ZOOTHAMNIUM SPIRALE. 43 



were attached. On only one of these did I detect 

 any cilia. 



Mr. Gosse, in his ' Tenby/ gives a picture of an 

 animal exceedingly like what I have described ; but 

 from his account of it, there seems to be some 

 doubt of their identity. He calls it ' Zoothamnium 

 spirale,' because the insertions of the branches were 

 placed spirally around the main stem, like those of 

 a fir-tree. In my specimens the branches were set 

 alternately on opposite sides of the main trunk, and 

 the whole was curved like a drooping fern leaf or 

 an ostrich feather, the bells being mostly set on the 

 convex side. 



In conclusion, let me mention that it is an error 

 to suppose, as many persons do, that putrid water 

 alone contains life. Infusoria occur, as before hinted, 

 in the clear waters of the ocean, in the water that 

 we drink daily, and also in the limpid burn that 

 flows through our valleys, or trickles like a silver 

 thread down the mountain side.* 



Where the pool 



Stands mantled o'er with green, invisible, 

 Amid the floating verdure millions stray. 

 Each liquid too, whether it pierces, soothes, 

 Inflames, refreshes, or exalts the taste, 

 With various forms abounds. Nor is the stream 

 Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air, 

 Though one transparent vacancy it seems, 

 Void of their unseen people. These, concealed 

 By the kind art of forming Heaven, escape 

 The grosser eye of man.' 



* Ehrenberg states that Infusoria are in a higher state of organization when taken 

 f?om pure streams than from putrid waters. 



