ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 815 



Australian Fresh-water Rhizopoda.* — The following forms are 

 described by Dr. E. v. Lendenfeld as occurring in tbe Botany Swamps ; 

 of tbese the first two are new species: — 



Lieberkuenia australis n. sp. differs from L. paludosa in its more 

 slender sbape. The nucleus is spherical ; pseudopodia straight and 

 unbranched ; shell, truncated cone. 



Echinopyxis australis n. sp. resembles an Arcella with spines 

 round the margin of the cell, which is without the hexagonal reticu- 

 lations. 



Amoeba villosa Wallich is found creeping between the roots of 

 Sphagnum. The nucleus is spherical and very large, and its structure 

 can be well made out by osmic acid and acetic acid preparations. 



Arcella vulgaris Ehr. Lecquerensia spiralis Lecq. Difflugia piri- 

 formis Perty. 



No peculiar form of Rhizopod has been found in the fresh waters 

 of Australia. As the above, except the first two, resemble in every 

 way known species, and it is impossible that they have travelled 

 across the sea, it is probable that they are of great geological age. 

 " The fact that no Ehizopods peculiar to Australia have been found, 

 seems to indicate that no recent spontaneous generation has occurred." 



Amphistegina of Porto Grande. \ — M. de Folin has a note on 

 this Rhizopod which was abundantly dredged by the ' Talisman ' off 

 Porto Grande, St. Vincent. He finds that, on the addition of nitric 

 acid, each specimen may be seen to contain from 10 or 12, to 40 

 or 50, or even 150 diatoms. These organisms enter also into the 

 composition of the tests of Orbiculina, &c. 



Zopf s Monadina.J — Of recent years the researches of Dr. W. 

 Zopf, Cienkowski and others, have contributed greatly to our know- 

 ledge of those primitive Protists, some of which were long since 

 described by Hackel under the title Monera. These interesting 

 organisms have recently formed the subject of an important monograph 

 by Dr. Zopf, in which it is seen that the simplicity of structure with 

 which they were credited by Hackel has, with the aid of a more 

 perfect technique, to a large extent disappeared. 



I. Yampyrella vorax Cienk. In the living amoeboid forms distinct 

 nuclei were demonstrated. The granular protoplasm was seen to be 

 disposed in reticulate strands, conditioned by the presence of nume- 

 rous vacuoles. The meshes are not, however, empty spaces, but are 

 occupied by firm bodies, 1-4 /a in diameter, and resembling starch- 

 grains in their concentric lamination. The results of reactions seem 

 to show that these bodies consist of paramylum. The division of the 

 amceboid organism, to which Zopf gives the new generic title Lep- 

 tophrys, was observed in all its phases. It seemed to be the expres- 

 sion not so much of physiological or morphological necessity, as of a 

 forcible mechanical rupture. In one case the formation of a plasmo- 



* Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, x. (1886) pp. 723-5. 

 t Comptes Rendus, cii. (1886) pp. 1575-6. 



X Zopf, W., ' Zur Morphologie u. Biologie d. niederen Pilzthiere (Monadiuen), 

 zugleich ein Beitrag zur Phytopathologie,' 45 pp. (5 pis.), Leipzig, 1885. 



