ZOOLOGY OF A POND. 73 



To pass at once from the shore of the glorious 

 ocean, ever varying but ever beautiftil in its aspect, 

 to the bank of a common stagnant pond, seems at the 

 first glance very like the well-known proverbial step, 

 from the sublime to the ridiculous, for it must be 

 confessed that, however useful the "dull mantling 

 pool '^ may be in rural ceconomy, it can rarely put in 

 much claim to be considered picturesque in itself. 

 But this little world of waters is the constant dwelling- 

 place of a vast amount and variety of both animal and 

 vegetable organisms, which " live and move, and have 

 their being " beneath its placid surface ; and the stu- 

 dent who should sit down with the determination to 

 work out all the problems of animal life which this 

 apparently contemptible piece of water would present 

 for his consideration, would most undoubtedly possess 

 a very tolerable stock of zoological knowledge by the 

 time he had got to the end of his task, — that is, if he 

 ever attained that desirable consummation. All the 

 great divisions of the Animal Kingdom, and even the 

 majority of the classes, have their representatives 

 here, — myriads of Infusoria swarm amongst the 

 weeds, ready to puzzle the student with their multi- 

 plicity of modes of reproduction, which seem almost 

 to have been invented on purpose to produce that 

 result, — the wonderful Hydra is there also waiting to 

 be turned inside out, or cut to pieces for the benefit 

 of science, — the Horse-leech, wriggling along close to 

 the surface, represents the annelidan worms, — clouds 

 of minute Crustacea seem almost to dispute the palm 

 of littleness with the infusorial animalcules, and here 

 and there a scarlet Mite may be seen swimming 

 rapidly through the water. Of the Mollusca, we have 

 the common Pond Snails floating at the surface 



