AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



MOST of the contents of this volume originally 

 appeared in Good Words, although chapter viii. 

 was published in the Pall Mall Magazine, and 

 chapter ix. in the English Illustrated Magazine, 

 while Fig. 142 with its letterpress, and Figs. 94 

 and 95 appeared in Animal Life. I have to 

 acknowledge the courtesy of the proprietors of 

 these several publications in permitting me to use 

 them for the present volume. 



Each chapter has been revised and considerably 

 enlarged, both in matter and illustration, while the 

 last chapter, with the exception of its first two 

 illustrations and the matter pertaining thereto, is 

 entirely new. 



The purpose of this little volume is not to offer 

 even an elementary text-book on microscopy, but 

 rather to present a readable and popular descrip- 

 tion of some of the innumerable minute wonders 

 that abound in Nature. 



