In Pritchard's "Infusoria," the views of those writers are followed who rank this animal amongst the Rotifers, and place it in the family Icthidina. To help out this theory, the cilia upon the ventral surface are imagined to form a "band-like rotary organ;" but in truth they bear no resemblance whatever to the so-called wheels of the ordinary Rotifers, nor is there anything like the gizzard which true Rotifers present. Ehrenberg treated it as a Rotifer, and Dujardin placed it among the Infusoria, in a particular class, comprehending symmetrical organisms. The 'Microscopic Dictionary' remarks that its "structure requires further investigation,"[12] and while the learned decide all the intricate questions of its zoological rank, the ordinary observer will be pleased to watch its singular aspect and lively motions. Its size, according to the 'Micrographic Dictionary,' varies from 1—710" to 1—220", and while its general proceeding may be watched with an inch or two-thirds object-glass, and the second eye-piece, a power of five hundred linear (obtained by a quarter or a fifth) is required to make out the details of its structure. If placed in a live-box with threads of conferva, and a little decayed vegetation, it may be observed to group about among them, and shake them like a dog.
[12] See a valuable paper by Mr. Gosse, "History of the Hairy-backed Animalcules," 'Intellectual Observer,' vol. v, p. 387, in which the known species are described and reasons given for following Vogt and ranging them with the Turbellarian worms.
We have said that water-fleas were among the inhabitants of a bottle filled at the pond, and as they go the way of all flesh, it is common to find some odd-looking animalcules ready to devour their mortal remains. These are creatures shaped like beer-barrels, upon short legs, and which swim with a tubby rolling gait. Looking at one of these little tubs lengthwise, a number of lines are seen, as though the edge of each stave projected a little above the general level, and transverse markings are also apparent, which may be compared to hoops. This is the Coleps hirtus, which differs from the usual type of Infusoria, by being symmetrical, that is, divisible into two equal and similar halves. The dimensions of this species vary from 1—570 to 1—430, and its colour varies from white to brown. It has been observed to increase by transverse self-division, and has two orifices, one at each end, for receiving food and ejecting the remains. It often requires some little trouble to get a good view of the cilia, which are arranged in transverse and longitudinal rows. A power of one hundred and fifty linear is convenient for viewing it in motion, but when quiet under pressure, one of five or six hundred may be used with advantage.
Coleps hirtus.
Among the rubbish at the bottom of the bottle, in which the coleps was found, was a minute dead Rotifer, the flesh of which was fast disappearing, but upon being examined with a power of nine hundred and sixty diameters, it was observed to swarm with extremely minute vibriones, the largest only appearing under that immense magnification like chains of bluish-green globules, not bigger than the heads of minikin pins, while the smallest were known by a worm-like wriggling, although their structure could not be defined. These vibriones are probably members of the vegetable world, and they always appear when animal matter undergoes putrefaction.
M. Pasteur has brought forward elaborate experiments to show that the development of the yeast plant is an act correlative to alcoholic fermentation, and in like manner the growth of vibriones may stand in correlation to putrefactive decomposition.
A, Euplotes (patella); B, side view of ditto; C, stylonichia.
Ehrenberg considered them animals, and fancied he detected in them a plurality of stomachs; but the vegetable theory is the more probable, at any rate of the species under our notice, which is often seen, though not always so minute.