60 



MARVELS OF POND-LIFE. 



to the ilhiminated side of a bottle, and may thus 

 easily effect their capture by the dipping- tube. 



This year the March sunshine was not lost, for 

 on the 3rd. of that month I obtained a bottle full 

 of conferva from a pond about a mile from my 

 house, and lying at the foot of the Highgate hills. 

 Water-fleas were immediately discovered in abundance, 

 together with some minute worms, and a ferocious- 

 looking larva covered with scales; but what attracted 

 most attention was a Rotifer, like a transparent 



150 

 Pterodina patina. 



animated soup-plate, from near the middle of which 

 depended a tail, which swayed from side to side, as 

 the creature swam along. The head exhibited two 

 little red eyes; two tufts of cilia rowed the living 

 disk through the water, and the gizzard worked with 

 a rapid snapping motion, that left no doubt the 

 ciliary whirlpools had brought home no slender stores 

 of invisible food. Sometimes the end of the tail 

 acted as a sucker, and fixed the animal tightly to 



