CPIAPTER XII. 



DECEMBER. 



There is always satisfaction in finding a work 

 accomplished; but the attempt to delineate some of 

 tlie marvels of minute creation has been a pleasant 

 one, and we approacli the completion of our task 

 of recording a Microscopic Year with something like 

 regret. The dark, dirty December of the great 

 metropolis may not seem a promising time for field 

 excursions, but some ponds lie near enough to prac- 

 ticable roads and paths to render an occasional dip 

 in them — not of ourselves, but of our bottles — an 

 easy and not unpleasant performance; and if the 

 weather is unusually bad, we can fall back upon 

 our preserves in bottles and tanks, which seldom 

 fail to afford something new, as we have been pretty 

 sure to bring home some undeveloped germs with our 

 stock of pond-water and plants, and even creatures 

 of considerable size are very likely to have escaped 

 detection in our first efforts at examination. 



When objects are not over abundant, as is apt 



