Infusoria of the Island of Bombay. 257 



pears to me to be that abnormal form oi Eudorina elegans 

 where several of the cells here and there take on the spcrma- 

 toid development Avhilc the rest become abortive. In th(; 

 normal form of Eudorina it is only the four anterior cells 

 which are developed into spermatozoids, while the rest remain 

 all female cells (see Annals, I. c). Besides, Perty's descrip- 

 tion of the cells generally and individually which form the 

 groups, his figures, too, of their subdivisions, and, lastly, his 

 placing this form in his family '' Volvocina " lead me to the 

 above inference. The gelatinous envelope of Hyuapliia is 

 common to many cells of this kind under similar conditions, 

 but persistent in none. 



As regards the Volvoces, Volvox aureus (fig. 2, tab. 4, Ear. 

 Infus.) appears to me to be V. globator after impregnation of 

 the spore-cells, or with parasites in the spore-cells causing the 

 chlorophyll to become yellowish. Fig. 11, tab. 3, Uroglena 

 volvox, represents the small or spermatic cell, which, having 

 passed into spermatozoa, has become liberated from the parent, 

 but still swims about entire in an abortive form or monstro- 

 sity. Fig. 8, tab. 3, Sj^hcerosira volvox, is the male cell of V. 

 globator (which is dioecious), with most of the spores passing 

 into spermatozoa. Fig. 7, tab. 3, viz. Syncrypta volvox, ap- 

 pears to me to be spermatic cells of Volvox in different degrees 

 of division, in the 4, 16, and 64 divisions ; but of this I am 

 not quite certain. Fig. 9, tab. 3, Synura uvella, appears to be 

 another form of the divided spermatic cell of V. globator, in 

 which the spermatozoa are fully formed and have more or less 

 left the cell, to which their tails still adhere. 



Such is the result of my study of Eudorina and the two 

 Volvoces at different times, in water taken from pools which 

 swarmed respectively with these three Infusoria, both in their 

 normal and abnormal forms, the latter representing normal 

 forms in stages of development which, having from some 

 cause or other failed of their object, have assumed abortive or 

 abnormal dimensions, since, as before stated, if the male and 

 female elements of generation do not come together f[uickly in 

 their plastic state, they are soon surrounded by a layer of cel- 

 lulose, which, although it does not lead immediately to their 

 death, prevents them in most instances from fulfilling their 

 pui-pose; and thus living on for a certain time, they grow into 

 monstrosities, which nevertheless after this manner represent 

 so many phases of the species to which they belong ; while the 

 tnie ty})e of the latter can only be established by the presence 

 in it, monoeciously or dioeciously, of the elements of generation. 



The general cell in Eudorina elegans (Ann. /.c.) is ellij)tical, 

 almost the same as that represented by the sporozoid which I 



