MICROSCOPES. 255 



water in which flowers have been standing for any length 

 of time. 



Bell-shaped Polype. During all the months in summer, 

 a great abundance of these curious insects is to be found 

 on the shells of the small water-snail, duck-weed, and 

 other water-plants, and on the larvae of the larger insects, 

 in such multitudes, at times, as to appear like a fine down 

 upon them ; they are extremely minute, and generally fasten 

 themselves by their tails in groups of twenty or more, ex- 

 tending themselves in every direction in search of food. 



Paste Eels. Those who are desirous to be furnished with 

 a curious living object for the microscope, should be pro- 

 vided with the eels in paste ; they are, after the paste has 

 been made for some weeks, so numerous that the whole 

 surface of it appears alive, and by taking from the surface 

 with a point of a needle the smallest particle, and putting it 

 in a drop of water, it will be found to contain a number of 

 these minute eels, with a continual regular motion swimming 

 about the drop of water. 



Vinegar Eels. A small eel may likewise be found in the 

 dregs of vinegar, that moves much quicker than the above. 



Eels in Blighted Wheat. These animalcula are not usu- 

 ally lodged in such blighted grains of wheat as are covered 

 externally with hoot-like dust ; but abundance of ears may 

 be observed in some fields having grains that appear blackish, 

 as if scorched, and, when opened, are found to contain a 

 soft white substance. This, examined attentively, seems to 

 be nothing else but a knot of threads lying as close as pos- 

 sible to each other. This fibrous matter exhibits no sign of 

 life, but, upon applying water to it, the supposed fibres 

 separate, and prove to be living creatures by motion, at 

 first languid, but gradually more vigorous. 



Butterflies and Moths. We cannot enumerate all the dif- 

 ferent sorts of these beautiful insects, and it is impossible to 

 describe the variety and splendor of their plumages, sur- 

 passing all the magnificence of the richest and most costly 

 dress. All the butterfly and moth tribes are bred from 

 caterpillars. The number of these insects is very great ; 



