly terminal in position, an anal aperture of smaller size. 
At the former opening longer and stouter cirri are placed, by the 
active movement of which particles of food are whirled into the 
mouth. 
A well-developed cuticle or similar firm dermal layer is wanting ; 
nevertheless, as in the Ciliata, the membrane of the cells, or limiting 
layer, is more strongly developed on the outer side, almost possessing 
a double contour, though it is always very delicate. 
The wall of this tube-shaped organism is furnished by a single 
layer of tolerably large, almost cuboid cells, all of nearly equal size, 
leaving a cylindrical lumen, which is closely packed with foreign 
bodies, such as particles of sand, bacilli, diatoms, vegetable matter, 
&e. This is the intestinal cavity, which commences in front at the 
mouth and terminates posteriorly at the anus. 
The cells are all more or less similar in structure, the difference 
consisting, as already stated, in the fact that those of the ventral 
side are ciliated on their free surfaces. In all cells the surface 
which is turned towards the lumen of the intestine is also delicately 
