222 
LECTURE XIL 
the people by demonstrating to them the real 
cause. 
Among the most remarkable of the Animalcu- 
lar tribe may be numbered a species of the genus 
called Trichoda, chiefly characterized by being 
beset with hairs or filaments. The species I have 
just mentioned is the Trichoda Sol; so named 
from its presenting the appearance of a sun, as 
generally expressed in engraving; viz. a globe or 
ball, beset on all sides with, very long diverging 
rays, or spines. This animalcule is of a remark- 
ably inactive nature, affixing itself to the stem of 
some small water plant, and occasionally moving 
at the rate of about a quarter of an inch in an 
hour. Its size may be considered as gigantic, for 
one of the animalcular tribe, being equal to that 
of a small pin’s head. This animalcule may be 
pulled or torn in pieces, by means of a pair of 
needles or other convenient instruments, and in 
the space of a single hour each piece will be appa- 
rently complete, and perfectly globular like the 
original. It preys on small Monoculi, particularly 
on a very small species called by Linnaeus Mono- 
culus Pediculus, hardly larger than a grain of sand. 
The Trichoda Sol appears to liave been first de-. 
