2 ANIMALS OF LAND AND SEA 



Let US illustrate the biological contacts of our daily lives 

 with a concrete example. A small boy rises early and goes 

 fishing. He puts on his cotton shirt and a pair of old woollen 

 trousers, which he fastens with a leather belt. From the pantry 

 he gets an egg, and while this is boiling he toasts some bread. 

 Opening the door he finds that the milk has come and, knowing 

 that he will be far away before his mother awakes, he helps 

 himself rather hberally. The buttered toast, the egg and milk 

 consumed, he hurries to the garden for some worms, but 

 only finds a few. Thinking of the milk and of his mother, he 

 decides to supplement the worms with grasshoppers and, 

 taking his bamboo pole and a silk fine, a present from a last 

 year's summer boarder, he starts off for the river. 



Under the eaves on the left side of the house is a "yellow- 

 jackets'" nest, with the inhabitants already passing in and 

 out; on the right is mother's window; so he goes past the 

 hen house through the back fence, avoiding a post verdant 

 with poison ivy, and continues toward the river, passing a 

 "ground yellow-jackets'" nest under a large stone and a 

 bumble-bees' nest in the sod further on. Near the river he 

 turns off the path and catches sufficient grasshoppers to sup- 

 plement his supply of worms. A garter snake which he sees 

 he mashes with a rock. Reaching the river bank he trots 

 barefooted across the mud to a convenient log on which he 

 sits. Horse-stingers or snake-doctors are all about, and a 

 very large one reminds him that it would sew his mouth up if 

 given the opportunity. 



Impaling a worm upon his hook he spits upon it after the 

 most approved method and casts it in the water. Some 

 minutes later the float moves slightly, then is still. Many 

 minutes pass; he pulls the line up and finds the bait is gone. 

 A painted turtle was the thief, but he does not know it. An- 

 other precious worm is now impaled. Upon this he spits from 

 the other side of his mouth according to the plan successfully 

 adopted by his cousin Jimmy yesterday. This time there are 

 no results at all; the worm grows water-logged and mushy, 



