Marvels of Pond-life

Canthocamptus, or friends and their escapes-Cothurnia-Polyp buds-Catching Polyps-Mode of viewing them-Structure of Polyps-Sarcode-Polyps stimulated by light-A

air is still keener, and the ice more thick. Arriving at the highest point, London appears on one side enveloped in its usual great coat of smoke, through which St. Paul's big dome, with a score or two of towers and steeples, can be dimly made out; while looking towards Harrow-on-the-Hill, or Barnet, we see the advantag

briskly skipping about, and a beautiful little beetle, with an elegant dotted pattern on his brown back, and a glistening film of air covering his belly, show that we have not been unsucce

d upon the top, and when the other end is brought over the object the finger is raised for an instant, and as the water rushes in the little hydra comes too, and is placed in a glass cell, about half an inch wide, and one tenth of an inch deep. These cells are obtained from the opticians, and cemented with varnish or marine glue to an ordinary glass slide. After an object has been place

eloped young one, and

At first it looks like a shapeless mass of apple-green jelly. Soon, however, the tail end of the creature is fixed to the glass

orus sph?ricus), came to the rescue, and assisted Canthocamptus to escape by tugging at her tail. This friendly action may not have been prompted by the intelligence which seemed to suggest it, but those who have kept tame soldier-crabs and prawns in an aquarium, will not be indisposed to attribute to the crustaceans more brains than they have usually cred

apsules and poison-thread of polyp; E, Tricodina pediculus,

es, containing living objects, which sprang up and down. These were members

is, in vari

ke the stem of a palm tree, and the tentacles hung gracefully from the top. From some of the polyps little round buds were growing, while other buds were already developed into miniature copies

or suspended head downwards from the upper film of the water. They are elegant objects, and may be kept without difficulty for some weeks. After being confined in a small quantity of water for purposes of examination, they should be carefully replaced in the larger vessel, and may thus be used again and again without suffering any injury. A low power-a three or two-inch glass-or a one-inch, reduced by employing the erector-is the most conveni

lector is useful for il

ayer of their bodies is harder than the inner layer. These layers are severally called ectoderm and endoderm. They may be cut and grafted like trees, and if turned inside out, the new inside digests and assimilates as well as the old. Whether any form of consciousness can belong to creatures which have no distinct nervous system is open to doubt, but it would seem probable from their movements that

hich Mr. Gosse has so ably elucidated in the sea anemones. Some writers have endeavoured to show that they are not stinging organs at all, but so large an amount of evidence to the contrary is accumulated in Mr. Gosse's 'Actinologia Britannica,' that no reasonable doubt remains. The stinging capsules of the polyp are shown in the annexed sketch, and also the way in which they are employed, for it fortunately happened that on exposing one of the hydras to pressure in the live box, a small worm (Anguillula) escaped, which had been pierced with th

llustrati

llustrati

by stinging organs

e injection of a fluid. In their quiescent state, he thinks they are drawn in, like the finger of a glove, and are

Trichodina pediculus, as shown in Fig. E, page 49, and it must happen that either this

ave always been favourite objects with microscopists. The Germans call them "slipper animalcules," and they vary in size from 1-96" [7] to 1-1150". They are flat rounded-oblong creatures, with a distinct in

ns is by fractions thus expressed: 1-

graphic Di

water, in order to see the cilia more clearly, or rather to render their action more plain. The cilia are disposed lengthwise, and Ehrenberg counted in some rows sixty or seventy of them, making an aggregate of three thousand six hundred and forty organs of motion in one small animated speck. This number seems large, but although we have never performed the feat of counting them, we s

ried specimen showing t

destitute of hooks, styles, or other organs of motion than the cilia, which have a lateral mouth, and no eye-spots. One mode

nimalcules, but in proportion as these observations are prolonged, the student will be impressed with the difficulty of assuming that anything like a reasoning faculty and volition, is proved by movements that bear some resemblance to those of higher animals, whose cerebral capacities are beyond a doubt. It is, however, almost impossible to witness motions which are neither constant nor periodic, without fancying them to be dictated by some sort of intelligence. We must

t their motions are like the involuntary actions which take place in the human frame; and if attached to their bodies we observe cilia that never s