SYNOPSIS. The fine structure of Trichomonas gallinae has been examined by electron microscopy and correlated with previous light microscope observations. A composite diagram of the flagellate, derived from both types of examination, is presented. Details of relationships of various mastigont organelles are documented by electron micrographs. The extent of the pelta and its connection to the capitulum of the axostyle have been determined. Four types of kinetosome rootlets have been described. One consists of superficial “filaments” radiating from each of the 9 triplet microtubules of kinetosomes #1, #2 and #3. A 2nd type of rootlet structure is represented by single comma‐shaped filaments emerging clockwise from kinetosomes #1 and #3. The filament from kinetosome #1 has a periodic structure similar to that of the marginal lamella with which it is believed to connect. A 3rd type of rootlet emerges from kinetosome #2 as a sheet of about 9 filaments which traverse a sigmoid course and terminate on the inner surface of the microtubules of the pelta near the peltar‐axostylar junction. The 4th set of structures consists of the costa and parabasal filaments. These structures have major periodicities of similar dimension but have readily differentiable repeating units. The costa appears to originate at the kinetosome of the recurrent flagellum, but its origin is also contiguous with that of parabasal filament 2 which has some continuity with kinetosomes #2 and #3. Parabasal filament 1, on the other hand, arises solely from or near kinetosome #2. Occasional observations of a costa and a parabasal filament in juxtaposition over a great part of their length has led to the suggestion that the parabasal filament may play a role in the development of the costa. Periodic and filamentous structures have been observed in paraxostylar and paracostal granules and in nearby cytoplasm. Their possible role in providing substance for the developing axostyle and the costa is discussed. The results are discussed in the light of available information pertaining to structure of various trichomonad species as revealed by light and electron microscopy.

SYNOPSIS. A study of the ectoplasm and infraciliature of Spirostomum ambiguum has been made with light and electron microscopy. Proceeding from the exterior, the cortex is described as the highly structured ectoplasmic portion of Spirostomum consisting of ectoplasmic ridge components and ectoplasmic furrow components. The pellicle invests the ectoplasmic ridges, ectoplasmic furrows, cilia, and adoral membranelles. Electron micrographs show that the cell surface is bounded by two membranes, for the most part parallel. The outer one is continuous with the unit membrane of each cilium; the course of the inner membrane has not been determined in areas bearing cilia. The ridge components are: (i) a collection of fibrils called peripheral ectomyonemes, situated beneath the inner membrane of the cell surface, oriented parallel with the organism's longitudinal axis and following the peripheral contours of each ridge; (ii) distinct rows of tubular fibrils which form a longitudinal bundle called lateral ectomyonemes, situated in the lower portion of each ridge and oriented parallel to its spiral course; (iii) cytoplasmic matrix suspending and surrounding components (i) and (ii). Mitochondria and unidentified electron‐opaque oval‐shaped or round bodies called X‐bodies are dispersed in the ectoplasmic ridges but they also occur in the endoplasm; therefore, they are considered to be transient inclusions instead of constituents of the ridges. The furrow components are: (i) the body cilia and adoral membranelles; (ii) the kinetosomes; (iii) root fibrils, called kinetodesmal strands, of the adoral membranelles; (iv) cytoplasmic matrix suspending and surrounding the furrow components. A trabecular band of randomly oriented filaments, called the endomyoneme is described as possibly the structure called M‐band by Randall and Jackson, 1958, and contractile fibrillar system by Yagiu and Shigenaka, 1963. It is suggested that collections of distinct fibrils in Spirostomum be called fibrillar complexes. Acceptance of this suggestion will lead to the designation of four distinct fibrillar complexes in heterotrichs; all four complexes have been described or mentioned in previous studies. Some findings of previous investigators are discussed and confirmed (especially pertaining to Randall and Jackson, also Yagiu and Shigenaka, cited above). Inferences from these independently derived findings are discussed.

SYNOPSIS. Tritrichomonas foetus shares many fine‐structural features with the previously described genera of the subfamily Trichomonadinae. These include the arrangement and structure of the kinetosomes, of most rootlet filaments, including the sigmoid filaments of kinetosome #2, as well as those of the parabasal apparatus and of the pelta‐axostyle complex. On the other hand, this species, and presumably all other Tritrichomonas augusta‐type flagellates, differ from Trichomonadinae in certain important details. Among the features which T. foetus does not share with Trichomonadinae are the fine structure of the costa and of the undulating membrane, as well as several organelles not found in the latter subfamily. The costal base of Trichomonadinae is replaced in T. foetus and other Tritrichomonadinae by a comb‐like structure, extending between the costa and the infrakinetosomal body. The suprakinetosomal body, connected to kinetosome #2 in the region of attachment of the sigmoid filaments, and the infrakinetosomal body, which appears to contribute to the proximal marginal lamella, are organelles evidently restricted to Tritrichomonadinae. The undulating membrane consists of 2 parts. The proximal part is a fold‐like differentiation of the dorsal body surface, the dorsal part of which contains the proximal marginal lamella. The distal part of the undulating membrane, with no obvious physical connection to the fold, encloses the distal marginal lamella in its ventral, and the microtubules of the recurrent flagellum in its dorsal area. The organelle of T. foetus which by its size, certain structural characteristics, and relationship with the undulating membrane and some organelles, including the paracostal granules, is analogous to the costa of Trichomonadinae and of Trichomitopsis termopsidis (subfamily Tritrichomonadinae), conforms in the structure of its periodic cross‐striations to that of the parabasal filaments of the latter organisms; its origin corresponds closely to that of parabasal filament 2 of Trichomonadinae.