392 Miscellaneous. 
towards the dorsal surface. Contrary to the generally received 
opinion, according to which the Cryptomonades only absorb liquid 
food, there are frequently in their digestive tube small creatures 
upon which they feed. 
The contractile vesicle communicates with the exterior by a pore 
opening into the interior of the canal projecting from the bottom of 
the digestive vestibule; it has distinct, vacuolar proper walls, like 
those of the stomach ; from its lower part there issues a transparent 
canal which soon loses itself. 
The nucleus, the substance of which possesses a regularly and 
finely vacuolar structure, like that of the integuments, usually pos- 
sesses a certain number of nucleoli, around each of which the sur- 
rounding substance seems to be massed; these vesicular corpuscles 
divide transversely, pretty actively, and frequently we see some of 
them surrounded by a zone of clear protoplasm, projecting at the 
surface of the nucleus, and finally detaching themselves completely 
and falling into a special cavity ; these are germs, a part of the 
development of which takes place in this cavity. It consists of a 
tube commencing at the bottom of the vestibular duct, soon dilating 
into anincubatory chamber, and terminating at the nucleus. 
Above the stomach, in front and to the right of the nucleus, 
there is a large mass of protoplasm with a finely vacuolar structure 
and remarkably distinct, within which are distributed a certain 
number of corpuscles resembling nucleoli, and from which starts a 
tube which terminates at the vestibular duct. It is an excretory 
organ or a male apparatus; and the latter hypothesis is rendered 
probable by the fact that in these creatures there occurs a sort of 
copulation, in which they adhere together, two by two, and mouth 
to mouth, and in this way wander about freely. 
In order to investigate the oculiform point of the Flagellata I 
selected an organism in which this organ is usually well developed, 
namely Phacus plewronectes, Dujard. Starting from the observation 
that in individuals brought up in a certain obscurity the oculiform 
point was but little developed, I assumed @ prior: that an intense 
light would, on the contrary, be favourable to its development, and 
I made these creatures live in a strong light. The result of this 
arrangement was that I obtained individuals with the oculiform point 
large, brilliant, and very red. This organ is formed by a collection 
of red granules, irregularly pyriform in shape, and with the enlarged 
extremity turned always in the same direction ; the pigment which 
colours them is diffused only over their surface, while their internal 
substance is hyaline. All these granules are arranged side by side 
upon a curved plane; in the concavity thus formed there is lodged 
a transparent, refringent, lenticular corpuscle. Judging from this 
structure it seems to me that the visual functions of the oculiform 
point can no longer be doubted*.—Comptes Rendus, Oct. 17, 1881, 
p- 602. 
* As Cryptomonas ovata is only about*04 millim. in length, it is a pity that 
M. Kunstler has not informed us with what sort of microscope and under 
what power he was enabled to arrive at such extraordinary results. 
