386 MES. L. J. VELEY CONTEIBTTTION TO THE 



whereas the ^warmers of C. dichotoma oi'tea slightly tend to be 

 kidaey -shaped and are always rounded at the poles ; the 

 swarmers of *S'. natans are also slightly rounded at the ends?. 

 Both these species occur as tufts composed of several filaments 

 whether fixed or free ; the bacteria o£ Felomyxa appear to occur 

 exclusively as single filaments. In size the rods agree fairly 

 with either species, the average thickness being 2ju. They 

 resemble S. natans very closely in the slight separation of the 

 cells in the filament from each other (shown very distinctly in 

 stained preparations) ; but differ in the fact of the free unit 

 always being double and in the greater rigidity of the filament as 

 a whole. The habitat must be taken into consideration, with 

 the fact that, as far as my search went, neither of the known 

 species of Cladotlirios occurred in the tank whence the greater 

 number of Pelomyxce were taken ; and, further, that as far as our 

 knowledge extends at present, there is no evidence that the 

 bacteria of Felomyxa can live for any length of time apart from 

 their host. On the whole, then, it seems justifiable to regard them 

 as a new and distinct species of Cladothrix, which it is proposed 

 to name Gladotlirix Pelomyxce, and to classify as follows: — 



Order, Euba.cteeia. 



iPamily, Chlamydobacteriacese. 



G-enus, Gladotlirix^ Cohn ; Splicerotilus, Kiitzing. 



Species, C. Pelomyxce. 



The E-EEEiisrGEisrT Bodies. 



Some reactions of the refringent bodies had been tested by 

 Grreeff" and others, but further experiments were made in the 

 course of the present investigation. They were tested for starch 

 with a very dilute solution of iodine, but gave no reaction 

 whatever. (With strong iodine a brown colour was obtained, as 

 previously recorded by Greefli.) Starch was therefore excluded. 

 Paramylum is unstained by dilute iodine, hence the refringent 

 bodies were next tested for this ; their behaviour with strong 

 sulphuric acid also suggested a similarity, but their resistance to 

 dilute potash excluded paramylum. They were also compared 

 with the concretions in Litliamoeha, as studied by Prof. 

 Lankesterj the reactions were found very much to resemble 

 those recorded for Lithamoeia. 



The occurrence above related in connection with the bacteria 

 and the ova of Rotifer now gave a new direction to experiments. 



