THE WATER CABINET. 109 
to cleanse them, and fit them for the glass jars at home. 
The shore should be fished first, and the operation should 
be conducted with as much quiet as possible; any dis- 
turbance will be sure to drive away many of the livelier 
creatures. Take a small net attached to a walking stick 
or short rod, and thrust it out from you as far as possible 
over the water; then quickly dip and draw it towards 
you, and land it at your feet at some little distance from 
the edge of the water. Sort out the contents of the haul 
into separate jars, though, as you cannot have as many 
jars as the kinds which the net will bring up, a little 
judicious grouping will be necessary. Spawn of all kinds 
may be placed together in the same jar with mollusks, 
tadpoles, caddis worms, and colymbetes; most beetles 
must be kept by themselves, on account of their voracity, 
as must also the several kinds of carnivorous larve, such 
as those of the Dytiscus, and the dragon fly, and water 
worms of the genus Nais. 
When the sides have been well fished, the deeper water 
may be operated on by means of the drag-net, and the pro- 
duce disposed of in the same way. 
On arriving home, sort over the jars seriatim, and dis- 
pose of the specimens according to the capacity and 
arrangement of your cabinet. The glass jars should be 
each furnished with a few tufts of some growing weeds, 
and with clear water. Some of the specimens will require 
to be washed to remove offensive matter, and some few 
will need a bottom of small pebbles, and a jar nearly filled 
with healthy vegetation. Anacharis, Myriophyllum, 
Nitella, Chara, Riccia, and choice Confervoids, are the 
