the Distinctive Characters in Amoeba. 113 



at once, and distinctly, that in speaking of the most important 

 and previously undescribed characters of A. villosa, I specially 

 allude — (1) To the presence of a villous organ, and the varied 

 phases it assumes as occasion may require. (2) The invariable 

 situation of this organ with reference to the rest of the body, so 

 as to indicate a definite posterior and anterior portion. (3) The 

 well-marked prehensile office of the villi. (4) The extrusion of 

 effete matter through an aperture* in the midst of the villous 

 region. (5) The occasional extrusion of vacuolar vesicles by a 

 similar aperture. (6) The occasional circulatory movement f of 

 the nucleus and contractile vesicle along with the rest of the 

 endogenous as well as exogenous contents of the body. (7) The 

 circumstances under which one or both of the above organs re- 

 main, as it were, fixed in the vicinity of the villous region. 

 (8) The discharge, externally, of the contents of the contractile 

 vesicle through an aperture within the same region. (9) The 

 occasional extrusion of perfectly formed minute individuals, 

 also through an aperture in the villous region. (10) The 

 projection of pseudopodia from every portion of the surface ex- 

 cept the villous region. (11) The movements always in a direc- 

 tion opposite to the situation of the villous region. (12, and 

 last) The possibility of completely detaching the membranous- 

 walled nucleus from the parent mass by pressure, without lacera- 

 tion or destruction of its wall. 



I confidently affirm that none of these characters had been 

 described in any published work whatever, prior to my descrip- 

 tion of them in the ' Annals ' for April, May, and June last. 



As regards the first proposition, I may be permitted to ob- 

 serve that, in 1856, I detected an Amoeba in Lower Bengal, 

 which I am now satisfied was identical with A. villosa or a va- 

 riety of it. This was figured in the first part of my work on 

 the ' North-Atlantic Sea-Bed,' and referred to cursorily in the 

 'Annals' for April last (p. 290). But, putting this fact out of 



* MM. Claparede and Lachmann have stated their belief in the possible 

 existence of an oral aperture in Amoeba, and its actual existence in Podo- 

 stoma. But they Lave not noticed, as far as I am aware, the occurrence of 

 anything like an excretory orifice always showing itself at one determinate 

 portion of the body. 



t In one sense, this character may not be regarded as new, since the 

 permanent relation of the nucleus and contractile vesicle to the rest of the 

 body, whilst moving, has been clearly pointed out in some varieties of 

 Amoeba by those excellent observers, MM. Claparede and Lachmann. But 

 they appear not to have associated this character with any distinct and 

 permanent differentiation of a determinate portion of the body. What I 

 desire to indicate is the twofold charactei- — these organs at one time remain- 

 ing fixed near the villous region, at another not holding any definite rela- 

 tive position either to any particular portion of the body or to each other. 



Ann. (Sr Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol, xii. 8 



