THE SEA-WEED TRIBE. ^291 



then be perceived to have a rapid and regular move- 

 ment, as if in chase of each other ; cool with a drop 

 of water, that in which the granules are floating, and 

 their motions will become slower, they will attach 

 themselves by some part of their circumference, and 

 will acquire a swinging motion from right to left and 

 from left to right. In this sort of imperfect reeling 

 and twirling, one sees the granules approach in 

 pairs, just touch each other, retreat, approach again, 

 and glide away to the right or left, staggering, as it 

 were, and trying to preserve their balance ; at last, 

 instead of pairs, fours combine to execute the move- 

 ments of the dance. Imag^ine the field of the mi- 

 croscope covered, shortly after, with a hundred of 

 these animated globules, whose diameter is not, in 

 reality, more than the 4000th of an inch, chasing 

 each other, retreating, and intermingling, as if exe- 

 cuting the mazes of a fantastic reel, and you have 

 one of the most curious spectacles that the microscope 

 can exhibit. When great numbers of the granules 

 are collected, the motion ceases ; they then collect 

 in fours, and form a new membrane, and in this 

 state they are considered by Botanists as a kind of 

 vegetable. 



Such are, in part, the wonders revealed by the 

 microscope in these ambiguous productions ; many 

 others of equal interest might be named, but what 

 has been said will suflice to shew you how mar- 

 vellous a store of curious facts remains to be col- 

 lected by those whose time and disposition are fa- 

 vourable to such inquiries. To these may be applied 



