466 EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE 



activity and sprightly intelligence, I am sure. Here are 

 several individuals in the live-box at this moment. 



They differ from the Stylonychice, in having the soft 

 body covered with a plate of crystal mail, hard and in- 

 flexible, much like the shield of a Tortoise. Several 

 species have this ^glassy shield marked with delicate lines 

 running lengthwise; sometimes in the form of parallel 

 ridges, as in a little species found in infusions (perhaps 

 E. charori)\ at others forming rows of minute round 



knobs, as E. truncatus, the spe- 

 cies now before us. The shield 

 is ample, considerably overlap- 

 ping the soft body ; it rises into 

 an arched form in the centre, 

 and is more or less round or 

 EUPLOTKS. ova L The mouth is oblique, 



and extends a long way down the under surface; it is set 

 with strong and fine cilia, which also spread over the front. 

 The organs of motion are, as before, long styles, pointed 

 and rather stiff processes, which project from beneath the 

 shell backward and downward, and soft hook-like uncini 

 which are set chiefly near the fore part of the inferior sur- 

 face. In the species before us, these are about six or seven 

 in number, but in E. charon they are more numerous. The 

 twinkling rapidity with which these little feet are applied 

 to the surface in crawling affords a pleasing sight; par- 

 ticularly when the animal is running back- downward on 

 the upper glass plate of the live- box. Some species have 

 bristles (or setce) affixed to the hinder part of the shell, 

 from which they diverge. In E. truncatus these are four, 

 but they are wanting in E. charon. The body displays a 

 mass of granules, vacuoles, and vesicles of different sizes. 



