FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD 27 



are the incomparable delight, the never-failing happiness 

 which personal intimacy with the secret things of natural 

 beauty bring to him. 



He has yet another chance of such enjoyment, if 

 he be a microscopist, and familiar with the inhabitants 

 of fresh-water ponds. A pond is, in many cases, an 

 oasis in the waste of civilization, a miniature nature- 

 reserve, rarely, if ever, affected by human proceedings 

 until haply it is abolished altogether. A fairly deep, 

 stagnant pond under trees in some secluded park is one 

 of the most favourable kind, but all sorts deserve inquiry 

 (even the rain pools on the roofs of old houses in Paris 

 have rewarded the faithful seeker), and may prove, for a 

 time at least, havens of refuge for a wonderful assem- 

 blage of animalcules and minute microscopic plants, 

 which for the most part perish as did the bison of the 

 American plains by the mere disturbance caused by the 

 propinquity of civilized man. I knew such a pond — it 

 is now built over — near Hampstead. As one lay on 

 the bank and peered into the depths of the pond the 

 transparent, glass-like larvae of the " plume fly " 

 (Corethra) could be seen swimming in the clear water, 

 driving before it troops of minute pink-coloured water- 

 fleas (Daphnia) and other crustaceans. 



In other pafts the water was made bluish-green by 

 crowds of the little floating spherical animalcules called 

 " Volvox globator." The mud contained many curious 

 worms allied to the earth-worm, whilst coiled round 

 fallen twigs were the small snake-like worms known as 

 " Nais serpentina." Desmids, Diatoms, and animalcules of 

 endless variety abounded. A muslin net set on a ring 

 on the end of a stick enabled one to procure samples of 

 the floating life of the water and also to skim the 



