That there is a remarkable, if superficial, resemblance both as regards
the form of the zooecium and as regards the method of growth between
_Hislopia_ and certain cheilostomes cannot be denied, but the structure
of the orifice and indeed of the whole organism is that of a ctenostome
and the resemblance must be regarded as an instance of convergence
rather than of genetic relationship.
The most striking feature of the polypide of _Hislopia_ is its gizzard
(fig. 38, p. 201) which is perhaps unique (except for that of
_Arachnoidea_) both in structure and function. In structure its
peculiarities reside mainly in three particulars: (i), it is not
constricted off directly from the thin-walled oesophageal tube, but
possesses at its upper extremity a thick-walled tubular portion which
can be entirely closed from the oesophagus at its upper end but always
remains in communication with the spherical part of the gizzard; (ii),
this spherical part of the gizzard is uniformly lined with a thick
chitinous or horny layer which in optical section has the appearance of
a pair of ridges; and (iii), there is a ring of long and very powerful
cilia round the passage from the gizzard to the stomach. The cardiac
limb of the stomach, which is large and heart-shaped, is obsolete. The
wall of the spherical part of the gizzard consists of two layers of
cells, an outer muscular layer consisting of powerful circular muscles
and an inner glandular layer, which secretes the chitinous lining. The
inner walls of the tubular part consist of non-ciliated columnar cells,
and when the polypide is retracted it lies almost at right angles to the
main axis of the zooecium.
The spherical part of the gizzard invariably contains a number of green
cells, which lie free in the liquid it holds and are kept in motion by
the cilia at its lower aperture. The majority of these cells can be seen
with the aid of a high power of the microscope to consist of a hard
spherical coat or cyst containing green protoplasm in which a spherical
mass of denser substance (the nucleus) and a number of minute
transparent granules can sometimes be detected. The external surface of
many of the cysts is covered with similar granules, but some are quite
clean.
There can be no doubt that these cysts represent a stage in the
life-history of some minute unicellular plant or animal. Indeed,
although it has not yet been found possible to work out this
life-history in detail, I have been able to obtain much evidence that
they are the resting stage of a flagellate organism allied to _Euglena_
which is swallowed by the polyzoon and becomes encysted in its gizzard,
extruding in so doing from its external surface a large proportion of
the food-material that it has stored up within itself in the form of
transparent granules. It may also be stated that some of the organisms
die and disintegrate on being received into the gizzard, instead of
encysting themselves.
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