The body of this is exceedingly tranfparent; no vifible entrails,
•though a few tranfverfe lines may be difcovered on the body. It
is fometimes, though rarely, furnilhed with a long row o f little
globules, and often with two final-1 oval ones ; the tail terminates
in a point.
Muller fays he found thefe eels in the fediment which is formed
by vegetables on the fidesof veflels in .which water has been kept
for fome time.
The eels of pafte have been more diftinguifhed than moll other
animalcula, as well on account o f the various fpeculations and
theories to which it has given rife, as their many curious properties.
Four different fpecies o f eels may be found in pafte; of the
-firft, which has been defcribed very briefly in page 5 11, we {hall
now give a more particular defcription. To be- certain o f procuring
thefe-eels, boil fome flower in water, to which you have
added a few drops of vinegar, provide an earthen pot which has,-
a hole at the bottom, fill it with earth, and then put the pafte in
■ a piece of coarfe cloth, and bury it in this earth; the pot is to be
•expofed to the fun in the fummer, or kept in a warm place in the
■ winter ; by this means you will very feldorn fail o f finding in ten
-or twelve days a large quantity o f eels in the pafte.
This-eel, when at it’s full growth, is about one-tenth o f an inch
long, and rather lefs than one-hundredth of an inch -in diameter;
Fig. 6, Plate XI. reprefents one of thefe eels magnified about
one hundred and twenty times, only compreffed fo much between
two plates, by means of an adjufting fcrew, as not only to prevent
it from moving, but to lengthen and flatten at in a final 1
■ 4 degree.
degree. At the upper part there are two little moveable pieces,
or nipples, a a, between which an empty fpace b is formed, that
terminates in the mouth; the hinder-part is round, but there
projefts from it a Ihort fetaceous tail zv; m the young eels the
termination of the tail is not fo abrupt as in the prefent fpecimen,
but it finifhes by a gradual diminution. There is probably a vent
near z, for the paffage of the excrements; becaufe when that
part has been gently prefled, two or three jets, of averyfubtle
fubftance, have been obferved to iffue from it. If the preflure is
increaled, a fmall bladder will be forced out, a further compreflion
burfts the bladder, and the bowels are forced through the
opening.
A greater degree of magnifying power is neceflary to obtain an
exafi idea o f the vifcera. of thefe eels. Fig. 10 reprefents the
alimentary duft (further magnified) from it’s origin to the belly.
It is {hewn here as feparated from the animal, which is eafily
effected; for nature, aflifted by very little art, performs the
operation. The oefophagus, b c, Fig. 6 and id, at it’s origin
a a, is very fmall, but foon grows larger, as at c, and forms a
kind of oblong bag, c d ; the diameter of this increafes till it
comes to d, where it fwells out as at d e f ; it then grows finaller
till it comes to g, when it again fwells out as g k 1. There is a
narrow neck at i, which in it’s natural ftate is feen in the bag k 1.
The pan k 1 is the ftomach. M. Becli has {hewn, that the alimentary
duEt of many fpecies of worms is formed of two bags,
one of which is inclofed within the other. It is the feme with
this animalculum; the little veflcl b e , that we have called the
oefophagus, ■ which is the origin of the bag c d, enters into the
fame bag, and preferves it’s form within it, till it conies to m,
3 R from