STxi.TE GEOLOGIST. 



INTRODUCTORY 



" Evading e'en tlie microscopic eye, 

 Full nature swarms witli life ; one wondrous mass 

 Waitinj? the vital breath, wlien Parent Heaven 

 Shall bid the spirit blow. The hoary fen, 

 ^ In putrid streams, emits the living cloud 

 Of pestilence. Through subterranean cells, 

 Where searching sunbeams scarce can find a way, 

 Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf 

 Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure 

 Within its winding citadel, the stone 

 Holds multitudes. * * where the pool 

 Stands mantled o'er with green, invisible 

 Amid the floating verdure, millions stray. 

 * * Nor is the stream 

 Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air. 

 Though one transparent vacancy it seems, 

 Void of their unseen people."— Coujper. 



To the poet only, and tlie man of science, is it given to meet 

 these "unseen people^' on those familiar terms which warrants the 

 use of the word intimacy; yet may not we who, like Sam Weller, 

 find our "vision limited," because we have only eyes, avail our- 

 selves of the kind introduction these people give us, and shake 

 hands, as it were, though perhaps a little stiffly, with our neigh- 

 bors, the unseen people. 



Whether we like it or not — Cowper intimates we shall not — 

 these people, in one way or another, touch us constantly, and like 

 diminutive sprites are ever active in hatching mischief or doing 

 their little favors to humanity. Happily most of these are amiable 

 goblins, and are tireless in endeavors to secure us against our 

 insidious enemies of their own ilk. \¥ith your permission we will 

 draw the curtain which separates us from the naiades of our pools 

 and streams. 



The numbers of living forms to be found in any pool is a con- 

 stant surprise even to the student of this subject, and the variety 

 and unique character of the animals, particularly, cause a constant 

 flow of wonder and admiration. Coufining ourselves to the crus- 



