CHAPTER IX. 



SEriEMBER. 



Scattered about Hampstead Heath are a number 

 of little pools, not big enough to be dignified by 

 the name of ponds. They are generally surrounded 

 by furze bushes, and would escape attention if not 

 actually looked for. Those which are mere puddles, 

 and have only a brief existence in rainy weather, 

 seldom reward the labour of investigation ; but others 

 are permanent, except after prolonged drought, and 

 aiford convenient situations for the growth of con- 

 fervse, star-weed, and other plants. These will nearly 

 always repay the microscopic collector during the 

 winter, when he must break the ice to get at their 

 contents; in spring, when long chains of frog-spawn 

 aiford ocular evidence of the prolific properties of 

 the Batrachian reptiles ; and in summer, when they 

 afford both shade and sunshine to their numerous 

 inhabitants. Small beetles, water-spiders, larvee of 

 gnats, and other insects, rotifers, including the tu- 

 bicolar sorts, and several varieties of infusoria may 



