124 RAMBLES AND REVERIES. 



the eye was rotating. By the constant play of these 

 cilia, the water in their neighbourhood is kept in a 

 state of agitation, and multitudes of minute objects 

 are brought by the miniature whirlpools within 

 reach of the creature's mouth. Some of them are 

 evidently rejected, for they fly away, while others 

 may be seen to go into the hungry maw of the animal. 



A very slight inspection is enough to show that 

 the rotifer is much more highly organised than the 

 amoaba at which we have just been looking. There 

 are here evidently separate and specialised organs. 

 The head is distinguishable from the general mass 

 of the body ; the outer covering, which we may call 

 the skin, if you like, is clearly different from the 

 internal portions ; there are two tiny bright spots 

 which are probably organs of vision ; while we can 

 clearly detect a small ganglion of nerve substance 

 which fulfils the office of brain. There are also 

 other organs inside the body, all of which have 

 important vital functions to perform. 



The first question that a real student of these 

 minute organisms will ask is as to their proper 

 place in the zoological scale, and this is a point 

 about which zoologists are not quite agreed. Pro- 

 fessor Huxley ranks them very close to worms, and 

 considers them to be "the permanent forms of 

 echinoderm larvae;" that is, they agree in many 

 points with an imperfect sea-urchin or star-fish. 

 Mr. Gosse, who has studied these creatures more 

 industriously than perhaps any other man, places 

 them still higher in the animal kingdom, and, while 

 admitting their connection with the lower worms, 



