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ON THE YOLYOX GLOBATOR. 
BY J. BRAXTON HICKS, M.D. BOND., F.R.S., F.L.S., Etc. 
E YER beautiful and fresh are the varied attires in which 
Nature clothes herself; beautiful both in form, as well as 
in fitness of adaptation to surrounding circumstances, and 
fresh in ever-recurring alternations. In these the lover of 
Nature finds an inexhaustible mine* of delight; and to him 
who, like Humboldt, possesses the soul to enjoy its external 
expression, and can claim a knowledge of the intimate 
phenomena which attend these changes, they shadow forth 
the wonderful laws by which they are guided, giving him a 
constant stimulus to unravel the whole history of the life of 
each object. 
And, perhaps, to the microscopist these things have a 
deeper interest than to the mere outward observer of form, 
because by his instrument he is enabled to penetrate deeper 
into the transactions of the laboratory of Nature, learning, at 
any rate, the modes employed in hewing out the stones of 
which all animal and vegetable life is built ; albeit he is 
certain to find that there is a depth still beyond, which lures 
and entices him on, showing him something yet to be un- 
ravelled and something to be admired at every stage. 
And thus each returning spring is hailed by the student 
with especial delight, because again he returns with vigour to 
his engrossing study, and because he finds the renewed 
energy of all life supplying him with numberless opportunities 
for observation, remarkable alike for variety of form and 
multiplicity of changes. 
Of these remarks an excellent instance is to be found in the 
“ Yolvox Globator,” the subject of the present article and the 
delight of every beholder. 
Though now classed under the Confervoid group of the 
Algae (of which position every succeeding observation 
increases the propriety), it was for a long time regarded by 
naturalists as belonging to the lower groups of the animal 
kingdom ; and, indeed, with a good show of reason, so long as 
motion was looked upon as the peculiar and distinctive mark 
VOL. V. NO. XIX. L 
