NATURE STUDY LESSONS. 199 



the sky is overcast, or, if remembering, will cease to care. 

 The dredging outfit may be very simple. A tin pail 

 that once held lard or cottolene, or a glass fruit jar, will 

 serve to hold the " catch," while almost anything that will 

 scoop or dip wnll do the dredging — an old dipper with 

 small holes punched in the bottom, a skimmer, an old corn- 

 popper, a bag of stout netting attached to some sort of 

 handle — ^something of little value may be found about any 

 home that will serve the purpose admirably. 



Now all is ready for the expedition. In early spring 

 the brook will be swollen, but there are always accessible 

 points by which it may be approached, and if, by some 

 misstep, therg is a wetting, it scarcely need mar the enjoy- 

 ment of the hour. It is very doubtful if any harm will fol- 

 low. In many years of experience and observation, I have 

 never been able positively to trace a cold to a wetting of 

 the feet, or to outdoor exposure in any form. 



So once at the brook, begin to dredge, and do not be 

 over mindful of mishaps. Somewhere along the shore, 

 there will be an indentation, filled with still water, and 

 with dead leaves and mud at the bottom. This will prove 

 rich dredging ground. Every sweep of the scoop will 

 bring up large numbers of may-fly nymphs, of tw^o or three 

 kinds, some large, some small, and all rapidly waving their 

 rows of gills as they stir the water for a breath of air. 

 These should all be taken home, for, besides being inter- 

 esting objects of stud3^ they will be needed as food for 

 other creatures that may be placed in the aquarium. 



From the same quiet, pool-like places will come the 

 queer-looking dragon-fly nymphs, without which no aqua- 

 rium would be considered complete nowadays ; and there 

 will be several kinds of caddice-fly larvae — some in cases 

 built up of bits of sticks laid crosswise, in cob-house fash- 

 ion, others in houses of sticks placed lengthwise, and still 

 others in houses of leaves loosely fastened together. In 



