224 CILIATE FIBRILLAR SYSTEMS 



could be silver impregnated but apparently were not in contact with the 

 basal granules. 



The thesis that ail fibrils of all ciliates are only supportive in function 

 is, of course, not tenable. One would at once except myonemes. But why 

 limit the exceptions to myonemes.'' If, in the eons of time, protoplasmic 

 fibrils have become difi^erentiated so as to facilitate contractility in 

 protistan organisms, who can deny them the capacity to have become 

 differentiated also to facilitate conductivity or some other function in 

 these unicellular forms of life? All our assumptions should be both 

 plausible and reasonable assumptions, the validity of which may, in the 

 last analysis, be demonstrated only by experiment. 



In conformity with the less specialized differentiation of its motor 

 organelles, the fibrillar system of Paramecium is also relatively less 

 specialized, as compared with those of the other three representative 

 ciliates reviewed in foregoing paragraphs. 



From the accounts especially of Schuberg (1905), von Gelei (1925- 

 31), and Lund (1933), it appears that two separate and distinct com- 

 plexes have been described in the literature, which may be represented 

 by the outer fibrillar complex of von Gelei and of Klein (1926-32), 

 and by their inner fibrillar complex. For these latter authors, both com- 

 plexes are subpelUcular. 



According to Schuberg (1905) and Lund (1933), however, the 

 above-mentioned outer fibrillar complex is not subpellicular, but actually 

 represents the polygonal pattern of the pellicle itself. Lund emphasizes 

 the fact, therefore, that the essential fibrillar system of Paratnecium is 

 exclusively the complex which is associated with the basal granules of 

 the entire motor mechanism, including the cilia of the mouth, cyto- 

 pharynx, and cytoesophagus, as well as the body cilia. Lund's fibrillar 

 system would essentially include, therefore, the inner fibrillar complex 

 of von Gelei and of Klein. 



The discrepancies just noted in the structural interpretations of 

 Paramecium's fibrillar system are obviously crucial, since they go hand 

 in hand with discrepancies in the functional interpretations of that 

 system. This holds, of course, not only for the investigators cited above, 

 but for various others also. 



Referring now to these diverse functional interpretations, Schuberg 

 (1905) suggested that the fibrils connecting the basal granules, such as 



