THE MONERON AND BATHYRIUS. 49 



most remarkable of all Monera is the Bathybius, which was 

 discovered by Huxley in 1868 (Fig. 164). This wonderful 

 Moneron lives in the deepest parts of the sea, especially in 



Fig. 164. — Bathybius Hceckelii (Huxley). A small piece of the formless 

 and continually changing plasson-net of this Moneron from the Atlantic 

 Ocean. 



the Atlantic Ocean, and in places covers the whole floor 

 of the sea in such masses, that the fine mud on the latter 

 consists, in great measure, of living slime. The protoplasm 

 in these formless nets does not seem differentiated at 

 all; each little piece is capable of forming an individual. 

 The active amoeboid movements of these formless pieces of 

 plasson, which were first observed by the English zoologists 

 Carpenter and Wy ville Thomson, have recently been again 

 observed by the German Arctic voyager, Emil Bessels, in 

 the Bathybius of the coast of Greenland. 137 



The origin and importance of these huge masses of 

 living, formless plasson-bodies in the lowest depths of the 



