THE MINUTE. 



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 trans- 

 parent 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 can be withdrawn and quite concealed by the 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 numerous 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 in 

 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 temporary cavities for the re- 

 ception of food ; for if a little indigo or carmine 

 be mingled with the drop of water, the ciliary 

 rotation brings it to the mouth, and presently we 

 see globules of a faint blue or pink hue appear in 

 the colourless flesh, and these speedily augment 

 the depth of their tint, as more and more of the 

 pigment is imbibed, until they at length attain the 

 richest deep blue, or full crimson. 



The observer may, perhaps, see also that most 



elegant of animalcules the Floscularia. A tube of 



jelly stands up from one of the leaves, so filmy 



and transparent, that one perceives it only by the 



* Carchesium. 



157 



