THE FLOSCULAEIA. 1G3 



temporary cavities for the reception of food ; for if a litt'e 

 indigo or carmine be mingled with the drop of water, the 

 ciliary rotation brings it to the mouth, and presently wq 

 see globules of a faint blue or pink hue appear in the 

 colourless flesh, and these speedily augment the depjth of 

 their tint, as more and more of the pigment is imbibed, 

 until they at length attain the richest deep blue, or full 

 crimson. 



The observer may, perhaps, see also that most elegant 

 of animalcules the Floscularia. A tube of jelly stands up 

 from one of the leaves, so filmy and transparent, that one 

 perceives it only by the sedimentary matters that have 

 become entangled in its outer surface. It seems to be de- 

 posited progressively, — a mucus excreted and thrown off 

 by the skin of the tenant ; and hence the upper ^Dortion, 

 being the most recently formed, is destitute of such ex- 

 traneous substances, and can with the gTcatest difficulty 

 be traced to its termination. Within this tube resides 

 the beautiful constructor ; a very slender foot or pedicle, 

 capable of being drawn out to such a length as to equal 

 that of the tube, and of being suddenly contracted at the 

 pleasure of the animal, merges into an ovate body of 

 translucent flesh, in which all the organs are clearly visi- 

 ble. The upper portion expands into a most exquisite 

 disk or shallow cup of clear gelatinous membrane, having 

 five angles, each angle being terminated by a rounded 

 knob. Each of these five knobs is the seat of a pencil of 

 long straight bristles, of the most subtle tenuity, wdiich 

 look as if they had been drawn out of the finest spun-glass. 



