MORPHOLOGY 



67 



any evidence to indicate that it is a secretory organella. Moreover 

 the parabasal body is discarded or absorbed at the time of divi- 

 sion of the body and two new ones are formed. 



In the parabasal body of LopJwmonas hlattarum to which the 

 name was originally applied, the structure is discarded when the 

 organism divides and two new ones are reformed from the cen- 

 triole or blepharoplast (Fig. 59), and its function appears to be 



Fig. 23. Parabasal apparatus in: a, Lophomonas hlattarum (Kudo); 

 b, Metadevescovina debilis; c, Devescovina sp. (Kirby). af, axostylar 

 filaments; bl, blepharoplast; f, food particles; fl, flagella; n, nucleus; 

 pa, parabasal apparatus. 



supportive. Possibly not all so-called parabasal bodies are homol- 

 ogous or analogous and a fuller comprehension of the function of 

 the organella rests with further investigations. 



The blepharoplast or centriole 



In the jMastigophora or in other groups in which flagellate 

 stages occur, the flagellum ends internally in a basal granule, 

 which, in turn, is sometimes connected by a much larger body. 

 This latter organella has been called the centriole or blepharo- 



