24 
LIFE, IN ITS LOWER FORJfS. 
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 givo them fresh and 
unexpected ideas of the ways of Him whose glory is no 
less displayed in the construction of an animalcule than in 
the creation of a solar system. 
