428 MR. P. H. GOSSE ON THE STRUCTURE, FUNCTIONS, AND HOMOLOGIES 
quite sufficient to grasp it. At length the animal appeared indignant; the jaws no 
more endeavoured to grasp, but, with a very distinct and sudden upward jerk, threw 
out the prey, which until then had been retained and pressed downwards by the 
contraction of the sides of the hiiccal funnel. Several times I saw this scene occur, 
with the same violent efforts, and the same ill success. A smaller Syncrypta, how- 
ever, was bruised down by the jaws, while under my eye, and passed quickly into the 
stomach. 
33. This incident I have described with some minuteness, not only as illustrating 
the particular movement in question, but also because of its bearing upon the gene- 
ral functions of the organs under review — the prehension and rnanducation of food. 
And it may be well, before I notice the modifications of the mastax in other forms, 
to say a few words on the structure and functions of the buccal funnel, and of some 
other contiguous organs. 
34. The broad vibratile disk of Brachionus is deeply cleft at its mental edge, the 
incision reaching down to the summit of the mastax. The sides of the cleft can be 
brought into contact ; and hence the structure is visible only at certain times, as 
when food is taken in. But the interior is a wide infundibuliform cavity, narrowing 
to a slender tube at its lower extremity, where its sides merge into the parietes of the 
mastax. This is the cavity which I have called the buccal funnel. 
35. In Brachionus amphiceros the strong setiform cilia of the disk-lobes overarch 
the incision ; and its upper edges, for a short distance downward, are irregularly 
jagged or crenated. In other species, as B. Bakeri and B. dorcas, the margins are 
smooth. In every case, however, the interior surface of the funnel is set with fine 
cilia, and currents, or ciliary waves, may constantly be seen pouring down the tube. 
36. The sides of the funnel, in all cases, are formed of irregular bulbous masses of 
transparent flesh, which may be presumed to be muscular. Those masses which 
encircle the rim are usually large, and more regular. The parts are very flexible and 
mobile. The tube can be quite closed by the contact of its walls, even while the 
upper part of the funnel remains expanded ; in B. Bakeri I have seen a globose mass 
occasionally pushed up from behind the tube to a considerable distance up the funnel, 
and presently retracted. It may be that some function analogous to taste is exer- 
cised by this organ. 
37 . Attached to the tube of the funnel, resting on the summit of the mastax, are 
seated a pair of large, clear, vesicular organs (see fig. 9, w), which, from their appear- 
ance and their situation, may be assumed to be salivary glands. In Brachionus they 
are of great size, and are generally two- or three-lobed. In Asplanchna (fig. 56), 
also, they are very large, and kidney-shaped. In the genera Euchlanis (fig. 12) and 
Anurcea, similar, and probably homologous vesicles are seated on the oesophagus, just 
below its exit from the mastax. 
38. The tube of the buccal funnel (m) invariably opens upon the spot where the 
unci meet. The particles of food, or the minute animalcules, which form the prey of 
