48 AQUATIC. MICROSCOPY FOR BEGINNERS'. 



above the surface, and blooms with a single white 

 flower closely resembling the common yellow "butter- 

 cup" of the fields. 



NYMPH^A ODORAta (White Water-lily, Fig, 7). 



Every one is familiar with this beautiful flower, that 

 "marvel of bloom and grace," and with its large, al- 

 most circular, floating leaves. It is to the under-sur- 

 face of these leaves that the microscopist often goes 

 for several forms of case-building Rotifers, with the 

 certainty of always finding them, together with many 

 and various kinds of minute animal life. It is likewise 

 an excellent place to search for aquatic worms. You 

 will usually capture these creatures if the lower surface 

 ■ is gently scraped and the dark mass obtained examined 

 in water. 



But if the scented blossom is beautiful to the ordi- 

 nary observer, the interior of the flower-stems and 

 leaf-stalks has charms known only to the microscopist. 



Cut a thin slice from either 

 of those parts and examine 

 it. The sides of the wide 

 openings made by cutting 

 across the internal tubes 

 are studded with crystalline 

 stars (Fig. 7). Three- 

 pointed, four and five- 

 pointed, they sparkle there 

 Fig. 7.-Pedunde of Nymph^a ij]jg diamouds, yct they 



odorata; transverse section. ^ . , , 



were formed in darkness, 

 and in darkness act their part in the life of the 

 plant. What that part is we can only guess. 

 Botanists call them internal hairs; but they are hard. 



