A general history of animalcules .... Being part I of 'A history of infusoria, living and fossil' / [Andrew Pritchard].

  • Andrew Pritchard
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A general history of animalcules .... Being part I of 'A history of infusoria, living and fossil' / [Andrew Pritchard]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Cryptomonas glauca, Cryptoglena conica, Pandorina morum, Gonium pectorale, Chlamidomonas pulv., Volvox glob.. Astasia and Euglena sang., when young; Euglena viridis, Chlorogonium enchylis, and Ophrydium versa¬ tile : yellow from the Astasia flavicans; a milky tint from the Polytoma uvella, and Ophryoglena atra, when they are numerous. A bright orange coating is given by Stentor aureus. The rapid and mysterious transition of colour which is observable in lakes, and which has often created an alarm in the timid minds of the superstitious inhabitants on their borders, the microscope has shewn to arise from certain changes in the condition of Infusoria. Thus, a lake of clear transparent water will assume a green colour in the course of a day; nay, more, it will become coloured and turbid in the middle of the day, when the sun brings these creatures to the surface, and raj^idly develops them, or causes their dead bodies to ascend, whilst in the morn¬ ing and evening it will again be clear. The phosphorescence of the sea appears to be occa¬ sioned, in many instances, by the presence of animalcules, which, although individually imperceptible, often render luminous many miles of water by the immensity of their numbers. In the same manner, large arborescent figures, resem¬ bling Fuci and Algse, are formed by the Micromega; and masses of great extent by the Epistylis and Schizonema. The Bacillaria, or their shell-like coverings (Loricee) are often spread over many miles of the earth’s surface, descending also to a considerable thickness, the remains of which, when they become indurated and mLxed with