Vibrionia.] THE INFUSORIA. 139 



a while, these curls within the divisions become agitated ; 

 some shake, or vibrate about ; others revolve in their con- 

 fined places, and many come out, thus shewing that they are 

 spirals of two or three curls ; these with an agitated motion 

 swim about * * *. Now the field of view appears filled 

 with life ; great numbers of these spirals are seen agitated 

 and moving in all directions; they all have a directile 

 force, one end going foremost, and never the other ; many 

 stray a great way out of the field : these, by getting clear of 

 each other, are the best to observe ; they do not quite 

 keep their form as a stiff spiral, but their foremost end 

 seems to lash about, and to many are seen attached almost 

 invisible but very long fibres. These fibres were in quick 

 undulations, which ran in waves from the spiral to their 

 farthest end. It appears that these fibres cause many of 

 the spirals to entangle together, and thus bring them 

 sooner to a state of rest ; therefore, the separate ones were 

 best to observe." 



The most recent observations on these creatures, found 

 in the anthers of the Chara vulgaris and hispida, are by 

 M. Thuret, given in the Annal. cles Sciences, a valuable 

 translation of which will be found in the Annals of 

 Natural History, vol. vii,, from which I extract the 

 following : — 



"The portion of their body most apparent appeared 

 like a spirally-rolled thread, of three to five curves. They 

 were slightly tinged with green, similar to the nuclei; and, 

 like them, turned brown with iodine, their two extremities 

 becoming more or less coloured (according to the quantity 

 of iodine employed) than the rest of the body, thus 

 indicating a difference of nature in these portions. At 



