86 THE VITAL FUNCTIONS. 



exhibits the representation given by him of the 

 Leucophra patula, with a few of its stomachs filled 

 w ith the opaque particles ; and Fig. 256 shows the 

 whole series of organs, as he conceives they would 

 appear if they could be taken out of the body, and 

 placed in the same relative situation with the eye 

 of the observer as they are in the first figure. In 

 some species, from one to two hundred of these 

 globules may be counted, connected with the in- 

 testinal tube. Many of the larger species, as the 

 Ilydatina senta,^ exhibit a greater concentration of 

 organs, having only a single oval cavity of con- 

 siderable size, situated in the fore part of the body. 

 In the Rotifer vulgaris^ the alimentary canal is 

 stated to be a slender tube, considerably dilated 

 near its termination. In some Vorticellce, the 

 intestine, from which proceed numerous caeca, 

 appears to make a complete circular turn, ending 

 close to its commencement : Ehrenberg forms of 

 these the tribe of Ci/cIocceIu, of which the Vorticella 

 citrina, and the Stentor polymorphus, are examples. 

 The accuracy of these conclusions of Ehrenberg 

 with regard to the existence of an intestinal tube, 

 with accompanying csecal appendages, has been 

 called in question by many able observers. Du- 

 jardin, in particular, denies the permanence of 

 those cells which Ehrenberg has regarded as 

 stomachs ; and maintains that they are cavities 

 arising spontaneously in the gelatinous substance 

 of the animal, to which he gives the name of 

 sarcode.^ Professor Rymer Jones was unable, not- 

 withstanding the most patient and long-continued 



* Vorticella senta. Muller. 



t Ann. cles Sc. Nat. serie 2, iv. 367, et seq. and x. 258, 272, &c. 





