L Aniivialcula of infusio^ns. 149 



at the extremities of the branches, it was not un~ 

 common to obferve fome fvvimming in the water, 

 but always adhering to the limb or branch, fmce 

 We thus term it. If the branch accidentally touch 

 ii lentil root, it immediately faftens, and gives ex- 

 iftence to a tree bearing as many bell animalcula 

 as there are branches to fupport themx. The ani- 

 mal attached to the root foon divides in two, 

 then into four, eiglit, fixteen, thirty-two : While 

 thefe divifions or propagations are going on, the 

 origin and multiplication of branches and twigs, 

 bearing animalcula at the extremities, alio ad- 

 vance; and all the branches and twigs are im- 

 mediately or mediately conneded with the ftem 

 fixed to the lentil root, already much tliicker 

 find longer ; which flem, properly fpeaking, is 

 precifely the trunk of the microfcopic tree. Here 

 i fhall remark, in pafTuig, that the animals, be- 

 fldes fixing and propagating on the marih lentil, 

 rdfo breed on other fubftances, as frao-ments of 

 wood, ftraws, leaves of grafs, and even on the 

 fides of the veffcls, provided they always remain 

 in water. 



This fpecies, whofe mode of reprodudion " 

 Leeuwenhoeck could never divine, and v/as un- 

 known to Baker, is a polypus much analogous to 

 M. Trembley's ^oIyj>e a mafe. The refemblance 

 is evident from that eminent naturalift's defcrip- 

 tion of the fpecies which M. Bonnet z2Xh polypes a 

 ^ 3 pc'iuiacbcsy 



