I 54 
FROM A MICROSCOPIST’S NOTE -BOOK. 
W. Lawrence Schroeder. 
Some years ago, on April 17th, friend passed over to me one or 
two pieces of Elodea canadensis taken from a dam in the 
Blakeburn Valley. The weed showed little that was note- 
worthy, save some snail-spawn. I put the stuff in a jar to 
watch the development of the snails. On the 24th of the 
month I looked over the weed carefully, but there was nothing 
remarkable. On May 17th I found that a number of. healthy 
Melicerta ringens — a tube -building rotifer — had fashioned 
their dwellings both on the weed and on the side of the jar. 
Work must have proceeded at a wondrous pace. 
On February 18th, some years ago, I watched the fission of 
a Sun animalculum — Actinophrys sol — about i R - i n 
diameter. A constriction appeared about 10-5 p.m. : half 
an hour later the connections, three in number, were about 
2^00 in- thick ; the halves drew away from each other slowly 
and steadily. At eleven o’clock there was a single strand 
of protoplasm, and ten minutes later it was invisible under 
^ in. with iox eyepiece. At the final separation, which 
probably took place at 11-15 p.m., the creatures were about 
y 1 ^ in. apart. The parting was a quiet, unexciting, dignified 
activity. Non sunt lacrymce rerum. 
I once took Bosmina longirostris , one of the Cladocera, 
water-fleas, from some water near Halifax. I mentioned 
the fact to one of the brethren : he looked at me and said, 
‘ Are you quite sure ? ’ He was apparently touched by the 
temper of the sceptical angler who naturally doubts the 
story of any unusual catch. My indignation found relief 
in verse :• — 
To unfold the wondrous story 
How we gained a way to glory, 
By the capture of Bosmina from the pond in Elland Wood : 
Is to court a reputation 
For the art of fabrication 
Out of dreams and vicious fancies, that must sternly be withstood. 
It is only when the creature, 
With its quaint and trunk-like feature, 
Palpitates in vain resistance on the microscopic slide ; 
That the mind of the beholder, 
With the vision, waxing bolder, 
Will admit the possibility of something more than ‘ side.’ 
Insects, Man’s Chief Competitors, by W. P. Flint and C. L. 
Metcalf. Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, viii-l-134 pp., 12 figures, 5/6. 
The authors of this book are well-known American Entomologists who 
here present a simple account of insects from the economic point of view. 
Some account is given of certain of the more well-known injurious insects 
and of the methods adopted by agriculturalists for their control and 
elimination. 
The Naturalist 
