706 
The chyle from this cell is carried into the wall of the intestine by 
means of pseudopodia. We have here a peculiar kind of parenchy- 
matous nourishment, which in such a form has never been described 
in any other animal. I have examined the structure of the intestinal 
canal in Salpa africana, and to my astonishment I found a very simi- 
lar condition. When a section is made through the oesophagus of 
Salpa, we find on one side the epithelium cylindrical and beset with 
cilia, but on the other side a different condition, characteristic through- 
out. All along the base of the cell-layer, when the nuclei are to be 
seen, one can easily distinguish the boundaries of the cells; but nearer 
the lumen of the oesophagus the elements lose their individuality and 
form a common plasma mass, in which are distributed vacuoles of 
different sizes. A lumen exists in this portion of the intestine. A 
peculiar change which is to be seen here only on one side, gra- 
dually extends itself in the direction of the stomach over to the other 
side: then follows what is most important, a complete obliteration of 
the lumen, the only indication of which is a stripe. On one side the 
faint contours of the cells may be seen still forming rows; the nuclei 
are arranged closely together, each nucleus having its own distinet 
area of protoplasm; but on the other side the cellular elements have 
entirely lost their individuality, the nuclei stand completely isolated 
and vacuoles are found even up to the cell membrane. (Membrana 
propria of the stomach). We have here to do with a true plasmodium. 
In the interior, cells are scattered which are entirely defined from their 
surrounding. These are analogous to the great stomach cell of Anchinia. 
To grasp the fact physiologically, we must ascribe to Salpa africana a 
parenchymatous digestion. It is possible that the same thing occurs 
in other Tunicates. As is known we find this kind of digestion only 
in the lower organisms and for that reason we have in our case oc- 
casion to question the high genetic place to which the Tunicates have 
been ascribed. « 
Now the phenomenon of intracellular digestion is not un uncom- 
mon one among animals, being readily observed in the endoderm cells 
of Plumularia and Hydra, but by far the majority of cases in which 
it has been noted, have occurred in mesodermic tissues; whether in 
sponges, the larvae of Echinoderms and Ascidians, or in the amoe- 
boid blood-corpuscles, connective tissue and lymph cells of higher 
Metozoans. Such a form as Korotneff describes in the above extract 
has however never been met with, and his description stands alone and 
anomalous, both as regards the situation and size of the digestive plas- 
-modium, and :as to the method of its formation. For in all cases in 
which such structures are found in invertebrates, they have always 
