THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
77 
Marvels of Pond Life— X. 
IN the beginning of August a pond in 
the Finchley Eoad, a little beyond the 
Highgate Archway, supplied some more 
specimens of the Ptei^oclina patina, de- 
scribed in a previous article ; but towards 
the middle of the month a visit to Chip- 
stead, in Surrey, enabled a new region to 
be explored. 
It is always a treat to a Londoner to get 
down to any of the picturesque parts of 
Surrey; the trees exhibit a richness of 
foliage and variety of color not seen with- 
in the regions of metropolitan smoke ; the 
distance glows with tlie rich purples so 
much admired in the pictures of Linnel, 
and the sunsets light up earth and sky 
with the golden tints he is so well able to 
reproduce. Probably the warmth of the 
soil, and the purity of the air, may make 
Surrey ponds prolific in microscopic life ; 
but of this we do not know enough to 
make a fair comparison, although our own 
dips into them were tolerably lucky. 
Walking one day down a lane leading 
towards Reigate, where the trees arched 
overhead, ferns grew plentifully in the 
sandy banks, and the sunlight flitted 
through the branches, and chequered the 
path, we came to a shallow pond, or great 
puddle, which crossed the way, and near 
the edge of the water the eye was struck 
with patches of crimson color. On at- 
tempting to take up a portion of one of 
these patches the whole disappeared, 
although when the disturbance ceased 
the rich color again clothed the dingy 
mud. The appearance was caused by 
thousands of little worms, belonging to 
the genus Tubifex, not uncommon in such 
situations, who thrust themselves out to 
enjoy the light and air, and retreat the mo- 
ment an alarm is given. Probably both ac- 
tions belong to the class described in the 
last article, as ' ' reflex ;" but it would be in- 
teresting to know whether creatures so 
humble have any sense of fear. These 
worms will repay observation, but in 
these pages we eschew all their tribe— 
unless the rotifers be assigned to them — 
and take ourselves once more to our es- 
pecial subjects. 
Knowing that farm-ponds are usually 
well stocked with microscopic game, 
we made a dip into one more especially 
assigned to ducks, and obtained wondrous 
little for our pains. We w^ere not, how- 
ever, discouraged, but made an examina- 
tion of the circumstances, which deter- 
mined a particular course of action. Our 
piece of water was simply a dirty duck- 
pond, in which no large plants were 
growing, and which did not even exhibit 
the little disks of duckweed that are com- 
mon to such situations. There was, how- 
ever, on the surface, in parts, an exceed- 
ingly fine scum of pale yellow green, and 
this, armed with a teaspoon, we proceeded 
to attack. By careful skimming, a small 
bottle was half-filled with minute organic 
particles, which were likely to be interest- 
200 
Cryptomouad— Euglena. 
ing in themselves, and pretty sure to be 
the food for something else. A small 
drop was placed on a tablet of the live- box, 
flattened out by the application of the 
cover, and viewed with a power of two 
hundred linear, which disclosed swarms 
of brilliant green globes, amongst which 
were a good sprinkle of minute creatures, 
like the Euglenoe already described, and 
whose little red eyes contrasted vividly 
with the prevaling emerald hue. 
One of the higher infusoria, whose 
species I could not identify, was devour- 
ing them like a porpoise among sprats. 
It did not, however, exhibit any sense in 
720 
Cryptomonad, 
its hungry career ; it moved about in all 
directions, gulping down what came in 
its way, but often permitting the escape 
of the little green things that were almost 
in its mouth. The little globes rolled and 
whirled about without the fair test indica- 
