Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1874 — A Microscopic Architect—The “Brickmaker." [ARTICLE]

A Microscopic Architect—The “Brickmaker."

No bird, no other animal, not even man himself, can excel the beautiful workmanship of this tiny ''creature, scarcely visible to the naked eye, yet, under the microscope, assuming vast proportions. She not only builds her house, but manufactures her own brick, and lays them up one by one with no workmen to assist. The house is usually attached to some water-plant; but I have seen the young ones, upon a few' occasions,fan--chor their dwellings*to the parent-house. When the animal is resting or is in any way disturbed, she settles down in the lower part of*the tube; but when all is auiet and she is in good working conition, with no nursery of young ones around her, she is pretty sure to reward us with the sight of her four beautiful wheels, which she sets in rapid motion, thus forming a swift current whicbtoingS' the food and the material for the brick close to her head; and she has the power of selection, for she often rejects particles brought to her mouth. The apparatus for molding the brick is within the body. The material is brought through the action of the wheels to a small openrng, where it is passed down to the apparatus which is in rapid, whirling motion, soldering the particles together until they become, seemingly, a solid ball; now she ejects the brick from its mold, bendfc her head over, and securely places it on top of thp structure. It takes her about threejninutee to manufacture each brick.— Popular Science Monthly for Qeto -