Mr. H.J. Carter on the Organization of Infusoria. 115 X ly. — Notes on the Freshwater Infusoria of the Island of'Sonmay. No. 1. Organization. By H. J. Carter, Esq., Assistant Surgeon H.C.S., Bombay. [With three Plates.] For some time past, when circumstances would permit, I have paid considerable attention to the Infusoria and Freshwater Algse of the Island of Bombay, which being the same, generally, as those of Europe, have not occupied me much in specific descrip-tion, while they have left me comparatively uninterrupted in their structural and physiological observation. How much has been gained by the latter the following summary of my " Notes" will show. I shall commence with the freshwater Rhizopoda, the Astasice and Euglena; but before proceeding to remark on them sepa-rately, I would premise some observations on the general organ-ization of Infusoria, and these will be arranged under the fol-lowing heads: — Pellicula, or skin. DiaphanCy or transparent moving matter. Sarcode, or abdominal mucus. Molecula, or minute grains. Granules, or large grains. Digestive Globules, or spherical spaces which enclose the food. Spherical Cells, or biliary organisms. (?) Vesicula, or " contracting vesicle." Nucleus, Ovules, or embryonic cells-. Spermatozoids. (?) Impregnation. Development of Ovule. Fellicula. — This term has been proposed by Mohl for the consolidated surface of material which has no distinct enclosing membrane*. Dujardin, in allusion to the tegumentary covering of Amoeba^ &c., likens it to the film which occurs over ^' flour-paste or glue allowed to cool in the airf ;" and the same view of it will be taken here. It is at first inseparable and undi-stinguishable from the tissue which lies beneath it, yielding in every way to the form which the latter assumes. As, how-ever, Amoeba progresses in development, and its activity begins to diminish, the pellicula appears to thicken and harden, al-* Mohl on the Structure of Chlorophyll. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist, vol. XV. p. 325, foot-note. May 1855. t Hist. Nat. des Zoophytes Infusoires, p. 29 et seq. 8*
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