GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND SKETCHES AFIELD 283 



sediment collects about their roots, causing the water to become 

 more and more shallow. Later comes the pond weed societies 

 I have described above. Year by year the filling-in process 

 proceeds while the borders have contracted. Finally, where 

 the pond formerly stood, one finds the land reclaimed, and 

 converted into a part of the wet meadow. So that by the time 

 the present generation of youth has matured, perhaps the pond 

 of one's childhood, with its many former life attractions, will 

 exist only as a cherished memory. 



The Brook Inhabitants 



A 



N the plate photographic view of 

 a landscape is shown a glimpse 

 of a winding stream cutting its 

 way through a mesophytic forest, 

 more ideal spot could scarcely be 

 found for certain biological studies. The edge of the bank on 

 the right is covered with grasses, and back of this there is an 

 abruptly sloping bank, upon which the yellow ladies' slipper and 

 wild honeysuckle find a footing. Still farther back, the May- 

 flower, Podophyllum, populates the open woods. In this stream 

 little fishes, such as darters, stickle-backs, small suckers, and 

 red-bellied minnows, seek the shadowy recesses cut by the water 

 into the overhanging earthen ledges. Or, now and then, 

 one sees them gliding out from the algae-covered boulders 

 into the glimmering light of the swaftly moving water. The 

 silty bottom affords shelter for many nymphs of dragon-flies, 



