402 



EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE. 



And now, having pretty well exhausted the contents of 

 this live-box, let us try a dip from this other phial from 

 another locality, equally productive, if I am not mistaken. 

 Yes ; for, to begin, the stalks of Nitella here are fringed 

 with populous colonies of the most attractive of all the 

 Infusoria, the beautiful Vorticella. The species is not the 

 common bell-shaped one, but the smaller with pursed 

 mouth, the little V. microstoma. 



Look at this active group, consisting of a dozen or so 

 of glassy vases, shaped something like pears, or elegant 



antique urns, elevated on the extremities of long and very 

 slender stalks, as slender as threads, and about six times 

 as long as the vases. The stalks grow from the midst of 

 the floccose rubbish attached to the plant, and diverge as 

 they ascend, thus carrying their lovely bells clear of one 

 another. 



Each vase is elegantly ventricose, or swollen, in the 



