WIIE EL-BEARERS. 227 



ance is produced entirely by the alternate bending and 

 rising of the ears of corn, which are of course stationary. 



The beauty and wonderfulness of these ciliary wheels 

 are so striking, especially when one sees them for the 

 first time, that for awhile we see nothing else; we cannot 

 take our eye off from them. But when you have a little 

 satisfied your sense of seeing, you may examine other 

 points of interest in this charming little animal. 



The cilia are remarkably stout and long in this genus, 

 but on the middle lobe of the front there are other pro- 

 cesses of the same character; but still stouter. These 

 too are not properly vibratile, at least they do not make 

 circular wheels : ordinarily, they project like stiff erect 

 bristles, or converge towards each other. 



Between the two middle spines the shell is cut into a 

 deep notch, out of which protrudes, when the wheels are 

 expanded, a curious little organ, consisting of fleshy tubes, 

 the one sheathed in telescopic fashion within the other, 

 and bearing at its tip a pencil of bristles, which can in 

 turn be sheathed. This organ doubtless represents the 

 united antenna? of insects. 



But, you ask, what is that much more conspicuous 

 organ that is alternately thrust out and drawn back at the 

 bottom of the shell, and that is so nimbly whisked about 

 in all directions, looking, with its numberless transverse 

 wrinkles, and its little fingers at the tip, so like an ele- 

 phant's trunk in miniature % This is the creature's foot ; 

 the only one he has ; and, as I said, the little tubular tele- 

 scope represents the two antenna? fused into one, so we 

 must consider that this flexible member represents all 

 the six pairs of an insect's legs united, or perhaps, more 

 scientifically, one of the pairs, the rest being obsolete or 

 undeveloped. It must not be considered as a tail ; not 

 only from its function, which is decidedly that of loco- 

 motion, but also from its position on the ventral side of 

 the intestinal orifice. It is a curious organ, capable of 



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