8 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



est in the center, cream white with 

 fluted edges, bordered by three bands 

 of blue shading from dark to light. The 

 next shell on each side was smaller 

 with bands of golden brown. The man 

 who sent this slide wrote that he had 

 worked over it for hours, with strong 

 magnifying glasses over his eyes, and 

 had manipulated the diatoms into po- 

 sition with a hair from a cat's whisker, 

 as only one fine enough for the task. 



I brought one day a lump of chalk 

 that had been picked up below the 

 cliffs at Dover, England. My friend 

 scraped off what she could hold on the 

 blade of her penknife. When it was 

 magnified upon the screen, I counted 

 twenty perfect shells among many 

 broken ones. Who could estimate the 

 number in that small lump alone? Yet 

 the Cliffs of Dover, made of this mate- 

 rial, can be seen on a sunny day at 

 Calais across the English Channel. 



One other instance T will give of our 

 experiments, illustrating the difference 

 between man's handiwork and God's. 

 The smallest needle that we could buy, 

 when reflected on the screen, looked 

 like a crowbar, the point as blunt, and 

 on three sides jagged edges that were 

 raised apparently a quarter of an inch 

 above the rounded surface, while the 

 sting of a honeybee terminated in a 

 point so fine I could hardly see where 

 it ended. 



After returning to the East, I experi- 

 mented with the low forms of life at 

 many points on the Atlantic coast, find- 

 ing new shapes and colors, for thev 

 abound in all parts of the world, in 

 some regions abundantly where for 

 ages the fossil remains have made stra- 

 ta of immense length and depth. 



The most beautiful exhibition of 

 minute Infusoria that I ever saw oc- 

 curred one dark night at Seal Harbor, 

 Mt. Desert, Maine. Returning with a 

 friend from a call, I noticed that a 

 heavy surf was entering the cove, which 

 is shaped like a horseshoe, with rocks 

 on each side and a sandy beach in the 

 center. As each wave rolled in and 

 flowed around the curve it was like a 

 Ions flash of lightning. 



"Oh," I exclaimed, "it is the phos- 

 phorescent Noctilucae that I have heard 

 about. Let's go down on the beach and 

 sec this strange phenomenon closer." 



When we plunged our hands and 



arms into the waves and held them up 

 they looked as if they were on fire, yet 

 there was no heat. 



These minute forms average one 

 hundred and sixtieth part of an inch, 

 yet a few could be seen with the naked 

 eye and were about the size of a small 

 pinhead. The Notilucae night lights 

 of the ocean, like the fireflies on land, 

 have their gleam intermittent, but they 

 are in such immense numbers that the 

 ocean in the tropics often seems cov- 

 ered with liquid fire. I never saw them 

 again on the New England coast. 



But I am only an amateur microsco- 

 pist. and nature reveals so many won- 

 ders that I need. more than one hobby. 

 Each spring comes to me like a new 

 creation. The first notes of the robins 

 and the bluebirds I hail with delight, 

 and as the bird chorus increases day by 

 day there are sure to be strangers 

 among the singers whose acquaintance 

 I am glad to make. 



Then comes the grand procession of 

 flowers, brought out by the warm rains 

 and the spring sunshine ; and although 

 I can no longer tramp the woods or 

 climb the steep hillsides in search of 

 them, younger feet and hands often 

 bring them to my door. 



When I am shut in by wintry storms, 

 charming books reveal to me through 

 the eyes of noted travelers the fauna 

 and flora of other lands. 



So if we progress in some new inter- 

 est as we advance in years, our days 

 will be less monotonous and our lives 

 less liable to become a burden upon 

 others. 



Our various "water bugs," it has 

 commonly been thought, lives entirely 

 on animal food — daphnia and other 

 small crustacea, mosquito larvae, water 

 i meets and even an occasional fly that 

 chances to fall into the water. A re- 

 cent study, however, shows that the 

 food of these creatures is, in part, veg- 

 etable. The common "water boatmen," 

 for example, eat diatoms, euglenas and 

 many other of the unicellular plants. 

 The whole subject is one that will re- 

 pay the attention of any good observer. 



A new insect enemy of the peach, ap- 

 parently introduced from Japan, has 

 made its appearance in the District of 

 Columbia. 



