474 EVENINGS AT THE iHCKOSCOPE. 



length. Witliin this narrow limit he impatiently con- 

 tinued crawling to and fro, moving his nncini with 

 great rapidity and showing their extreme flexibility, 

 for as he aj^plied them now to the stem, now to the 

 surface of the glass, these whip-like uncini wei'e some- 

 times bent double. The so-calle'd styles at the posterior 

 extremity, though less frequently used so, were yet 

 occasionally bent and applied to the surface as feet, so 

 that they are certainly not inflexible as supposed, nor 

 do I see any essential diflference between them and the 

 uncini. The whole body was flexible, taking the form 

 of any passage or nook into which it was thrust, yet 

 recovering its elasticity immediately the pressure was 

 removed. Its proper form appeared to be convex 

 above and concave beneath, rather than flat. After 

 having been thus employed about half an hour 

 under mv observation, it became still, movinor onlv 

 its cilia, Avhen I left it a little while, and on my return 

 found that it was dissolved ; the outline having en- 

 tirely disappeared, and nothing being left but the 

 granules, and globular vesicles, that had constituted 

 its viscera, some of which still contained the carmine 

 which had been very percejitible in the living animal. 

 This was the more remarkable as there was plenty 

 of water. It looked like suicide, a spontaneous 

 choosing of death rather than hopeless captivity. 



Common as these Stylonychice are, and abundant 

 beyond all calculation, where they do occur, from 

 their tendency to self-division, they are not so univer- 

 sally met M'ith as their cousins, of the gawws Eiiplotes. 

 These are still more highly organized, and will please 

 you by their activity and sprightly intelligence, I am 

 sure. Here are several individuals in the live-box 

 at this moment. 



