BURSARIA. 133 



glides about in a quiet manner, between the 

 portions of vegetable matter, and appears to 

 have the power of compressing its body to suit 

 the size of the passage. The internal cells are 

 very transparent, and I have seen Rotifers and 

 other small animalcules lying within, as if only 

 just swallowed. Having procured some water 

 which contained a large number of these crea- 

 tures, I had an opportunity of making observa- 

 tions about their death, which I do not see men- 

 tioned by naturalists :- -whilst watching a very 

 fine one, I perceived that a part of its body 

 seemed to be separating from it, particularly 

 the contents of the internal cells ; this continued 

 for some time, until at last the whole body had 

 dispersed, and was lying on the surface of the 



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