6 Searlk, The Pond and its Inhabitants. [v<I"^xNx'i\ 



THE POND AND ITS INHABTrANTS. 



By J. Searle. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, i^ih Jan., 1917.) 



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 overhinig 

 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 transfoiTnations 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 arc very simple. All that 

 he requires for the collecting and carrying home of his 

 specimens is a small net made of fine 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 finer 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 tho>e uhoiit to take uj) this study, the 

 following hints will l)e useful, and may save disap]iointment 

 at the earlier stages of their work ; and the apparatus descrilKcl. 

 though simi)le and sometimes even crude, will be found just 

 as serviceable and effective as the most elaborate outfit pro- 

 curable from tjie shops of dealers in natural history stores — 

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

 done with similar a])i)aratus. 



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 iiich 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 



