Miscellaneous. 317 



moments I noticed that it looked as if it were trying to swallow the 

 smaller Amoeha in the same manner that it does its ordinary prej\ 

 As I had watched many Amoshce, and had never seen anything like 

 this, and as I knew that they did not prey on each other, and the 

 question of their conjugation was a very doubtful one, I dismissed 

 the idea of the larger absorbing the smaller, and concluded it was 

 merely the fact that they were in too tight a place to allow of their 

 passing each other which gave them this appearance. I watched 

 them constantly for about half an hour, in the course of which time 

 I became convinced that something unusual was going on. 



The larger Amoeba had entirely surrounded the smaller one, 

 which, however, did not seem to lose its vitality. Pirst it seemed 

 to be under the endosarc of the larger, and then above it. Some- 

 times it would project a pseudopod out from beyond the ectosarc of 

 the larger animal. All the time it was distinctly visible in its own 

 individuality, if one may so call it, and did not at all seem to be 

 trying to escape. I called Mr. Holman's attention to the singularity- 

 of their behaviour, and expressed my belief that it was a case of 

 either cannibalism or conjugation. He expressed his disbelief in 

 either of these cases, and observing that the water in the slide was 

 evaporating, we allowed a little to creep in under the closed edge of 

 the cover-glass. This seemed to relieve the large Amoeba from the 

 constrained position and flat contour which it had assumed, and it 

 immediately began to put out pseudopods and move away ; and 

 the smaller one moved off with it, evidently engulfed in the 

 larger one, and quiescent in that position. 



The small Amoeba occupied a position in the upper part of the 

 larger one. As this last moved on it seemed to push the small one 

 in an opposite direction from that which its granules were taking 

 till it reached about the centre of its body. Then it commenced an 

 evident effort to expel the smaller one. It reached out its pseudo- 

 pods in every direction, gradually expelling the smaller one, until it 

 was completely discharged. The smaller one by this time assumed 

 an almost spherical shape. 



At last the large Amoeba ceased moving, and began to expel 

 refuse matter, as is common with them. It had anchored itself 

 near some other refuse matter, probably vegetable, and reaUy 

 looked as if it was using it as a sort of grapple for tlie purpose of 

 ridding itself of the rejected smaller Amoeba. It was successful, 

 for in a few moments it moved away to the upper part of the field, 

 leaving the round ball, looking in every respect like an encysted 

 Amoeba, near the little grouj) of refuse. It went on in the field, and 

 we followed it for some time, when it became quiet, and we went 

 back to the encysted one. I watched it to see what would happen 

 next, for it seemed as if there must be some strange sequel to our 

 remarkable observation ; and the watching was not in vain. The 

 fiat disk began by a sort of contractile movement to throw out 

 particles or granules, as if it were laying eggs. I can think of no 

 other expression, although the particles, while approximate in size, 

 had no regularity of shape. This continued till the Amoeba again 

 assumed its clear and transparent appearance, and at last, seeming 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol. xx. 22 



