94 
Journal of the Mitchell Society [. November 
lobes, suggesting- a lobose rhizopod or myxomycete plasmodi- 
um. Such masses which tnaj be connected by slender strands 
are commonly from two to five millimeters in the longest di- 
rection. The third class of remnants are found scattered 
through the body of the dead and macerated sponge, in which 
they sometimes occupy positions that are obviously favorable 
for respiration. These bodies are more or less spheroidal and 
small, their diameter varying commonly from one half to one 
and a half millimeters. In the most successful cases of treat- 
ment, the small masses, internal and superficial, are exceed- 
ingly abundant, and the dead and macerated sponge body 
with its contained nodules of conspicuous living tissue strong- 
ly suggests a Spongilla full of gemmules. 
These living remnants of the sponge (bodies of the second 
and third classes) execute slow amoeboid changes of shape 
and position, behaving thus like plasmodia, and they may be 
designated as plasmodial masses. Microscopic examination 
shows them to be of an exceedingly simple character, without 
canal spaces or flagellated chambers. The mass does not con- 
sist of discrete cells, but is an aggregation of syncytial proto- 
plasm studded with nuclei. The protoplasm is stored with 
minute inclusions and is reticulate in arrangement. The nu- 
clei are practically all alike, and there are no signs of per- 
sisting collar-cells. Such a mass represents a portion of the 
original sponge in which the degenerative changes have pro- 
gressed farther than in the larger remnants. In the latter 
we find a syncytium made up of discrete cells among which 
some persisting collar-cells are distinguishable. But in the 
plasmodial mass the cells have united so intimately that cell 
outlines have been wiped out, and recognizable collar-cells 
(or their nuclei) have disappeared. The optical evidence 
points to the conclusion that the latter help to form the gener- 
al syncytium, undergoing regressive changes in their differen- 
tiation which result in their becoming indifferent parts of 
this unspecialized tissue. 
The plasmodial masses remain alive in the laboratory in- 
definitely, but do not transform. They attach to the bottom 
