214 
Amoebae 
are also seen in stained films from the cultures, sometimes collected 
into groups. The small bodies without any visible chromatin possibly 
represent the detached fragments of protoplasm seen in fresh specimens. 
It is, therefore, evident that multiplication by unequal budding also 
takes place in this amoeba. A third striking modification in the 
activity is very commonly seen in these cultures. An amoeba may 
throw out highly refractile globular or blunt branched motile processes 
2-4 fx in diameter at one or more points on its surface. The whole of 
the original body may in a few minutes be completely overlaid by or 
absorbed in these amoeboid excrescences which adhere to one another, 
the original nucleus being entirely lost to view. Thus a writhing 
lobulated mass is produced which may assume the most bizarre forms, 
moruloid, moniliform or cochleate; the lobules composing it, some of 
which often show contractile vacuoles, may lie one on top of the other, 
so that all cannot be focussed at once (figs. 11-13). This process has 
been noted to occur in more than 12 cases while individual amoebae 
were under observation. Such bodies have been consecutively observed 
under the higher powers of the .microscope on 20 recorded occasions 
with the following results: (i) in four cases, the lobulate body has 
moved about for periods of from 35 min. to 5 hours and changed its 
shape continuously but has not undergone any alteration in character, 
(ii) In 11 cases one of the elements composing the mass has been 
seen to absorb the others into itself, gradually acquiring a visible 
nucleus, until an amoeba of the ordinary vegetative type results. This 
amoeba was observed (a) in three cases to retain its characters un¬ 
altered for periods up to 2 hours, (b) in five cases to reassume the 
lobulate form after periods of from 3 min. to 1^ hours, (c) in one case 
to give off a bud, 5 minutes after formation, {d) also, in one case to 
divide into two, 3 hours 15 minutes after formation, (iii) In two cases, 
the lobulate body has been observed to divide into two similar masses, 
(iv) In three cases one of the processes has been observed to become 
detached, acquiring a visible nucleus and all the characters of the usual 
vegetative type. No forms definitely corresponding to these lobulate 
bodies have been found in stained specimens. 
The significance of this form of activity is not clear; it may perhaps 
represent either a modification of the process of budding or a third 
distinct method of reproduction by multiple division^ 
1 Liston informs me that he has observed similar appearances in his cultures and that 
he attributes them to the fact that the amoebae concerned “ are simply penetrating the 
