6 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [BuU. 



Species. Prof. Stokes' valuable papers are, at present, some- 

 what difficult to obtain, and very difficult to follow, because of 

 the lengthy and somewhat obscure descriptions that are given 

 of his different species. His figures, however, are usually 

 satisfactory, and make it possible for a student to identify his 

 species, comparing them with forms which may be under ex- 

 amination. Besides the works of Stokes and Leidy there are 

 only a few scattered papers describing isolated genera and 

 species found in America. This dearth of work makes the study 

 and description of American types of Protozoa especially de- 

 sirable, in order that there may be in the hands of microscopic 

 students a complete description of the types of Protozoa which 

 are liable to be found in American waters. Such a publication 

 does not, at present, exist. Prof. Stokes' papers have de- 

 scribed only newly discovered species, and have never at- 

 tempted to give any descriptions of forms which he simply 

 identified and which have been described elsewhere. The 

 literature upon Protozoa is in general so widely scattered that 

 it is not accessible in any convenient form to the student of 

 American microscopy. It is, therefore, a great desideratum 

 that the description of all types of American Protozoa should, 

 if possible, be collected and published together for the use of 

 American students. A description of Connecticut species Will 

 not, of course, completely fill this need, but will come nearer 

 to it than any previous publication. 



For these reasons it has seemed to me that before it is pos- 

 sible to attempt a study of the distribution of Protozoa in the 

 waters of the State, or of any problems associated with their 

 economic relation to the purity of drinking waters, consider- 

 able preliminary work must be done which shall include a 

 study and description of the genera and species found in this 

 region. This part of the work has occupied most of my atten- 

 tion during the past year. 



The time that it has been possible to put upon the work 

 during the last year has been sufficient to accumulate a large 

 amount of data upon this general subject, and it is probable 

 that I have now obtained and had an opportunity of studying 

 most of the genera of Protozoa liable to be found in Connecti- 

 cut. This is certainly true of the two groups, Flagellata 

 and Infusoria. 



