54 
BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
In other jars I have specimens of the magnificent 
Hydrous piceous, the largest aquatic beetle found in 
Britain, and the most docile and harmless of the whole 
family; boat-flies; lovely specimens of Colymbetes, with 
jet-black backs and silver bellies; eccentric whirligigs, 
that emulate the dervishes in defying giddiness; quaint 
species of water-scorpion; and that most curious of all 
the smaller inhabitants of the streams, the diving spider, 
with its silken cocoons suspended beneath the surface. 
These occupy a whole shelf; and a curious sight it is to 
watch their various motions and proceedings as they 
dive, spin, kick, quarrel, or engage in comical courtships. 
But these are not the most prized among the minor 
members of my family. The shelf above them contains 
the rare treasures, though to the casual eye it exhibits 
nothing more than a row of crystalline jars filled with 
clear water and very emerald-green tufts of starry vege¬ 
tation. But here are my Nitella, my Yallisneria, my 
sorted species of Chara, Biccia, and Lemna; and if I 
want to observe the circulation of the sap in plants or 
the blood in animals, these jars supply suitable speci¬ 
mens, that under the penetrating eye of the microscope 
enable me to pierce at once to the most secret chambers 
of nature—to the fountain-head (materially speaking) of 
life itself, w T herein I may observe the development of a 
cell, or the production of the primal germ of organiza¬ 
tion. Some honoured members of my family are here, 
too. I have thousands of the living ghosts of gnats, 
dragon-flies, and beetles, that glide up and down in the 
clear lymph, like souls just taking shape, and witn out 
one film of earth about them. Here, too, are small 
