Abstract
We owe much of our recent knowledge of the biology of the Foraminifera to Dr. E. H. Myers. His new publication* is a peculiarly beautiful example of his work, embracing the complete life-cycle of Tretomphalus and its activities observed both in Nature and in cultures. The life-cycle includes an orderly succession of sexual and asexual generations in which two distinct types of individuals and three types of tests are involved. Typically benthonic microspheric (asexual) and megaspheric (sexual) individuals are produced, the latter becoming pelagic prior to the discharge of the gametes. The test of the pelagic phase has a globular terminal chamber, perforated by large pores, and contains a gas-filled float, the gametes passing out of the pores. The jzygotes are formed by the fusion of gametes from different parents, the latter approaching one another and their amoeboid pseudopodia anastomosing—an unusual occurrence in the Foraminifera. This association ensures the fertilization of a maximumnumber of gametes, which settle on the bottom and produce microspheric tests. So the life-cycle proceeds.
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Pelagic Foraminifera. Nature 153, 322 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/153322a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/153322a0