82 
Wallich, on Microscopic Objects, 
not unfrequently asked^ what substarxtive benefit can possibly 
accrue from investigations into the minute world ? — a ques- 
tion^ I humbly submit^ absurd enough to rouse the bile of 
the most stolid microscopist under the sun. 
But these drawbacks^ gentlemen — disheartening as they are 
to some extent — possess their compensating advantages^ for 
whilst they act in the light of a Microscopic Game Law_, they 
enhance the delight with which the adventurous trespasser 
revels in so boundless and untrodden a field. He finds him- 
self peering into a new worlds beautiful and rich as his own^ 
and he comforts himself with the conviction that_, however 
little encouragement and sympathy may be accorded him on 
the other side the ocean_, the deficiency is amply made up for 
on this. 
As far as quantity goes^ therefore, I have every reason to 
be satisfied with my fortune. But, gentlemen, I am pain- 
fully alive to the fact that scanty credit is due to the mere 
collector — to him who, having the opportunity thrust upon 
him, as it were, simply stretches forth his hand, accumulates 
material, multiplies species, often beyond all due limits, and 
winds up by an extensive contribution to the cacophonies of 
nomenclature — whilst legitimate reputation can only follow 
on the far more laborious and far more difficult task of 
working out, step by step, the physiological development and 
true relations of the structures that present themselves. 
It is not therefore without considerable diffidence that I 
submit to the Society, in their present crude and unsystema- 
tised condition, the drawings and notes before you. 
With regard to the probable number of new forms that 
have fallen under my observation, I feel it would be rash, as 
yet, to hazard even an approximate estimate ; for, difficult as 
is the identification, in many instances, of the varieties of 
the best understood species, that difficulty becomes materially 
heightened when the diversified forms of less definite or 
unknown species exhibit themselves, under the influences of 
extremely rapid and luxuriant tropical growth. 
I would observe that nearly the whole of the Desmidiacese 
figured by me, were gathered in two or three months, during 
the Santal rebellion, within a circumscribed district about 
120 miles above Calcutta. It is easy to conceive, therefore, 
how amply the more general survey of Lower Bengal would 
repay the inquirer, who, having leisure and perseverance at 
command, simply enforced the will. 
Again, the chief portion of the strictly Indian Diatomacese 
was derived from the Sunderbunds or Delta of the Ganges, 
