OF THE MICROSCOPE. 177 



COLLECTING OBJECTS. 



Those who are engaged in special studies and researches re- 

 quire no directions for collecting objects; but to those who use 

 the microscope for purposes of general instruction or amuse- 

 ment, a few hints may not be out of place. Almost every text- 

 book on botany, physiology, mineralogy a.nd kindred subjects, 

 will not only indicate a long list of objects, but will give di- 

 rections for procuring them. Plants yield a very large variety 

 of interesting subjects. Thus the cuticles of the leaves and 

 flowers; cellular tissue as shown by dissections, and by cross 

 and longitudinal sections; hairs, pollen, seeds, etc., all deserve 

 careful microscopical examination. Insects furnish an almost 

 unlimited field, and their wings, feet, eyes, mouth, scales, spira- 

 cles, hairs, etc., are all worthy of careful preparation and exam- 

 ination. 



It is, however, amongst the more minute forms of animal and 

 vegetable life, as found in pools and running streams, that the 

 most interesting objects are to be found, and the number and var- 

 iety of these is so great that several large volumes would be re- 

 quired to describe them. Even the ponderous works of Ehren- 

 berg and Pritchard do not begin to exhaust the subject, and, 

 therefore, it will be obvious, that even if we were to devote the 

 whole of the present volume to this department, we could 

 but skim the surface. Thus far we have had to depend chiefly 

 upon foreign works for descriptions of these organisms, but it is 

 fortunate that while the higher classes of plants and animals 

 which inhabit Europe, and are described in European works, 

 are entirely different from their congeners on this continent, the 

 same does not hold true in regard to the lower forms. We have 

 found localities which teemed with the Volvox Globator and 

 various species of Closterium, Staurastrum, Pediastrum, etc. 

 Hydras are to be found in great abundance, and so nearly. like 

 the described European species that the beginner will find it 

 difficult to detect the difference. We have repeatedly found the 

 Sleplianoceras, Melicerta and other beautiful microscopic objects, 

 and as for the more common ones, such as the VorticeUi, or 



