THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
101 
that the sun's rays may occasionally 
strike it, for a sun bath as well as an air 
bath is a great luxury to all aquatic rep- 
tiles. At the same time great care must 
be taken not to allow the newts to escape, 
which they will undoubtedly try to do, 
and as they never succeed in finding their 
way back, they die a lingering and miser- 
able death. A glass frame, with walls 
about five inches high, confines them 
effectually. This frame need not be 
water tight, but no rough framework 
should present a foothold for the reptiles, 
and no overhanging leaves of lilies or 
other water plants should afford them 
the means of dropping over the sides. 
Marvels of Pond Life.— XII. 
OCTOBEE, the finest of our autumn 
months, is noted for usually granting 
the inhabitants of our dripping climate 
about twenty pleasant sunshiny days, and 
it is probably on this account somewhat 
of a favorite with the infusorial world, al- 
though the cold of its nights and early 
mornings thins their numbers, wiiich 
reach a maximum in the summer heat. 
Even in the dismal year 1860, October 
maintained its character, and afforded a 
great many opportunities of animalcule 
hunting, during which a constant supply 
of Stephanoceri were readily obtained, 
together with swarms of Stentors, which 
are not exceeded in interest by any of the 
Ciliated Protozoa. The Stentors were 
abundant on the same weed {Anacliaris), 
that formed the residence of the Steplia- 
noceri, and might be seen in large num- 
bers hanging from it like green trum])ets, 
visible to the unassisted eye. In the ' Mi- 
crographic Dictionary ' they are said to 
belong to the Vorticella family, which 
has already given us several beautiful 
objects and possess a marvellous power 
of changing their shape. It is, however, 
better to follow Stein, who separates 
them from the Vorticellids and ranges 
them in his order Heterotricha, as they 
have two distinct sets of cilia, small ones 
covermg the body and the larger ones 
round the mouth. Those before us are 
named after this property Stentor pohi- 
morphus, or Many-shaped Stentors, and 
owe their exquisite tint to numberless 
green vesicles, or small cavities filled 
witli coloring matter like that of plants. 
This, however, is not essential to the 
species which may often be found of 
other hues. In size this Stentor varies 
from a hundred a-nd twentieth to one 
twenty-fourth of an inch. It is entirely 
covered with fine cilia disposed in longi- 
tudinal rows, and round the head is a 
spiral wTeath of larger and very conspic- 
uous cilia leading to the mouth. 
Having observed the abundance of 
these creatures, a few small branches to 
which they were appended, were placed 
in the glass trough, and viewed with 
powers of sixty and one hundred linear. 
Some had tumbled down as shapeless 
lumps, others presented broad funnel- 
shaped bodies ; while others stretched 
themselves to great length like the long, 
narrow post-horns which still wake the 
echoes of a few old-fashioned towns. 
The ciliary motion of the elegant wreath 
was active and rapid, causing quite a stir 
among all the litttle particles, alive and 
dead; and when the right sort of food 
came near the corkscrew entrance to the 
mouth, down it went, and if conspicuous 
for color, was subsequently seen appa- 
rently embedded in little cavities, which 
Ehrenberg supposed were sei)arate stom- 
achs, although that theory is now" re- 
jected. One advantage of viewing these 
objects in a sufficient quantity of water, 
A, B, c, D, stentor polymorphus in different de- 
grees of expansion. A large specimen is one 
twenty-fourth of an incli long. 
to leave them in freedom, is that they 
frequently turn themselves, so that you 
can see right down into them. To make 
out the details of their structure, to see 
the nucleus and other organs, the flatten- 
ing in the live-box is useful, and it ena- 
bles much higher powers to be employed. 
After leaving the Anacharis in a glass 
jar for a few days, the Stentors multiplied 
exceedingly; some clung to the sides of 
the vessel in sociable communities, others 
hung from the surface of the water, and 
crowds settled upon the stems, visibly 
changing their tint, as the Stentor green 
was much bluer than that of the plant. 
