ZOOLOGY. 



CLASS III. GREGARINIDA (Gregarines). 



General Characters of Gregarinida. The largest and 

 best known species of this group is an inmate of the 

 intestinal canal of the European lobster, and was named 

 by E. Van Beneden Gregarina gigantea (Fig. 18). It 

 is worm-like, remarkably slender, and is sixteen mil. 



Fig. IS. Gregarina giganUa. L, two individuals of natural size. K, the same 

 much enlarged; n, nucleus. A, the same encysted. B, subdivision of the cyst. (7, divi- 

 sion of the contents of cyst into email spheres, observed in another species. JV, the 

 cphcrcs enlarged. M. cyst filled with j> f emlor.Hvicelhr, 0. After Lieberkuhn. DF, 

 moncr-likc young of G. gigantea. G, //, pseadofilaria stage. 7, J, early nucleated 

 forms of Gregarina gigantea. After Van Beneden. 



limetres (over half an inch) in length, being the largest 

 one-celled animal known. In this organism an external, 

 structureless, perfectly transparent membrane with a double 

 contour can be distinguished. It represents the cell-wall 

 of the cells in the higher animals. Beneath this outer wall 

 is a continuous layer of contractile substance, forming a 

 true system of muscular fibrillae comparable to that of the 

 Infusoria. The body-cavity of the Gregarina contains a 



