were just, and its conditions at least apparently fair,- granting that the sponges could be removed from the proposed new kingdom, which is now impossible, and that it could be shown negatively at least that the members of the proposed kingdom were without sex,-it could yet be shown that this is not a criterion which it could alone possess. Thus, amongst the Scolicida, and even the true worms, there are abundant instances of true asexual reproduction. It occurs constantly amongst Planarians and Rotifers. The process of non-sexual reproduction in the Naïs is another striking example. Even in Errantia gemmation may take place; and the Barnacles and Balanidæ are purely hermaphrodite, with one or two marvellous exceptions. So that, in this sense, worms, and even crustaceans, must belong to the Protista.

The fact is, the life-history of these beings must be studied and fully known, their embriological and morphological relations seen, and their habits fully understood, before we can venture to assign their place in nature.

There can be little doubt that the sarcode of the Foraminifera presents as lowly a form of protoplasmic life as may be found. And I believe it should stand at the bottom of the animal series. It has neither endosarc nor ectosarc; it is without nucleus or contractile vesicle- a mere mass of living jelly. It is, indeed, what Haeckel has called the Monera, whose sarcode excretes a test. But if we come to the Amoeba, we have endosare, ectosarc, a nucleus and contractile vesicle. In Gregarina, we have still further differentiation. It has endo- and ectosarc, nucleus and nucleolus ; Van Benedem demonstrates under its cuticle a muscular layer, and it often has an external process. Conjugation frequently happens; two individuals blend and encyst, and eventually break up into small Gregarinæ. I do not say that reproduction does not occur without this coition; but I do say that this coition never occurs without reproduction.

I would therefore urge that the apparently unsexual ones are comparable to the second or third generation of unimpregnated Daphniæ in producing their progeny. The male element is conserved and transmitted. At least, I submit that the whole evidence tells against the establishment of a new Kingdom.

There is no virtue in the hoary three. In the glorious future that is before her, Science may discover ten; or she may reduce them all to one. Let her do as Nature bids her, and she will do truthfully and well. But we must ever interpret as the facts around us warrant; and I apprehend that the facts as they now stand discountenance the recog nition of a Fourth Kingdom in Nature.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.

Fig. 1.-A group of Monads; the one marked A emitting a viscid matter all round, which preceded multiplication in some of the surrounding Monads.

Fig. 2-An Amoeba (a) multiplying by the fission of a pseudopodia (b).

Fig. 3. Another Amoeba multiplying by nearly equal division.

*

The one marked 2 continued to multiply only by the separation of pseudopodia; while that marked 3 multiplied persistently by more or less equal division of the entire sarcode.

Fig. 4. Represents the Amob in which no fissipartition took place. a shows the nucleus at the beginning, and b the same, at the end of four days.

In b the granulation and enlargement of the nucleus is seen.

Fig. 5. Shows the emission of the same viscid matter as in the Monad, partly from the nucleus and partly from the sarcode.

Fig. 6. One of the surrounding Amoebae after the emissions from the one referred to in Fig. 5; granules have collected round the nucleus.

Fig. 7.-These granules in process of emission. They passed out from a very thin film of the sarcode, one or more at a time.

ON THE MICROSCOPIC CHARACTERS OF

COTTON.

BY THE REV. H. H. HIGGINS, M. A.

CERTAIN characters of the fibres of cotton, not otherwise conspicuous, are readily discerned by the aid of the microscope. The question proposed for determination is whether these characters, in a strictly commercial point of view, are of sufficient importance to be taken into consideration in business transactions.

It is not for a moment anticipated that the ordinary tests can ever be superseded by any method of microscopic inspection. Freedom from the larger kinds of impurities, colour, but above all length of staple, are qualities which must always chiefly affect the value of a sample, and on these points the microscope has little to reveal. On the other hand it seems probable that in detecting degrees of fineness, evenness, coarseness, crookedness, weakness, lustre, fitness for spinning, and, probably, of capacity for receiving and retaining dye, some advantage, may be gained by the use of a high magnifying power.

It

may be asked, Are not the present methods of judging cotton sufficient for all practical purposes?

No elaborate argument seems to be required to prove that the better the qualities of cotton are known, the more thoroughly and exhaustively the characters on which its excellences and defects depend are ascertained, the better in the long run it will be for the cultivator, the buyer, and the manufacturer.