XU PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



weeds not only give it shelter, 1)ut find it finchora.cfe too ; and 

 knowing these spots at my particular hunting-grounds, I have 

 often stood upon the ice and, after breaking a hole with a 

 hannner, dipped in my bottle or swept beneath with my canvas 

 net and gathered it in any desirable quantity. 



Of course it may happen that the particular patches of 

 weeds among which it is snugly nestling are out of reach unless 

 we are equipped with water-tight boots and prepared to risk 

 their efficacy for keeping the feet dry ; but, though I do not wish 

 to impress upon you that I think when it is once present it 

 always remains so, I am sure a more thorough search will 

 prove that the vagaries with which this organism is credited 

 are only the fancies of the insufficiently persevering pond- 

 hunter, and that there is no period of the year when it is not 

 to be found. 



If we make a sudden jump from the Vegetable to the 

 Animal Kingdom, perhaps there are few creatures of more 

 general interest and beauty than the thecated rotifers, Flos- 

 cularia, Melicerta, (Ecistes, etc., and a study of these indicates 

 beyond a doubt that in active life they require a plentiful 

 supply of decayed vegetable matter with which to build up 

 their tiny structures, and, as I shall show you, I have made 

 good use of this knowledge in collecting and keeping them 

 afterwards. 



Next to these, perhaps, should be placed that most beau- 

 tiful of the free rotifers, Notouunata JlnicJtionus, which came to 

 my hands in abundance in the following instructive way. 



I was driving along a country road, with a keen eye for 

 likely ditches or puddles, when I came to a heap of rubbish 

 with just a small patch of water at its base not more than 

 three inches deep in the wheel-ruts or holes made by the feet 

 of cattle. 



This I thought worth trying, and to my surprise found it 

 contained Pandorma monwi, and that charming rotifer before 

 named. 



Of course I took a good gathering. The onlv regret was 



