48 THE MICROSCOPE. 



afford many specimens for examination. There is 

 every variety of form : some are naked ; others are 

 loricated, or have a consolidated integument encircling 

 their bodies; others construct houses in which they 

 reside. Two beautiful forms, the Floscularia and Ste- 

 phanoceros, will demand a short notice in the next 

 chapter. 



CHAPTER V. 



USE OF THE MICROSCOPE IN ZOOLOGY (continued). 



THE Stephanoceros and Floscularia are both very 

 beautiful and delicate little creatures ; they should be 

 examined, to get a general idea of their form and 

 characters, with a power of about 60 diameters. The 

 former animal has an oblong body on a long tapering 

 stalk ; a circlet of fine elegant tentacles, with two rows 

 of cilia on the sides, surrounds its upper portion ; like 

 the Melicerta^ this little creature dwells in a tube, but 

 not mechanically constructed, like that of the first- 

 named animal. You will not easily satisfy yourself 

 of the existence of this tube, so extremely transparent 

 as it is ; but by turning the mirror at different angles, 

 you will notice a jelly-like case, which appears to be a 

 secretion from the animal's body. Groups attached 

 to weeds are visible to the naked eye; they prefer 

 clear water, and may be kept alive for weeks in a 

 vessel of water. On the slightest alarm, the Stepha- 

 noceros retreats within her cylindrical tube. Floscu- 

 laria is another exquisite microscopic object, and 

 common enough on the stems or leaves of water- 

 plants. This creature, too, dwells in a transparent case ; 

 in form, it is like Stephanoceros, except that the head- 

 portion is divided into six lobes or projections, each 



