10 



"a Ki//i( )in r/i s net si of (luito 'JO cm. leuotli. Soim^ little 

 ■■ Hinc aftoi T was astonished to find the Min-uid busily 

 " engaged in swallowing the Kunemertes. The posterior 

 " one-fifth of the latter had already disappeared into the 

 "mouth of the former when I noticed them, and still the 

 "assailant was struggling to gulp down more of its prey. 

 "In the meantime the victim glided round th(> dish, 

 "apparently not suffering the slightest inconvenience 

 "from the attack upon its posterior extremity. 

 " T'ltimaiely Loth attacker and attacked became (juiescent, 

 " the formei having become moic than twice its previous 

 " girth. The portion of the Eitnemo-fes in the gut of the 

 Mirnifd still remained in continuity with the rest of 

 " the body, though apparently undergoing digestion." 

 Possibly the food is digested and absorbed and the excreta 

 expelled with a rapidity whicdi prechules its presence 

 within the alimentary canal for any length of time. 



THE VASCT'L.\E SYSTEM. 



According to the histological structure of the walls, the 

 vascular spaces in Lifuiis are spoken of partly as lacuna^ 

 and })artly as vessels. The lacuna^ are found in the head 

 and in the (esophageal region. They are surroimded by 

 connective tissue, and their only wall consists of a delicate 

 membrane on which occur small oval nuclei ai intervals. 

 The vessels, which occur only in the intestinal legion, 

 jiossess a rather more elaborate structure. They are lined 

 by an endothelium (PI. IV., fig. 2), closely packed with 

 spherical nuclei, and in which cell outlines are not readily 

 lo be distinguished. This endothelium rests iipon a well- 

 marked structurek'ss basement membrane, l)ut no circular 

 muscle fibres are j)resent. External to the basement mem- 

 1)rane is a layer of large parenchyma cells, highly 

 vacuolated and with definite c(dl outlines. 



