LOWEST FORMS OF VEGETABLES. 3 



"What are you going to do with that green 

 stuff, papa?" said Eobert; "there is plenty of it 

 on the glass of the hot-house ; and there was a great 

 deal on the rocks last summer, close by the sea." 



" I am going to how it to you under the micro- 

 scope, as an example of the lowest stage of vege- 

 table life. Some of the plants of this order come 

 so near the lowest tribes of animals, that even the 

 best naturalists find it difficult to decide between 

 them." 



" Why do they not watch them very closely, to 

 see whether they move ?" asked Mary. 



" Even that will not decide the matter, for some 

 of these plants move about in water by means of 

 little cilia, or hairs, exactly like certain animals." 



"That is very odd," said Henry; "how can 

 people possibly find out which is which ?" 



"The only certain distinction which I have 

 heard of is one that can only be proved by scien- 

 tific persons ; it is the presence of starch, which is 

 found in many of these tribes, and which is known 

 to be a vegetable and not an animal production. 

 Still, there are mysteries in this subject known 

 only to that Infinite Being who planned and 

 executed the wonderful scheme of creation." 



