CHAPTER III.

FEBRUARY.

Visit to Hampstead--Small ponds--Water-Fleas--Water-Beetle--Snails--Polyps--Hydra viridis--The Dipping-tube--A Glass Cell--The Hydra and its Prey--Chydorus Sphaericus and Canthocamptus, or Friends and their Escapes--Cothurnia--Polyp Buds--Catching Polyps--Mode of Viewing Them--Structure of Polyps--Sarcode--Polyps Stimulated by Light--Are they Conscious?--Tentacles and Poison Threads--Paramecium--Trachelius--Motions of Animalcules, whether Automatic or directed by a Will--Their Restless Character