BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 289 
habitants of our ponds and streams should claim a much larger 
share of our thought than they do, for it is upon them that we have 
to rely chiefly for our acquaintance with those wondrous works of 
nature which are the foundation and key to the science of Biology. 
It sounds oddly enough that an expedition should go out for a few 
years’ explorations in arctic, antarctic, and tropical seas, with every 
preparation for the capture and study of their faunze by the first 
men of science, while our creatures at home should be left to the 
enthusiastic “Sir Thomas,” who ties his bottle to the end of his 
stick or umbrella, and who may perhaps venture so far as to go 
over shoe-top in his endeavour to reach some desired spot, or 
capture some coveted creature. It is not because the knowledge 
of these creatures is of little importance, for we have oft-repeated 
evidence that a better acquaintance with the part they play in 
the economy of nature will be of the utmost value to us in our 
attempts to understand the principles of health and disease. I 
have felt ashamed that, with the exception of a few splendid works, 
such as “ Allman on the Fresh-water Polyzoa,” ‘ Baird’s Entomos- 
traca,” and some others, we have to rely chiefly upon foreign 
publications for descriptions of our own microscopic life. No 
wonder that so many of us looked forward with delight to the com- 
pletion of that excellent work by our friend and member, Saville 
Kent, upon the Infusoria, preceded as it was by that of G. S. Brady, 
upon the Copepoda, and another noble contribution to our know- 
ledge, if not by our countryman at least in our language—I mean 
the splendid monograph of the Rhizopoda by Professor Leidy—a 
group of organisms of wonderful structural simplicity, and yet 
shown to be all sufficient to perform the functions of active life. 
Many of the organisms there described are familiar to us, and 
probably nearly the whole will be found identical with those of our 
own locality ; indeed, Mr. W. Archer, of Dublin, has already found 
many of them in Ireland. This opens up the interesting and 
difficult question of distribution, which I shall not attempt to dis- 
cuss, but merely note the curious coincidence that Anurea longts- 
pina, a rotifer of about one-fortieth of an inch in length, should 
have been found both here and in America at nearly the same time, 
associated, as it was in our case, with other organisms bearing 
spinous processes. I trust that that splendid group of creatures to 
which Anurza belongs may soon have the same duty rendered it 
as has been done for the Infusoria, and that we may not have to 
wait long for a monograph or manual of the Rotatoria, a work 
which I believe is already in progress. 
I confess to having paid perhaps too little heed to the advice 
upon collecting, which was at hand when I first sought after the 
minute mysteries of fresh-water life, preferring rather to work away 
with that enthusiasm which knows no obstacles and heeds no rebuffs 
