i897"9 8 -] Microscopic Life. 307 



Astasia has not been thoroughly studied yet. Dr and Mrs 

 Watson were staying in the New Forest just before we came, 

 and we are indebted to them for calling our attention to the 

 pond. 



The Amcebas, which are like animated morsels of jelly, have 

 often entertained us with their odd movements. They pro- 

 gress by stretching out a pseudopod or two, and then creeping 

 or rather flowing after them, till the whole body has moved 

 forward. When an amoeba wants to eat anything, it stretches 

 out a pseudopod on each side of the coveted object, and 

 gradually flows completely round it. In this way the same 

 part of the amoeba serves first as mouth and later on as digestive 

 organs. The amoeba proper moves very slowly, but we have 

 seen other species which are wonderfully active. 



We once saw an instance of multiplication by division in 

 an Infusorian somewhat resembling a stentor. When we first 

 caught sight of our specimen it was swimming about very fast, 

 and looked like one creature with a curious appendage. This 

 appendage was completely absorbed into the main body for a 

 little time, and then reappeared more plainly, when we saw 

 that it was a small facsimile of the larger portion. Soon the 

 connecting band became longer and thinner ; and at length, 

 while we were watching, the two portions twisted themselves 

 different ways till the narrow link broke, and each creature 

 swam off on its own account. We once saw a stentor in 

 process of division by oblique fission. 



We have not found so much variety among the larger 

 animals : the commonest are nematodes and water-fleas, and 

 larva? of different kinds. The nematodes are lively little 

 things, and create a great disturbance on a slide. The first 

 specimens we saw were dead, and curled up in odd positions, 

 and we took them for some vegetable organism such as 

 Closterium, till later on the same evening we found a live 

 one, to our great surprise. The water - fleas we are most 

 familiar with are Daphnia pulex, D. vetula, Cypris, Cyclops, 

 Canthocamptus, and Chydorus ; and we have once or twice 

 come across Alona. In October 1895 our pond at March- 

 field was swarming with Daphnia pulex, but in July 1896 it 

 was full of D. vetula, with a sprinkling of Chydorus and 

 Cyclops. They are all very lively, and in order to get a 



