The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1900-07-24
MICROSCOPIC LIFE OF
PONDS lid bitches.
Interesting Scientific
Field is Pointed
Out.
4 PAPER READ BY DR.. SLoGGETT.
SOME ACCOUNT OF TEE MIMI
TER FORMS OF
LIFE.
How the Student With Hand Lens
or Microscope Can Seek Pleasure
and instruction Out
Of Doors.
1 PAPER READ BY Or. SLoGGETT.

prepared at the request OF Professo
Wood by Dr. sloggett, president Of ii
Hawaiian Microscopical Society, an
was read at the High School on th
10th inst
1t may be promised that in til
marshes and low districts around thi
city there are miles Of bitches whicl
have no Pereeptable current, only vary
ing ia height during wet and dry sea
sons. or in the salt marshes varying
slightly under the influence of tn
tides. bitches in which vegetation ap
pears to ran wild. three-fourths Of tn,
surface being covered with the leaves
OF aquatic plants, or a green scum, ano
whose dark waters tmpregnated with
the decay OF plants. have sometimes ar
unmis5akable odor Such bitches
swarm with living creatures too nu-
merous but for the briefest notice in a
short paper such as this; again, there
are ponds and reservoirs, fish ponds,
duck ponds, horse ponds. rice fields and
The much in evidence taro patch.
1t is my object 20 introduce to your
notice q number OF very minute organ
lied beings. not necessarily requiring a
high power microscope to examine
them. but that can be seen with an
ordinary pocket lens, creatures whose
whole world is little puddle of wa
ter, who are born and die and leave be-
hind them a progeny like themselves,
and yet their place in creation may be
represented by the punctuation point
al the end Of this sentence
Now. it is impossible fo- me to de-
scribe in the limits OF this paper what
objects Of interest would be found even
in a single dip into any semi-stagnant
or still water in the environs of this
city. | cannot even begin TO name
them. so numerous are they, but among
the beautiful water lilies and lotuses
and the humber duckweeds, as well as |
among the large class of fresh-water |
algae. and attached TO their leaves and
stems the minuter forms of animal and
vegetable life Will be found to swarm. |
The algae, known as cladophora and |
oscillaria, are TO be found in great va
rlety and beauty. and that most inter
esting object OF pond life. the volvox.
is quite plentiful here. Diatoms and
desmids of rare form and startling
beauty can be found in every taro
patch. Diatoms, as you all, / expect.
know, being minute plants, in life.
moving freely by a swimming move
ment, or fixed TO plants. and having as
a characteristic feature an almost in
destruetible skeleton OF the same sub
stance as glass; that is to 'say. OF slick,
or flint-two thin plates OF flint applied
TO each other by their surfaces and
united BY their marginal band. This is
me type OF structure in the diatom
skeleton. The endochrome. or vital
portion. is colored, but when the plant
Is dead and the endochrome Is dis
'olved the skeleton still remains. indie
as flint Century after CEN l
ury these delicate skeletons remain. i
lnul they accumulate and form i'm !
nense beds, consisting OF the skeletons 0
( myriads OF diatoms, lois fact that ,
Richmond. 10 Virginia. is built on a c
trstum OF diatomaceous remains.
omeiimes eighteen feet in thickness. I,
here are other large tracts Of fossil t,
led diatomiaeae found all over the p
'orld. fl
Foraminifers. which swarm in these a
ropieal sess. are among the simplest s
{ all animal life, and their carbonate Il
lime skeletons are the most import il
NJ factor in the formation Of lime Ii
one rock. and chalk also Is made up ii
most wholly OF them. the microscope Il
.vealing this 10 us. These soraminif- N
a can be found Sll round these ISL Oh
Ids. SIS well as in the bitches OF the ii
II marshes. and win well repay for eS
in the beauty OF their in
I'm. The gray ooze or mud OF the r.
eat ocean bottoms is composed large ca
OF the skeletons OF these foraminif- an
a. and soundings CT the great depths cei
the Atlantic. made during the yoy- re-
e Of the Challenger. in which now de
nous expedition I had the honor Of DO
1ing as lieutenant. showed tia, m
ooean bottom. Al the creates; foi
pths. was covered with q thick and TO,
er-inereastng deposit OF these dead tn.
raminiferae. wa
From what have said. therefore val
ponds and bitches around Homo de,
q are 3 happy hunting ground for jer
itotns. ard many new and beautiful Wa
Tseties are awaiting the searcher in sae
5 held. The movements OF the dia- bal
as excited the wonder and curiosity mot
the earliest observers. and was ! sci.
sat argument in favor Of their ami Dal
! nature. However. we now know sto
4 they are aquatic plants. csassed as Ri,
iesilular aless. and in LIE usually rat
ossd psis golden brown. TIA