6 Searle, The Pond and its Inhabitants. \\o\^'^y.\\\\ 



THE POND AND ITS INHABITANTS. 



By J. Searle. 

 {Read before the Field Naturalists' Club oj Victoria, i^th Jan., T917.) 



To the student of nature, whether he be a botanist or a 

 zoologist, there is nothing that affords so much interest as a 

 well-filled pond shaded by a few trees, or perhaps overhung 

 by a willow. The variety of living things that spend the 

 greater part of, if not their entire existence, in such places is 

 very great, and their life-histories and transfonnations are 

 most wonderful. It is this fact that makes pond-hunting such 

 a fascinating pursuit. The expectation, so often realized, of 

 finding something new, makes the pond-hunter visit again and 

 again, at all seasons of the year, some favourite pool, and its 

 inhabitants afford him a never-ending course of instructive 

 study and recreation. 



The pond-hunter's implements are very simple. All that 

 he requires for the collecting and carrying home of his 

 specimens is a small net made of line muslin and a few wide- 

 mouthed bottles or corked tubes. For the examination of 

 most of his captures a pocket lens is all that is required, but 

 for the smaller organisms or for the liner details of larger 

 specimens a microscope is needed ; but such a lot of useful 

 work can be done, and such a store of information gathered, 

 with the aid of a good pocket lens that the non-possession of 

 a microscope need not deter anyone who is a stranger to the 

 charms of pond-life study from making an excursion into this 

 entrancing realm. 



For the guidance of those about to take up this study, the 

 following hints will be useful, and may save disappointment 

 at the earlier stages of their work ; and the apparatus described, 

 though simple and sometimes even crude, will be foimd just 

 as serviceable and effective as the most elaborate outfit pro- 

 curable from the shops of dealers in natural history stores — 

 indeed, the whole of the collecting work of the writer has been 

 done with similar apparatus. 



The most indispensable part of the outfit is the net. To 

 make this, take a piece of stout wire (brass is best, as it does not 

 rust, but ordinary galvanized fencing wire does very well), 

 twenty-two inches in length; at one inch from each end bend 

 this at right angles ; the length between these bands is then 

 formed into a ring, bringing the two-inch pieces parallel to 

 each other (see figure). These may be soldered to a metal 

 socket, made to fit over the end of a walking stick, or they may 

 simply be bound tightly to the stick. A cone-shaped bag of 

 fine muslin is then made, six inches in diameter and seven 

 inches in depth ; this is sown to the wire ring, and a glass tube 



