Marvels of Pond-life Part 6

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cephalosiphon limnias.]

Somewhat like the Cephalosiphon, though much commoner and without the siphon, is Limnias ceratophylli, which every collector is sure to meet.

The length of the Limnias varies, according to Pritchard, from 1--20" to 1--40". Our Cephalosiphon, when fully extended and magnified one hundred and eighty linear, looked about three inches and a half long, and was therefore very small. Just below the ciliary lobes the gizzard was seen, with its toothed hammers working one against the other. The masticatory organ differs from the typical form, as represented in the Brachion; and Mr. Gosse observes of Limnias that "each _uncus_ forms, with its _ramus_, a well-defined ma.s.s of muscle enclosing the solid parts, and in form approaching the quadrature of a globe. Across the upper surface of the ma.s.s the _uncus_ is stretched like three long parallel fingers, arched in their common direction, and imbedded in the muscular substances, their points just reaching the opposing face of the _ramus_, and meeting the points of the opposite _uncus_ when closed."[20]

[20] The terms _uncus_, _ramus_, etc., have been explained in Chapter II, page 28.

There is no connection between Limnias or Cephalosiphon and their tubes, except that of simple adhesion, which takes place by means of the end of their foot-stalks.

In a former chapter we have described an interesting relation of the Vorticella, the Cothurnia, whose elegant crystal vases form a very artistic abode, characterised by possessing a distinct foot. Other species of the same family inhabit vases which have no foot or stalk, or live in gelatinous sheaths less accurately fashioned. Sometimes these creatures are obliging enough to conform to the specific descriptions which eminent naturalists have given of them, and also to the characters which the authorities have a.s.signed to the different genera in which they have been grouped, but the microscopist will often meet with difficulties in the way of cla.s.sification.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Vaginicola (?) (A, elongated; B, retracted.)]

Attached to a piece of weed were a number of cylindrical ma.s.ses of brownish jelly, with rounded tops, and situated in an irregular and very transparent sheath, about twice as high as themselves. Presently they all rose up to four times their previous height, put forth a beautiful crown of vibrating cilia, and opened a sort of trap-door to their internal arrangements. In this position they had a long cylindrical form, gracefully curved, but of nearly equal width from the mouth to the base, and they readily imbibed particles of carmine, which tinged sundry little cavities with its characteristic hue. The slightest disturbance caused the ciliary wreaths to be drawn in, and the bodies to be retracted, and descend into their house like a conjuring toy, until the appearance first described was reproduced.

The general form and structure of these objects was like the drawings usually given of _Vaginicola_, which is said not to exist in groups, although two individuals are commonly found in one well-shaped cell.

These creatures, however, did not taper towards the base as Vaginicolae generally do, and perhaps they became aware of this defect in their figures, for after a day or two a change appeared, and they a.s.sumed a more graceful form by swelling out in the middle, and then growing slender down to the bottom, very much like the pattern given by gla.s.s-blowers to little vases of flowers.

It is very important to note the changing appearance of animalcules, and where the same individuals can be observed from day to day, these will often be found considerable. It is probable that when such particulars are fully known, the number of species will be greatly reduced, and the study of these organisms considerably simplified. I have called the animals just described _Vaginicolae_, but the reader must be prepared to find similar bodies, inhabiting well-formed vases, either solitarily or in couples, the latter condition arising from the fission of one individual without a corresponding division of the abode.

For a few weeks I continually met with groups living as I have described, in what may be called amorphous cells, which were often so nearly like the surrounding water in refracting power, as to be discerned with some difficulty. No trace could be seen of divisions into separate cells, but they all appeared to live happily together in one room, and if one went up all went up, and if one went down all went down, as if their proceedings were regulated by a community of sensation or will.

Another little curiosity was a transparent cup upon a slender stem, which stood upright like a winegla.s.s, and supported on its mouth a transparent globe. By removing a leaf which prevented the stalk being traced to its termination, it was found to be a Vorticella, and after two hours the globe was partially drawn in, and reduced in size. Why the creature was engaged in blowing this bubble I do not know, and have not met with another instance of such conduct.

CHAPTER XI.

NOVEMBER.

Characteristics of the Polyzoa--Details of structure according to Allman--Plumatella repens--Its great beauty under proper illumination--Its tentacles and their cilia--The mouth and its guard or epistome--Intestinal tube--How it swallowed a Rotifer, and what happened--Curiosities of digestion--Are the tentacles capable of Stinging?--Resting Eggs, or "Statoblasts"--Tube of Plumatella--Its muscular Fibres--Physiological importance of their structure.

During the f.a.g end of last month I observed some fragments of a new creature among some bits of Anacharis, from the Vale of Heath Pond, and searched for complete and intelligible specimens without effect. Luckily one evening a scientific neighbour, to whom I had given some of the plant for the sake of the beautiful _Stephanoceri_ which inhabited it, came in with a gla.s.s trough containing a little branch, to which adhered a dirty parchment-like ramifying tube, dotted here and there with brown oval ma.s.ses, and having sundry open extremities, from which some polyp-shaped animals put forth long pearly tentacles margined with vibrating cilia, and making a lively current. The creatures presented an organization higher than that of polyps, for there was an evident _differentiation_ and complication of parts. They belonged to the _Polyzoa_ or _Bryozoa_,[21] a very important division of the _mollusca_.

The _Polyzoa_ are chiefly marine, and the common "sea-mat," often erroneously treated as a _sea-weed_, is a well-known form. A species of another order often picked up on our coasts is the _Sertularia_, or Sea-Fir, composed of delicate branching stems of a h.o.r.n.y-looking substance, which, under a pocket-lens, is found to contain an immense number of small cells inhabited by Polyps. It is instructive to compare the two and note how much more advanced in structure is the Polyzoon than the polyp.

[21] _Polyzoa_ means "many animals," in allusion to their habit of living in a.s.sociation. _Bryozoa_, "moss-animals," from some forming cells having that appearance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plumatella repens. Single Polypide enlarged]

Polyzoa were formerly a.s.sociated with the polyps, to which they bear a strong superficial resemblance; but they are of a much higher degree of organization, as will be seen by comparing what has been said in a former chapter on the _Hydra_, with the description which we now proceed to abridge from Dr. Allman's splendid monograph on the fresh-water kinds. In order to get a general conception of a Polyzoon, the Professor tells us to imagine an alimentary ca.n.a.l, consisting of oesophagus, stomach, and intestine, to be furnished at its origin with long ciliated tentacles, and to have a single nervous ganglion on one side of the oesophagus. We must then conceive the intestine bent back till its a.n.a.l orifice comes near the mouth; and this curved digestive tube to be suspended in a bag containing fluid, and having two openings, one for the mouth and the other for the vent. A system of muscles enables the alimentary tube to be retracted or protruded, the former process pulling the bag in, and the latter letting it out. The mouth of the bag is, so to speak, tied round the creature's neck just below the tentacles, which are the only portions of it that are left free. The investing sack has in nearly every case the power of secreting an external sheath, more or less solid, and which branches forming numerous cells, in which the members of the family live in a socialistic community, having, as it were, two lives, one individual, and the other shared in common with the rest.

The whole group of tubes and cells, whatever may be the form in which they are aggregated, is called the _Polypary_, or, as Dr. Allman prefers, the _Coenoecium_ (common house); the creature he names a _Polypide_[22] (polyp-like); and the disk which bears the tentacles _Lophoph.o.r.e_ (crest-bearer). There are some more hard words to be learnt before the student can enjoy himself scientifically among the Polyzoa, and we shall be compelled to employ some of them before we have done; but will now endeavour to describe what was presented to our view by the specimen obtained from the Hampstead Pond.

[22] _Polyzoon_ is preferable, as avoiding confusion with _polypite_, used for another cla.s.s of object.

The general aspect of a branch of _Plumatella repens_--the creature we have to describe--is given in the drawing annexed. When all was quiet, the mouths of the bags belonging to each cell were slowly everted, and out came a numerous bundle of tentacles, which were either spread like the corolla of a flower, or permitted to hang dishevelled like the snake-locks of Medusa. We will suppose these organs symmetrically expanded, and that we are looking down upon them with a magnifying power of sixty diameters, the light having been carefully adjusted by turning the reflecting mirror a little on one side, to avoid a direct glare. The tentacles, each of which curves with a living grace, and displays an opaline tint in its gla.s.sy structure, do not form a complete circle, for at one place we discern two slightly diverging arms of the disk, or frame (Lophoph.o.r.e) from which they grow.

These arms support tentacles on each side, and leave a gap between, so that the whole pattern is _crescentic_, or crescent-shaped, and not circular. Extending as far as the points of the arms, and carried all round the crescent, is an extremely delicate membrane, like the finest gauze, which unites all the tentacles by their basal portions, and makes an elegant retreating curve between every two. Each tentacle exhibits two rows of cilia, which scintillate as their vibrations cause them to catch the light. The motion of the cilia is invariably _down_ one side and _up_ the other, the current or pattern being carried on from one tentacle to the other, all through the series. This characteristic, and the facility with which each cilium can be distinguished, gives great interest and beauty to the spectacle of this wonderful apparatus, by which water-currents are made to bathe the tentacles, and a.s.sist respiration, and also to carry food towards the mouth, over which a sort of finger or tongue is stretched to guard the way, and exercise some choice as to what particles shall be permitted to pa.s.s on. This organ is called the _epistome_, from two Greek words, signifying "upon the mouth."

If the cell is an old one, it may be covered with so much extraneous matter as to obscure the economy within; but we are fortunate in having a transparent specimen before us, through which we can see all that goes on. The alimentary tube, after forming a capacious cavity, much longer than it is broad, turns round and terminates in an orifice near the mouth, and just below the integuments. When refuse has to be discharged, this orifice is protruded; and after the operation is over, it draws back as before. Long muscles, composed of separate threads or fibres, pull the creature in and out of its cell, and at the part where the stomach ends, and the intestine turns round, is attached a long flexible rope, called the _funiculus_, which goes to the bottom of the cell. The pa.s.sage of the food down to the stomach, its digestion, and the eviction of the residue, can all be watched; and when a large morsel is swallowed, the spectacle is curious in the extreme.

One day a polyzoon caught a large rotifer, (_R. vulgaris_,) which, with several others of its tribe, had been walking over the _coenoecium_, and swimming amongst the tentacles, as if unconscious of danger. All of a sudden it went down the whirlpool leading to the mouth, was rolled up by a process that could not be traced, and without an instant's loss of time, was seen shooting down in rapid descent to the gulf below, where it looked a potato-shaped ma.s.s, utterly dest.i.tute of its characteristic living form. Having been made into a bolus, the unhappy rotifer, who never gave the faintest sign of vitality, was tossed up and down from the top to the bottom of the stomach, just as a billiard-ball might be thrown from the top to the bottom of a stocking. This process went on for hours, the ball gradually diminishing in size, until at last it was lost in the general brown ma.s.s with which the stomach was filled. The bottom of the stomach seems well supplied with muscular fibres, to cause the constrictions by which this work is chiefly performed, and by keeping a colony for a month or two, I had many opportunities of seeing my Polyzoa at their meals.

When alarmed the tentacles were quickly retracted, but although these creatures are said to dislike the light, and usually keep away from it in their native haunts, my specimens had no objection to come out in a strong illumination, and seemed perfectly at their ease. They were indeed most amiable creatures, and never failed to display their charms to admiring visitors, who rewarded them with unmeasured praise. Twice I had an opportunity of observing an action I cannot explain, except by supposing either that the tentacles of the _Plumatella_ have some poisonous action, or that rotifers are susceptible of fear. On these occasions the common rotifer was the subject of the experiment. First one and then another got among the tentacles, and on escaping seemed very poorly. One fellow was, to borrow a phrase from Professor Thomas Sayers, "completely doubled up," and two or three seconds--long periods in a rotifer's life--elapsed before he came to himself again.

By keeping a colony of the Plumatella for a few weeks in a gla.s.s trough, and occasionally supplying them with fresh water from an aquarium, containing the animalcules, they are easily preserved in good health, and as they develop fresh cells, the process of growth may be readily watched. This production of fresh individuals enlarges the parent colony, but could not be the means of founding a new one, which is accomplished by two other modes. A little way down the cells Professor Allman discovered an ovary attached to the internal tube by a short _peduncle_, or foot stalk, while a testis or male generative organ is attached to the _funiculus_, or "little rope," we have already described.

July and August are the best times for observing the ovaries, and they are most conspicuous in the genera _Alcyonella_ and _Paludicella_. True eggs are developed in the ovaries in a manner resembling this mode of multiplication in other animals; but there is another kind of egg, or, perhaps to speak more properly, a variety of bud, which is extremely curious. In looking at our specimens we noticed brown oval bodies in the cells; these, on careful examination, presented the appearance of the sketch. The centre is dark, covered with a network, which is more conspicuous in the lighter coloured and more transparent margins. These curious bodies are produced from the funiculus, and act as reserves of propagative force, as they are not hatched or developed until they get out and find themselves exposed to appropriate circ.u.mstances. Professor Allman names them _Statoblasts_, or stationary germs, and they bear some resemblance to what are called the "winter eggs" of some other creatures. The Professor was never able to discover any mode by which they were permitted to escape from the cells, and in our colonies none were allowed to leave their homes until the death of their parent, and the decomposition of its cell had taken place; a process which went on contemporaneously with the growth of new cells, until the plant on which the _coenoecium_ was situated, rotted away, and then unfortunately the whole concern went to pieces.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plumatella repens on a leaf.]

The tubes of the _Plumatella_, and of most other Polyzoa, are composed of two coats, called respectively _endocyst_ and _ectocyst_, that is, "inner case" and "outer case." The first is vitally endowed, and exhibits vessels and muscular fibres. The second or outer case is thrown off by the first. It is a parchment-like substance, strengthened by the adhesion of dirt particles, and does not appear to exercise any vital functions, but to be merely a covering for protection. The inner layer terminates in the neck of the bag before described, as exserted when the polypide comes out, and inverted when it goes in. This mode of making a case or sheath by inversion of a bag is technically called _inv.a.g.i.n.ation_, and is readily seen in new and transparent cells.

The movement of _eversion_, or coming out, is chiefly produced by the contraction of the endocyst; while the _inversion_, or getting in again, is performed by the long muscles, which, when the animal is extended, are seen attached to it like ropes. Upon these muscles Professor Allman remarks that they are "especially interesting in a physiological point of view, as they seem to present us with an example of true muscular tissue, reduced to its simplest and essential form. A muscle may here be viewed as a beautiful dissection far surpa.s.sing the most refined preparation of the dissecting needle, for it is composed of a bundle of elementary fibres, totally separate from one another through their entire course." He further adds, "The fibres of the great retractor muscle are distinctly marked by transverse striae;--a condition, however, which is not at all times equally perceptible, and some of our best observers have denied to the Polyzoon the existence of striated fibre."

We can confirm the fact of this sort of fibre being present, but we fancy a reader not versed in the mysteries of physiology exclaiming, 'What does it matter whether his fibres are striped or not?'

Physiologists used to suppose there was a strong and marked distinction and separation between _striped_ muscles, that is, muscles the fibres of which exhibit transverse stripes when magnified, and those which do not.

Kolliker, however, says this decided separation can no longer be maintained,[23] and he gives instances in proof of the connections that can be traced between the two forms. In the higher animals the striped muscles are the special instruments of _will_, and of movements that follow, or are accompanied by, distinct sensations. Striped fibre must be regarded as the highest form; and as a muscle of this sort contracts in length it increases uniformly in breadth.

[23] 'Manual of Human Microscopic Anatomy,' p. 63.

There are many other genera and species of fresh-water polyzoa besides the _Plumatella repens_, and they are found attached to sticks, stones, or leaves, generally to the under surface of the latter. They are all objects of great interest and beauty, which, whatever their diversity, conform sufficiently to one type that the student who has observed one, will easily recognise the zoological position of another. They should be viewed by transmitted and by dark-ground illumination, which produces very beautiful effects. To observe them in the performance of their functions, they require more room than the live-box can afford, but are well shown in the gla.s.s trough, whose moveable diaphragm enables them to be brought near enough to the object-gla.s.s, for the use of a power of about sixty linear for general purposes, and of from one to two hundred for the examination of particular parts. For a more detailed examination dissection must be employed, but all that we have mentioned can be seen without injury to the living animal, if specimens are kept till new cells are formed in water, which does not contain enough dirt to render their integuments opaque.

CHAPTER XII.

DECEMBER.

Microscopic Hunting in Winter--Water-bears, or Tardigrada--Their comical behaviour--Mode of viewing them--Singular gizzard--A compressorium--Achromatic condenser--Mouth of the Water-bear--Water-bears' exposure to heat--Soluble alb.u.men--Physiological and chemical reasons why they are not killed by heating and drying--The Trachelius ovum--Mode of swimming--Method of viewing--By dark-ground illumination--Curious digestive tube with branches--Multiplication by division--Change of form immediately following this process--Subsequent appearances.

There is always satisfaction in finding a work accomplished; but the attempt to delineate some of the marvels of minute creation has been a pleasant one, and we approach the completion of our task of recording a _Microscopic Year_ with something like regret. The dark, dirty December of the great metropolis may not seem a promising time for field excursions, but some ponds lie near enough to practicable roads and paths to render an occasional dip in them, not of ourselves, but of our bottles--an easy and not unpleasant performance; and if the weather is unusually bad, we can fall back upon our preserves in bottles and tanks, which seldom fail to afford something new, as we have been pretty sure to bring home some undeveloped germs with our stock of pond-water and plants, and even creatures of considerable size are very likely to have escaped detection in our first efforts at examination.

When objects are not over abundant, as is apt to be the case in the cold months, it is well to fill a large vial with some water out of the aquarium or other large vessel, and watch what living specks may be moving about therein. These are readily examined with a pocket-lens, and with a little dexterity any promising creature can be fished out with the dipping-tube. It is also advisable to shake a ma.s.s of vegetation in a white basin, as the larger infusoria, &c., may be thrown down; and indeed this method (as recommended by Pritchard) is always convenient.

Even so small a quant.i.ty of water as is contained in a gla.s.s cell, appropriated to the continual examination of polyps or polyzoa, should be frequently hunted over with a low power, as in the course of days and weeks one race of small animals will disappear, and another take their place.

Following these various methods in December, we obtained many specimens; but the most interesting was found by taking up small branches of the Anacharis with a pair of forceps, and putting them into a gla.s.s trough to see what inhabitants they might possess. One of these trials was rewarded by the appearance of a little puppy-shaped animal very busy pawing about with eight imperfect legs, but not making much progress with all his efforts. It was evident that we had obtained one of the _Tardigrada_ (slow-steppers), or Water-Bears, and a very comical amusing little fellow he was. The figure was like that of a new-born puppy, or "unlicked" bear cub; each of the eight legs were provided with four serviceable claws, there was no tail, and the blunt head was susceptible of considerable alteration of shape. He was grubbing about among some bits of decayed vegetation, and from the ma.s.s of green matter in his stomach, it was evident that he was not one of that painfully numerous cla.s.s in England--the starving poor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Water-Bear.]

A power of one hundred and five linear, obtained with a two-thirds object-gla.s.s, and the second eye-piece, enabled all his motions and general structure to be exhibited, and showed that he possessed a sort of gizzard, whose details would require more magnification to bring out.

Accordingly the dipping-tube was carefully held just over him, the finger removed, and luckily in went the little gentleman with the ascending current. He was cautiously transferred to a Compressorium,[24]

an apparatus by which the approach of two thin plates of gla.s.s can be regulated by the action of a spring and a screw; and just enough pressure was employed to keep him from changing his place, although he was able to move his tiny limbs. Thus arranged, he was placed under a power of two hundred and forty linear, and illuminated by an achromatic condenser,[25] to make the fine structure of his gizzard as plain as possible. It was then seen that this curious organ contains several prominences or teeth, and is composed of muscular fibres, radiating in every direction. From the front of the gizzard proceed two rods, which meet in a point, and are supposed to represent the maxillae or jaws of insects, while between them is a tube or channel, through which the food is pa.s.sed. The mouth is _suctorial_, and the two h.o.r.n.y rods, with their central piece or pieces, are protrusile. They were frequently brought as far as the outer lips (if we may so call the margins of the mouth), but we did not witness an actual protrusion, except when the lips accompanied them, and formed a small round pouting orifice. The skin of the animal was tough and somewhat loose, and wrinkled during the contractions its proprietor made. The interior of the body exhibited an immense mult.i.tude of globular particles of various sizes in constant motion, but not moving in any vessels, or performing a distinct circulation.

[24] The best forms of this instrument are made by Messrs. R. & J. Beck, the gla.s.s plates being held in their places by flat-headed screws, and not by cement. This plan was devised by the author, and makes it easy to renew the gla.s.ses when broken.