No. 2.] FRESH-WATER PROTOZOA. 7 



Upon the rarer groups, Rhizopoda, Heliozoa, and Suc- 

 TORiA, my work is less complete, and the forms already found 

 probably do not constitute so large a proportion of the whole 

 as in the other two groups. 



It is, of course, perfectly evident that even this prelimi- 

 nary work is not yet complete. It will require a long-continued 

 study of the waters of the State before a complete list and 

 description of all the Protozoa can be given. Before this 

 can be regarded as complete it will doubtless be necessary to 

 obtain the cooperation of microscopists in other localities in 

 collecting material and possibly studying the same. The com- 

 pletion of the work can therefore only be made after some 

 years of study. For this reason it is thought to be wise to 

 publish at the present time a preliminary report upon the 

 Protozoa already found, in order that such a report may be 

 used to stimulate the study of this group by other microscopists 

 in the State, and thus increase the amount of work that can 

 be done and the territory tliat can be covered. The present 

 report is designed, therefore, simply as introductory, and its 

 purposes are, ist, to .state the progress that has been made in 

 the study of the Protozoa, and 2d, to elicit the cooperation of 

 other microscopists so far as possible. It is hoped, therefore, 

 that microscopists into whose hands this preliminary report 

 may fall and who may be interested in the study of the micro- 

 scopic life of our waters, will communicate with the author of 

 this paper, in order that, if possible, cooperative work may be 

 started in various parts of the State. The author would be 

 very glad to receive communications from any one within the 

 limits of the State who is interested in microscopic study, and 

 especially to obtain material for study that anyone will be kind 

 enough to send to his laboratory in Middletown. 



It is expected that, at a later time, a more complete report 

 of the Protozoa of the State will be published, which, it is 

 hoped, may take the form of a general scientific study of the 

 unicellular animals and their evolution, as illustrated by the 

 forms found in our own waters. Such a study is not feasible 

 at present. The present report is planned with the object of 

 making it as useful as possible to microscopists. Therefore 

 it has been regarded as wise to illustrate carefully all species 



