THE CAMERA. 



1/3 



wooden cylinder may be seen the "pith 

 rays," the larger of which extend from 

 pith to cortex. There may he seen also 

 the "annual rings" of wood, indicating 

 that this twig is four years old. The 

 large open "vessels" of the wood are 

 also very evident, and it must be remem- 

 bered that through this wood tissue the 

 water passes on its way from the roots 

 to the leaves. 



Fig. -?.- — Apple Root. — This cross sec- 

 tion of a root shows some of the differ- 



ences between a root and a stem. The 

 cortex in general is the same, but the 

 woody cylinder is solid, with no display 

 of a pith region. The so-called "pith 

 rays" are very evident, and certain of the 

 wood vessels are of larger calibre than in 

 the stem. The most important difference 

 between root and stem is not shown in 

 this section, for there has been a large 

 amount of secondary wood formation, 

 making it resemble a stem more than 

 does a very young root. J. M. C. 



^ 



YAID 

 THE LENS 



A CURIOUS MICROSCOPIC ANIMAL. 



BY J. D. HYATT, NEW ROCHELLE, 

 NEW YORK. 



Pond life, with the amateur microscop- 

 ist, is always a favorite object for study 

 and investigation, and among the multi- 

 tudinous forms of animals common in 

 stagnant pools, one of the most curious 

 is the Sun animalcule, so-called on ac- 

 count of the numerous slender rays that 

 project from all parts of the body. 



But there are two different sun ani- 

 mals, the one most commonly seen and 

 described in handbooks being an ex- 

 tremely small creature measuring little 

 more than the 2-1000 of an inch in di- 

 ameter, while the one that I have been 

 studying is comparatively, a monster, 

 often measuring 2-100 of an inch, or ten 

 times the diameter of the other ; it is so 

 large, indeed, that under the microscope 

 with a 1-5 inch objective it will fill the 

 whole field of view. This form, although 

 remotely resembling the first, and found 

 under similar conditions, belongs to a 

 different genus, and is not so common as 

 the other. 



Having at one time secured a good 

 collection of these "microscopically enor- 

 mous" Suns, and observed their curious 

 habits, especially their habit of gluttony, 



I became so much interested that I de- 

 termined to cultivate my colony and dis- 

 cover if there is any limit to their ability 

 to eat, "all the time." 



But as some readers of The Guide 

 may not be familiar with the appearance 

 of the Sun animal, it may be described 

 as a globular body, consisting: of a great 

 number of protoplasmic vesicles, those 

 of the peripheral layer being somewhat 

 darker and much larger than those of 

 the interior. The vesicles are hyaline, 

 and therefore allow the contents of the 

 body to be plainly seen. 



Innumerable rays extend from the 

 body in all directions. These are long, 

 and taper to fine flexible threads towards 

 their extremities. In the peripheral lay- 

 er of vesicles are generally to be seen 

 two contractile vesicles, at opposite poles. 

 These are often considerably enlarged, 

 and are frequently projected, and then 

 collapse. They always reappear in the 

 same place. 



In the water of my collecting bottle 

 containing my first gathering of suns, 

 were also a great number of plants and 

 infusorial animals consisting of rotifers, 

 paramecia, and other ciliated or flagel- 

 lated animalcules, together with diatoms, 

 desmids and confervoid algae, but after 



