1888-89.] 139 



some of the species can always be found all the year round. 

 Observers will do well to make drawings and measurements 

 of the various species, and to note the season and place of 

 collection. The Diatoms, Desmids, and the other fresh-water 

 A/gce, all of which are known in the North of Ireland by the 

 popular name of " glit " are but lowly objects, but the great 

 naturalist Ray has observed — " God is said to be maximus in 

 minimus. We even esteem it a more difficult matter to frame 

 a small watch than a large clock, and no man blames him who 

 spent his whole time in the consideration of the nature and 

 works of a bee, or thinks his subject was too narrow. Let 

 us, then, not esteem anything contemptible or inconsiderable, 

 or below our notice-taking ; for this is to derogate from the 

 wisdom and art of the Creator, and to confess ourselves un- 

 worthy of those endowments of knowledge and understanding 

 which He has bestowed on us. What the All wise did not 

 disdain to create cannot be unworthy of notice ; and if in the 

 minute Desmids and Diatoms so long concealed from the 

 unassisted eye, we have at length been enabled to recognise 

 objects as carefully arranged as the bulky elephant or the 

 majestic oak, and as happily adapted to their position in nature, 

 possessing, too, an economy whose laws are no less constant 

 and regular, shall we not gladly examine this fresh evidence 

 of an almighty hand as distinctly impressed on these as on 

 the rest of His creation ? To Him no law is high, no law too 

 great nor small. He fills, He bounds, connects, and equals 

 all." The difference between the three great divisions into 

 which cryptogamic botanists separate fresh-water Algce was 

 explained by the aid of diagrams of the most characteristic species 

 of each. At the close a list was exhibited of those from Mr. 

 Lett's own gatherings, which had been examined and named 

 by Messrs. William West and G. S. West, of Bradford, and 

 Mr. William Joshua, of Cirencester ; and the members of the 

 Club were invited to collect and examine "glit" from the 

 bogs and pools and ponds and rivers of the district, and assist 

 in compiling a list of the fresh-water Algce of Ulster, which it 

 is proposed to contribute to the proceedings of the Club. 



