1923] Swezij: Pseudopodial Method of Feeding 399 



The flagella do not seem to take any part in the capture of food 

 bodies, though it may be that particles becoming entangled in the 

 flagella are more easily captured by the ectoplasm. When contact 

 has been made the same procedure follows as in Leidyopsis, the body 

 often becoming distorted in its attempts to take in disproportionately 

 large pieces (fig. 14). 



The relatively large amount of food material used by these 

 flagellates may be directly proportioned to their activities, since these 

 exceed, in energy expended in meeting the impact of their environ- 

 ment, the activity of any other forms known to the writer. More 

 remarkable is the method of feeding, since they are flagellates which 

 combine the highest degree of ectoplasmic development to be found 

 in the Protozoa, covering with the cilia-like flagella from one-third 

 to two-thirds or more of the body surface, with the thin mobile ecto- 

 plasm characteristic of the Rhizopoda over the remaining portion of 

 the body. The degree of development of the anterior part of the 

 body is undoubtedly the result of environmental conditions (Kofoid, 

 1923) and, in the absence of a c>i:ostome anteriorly, the amoeba-like 

 ingesting of food at the posterior end seems also to be the result of 

 the same factors. 



SUMMARY 



Triehonymphid flagellates parasitic in the digestive tract of wood- 

 eating termites do not feed by means of their abundant anterior 

 flagella, nor by means of an anterior gullet as proposed by Kent 

 (1884), nor at any point on the flagellated area a.s suggested by Porter 

 (1897), but by means of pseudopodia formed on the posterior region 

 of the body. These pseudopodia are peculiary adhesive, clinging to 

 the particle of wood which they touch, and slowly creeping out over 

 these particles until they completely engulf them. Particles double 

 the diameter of the body may be engulfed. 



Zoological Laboratory, 



University of CALiroRNiA. 



Transmitted May 1, 1923. 



