1897J MICEOSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 381 



At this juncture, the metallic grating is brought into 

 use. At the point where the two lines intersect is placed 

 a bit of metal. Then with the grating the distance down 

 to the point occupied by the foreign substance, which is 

 necessarily directly under, the point of intersection is 

 measured, the line being projected parallel with the base 

 line of the fluorometer. 



The Sporular Development of the Amoeba Villosa. 



By J. C. SMITH, 



New Orleans, La. 



[Read before the A. M. Society, 1897.] 



In April, 1897, the writer secured some decayed leaves 

 from a pond in the Audubon park in New Oileans, and 

 on scraping a portion from one of the leaves, placed it 

 under a cover-glass, and then examining it with a j inch 

 objective, the field was seen to be filled with a number 

 of Araceba villosa, Leidy. Some of the specimens were 

 active, some were apparently on the threshold of eucyst- 

 ment, while others had already entered that state. The 

 field, fortunately, was entirely free from other forms of 

 Amoeba as well as of the troublesome Param^ecium. 



For awhile the field was thoroughly examined, and the 

 writer noticing something unusual about the Amoeba, con- 

 centrated his attention on one of the forms th it had be- 

 come quiet, and evidently about to become encysted. This 

 specimen measured 1-125 inch, displayed the posterior wdl 

 covered with the villous processes which are diaunostic of 

 this species. The endoplasm contained an iiii'ierof lin- 

 ear bodies and some food-balls already cli,'i;iu,e.l in color. 

 The contractile vesicle was large and activ •, and instead 

 of the usual nucleus, there were from ten to fifteen nu- 

 clear looking bodies that moved freely in tlie eud()})lasm 

 in unison with a slight contraction and expansion of the 

 body. These nuclear looking bodies were evenly dis- 



