46 Kansas Academy of Science. 



and the protoplasm to swell. But the sugar solution not being 

 suitable for the animal, it again fortified itself with a new cyst. 



The behavior of the paramoecium is not radically different from 

 that of the higher Metazoa, when subjected to chemical solution. 

 The immediate effect is an increased activity. In many cases this 

 is followed by a period of depression. Alcoholic stimulation in 

 man is of the very same nature. 



A study of the effect of chemicals on the individual leads one to 

 wonder how chemical stimulation would affect the race. To deter- 

 mine this I have started a series of experiments. So far the 

 chemicals used have been NaCl, MgCl?, and curare. The results 

 up "to this time can be only tentative, because some of the experi- 

 ments have not been carried on long enough. 



On September 20 four lines of generation of paramoecia were 

 started. Two lines were from a culture collected at Kansas City 

 and two from a culture collected at Lawrence. In general, I used, 

 the methods which Calkins employed in his study of the life, his- 

 tory of paramoecium. For a culture medium I used a tea made by 

 heating a small quantity of hay in ordinary tap water. This was 

 allowed to stand for two or three days to allow bacteria to develop. 

 Each paramoecium culture was kept in a drop of hay tea on an 

 ordinary glass slide. These cultures were kept in a moist chamber 

 to prevent evaporation. The division rate was watched from day 

 to day. At every second or third generation a single individual 

 was removed to a clean slide by the aid of a capillary pipette and 

 new hay tea added. Perhaps the reason why paramoecium thrives 

 so well in hay tea is because the chemicals and food are very much 

 like those found in its natural habitat. 



For convenience, we will call the four series of cultures A, B, C, 

 and D. After these cultures had been running for twelve days 

 and twenty-three generations had arisen, two single individuals of 

 A and C were isolated on separate slides. Then a culture medium 

 made up of three parts of hay tea to one part of one-per-cent. NaCl 

 solution was placed on the slide for the animal to live in. Records 

 and observations were made daily. Whenever the cultures were 

 transferred the same amount of NaCl was added to the hay tea. 

 The normal hay series, A and C, were used as check cultures. We 

 will call the corresponding NaCl cultures Ax and Cx. At the end 

 of the first twenty-four hours no division had occurred in either 

 culture. In two days two divisions had occurred in Ax and one 

 in Cx. In five days four generations had been produced in Ax 

 and two in Cx. Cx divided no further, but died at the end of 



