32 
two halves, without this being preceded by a special motion- 
less or encysted condition, &c. 
My Protogenes primordialis is probably veiy nearly re- 
lated to Amoeba porrecta / observed by Max Schultze in the 
Adriatic Sea at Ancona. This Moner is indeed very much 
smaller than Protogenes primordialis, but is very similar to 
it in the slight consistence of the sarcode body, as well as 
in the rapidly-moving, granular current, and in the rami- 
fying and anastomosing appearance of the pseudopods. It 
also wants the nucleus and the contractile vesicle, which 
characterise the true Amoebae. It would, therefore, be more 
correct to designate it Protogenes porrectus. However, the 
history of its reproduction and development is unknown ; 
and without this knowledge, as we shall see, we cannot with 
certainty decide on the systematic relationship and position 
of Monera, so that the nature of Amoeba porrecta as a true 
Protogenes must remain doubtful. 
Of the greatest importance for the natural history of 
Monera are £ Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Monaden,’ pub- 
lished by L. Cienkowski in I860. 1 2 These interesting contribu- 
tions are so much the more important as they are the produc- 
tions of a naturalist who knows how to be as quick and 
clever in his observations as he is careful and critical in his 
conclusions. Cienkowski describes the life-histories of five 
different organisms of the simplest kind, which he divided 
into two distinct groups : — Monadina zoosporea, which re- 
produce themselves by numerous spores — (1) Monas {amyli), 
(2) Pseudospora, (3) Colpodella and Monadina tetraplast^:, 
which increase by the formation of two or more actinophrys- 
like buds, (4) Vampyrella, and (5) Nuclearia. In both 
groups an encysted and motionless condition precedes the 
multiplication of the naked plasma bodies, which nourish 
themselves like the Rhizopoda. The three genera Pseudo- 
spora, Colpodella, and Nuclearia do not further interest us 
here, as their plasma body already encloses a nucleus and 
vacuoles, and, therefore, possesses the character of a cell. 
On the other hand, Monas {amyli) and Vampyrella are true 
Monera, whose naked plasma body possesses neither nuclei 
nor contractile vesicles. As the term Monas has many signi- 
fications, to avoid changes I have called the Monas amyli, 
to which Cienkowski would confine this genus, Protomonas 
amyli (‘ Gen. Morphol.,’ vol. ii, p. 23). 
Protomonas amyli was hitherto the only Monera in which 
1 Max Schultze, 1. c., p. 8, pi. vii, fig. 18. 
2 L. Cienkowski, “ Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Monaden Scliultze’s 
* Archiv f. Mikroskop. Auat.,’ 18G5. Bd. i, p. 203, Taf. xii — xiv. 
