MICROSCOPIC WONDERS 23 



strange little creatures in any way assisting one another, 

 although usually if the mycologist has the good fortune to find 

 one, a second soon makes its appearance. 



It is interesting to know that Trachclocerca Olor was one of 

 the first Protozoa to be discovered. 



Coleps hirtus known as the Barrel Animalcule is not only 

 interesting but highly useful. For it is one of the micro- 

 scavengers, and spends most of its life clearing away the dead 

 and decomposing remains of the unfortunate inhabitants of 

 ponds and streams. 



Coleps hirtus sometimes rolls along in a characteristically 

 barrel-like fashion, but usually it swims to and fro, resting for 

 a considerable time between each movement. 



It multiplies by producing a waist until it resembles a 

 diabolo. Fission takes place, and two Coleps hirtus are 

 produced. 



Choetonotus larus is always in a hurry, and characteristically 

 minds its own business. This is the impression it leaves on 

 one's mind, as it bustles along, stops for nothing, and seems to 

 have every intention of reaching its destination wherever it 

 may be. Should it meet an obstacle, and find its effort to 

 push through unsuccessful, it turns and hurries off again, 

 possibly in exactly the opposite direction, but seemingly with 

 the same determination of eventually getting " there." 



It is a queer-looking little creature, partly on account of the 

 cilia just behind the head, that resemble to some extent side 

 whiskers. 



Choetonotus larus is a member of a family known as 

 Gastroricha, of which there are very many species. Some have 

 eyes, others as far as can be seen are eyeless. Their food 

 usually consists of decaying organic matter, but occasionally 

 they attack creatures larger than themselves, and once having 

 made a wound savagely feast on the escaping cell contents 

 (protoplasm). 



Choetonotus larus is probably a hermaphrodite (male and 

 female in one), but so far only one sex has been determined. 

 Females carrying eggs have been seen to lay them amongst 

 aquatic weeds, where they remain, prevented from slipping 

 off by the roughness of their deeply engraved shells. 



The Gastroricha, although to some extent resembling 

 Infusoria, are classified with the rotifers amongst the worms. 



