Infusorial Animals [pp. 430-433]

THE LADIES' REPOSITOR Y.
MONADS.
of the wonderful power of the microscope which
he had made, that he always supposed hlie saw
more than lie really did. He was enraptured
with the complexity and
the perfection of these
microscopical beings,
and wished to suppose
their internal organism
was complete, with
stomach, alimentary ca inal, vessels, nerves, and
muscles. Jablot even
outstripped his prede cessor. He saw among
them animated bag pipes, tufted hIens, and
gold and silver fish!
We now know that in fusoria are neither so
AN INFUSORE MAGNIFIED. complicated as some
t(Paraecii,n bursria.) authors have asserted,
nor yet so simple as others have imagined.
It is to the learned Berlin professor Ehrenberg, and latterly to MMN. de Sieboldl, Clapar.de,
PARAMECIUM BURSARIA.
Laclhmann, Lieberkiihn, and Balbiani that we
owe the most complete and interesting works
At~~~~~~~~~~~~~~t
in the possession of science upon these lovely
dwarfs of nature, these atoms of existence.
The infusoria are furnished on all parts of
their bodies with vibratory cilia, hair-like prominences, not all of the same thickness, neither
of the same length. They are ever in motion,
thus causing currents in the water which lead
the organic particles on which they subsist
to the entrance of their digestive apparatus.
These cilia not only serve as the providers of
their food, but at the same time they seem to
be their organs of respiration and of locomotion. The infusoria do not possess members
in the usual sense of the term; some, however,
have tails. These miniature animals swim as
fish, glide like serpents, and twist like worms.
The Volvoce&, roll round, constantly revolving round their centers, like a ball running
cetes a;
VOLVOCEE.
about on a slightly sloping, smooth surface.
The smallest creature which moves, as well
as the smallest flower which blooms, awakens
within us feelings of surprise and joy. We are
A'D
PROPAGATION OF AN INFUSORE BY SPONTANEOUS DIVISION, OR
FISSIPARISM.
mute with astonishment, and can but dream in
our wonder.
The infusoria reproduce each other in differ
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