Animalcules in the Winter. 121 



masquerade goes on with unabated spirit ; a couple of water- 

 bears, as they are well named by our German friends, or water 

 sloths, as the French call them (Tardigrada) , next enter upon 

 the scene, looking for all the world like their quadrupedal 

 namesakes, provided with a double set of legs, and, instead of 

 toes, furnished with formidable-looking hooks, by the aid of 

 which they rake and claw themselves into the middle of the 

 motley assemblage with most unwieldy perseverance. In 

 another part of the stage we see the empty skin of a Lynceus, 

 in one corner of which a Swan animalcule (Trachelocerca olor) 

 has ensconced himself, and where he seems to be amusing the 

 company by enacting such a series of performances as we never 

 before witnessed. It is difficult to say which is most wonderful, 

 the amazing extensibility, flexibility, and contractility of his 

 neck, or the activity with which he plies it in every possible, and 

 apparently impossible, direction. Imagine a swan seated in one 

 corner of the floor of a large drawing-room, suddenly shooting out 

 its neck to the opposite corner of the ceiling, and from thence ex- 

 tending it along the whole length of one side of the room, like a 

 great Plesiosaurus with a boa-constrictor for a neck, brandishing 

 its head with the velocity of thought, and then in a moment 

 shrinking to its natural dimensions. And now a grand turmoil 

 announces the approach of another visitor ; in rush the chariot- 

 wheels of Brachionus 'jpala, closely followed, by one or two of 

 his rotiferous brethren clearing away everything before them, 

 tumbling the poor Swan animalcule and his fantoccini per- 

 formance into a whole chaos of struggling atomies, and thus 

 effectually stopping his indescribable exercise. No sooner 

 have the Rotifers steamed out of sight than in glides a young 

 Planaria clad in a coat of living velvet, the transparency of 

 which permits you to admire the smallest details of his inmost 

 structure. Not much lack of amusement here, we thought, as 

 the departing skirts of the last arrival seemed to wave their 

 adieux. What will come next ? The question was at once 

 answered by a lively little Nai's, whose black eyes suddenly 

 peeped out from beneath a moving heap, from which she 

 soon emerged, when, unfortunately, just as we were bringing 

 her into focus, a couple of eel-lets (Anguillula), apparently 

 feeling themselves incommoded by the crush, began to fight 

 their way out of the crowd, and the curtain fell amid a scene 

 of riot and confusion seldom witnessed within the walls of a 

 theatre. 



From the above list of the occupants of a single slide, which, 

 however jokingly drawn up, is strictly accurate in its details, 

 it will be perceived that, during the winter months, the ani- 

 malcule inhabitants of the waters around us are by no means 

 asleep. The Infusoria neither perish during the inclement 



