148 MARVELS OF POXD-LIIE. 



encysting process takes place in these animalcules, 

 which will thus give another mode of generation by 

 which the germs are produced. 



Before closing an account of the Stentor, let us 

 revert a moment to the ciliary wreath, as it may 

 be made the subject of a curious experiment. If. 

 for example, the cilia are viewed at right-angles to 

 their length, they will seem to form a delicate frill, 

 in wdiich a quivering motion is perceived. But if 

 the table is shaken by a sharp blow, the frill is 

 thrown into waves, or takes the form which washer- 

 women give to certain female articles by the use 

 of the Italian iron, and the ciliary motion is thus 

 made to take place in different planes, and rendered 

 strikingly apparent. 



One day turning over the Anacharis in search 

 of subjects, a small brown tube was noticed, from 

 which a glassy rod protruded like the feeler of a 

 rotifer. Keeping the table quiet, and watching the 

 result, was soon rewarded by a further protrusion 

 of the feeler, accomp inied by a portion of the body 

 of the inmate of the tube. The feeler was thrust 

 on this side and on that, as if collecting informa- 

 tion for its proprietor, who, I suppose, was SMtistied 

 with the intelligence, and gradually extended herself, 

 until she stood out two-thirds in length beyond 

 the tube, and set two lobes of one nearly contin- 

 uous ciliary organ in rapid motion. Sometimes the 



