5*5 



rubbish in masses varying in size from a cluster of two or three eggs 

 to great lumps as large as the two fists. The " spawn " is a trans- 

 parent jelly in which the eggs are imbedded. Each egg is dark 

 colored, spherical in shape, and about as large as a small pea. The 

 eggs of the small spotted salamander are found in similar masses of 

 jelly and look very much like the frog's eggs. If a small quantity of 

 this jelly-like mass be secured by means of a collecting net or by 

 wading in for it, it can be kept in a flat white dish with just enough 

 clean, cool water to cover it, until the young tadpoles have hatched. 

 As they grow larger, a few may be transferred to a permanent 

 aquarium prepared 

 especially for them 

 in a dish with slop- 

 ing sides, and their 

 changes watched 



Fig. 12. — A useful net for general 



collecting. 



from week to week through the season. The grow- 

 ing polHwog feeds on vegetable diet ; what does the 

 full-grown frog eat ? 



ffisects that ca?i be kept in aquaria. — Insects are per- 

 haps the most dehghtful creatures that one can keep 

 in aquaria. They are plenty, easy to get, every one of the many 

 kinds seems to have habits pecuhar to itself, and each more curious 

 and interesting than the last. 



Some insects spend their entire life in the water ; others are aquatic 

 during one stage of their existence only. Those described here are 



but a few of those found in the central part of 

 the state of New York, in ponds and sluggish 

 streams. If these cannot be found, others just 

 as interesting can be kept instead. One can 

 hardly make a single dip with a net without bring- 

 ing out of their hiding places many of these 

 *' little people." 



The predaceous diving-beetle (figure 13) is well 

 named. He is a diver by profession and is a skilled 

 one. 'J'he young of this beetle are known as 

 (figure 14) and their habits justify the name. Their 

 food consists of the young of other insects; in fact we would belter 

 keep them by themsehcs unless we wish to have the acpiarium 



Fig. 13. — The freda 

 ceous (livim;- beetle. 



'' water- tigers 



