APPENDIX 277 



The accounts of the behaviour of the organism in the free state differ 

 considerably and are not easy to reconcile. 



In C. labyrinthuloideSj as described by Archer (cp. his figure in the" 

 Q.J.M.S. vol. xv. Plate vi., from which Fig. 3 (2) is taken), the proto- 

 plasmic body was still partially contained in the cyst. Extending 

 through the aperture, it was produced into a dendriform system of 

 branches, diminishing in thickness. From the ends and sides of the 

 branches filiform hyaline pseudopodia of small but uniform thickness 

 reach far out into the water. The chromatophores are not seen in 

 relation with the filaments, but these are plentifully beset with the oat- 

 shaped corpuscles. The latter are drawn out in the direction of the 

 filament, and slowly travel along it in one direction or the other. The 

 filaments are sparingly branched ; whether or not they anastomose, 

 observers are not agreed. They have a "stiff but flexible" (Penard) 

 consistency. Lankester is inclined to regard the filaments as " inert 

 products of the metamorphosis" of the protoplasm, over which a 

 " delicate varnish " of hyaloplasm extends, investing the corpuscles and 

 carrying them along in its flow. Yet the whole system of these 

 remarkable pseudopodia can be rapidly withdrawn into the general mass 

 when the animal is disturbed. Hieronymus describes a peculiar fibrous 

 arrangement of the protoplasm even in the encysted state, which may be 

 in relation with the peculiar characters of the extended filaments (Fig. 1, c. 

 Note the linear arrangement of the oat-shaped corpuscles). 



Contractile vacuoles abound in the extended protoplasmic body. 

 Their period probably varies with its activity. In 0. montana Penard 

 finds it to be very slow. 



In the active condition Chlamydomyxa is able to engulf and digest 

 algae, desmids, Peridinidae, etc., and outlying masses of protoplasm may 

 be seen (Fig. 3 (2)) accumulated about such food-bodies. 



The accounts of the active phase of C. montana agree, on the whole, 

 with Archer's observations of 0. labyrinthuloides, except that in the 

 former species the protoplasm, on emerging, completely quits the old cyst- 

 wall and lies free in the water as a mass of constantly changing shape. 

 It may be more or less spherical or drawn out into a ribbon, attaining a 

 length of 300 /z (Penard). A definite hyaline ectoplasm is also present. 

 (Cp. the figures of this species given by Lankester, Q.J.M.S. 

 vol. xxxix. Plates xiv. and xv.) In it, moreover, the yellow colouring 

 matter of the chromatophores usually predominates over the green. 



According to most observers, the free state of the organism would 

 appear to end, after lasting at least " several hours," by the withdrawal of 

 the extended protoplasm and the re-encystment of the whole animal. 

 Hieronymus differs considerably from other observers in his account of 

 the free state. He has also seen the contents emerge from a cyst of 

 C. labyrinthuloides, assume an irregular amoeboid form, and ingest food 

 " auf thierische Weise " ; but it is remarkable that he has never, during 

 the twelve years over which his observations have extended, seen the long 

 filamentary pseudopodia protruded in the manner which has, in both 

 species, attracted attention. The nearest approach to such filaments 

 which he has seen were those of a small specimen suspended free in the 



