162 THE MINUTE. 



contractile bladder wliich alternately fills and empties it- 

 self, and, when distended, frequently displaces the coloured 

 parenchyma or flesh, to such a degree that only the thin- 

 nest film of transparent skin bounds it externally. 



The tuft of needle-like leaves, too, is full of life. To 

 the outer ones are clinging multitudes of Diatoms in fans 

 and fantastic chains ; and multitudes more of single ones 

 are sprawling about the field, contrasting, by their slow, 

 jerking progress, with the rapid, headlong dash of the 

 animalcules. On the plant-stem, as if on solid ground, 

 is fixed a beautiful tree,* with many slender, divergent 

 branches, springing from a straight trunk. The branches 

 bear, instead of leaves, elegant transparent bells or wine- 

 glass-like vases, which are scattered thickly over them ; 

 and each vase is furnished with a ring of cilia round the 

 mouth, which rotates while it is open, but which at will 

 can be withdrawn and quite concealed by the closing up 

 of the mouth. Every moment one or other of the numer- 

 ous branches contracts spirally, with force, like a wire- 

 spring when weighted, and then deliberately straightens 

 itself again. And, now and then, the main trunk itself 

 contracts ia the same manner, but less perfectly; and 

 when it extends we may see a band running down 

 through the middle of its pellucid substance, in which 

 the contractile power manifestly resides, and which is 

 probably of the nature of muscle. The elegant vases 

 have several globules of yellowish matter in their clear 

 substance, which seem to be stomachs, or more correctly 



* Carchesium. 



