THE MINUTE. 



of this current, however, as its particles arrive in 

 succession at one particular point, viz., the great 

 depression between the two uppermost petals, a 

 portion of these escape from the revolving direc- 

 tion, and pass off in a line along the summit of 

 the face towards the front, till they merge in a 

 curious little cup-shaped cavity, seated on what 

 we may call the chin. 



This tiny cup is the mould in which the bricks 

 are made, one by one as they are wanted for use. 

 The hemispherical interior is ciliated, and hence 

 the contents are maintained in rapid rotation. 

 These contents are the atoms of sedimentary and 

 similar matter, which have been gradually accu- 

 mulated in the progress of the ciliary current; and 

 these, by the rotation within the cup becoming 

 consolidated, probably also with the aid of a 

 viscid secretion elaborated for the purpose, form a 

 globular pellet, which as soon as made is depos- 

 ited, by a sudden inflexion of the animal, on the 

 edge of the tube or case, at the exact spot where 

 it is wanted. , The entire process of making and 

 depositing a pellet occupies about three minutes. 



I say nothing about the other systems of organs 

 contained in this living atom: the arrangements 

 destined to subserve the purposes of digestion, 

 circulation, respiration, reproduction, locomotion, 

 sensation, &c, though these are all more or less 

 clearly distinguishable in the tissues of the animal, 

 which is as translucent as glass. For the moment 

 I ask attention only to the elaborate conforma- 

 tion of organs, which I have briefly described, for 

 the special purpose of building a dwelling. No 

 description that I could draw up, however, could 

 convey any idea approaching to that which would 

 be evoked by one good sight of the little creature 

 actually at work; — a most charming spectacle, 

 147 



