THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



[THIRD SERIES.] 

 No. 108. DECEMBER 1866. 



liV. — On the Structure and Habits 0/ Anthophysa Miilleri, Bori/, 

 one of the Sedentary Monadiform Protozoa. By H. James- 

 Clark, A.B., B.S.* 



During the last five years, and more especially within the 

 latter eighteen months, I have been engaged largely upon an in- 

 vestigation of the relations of the monadiform animalcules to 

 the zoospores of the true Alffa ; and of all the numerous in- 

 stances of the former that I have more or less thoroughly stu- 

 died I have never met with one which could be said to bear but 

 very moderate resemblance to the latter : I refer to the true Al(/ce ; 

 I scarcely need add that I mean by this to except those doubtful 

 forms which seem to be related to Volvox and Gonium, such as 

 Pandorina, Protococcus, Stephanosphcera, Chlamidococcus, &c. 



Those who have become accustomed to these creatures, and 

 have learned to look upon them, through long years of patient 

 study, as old and familiar friends, know well the value of using 

 the best lenses that the opticians of the present day can afford, 

 and never doubt for a moment the utter worthlessness of an 

 opinion which is founded upon a few fitful glances through a 

 so-called ordinary working microscope. There is no other group 

 of animals which so essentially seems to need the prolonged de- 

 votion of a specialist as the Protozoa — and above all, the lower 

 members of that grand division. To write a monograph upon 

 any single one of these flagellate forms may seem like devoting 

 a volume to the structure and phases of a dot in a sunbeam ; but 

 no good microscopist need be told that the optical instruments 

 of the present day are no less efficient than was the scalpel in 

 the hand of Cuvier when he displayed to the world the organi- 

 zation of the larger and more elevated animals which he found 

 on the southern shores of France. 



Moreover it is particularly desirable that elaborate investiga- 

 tions should be made, and unstinted minutise set forth in illus- 

 * From Silliman's .Vmericau Journal for September, 1866. 



Ann. ^' Mag. N. Hist. Ser.3. Fo/.xviii. 30 



