INFUSOEIA. 899 



while I will tell you the tragical and lamentable history of 

 just such an embryo as this, that was eaten up before it 

 was born, under my own eye. One of the depredators was 

 a very amusing animalcule, which is sufficiently scarce to 

 make its occurrence a thing of interest, especially to a 

 young microscopist, as I was at the time. 



A large egg of (as I believe) Euchlanis dilatata had been 

 laid during the night on a leaf of Nitella, in the live-box. 

 When I observed it, the 



transparency of the shell ^ ©. t@ /gM&fZff. Ip £?<, 

 allowed the inclosed ani- Q**£tJB£:-'MK& $ JP 



mal to be seen with its 

 viscera, which occasion- 

 ally contracted and ex- 

 panded ; the place of the 

 mastax I could distinctly 

 make out. The cilia were 

 vibrating, not very ra- 

 pidly, but constantly, on 



^ COLEFS AND CHILOHONAS. 



the front, where there 



was a vacant space between the animal and the shell. 

 From seven a.m. when I first saw it, I watched it for about 

 eight hours, without perceiving any change ; but at that 

 hour having withdrawn for a short time, I perceived on my 

 return that a portion of the animal was outside the 

 shell. The appearance was that of a small colourless 

 bladder oozing out at an imperceptible aperture ; and this 

 oval vesicle quickly but gradually increased, until it was 

 half as large as the egg itself. A little earlier than this 

 point, the cilia were seen on the front or lower side of the 

 excluded portion, and these began to wave languidly in a 

 hooked form. They thus seemed much longer and more 

 substantial than when rotating in the perfect animal. 

 When excluded to the extent just named, some little crea- 

 tures that were flitting about found it, and began to 

 assemble round it. These were far too rapid in their 



