389 
any reproductive or further developmental condition. As I 
have mentioned, no “ nucleus ” discloses itself to my exami- 
nation, either in the central body or the external vesicles. I 
can throw no light on the growth of the latter, nor how they 
self-divide or increase in number. It is clear they are not 
vacuoles or cavities in the marginal region of the rhizopod, 
but distinct, (so to speak) independent structures ; still, as is 
seen, there must remain a doubt as to whether they could be 
regarded as justly laying claim to the dignity of “cells.” But 
they seem sufficiently curious and remarkable. Unlike the 
true “ cells” of Cystophrys (described ante, p. 259), they are not 
contained within the sarcode body, and thus retained in situ, 
but are freely deposited externally, and yet remain theie 
unless detached by accidental external or internal force. At 
least I have been unable to see any bond of union or matrix, 
that is, any external thinner sarcode layer by which they 
could be retained. Indeed, there appears, as has been men- 
tioned, to exist a very narrow, but appreciable, (as it ’were) 
vacant, interval between these outer vesicles and the external 
surface of the actinophryan body, that is, when an equatorial 
plane is brought into focus, but the vesicles themselves mu- 
tually touch. But, after all, without their being involved in 
some exceedingly delicate sarcode matrix surrounding the 
central body, it is difficult to see how they could rearrange 
themselves upon the surface of the latter, when they are me- 
chanically disturbed, or even be retained around it. But if 
there be such a soft and delicate layer, it is not as yet evident 
to the closest examination, so far as I can see. 
This is the only freshwater rhizopod that I know of show- 
ing the peculiar red colour of the pigment-granules which I 
have tried to describe and portray ; there are, indeed, rhizo- 
podal forms, or developmental states of such, of a buff or orange 
colour, but none exactly like the present. 
This form, whose short diagnostic character I defer to the 
end of this paper, is by no means uncommon in our heath 
pools in different parts, but it always occurs isolated, never 
abundantly or in groups. I have seen it from the south and 
north of Ireland, but in the county Wicklow (Gallery and 
Carrig) it occurs more frequently than in other places. I have 
for some time familiarly called it (for want of another appel- 
lation) the “ red bubble-bearer,” in allusion to its soap-bubble- 
like vesicles, and I have thought, in the choice of a name for 
the genus which it must represent, that it might sufficiently 
appropriately retain the title under the new shape of 
Pompholyxophrys punicea. 
