The cell-body may be bounded by an ill-defined plasmatic layer in Chrysomonadaceae and some Protomastigaceae,[[118]] or it may form a plasmatic membrane or "pellicle," sometimes very firm and tough, or striated as in Euglenaceae, or it may have a separate "cuticle" (in the holophytic species formed of cellulose), or even a bivalve or multivalve shell of distinct plates, hinged or overlapping (Cryptoglena, Phacotus, Dinoflagellates). The wall of the Coccolithophoridae, a family of Chrysomonadaceae, is strengthened by embedded calcareous spicules ("coccoliths," "cyatholiths," "rhabdoliths"), which in the most complex forms (cyatholiths) are like a shirt-stud, traversed by a tube passing through the stem and opening at both ends. These organisms[[119]] constitute a large proportion of the plankton; the spicules isolated, or in their original state of aggregation ("coccospheres," "rhabdospheres"), enter largely into the composition of deep-sea calcareous oozes. They occur fossil from Cambrian times (Potsdam sandstone of Michigan and Canada), and are in some strata extremely abundant, 800,000 occurring to the mm. cube in an Eocene marl.
The Silicoflagellates have siliceous skeletons resembling that of many Radiolaria, to which they were referred until the living organism was described (see pp. [79], [86] f.).
The flagellum has been shown by Fischer to have one of two forms: either it is whip-like, the stick, alone visible in the fresh specimen, being seen when stained to be continued into a long lash, hitherto invisible; or the whole length is fringed with fine ciliiform lateral outgrowths. If single it is almost always protruded as a tugging organ ("tractellum");[[120]] the chief exceptions are the Craspedomonads, where it is posterior and acts as a scull ("pulsellum"), and some Dinoflagellates, where it is reversible in action or posterior. In addition to the anterior flagellum there may be one or more posterior ones, which trail behind as sense organs, or may anchor the cell by their tips. Dallingeria has two of these, and Bodo saltans a single anterior anchoring lash, by which they spring up and down against the organic débris among which they live, and disintegrate it. The numerous similar long flagella of the Trichonymphidae afford a transition in the genus Pyrsonympha to the short abundant cilia of Opalina, usually referred to the Ciliate Infusoria.
An undulating membrane occurs, sometimes passing into the flagellum in certain genera, all parasitic, such as Trypanosoma (incl. Herpetomonas), Trichomonas, Hexamitus, and Dinenympha.
In some cases the flagellum (or flagella) is inserted into a definite pit, which in allied forms is the mouth-opening. The contractile vacuole is present in the fresh-water forms, but not in all the marine ones, nor in the endoparasites. It may be single or surrounded by a ring of minute "formative" vacuoles or discharge into a permanently visible "reservoir." This again may discharge directly to the surface or through the pit or canal in which the flagellum takes origin (Euglena).
The "chromatophore" may be a single or double plate, or multiple.[[121]] In the peculiar form Paramoeba the chromatophore may degenerate and be reproduced anew. It often encloses rounded or polygonal granules of uncoloured plasma, very refractive, known as "pyrenoids." These, like the chromatophores, multiply by direct fission. The "reserves" may be (1) fat-globules; (2) granules of a possibly proteid substance termed "leucosin"; (3) a carbohydrate termed "paramylum," differing slightly from starch (see p. [95]); (4) true starch, which is usually deposited in minute granules to form an investment for the pyrenoid when such is present.
A strongly staining granule is usually present in the plasma near the base of the flagellum. This we may term a "blepharoplast" or a "centrosome" in the wider sense.
Fission is usually longitudinal in the active state; a few exceptions are recorded. Encystment is not uncommon; and in the coloured forms the cyst-wall is of cellulose. Division in the cyst is usually multiple;[[122]] in the coloured forms, however, vegetative growth often alternates with division, giving rise to plant-like bodies. Polytoma and other Chlamydomonadidae multiply by "brood-formation" in the active state; the blepharoplast, as Dangeard suggests, persisting to continue the motion of the flagella of the parent, while the rest of the plasm divides to form the brood. Conjugation has been observed in many species. In some species of Chlamydomonas it takes place after one or both of the two cells have come to rest, but in most cases it occurs between active cells. We find every transition between equal unions and differentiated sexual unions, as we shall see in discussing the Volvocaceae.[[123]] The "coupled-cell" differs in behaviour in the different groups, but almost always goes to rest and encysts at once, whatever it may do afterwards.
The life-history of many Flagellates has been successfully studied by various observers, and has shed a flood of light on many of the processes of living beings that were hitherto obscure. The first studies were carried through by the patient labours of Drysdale and Dallinger. A delicate mechanical stage enabled the observer to keep in the field of view a single Flagellate, and, when it divided into two, to follow up one of the products. A binocular eye-piece saved much fatigue, and enabled the observers to exchange places without losing sight of the special Flagellate under observation; for the one who came to relieve would put one eye to the instrument and recognise the individual Flagellate under view as he passed his hand round to the mechanism of the stage before the first watcher finally relinquished his place at the end of the spell of work. Spoon-feeding by Mrs. Dallinger enabled such shifts to be prolonged, the longest being one of nine hours by Dr. Dallinger.
