Miscellan eous. 7 1 



I'rionyx, and Chitra. Emyda vittata (Peters) is still found living 

 in Ceylon, Southern and Central India. The new species are Emyda 

 lineata, remarkable for the linear arrangement of its granular orna- 

 ment ; Emyda sivalensis, distinguished by being twice as large as 

 the existing species ; and Emyda palmndica, also founded on frag- 

 ments. Trionyx is represented by three species, of which one is 

 referred to the T. gangeticus of Cuvier, and the other two are un- 

 named. Finally, the Chitra indica (Gray), which ranges from the 

 Ganges to the Malay coast, completes the account of the tortoises 

 from the Siwalik hills. 



ThofChelonia are one of the most neglected groups of extant rep- 

 tiles, and hence any attempt to deal with the fossil forms encounters 

 difficulties in requiring research into the variableness of existing 

 forms, and the grounds for classifications which have been adopted. 

 The opportunity for writing a monograph like that which we notice 

 might perhaps have justified such research; but failing it, we can 

 only express gratification that the materials in the British Museum 

 are made known in this handsome form. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Question of the Existence of Different Plasma-layers in the 

 Soft Body of the Rhizopoda. Ey Dr. A. Gkubek. 



A QUESTION which has been frequently discussed is that as to the 

 presence in the soft body of the Khizopoda of separate plasma- 

 layers, and the consequently more complex structure of those low 

 Protozoa. The decision of this question is of interest because it is 

 among the Pthizopoda that we have probably to seek the starting- 

 point of the higher Protozoa, and because thereby it would be 

 settled whether a unicellular organism may be competent to the 

 performance of the most important physiological functions even if 

 its protoplasm constitutes a perfectly unitaiy mass not separated 

 into different regions, or whether this is not the case. I have here 

 to state definitely that no division of the Rhizopod-body into zones 

 sharply diS'erentiated morphologically and physiologically occurs, 

 and that the interpretations which have been made in this sense are 

 decidedly founded upon illusions. 



I will here mention only two authors who have gone furthest in 

 this direction, and in the first place Maggi, who distinguishes uot 

 only an ecto- and an endoplasm, but also a mesoplasm *, in the last 

 of which are seated the secretory organs of the Rhizopoda, namely the 

 contractile vacuoles, while the ectoplasm has to serve for locomotion 



* " Studi anatomico-fisiolugici intorno alle Amibe, ed in particolare di 

 una innominata," in Atti Soc. Ital, Sci. Nat. vol. xix. fasc. 4. 



