THE MONEllON AND BATIIYLUUS. 



49 



most remarkable of all Monera is the BathyLius, wliicli was 

 discovered by Huxley in 1868 (Fig. 1C4). This wonderful 

 Muueron lives in tlie deepest parts of the sea, especially in 



Fig. 164. — Bathybius Ua^ckelii (Huxley). A small piece of the formless 

 find continually changing plasson-net of this Moneron from the Atlantic 

 Oceau. 



the Atlantic Ocean, and in places covers the whole floor 

 of the sea in sucli masses, that tlie fine mud on the latter 

 consists, in great measure, of living .slime. The protoplasm 

 in these formless nets does not seem differentiated at 

 all; each little piece is capable of forming an individual. 

 Tlie active amreboid movements of these formless pieces of 

 plasson, whicli were first observed by the English zoologists 

 Carpenter and Wyville Thomson, have recently been again 

 observed by the German Arctic voyager, Emil Bessels, in 

 the Bath3-l)ius of the coast of Greenland.^"' 



The origin and importance of these huge masses of 

 living, formless plasson-bodics in the lowest depths of the 



