70 



THE MICROSCOPE. 



admits of) can be put inside of the hat. Fig. 50, is a box containing six 

 bottles for holding the animalcules when caught. These bottles should 



fig. 49. 



fig. 50. 



be filled with the water when you collect the insects, and the larger 

 insects put by themselves. When collecting from different localities, 

 take care not to mix the insects from one 

 brook with those from another, otherwise 

 serious conflicts may take place, and on 

 reaching home you will find the greater 

 part of your stock either dead or dying. 

 Always separate the various sizes and races 

 as speedily as possible. This can be done 

 most easily by emptying each bottle in its 

 turn into a soup-plate ; then with the feather 

 of a pen first lift out the smaller ones, and 

 with the quill-end cut like a scoop lift out 

 the larger, classifying and allotting each spe- 

 cies to its separate "fish-pond." The best 

 localities in the neighbourhood of London 

 for collecting are Epping Forest, Hamp- 

 stead Heath, and Blackheath. 



Mr. Williamson has a very cheap and 

 simple contrivance for converting the end 

 of a walking-stick or umbrella into what 

 he terms a " collecting-stick.'' In fig. 51, a 

 represents a piece of whalebone, about 18 

 inches long, bent round the end of the stick 

 or umbrella, &, and made fast in that position by one or two rings, 

 c, of gutta-percha, india-rubber, or of brass, d. A small wide-mouthed 



