ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
645 
sp. n., ParaisotricTia colpoidea Fiorent., P. oblonga Fiorent., P. truncata 
sp. n., Didesmis quadrata Fiorent., D. ovalis Fiorent., Butschlia jpostciliata 
sp. n., Blepharoprosthium pireum g. et sp. n., Blepliarosphsera intestincilis 
g. et sp. n., Blephcirocodon appendiculatus g. et sp. n. 
His experiments on infection show that it occurs only when the 
host is exclusively vegetarian, and that the parasites cannot survive or 
develope in a very acid medium. Therefore they must reach the caecum 
in a resistant resting-stage. 
He recognises four physiological groups : — parasites which do harm, 
parasites which help digestion, parasites which favour the multiplication 
of injurious bacteria, and finally commensals. Both mechanically and 
by physiological processes many aid in the digestion of the huge masses 
of vegetable food. 
The Genus Multicilia.* — Herr R. Lauterborn describes Multicilia 
lacustris sp. n., a flagellate Infusorian of the sub-order Holomastigina 
Lauterborn. The characters of this sub-order are : — The cell is naked, 
with slight amoeboid movements, with long cilia over its surface, without 
special mouth, capable of ingestion at any point by pseudopodial pro- 
cesses. The genus Multicilia Cienkowsky emend. Lauterborn, syn. Poly- 
mastix Gruber, is thus characterised : — The small cell ( • 02 - *04 mm.) 
is spherical or slightly oval, without a sheath, and capable of amoeboid 
movements ; the cilia are long and scattered ; there is no differentiation 
into ectoplasm and endoplasm ; there may be one nucleus or several, 
of vesicular structure ; there are numerous contractile vacuoles in 
one species ; ingestion is due to the blunt pseudopodia ; multiplica- 
tion seems to occur by simple fission. The two known species are 
Multicilia marina Cienskowsky = Polymastix sol Gruber, and Multicilia 
lacustris Lauterborn. 
Bhaetic Foraminifera from Somerset. t — Mr. F. Chapman reports on 
the results of a microscopical examination of various samples of clays, 
argillaceous sands, and shelly limestones of Rhaetic age from a quarry 
near Wedmore in Somerset. So far as the author is aware, no records 
have been published of Foraminifera having been found in strata of 
undoubted Bhaetic age, and this paper therefore is of more than ordinary 
importance. Twenty-six species are recorded, a large proportion of 
which are new. 
Structure and Multiplication of Aulacantha scolyxnantha Haeek.t 
Herr W. Karawaiew describes this Badiolarian. As Hertwig observed, 
the two membranes of the central capsule are in contact, and the oper- 
culum is also double, but no radial striation of the latter could be 
detected. The endoplasm under the openings is fibrillar, and besides 
the well-known round vacuoles, there are others canaliculate in form. 
Between the nucleus and the lamellae under the operculum there is a 
layer of granules. The nucleus has a coarse spongy framework of 
chromatin, and to this are attached irregular clumps, which do not stain 
with safranin. They are possibly artefacts. The author discusses the 
nature of the phasodium, the pigment mass which lies chiefly around 
* Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool., lx. (1895) pp. 236-48 (1 pi.), 
f Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xvi. (1895) pp. 305-29 (2 pis.), 
f Zool. Anzeig., xviii. (1895) pp. 286-9, 293-301 (4 figs.). 
