44 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Ffb. 1, 1869. 



MICROSCOPY. 



Christmas and the Microscope — 



Nee jam sustineant onus, 

 Sylvre laborantes, geluque 

 Flumina constiterint acuto, 



might well be said of Canadian woods and streams 

 at this season of the year. The earth has pnt on 

 her winter robes, and under them she hides most of 

 those objects which in summer please and delight 

 us so much. A cheerless prospect for microscopists, 

 one would think. So I thought, as on Christmas 

 afternoon I sallied out with bottles and stick in 

 search of diatoms, infusoria, snow-peas, &c, though 

 I did not expect to be very successful. After 

 wandering about for some time, searching vainly for 

 an unfrozen stream, I was about to return home 

 with empty bottles, when I suddenly bethought my- 

 self of an old spring which supplied several families 

 with water, and which I knew therefore would be 

 unfrozen. In this country, wherever there is a good 

 spring some kind individual sinks a barrel for the 

 benefit of the community at large, and thereby 

 benefits microscopists in no small degree, for in 

 these you are generally sure to find a good supply 

 of microscopic objects. When I got to the spring 

 the first thing that greeted my sight was a piece of 

 alga; floating on the top of the water, and on a 

 closer examination of the barrel I saw that the sides 

 had a dark-brown coating, in which I knew diatoms 

 and infusoria would be found. Scraping some of 

 this oft', I placed it in a bottle and retraced my steps 

 homeward, well satisfied with my afternoon's walk. 

 Getting home at that unfavourable time for work- 

 ing, just as the light is beginning to fail, I had to 

 exercise my patience and wait till evening to see 

 what my bottle contained. 1 had not long to wait, 

 as darkness soon succeeds the light here : so when I 

 had got a lamp lighted, I proceeded to examine my 

 spoils. A short account of the things 1 found may 

 not be uninteresting to English readers of the 

 Science-Gossip, as it will give them some idea of 

 what lovers of science meet with in this country. 

 Upon putting a slide under the microscope before I 

 had it properly focussed, I saw the dim outline of 

 some little creature kicking and struggling as though 

 it were caught in a net. It turned out to be one of 

 the Tardigrada, or little water-bears, that had got 

 its feet entangled in the gelatinous tube of the 

 Encyonema prostratum. It was with great difficulty 

 that it freed itself from the jelly, and then it began 

 its slow and stately walk, which formed such a con- 

 trast with the quick, lively movements of the 

 animalcules with which it was surrounded. The 

 little water-bears are by no means common objects 

 with us, but it only makes them the more accept- 

 able when we chance to get them. The Encyonema 

 prostratum seems to delight in these quiet water- 



barrels, though it is occasionally fouud on the 

 wave-washed Cladophora of our lakes. They always 

 remind me of the manner in which peccaries sleep, 

 packed closely together in hollow logs. I have seen 

 the Encyonema shoot out of its tube, but whether 

 it can find its way back again or not I do not know. 

 Two species of Euglence were very plentiful, viz., 

 the E. viridis and E. acus. They are found here in 

 the spring in such numbers as to give to the water 

 they are in a dark green colour. The Paramecium 

 aurelia and Kolpoda cucullus were in great abun- 

 dance. Among other Infusoria were the Amphileptus 

 anser, two species of VorticeU'uue and the Leueophrys 

 pat/da. Of Desmids there were three species : 

 Closterium acerosum, Cosmariitm undulatum, and 

 Scenedesmus quadricauda. Of Diatoms, besides the 

 Encyonema, the following species were present : 

 Gompj/ionema coronation, G. minutissimum, Melosira 

 varians (Thwaites), Fragillaria rhabdosoma, Meridon 

 vernale,Navicula amphirhynchus, N. lib rile, Hyalosira 

 rectangida, Synedra splendens, Cymbella gastroides, 

 and some others. — W. Osier, Dundas, Ontario. 



Object for Polariscope. — The skin and scales 

 covering the legs of a pheasant make a very pretty 

 object for the polariscope. The scales should be 

 cleared from fat by immersion in ether or dilute 

 liquor potassae, dried between slips of glass, soaked 

 in turpentine until quite transparent, and finally 

 mounted in balsam. The colours are very bright if 

 a selenite stage is used. — /. II., Cheltenham. 



CoRDYLorHORA lacustris.— The only habitats 

 I find recorded for this interesting zoophyte are 

 docks in London and Dublin, where there would, I 

 suppose, be some admixture of salt water some- 

 times, though Professor Allmann says he kept spe- 

 cimens for a fortnight in fresh water. Last June a 

 specimen was found by a friend of mine on a piece 

 of old caual-boat, which we were examining for 

 polyzoa, lying on the Birmingham Canal at Tipton. 

 I subsequently found this zoophyte in the Stour- 

 bridge Canal, close by the town ; and I also ob- 

 tained a luxurious gathering from a pool near 

 Pensnett, Dudley, where it was lying close to the 

 side, attached to a small stick, and exposed to the 

 full glare of the August sun. I transferred this 

 colony to my aquarium, where it is still (Nov. 16) 

 flourishing. The zoophyte does not seem therefore 

 to avoid light, though, I suppose, when so exposed, 

 it is frequently destroyed by the more rapid growth 

 of Conferva?. Johnston only gives a short account 

 of it in his 2nd edition, and derives the name from 

 Kop$v\oc (a water-newt) instead of KopcuXi] (clava, 

 a club).— {See Professor Allmann's admirable paper 

 in Philosophical Transactions, 1853.) An interesting 

 account of it also, by the Rev. T. Hincks, is to be 

 found in Ann. and Mag. Nat. History, 1853. — W. 

 Madeley, Pensnett, near Dudley. 



