APPENDIX A. 1 



CHLAMYDOMYXA. 



THIS genus is represented by two species. C. labyrinthuloides was dis- 

 covered by Archer in pools in moorland country in Ireland and 

 described by him in 1875 (1). It has subsequently been investigated 

 by Geddes (2) in material supplied by Archer ; and by Hieronymus (3), 

 who found it in the Biesengebirge and elsewhere in Germany. 0. mon- 

 tana was first described by Lankester (5) and obtained by him in 

 Sphagnum swamps in Switzerland, and has since been investigated by 

 Penard (6). 



Two main phases of the life-history are in many respects well 

 known a free active stage, with pseudopodia more or less extended, and 

 a (much commoner) encysted stage ; and we now have evidence, though 

 it is still incomplete, of stages of multiplication by fission and of spore- 

 formation. 



Chlamydomyxa unites in a remarkable manner the holophytic and 

 holozoic modes of nutrition. The protoplasmic body is crowded with 

 chromatophores, by means of which it is able to increase largely in size in 

 the encysted state ; but it is also able, in its active phase, to engulf and 

 to digest animal and vegetable organisms. 



The body consists of hyaline protoplasm containing nuclei, chromato- 

 phores, and small refracting bodies the "oat-shaped corpuscles" of 

 Lankester. In the encysted condition it may form a globular mass, 

 measuring, when fully grown, 60-90 yu in diameter in C. labyrinthuloides, 

 the cysts of C. montana being a little smaller. 



The nuclei (Fig. 1, a, 6, and d) vary from 1 '5 to 3 /x in diameter. They 

 are generally evenly distributed through the protoplasm, and they increase 

 in number with its growth. In the large cysts of G. labyrinthuloides 

 there may be as many as 32 or more ; in G. montana, according to Penard, 

 100 or more. They contain a nucleolus or group of nucleoli at the 

 centre, and there are indications of a nuclear reticulum at the periphery. 

 Their mode of division is, according to Hieronymus, intermediate between 

 mitosis and amitosis. In life they are usually hidden by the chromato- 

 phores, and thus escaped the notice of the earlier observers. 



The chromatophores are oval bodies varying in size up to 3 /x (G. mon- 

 tana) and 5'5 /x (G. labyrinthuloides, Fig. 1, d). They consist of coloured 



1 By J. J. Lister, M,A., F.K.S., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. 



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