The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 02 (of 10)Beddard, Frank E. (Frank Evers)
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 02 (of 10)
Beddard, Frank E. (Frank Evers)
Animals
In 1703 Leeuwenhoek[235] gave a fuller description of a tubicolous form,
probably _Limnias_, and noted the peculiar appearance of the ciliary wreath
as "two wheels thickset with teeth as the wheel of a watch." He also noted
a little later[236] the way in which _Melicerta_ (see p. 206) builds its
tube, and was the first to observe the revivification of certain species
after drying.[237] Joblot, a French professor of mathematics, in 1718
figured and described a large number of new genera and species with more or
less fantastic details. Baker's figures[238] are a considerable advance on
Joblot's, and his descriptions of habits are still fresh and accurate.
Eichhorn found a number of new and interesting forms; and O. F. Müller,
influenced by the new discipline of Linnaeus, not {198}only figured many
species, but gave good short diagnoses of their characters. Ehrenberg in
1838 brought out his magnificent _Infusionsthierchen_, which contains
descriptions and figures of what are now divided into Protophyta, Protozoa,
Rotifera, and Gastrotricha. Dujardin's monograph on the "Infusoires," in
the _Suites à Buffon_,[239] was in several respects an advance on
Ehrenberg, whose power of observation was so great as to render his
mistakes the more inexplicable. But Ehrenberg ever adhered to his errors as
firmly as to his facts.
The occurrence of Rotifers among microscopic plants induced the botanists
Cohn and Williamson[240] to work at their structure; the group has been
studied by men engrossed in other professional cares, such as Gosse,
Bedwell, Moxon, Rousselet, and Maupas. Huxley,[241] Leydig,[242] and
Cohn[243] studied Rotifers in the '50's and early '60's with a precision
the more remarkable when we remember the imperfect methods then available.
This period was closed by the valuable monograph published in Arlidge's
(4th) edition of Pritchard's _Infusoria_,[244] under the supervision of W.
C. Williamson. Leidy began the study of the American Rotifers.
Eckstein[245] gave a careful and interesting account of the species about
Giessen in a richly illustrated paper. In recent times the modern methods
of histological and embryological research have been applied by
Vallentin,[246] Plate,[247] Tessin,[248] and Zelinka,[249] the three
_Studien ueber Rotatorien_ of the last author being indispensable to every
student, and containing a full bibliography.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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