78 PROTOZOOLOGY 



is made up of chromophile and chromophobe parts as is the Golgi 

 apparatus; and (4) there is a strong evidence that the parabasal 

 body is secretory in function. According to Kirby (1931), who has 

 made an extensive study of this organella, the parabasal body could 

 be stained with Delafield's haematoxylin or Mallory's triple stain 

 after fixation with acetic acid-containing fixatives and the body does 

 not show any evidence to indicate that it is a secretory organella. 

 Moreover the parabasal body is discarded or absorbed at the time of 

 division of the body and two new ones are formed. 



The parabasal body of Lophomonas blattarum is discarded when 

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

 triole or blepharoplast (Fig. 65), and its function appears to be sup- 

 portive. Possibly not all so-called parabasal bodies are homologous 

 or analogous. A fuller comprehension of the structure and function 

 of the organella rests on further investigations. 



Golgi apparatus 



With the discovery of a wide distribution of the so-called Golgi 

 apparatus in metazoan cells, a number of protozoologists also re- 

 ported a homologous structure from many protozoans. It seems im- 

 possible at present to indicate just exactly what the Golgi appara- 

 tus is, since the so-called Golgi techniques, the important ones of 

 which are based upon the assumption that the Golgi material is 

 osmiophile and argentophile, and possesses a strong affinity to 

 neutral red, are not specific and the results obtained by using the 

 same method often vary a great deal. Some of the examples of the 

 Golgi apparatus reported from Protozoa are summarized in Table 2. 



It appears thus that the Golgi bodies occurring in Protozoa are 

 small osmiophilic granules or larger spherules which are composed 

 of osmiophile cortical and osmiophobe central substances. Fre- 

 quently the cortical layer is of unequal thickness, and, therefore, 

 crescentic forms appear. Ringform apparatus was noted in Chilo- 

 donella and Dogielella by Nassonov (1925) and network-like forms 

 were observed by Brown in Pyrsonympha and Dinenympha. The 

 Golgi apparatus of Protozoa as well as of Metazoa appears to be 

 composed of a lipoidal material in combination with protein sub- 

 stance. 



In line with the suggestion made for the metazoan cell, the Golgi 

 apparatus of Protozoa is considered as having something to do with 

 secretion or excretion. Nassonov (1924) considers that osmiophilic 

 lipoidal substance, which he observed in the vicinity of the walls of 

 the contractile vacuole and its collecting canals in many ciliates and 



