1888.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 171 



sion. There remains to be explored the waters of our extensive coast and 

 the greater part of our vast inland waters. When this has been accomplished 

 as thoroughly as it has been done in Europe, the number of species in the 

 catalogue will be enormously increased. Then, again, there are whole 

 groups which have well nigh escaped observation, for example, the Proteo- 

 mixa of Lankester, a group at the very threshold of organic life, studied by 

 leading biologists of Europe, but almost wholly neglected or overlooked in 

 this country. A few of the species have been rediscovered ; but aside from the 

 additions by Dr. Joseph Leidy scarcely no new data have been added to the 

 recorded knowledge of the branch. Dr. Leidy has given us in Rhizopods 

 of North America (1879) an admirable summary and treatise of the Rhizo- 

 poda, which, with the available manuals and reports, give our students of 

 the Rhizopoda a fair basis for work. In the field of Lifusoria there is equal 

 advantage afforded by the Manual of Kent, the magnificent treatise of Stein, 

 the comprehensive work of Butchli, now issuing, the papers of Enz, Maupus, 

 and others, and the recent summary of American species, both described and 

 identified by Dr. Stokes. So, at last, the books necessary for progress are to 

 be had by our students ; we have the microscopes surpassed by none ; what, 

 then, is lacking? Methods and determination that enter the mind as an in- 

 fluence. Our university biological laboratories do very little in this line, the 

 ordinary schools nothing ; therefore zoological stations, summer biological 

 schools, and scientific societies may justly be called upon to foster this de- 

 partment of research by teaching its methods. 



The discovery and description of species, although necessary and naturally 

 first in order, are not the most important or most fascinating parts of the in- 

 vestigation. The biological history and habits of species, their food and 

 relations to other species, are not less worthy of the student's attention. 

 There are still many unanswered questions as regards their anatomy and 

 physiology. Among these may be mentioned the following : — The nature, 

 behavior and significance of the nucleus, the nei"vous system, the reticulation 

 of the protoplasm, holophytic nutrition, the nature and action of the tri- 

 chocysts, the passage from host to host of parasitic species and their patho- 

 logical influence, the nature and function of the contractile vacuole, the 

 production of shells and cysts, and many more. 



I cannot consent to close without alluding to the excellent work of Ameri- 

 can students of the Protozoa already to our ci'edit. We all know Dr. J. W. 

 Bailey as a pioneer in American Microscopy ; as one who required a high 

 degree of excellence in the microscope and was able to obtain from it its 

 very best performances, and who did much toward fixing a high standard 

 (for our opticians and investigators. He was an industrious student of minute 

 p^pes of life, and the first, I think, to publish original observations on the 

 (^l^^otozoa in this country. His papers relating to these organisms occur in 

 tinu Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, beginning in 1849 and con- 

 few ^^S to 'S55. These consist of species identified, with descriptions of a 

 also ci^ecies of Rhizopoda and Infusoria. In connection with the first list is 

 first in"^ '^y Thomas Cole. Dr. Bailey remarks, ' Mr. Cole is, I think, the 

 Both lifethis country to make a systematic study of the soft skinned Infusoria.' 

 ones. t^ contain the names of species which are among our most interesting 



Undou 

 Prof. H. 'Jtedly the most brilliant discovery thus far stands to the credit of 

 Ap-assiz*"]" Clark. He was a student, and, I think, an assistant of Prof. 

 with the i:jcnce, necessarily, a thorough investigator. Not feeling satisfied 

 hauscr and '^^oi'mance of the objectives made for Prof. Agassiz by Ober- 

 vSpencer and'^^ ^^^^ *■*-* ^^ obtained of that maker, he secured those by C. A. 

 R. B. Tolles. With these he was able to demonstrate structure 



