CHAPTER VIII. 



AUGUST. 



In the beginning of this month a pond in the 

 Finchley Road, a little beyond the Highgate arch- 

 way, supplied some more specimens of the Pterodina 

 patina^ described in a previous chapter; but towards 

 the middle of the month a visit to Chipstead, in 

 Surrey, enabled a new region to be explored. 



It is always a treat to a Londoner to get down 

 to any of the picturesque parts of Surrey ; the trees 

 exhibit a richness of foliage and variety of colour 

 not seen within the regions of metropolitan smoke; 

 the distance glows with the rich purples so much 

 admired in the pictures of Linnel, and the sun-sets 

 light up earth and sky wdth the golden tints he is 

 so well able to reproduce. Probably the warmth 

 of the soil, and the purity of the air, may make 

 Surrey ponds prolific in microscopic life; but of 

 this we do not know enough to make a fair com- 

 parison, although our own dips into them were 

 tolerably lucky. 



