76 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FlSfl AND FISHERIES. 



KNDOPI.ASM. 



Mueli more coarsely and more or less yejlowish j^ranular, containing 

 numerous nuclei, fat- globules, and sometimes one or more vacuoles; 

 also pigment. 



Nudei. — First observed by Prof. Biitsclili' in MyxUJium UeherlculinU, 

 where tlieir nuclear nature was sliDwn both by their structure and by 

 their affinity for carmine; always very numerous, the smallest occur- 

 ring only in the youngest forms, strewn irregularly through the endo- 

 plasm. As in a number of species the nuclei have been observed to 

 originate by division, there is every reason to suppose that such origin 

 obtains throughout the subclass^, and that the myxosi)oridium nuclei 

 are to be referred back to the nuclei of the sporoplasm. 



" Granules'''' and ^^ globules. ^^ — Many of the structures loosely termed 

 " granules" and "globules" by the older autliors are really nuclei, and 

 this sliould be borne in mind in reading their descriptions, which have 

 sometimes been reproduced without change (see also pp. 209, 220). 



According to Biitschli (see page 285), these bodies are of a fatty 

 nature, as shown by their complete solubility in alcohol. According 

 to several other authors, the hajmatoidin crystals are found within 

 globules w hose fatty nature was presumed from the same reaction. 

 Th«^lohan, however (see below), while admitting the solvent action 

 of alcohol upon certain chromatophorous globules observed by him 

 in Cldoromyxuni Icydigi i and in Myxidiiim licherkUhnii, denies their fatty 

 nature, as osmic acid is without action upon them. 



Fa f-(f lobules. — Feebly glittering; size variable; always present except 

 in very young individuals ; especially frequent in Myxidium lieberJcUhnu. 



Vacuoles. — Sometimes one or more; number, position, and presence 

 inconstant; api^arently always nonpulsating. 



Figment. — Although it has heretofore seemed probable^ that all i)ig- 

 ment occurring in the Myxosporidia was of extraneous origin, it would 

 appear now, from Tlu'lohan's recent observations, as though perhaps 

 the presence of proper pigment must be admitted. This observer says :^ 



In many myxosporidia which live in the free state in the natural cavities one 

 finds the endoplasm riddled with stron^^ly colored fflobules whose tint varies from 

 golden yellow to brown. Very numerous in Myxid'utm, they give to the internal 

 face of the pike's bladder a characteristic yellow tint; they also exist in Chloro- 

 myxiim Icyd'Kjii (Mingaz.). As those elements do not resist tlie action of alcohol or 

 that of the essential oils, one finds no trace of them in sections; they are not fatty, 

 as osmic acid is without action upon them. 



Ghloromyxum fluviatile also contains similar structures. 



1 Ztschr. f. wias. Zool., 1881, xxxv, pp. 632-633; Bronu's Thier-Reich, 1882, i, pp. 

 594-595. Biitschli (1882) was the first to suggest the generality in the Myxosporidia 

 of the multinucleate condition. Lankester (see p. 73. foot note 1) took the same view. 



2 This is also Tht^lohan's opinion (Bull. Soc. philomat. Paris, 1892, iv, p. 169). 



3 As Biitschli remarked in 1881 (Ztschr. f. wiss. Zool., xxxv, pp. 642, 649). Cf. also 

 Pigment in index. 



