Marvels of Pond-life

ents of Melicerta tube-Peculiar shape of Pellets-Amphileptus-Scaridium Longicaudum-A long-tailed Rotifer-Stephanoceros Eichornii-A splendid Rotifer-Its

lector during the winter, when he must break the ice to get at their contents; in spring, when long chains of frog-spawn afford ocular evidence of the prolific properties of the Batrachian reptiles; and in summer, when they afford both shade and sunshine to their numerous inhabitants. Small beetles, water-spiders, larv? of gnats, and other insects, rotifers, including the tubicolar sorts, and several varieties of infusoria may be expected and generally found. There is, however, a curious fact about ponds, big and little, which Prit

e whole in a glass jar full of pond-water, we shall at first have a good stock of objects; but they will usually grow less and less, until scarcely anything is left. If, however, we introduce a few pieces of straw, or a tiny wisp of hay, we shall succeed much better, and not only preserve our population longer, but enjoy a succession of animated crops. Extensive decomposition of vegetable matter kills off all but certain families, such as Paramecia, who enjoy it; on the other hand, too little decom

l through the air, will do much to determine the character and number of its inhabitants, while the quantity of shade or sunshine it enjoys, will also exercise an important influence. Hay and other infusions have from the beginning of microsco

d evidently formed part of a tubular structure, and the idea at once occurred that they were fragments of a Melicerta tube, a conclusion that was verified by finding some tubes entire and a dead Melicerta in the rubbish at the bottom. All the specimens of Melicerta tubes we had hitherto examined were composed of rounded pellets, but these were made of pointed cones or sugar-loaves, with the points pro

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sual pattern of her race, but the general appearance of the dead body was the same. It is possible that these creatures possess some power of modifying the form o

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It was, probably, an Amphileptus, though not precisely agreeing with any drawing or description I am acquainted with. Another inmate of the same water was a lively long-tailed rotifer, with a small oval body, a tuft of vibrating cilia and a curved bristle visible among them on one side. This creature had a jointed tail-foot, ending in t

in the live-box, and on examination with the power of sixty diameters they disclosed a specimen of, perhaps, the most beautiful of all the rotifers, the Stephanoceros Eichornii. In this elegant creature an oval body, somewhat expanded at the top, is supported upon a tapering stalk, and stands in a gelatinous bottle, composed of irregular rings superimposed one upon the other, as if thrown off by successive efforts, the upper ones being inverted and attached to the body of the animal. But that which constitutes the glory of this little being is the crown of five taperi

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the Floscule, the Stephanoceros is readily alarmed, and retreats into her house, carrying with her the invaginated portion. In the last edition of 'Pritchard's Infusoria,' this case is spoken of as apparently not tubular, but a solid gelatinous mass, enveloping the animal as high up as the base of the rotatory arms. It is very likely that specimens at different ages, and possibly in diffe

ical box. For a moment they are quiescent, and then they vibrate in succession, each moving thread sparkling in the light. With a clumsy mode of lighting them, the cilia look like stumpy bristles, and are often so drawn; but precisely the right quantity of light coming in the right direction, makes them appear more numerous, and much longer than would at first be supposed. When well exhibited the tentacles have a lustre between glass and pearl; the body, in a fav

cters, and any animalcule that comes in her way is acceptable; and even good-sized rotifers do not escape her all-consuming maw. On one occasion I noticed one of the loricated sort, more than half as long as one of her tentacles, rapidly swallowed, and passed downwards without attempting to escape. Objects much too big for the gizzard are often gulped down, and probabl

er disappear or are not conspicuous. The Stephanoceri are sociable animals, and when one is found, others are probably near at hand. Several may often be discovered on the same branch of a small water-plant, of various dimensions, and in different stages of growth. The full size is about 1-36" in height, and from its magnitude care is required not to crush it in the live-box. When specimens are plentiful, some sh