Lill OREGON NATURALIST. 
inch and a B eye-piece magnifying to gether 
about 400 times linear, Then he can see by 
dipping some of the scum from the marshes, 
many beautiful forms. They look like boats 
and they move about pretty vigorously, although 
they are usually considered plants, but not fix- 
ed plants. They represent what are usually 
termed motive algz. 
Prof. Haeckel a great German authority on 
natural history places them by themselves, 
between the plants and animals, in the Pro- 
tista. 
Every microscopist knows what a Diatom; 
witch 1s\ a term they go by, Is, * and 
Sleurvsigma angilata, or commonly angulata 
alone, is the object that 1s used to test object- 
ives and tell if they are good; or when they are 
viewed by means of the microscope and living 
they appear as skeletons of transparent — silica, 
having within coloring matter which is a fawn 
color, but when acted upon by nitric acid the 
fawn coior disappears and the silica is left. 
the Diatom. It is 
and 
This is what is known as 
most beautiful m form is marked very 
symmetrically. 
Vhey are boat shaped when they are known 
as Vawter, vod shaped when they are known. 
as Syve va. like pill boxes jomed end to end 
when they are known as J/e/ostra, circular 
with beautiful markings arranged in dots when 
Cosctnodiscus and 
Three 
Triceratiwn and like wool sacks as Azdu/phia. 
they are knowr as so on 
with vanous forms, sided as 
There is one form that was one of the first dis- 
covered! and the motion of which is a marvel to 
microscopists. [his is known as Bacrllaria 
paradoxea anda paradox it certainly seems to be. 
{1 consists of a number of rod like forms united 
side by_side, and when it moves it does so by 
pushing or sliding one over the other until they 
are stretched out in the form ofa long slender 
rod. It does so very quickly. But as soon as 
it has done so it immediately returns to the 
form it was at first and then pushes out in the 
opposite direction. Repeating this mode of 
motion over and over. 
IoI 
The Bacillariz, form as [ have said vast 
mountains and plains in some quarters of the 
globe. They are very common everywhere. 
Living in the sea as the brown coating on sea 
plants. In the streams as brown coating on 
submerged plants. In clay as the fossil shells 
or Corveae as they are called. 
Uhey were until lately supposed to be con- 
fined to the sea or to the fresh water exclusively 
aid species were distinguished as marine or 
But 
heen seen in fresh water and fresh water forms 
fresh water, marine forms have 
lately 
ln the ocean. So it would seem that although 
water imbabitants truly, they may be found in 
rivers and the ocean 
likes, | Onds, marshes, 
Vo those who have not seen them as yet a 
vast amount of beauty can be shown and it is 
Qe wonder that microscopists go almost wild 
When lookin at the symmetricu forms of the 
Bi 1 Laure, 
1HE BATHING OF HUMMING 
BIRDS. 
'n an articie in the July number of the 
Oregon Naturalist entitled ‘‘How They 
Bathe,” Mr. G. W. Harvey describes the 
m2thod adopted by the Humming-birds in 
p:rforming their ablutions. Mr. Harvey’s 
ooservations were made in the vicinity of 
Santa Barbara, Calif., however, I fear 
that h2is mistaken in the species of Hum- 
mer that he saw there; the Ruby-throat is 
an eastern species and | do not think that 
it has been observed in California. The 
Anna Humming-bird is quite frequently 
miscailed the Ruby-throat, and I believe 
thatit was this species that Mr. Harvey 
observed bathing in the spray of a mount- 
ain current. 
| resided in the vicinity of Santa Barbara 
for nearly two years, and while there | 
made a study of the Hummers that frequent 
that beautiful region. A habit that I, and 
I suppose many others, have noticed in 
the Hummers, is their bathing in the spray 
