320 
Miscellaneous. 
walls dissolve, and their mulberry-like contents float for some time 
in the fluid of the cavity, after which the spermatozoids, hitherto 
united by their heads, separate and become free. 
Oviposition takes place at different periods, according to the 
genera and species, and it is effected through the segmental organs. 
— Comptes llendus, February 24, 1879, p. 393. 
On Gloidium quadrifidum, a new Genus of the Group Protista. 
By M. N. Sobokin. 
This new type of the Protista has been found at Kasan in a fresh¬ 
water aquarium. It consists of a small mass of protoplasm, about 
003 millim. in diameter, of a more or less spherical form, and 
without an enveloping membrane. It exhibits a clear and trans¬ 
parent ectosarc, an endosarc containing reddish and yellowish 
granules of different sizes, and a contractile vesicle occupying a 
variable position, but usually situated in the ectosarc. There is 
generally a lapse of three or four minutes between the first appear¬ 
ance and the disappearance of this vesicle. 
The changes of form of the outline of this creature are slow ; and 
it only emits short processes having a slight tendency to bifurcate. 
A division which occurs in it begins to show itself in the ectosarc ; 
but before it has had time to become well-marked, there appears a 
second constriction, perpendicular to the first, so that the mass soon 
forms four parts, only attached to one another by slender peduncles 
united in the middle, and which finally separate completely. The 
contractile vesicle, which had at first withdrawn to the middle of 
the body, afterwards reappears in each of the four new individuals. 
Under the influence of conditions which are still unknown, this 
Protiston undergoes an encystment. The outer layer of the ecto¬ 
sarc gives origin to a thin but resistant membrane ; then, within 
this first envelope, other similar, more or less distinct layers suc¬ 
cessively make their appearance. Upon one point of the envelope 
of the cytode thus formed there is a funnel-shaped canal, which is 
closed at the outer surface only by the first membrane of the cyst. 
The protoplasm of the Gloidium soon passes into this canal, ruptures 
the membrane which closes it, and passes outside. The organism 
which is thus set free is usually smaller than before the encyst¬ 
ment. Multiplication by division takes place afresh, either imme¬ 
diately or after two or three successive encystments. 
Gloidium is distinguished from the true Amoebae by the absence 
of a nucleus, and from the Monera by the existence of a contractile 
vesicle, and (except the Lepomonera) by its faculty of encystment. 
However, as passages exist between the Amoebae and the Monera, 
the most striking character which distinguishes this new form is 
the quaternary division. In the Vampyrellce, indeed, a similar 
division is observed; but it is effected during the encystment, while 
here it takes place in the free phase .—Morphologisches Jahrbuch, 
vol. iv. 1878, p. 398; Bibl. Univ. March 15, 1879, Arch, des Sci. 
p. 287. 
