134 DROPS OF AVATER. 



water in minute portions; but the most mar- 

 vellous part of the proceeding was, that the cilia 

 continued to vibrate the whole time, not only 

 as long as the body was partially hanging to- 

 gether, but each little portion, as it floated away 

 from the larger mass of the body, had consider- 

 able motion in it from the action of the cilia, and 

 this continued for full five minutes, or perhaps 

 more, after each portion had separated from 

 the main body. The animalcule itself remained 

 turning slowly round during the process ; 

 and the motion only ceased when all was dis- 

 persed. I witnessed this curious fact many times 

 before I discovered what may be considered 

 the reason of this extraordinary dispersion : I 

 believe it to have been caused by the evaporation 



