450 EVENINGS AT THE MICKOSCOPE. 



or displeased the animal : the body also can be swollen 

 or lengthened at pleasure ; it can move in either di- 

 rection, but the neck usually goes foremost, extended 

 in the direction of the motion, and seems to be used to 

 explore the way. 



I had once an opportunity of seeing the process of 

 increase by spontaneous self-division in this cr^atiire. 

 It was an unusually large specimen, foimd in an old in- 

 fusion of sage leaves. When I discovered it, it was 

 darting about its long neck in the most beautiful con- 

 tortions. As it was partly hidden by the vegetable 

 fibres present, I partly turned the glass cover to alter 

 the position of the contents. On again looking, the 

 Swan was in a clear part of the field, but in the form 

 of a dark globose mass, the neck being entirely con- 

 tracted. It was quite still, except a continual slight 

 alteration of the form by the protrusion or contraction 

 of parts of the outline. The body seemed full of minute 

 globules, set in a granular mass of a blackish hue, and 



SWAN-NECK AND ITS DrVISIOKS. 



the outline was not a continuous line, but formed a multi- 

 tude of rounded elevations. Presently it protruded the 

 clear neck, but only for a short distance, and then re- 

 tracted it as before ; when the only indication of the 



