10 GENEEAL HISTORY OF 



The phosphorescence of the sea appears to be occasioned, in many 

 instances, by the presence of animalcules, which, although indi- 

 vidually imperceptible, often render luminous many miles of water 

 by the immensity of their numbers. 



In the same manner, large arborescent figures, resembling Fuel 

 and Alg«, are formed by the Micromcga ; and masses of great 

 extent by Ejnstylis and Schizonema. 



The Bacillaria or their shell-like siliceous coverings, (loricaj) are 

 largely concerned in the formation of the earth's crust, entering 

 extensively, sometimes, almost exclusively, into the structure of 

 large sections of the earth's strata, especially those of the tertiary 

 period. The character of the rock so constituted, will vary accor- 

 ding to the nature of the associated earths, whether argillaceous, 

 siliceous, or calcareous. Thus, we have evidence of the existence of 

 Infusorial life in the earliest eras of the globe ; and what is still 

 more curious, we find species existing at those remote epochs, still 

 represented in the existing fauna. Nor are instances of such enor- 

 mous accumulations of these minute beings, as to build up land 

 from the sea-bottom, wanting, even at the present day. For in- 

 stance, we learn from Sm J. Ross, and other explorers of the 

 Antarctic Ocean, that the water between the parallels of 60° and 80° 

 south latitude, is of a pale ochrous brown colour from the cnoiinous 

 number of microscopic Liatomacea, and that the death and decompo- 

 sition of these same beings produce a submarine deposit or bank of 

 vast dimensions, occupying an area of 400 miles long by 120 Vvdde, 

 and flanking the whole length of Victoria Barrier. — (Dr. J. D. 

 Hooker, Report British Association, 1847.) 



Among other almost unlooked for localities of Infusoria are 

 meteoric dust, and other similar substances, precipitated from the 

 atmosphere. In such matters, Ehrenberg has discovered siliceous 

 loricaj chiefly belonging to the family Bacillaria (Section XXVI.) 

 together with the calcareous shells of the Phytolitharia. Volcanic 

 ashes even furnish specimens of Infusoria, and the same great 

 microscopist has also intei-prcted the nature of the mai-veUous blood- 

 like spots, wliich, much to the horror of the ignorant and supersti- 

 tious, have occasionally ax)peared suddenly on bread and other 



