74 THE MICROSCOPE. 



succession of garments that concealed, and as it 

 were masked the final form. Thus the cater- 

 pillar actually contained the butterfly. The 

 new form was within the old. But in the alter- 

 nation of generations, we have the appearance 

 of repeated births or descents, where the pro- 

 geny is different from the parent, and possibly 

 quite dissimilar. But sooner or later there is a 

 return to the likeness of the early branch of the 

 family. The pages of Professor Carpenter sup- 

 ply us with abundance of illustration and argu- 

 ment on this point. In the Vorticella, for ex- 

 ample, what a dissimilarity between parent and 

 progeny ! The Vorticella passes into the form 

 of an Acineta ; and this acquires a new stalk, 

 which exhibits the appearance of a Podophrya. 1 

 And so great is this difference between the 

 Vorticella and the Acineta, that Ehrenberg 

 himself regarded them as of a different genus. 2 

 Similar metamorphoses are presented by another 

 animalcule, as it passes through the various 

 changes in which it is styled the Trychoda 

 lynceus, Aspidisca, and Oxytriclia? The Pro- 



1 Carpenter on the Microscope, pp. 481, 482. 



2 Gosse's Life, p. 15. 3 Carpenter, pp. 483, 484. 



