44 VIGNETTES FROM INVISIBLE LIFE. 



beauty of the creature under our gaze. We may 

 have seen it hundreds of times before, but its 

 attractions never pall. It stands up so erect in its 

 crystalline tower, with its five arms either expanded 

 or folded up in an undeniable kind of majestic 

 elegance. Along the arms are seen numbers of 

 verticils of long and vibrating cilia. Ever and anon 

 a nervous thrill seems to pass along these arms, and 

 the cilia flash out as if charged with an electric 

 current ; and presently a small animal, that has 

 for some time been hovering about the Stephano- 

 ceros, descends between its arms and through the 

 wide gullet to its final destiny as food. Concen- 

 trating our attention, we observe what seems an egg- 

 within the transparent body of the Stephanoceros ; 

 and, increasing the magnifying power, we can now 

 distinguish the small embryo folded up, and its 

 two bright ruby eyes shining points of the finest 

 imaginable character. Now the egg is developed 

 or laid, and remains close up to the body of the 

 parent within the dwelling. Here the very delicate 

 incipient life is securely protected and provided for, 

 and we sit hour by hour to watch the intensely 

 interesting operalion of its unfolding. The egg 



