110 



THE OCEAN WORLD. 



undergo the same changes when they are released hy the rupture of 

 the globule. These animalcules are each furnished with one or two 

 flagelliform filaments, which, by their agitation, determine the move- 

 ment by rotation of the mass. 



A very remarkable phenomenon is recorded in the Transactions of 

 the Microscopic Society, namely, the conversion of the contents of an 

 ordinary vegetable cell into a free moving mass of Protoplasm, bearing 

 a strong resemblance to the animal Amoeba? (Fig. 20). This, it is 

 affirmed by Dr. Hicks, takes place in Yolvox, under circumstances 

 which suggest a vegetable transformation. But Dr. Carpenter does 

 not consider that this involves any real confusion in the boundaries 

 of Animal and Vegetable Life. 



The Eevolving Volvox, V. glolator (Figs. 34 and 35), is found in 

 great abundance, during summer, in tanks and ponds of stagnant 



water. It consists of green or brownish- 

 yellow globules about the eighth part of 

 an inch, formed of animalcules scattered 

 round a gelatinous and diaphanous sphe- 

 rical membrane, each furnished with a 

 flagelliform filament and with a reddish 

 interior point, which Ehrenberg took for 

 an eye. Leuwenhoek first observed this 

 Volvox in marshy waters. This eminent 

 naturalist has left a very interesting 

 account of his observations on these mi- 

 croscopic inhabitants of the waters, dis- 

 playing an amount of patience and address 

 which cannot be too much admired ; his 

 observations were made with a simple 

 lens, which he constructed himself. In 

 one hand he held his instrument, which 

 was very coarse if we compare it to the more perfect and infinitely 

 more powerful instruments now in use ; whilst, in the other hand, he 

 carried to his eye the glass tube full of water which contained the 

 object under observation. " The microscopes of Leuwenhoek," says 

 Dujardin, " were the very smallest bi-convex lenses, mounted in a silver 

 frame. He made a collection of twenty-six, which he bequeathed to 

 the Koyal Society of London. These instruments, subject to all the 



Figs. 34 and 35. Volvox globator 

 (Muller), magnified 700 times. 



