80 THE BEHAVIOR OF PROTOZOA 
cilia which causes a backward movement. This is followed 
by a turning to one side, the oral in this case, after which 
Loxophyllum swims forward in a different direction. The 
performance is repeated time after time, and the infusorian 
is kept circling about in the same region, for, it may be, 
several hours. In this species there is a regular association 
between the elongation of the body and the backward strokes 
of the cilia, and between the contraction of the body and the 
reversed beat of the cilia, an association which is preserved 
even in the movements of small fragments of the body. 
If Loxophyllum is cut into several pieces these pieces may 
swim in a spiral course or glide over the surface of objects 
much like the entire organism. When they go forward 
they become narrow and elongated and when they swim 
backward they become shorter and wider, and they perform 
these movements in regular alternation, at the same time 
circling slowly toward the oral side. The factors which 
determine the peculiar traits of behavior in this species seem 
to be present in all parts of the body, for no matter how minute 
the fragments into which the organism is divided the action 
of the parts, so far as physical conditions permit, is the same. 
Habitual contact with solid objects seems to have been the 
cause of the development in Loxophyllum of some features of 
behavior not found in other swimming infusoria. There 
are small bendings of the sensitive anterior end in various 
directions as if it were feeling its way along. There are 
undulations of the margin and bendings and twistings 
of the whole body. The food-taking movements as described 
by Oelzelt-Newin are quite complex and involve a number 
of codrdinated acts. The organism glides over its food 
and when the large slit-like mouth is in the proper position 
the lips, which are usually tightly closed, open and begin a 
series of spreading movements which result in engulfing 
