TJie Animalcules, continued. 137 



puppy with eight legs than can easily be believed ! 

 Mr. Slack says his specimens had no visible eyes, and 

 that these organs are, according to Pritchard's book,* 

 ff variable and fugacious." My water-bears had eyes, 

 and of very respectable size and blackness. The first 

 specimen which I met, being given sufficient room 

 to climb by slightly raising the live-box' s cover, 

 seemed for some minutes as if staring at me, and in 

 that position not a little resembling the white polar 

 bear, its colour being somewhat pale. I felt inclined, 

 when looking at this animal, to side strongly with 

 those naturalists who (as Dr. Carpenter mentioned) 

 regard the Tardigrada as altogether distinct from the 

 true rotifers. Mr. Slack's account of them is, that 

 they are, physiologically speaking, poor relations of the 

 great family of spiders. 



* Pritchard's " History of Infusoria" 



