98 Mr. H. J. Carter on Ramullna parasitica. 



(* Annals,' 1857, vol. xix. p. 261). But it can hardly be 

 doubted that the polymorpliic spore does in such instances 

 always come forth in a monociliated condition, while the mere 

 retraction of the cilium is of common occurrence.) (4) After 

 the retraction of the cilium the now ?mciliated bodies tlow 

 together in the Mycetozoa, and thus becoming massed pro- 

 duce the '' Plasmodium." This again has not been witnessed 

 in the freshwater llhizopoda, unless the groups of Actinoplirys 

 and the conjugations of Z>/j^w/7^*a, in which I have found as 

 many as live individuals together (' Annals,' 1872, vol. ix. 

 p. 421), be taken as instances of it. What the object of this 

 "flowing together" may be generally has not been disco- 

 vered ; but in the Mycetozoa it leads to the evolution of the 

 particular form which the species finally assumes and the 

 development of the spores or reproductive bodies. (5) Tlie 

 activity of the Rhizopod ceases after it has attained its adult 

 form and the reproductive bodies have been developed, when, 

 as in the Mycetozoa, the body becomes effete and the repro- 

 ductive bodies become free. The latter then germinate and 

 the life-history of the freshwater naked and testaceous llhi- 

 zopoda is also thus completed. 



Of course it is comparatively easy to witness the germina- 

 tion of the spores of the Mycetozoa, because the species con- 

 taining them are so large as to be ca])able of being handled, 

 while the spores are so abundant in them that when torn to 

 pieces they produce a dust (as before stated) which soils the 

 lingers like soot, hence the name ^thalium. On the other 

 hand, the freshwater lihizopoda ai*e microsco|)ic objects which 

 can only be satisfactorily seen under a high power and only 

 occasionally with reproductive bodies or spores in them ; 

 hence, again, it is only when they are testaceous, e. g. Eugly- 

 pha (which has an unmistakable form of test), that the young 

 or small ones can be recognized ; and this has been done by 

 myself in one or more instances where the same vessel has 

 contained a number of the adult forms more or less charged 

 with the reproductive bodies (' Annals,' 1856, vol. xviii. 

 p. 230, pi. V. tigs. 26-31 &c.). 



Turning now to the Foraminifera, we find: — (1) That the 

 spore or reproductive body appears to consist in like manner 

 of a " round ball '■' composed of granuliferous plasma pre- 

 senting in the aggregates dark colour, held together by the 

 natural coherency of the mass rather than by any specialized 

 membrane. Max Schultze found such in the chambers of 

 " living ■" Rotalise in great abundance and of vai-ious sizes, less 

 than the diameter of the siphon (? stolon) which connects the 

 chambers, say about 1 -3000th of an inch, as seen in the soft 



