30 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
under the microscope showed that the funnels were actually choked up by the excess 
of carmine, sometimes being almost buried in it. After a few hours these dark-red lines 
became less prominent and in a few days they generally were completely obliterated. 
Microscopic examination of the various stages showed plainly that the ciliated 
funuelswere very closely concerned with this change, and that with the disappearance 
of the carmine from the body cavity the reddish-brown granules appeared in the 
connective tissue. In spite of careful study and long search I was never able to dis- 
cover a grain of carmine or one of the granules actually in the stalk of the funnel, 
yet in some way the carmine must pass from the inside of the funnel into the body 
wall. Since it is an undoubted fact that the stalk of the funnels is solid and not a 
tube, the only way by which particles could be conveyed from the cavity of the funnel 
into the connective tissue would be by means of “wandering cells,” and I believe that 
is the process which actually goes on. Semon’s (’87) view of the funnels, as “grosse 
und complicirt gebaute Lymphstomata der Leibesholhe,” seems to me a correct one, 
and I believe they perform their excretory function not only by sweeping up and 
collecting the waste matter in the body-cavitv fluid, but also, as Semon suggests, by 
acting as starting points for the movement of ‘-phagocytic” wandering cells which 
destroy or carry into the connective tissue of the body the waste matter collected 
by the funnels. It seems to me that in view of these facts the ciliated funnels are 
evidently associated with the function of excretion and it is proper to regard them as 
excretory organs. Cuenot (’91) considers that their function is to keep up currents in 
the body-cavity fluid, but every movement of the animal starts new currents so that 
special organs for that purpose would be superfluous. 
A number of experiments were made to test the tenacity of life and the possi- 
bility of regeneration in synaptas, and the results show that inhcerens is not a very 
sensitive animal. If an individual is cut in two the anterior end will live and grow 
as well apparently as any normal specimen, but the posterior end will only live for a 
few hours, or perhaps a day. So far as I could see, the only reason for its death was 
its inability to take in food ; and I am inclined to think that if food could be provided 
the posterior half would live as well as the anterior. It seemed to make no difference 
whether the bisection occurred near to the head or far from it; the head always lived, 
and in the course of two weeks would show perceptible signs of growth. All that 
seemed to be necessary was the mouth and a small part of the digestive tract. That 
it was not the tentacles which were essential was shown by the fact that synaptas 
lived all right without them. Two or more tentacles were cut from a number of syn- 
aptas — in two cases every one being removed — yet they all lived and burrowed in the 
sand with more or less ease; and not only did they live, but regeneration began at 
once, so that in two weeks the new tentacles were large enough to bear a digit on 
each side. At first I thought the nerve ring was the essential part, but that seems to 
be doubtful, for the nerve ring was carefully and completely severed in a synapta 
without apparently causing any inconvenience. In other specimens it was cut in two 
or even three places, but with the same result. In no case were any serious effects 
shown, and the animals lived and burrowed in the sand with apparently as much ease 
as ever. I made no microscopical examination to show whether the nerve ends 
reunited or not, but the cuts apparently healed in a short time. The most striking- 
fact was that with the cutting of the nerve ring there was not the least evidence of 
any lack of coordination in the movements of the tentacles, nor of the muscles of the 
body. 
