112 PARAMCECIUM, STVLONVCHIA, OXVTRICIIA less. 



appearing once more. There seems to be no doubt that the 

 water taken in with the food is collected into these canals, 

 emptied into the vacuole, and finally discharged into the 

 surrounding medium. 



The process of feeding can be very conveniently studied 

 in Paramoecium by placing in the water some finely-divided 

 carmine or indigo. When the creature comes into the 

 neighbourhood of the coloured particles, the latter are swept 

 about in various directions by the action of the cilia : some 

 of them are however certain to be swept into the neighbour- 

 hood of the buccal groove and gullet, the cilia of which all 

 work downwards, i.e. towards the inner end of the gullet. 

 The grains of carmine are thus carried into the gullet, where 

 for an instant they lie surrounded by the water of which it is 

 full : then, instantaneously, probably by the contraction of 

 the tube itself, the animalcule performs a sort of gulp, and 

 the grains with an enveloping globule of water or food-vacuole 

 are forced into the medullary protoplasm. This process is 

 repeated again and again, so that in any well-nourished 

 Paramcecium there are to be seen numerous globular spaces 

 filled with water and containing particles of food — or in the 

 present instance of carmine or indigo. At every gulp the 

 newly formed food-vacuole pushes, as it were, its predecessor 

 before it : contraction of the medullary protoplasm also takes 

 place in a definite direction, and thus a circulation of food- 

 vacuoles is produced, as indicated in Fig. 20, b, by arrows. 



After circulating in this way for some time the water of the 

 food-vacuoles is gradually absorbed, being ultimately excreted 

 by the contractile vacuoles, so that the contained particles 

 come to lie in the medulla itself (refer to figure). The circu- 

 lation still continues, until finally the particles are brought to 

 a spot situated about half-way between the mouth and the 

 posterior end of the body : here if carefully watched they 



