Enlarged they are three to four inches in diameter. When an animalcule touches the bladder (utricle) a flap snaps upwards; the beastie slips into the pouch; the trap springs shut. Of pond animal ...

From her sofa or bed, she listened to soundscapes, thriving on ‘the roar of the city’. Her noisy neighbours included a lodging house’s ‘clerical animalcule’ with his ‘midnight revelries’; the hotel’s ...