1884.] Notices of some new Parasitic Infusoria. 1081 
NOTICES OF SOME NEW PARASITIC INFUSORIA. 
BY ALFRED C. STOKES, M.D. 
— making a microscopical examination of the intestinal 
and stomach contents of young spade-foot hermit toads 
(Scaphiopus holbrooki), whose life-history Dr. C. C. Abbott is 
studying, I observed two forms of apparently undescribed endo- 
parasitic Infusoria so crowding the rectum that it seemed only a 
thin walled tube surrounding a semi-solid, writhing mass which, 
viewed with a low power objective, brought to mind the idea of 
a shimmering cloud of heated air, or a wavering flame of colorless 
fire, through which here and there glistened a yellow spark. 
The rectum of toads and frogs has long been a kind of happy 
hunting ground for endoparasites, especially for the Opalina ; 
but so far as I am aware only colorless species of the genus have 
been observed. In this instance, however, the yellow points 
within that living mass proved to be Opalinz of a lemon-yellow 
tint. The periphery and, to a much less extent, the deeper por- 
tion of the endoplasm are tinged, the color, which appears to be 
a stain and not an aggregation of particles, being collected in a 
layer near the cuticular surface, with a quite sharply defined line 
| of demarkation between the lower margin and the internal body- 
Sarcode. 
The infusorian is broadly ovate, soft and flexible and some- 
what changeable in shape, assuming at will a subpyriform or 
subglobose figure. The surface is indented by obliquely disposed 
striæ which bear the long and fine vibratile cilia clothing the 
creature, Scattered through the endoplasm are numerous refrin- 
gent corpuscles mingled with many larger spherical bodies hav- 
ing the aspect of vacuoles. The former may be portions of the 
nucleus, as that constituent is known to break into corpuscular 
Parts with age, and to become scattered as the infusorian matures. 
Nothing else corresponding to an endoplast was observed, even 
after using reagents. There is no trace of a mouth. Nutriment 
is probably absorbed from the intestinal fluids in which the animal- 
cule delights to live. The contractile vesicle is also absent. 
Its numbers are not great; perhaps a dozen were noted in the 
Contents of the rectum. Neither is it always to be found. Com- 
Pared with its more numerous associates, however, this yellow 
a is a giant among pygmies, and it rotates through the 
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