106 The Microscope. 



follow on the discovery of animalcules in a drop 

 of pure-looking water; but the case was different 

 when I first used the microscope, till by slow de- 

 grees I discovered that these minute creatures in- 

 habit stagnant water, occurring in countless numbers 

 around decaying plants, and also in ponds where 

 submerged weeds are growing, and, like the large and 

 visible animals, must be sought out and found, some 

 in one place and some in another. 



It has so happened that I have never systemati- 

 cally studied their ways, or endeavoured to draw their 

 likenesses.* My fishing in the ponds and streams 

 was undertaken with a view to obtaining the beetles, 

 boat-flies, shells, and other comparatively large deni- 

 zens of the water, and also suitable objects for exhibit- 

 ing the wonderful spectacle of the circulation of the 

 blood in the unhurt and living animal. But as the same 

 water which produced the water-beetle, the stickleback, 

 and the newt, was likely to furnish also the wheel ani- 

 malcule, the Bell-flower, and a host of smaller restless 

 creatures, I became familiar with their appearance, 

 and hoped at some time to study them, and profit by 

 the discoveries which of late years have been made 

 concerning them by various eminent observers. To 

 a certain extent I have realized this wish ; but am ren- 

 dered independent of the task of drawing them by the 



* The fignres here given of animalcules, with the exception of No. 

 13, and a few others, are taken by the permission of the publishers 

 from Mr. Slack's " Marvels of Pond-Life." But in each case I have 

 examined the object depicted, and can vouch for the accuracy of its 

 representation. 



