On the Possibility of Indefinite Reproduction in the Ciliate Didinium without Conjugation or Endomixis

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Abstract
A pure line of D. nasutum was cultured under adequate and favorable environmental conditions for 1,384 generations in the absence of both conjugation and endomixis. At the end of the experiment the animals were fully as vigorous in reference to fission rate, death-rate and encystment rate as at the beginning of culture, and quite normal as regards structural details. The evidence indicates that neither conjugation nor endomixis is indispensable for the maintenance of vitality in Didinium, and that Didinium is capable of indefinite reproduction without recourse to either of these processes, provided adequate cultural conditions are at hand.