46 THE MICROSCOPE. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



MICROSCOPIC ANIMALCULES. 



1. WE would now introduce to our general 

 readers a few of the Infusoria, these marvel- 

 lously minute works of the Lord of the Uni- 

 verse, " whose glory is no less displayed in the 

 construction of an Animalcule than in the 

 creation of a Solar System." 



2. The Polygastrica, or " Many -stomached" 

 as a very extraordinary race of beings, may well 

 occupy our attention for a little. Ehrenberg 

 observed in the bell or funnel-shaped body of 

 this animalcule, numerous pellucid little globes 

 or beads, and concluding these to be stom- 

 achs, applied to it the designation, " Many- 

 stomached." Later naturalists seem to agree in 

 denying that these globules are to be regarded 

 as stomachs, but the original appellation is con- 

 tinued. The class comprises very minute forms 



