THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS OF THE ALCYONARIA. 3038 
cells of the ‘‘ mesoglceal plexus” could be observed without 
difficulty. The stellate cells were then seen to with- 
draw and thrust out the processes which have been 
called nerve fibres. Several cells were sketched with 
the aid of a camera lucida at intervals of from twenty minutes 
to half an hour, and in every case they were observed to be 
in an amoeboid condition, the pseudopodial processes being 
more or less numerous, long and slender in form, and fre- 
quently branched (figs. 19 and 20). 
The rapidity with which the cells change their outline varies 
‘considerably. The cell shown in fig. 19 was moving much 
more quickly than that of fig. 20. The so-called nerve fibres 
are simply the pseudopodia of the amceboid cells, which vary 
in size according to the cell’s mode and rate of progression. 
The curious stellate appearance of the cells in the preserved 
condition (fig. 15) is doubtless due to their contraction on 
fixing. 
Acting on the advice of Professor Hickson, I carried out 
the following experiments : 
Minute particles of carmine were suspended in the sea- 
water in which living colonies of Alcyonium were kept. 
For three days clouds of carmine were squirted, by means of 
a pipette, about the expanded zooids. ‘Thin free-hand sec- 
tions were then cut, and, on examination, minute particles of 
carmine were observed in an ingested condition in the endo- 
derm cells of the ventral mesenterial filaments and in the 
endoderm of the body walls of the zooids. 
It is interesting to note that the ingestion of foreign 
particles of carmine is amoeboid, and is identical in every 
respect with the ingestion of food material (fig. 9). 
The experiment was continued for seven days. After the 
fourth day carmine particles were observed, first in the cells 
of the endoderm canals, and then in the cells of the solid 
cords of endoderm in the mesoglcea. In both instances some 
of the cells containing carmine particles were seen to be in 
an amceboid condition (fig. 22a and 22b) and to thrust out 
processes into the mesoglea. 
