Pie MICROS@GOPE. 
Vou. VI. ANN ARBOR, AUGUST, 1886. No. 8. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
DESMID FISHING. 
C. L. WILBUR, HILLSDALE, MICH. 
(VN of the most thoroughly charming and Pee atee fields 
of study for the young microscopist and student of botany 
is the collection and comparison of Desmids. Readily identi- 
fied by reference to the splendid and comparatively inexpensive 
Manual of Wattz, their bright and pleasing color, the many and. 
striking variations of form running through the different genera 
and species (500 v. s., Walle)—yet always so preserving the 
fundamental character of the order as to easily lead them to be. 
regarded as only varying lociin space (in Microsterius and oth- 
ers, reduced nearly to two dimensions) of some general equa- 
tion which may hold, summed up within itself, all the wonder-: 
ful possibilities of their development,—and, again, the mysteri- 
ous motion of their“ dancing granules ” and swarming motes,” 
must ever render them interesting and suggestive objects of 
study to workers with the microscope. Adding to this their 
occurence—while plentiful, yet not so numerous as to take away. 
all the zest of discovery—and their average and extreme limits 
of size, which render their examination, separation and per- 
manent mounting a pleasant and easy task even to the begin- 
ner, and we have the elements of a most admirable introduc-. 
tion to the use of the microscope in life-study: at once training 
the hand to delicacy, the mind to familiarity with and apprecia- 
tion of microscopical dimensions, and, at the same time, intro- 
ducing the young observer to the many forms of vegetable and 
animal life which he will meet with in his quest (and which he 
may well set aside for subsequent systematic study. ) 
It is in reference to this, the separation (for comparison, 
special microchemical treatment or permanent preservation) of 
