1881.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



18Y 



the hour prevented following the ob- 

 servation further. 



Case 2. — A group of conjugated 

 Actinophryes was noted, in which 

 three lobes with rays proceeding 

 from three centres indicated the union 

 of three animalcules of considerably 

 different size (Fig. 37). Later in the 

 evening another slowly approached 

 and was gradually united to them. 

 Half an hour later a fifth approached, 

 and after a time became connected 

 with the mass by two rather large 

 pseudopodia or filaments, and the 

 process seemed to be arrested there 

 (Fig. 38). Next morning the conju- 

 gation had gone no further with the 

 new comer, but fission had begun in 

 the original mass, as shown in Fig. 39. 

 At noon another large specimen had 

 approached the group, and by even- 

 ing it had united with the portion 

 marked a, Fig. 40, whilst the union be- 

 tween the subdivisions a and b was 

 then by two filaments, each group be- 

 ing pretty well consolidated, though 

 showing its lobes and rays center- 

 ing in them. In the evening of the 

 second day the whole had become 

 more closely connected, as shown in 



Fig. 41. Next morning (third day) 

 one of the group was stretching away 

 from the rest, and continued the fis- 

 sion until it was only connected by a 

 long neck, as shown in Fig. 42. The 

 rays of the lobes seemed to be more 

 vigorous than ever, reaching away 

 four or five times the length of the 

 diameter of the several lobes. The 

 whole group had become opaline in 

 color, the masses appearing to be di- 

 vided into cells larger than before, 

 with small, highly-refractive, colored 

 bodies in these, moving with a 

 swarming motion resembling the 

 Brownian movement. 



The fission of the one lobe from 

 the mass went slowly on to comple- 

 tion, but hardly was the connection 

 between them broken, when both 

 parts collapsed and fell to sudden' 

 ruin. The rays of the larger mass 

 fell together into brushes at the two 

 sides, and those of the smaller did 

 the same, these breaking up in gran- 

 ules and dissolving like solid matter, 

 and not being retracted or running 

 into the principal masses (Fig. 43, 

 a, ^). The contents of the masses 

 floated away in irregular small por- 









Fig. 43. 



tions of protoplasmic substance, each 

 containing two or three of the minute 

 opaque granules above mentioned. 

 These passed out of the field whilst I 

 was watching the final stages of the 

 decay of the principal masses which 

 soon showed nothing but a small 

 patch of amorphous granular debris. 

 Moving the slide so as to follow 

 the direction which the smaller bod- 

 ies had taken, I soon came upon 

 what seemed to be these, having the 

 same general appearance as to size 



Fig. 44. Fig. 45. 



and color, and containing the small 

 colored granules. As I had not been 

 able to follow them continuously, 

 for the reasons above stated, there is, 

 of course, a possibility of mistake in 

 recognizing them again. But I had 

 had the slide under examination for 

 several days, and, with the familiarity 

 with its contents thus attained, felt 

 no doubt myself as to the identity of 

 the bodies. Some of these were nearly 

 spherical, some pyriform ; all seemed 

 unicellular. After about half an hour, 



