KEMPLEY CHURCH, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 269 



widely circulated tlian that of any other author of the early middle ages, 

 and there can be but little doubt that whoever executed these paintings 

 was well acquainted with the following passage :— 



" Sometimes Christ is depicted as Moses and Aaron, Nadab 

 and Abihu, saw Him, namely on a hill, and lander his feet as it 

 were a work of sapphire, and a serene sky. And since, as St. Luke says, 

 ' There they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power and 

 great glory and majesty,' therefore sometimes Angels are painted 

 surrounding Him, who ever serve and wait on Him, and they are 

 depicted with six wings, according to the words of Esaias, ' The 

 seraphim were standing near Him, the one had six wings and the other 

 six wings, and with twain they covered his face, with twain his feet, and 

 with twain they did fly.' Angels are also depicted as in the flower of 

 youth, for they never grow old. Sometimes also the Archangel Michael 

 is painted near them, treading the dragon under his feet, according to the 

 words of St. John in the AjJocalypse, ' There was war in Heaven, Michael 

 fought with the dragon,' which war denotes a division between the angels, 

 the establishment of the good, the ruin of the wicked, or in the visible 

 church the persecution of the faithful. Sometimes also there are 

 painted round about him the twenty-four elders, according to 

 the visions of the same John, in white robes, and crowns of gold. 

 Sometimes also are included in the paintings the living creatures 

 according to the vision of Ezechiel, and the same John : ' On the right 

 hand the hkeness of a man, and that of a lion, and the hkeness of an ox 

 on the left, and that of an eagle over all the four.' These are the four 

 Evaugehsts, wherefore they are painted with books at theu" feet. . . . 

 Sometimes also there are painted round about, or rather under- 

 neath, the Apostles, having long hair hke Nazarites 



Moreover the Divine Majesty is sometimes painted with a closed 

 book in His hands, because no one was found worthy to open that book, 

 except the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. And sometimes He is painted 

 with an open book, so that everyone may read in it, because He is the 

 Light of the World, and the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the 

 Book of Life." 



CONOCHILUS VOLVOX. 



The pond near Redditch which for nearly two years yielded 

 a constant and abundant supj)ly of this interesting and beautiful 

 Eotifer, has for the last month or so, on each visit in search of it, 

 been "drawn blank." It is a curious fact that the " sticks " discovered by 

 the Eev. Lord S. G. Osborne, congregated near the centre of many of the 

 colonies from this pond, and called by his Lordship, [vide letter to the 

 English Mechanic of 1st March, 1878,) " rooks' nests," were for several 

 months in the spring and early summer, when the containing Rotifers 

 were abundant, rarely to be found either floating in the water, in the sedi- 

 ment, or attached to submerged plants. But now that the Conochili have 

 disappeared the sticks are plentiful, both floating freely and entangled in 



I I 



