CORPUSCLES OF THE BLOOD OF AMPHIOXUS LANCEOLATUS 5 



By the action of water the processes became obliterated, and 

 the granules all assumed the form of a very pale and colourless 

 globular cell, with large granules here and there, and a very pale 

 nucleus occupying rather less than half its diameter. In one part of 

 the field I perceived such a nucleus floating about attached only to a 

 number of granules, which appeared bound together by an inter- 

 mediate substance invisible from its transparency. The whole mass 

 appeared to have become free by the bursting of the cell-wall, which 

 was nowhere to be detected. In one specimen only (that obtained by 

 puncturing the skin) I observed two roundish or slightly oval 

 corpuscles, rather more than 5-oV(rth of an inch in diameter, with 

 a nucleus occupying three-fifths of that extent. This nucleus was 

 greenish-looking, and refracted light strongly, while the cell-wall was 

 of a pale reddish colour and exceedingly delicate, so much so that it 

 seemed more like a reddish halo round the nucleus than a distinct 

 structure. Altogether, with the exception of the last-mentioned 

 corpuscles, the blood of the Amphioxus had a most remarkable 

 resemblance to that of an invertebrate animal, and that in every 

 particular. [This communication was illustrated by figures.] 



