THE MOXKRON AND BATH Y BITS. 



49 



most remarkable of all Monera is the Bathyl)ius, wliich was 

 iliscovered by Huxley in 1868 (Fig. 1G4). This wonderful 

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



Pia. 164. — Bathybiua HaBckelii (Huxley). A small piece of the formlpsa 

 and contiuually chauging plassou-uet of this Monerou from the Atlautio 

 Ocean. 



tlie Atlantic Ocean, and in places covers the whole (loor 

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

 consists, in great measure, of living slime. The proto})lasin 

 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 Wyville Thomson, have recently been again 

 observed by the German Arctic voyager, Emil Bessels, in 

 the Bath^^bius of the coast of Green Ian d.^'^'' 



The origin and importance of these hu^^e masses of 

 living, formless plasson-bodles in the lov/est dept]i.>5 of the 



