62 



PROTOZOOLOGY 



Kirby's extensive study, appears to be the most highly developed 

 in Pseudotrypanosoma and Trichomonas. The staining reaction 

 indicates that its chemical composition is different from that of 

 fiagella, blepharoplast, parabasal body, or chromatin. 



In the gymnostomous cihates, the cytopharynx is often sur- 

 rounded by rod-hke bodies, and the entire apparatus is often 

 called oral or pharyngeal basket, which is considered as sup- 

 portive in function. The rod-like bodies appear in most cases to 



Fig. 21. a, trichites in Spathidium spathula, X300 (Woodruff and 

 Spencer); b, trichites in Enchelyodon farctus, X400 (Roux). 



be trichites which may have been derived from the trichocysts, 

 but which do not explode as do the latter. For example, in 

 Chilodonella cucullulus the oral basket is composed of 12 trichites 

 which are so completely fused in part that the lower portion ap- 

 pears as a smooth tube and in Enchelyodon farctus (Fig. 21, b) 

 much longer trichites form the basket, with reserve structures 

 scattered throughout the cytoplasm (Engelmann). In Spathidium 

 spathula (Fig. 21, a), trichites are imbedded hke a paling in the 

 thickened rim of the anterior end. They are also distributed 

 throughout the endoplasm and, according to Woodruff and 

 Spencer, "some of these are apparently newly formed and being 

 transported to the oral region, while others may well be trichites 

 which have been torn away during the process of prey ingestion." 



