"ag Infisoria flagellata.s. = = «*~St*«dT'B'V 
base of the broad conical beak—a point at which, as will be. 
seen presently, the mouth is pisses 
The mouth (figs. 3,4,m) lies between the base of the fla- 
gellum (fl) and the beak, or /ip (/p), as I shall hereafter de- 
signate it, from its obvious office, presently to be described. 
A plane, therefore, drawn through the lip and the base of the 
flagellum, would also strike the mouth, and moreover form a 
continuation of that of the greater diameter of the body. This 
aperture is not visible during its closed state ; but its presence 
has been often and unmistakeably determined by seeing the: 
masses of food enter invariably at the point designated above. 
As already stated, particles are thrown with a sudden jerk, 
precisely as is done by Anthophysa Miillert, Bory (figs. 50, 51), 
and apparently with great precision, directly against the mouth 
(fig.4,m). If acceptable for food, the flagellum presses its 
base down upon the morsel, and at the same time the lip is 
thrown back (fig. 4, Jp) so as to disclose the mouth, and then 
bent over the particle as it sinks into the latter. When the 
lip has obtained a fair hold upon the food, the flagellum with- 
draws from its incumbent position and returns to its former 
rigid, watchful condition (fig. 4, #7). The process of degluti- 
tion is then carried on by the help of the lip alone, which ex- 
pands laterally until it completely overlies the particle. All 
this is done quite rapidly, in a few seconds; and then the food 
glides quickly into the depths of the body, and is enveloped in 
a digestive vacuole (d), whilst the lip assumes its usual conical 
shape and proportions. : 
The contractile vesicle (figs. 2, 3, 4, ev) is a much larger and 
far more active organ than that of Anthophysa (figs.47,48, cv). 
If we view the body from its narrower aspect (fig. 2), when it 
_ stands so that the lip (/p) is nearest the eye, the contractile 
_ vesicle (cv) appears in profile, on the left broad side, and so close 
to the surface that it seems to project beyond the general outline 
of the body. It lies in the anterior third of the broad side 
just mentioned, and close to the transverse plane which sepa- 
rates that part which contains it from the one upon which the 
lip is placed. From whichever direction, therefore, one views 
_ this organ, it will be seen to stand in an asymmetrical relation 
_ to the rest; and as it is preeminently a dominant feature, it 
_ May serve, perhaps better than any other, as a starting-point 
in determining the obliquity of the type of this infusorian, 
— and its some consonance in this respect with that of the more 
_ obviously spiral forms, such, for instance, as are exemplified 
_ by Dysteria (figs. 77, 78) and Pleuronema (figs. 75,76). It is 
_ so large and conspicuous that its globular form may be readily 
_ seen, even through the greatest diameter of the body; and it 
