Mi'sceUaneous. 265 



carmine are again met with in the cells of Ihe grooves which sepa- 

 rate cither the lateral ciliated hands from the median hand which is 

 provided with nematocysts, or the lateral hands from one another*. 



If nutriment tinctured with carmine is supplied in great ahund- 

 ance, not only docs the red coloration hecome more intense in the 

 regions which have just heen indicated, but we also find grains of 

 carmine in large numbers in the cells of the whole endodermic 

 lining. In !^a(^f(iriia again, contrary to the assertion of Metschni- 

 kofi', these may be easily observed in the acontia, throughout the 

 entire zone which is devoid of neraatocysts and gland-cells t. 



Moreover, identical results are obtained bj' using mussel's liver ; 

 the ycllowisli-brown coloration of the fatty globules contained in 

 the cells of this organ enables us to recognize the same progression 

 in the absorption of these droplets. The examination of sections of 

 Actinicf. which have been fed abundantly upon the fat-body of cater- 

 pillars shows, in the cells of the entire endodermic lining and in 

 those of the regions of the mesenterial filaments or of the acontia 

 which I have indicated above J, the presence of numerous fatty 

 droplets, which are often of enormous size relatively to the dimen- 

 sions of the elements which contain them. 



In the numerous fresh or prepared specimens which I have 

 examined I have never seen a particle of carmine or a fatty globule 

 in a cell of one of the three swellings M'hich enter into the compo- 

 sition of a typical mesenterial filament. 



Absorption therefore belongs in itself to the whole of the 

 endodermic lining, and if (as, for instance, when the animals were 

 supplied with nutriment stained with carmine) it appears to be more 

 evident in certain parts of the enteroids and in their neighbourhood, 

 this is due to two causes : in the first place to the fact that the zones 

 in question, being closer to the spot § at which the disaggregation of 

 the ingested matters takes place, capture the grains of carmine as 

 soon as they are set at liberty by the dissolution of their sub- 

 stratum ; those only which penetrate into the radial divisions are 

 absorbed by the general lining. In the second place it is due to 

 the existence along the enteroids of a thickening in which the more 

 elevated cells accumulate more of the carmine particles. 



The localization of the absorbent cells brings out an important 

 point in the disposition of the different tissues in the Actinia', which 

 is in relation to their nutrition and the absence of an actual circu- 

 latory system. AU the regions of the body, of however little extent, 

 include celLs in which there takes place an intra-cellular digestion 

 and the elaboration of the assimilable substances which are destined 

 for the elements in the immediate neighbourhood : the outer wall, 

 including the tentacles and the stomodfeum itself, is clothed with an 

 endodermic lining ; the swellings of the enteroids are separated by 

 bands of absorbent cells, while the acontia exhibit on one of their 



* Ibid. Taf. xxi. figs. 10 and 14. f Ihid. Taf. xvi. fig. 11. 



X These are shown in the Ilertwigs' figures as constituted by a granular 

 epithelium. 



§ The ceutrol region of the general cavity. 



