3fICR0SC0PIC FORMS IN FRESH WATER. 



By J. McG. Baxter. M. D. 



^7^ HE excuse for a paper vSuch as this is that (so far as the 



{w^ writer knows) no one has touched upon the subject in New 



Brunswick at all, and yet it is one of the most interesting 



in which the student of Natural History could possibly engage. 



He will need, of course, lirst of all, to be furnished with a 

 good microscope and the necessary appliances. 



When he starts out to explore the world in miniature 

 which exists in fresh water alone, he wilf be at first rather dis- 

 appointed, for he knows not where nor how to look, but grad- 

 ually the field oi)ens up as he becomes more and more expert, 

 and at last he is simply overwhelmed with a whole world of life 

 in miniature, living, procreating, dying, being devoured by en- 

 emies, yet never failing in the continuation of the species under 

 even the most trying circumstances, such as omnipresent enem- 

 ies, rigorous, one might say almost Arctic cold. and intense heat, 

 for we have both here. 



Also one notices the exquisite adaptation of means to end in 

 the life of each of these tiny individuals, as though the continu- 

 ation of the Universe de[)eHded upon the preservation of this 

 particular species alone. 



\Ve need not here s[)eak particularly of the different habitats, 

 modes of life and of procreation, of the dift'erent forms of life 

 found in fresh water, as this is not the objeet or scope of tais 

 pa])er. We propose only to make it a nucleus around which 

 may be added from time to time the additional forms noted in 

 the vicinity. 



The particular place where each of the following species was 

 found is not noted particularly; suffice it to say that they were 

 all found within a radius of two miles of Chatham, in ponds, 

 pools, puddles, brooks, etc., of fresh water, although some of 

 these sources approached the line of salt or brackish water. 

 |,^ It is only necessary to call attention to one rich source of 

 S')esmids here, viz., Kerr's brook, which rises on the Old Napan 



DC 

 CL 



