POND LIFE IN WINTER. 251 
regalis, ambigua, ornata, three species of Anurea, three of Brachi- 
onus. I have also generally managed to find Volvox i in the winter 
in one pool or another, frequently under thick ice. Some years 
ago, I found the most beautiful gathering I ever found of 
Volvox under the ice. They were very large and plentiful, 
showing the beautiful yellow encysted, or, as it is called, 
‘resting stage.’ The Dendrosoma I had under the microscope 
for weeks, hoping to be able to see for myself what is spoken 
of by Mr. Levick in the Manual, the gentle process of 
multiplication, but so far have not been successful. I generally go 
pond hunting twice a week. I frequently walk 15 or 16 miles 
where there is no kind of railway, and in all weathers, and so far as 
my experience goes I like winter almost, if not quite, as well as 
summer ; for a long journey with a lot of glass bottles and other 
apparatus fags one so. I can fully agree with your remarks in 
your JOURNAL regarding the way in which this kind of study is 
neglected in America, as it appears to be. I think the micro- 
scopists in England are much more devoted to pond life on the 
whole than the Americans appear to be, and in such a glorious 
hunting ground, too, as, in my opinion, is pretty well proved by 
the beautiful work just published on Desmids of the United States 
by Mr. Wolle. I am truly delighted with it, as it contains so many 
examples in addition to Ralfs work. I have recently discovered 
Xanthidum antilopeum, Arthrodesmus Incus, Staurastum Sieboldt, 
Cosmarium pseudonitidulum, and a few very rare forms in a 
sunken pool. 
In conclusion, I often regret that there are so many microscopists 
who neglect this useful, healthful, and fascinating branch of 
study. Do any of the American microscopists keep aquaria? I 
have kept aquaria of one kind or another for over twenty years, 
but only the last four years for the microscope, and have 
tried Vallisneria, Anacharis, Nitella, Chara vulgaris. For breeding 
rotifers, and for harboring them, nothing, I find, comes up to 
Chara vulgaris. The tube-dwelling rotifers love to build their 
habitations in the axils of the whorls and in close proximity to the 
beautiful red bunches of fruit; this plant is better even for this 
purpose than JVitel/a, and that is also very good. I have at present 
about twenty tolerably large aquaria in my room, all with JVitel/a 
and Chara in abundance, and fairly covered with JZelicerta ringens 
and JZ. tyro, Stephanoceros, and many others too numerous to 
mention here.—A. JZ. M. /. 
E. H. WaGstaFrF. 
