Miscellaneous. 285 



tongue, especially as I had not hitherto seen any trace of it in Ndis, 

 and was thus anxiously watching its motions when suddenly the 

 body turned round with ease, and I recognised in it a distinct 

 animal. 



It is a polygastric Infusorium, belonging to that genus of which 

 one species occurs so abundantly in the rectum of the frog, but it is 

 somewhat longer, corresponding to the form of the animal within 

 which it lives. It is whitish, entirely covered with cilia, which are 

 only visible when highly magnified, and are regularly arranged in 

 rows. Within it I detected a row of perfectly transparent vesicles. 

 The form of the body is susceptible of various alterations. 



After I had watched the motions of Opalina Na'idos, the name 

 given to this animal, for about a quarter of an hour in the oesopha- 

 geal bulb, during which time it was moving forwards and backwards, 

 it turned round near the mouth and receded further into the intes- 

 tinal canal, in which, at first, I could not detect it. However, it 

 returned several times with the activity peculiar to these animals, 

 and which was not in the least impeded by the ciliated epithelium 

 of the intestinal canal. 



My sight however had become more acute during the period of 

 observation, and hence I soon detected it in the middle of the Naid 

 and among several other individuals, all of which were in active 

 motion. The circumstance that Stylaria and Ndis^ according to 

 Miiller's and my own observations, take up only finely-divided nu- 

 tritive matter, is so completely opposed to the supposition which I 

 myself made of their being Infusoria which had been swallowed, that 

 it cannot be entertained. — Miiller's Archiv, 1846, part iv. 



On the Formation of Cylindrical Masses of Snow in Orkney. 

 To Richard Taylor, Esq. 



Sandwick Manse by Stromness, Feb. 11, 1847. 



My dear Sir, — A curious phsenomenon in this parish has asto- 

 nished and perplexed all, and filled the superstitious with no small 

 degree of consternation. Since the 6th inst. we have had hail- or 

 snow-showers, on the 9th snow-drift, and yesterday a slight thaw 

 with frost again in the evening. 



During the night a heavy fall of snow took place which covered 

 the plain to the depth of several inches. Upon this pure carpet there 

 rest thousands of large masses of snow which contrast strangely with 

 its smooth surface. A solitary mass may be seen in a field, but in 

 general they occur in patches from one acre to a hundred in extent, 

 while the clusters may be half a mile asunder, and not one mass to 

 be seen in the interval. These fields appear at a distance as if cart- 

 loads of manure had been scattered over them and covered with snow 

 but on examination the masses are all found to be cylindrical, like 

 hollow fluted rollers or ladies' swan-down muffs, of which the smaller 

 ones remind me, from their lightness and purity, but most of them 



