Microscopical Essays, 



477 



collected in a heap, the only motion they have is a kind of revo- 

 lution, or rolling round. The fmaller particles feparate from the 

 larger, often dividing into as many portions as there are con- 

 stituent particles in the group ; when feparated, they move about 

 with incredible fwiftnefs. 



i 



To try whether this was a group of animalcula collected toge- 

 ther by chance, or whether it was their natural (late to be thus 

 grouped together, the following experiment was made. A fingle 

 corpufcle was taken the moment it was feparated from the heap, 

 and placed in a glafs by itfelf ; it foon increafed in iize, and when 

 it had attained nearly the fame bulk as the group from which it 

 was feparated, the furface began to aflume a wrinkled appearance, 

 which gradually changed till it became exactly fimilar to the 

 parent group. This new-formed group was agai i decompofed, 

 like the preceding one, and in a little time the feparated particles 

 became as large as that from which they proceeded. 



It is found in a variety of infufions. 



II. Proteu s, 



Vermis inconfpicuus, fimpliciffimus, pellucidus, mutabilis. An 

 invifible, very limple, pellucid worm, of a variable form, 



11. Proteus Diffluens. 



Proteus in ramulos diffluens, Fig. 2 and 3, Plate XXV. Pro- 

 teus, branching itfelf out in a variety of directions. 



A very 



