364 EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE 



been examining; hence it has a pellucid white appearance. 

 But through this shines its chief beauty; the peduncle is 

 very large, and globose at the upper or basal part, which 

 is usually, as here, of a pale scarlet or rich orange hue. 



Imbedded in this orange- colored flesh are seen many 

 points of a lovely rose-purple, which two colors blending 

 together, and softened by their transmission through the 

 sub-pellucid umbrella, have a peculiar brilliancy. But 

 stay! here I have one more advanced in age, which will 

 exhibit some peculiarities of interest in the economy of 

 these frail but charming creatures. 



In this specimen, which is somewhat larger than the 

 former, the margin of the umbrella is a little turned back, 

 displaying more clearly the peduncle with its brilliant 

 ovaries. These, too, are more turgid, and the rosy points 

 are seen projecting from their interior, and some of them 

 even ready to fall. And look ! here on the bottom of the 

 glass are lying half a dozen or more of similar purple 

 points, whose rich hue renders them plainly discernible, 

 after a slight searching, to the unassisted eye. I will col- 

 lect one or two with a capillary tube of glass, and submit 

 them to your examination under the microscope. 



You now discern that these bodies are perfectly oval 

 in form. One might, indeed, call them eggs, for they per- 

 form the part of such organisms; but that these have soft 

 walls, covered on their whole external surface with fine 

 vibratile cilia, by the action of which they are endowed 

 with the power of free locomotion. We see them, in fact, 

 gliding about the water of the live-box under view, with 

 an even and somewhat rapid motion, which appears to be 

 guided by a veritable will. Under this power they are 

 seen to be of a soft rich lake-crimson hue, all over. 



