Through a Microscope Part 2

[Ill.u.s.tration: STEPHANODISCUS NIAGARae.]

The most beautiful of the small _algae_ or water plants are the _Diatomaceae_ and the _Desmidiaceae_, sometimes called for brevity diatoms and desmids. They are remarkable for the geometrical character of their forms, consisting of circles, triangles and polygons of infinite variety. They are very small, and cannot be satisfactorily seen with an objective of less power than a four tenths. The diatoms are found everywhere in both fresh and salt water, but the desmids live only in fresh water. One of the most common diatoms in Cochituate water is the _Stephanodiscus Niagarae_. (_Fig. 1._) It is in shape like a pill box, and its sides, which would be called its top and bottom if it were a pill box, are beautifully ornamented with dots in radiating lines with a ring of spines near the edge. This circle of spines or thorns explains its name, _Stephanodiscus_, from the proto-martyr, Saint Stephen. The name _Niagarae_ is from Niagara River, where it was found. Like all diatoms, it contains when alive a yellowish brown matter with small globules of oil, which is called _endochrome_. The box or sh.e.l.l, called _pustule_, is of silex or quartz, and is therefore almost indestructible; and when the diatom dies, sinks to the bottom of the water. In this way beds of sh.e.l.ls of diatoms are sometimes formed of considerable thickness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ASTERIONELLA BLEAKLEYII.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: TABELLARIA FENESTRATA.]

Under the city of Richmond, Va., there is such a deposit, varying from ten to twenty feet in depth, and extending for many miles. Some of the diatoms, especially those shaped like a boat, called _Navicula_, have a peculiar motion which at one time led observers to think them animals.

No one knows how this motion is produced, and if you can find this out, you will make a very important discovery. The most common diatom in Cochituate water is _Asterionella Bleakleyii_. It resembles a star with rays, or the hub and spokes of a wheel. (_Fig. 2._) This diatom is often found in abundance in the water supplies of cities. It never forms a complete circle, but grows into spirals or whorls which easily break up.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SPONGILLA FLUVIATILIS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DESMIDIUM SWARTZII. FRONT AND SIDE VIEW.]

Another diatom common in Cochituate is _Tabellaria Fenestrata_, which grows in ribbon-like forms. (_Fig. 3._) The desmids resemble the diatoms in the geometrical character of their forms, but they have no sh.e.l.l of silex, and are therefore easily destroyed. They are readily distinguished at sight by the beautiful green color of the contained matter. In many of them there is a curious circulation of small particles, especially in the ends of those of a crescent or new-moon shape. This circulation can only be seen with a high power. Desmids are easily found in ponds and ditches; and there are several species in Cochituate. Among them is _Desmidium Swartzii_ (_fig. 4_), and _Closterium moniliferum_. (_Fig. 5._) Their beauty depends so much on color that they do not appear to advantage in the figures. You will find in examining the filterings of Cochituate water, many objects which have not been described in these papers, and among them many fragments of green filaments of the small plants belonging to the _confervae_ and the _oscillatoriae_; sometimes you will find small round opaque forms of brown or green color, which are probably spores of plants of a larger growth; sometimes you will see the pollen of pine-trees which has fallen into the water and looks like three small b.a.l.l.s fastened together; sometimes, though rarely, you may find one of those curious little creatures called water bears, or _tardigrada_; and you may be fortunate enough to catch a water spider.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CLOSTERIUM MONILIFERUM.]

But you will often see the _spiculae_ of the sponge, called _Spongilla fluviatilis_. They look like pins of gla.s.s, blunt at one end and pointed at the other, and are sometimes very abundant. You may have heard that this sponge has been considered the source of the occasionally bad taste and smell of Cochituate water. When it is alive, it is not disagreeable, but when it decays it imparts to the water a very unpleasant taste and odor. It certainly is one cause of the bad quality of the water, but whether it is ent.i.tled to the sole credit is still open to question.

You can see what it looks like in _fig. 6_. When alive, it is of a light-green color, but when decayed it becomes brown. It is full of the _spiculae_ above described, which serve to stiffen it, but it easily crumbles and scatters them through the water.

Though the microscope shows us many beautiful and interesting objects, yet in the present state of our knowledge we cannot ascertain by its use whether the water we examine is harmless or injurious.

VII.--THE BRICKMAKER.

The microscope reveals so many strange odd-looking water creatures and plants that we can easily imagine ourselves transported to some new world. Look at this field of view as seen through the microscope. In the centre stands a brickmaker. He is a queer little animal, and so small that he looks like a mere speck to the naked eye, but through the microscope we see how wonderfully curious and strange a creature he is.

He is no idle, lazy fellow. He is instead a most busy mechanic.

Just now he is building a house out of tiny bricks, and he manufactures the bricks himself, making them one at a time, and when one is finished he lays it down carefully by the side of the last, and fastens it firmly in its place with a kind of cement. The bricks are laid in regular tiers one above the other.

We find these brickmakers in still water where various water-plants grow, especially the water-milfoil and bladderwort. They seem to be social beings. They live in large communities, attaching their houses to the stems and leaves of the plants so thickly sometimes that they almost touch one another. They look, to the naked eye, like lines about one eighth of an inch in length. Sometimes they are very thick on the plants in New Jersey ponds.

If you take some of the plants and water, and put them in a bottle, you can carry a large number of the brickmakers home, where you can watch them at your leisure. Take a gla.s.s slide which has a little cup-shaped hollow to hold a few drops of water, and put a tiny piece of the plant with the house attached into this hollow and fill it with some of the water from the bottle. Now cover it with a very thin piece of gla.s.s and lay it over the stage of the microscope, and it is ready to be looked at and studied. You will look with both eyes, for your microscope is a binocular--one that has two tubes to look through. The size of the objects will depend upon the magnifying power you have chosen.

The first thing you see is a dark, brick-colored, cylinder-shaped house which looks to be about the size of a cigar. The little builder who lives in this house has been disturbed by the means we have taken to make his acquaintance; he has stopped work and gone within. But he is so industrious a fellow that he will not remain within very long. As soon as it is quite still he will probably come to the door of his house, and you will see him thrust out two horns. He will move these horns to the right and left, cautiously feeling all around him. He seems very cautious indeed. But at last he is satisfied that no enemy is near. Now he ventures out. He unfolds his wheels.

These wheels are surrounded with a band of _cilia_, or flexible hairs, which he can put in rapid motion, making the wheels have the appearance of revolving very fast. This rapid motion of the cilia forms a swift current in the water; and this current brings tiny particles of various things to the little mechanic. Some of these particles he uses for food; of others, he makes brick. They are carried into an opening between the wheels where you can see them revolving very fast until they are gathered into a little round, dark-colored pellet. The particles are probably held together by a sticky secretion made by the builder.

It takes him about three minutes to make a brick. As soon as it is finished, he bends his head over, takes it from its mould between the wheels, and lays it down carefully by the side of the last. Then he raises his head and begins to make another. The tube thus constructed is quite firm and strong. Sometimes when I have found a long tube, I have cut off a portion from the top. This can be done, with care, for the brickmaker drops to the bottom when disturbed. It is very amusing to watch him repair damages and rebuild. Sometimes I have forced one out of his tube, but it always soon died. But though industrious, he is so cautious, or timid, that he is easily frightened, and therefore he is often interrupted in his work. For instance, like some people that we know, he is very afraid of snakes. If a harmless little tiny snake comes wriggling along through the water anywhere near him, he folds his wheels and drops down into his house as quick as a flash. One day a little boy was delighted with the fast-revolving wheels. Suddenly, by and by, he turned toward me with great disgust plainly showing in his face: "He's gone in, 'fraid of a little snake!" he exclaimed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 1, BRICKMAKER; 2, CURRENT IN WATER; 3, 4, 5, 6, DIATOMS; 7, 8, DESMIDS; 9, ALGae; 10, 11, TRICHODA LYNCEUS; 12, SNAKE-LIKE LARVA; 13, PART OF PLANT TO WHICH BRICKMAKER IS ATTACHED; 14, BATRACHOSPERMUM MONILIFORM.]

He is always a great favorite with those who have watched him through the microscope. I do not know how long they live, but I have kept the same individuals three months or more. I think no one knows the entire life-history of any of these little creatures, so here is a grand chance for any young microscopist to investigate and become famous.

On the left of the brickmaker in our field of view is a delicate, beautiful plant. Only a small part of it is seen in the engraving. It has a long, floating stem, thickly set with rosettes of a pearly green color. To the naked eye it looks like green slime, and is called "frog's sp.a.w.n;" but the microscope shows us that it is a lovely plant, and some wise man has given us a long fine name to call it by if we choose--_Batrachospermum moniliform_. Let us see if this long name has any meaning: _Batrachia_, a frog, _spermum_, sp.a.w.n; ah, after all, only another name for frog sp.a.w.n! The other name, _moniliform_, means a bead-like necklace; and this was given it because the threads that make the rosettes look like strings of small pearly-green beads.

All of the strange-looking plants and animals that we see in the microscope are known as well by sight and by name by those who make them a study, as are the larger animals and plants that we see around us every day.

A bright little girl once asked me why such long hard names are given to everything in nature. We told her if there was but one language spoken in the world there would be no need of using Latin names. But as there are many languages, it was found necessary to agree upon some system, so that all peoples of different nations might have the same name for an animal or plant, and a long time ago all the civilized world agreed to use Latin names. Thus our little brickmaker is known all over the world as _Melicerta ringens_.

"A field of view" depends for its interest and variety upon what kind of water we put under the microscope. In the one here represented, I first took a tiny spray of plant with a brickmaker's house attached, and laid it on the hollow gla.s.s slide and then used the dipping-tube and brought up some of the sediment from the bottom of the bottle; this proved to contain several singular-looking plants and animals shown here.

_Figures_ 3, 4, 5 and 6, are diatoms, and _figures_ 7 and 8 are desmids. Naturalists formerly placed both diatoms and desmids in the animal kingdom, but now all agree that the desmids are plants, while some few still maintain that the diatoms are animals. But the weight of evidence is on the plant side of the question.

The desmids are wonderfully beautiful plants; the markings and colors are exquisite. A number of species are found in the sediment of every swamp and pond.

The diatoms often grow in long ribbon-like ma.s.ses (_fig. 3_), and then partially separate, remaining joined together at the angles so as to form a zigzag chain as seen at _figure 4_. They have the power of moving through the water, changing their places like animals.

A great variety of forms are found, both diatoms and desmids, many still undescribed, inviting the young microscopist to study and name them.

_Figures_ 10 and 11 are different forms of a little animal, _Trichoda lynceus_. It undergoes a great many changes. In some of its stages, it looks so different from the figures here represented that you would never dream of its being the same creature.

VIII.--THE VORTICELLAS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CARCHESIUM POLYPINUM.]

The tree-vorticellas must ever stand first among all the varied and beautiful objects which the microscope reveals. A species common in New England and the Middle States is known scientifically by the name of _Carchesium Polypinum_. It is impossible to convey a true idea of its beauty from a dead black and white drawing. To be appreciated it must be seen in all its living glory--charming little animals resembling bell-shaped lilies on the ends of lovely transparent stems.

How curious nature is in the microscopic world! Only think of a tree of living animals! The stems of the tree are jointed, and the little creatures can sway the branches about and even throw them into a spiral coil so as to bring themselves near the main stem. This gives them the appearance of being very polite toward each other; they bow and courtesy as if preparing for a grand quadrille, and they are decked out in gay colors, red, green, and yellow. The margins of the little cups are fringed with hairs, or _cilia_, which they can put in such rapid motion that it makes a current in the water and brings little particles to their mouths which they consume as food. They do not accept everything that comes in the current. They seem to know what they like as well as the higher animals, and act as if they were vexed with some of the particles, rejecting and sending them off with a rapid whirling motion.

The largest of these fairy-like trees are visible to the naked eye, but it will be necessary for a novice in such matters to use a good strong lens to be able to find them readily. They are attached to plants growing in water. I have always been most successful in finding them among the water-milfoil (_Myriophillum_) several species of which grow in New England and the Middle States. Some of the species are found in deep water, others in shallow ponds.

The Bladderworts (_Utricularia_) are also good plants to search among.

They grow in similar places. On either of these plants we shall be sure to find a good many interesting creatures. If we fail to find the tree, we may secure other species of vorticella, all of which are very beautiful.

Do you know the _Utricularia_? I will devote the next chapter to these curious plants, and to the microscopic animals which they capture.

It will take a little practice to learn where and how to collect material for the microscope. We should not depend too much upon books in any branch of natural history. To be successful, you must observe for yourselves, experiment and examine independently, consulting books that you may name and cla.s.sify, that you may recognize and name what you find. If you fail to find specimens in one spot, try another.

You should not fill your collecting bottles more than two thirds full of water, nor crowd too many plants in them. These little creatures must have air in order to live, as well as the higher animals.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.]

The finest tree-vorticellas I ever found were in Florida, in the St.

John's River. These trees were attached to long, floating stems of _Myriophillum verticillatum_, and were unlike any species that I ever found at the North. They were very large--in a microscopic sense--plainly visible to the naked eye, and it took only a moderate power to bring out their beauty.

_Vorticella nebulifera_ is quite common in swamps and ponds. We find it attached to a great number of water plants. This species is not built up in the form of a tree, but it is nevertheless beautiful and graceful.

The delicate, slender stems start from a node, or rounded ma.s.s, sometimes fifty or more of these fairy like creatures in one colony, all attached to a common centre, swaying about, coiling their delicate transparent stems, and again uncoiling quick as a flash, apparently dallying and playing, but never interfering nor becoming entangled one with another.

The _Stentor_ is another member of the _Vorticellinae_ family. It is one of the largest of the infusoria, plainly visible to the naked eye, and one of the most interesting and curious of all the strange animals in the microscopic world. It a.s.sumes various forms. When swimming, it looks round and plump (_Fig. 2_), and rushes through the water pell-mell, knocking the smaller animals right and left, always seeming to be in a great hurry, unless two friendly ones happen to meet, when they frequently stop and put their heads together a moment as if exchanging greetings, then away they sail again, das.h.i.+ng through the water, capturing and devouring the smaller creatures as they go. And now a couple meet that are very communicative--two gossips, no doubt! At all events, they put their heads together and conclude to have a good sociable time.

And they are sensible enough to know that they cannot stand around loose in the water or public highway. So they select a cosey spot and fasten their feet to a plant or some firm object, and stretch out their footstalks sometimes to a great length, making veritable trumpets of themselves. (_Fig. 3._)

And who knows what grave matters may be settled during these conclaves?

or perhaps they are only rehearsing gossip, as they have had every possible chance to see what was going on among their neighbors.