ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 767 



numerous granules of zooamylura, which has quite the same properties as 

 that of Gregarines. For four days the separated individuals have no 

 mouth ; they then undergo a second shedding of all their apjicndagcs, after 

 which the mouth appears, normally constituted ; at the same time the new 

 nuclear body elongates and divides into two. Nourishment and growth are 

 succeeded on the next day by a second division of the nuclei. The 

 Onychodromi continue to eat greedily, and thirty-four to thirty-six hours 

 after the reconstitution of their mouth they begin to divide, and for a third 

 time to shed their appendages ; the j)rimitive nuclear bodies are completely 

 absorbed. 



In Leucophrys patula conjugation is effected by small moiithless indi- 

 viduals, such individuals having first divided fissiparously three, four, or 

 five times according to their size. In several cases the author has observed 

 the exchange of the male pronucleus and its fusion with the female. The 

 representatives of this species begin to eat almost directly after separation ; 

 the 2)rimitive nucleus is comjiletely absorbed. 



As a matter of fact, M. Maupas has directly observed the exchange and 

 fusion of the two pronuclei in six species — Paramsecmm caudatum, P. aurelia, 

 Stylonichia pustulata, Onycliodromus grandis, Spirostomum teres, and Leuco- 

 phrys patula ; the exchange, but not the fusion, has been seen in Euplotes 

 patella and Colpidium colpoda ; so that the exchange and fusion of the 

 Ijronucleus may be looked upon as being the essential act in the conjugation 

 of the Ciliata. 



New Fresh-water Infusoria.* — Mr. W. M. Maskell communicates the 

 results of an inquiry made by himself and four coadjutors into the fresh- 

 water Infusoria of the Wellington district. The catalogue includes among 

 many others the following species, of which diagnoses are given : — Cerco- 

 monas grandis n. sp. (very large size), Mhipidodendron liuxleyi Kent (as at 

 Dartmoor in association with Spongomonas sacctilus), Traclielomonas crenu- 

 latocollis n. sp. (fluted tubular neck, rough lorica, absence of caudal spines), 

 Prorodon sulcatus n. sp. (longitudinal furrows, narrow pharynx, incon- 

 spicuous rods), Tillina enormis n. sp. (long oral cilia, no vibratile mem- 

 brane, two contractile vacuoles), Tillina insequalis n. sp. (unequal anterior 

 and posterior portions, shallow depressions between them), Traclielocerca 

 filiformis n. sp. (posterior single contractile vesicle, elliptical sublateral 

 nucleus), Plagiopyla varians n. sp. (two contractile vesicles, posterior 

 consjiicuous nucleus, variable oral fossa), Pleuronema cyclidium n. sp. (very 

 minute size), Stentor gracilis n. sp. (slender extended stem, sudden widening 

 of peristome, deep lateral cleft, white colour), Licnophora setifera n. sp. 

 (larger than European marine forms, strong sette instead of cilia on foot 

 region), Opercidaria parallela n. sp. (more cylindrical and rough than 

 0. cylindrata Wrzes., without striae), Histrio acuminatus n. sp. (differing 

 from H. similis Quennerstedt in fresh-water habitat and acuminate posterior 

 extremity), Acineta elegans n. sp. (lorica vase shaped with reversed margin, 

 widening below edge and rapidly compressed beneath, produced downwards 

 to a point whence a short pedicel), Acineta simplex n. sp. (tentacles in two 

 groups, but much smaller than A. grandis Kent, and with much more 

 rapidly tapering lorica, obtusely pointed at base. 



Thalassicola caerulea.j — Herr C. J. Eberth has applied the resources 

 of modern technique to the investigation of the minute structure of Thalas- 

 sicola cserulea. Freshly captured specimens were placed for a short time 

 in iodized alcohol, and then in alcoholic solutions of increasing strength 



* Trans. Xew Zealand Inst., xix. (1886) pp. 49-61 (2 pis.), 

 t Arch. f. Mikr. Auat., xxx. (1SS7) pp. 27-31 (I pi.). 



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