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 coordinated 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 



