24 VIGNETTES FROM INVISIBLE LIFE. 



peremptorily rejected, and thrust back again and 

 again with increasing force, as often as it comes 

 within the ciliary current. 



Now in reference to much of the motion pre- 

 viously observed, it may be conjectured to be inde- 

 pendent of the will, but in this instance exceptional 

 conditions are imposed to which the creature re- 

 sponds by as intelligent action as it is possible to 

 conceive. Nor, considering the complexity of its 

 organisation and its relative rank in the scale 

 of invisible life, is there so much improbability 

 in the fact of its intelligence as at first might 

 appear. But it is not intelligence alone, or even 

 principally, which enchains the attention ; this 

 may be equally shared by other minute beings : it 

 is the extraordinary beauty and mechanical con- 

 trivances which renders it so general a favourite. 

 Moreover, it lives and thrives well in confinement, 

 and has no objection to some interesting experi- 

 ments making and building with coloured bricks, 

 for example, if we give it the colouring matter. 



Let us take another look before leaving. Touch 

 the table or the microscope a little roughly, and 

 danger is apprehended by the Melicertan : quick as 



