In 8° C. paramecia revolve once while swimming 3.6 body lengths.
In 8° C. euglenas revolve once while swimming ¼ to 2 body lengths.
The effect of decreased temperature is therefore to retard forward movement and to increase proportionally the number of spiral turns, for a revolution of the body on the long axis is the equivalent of one turn in the spiral path. It will be recalled that a similar result was obtained with amebas; in the lower temperature the rate of forward movement was reduced and the tendency to deepen the waves increased. In both these classes of organisms, differences in temperature enable one to separate the forward movement component from the spiral component, in the same way and in general to the same extent.
In clear water of optimum temperature or somewhere near it, paramecia and euglena (Euglena gracilis, which does not readily react to light) often swim for long stretches without change of direction. When the temperature is lowered, however, the stretches of straight paths become much shorter. In a temperature of 8° C. changes of direction become very frequent. In paramecium some of these changes are probably due to shock of some sort, judging from mere appearance; but in many cases the change of direction is preceded by a slowing up of forward movement and the swinging of the anterior end in a wide circle one or more times around. Occasionally one observes slow forward movement with wide swinging of the anterior end, for considerable distances. In euglena this condition is more marked than in paramecium; frequently the anterior end spins around with the posterior end as a pivot for several minutes at a time, in low temperatures.
These observations are strikingly analogous to the circles formed in the paths of amebas in low temperatures, and geometrically they bear the same relation to the spiral paths of ciliates and flagellates as the circles do to the wavy path of the ameba.
Besides the effect of temperature on paramecium and euglena, effects which are continuous and automatic, it is of course well known that the spiral path may be readily broken into by appropriate stimulation of the sense organs. The automatic locomotory mechanism is then for the time being controlled with reference to the character of the stimulus and the experience of the organism. But as soon as the effect of the stimulus has disappeared, the automatic mechanism again controls locomotion.
Sense organs of orientation, including organs of equilibration, break in upon the spiral mechanism controlling direction of movement, and eliminate its effect. It thus happens that no animals with image-forming eyes or equilibrating organs move in spirals in three-dimensional space when these organs are functional. Conversely, animals without image-forming eyes or equilibrating organs move in spiral paths. In addition to the ciliates, flagellates, protophyta, swarm spores and zoöspores of algae and fungi, Oscillatoriaceae and rotifers, may also be mentioned the larvae of many worms, echinoderms and molluscs. All these are within the grip of the spiral urge. The grip is indeed slight, as we have seen, but in the absence of stimulation it is none the less absolute.
The movements of none of the animals in the higher groups have been studied in any detail. Excepting the movements of some of the ciliates, flagellates, amebas, rotifers, a few scattered protophyta and swarm spores our knowledge of the movements of spiral swimming organisms is of the most casual and fragmentary sort. Nothing beyond the mere fact that these organisms describe some kind of a spiral swimming, is known.
