556 Miscellaneous. 



of others, fighting against ignorance and superstition, may it be 



said — 



" Some cherissaunce it is to gentle mind, 

 When they have chevyced their land from bane, 

 When they are dead, they leave their name behind, 

 And their good deeds do on the Earth remain." 



{Introduction to ' Ella ' : Chatterton.) 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On a new MyxosjiorkUan of the Family Glugei'dae. 

 By Louis Legek. 



The larvte of Simulhim (S. ornatum, Meig.) abound at the com- 

 mencement of spring in our swift-flowiug Ereuch streams, and more 

 particularly in those of the mountainous districts of the south. 

 They are to be found in hundreds, placed side by side and attached 

 by the anal region to stones or blades of grass, more especially in 

 the places where the current is most disturbed. 



It' these clusters of larvae be examined with some little attention, 

 one is struck with the very peculiar appearance presented by certain 

 of them, in which the abdominal region is greatly swollen and of a 

 milky-white colour, which offers a sharp contrast to the dusky green 

 tint of the normal individuals. A careful dissection, performed 

 under a lens, shows that these larvae contain in the body-cavity 

 free parasitic masses each of which forms a kind of sac of an opaque 

 white, with irregular contours. Certain larvse contain but one of 

 these masses, which fills the greater portion of the body-cavity, and 

 thus attains a length of almost half a centimetre ; others exhibit 

 two or three of them — rarely more — which together fill up the 

 vacant spaces of the body-cavity, upon which to some extent they are 

 moulded. Sometimes, in the caseof certain greatly diseased larvae, 

 the parasitic sac, owing to excessive growth, has distended the super- 

 ficial integuments and causes a hernia on the surface of the larval 

 abdomen in the shape of a large and nearly spherical cyst ; but 

 most frequently the parasite in its growth simply compresses the 

 organs of the body-cavity without injuriiig them in any way. Even 

 the muscles are not injured, and the larvas, though severely attacked, 

 still exhibit very active movements. The fat-body alone appears 

 excessively reduced and is often wanting, which leads to the belief 

 that it is above all at its expense that the development of the para- 

 site is effected. As for tlje digestive tract, this appears to be always 

 immune in larvae manifestly attacked by the parasites. On a single 

 occasion I met with a young Myxosporidian still non-sporu.lated 

 and forming a hernia on the external surface of the intestine, which 

 shows that the migration of the vegetative stages from the alimen- 

 tary canal into the coelome takes place at a very early period and 

 rapidly. 



On being examined under the microscope the parasitic masses 

 appear as sacs with a delicate transparent wall, the interior of 



