D. destructor and D. myceliophagus behaved similarly when feeding on Botrytis, but differed in detail from D. destructor feeding on other fungi, as reported by Anderson (1964). Body contractions controlled turgor pressure, but the region where pressure increase was initiated decided different bodily functions: anterior contraction caused gland secretions to be injected into the host and rhythmical posterior contractions caused intestinal movements that mixed the contents. Feeds lasted from 3/4 hr to 2 3/4 hr and were nearly equally divided into injection and ingestion phases. Ingestion was by parts of the posterior of the pharynx pulsating with occasional assistance from the pump in the median bulb, but this eventually led to obstruction of further feeding by locally disrupting the contents of the host. Several cells at the feeding site died after being fed on.
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C.C. Doncaster (1966) studied this question.