462 EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE 



constriction forms in the middle of one, which quickly 

 deepens, dividing the oblong creature into two of circular 

 figure. The mouth of the new one, with its vibratile cilia, 

 is formed long before separation is complete, and at the 

 same end and side as in the parent. The styles and bris- 

 tles then form, and the creatures are held together for a 

 few seconds by these organs, even when the bodies are 

 distinctly severed. "When separated, they retain the round 

 form for some time. 



When a drop of water is examined between two plates 

 of glass, it is amusing to observe the numbers that con- 

 gregate in the sinuosities left by the gradual drying of the 

 fluid. This probably becomes unfit for respiration, for 

 the motion of the cilia becomes more and more languid, 

 and the creatures die before the water is dry. They not 

 only die but vanish, so that where there were scores so 

 close that in moving they indented each other's sides and 

 crawled over one another if we look away for a few min- 

 utes, and again look, we see nothing but a few loose gran- 

 ules. This puzzled me, till I watched some dying, and I 

 found that each one burst and, as it were, dissolved. The 

 cilia moved up to the very last moment, especially the 

 strong ones in front, until, from some point in the outline, 

 the edge became invisible, and immediately the animal be- 

 came shapeless, and from the part which had dissolved 

 the interior parts seemed to escape, or rather the skin, so 

 to speak, seemed to dissolve, leaving only the loose 

 viscera. From the midst of these then pressed, as if by 

 the force of an elastic fluid within, several vesicles of a 

 pearly appearance, varying in number and size, and then 

 the whole became evanescent. 



You will have observed that the admixture of carmine 



