164 



after there is; so then the carmine, the green algae and the 

 detritus are together within it. Now the vacuole is going to pro- 

 trude far into the canal (Fig. 76a) ; it is even pushed forward, so 

 to say, on a broad stem. All at once — one does not see how — 

 the very thin vacuole wall disappears at the side of the canal, some 

 small carmine grains begin to loosen from the conglomerate, move 

 to and fro, and all of a sudden they rim off; next some green 

 algae do the same (Fig. 76 b); and at last the large conglom.erate, 

 moves a little to and fro, as if it were still kept back — • then sud- 

 denly it runs off through the canal! 



So one sees that here there is no question of the feces being 

 ejected together with the lodging cell, as Masterman says; the 

 cell, or 'whatever this apparently undifferentiated plasma may be, 

 simply stays behind in the wall. I have observed this phenomenon 

 of defecation several times in the same way. 



Let us now attentively examine such a feces conglomerate 

 before it is ejected. So it is in the apparently undifferentiated 

 plasmic substance within the tissue. Later on I shall speak about 

 this plasmic substance. Often no vacuole is to be seen around the 

 conglomerate at first ; this only appears later on and then increases 

 rapidly. One can also observe how, from all sides, small feces- 

 particles (being within vacuoles or not) are carried on to the large 

 conglomerate (also being within a vacuole or not) and are united 

 with it. In the mean time the conglomerate is continually carried 

 along in the tissue by the plasmic substance over considerable 

 distances, so that for instance it happens but too often, that it 

 escapes to our sight by disappearing into deeper tissue-layers. In 

 the same way one can see a conglomerate — then always within 

 a vacuole — moving repeatedly from one canal to the other; 

 while the vacuole often protrudes so far into the canal, that one 

 thinks it will burst; but it withdraws again entirely into the tis- 

 sue and goes to another canal, to repeat the same. A remarkable 

 sight, which I want to describe somewhat more at large. 



A normally living microscopic preparation of sponge tissue, 

 which has first been in carmine suspension and afterwards in 

 pure water. A large carmine conglomerate lies again in an ap- 



