AM@BA ACTINOPHORA. 49 
an envelope ” of thickened ectoplasm, which is capable 
of being absorbed or dissolved by the more fluent 
endoplasm, during pseudopodal extension, or on the 
assumption by the animal of a quiescent phase. In 
this latter phase the body becomes rounded or oval, 
or discoid, the granular endoplasm occupying a central 
position, with a translucent band of ectoplasm sur- 
rounding it. The animal in this condition is devoid of 
colour except from the presence of a few green par- 
ticles contained in the endoplasm. It remains quiescent 
for an indefinite time. 
Dimensions : Diameter when at rest (discoid phase), 
30-40 p. 
In ponds, Cheshire, July, 1903. 
The above specific characters are those given by 
Gruber (loc. cit.), with whose figures our Cheshire 
examples essentially agree, although the ‘ double- 
contoured” character, said to be presented by the 
organism in the active state, was not apparent. The 
author cited remarks that the periphery, in his ex- 
amples, was for the most part quite smooth, and that 
only at one point did the animal extend a larger or 
smaller number of lobed pseudopodia. There was, he 
says, no persistent membranous structure, but “during 
the flow of the animal the cortical layer became amal- 
gamated with the rest of the sarcode.” The body 
became flattened, and the “cortical zone” disappeared, 
its place being taken by a broad border of clear ecto- 
plasm, which surrounded the darker and _ richly- 
granular central mass. In this state the nucleus 
becomes distinctly visible. 
Gruber, at the time he recorded his observations, 
considered this organism to be identical with Cochlio- 
podium bilimbosum Auerb., but the latter has a dis- 
tinctly permanent, though very supple, hyaline 
envelope. Penard (loc. cit.) reunites A. actinophora 
with the genus Cochliopodiwm, remarking that it has a 
smoother envelope, which is also more delicate and 
4, 
