BY HENRY SCHERREN, F.Z.S. AUTHOR OF ‘PONDS AND ROCK POOLS,’ ‘A POPULAR HISTORY OF ANIMALS,’ ETC. WITH NINETY ILLUSTRATIONS THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 56 PATERNOSTER ROW AND 65 ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD 1897 Oxford HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY...

The object of this little book is to show how much may be seen with an ordinary pocket lens, and with a simple microscope; and, as far as possible, to dispel the idea, far too common, especially among beginners, that no real work can be done unless one has a compound microscope, with a large battery of lenses and an array of ‘accessories.’ It would be easy to multiply quotations, from high authorities, in support of the proposition implied in the foregoing paragraph. Two only must suffice. In a

Having got together our apparatus, which, as we have seen, need be neither costly nor complicated, the next step will be to acquire some knowledge of the group from which the examples here treated of will be taken—the Ar´thropods, or animals with hollow-jointed limbs. These are the ‘Insects’ of the Linnaean classification, and, for the matter of that, of popular phraseology; for though few people would now venture to call a Lobster an ‘insect,’ we still style some of its near relatives Water ‘Fl

The next insect to come within range of our pocket lens is the Common Cockroach ( Blatta orienta´lis [15] ), popularly misnamed the Black Beetle. We shall have no difficulty in procuring material for examination. Housekeepers will tell us that these creatures are only too plentiful. In the last chapter we dealt with Sheath-winged Insects—the Coleop´tera. Cockroaches belong to the Orthop´tera, or Insects with Straight Wings. The mouth-parts resemble those of Beetles. The chief differences that ma

In this chapter we shall take examples from two Classes—the Arachnoi´dea and the Myriap´oda. To the first-named Class belong also the Scorpions, which, with the Book Scorpions, the Harvestmen, and some others, may be neglected here. This will leave us only the Spiders and Mites to deal with. Every one knows a Spider when he sees one, though not every one can give offhand a definition that shall include the whole Order. Let us endeavour to express their characters in simple terms, keeping in mind

The next group of Arthropod animals with which we have to deal is that of the Crusta´cea. Some or other of the members of this class are well known to everybody, if only in the shape of toothsome food—the Prawn, the Shrimp, the Lobster, the Crayfish, and the Crab. The great characteristic of this class of the Arthropod phylum is the so-called ‘shell,’ which differs greatly from true shell in being composed of chitine, hardened with salts of lime. Most of the species live in the water and breathe

In this chapter we shall deal with a few aquatic insect larvae. Of these, some are aquatic also in the perfect condition, while others emerge from the pupa stage as aërial insects. It requires no great amount of care to keep these creatures, and some hints on this subject and on collecting are given in the first chapter. The larva of Dytiscus is abundant during the greater part of the year, and is almost sure to be met with by the collector, who will find it an extremely interesting object for e