BATHYBIUS AND THE M ONERS. 651 



were correct. We will, however, for the nonce, suppose the contrary 

 to be the fact, and will grant that Bathybius is not a Moneres, nor even 

 an organism. Does it follow from this that the Moneres too have no 

 existence ? Or must we say that, as the familiar great sea-serpent of 

 fable does not exist, therefore there is no such thing as a sea-serpent? 

 We know that there are many sea-serpents belonging to the family of 

 the viviparous and highly-venomous Hydrophidm {Hydrophis^ Pla- 

 tiiriis, ^pysurus^ etc.), which chiefly inhabits the Indian Ocean and 

 the Sunda Archipelago, but none of which attain any considerable 

 size. 



It were useless here again to quote my own researches which have 

 demonstrated the existence of upward of a dozen diiferent species of 

 Moneres, some living in fresh, others in salt water. I would, however, 

 state that these observations have since been repeated and confirmed by 

 a number of competent investigators. Some of these Moneres appear to 

 be very widely distributed in fresh water, as for instance the genera 

 Protamoeba and Vampyrella. Pt'otamceba agills and Vampyrella spiro- 

 yyrce may be observed almost any summer at Jena. P. primitiva and 

 V. vorax have been seen by sundry observers in very diverse locali- 

 ties. Other new Moneres forms have been quite recently discovered by 

 Cienkowski and Oskar Grimm. When the attention of microscopists 

 has been more generally directed to these extremely simple organisms, 

 we may hope that our knowledge of them will be considerably widened 

 and deepened. 



Whether Bathybius is or is not a true Moneres, at all events we 

 already know with certitude a number of true Moneres whose funda- 

 mental importance is quite independent of Bathybius. We know that 

 even now there exist in the waters of our planet a number of very low 

 forms of life, which ai'e not only the simplest of all actually observed 

 organisms, but even the simplest imaginable of living things. Their 

 whole body, in the fully-developed and reproductive condition, con- 

 sists of nothing but a little mass of structureless protoplasm, whose 

 changing, variable processes all at once discharge the various life- 

 functions movement, sensation, transmutation of matter, nutrition, 

 growth, and reproduction. Morphologically considered, the body of a 

 Moneres is as simple as an inorganic crystal. We cannot distinguish 

 in it separate jDarts ; or, rather, each part is equivalent to each other. 

 These facts and their far-reaching consequences apply to all Moneres 

 without exception with or without Bathybius ! and hence it does 

 not affect the theory at all whether Bathybius exists or not. 



When we describe these Moneres as " absolutely simple organisms," 

 we of course only express their morphological simplicity^ the absence 

 of distinct organs. Chcmico-physically, they may be highly compos- 

 ite ; indeed, we must in any case ascribe to them, as to all albumi- 

 nous bodies, a highly - complex molecular structure. Many regard 

 the slime-like albuminous body of Moneres as a single chemical albu- 



