ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
437 
-spider-crabs, Turritella communis , Buccinum, Borocidaris , &c. ; the larger 
proportion of species have been reported from the environs of the British 
Isles and North Sea, but the geographical range is wide. 
Protozoa. 
Relation of Nucleus to Function in Protozoa.* — M. F. Le Dantec 
has showD that assimilation in freshwater Rhizopods only occurs when 
the nucleus is present. Balbiani, Hofer, and Verworn attribute to the 
nucleus an influence on digestive secretion, but the author says there is 
no digestive secretion in Foraminifera, and that in Lobosa and Ciliata the 
secretion in the vacuoles has simply diffused from the protoplasm. 
What the nucleus does is to conserve the chemical composition of the 
protoplasm, its equilibrium and integrity of form, and it is thus that it 
is indispensable to assimilation and regeneration. 
Ciliated Infusorians in the Stomach of Ruminants.f — Dr. R. Eber- 
lein deals first with the genus Ophryoscolex, describing Oph. inermis 
Stein from ox, sheep, and goat, Oph. caudatus sp. n. from sheep, and 
Oph. purhynei Stein from sheep. In his study of the new species, he 
observed that the cuticle of the body is directly continued into the spines 
and tail-process, and that the shell is formed of a deposit of silicic 
acid compounds. The genus Diplodinium is next discussed ; including 
D. magii Florentini, from ox and sheep, D. hursa Florentini, D. cauda- 
tum sp. n., D. dentatum or D. denticulatum (for they seem to be one), 
D. rostratum Florentini, D. ecaudatum Florentini. The third genus is 
Entodinium , including Entodinium hursa Stein in almost all Ruminants, 
Ent. caudatum Stein, and three other species. The family Isotrichidse 
is represented by Isotricha prostoma Stein, in every Ruminant, and 
I. intestinalis which is equally common, and Dasytricha ruminantium 
Schuberg. 
Then follows an account of Butschlia parva Schuberg, and B . neglecta 
Schuberg. 
In cattle, sheep, and goats the same forms occur ; and a study of 
llama and camel shows the same forms, at least when they are fed with 
similar fodder. Their occurrence appears to be quite normal, or at 
least not pathological. They appear to digest part of the cellulose, 
•converting it into an absorbable material. Their origin is from the 
hay and water, but there is no evidence to show that the life-cycle can 
be completed outside of the alimentary canal of Ruminants. 
Kentrochona Nebaliae.j: — Dr. J. Rompel describes this new Infu- 
sorian, one of the Spirochoninse, which he found attached to the thoracic 
feet of Nebalia Geoffroyi. It lies on the surface of epipodite and exopo- 
dite, closely fixed by a gelatinous cushion to the cuticle, flattened dorso- 
■ventrally. The resting macronucleus is a circular hyaline disc, and a 
dorsal arching appears to correspond to its position. The posterior 
micronucleus forms a smaller dorsal protrusion, and gives the impression 
of a spindle stretching from dorsal to ventral surface. Near it is a 
second spindle-shaped body. In Kentrochona the peristome is simpler 
* Comptes Kendus, cxx. (1895) pp. 335-7. 
f Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool., lix. (1895) pp. 233-304 (3 pis.). 
X Op. cit., lviii. (1894) pp. 618-35 (1 pi.). 
