616 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.87 



there were such changes in the structure of the protoplasm as to 

 suggest caution in conclusions as to normal structure. 



Fantham, in 1923, published the first of a series of six papers 

 describing new species of opalinids from South Africa, chiefly from 

 Johannesburg, as follows: 1923, Protoopalina transvaalensis, with 

 notes upon P. xenopodos and P. mossambicensis; 1924, Opalina sud- 

 a/ncana; 1927, further notes on P. transvaalensis and 0. sudafricana; 

 1929, P. appendiculata, P. ovalis, and P. caccosterni; 1930, P. odomixa; 

 Fantham and Robertson, 1928, P. meridionalis. Measurements and 

 drawings of all these forms are quoted in the taxonomic portion of 

 the present paper. 



In 1924, Metcalf called attention to the fact that his Opalina 

 japonica had been previously described by Sugiyama and had been 

 given the same name. 



Hegner, in 1924, reported that in Opalina [larvarum (?)] from tad- 

 poles of Rana clamitans and R. catesheiana the nuclei are evenly dis- 

 tributed through the cytoplasm and probably control approximately 

 equal masses of cytoplasm; that size of body and niraiber of nuclei 

 are very closely correlated; that by diminution in size of the older 

 nuclei the ratio between volume of nuclei and volume of cytoplasm 

 is maintained; that division of one nucleus (and only one) occurs 

 when the proportion of cytoplasm becomes too great. 



Cleveland, 1925, reported that oxygenation at 3.5 atmospheres 

 pressure killed Opalina within the host in 18 minutes. 



The same year, Larson, Van Epp, and Brooks reported the length 

 of life of Opalina outside the host in 8 different liquids. 



Horning, 1925, studied Protoopalina and described mitochondria 

 and their different forms in all stages of the life cycle, regarding them 

 as persistent, self-reproducing bodies and not as products of metabo- 

 lism, "though the latter possibility has not been disproved." Syn- 

 thesis of vegetative granules (storage products) may take place at 

 the surface of the mitochondria. 



Gatenby and King, 1925, regard Opalina ranarum as a flagellate, 

 because the cilia "enter right into the substance of the organism and 

 take their origin from the peculiar granules, 'blepharoplasts' [endosarc 

 spherules] which exist in very large numbers" [mistaken observation 



(?)]. 



Wenyon, 1926, in his fine, 2-volume Protozoology, accepts Met- 

 calf's (1923a) classification of the Opalinidae and gives adequate 

 review of recent literature. He figures [original] encysted Opalina 

 ranarum with 1, 4, 6, and 22 nuclei [cf. Konsuloff, 1922, and Metcalf, 

 1909]. 



In 1926, van Orden and Nelson reported as follows: One specimen 

 of adult Rana clamitans was found well infected with Opalina; inocu- 

 lations of R. clamitans with adult Opalina from adult R. pipiens 



