Common objects of the microscopeWood, J. G. (John George)
Science
Common objects of the microscope
Wood, J. G. (John George)
Microscopes; Microscopy
The _Trachelius_ (Fig. 8) is perhaps the largest of all the Infusoria,
being readily visible to even an inexperienced eye. Its body is richly
furnished with contractile vesicles, and the protoplasm is curiously
reticulated. We may here remark that the Trachelius is especially
prompt in doing what most of these organisms do when put under pressure
in a live-box, namely, in performing a kind of _harakiri_. The outline
first becomes irregular, then the body rapidly swells and finally comes
to pieces, the fragments dancing mockingly away under the influence of
their still-moving cilia. The remedy is to use the cotton-wool trap and
the lightest possible pressure.
A very elegant organism is shown in the bottom right-hand corner of the
Plate (Fig. 25). It is the _Loxophyllum_, and has a strongly marked
contractile vesicle.
Another large form is _Amphileptus_ (Fig. 9), already referred to as
having a large number of contractile vesicles arranged in a regular
row; and more massive still is _Bursaria_ (Fig. 10), a very curious
organism, very much like a purse indeed, and possessing a wonderful
arrangement of cilia inside the funnel. These are arranged like a
ladder, a series of rows of short stiff cilia, which move at short
intervals in unison, and tend to sweep down into the cavity any
small particles of food. This arrangement is here described for the
first time, and appears to be quite unlike anything else among the
Infusoria. Not unlike Bursaria, but having no ladder, and being
furnished with a delicate membranous pouch in front of the slit of the
purse, is _Condylostoma_, which we shrewdly suspect to be the young
form of Bursaria. This is a point which requires elucidation.
One of the most beautiful of all these forms is shown in Fig. 11,
_Folliculina_, a type of a large group characterised by the possession
of a transparent case, of extremely elegant form, within which the
animal retreats on the slightest alarm.
Fearless and independent, as becomes its size, is the trumpet-shaped
_Stentor_ (Fig. 12), which may easily be seen when present, as it is in
almost every good gathering of water-weed. The particular form drawn
(_S. Mülleri_) does not make a case, but many members of the genus
do, and it is very common to see a stem almost covered with them.
Such a sight, once seen under dark-field illumination, will never be
forgotten. The method of multiplication of the Stentors (by division)
is extremely easy to watch, and very instructive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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