40 



VIEWS OF THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD. 



Fig. 49. 



mated atoms, gleaming with a golden hue, are attached like fruit by a slender 

 stem. This animalcule is found covering the surface of marine plants. The 

 natural size of the cluster varies from one-twelfth to one-sixth of an inch that 

 of a single specimen is one one-hundred and twentieth of an inch. Figure 48 

 is a back and side view of a single animalcule, highly magnified. 



THE BELL-SHAPED ANIMALCULES. This family of Infusoria, which is remarka- 

 ble for the graceful elegance of its forms, is devoid of a shell ; and each individual, 

 when unconnected with others, roams about in solitary independence. When, 

 however, they are attached to a stem, they live together in great numbers, 

 assuming the shape of trees or shrubs, with an animalcule appended like a flower 

 to the extremity of every tiny spray. Imperfect self-division gives rise to 

 these beautiful tree-like clusters ; but, in addition to this mode of increase, they 

 likewise multiply by the growth of buds, either from the sides of the animalcules, 

 or from the stalks to which they are united. The Bell-shaped animalcules are 

 usually found clustered together, in countless numbers, upon the submerged 



surfaces of twigs and 

 roots. They adhere also 

 to the small leaves of the 

 duck-weed, and attach 

 themselves to the shells 

 of minute aquatic ani- 

 mals ; but when fully de- 

 veloped, they are gene- 

 rally connected with some 

 fixed object. A group 

 of several animalcules be- 

 longing to this family, and 

 of the species termed the 

 Nebulous bell-shaped ani- 

 malcule, is exhibited in 

 figure 49. The body 

 of the creature, as its 

 name implies, has the 

 shape of a bell, the mar- 

 gin of which is fringed 

 with a circle of cilia. The 

 space surrounded by the 

 cilia is the mouth of the an- 

 imalcule, and the position 

 of its stomachs is marked 

 by the round spaces within 

 the bell. The slender stem by which each individual of a group is attached to 

 a common base, is furnished with a long and delicate muscle, traversing its entire 



