He defined them as possessing radial instead of bilateral symmetry, and as apparently destitute of nervous system and sense organs, as having the circulatory system rudimentary or absent, and the respiratory organs on or coextensive with the surface of the body; he included under this title and definition five classes, - Echinodermata, Acalepha, Entozoa, Polypi and Infusoria.
Leeuwenhoek, to whom we also owe the discovery of Bacteria and ciliate Infusoria.
In most rotifers, on the contrary, the trochus is stronger than the cingulum, often lobed, and with some of its cilia aggregated into vibratile styles homologous with the combplates of Ctenophora (q.v.) and the membranelles of ciliate Infusoria (q.v.).
C. Williamson (best known as a botanist) in Pritchard's Infusoria, in 1861.
He was also a diligent and skilful observer, and busied himself not only with astronomical subjects, such as the double stars, the satellites of Jupiter and the measurement of the polar and equatorial diameters of the sun, but also with biological studies of the circulation of the sap in plants, the fructification of plants, infusoria, &c.