MICROSCOPE IN THE COUNTRY. 31 



CHAPTER III. 



A HALF-HOUR WITH THE MICROSCOPE 

 IN THE COUNTRY. 



A COMPOUND Microscope is not easily conveyed and 

 put up in the fields, but the produce of the roads 

 and \vaysides may be easily brought to the Micro- 

 scope at home. No one who has a Microscope 

 should walk out into the country without supply- 

 ing himself with a few small boxes, three or four 

 small bottles, and a hand-net, in order to bring 

 home objects for examination. The dry produce, 

 which may be put into boxes, is of a different 

 character from that which may be conveyed home 

 in bottles. We shall, therefore, first direct attention 

 to the minute forms of mosses, fungi, lichens, and 

 ferns, which may be collected in boxes ; premising, 

 however, that many members of these families may 

 be found without going into the country to seek for 

 them. 



Amongst the minuter plants and animals whose 

 true nature can only be detected by the Microscope, 

 many are composed of a single cell, whilst others, 

 like higher plants and animals, are formed by the 

 union of a large number of cells. The greater 

 proportion of the one-celled, or unicellular plants, 

 as they are called, are found in water ; but some 

 are found on moist rocks, stones, and old walls. 

 Amongst these there is one of exceedingly simple 

 structure, called gory dew (Palmetto, cruenta). 

 This plant appears as a red stain upon the 

 surface of damp objects. If a little of this red 

 matter is scraped off* the object to which it is 



