THE MONERON AND BATHYBIUS. 



49 



most remarkable of all Monera is the Bathybius, which was 

 di^co veered by Huxley in 1868 (Fig. 164). This wonderful 

 Muneron lives in tlie dee])est parts of the sea, especially in 



Pio. 164. — Bathybius Haeckelii (Huxley^. A Boiall piece of the formlesB 

 ind continually changing plasson-net of this Moueron from the Atlantic 

 f )cean . 



tlie 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 observ^ed by the English zoologists 

 Carpenter and Wyville Thomson, have recently been again 

 observed by the German Arctic voyager, Emil Besaels, in 

 the Bathybius of the coast of Greenland ^^ 



The origin and importance of these huge w^ww^ of 

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



