24 



LIFE, IN ITS LOWER FORMS. 



clear standing water, in which the more delicate aquatic 

 plants grow, and particularly when covered with duck- 

 weed, will be found the most productive resource both for 

 number and variety. 



The mode of collecting them is very simple. The water 

 must be dipped up in a phial, which may be tied to the 

 end of a walking-stick ; a moment's examination of its 

 contents with a pocket-lens will determine whether the 

 water is worth carrying home. If no moving particles are 

 seen, another dip may be taken elsewhere ; should this 

 likewise prove valueless, another locality should be sought. 



When brought home, a small drop may be taken at 

 random, and placed in what microscopical observers call an 

 aquatic box or live-box; a small fragment of duckweed-root, 

 or the stem of some slender water-plant, put in also, 

 will aid the search : this should then be examined with a 

 low power at first, the observer proceeding to the use of 

 higher powers for the closer examination of particular 

 specimens. 



Should any of our readers who may possess a micro- 

 scope, or access to one, be disposed to investigate these 

 minims of existence, we shall be disappointed if they do 

 not find objects which will not only please their fancy and 

 inform their understanding, but also give them fresh and 

 unexpected ideas of the ways of Him whose glory is no 

 less displayed in the construction of an animalcule than ia 

 the creation of a solar system. 



