CHAPTER I 



WATER PLANTS AND ANIMALS AND HOW THEY 



LIVE 



This book tells something about the common plants and 

 animals of fresh water and the places where they live. It 

 tries to show them in their home brooks and ponds and in 

 their native mud. 



Different waters hold their own special communities; the 

 dainty glen stream shelters companies of mayflies in its swift 

 riffles; pond shallows and meadow brooks are the homes of 

 lurking dragonfly nymphs; and wayside puddles are popu- 

 lous with mosquito wrigglers and water-fleas. In all these 

 places living things must contend with winter cold and sum- 

 mer drought, with storms and flood waters. In winter the 

 pond populations drop to the bottom, frogs and turtles dig 

 under mud and broken plants, whirligig beetles hide under 

 banks to come out with every warm spell,-, and fresh water 

 sponges are packed in tough covered capsules. In summer 

 when its own pool dries up the water boatman flies to some 

 other pond but many caddis worms burrow into the mud bot- 

 tom and endure the drought as best they can. 



How to use this book. — The table on pages 4-6 shows 

 the groups of plants and animals discussed in the chapters of 

 this book. The pictures show some of their representative 

 members and the brief notes beneath tell something character- 

 istic of them. After an animal is located in one of these groups 



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