RADIOLARIA 89 



ship, and place the water and its contents under 

 the microscope. 



We are indebted to the naturalists of the 

 'Challenger Expedition,' and to Professors Haeckel 

 and Alexander Agassiz, of America, for information 

 about, and drawings of, these wonders of the oceans. 



So vast were the collections of Radiolaria 1 

 brought home by Sir Wyville Thomson and his 

 scientific staff, that their classification, description, 

 and measuring, for the purpose of accurate illus- 

 tration, occupied Professor Haeckel ten years. This 

 industrious and skilful savant believes that a life-time 

 would not be sufficiently long in which to make a 

 complete classification of all the forms of Radiolarians 

 alone. His report on this branch of marine life fills 

 three large volumes, comprising 1,803 pages of printed 

 matter and 140 plates of illustrations. 



We have copied from the Challenger Report a 

 few of the plates, to show the marvellous structure 

 of these hidden beauties of ocean waters. Professor 

 Haeckel and his assistant made over 8,000 micro- 

 metric measurements of these objects. Bearing in 

 mind that they are all microscopic organisms, we 

 shall realise that we are considering some of the most 

 astonishing things in creation. 



The largest of them is one-tenth of an inch, the 

 great majority are about one-fiftieth of an inch, 

 while many are as small as the two-hundredth part 



1 Lat. radiolus^ a little ray. 



