ELERY R. BECKER. 



impossibility of resolving the granules in the granule complex. 

 Fig. 12 represents one of the best observations which the writer 

 \vas able to make. 



A structure was noted which Dobell and O'Connor neither 

 mention nor figure, but which resembled very much Kofoid and 

 Swezy's figures of the peristomal fibril enclosing a more deeply- 

 shaded granular area, the cytostome. In Chilomastix magna, this 

 structure takes its origin in the blepharoplast complex, and passes 

 posteriorly just dorsal to the cytostome and right supporting 

 fibril (Kofoid's "parabasal body"), if we consider the cytostome 

 to be on the ventral side. It usually extends far beyond the 

 posterior curvature of this fibril into the posterior region of the 

 body (Fig. i). It appears to be surrounded by a fibril. This 

 structure, however, has three dimensions, and is from one third 

 to one half as deep as broad, as proved by polar views of a number 

 of flagellates standing on end. So what appears to be a fibril, is 

 in reality a membrane marking the boundary between this 

 structure and the remaining cytoplasm. Rarely this structure 

 appears to adhere to the right supporting fibril (Fig. 2). In 

 others, no connection between the two rs evident (Fig. i). 

 There is no connection between this body and the cytostomal 

 flagellum, which lies between the right and left supporting fibrils 

 (Fig. i, 2, 12). 



\Yhat is the function of this organelle? Is it an oral structure 

 associated with the mechanism for the intake of food? It is not 

 visible in the unstained living specimens, so this point could not 

 be determined. Is it a reserve food supply? Failure to stain 

 it either with iodine or intra vitam with Janus green gives no clue. 

 For the present the writer prefers to call it a "parabasal body," 

 because of its non-committal significance of anything as to 

 function, although it does not stain with Janus green, which 

 Shipley (1916) found would color the parabasal body of Trypano- 

 soma lewisi and Becker (1923) found would color the parabasal 

 bodies of Crithidia and Herpetomonas, suggesting their mitochon- 

 drial nature. Besides this structure, no other organelle re- 

 sembling a peristomal fiber was seen. Might it not be that this 

 body is much shorter in Chilomastix mesnili, and that the 

 sharpness of its limiting membrane led Kofoid and Swezy to call 

 it a peristomal fiber? 



