Its body is elongated and outwardly resembles a boat shoe: the anterior end is narrower, the greatest width is in the posterior third. The posterior end is somewhat pointed and covered with long cilia. On the side of the body, conditionally called the abdominal, a deep groove protrudes inside - this is a perioral recess - a peristome, in the back of which there is a mouth opening leading to the pharynx. The cilia on the walls of the peristome are longer; this is a kind of trapping apparatus that drives the food of the ciliate into the mouth opening. Cilia create a continuous flow of water, with which small food particles - mainly bacteria - penetrate through the mouth into a short pharynx and accumulate at the bottom. Together with a small amount of liquid, food particles break away from the bottom of the pharynx and enter the cytoplasm, forming a digestive vacuole, which, separated from the pharynx, makes a regular path in the body of the ciliate, which takes about one hour. The digestive vacuole first moves towards the posterior end of the body and, having described a small arc, returns to the anterior end. From here, it describes an already closed arc along the periphery of the body. At this time, digestive enzymes enter the vacuole, and the digested food is absorbed into the cytoplasm. The path of the digestive vacuole ends with a powder - a certain place where undigested residues are thrown out.

The slipper can be considered one of the most voracious animals: it feeds continuously, its mouth opening is always open and the flow of food particles into the mouth does not stop. This process stops only during periods of reproduction.

The entire body of the ciliate is covered with cilia, there are about 10-15 thousand of them. They constantly make coordinated paddle-like movements, due to which the animal moves all the time. The speed of movement is 2-2.5 mm / s, i.e. in a second, a shoe runs a distance exceeding the length of its body by 10-15 times. When moving forward, the animal also rotates along the longitudinal axis of the body.

Under the shell, in the outer layer of the cytoplasm near the shoe, there are numerous short formations resembling sticks - trichocysts. This is an amazing protective device. With any strong irritation, the ciliate throws out the trichocysts, they turn into thin long threads and infect the predator attacking the shoe. Trichocysts are located between the cilia, they are as numerous as the latter, so they represent a powerful defense. In place of the “shot” trichocysts, new ones are formed.

The movement of ciliates shoes

The shoe, like all living organisms, reacts to changes in the external environment by changing the direction of movement. If a piece of bacterial film is placed in a drop of water where the shoes are floating, then all the protozoa gather near it, since the bacteria secrete into the water various substances, which signal to ciliates about the presence of food in this place. If you put a crystal of table salt in a drop, then the shoes float away from this unfavorable factor. Protozoa behave very interestingly under the influence of electric current. If a weak electric current is passed through the liquid where these animals swim, all the shoes line up along the current line, and then, as if on command, they begin to move towards the cathode, where they accumulate.

Reproduction of infusoria shoes

With good nutrition, shoes multiply quickly. Cultivated artificially in cages, they give a mass of 20 to 104 grams per cubic meter. Even a one-time introduction of a suspension of these ciliates into fish ponds at the rate of 5-10 grams per tenth of a hectare increases the survival rate of fry from 50 to 67%. Under experimental conditions, it is possible to obtain a density of ciliates of shoes up to 50 thousand individuals per cubic centimeter, that is, 50 million individuals per cubic meter.

The conducted biochemical analysis shows that the ciliates wet weight protein contains all the necessary amino acids, i.e. It is of high quality and is close in composition to casein. Tasting the dry mass of ciliates showed that the taste of these protozoa resembles the taste of dried cottage cheese or chicken meat.

Features of ciliates shoes

Ciliates are even amenable to "training". Scientists have put interesting experience. When the shoe, which was in the dark, crossed the border between light and dark, it received a blow. electric shock. The animal reacted to this by momentarily stopping and turning back. Already after 45 minutes of training, ciliates on the border between darkness and light were sharply turned back, without waiting for an electric shock. It is possible to develop in ciliates and reactions of getting used to any constant stimuli, for example, to vibration. Such acquired reactions were stored in the "memory" of the shoes from 8 minutes to 1.5 hours. Such experiments show that infusoria can accumulate individual experience during their life, which, of course, is an adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Recall that ciliates are unicellular animals that do not have nervous system and even any cell organelles similar to it. Memory in this case is apparently formed due to purely molecular interactions.

Infusoria shoes have a very subtle chemical sense. They distinguish thousandths of a percent of dissolved salts and acids in water and millionths of a percent of toxic substances contained and heavy metals. Therefore, laboratories often use ciliates to detect certain impurities in water.

Shoes, when possible, choose certain favorable temperature conditions. If they are placed in a tube with water, where the temperature is 35 degrees at one end and 15 degrees at the other, then the shoes are collected in a zone of 24-26 degrees that is favorable for them.

In nature, shoes live in small freshwater reservoirs. These ciliates are very easy to breed in an aquarium if you fill a bunch of ordinary hay with pond water. In such tinctures, many ciliates develop, including relatives of the shoe - trumpeter ciliates.

Covered with cilia, including infusoria-shoe 0.1-0.3 mm long. The ciliate-shoe has a constant elongated shape (resembling a tiny shoe) with a blunt anterior end and a pointed posterior end.

Structure

The unicellular body of the ciliate shoe (Fig. 20, 21) is covered on the outside with a plasma membrane, under which it is surrounded by a thin and flexible pellicle. Cilia cover the entire surface of the body of the shoe. They are located along the body in oblique rows, like a screw thread. Such their arrangement leads to the rotation of the body around the longitudinal axis when moving. On the surface of the body there are openings leading to spindle-shaped formations - trichocysts, located in the pellicle. In case of danger and to hold prey through these holes, trichocysts are ejected, resembling thin pointed arrows.

The shoe floats thanks to the coordinated movements of the cilia, one after the other making rhythmic strokes from the front end to the back. At the same time, it seems to be screwed into the water, moving forward with its blunt end and rotating around its longitudinal axis.

The ciliate shoe swims at a speed of 1 mm per second, that is, during this time it covers a distance equal to 4 lengths of its own body. In this case, the shoe consumes very little energy, equal to only 1/1000 of the total energy generated during breathing.

A groove with longer cilia runs from the front end to the middle of the body of the shoe ciliates. This permanent indentation is called the perioral infundibulum, which narrows into the pharynx. The pharynx ends with an exposed area of ​​​​the inner cytoplasm - the cell mouth. The cilia of the near-oral funnel drive food - bacteria - into the pharynx along with the flow of water. The ciliary apparatus of the pharynx then directs food to the cellular mouth.

Digestive vacuoles form in the cytoplasm around water droplets with food particles. They are picked up by the flow of the cytoplasm and move. The digestion of food and the assimilation of nutrients in ciliates is carried out in the same way as in bodo and amoeba. Undigested residues are thrown out through the hole - powder.

Respiration and excretion

Respiration and excretion in ciliates-shoes occurs in the same way as in other unicellular animals.

Two contractile vacuoles of the shoe (front and back) contract alternately, after 20-25 seconds each. Water and harmful waste products are collected from the ciliates from the cytoplasm along the adductor tubules, which approach the contractile vacuoles.

reproduction

Two such individuals converge together and for some time stick together with the ventral sides. At the same time, at the place of their connection, sections of the membrane and pellicles are destroyed. The small nuclei of these individuals are divided three times in two, of which two remain, forming nuclei with a single set of chromosomes. Then individuals exchange nuclei with the same set of chromosomes and diverge, and these nuclei located in them - their own and from another individual - merge. After that, the dispersed ciliates restore the previous structure of the body and continue to lead a normal life.

With prolonged asexual reproduction, the vital activity of ciliates decreases, as if oppression of the body occurs. Then the ciliates begin another sexual process - self-fertilization.

Self-fertilization is carried out as follows: the small nucleus divides, forming 8 nuclei with a single set of chromosomes, of which 6 are destroyed, the large nucleus is also destroyed; the two remaining nuclei merge into a single nucleus in order to divide twice more, and out of the 4 nuclei formed, 2 become large nuclei, 2 become small; Finally, the infusoria divides in two. This leads to the ordering of the set of chromosomes in the nuclei of ciliates.

Position in classification

Slipper ciliates are one of the most common species of the Ciliary ciliates class.

On this page, material on the topics:

• The structure of ciliates a brief concept

• Brief summary of ciliates

• Report on zoology on the topic ciliates slipper

• Infusoria shoe that lives in water report

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  The most typical widespread representative of ciliary - infusoria slipper(Paramecium). She lives in standing water, as well as in freshwater bodies with very low currents containing decaying organic material.

  The figure gives an idea of ​​the rather complex structure of these organisms, typical of ciliates. The complexity of the cell structure in paramecia is explained by the fact that it has to perform all the functions inherent in the whole organism, namely nutrition, osmoregulation and movement. The body of the paramecium has characteristic shape: its anterior end is blunt, and its posterior end is somewhat pointed.

  Cilia ciliates shoes arranged in pairs over the entire surface of the cell. Located in longitudinal diagonal rows, they, making beatings, make the ciliate rotate and move forward. Between the cilia are openings leading to special chambers called trichocysts. From these chambers, under the influence of certain stimuli, thin pointed threads can shoot out, probably used to hold prey.

  Under the pellicle of ciliates shoes ectoplasm is located - a transparent layer of dense cytoplasm of the gel consistency. In the ectoplasm there are basal bodies (identical to centrioles) from which cilia extend, and between the basal bodies there is a network of thin fibrils involved, apparently, in coordinating the beating of cilia.

  The bulk cytoplasm of ciliates slippers represented by endoplasm, which has a more liquid consistency than ectoplasm. It is in the endoplasm that most of the organelles are located. On the ventral (lower) surface of the shoe, closer to its front end, there is a perioral funnel, at the bottom of which there is a mouth, or cytostome.

  Mouth of infusoria shoe leads to a short channel - the cytopharynx, or pharynx. Both the perioral funnel and the pharynx can be lined with cilia, the movements of which direct a stream of water towards the cytostome, carrying with it various food particles, such as bacteria. A food vacuole is formed around the food particles that have entered the cytoplasm by endocytosis. These vacuoles move along the endoplasm to the so-called powder, through which undigested residues are brought out by exocytosis.

  In the cytoplasm of ciliates shoes there are also two contractile vacuoles, the location of which in the cell is strictly fixed. These vacuoles are responsible for osmoregulation, that is, they maintain a certain water potential in the cell. Life in fresh water is complicated by the fact that water constantly enters the cell as a result of osmosis; this water must be continuously expelled from the cell to prevent it from bursting.

  This happens with the help of the process of active transport, which requires the expenditure of energy. Around every contractile vacuole of ciliates shoe there is a series of radiating canals that collect water before releasing it into the central vacuole.

  In a cage paramecium ciliates slippers there are two cores. Most of them - - polyploid; it has more than two sets of chromosomes and controls metabolic processes not related to reproduction. The micronucleus is a diploid nucleus. It controls the reproduction and formation of macronuclei during nuclear division.

  Paramecium infusoria slippers It can reproduce both asexually (by transverse fission in two) and sexually (by conjugation).

  The type of Ciliates is also commonly called Ciliated - the organs of movement of these protozoa are cilia. The ciliate cell has two nuclei, they are called small and large. The first regulates the process of reproduction, and the second is responsible for the processes of nutrition, movement and respiration.

  Features of the life of this type should be considered on the example of ciliates-shoes.

  Movement and breathing

  The infusoria-shoe, whose length is approximately 0.5 mm, chooses water bodies as its habitat. The shape of the body of the simplest is easy to guess by the name - it resembles a shoe. The movement speed is approximately 2.5 mm per second.

  The presence of an outer elastic shell provides a stable body shape.

  In the cytoplasm, which is adjacent to the shell, there are supporting fibers, their development is a guarantee of the preservation of the constant form of the ciliate.

  On the surface of the ciliates there are 15 thousand cilia, at their base there is a basal body. The movement occurs with the help of vibrations of the cilia: they produce about 30 strokes per second, thereby pushing the ciliate-shoe forward.

  It breathes through the surface of the body.

  Food

  A feature of ciliates is the presence cell mouth, near which there are especially long and dense cilia. The cellular mouth continues with the cellular pharynx: cilia push water and ciliate food - bacteria into it.

  Infusoria feels chemical substances, which releases the accumulation of bacteria. Thus, she seeks prey.

  The food then ends up in the digestive vacuole where it is digested. From here it follows already into the cytoplasm.

  Selection

  Selection is carried out using two contractile vacuoles, one is located at the front end, and the other is located at the rear. Vacuoles consist of a reservoir and channels.

  The liquid fills the channels, then follows the central reservoir, and then exits the infusoria. The process of contraction of vacuoles takes 10-20 seconds.

  reproduction

  The infusoria reproduces asexually - it is divided in two. Its feature is division across the body.

  The nuclei of ciliates are divided into two parts: newly formed ciliates have a small and large nucleus. Daughter ciliates possess parts of organoids, and the missing ones are formed independently. Reproduction occurs several times a day.

  For ciliates-shoes, sexual reproduction is also possible, but in this case there is no increase in the number of individuals. Temporarily, the protozoa are connected, forming a connecting bridge from the cytoplasm.

  In each individual, the large nucleus disappears, and the small ones are divided twice - four nuclei appear. Of these, only one nucleus remains, which also divides. An individual contains two nuclei, then an exchange of nuclei occurs - one of the nuclei moves to another individual.

  There it merges with the nucleus that remains, and thus a small and larger nucleus is formed in each of the individuals. This process, called conjugation, is necessary for the renewal of genetic material between individuals.

  Types of ciliates

  Ciliates are complexly organized protozoa, there are approximately 7,000 species of them.

  Meet in fresh waters. Received its name for the constant shape of the body, reminiscent of the sole of a shoe.

  Description

  The habitat of the shoe ciliates is any fresh body of water with standing water and the presence in the water of decomposing organic matter. It can also be detected in an aquarium by taking samples of water with silt and examining them under a microscope.

  The size of the ciliates of the shoe is 0.1-0.3 mm. The shape of the body resembles the sole of a shoe. The outer dense layer of the cytoplasm (pellicle) includes flat membrane cisterns of the alveoli, microtubules and other elements of the cytoskeleton located under the outer membrane. On the surface of the cell, cilia are located mainly in longitudinal rows, the number of which is from 10 to 15 thousand. At the base of each cilium there is a basal body, and next to it is the second, from which the cilium does not depart. Infusoria is associated with basal bodies in ciliates - a complex system cytoskeleton. In the slipper, it includes postkinetodesmal fibrils extending backwards and radially diverging transversely striated filaments. Near the base of each cilium there is an invagination of the outer membrane - the parasomal sac.

  Between the cilia are small spindle-shaped bodies - trichocysts, which are considered as protective organelles. They are located in membrane sacs and consist of a body and a tip. Trichocysts are a variety of organelles of various structure extrusom, the presence of which is characteristic of ciliates and some other groups of protists. Their body has a transverse striation with a period of 7 nm. In response to irritation (heating, collision with a predator), trichocysts shoot out - the membrane sac merges with the outer membrane, and the trichocyst lengthens 8 times in thousandths of a second. It is assumed that trichocysts, swelling in water, can impede the movement of a predator. Known mutants of shoes, devoid of trichocysts and quite viable. In total, the shoe has 5-8 thousand trichocysts.

  Shoe 2 has contractile vacuoles in the anterior and posterior parts of the cell. Each consists of a reservoir and radial channels extending from it. The reservoir sometimes opens outward, the channels are surrounded by a network of thin tubes through which fluid enters them from the cytoplasm. The entire system is held in place by a microtubule cytoskeleton.

  The shoe has two nuclei different in structure and function - a rounded diploid micronucleus (small nucleus) and a bean-shaped polyploid macronucleus (large nucleus).

  The ciliate shoe cell consists of 6.8% dry matter, of which 58.0% is protein, 31.4% is fat, and 3.6% is ash.

  Kernel functions

  The main function of contractile vacuoles is osmoregulatory. They remove excess water from the cell, penetrating there due to osmosis. First, the leading channels swell, then the water from them is pumped into the reservoir. When the reservoir is reduced, it is separated from the leading channels, and water is ejected through the pore. Two vacuoles work in antiphase, they contract with a period of 20-25 s (according to other sources - 10-15 s at room temperature). In an hour, vacuoles eject a volume of water from the cell, approximately equal to the volume cells.

  reproduction

  Infusoria-shoes have asexual and sexual reproduction (sexual process). Asexual reproduction - transverse division in the active state. It is accompanied by complex regeneration processes. For example, one of the individuals re-forms a cell mouth with a perioral cilia, each completes the missing contractile vacuole, the basal bodies multiply and new cilia form, etc.

  The sexual process, like other ciliates, occurs in the form of conjugation. Shoes belonging to different clones are temporarily "glued" by their mouth sides, and a cytoplasmic bridge is formed between the cells. Then the macronuclei of the conjugating ciliates are destroyed, and the micronuclei are divided by meiosis. Of the four haploid nuclei formed, three die, and the rest is divided by mitosis. Each ciliate now has two haploid pronuclei - one is female (stationary) and the other is male (migratory). Ciliates exchange male pronuclei, while females remain in their "own" cell. Then, in each ciliate, "own" female and "foreign" male pronuclei merge, forming a diploid nucleus - synkaryon. When the synkaryon divides, two nuclei are formed. One of them becomes a diploid micronucleus, and the second turns into a polyploid macronucleus. In reality, this process is more complicated and is accompanied by special post-conjugation divisions.

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  Notes

  Literature

  • Ehrenberg C. G. (1835). "". Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Aus dem Jahre 1833: 268-269, 323.
  • Ehrenberg C.G. 502. Paramecium caudatum, geschwänztes Pantoffelthierchen // . - Leipzig, 1838. - P. 351-352.
  • Animal life / ed. Yu. I. Polyansky, Ch. ed. V. E. Sokolov. - 2nd ed. - M .: Enlightenment, 1987. - T. 1. The simplest. Coelenterates. Worms. - S. 95-101. - 448 p.

  Links

  • Warren, A. (2015). . In: Warren, A. (2015) World Ciliophora Database. - WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species.

  There are or external references in this article or section, but the sources of individual statements remain unclear due to the lack of footnotes. Statements not , may be questioned and removed. You can improve the article by adding more precise references to the sources.

  An excerpt characterizing the Infusoria-shoe

  At dawn on the 17th, a French officer was escorted from the outposts to Vishau, who arrived under a parliamentary flag, demanding a meeting with the Russian emperor. This officer was Savary. The emperor had just fallen asleep, and therefore Savary had to wait. At noon, he was admitted to the sovereign and an hour later went with Prince Dolgorukov to the outposts of the French army.
  As was heard, the purpose of sending Savary was to offer a meeting between Emperor Alexander and Napoleon. A personal meeting, to the joy and pride of the whole army, was refused, and instead of the sovereign, Prince Dolgorukov, the winner at Vishau, was sent along with Savary to negotiate with Napoleon, if these negotiations, contrary to expectations, were aimed at a real desire for peace.
  In the evening Dolgorukov returned, went straight to the sovereign and spent a long time alone with him.
  On November 18 and 19, the troops passed two more marches forward, and the enemy outposts retreated after short skirmishes. In the higher spheres of the army, from noon on the 19th, a strong, troublesomely excited movement began, which continued until the morning of the next day, November 20th, on which the so memorable battle of Austerlitz was given.
  Until noon on the 19th, movement, lively conversations, running around, sending adjutants were limited to one main apartment of the emperors; in the afternoon of the same day, the movement was transferred to Kutuzov's main apartment and to the headquarters of the column commanders. In the evening, this movement spread through the adjutants to all ends and parts of the army, and on the night of 19 to 20, the 80,000-strong mass of the allied army rose from their lodging for the night, hummed with a voice and swayed, and set off with a huge nine-verst canvas.
  The concentrated movement that began in the morning in the main apartment of the emperors and gave impetus to all further movement was like the first movement of the middle wheel of a large tower clock. One wheel moved slowly, another, a third turned, and the wheels, blocks, gears began to spin faster and faster, chimes began to play, figures jumped out, and the arrows began to move measuredly, showing the result of the movement.
  As in the mechanism of clocks, so in the mechanism of military affairs, the movement once given is just as irresistible until the last result, and just as indifferently motionless, a moment before the transfer of movement, parts of the mechanism, to which the matter has not yet reached. The wheels whistle on the axles, clinging to the teeth, the rotating blocks hiss from the speed, and the neighboring wheel is just as calm and motionless, as if it is ready to stand this immobility for hundreds of years; but the moment came - he hooked the lever, and, obeying the movement, the wheel crackles, turning and merges into one action, the result and purpose of which are incomprehensible to him.
  Just as in a watch the result of the complex movement of countless different wheels and blocks is only the slow and even movement of the hand indicating the time, so is the result of all the complex human movements of these 1000 Russians and French - all passions, desires, remorse, humiliation, suffering, impulses of pride, fear , the delight of these people - there was only the loss of the battle of Austerlitz, the so-called battle of the three emperors, that is, the slow movement of the world historical arrow on the dial of the history of mankind.
  Prince Andrei was on duty that day and was inseparable from the commander in chief.
  At 6 o'clock in the evening Kutuzov arrived at the main apartment of the emperors and, having stayed with the sovereign for a short time, went to the Chief Marshal Count Tolstoy.
  Bolkonsky took advantage of this time to go to Dolgorukov to find out about the details of the case. Prince Andrei felt that Kutuzov was upset and dissatisfied with something, and that they were dissatisfied with him in the main apartment, and that all the faces of the imperial main apartment had with him the tone of people who knew something that others did not know; and therefore he wanted to talk to Dolgorukov.
  “Well, hello, mon cher,” said Dolgorukov, who was sitting with Bilibin at tea. - Holiday for tomorrow. What is your old man? not in the mood?
  “I won’t say that he was out of sorts, but he seems to want to be listened to.
  - Yes, they listened to him at the military council and will listen when he speaks the matter; but to hesitate and wait for something now, when Bonaparte fears most of all a general battle, is impossible.
  - Did you see him? - said Prince Andrew. - Well, what about Bonaparte? What impression did he make on you?
  “Yes, I saw and was convinced that he was afraid of a general battle more than anything in the world,” repeated Dolgorukov, apparently cherishing this general conclusion, drawn by him from his meeting with Napoleon. - If he were not afraid of battle, why would he demand this meeting, negotiate and, most importantly, retreat, while retreat is so contrary to his whole method of warfare? Believe me: he is afraid, afraid of a general battle, his hour has come. This is what I'm telling you.
  “But tell me, how is he?” Prince Andrew also asked.
  “He is a man in a gray frock coat, who really wanted me to say “your majesty” to him, but, to his chagrin, he did not receive any title from me. What a man he is, and nothing else,” answered Dolgorukov, looking round at Bilibin with a smile.
  “Despite my full respect for old Kutuzov,” he continued, “we would all be good, expecting something and thus giving him a chance to leave or deceive us, while now he is right in our hands. No, one should not forget Suvorov and his rules: do not put yourself in the position of being attacked, but attack yourself. Believe me, in war the energy of young people is often more likely to point the way than all the experience of the old kunktators.
  “But in what position do we attack him?” I was at the outposts today, and it’s impossible to decide exactly where he stands with the main forces, ”said Prince Andrei.
  He wanted to express to Dolgorukov his plan of attack drawn up by him.
  “Ah, it doesn’t matter at all,” Dolgorukov spoke quickly, getting up and opening the card on the table. - All cases are foreseen: if he is standing at Brunn ...
  And Prince Dolgorukov quickly and indistinctly told the plan for the flank movement of Weyrother.
  Prince Andrei began to object and prove his plan, which could be equally good with the Weyrother plan, but had the drawback that the Weyrother plan had already been approved. As soon as Prince Andrei began to prove the disadvantages of that and his own advantages, Prince Dolgorukov stopped listening to him and absently looked not at the map, but at the face of Prince Andrei.
  “However, Kutuzov will have a military council today: you can express all this there,” said Dolgorukov.
  “I will do it,” said Prince Andrei, moving away from the map.
  “And what do you care about, gentlemen?” said Bilibin, who had been listening to their conversation with a cheerful smile until now, and now, apparently, he was about to make a joke. - Whether there will be victory or defeat tomorrow, the glory of Russian weapons is insured. In addition to your Kutuzov, there is not a single Russian commander of the columns. Chiefs: Herr general Wimpfen, le comte de Langeron, le prince de Lichtenstein, le prince de Hohenloe et enfin Prsch… prsch… et ainsi de suite, comme tous les noms polonais. [Wimpfen, Count Langeron, Prince of Liechtenstein, Hohenlohe and Prishprshiprsh, like all Polish names.]
  - Taisez vous, mauvaise langue, [Keep your slander.] - said Dolgorukov. - It's not true, now there are two Russians: Miloradovich and Dokhturov, and there would be 3rd, Count Arakcheev, but his nerves are weak.
  “However, Mikhail Ilarionovich, I think, went out,” said Prince Andrei. “I wish you happiness and success, gentlemen,” he added, and went out, shaking hands with Dolgorukov and Bibilin.
  Returning home, Prince Andrei could not help asking Kutuzov, who was silently sitting next to him, about what he thought about tomorrow's battle?
  Kutuzov looked sternly at his adjutant and, after a pause, answered:
  - I think that the battle will be lost, and I said so to Count Tolstoy and asked him to convey this to the sovereign. What do you think he answered me? Eh, mon cher general, je me mele de riz et des et cotelettes, melez vous des affaires de la guerre. [And, dear general! I am busy with rice and meatballs, and you are engaged in military affairs.] Yes ... That's what they answered me!

  At 10 o'clock in the evening, Weyrother moved with his plans to Kutuzov's apartment, where a military council was appointed. All the heads of the columns were called to the commander-in-chief, and, with the exception of Prince Bagration, who refused to come, they all appeared at the appointed hour.
  Weyrother, who was the full manager of the proposed battle, represented by his liveliness and haste a sharp contrast to the discontented and sleepy Kutuzov, who reluctantly played the role of chairman and head of the military council. Weyrother evidently felt himself at the head of a movement that was already unstoppable. He was like a harnessed horse running downhill with a cart. Whether he was driving or driven, he did not know; but he rushed at all possible speed, not having time to discuss what this movement would lead to. Weyrother that evening was twice for a personal inspection in the enemy's chain and twice with the sovereigns, Russian and Austrian, for a report and explanations, and in his office, where he dictated the German disposition. He, exhausted, has now come to Kutuzov.
  Apparently, he was so busy that he even forgot to be respectful with the commander-in-chief: he interrupted him, spoke quickly, indistinctly, without looking into the face of his interlocutor, without answering the questions put to him, was stained with mud and looked miserable, exhausted, confused and at the same time arrogant and proud.
  Kutuzov occupied a small noble castle near Ostralitsy. In the large living room, which had become the office of the commander-in-chief, gathered: Kutuzov himself, Weyrother and members of the military council. They drank tea. They only expected Prince Bagration to proceed to the military council. At 8 o'clock Bagration's orderly arrived with the news that the prince could not be. Prince Andrei came to report to the commander-in-chief and, using Kutuzov's permission previously given to him to attend the council, remained in the room.