62 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[April, 



investigations, and if the author of this 

 article has made a discovery, it is right 

 that we should give it publicity. Yet 

 our readers would like some better 

 assurance than is offered above, that 

 a pallium such as is there described 

 has been found. It is only reasonable 

 that a more definite account of the 

 observations should be asked for. 

 The method of staining should be 

 immediately set forth. We were at 

 first inclined to reject the article be- 

 cause the reagent used was not men- 

 tioned, but we prefer not to be too 

 arbitrary in such matters, as there 

 may be adequate reasons for with- 

 holding the details, of which we know 

 nothing. — Ed.] 



Pond-life in Winter. 



Though it is not uncommon to see 

 in Microscopical magazines state- 

 ments by editors and contributors 

 that pond-water in winter furnishes 

 many interesting objects for observa- 

 tion, I have always been deterred from 

 collecting any of that material during 

 the cold weather, partly by the trouble 

 of penetrating the ice, but chiefly by 

 the conviction that I could always ob- 

 tain better specimens from my own 

 in-door aquaria than from any frozen 

 pond. 



In case other readers of this Jour- 

 nal may have been prevented by sim- 

 ilar reasons from obtaining winter 

 pond-water, perhaps they will be inter- 

 ested in the following memoranda of 

 the microscopical examination of the 

 first sample of that material which I 

 ever had the good fortune to secure. 



' Towards the end of last January a 

 friend gave me about an ounce of 

 pond-water containing a small green 

 spray of some aquatic plant and a lit- 

 tle sediment, the latter amounting, 

 when well settled, to about one-eighth 

 of the bulk of the water. My friend 

 said that he had just obtained the 

 water through a hole cut in the ice of 

 a pond and that it seemed very rich in 

 infusoria. 



I have had this water under more 

 or less interrupted observation ever 

 since, and have been amazed at the 

 variety of microscopical life which it 

 has displayed. I believe that I have 

 never before seen in any single dip- 

 ping of pond-water, so many and such 

 diverse specimens for microscopical 

 study. 



All the animalcules seemed to be in 

 the most healthy, active, and vigorous 

 condition. The tardigrades and 

 floscularians were the largest and 

 finest I have ever seen. One speci- 

 men of FloSiUlaria ornata contained 

 in its tube twelve eggs, which I pre- 

 sume is an unusually large number, as 

 it is stated by Pritchard that Ehren- 

 berg had never counted more than five, i 

 but that Mr. Gosse had on one occa- \ 

 sion observed nine, I also noticed in 

 this water the largest and most beauti- 

 ful colony that I have ever seen of 

 that interesting rhizopod Clathrulhia 

 elegatis. It consisted of no less than 

 nineteen individuals all connected to 

 one another by the same system of 

 stems. Indeed, with but few excep- 

 tions, the water in question has fur- 

 nished specimens of all the more 

 striking of our Maine animalcules. 

 Among these exceptions, however, are 

 some of the largest and most interest- 

 ing forms such as Lophopus^ Hydra, 

 Conochiliis volvox, Mcliccrta r in gens, 

 which abound in our summer waters, 

 and the Stephanoceros, which is more 

 rarely seen though last summer I 

 collected about twenty specimens and 

 raised in aquaria perhaps a hundred 

 more. 



It may not be out of place for me^ 

 to say that my scrutiny of this water 

 commenced only a few hours after it 

 was taken from the pond, and that it 

 then contained apparently quite as 

 great a variety of active animal life 

 as it has shown at any time since, — 

 though some forms which I did not 

 at first notice afterwards made their 

 appearance, replacing others which 

 became extinct. Ihe water has 

 shown the customary succession of 

 microscopic creatures which is to be 



