WATER-BEARS AND ROTIFERS. 91 



organ, and passes on the food to a kind of gizzard, 

 where it is rendered fit for the digestive process, 

 and is then conveyed to the stomach, digested, and 

 assimilated to the various tissues of the body. 

 They are rather highly organised for such small 

 creatures, having eyes, a brain, and nervous system, 

 and may therefore be credited with some sort of 

 conscious sensation. The sketch shows them to 

 have four pairs of rudimentary legs armed with 

 claws. These claws are not, however, weapons 

 either of offence or defence, but simply the means 

 of enabling their owners to climb about with great 

 ease among the moss and plants in the water. 

 Thus seen, fat and plump, making his way slowly 

 and contentedly along, so small and yet so much 

 resembling its formidable namesake, he irresistibly 

 impresses one with a sense of drollery. 



Nature presents many phases or, in other 

 words, life takes on many forms ; but forms to 

 touch one's risible faculties are not very common. 

 There is something kind and tender in the droll 

 little Water-bear, and we are glad to look at it. 

 Indeed, one writer affectionately likens it "to a 

 new-born puppy or unlicked bear-cub." Some 



