10 
The Hijlory of A N I M A L S. 
ANIMALCULES . 
Clafs the Third. 
ARTHRONIA. 
Thofe which have vifible limbs. 
SCELASIUS. 
A N Animalcule which has vifible legs. 
Scelajius corpore fubovato . 
The Scelajius, with the body of a fuboval figure. 
This is one of the fmaller Animalcules : it is of the fhape of an egg, larger at one 
end, fmaller at the other, and rounded at both : it's /kin is perfedly fmooth, very thin, 
of a pale ofive colour, and fo tranfparent, that the lineaments of the inteftines are eafily 
feen through it. The whole body, excepting about the head, which is at the fmaller 
end, is furrounded with a multitude of fine fhort and /lender bodies, having the appear¬ 
ance of hairs; but they are in reality fo many legs, by means of which it creeps along 
the bottom, or crawls up the flender ftalks of water plants: befides thofe which fur- 
round the body, there is alfo a double feries which run down the middle of the belly, 
from the head to the oppofite extremity ; and, by means of thefe, it wiil climb up any 
yet flenderer body. 
It is very common in ditch water, and is lefs quick in it’s motions than moft of the 
other animalcules of whatever clafs. 
i Scelajius corpore fiubcylindrico utrmque attenuato . 
The Scelajius , with a fiubcylindric body , fimall at each end. 
This is one of the larger Animalcules : it is of an oblong figure, largeft in the mid¬ 
dle, and gradually fmaller toward each end : it’s colour is whitifh, with a tinge of 
green : it's fkin fmooth, and the whole fo tranfparent, that the lineaments of the in¬ 
teftines are eafily vifible. It appears hairy all round it’s edges; but thefe hairs are fo 
many legs, and it has alfo four feries of the fame kind of hairs or kgs running along it’s 
belly. 
It is frequent in ditch water, among the roots of duck-weed : it’s motions are not 
very quick, but it feems in continual fearch after food : a third magnifier will fhew the 
Animalcule very diftin&ly; but, to examine it’s limbs, there requires a fecond, or, in¬ 
deed, to fee them in perfection, a firft. 
brachionus. m^tti Znimm* 
A N Animalcule which has an apparatus of arms for the taking it’s prey. 
The apparatus, which nature has furnifhed thefe creatures with, has been greatly 
mifunderftood by the microfcopical writers; they have fuppofed it a kind of wheels, 
and have thence named the creatures that are poffeffed of it wheel animals. 
Brachio7ius corpore conico fiubcequali . 
The Brachionus> with a conic even body. 
This is one of the fmaller Animalcules: it appears, when in a ftate of reft, in form 
of a plain fmooth body, of a conic figure, obtufe at the pofterior extremity, and open 
at the anterior, of a dufky olive colour and femitranfparent. When it puts itfelf in 
motion, it protrudes, from the open extremity, a part of it’s naked body, to the whole 
of which this outer conic body feems to be but a kind of cafe or /heath, ferving it as a 
defence from injuries. From the extremity of this exerted part of the body; the crea- 
2 tore 
