AMONG SIMPLE SAECODE ORGANISMS. 281 



meua presented by protoplasmic organisms in general ; and we 

 should be more disposed to believe that the filaments are truly 

 sarcodic and contractile, and that the spindles travel along them 

 as foreign pai-ticles travel along the pseudopodia of otber species. 

 This is certainly the case in the closely allied Chlamidomyxis 

 labyrinthuloides of Archer ; and in our efforts to discover the true 

 nature of the phenomenon in Lahyrinthulea, the analogy of this 

 curious organism can scarcely be ignored. 



In Lahyrinthulea macrocystis Cienkowski has observed the 

 passing of the organism into the resting state. The first indica- 

 tion of this consists in the fact that the cells, whether those which 

 are contained in the central mass or those which wander along 

 the filaments, attain a considerable size and become richer in gra- 

 nules and darker in colour. The spindle-shaped cells gradually 

 assume an oval shape, while each has its surface hardened into a 

 membrane, and the whole becomes surrounded by a common, 

 smooth, thick investment. In this way all the cells of the colony, 

 cemented by a common cortical substance into a globular or vermi- 

 form mass, remain for many weeks unchanged. 



After these aggregations of cysts had remained in sea- water 

 for about six weeks, the contents of each cyst were observed to 

 have become divided into four parts, the cyst-envelope at the 

 same time becoming very soft and finally disappearing, so as 

 to allow the four divisions to escape as free moving spherules. 

 Soon after this the Laiyrinthulea-cells with their accompanying 

 filaments had made their appearance. He has not actually seen 

 the change of the \ihera,ted s^hernleB into the LahyrintJmlea-celh, 

 but he has no doubt of its reality. 



Mr. Archer, of Dublin, has described, with excellent figures, 

 a very remarkable organism which in many respects possesses 

 intimate relations with Cienkowski's Lahyrinthulea. He found 

 it in fresh water, and named it CJilamidomyxis labyrinthuloides*' 



(fig- 8). 



It has a soft sarcodic body surrounded by an outer tougli cyst, 

 -sphich is of a very irregular outline, is composed of many layers, 

 and shows distinct cellulose reaction. 



The sarcode contents are composed of a basic hyaline substance, 



in which are immersed various kinds of granules. Among these 



are certain homogeneous rounded corpuscles of a pale bluish tint, 



which, as we shall presently see, take an important part in the 



* " On CJdamidoviyxis lahyrinfhidoides,'" Quart. Journ. Micr. Soc. vol. xv. 



