The last segment and its anal button are curved at right angles to the axis of the body; and the anus comes and presses upon the surface of locomotion, where it ejects a tiny drop of transparent, treacly fluid, which glues and holds the little creature firmly in position, supported on a sort of tripod formed by the anal button and the two cirri of the last segment. If we are observing the animal's manner of locomotion on a strip of glass, we can hold the strip in a vertical position, or even turn it upside down, or shake it lightly, without causing the larva to become detached and fall, held fast as it is by the glutinous secretion of the anal button. If it has to proceed along a surface where there is no danger of a fall, the microscopic creature employs another method. It crooks its belly and, when the two spikes of the eighth segment, now fully outspread, have found a firm support by ploughing, so to speak, the surface of locomotion, it bears upon that base and pushes forward by expanding the various abdominal articulations. This forward movement is also assisted by the action of the legs, which are far from remaining inactive. This done, it casts anchor with the powerful claws of its feet; the abdomen contracts; the various segments draw together; and the anus, pulled forward, obtains a fresh purchase, with the aid of the two spikes, before beginning the second of these curious strides. During these manoeuvres, the cirri of the flanks and thighs drag along the supporting surface and by their length and elasticity appear fitted only to impede progress. But let us not be in a hurry to conclude that we have discovered an inconsistency: the least of creatures is adapted to the conditions amid which it has to live; there is reason to believe that these filaments, far from hampering the pigmy's progress, must, in normal circumstances, be of some assistance to it.