34 



TFIE AQUAEIUM, APKIL, 1S96. 



once activity, and a scramble takes 

 place among them for its possession., 

 Whilst watching these fish a number of 

 small objects on the bottom may have 

 been noticed, looking like bits of straw 

 or fragments of twigs, with perhaps 

 two or three minute shells adhering 

 thereto. You wonder at the apparent 

 motion visible amongst them, for you 

 are sure that the current is not felt 

 down where they are, and bye and bye 

 you may notice one or more of them 

 moving diagonally, a convincing proof 

 that it is not the action of the water 

 that causes that motion. Perhaps, when 

 curiosity is so far raised, regardless of 

 disturbing your fish, you bare your 

 arm sufficiently to reach these objects, 

 and on examination you find that each 

 of them is a cylinder containing a grub 

 which, by its own secretion, has gath- 

 ered and glued together as a protection 

 for its tender body, fragments of vege- 

 table and other matter to form a cover- 

 ing, and that this is the caddis worm, 

 from which will emerge in due course 

 the May-fly. If you divest two or three 

 of these grubs of their case and keep 

 them till the alarm caused by your in- 

 vestigation has subsided, you can drop 

 one of them from time to time into the 

 stream and the excitement caused 

 thereby will afford a vast amount of 

 amusement, till one of the fish more 

 voracious than the other, has disposed 

 of it to his own benefit. It is curious to 

 watch the suspicion with which at times 

 a fresh object floating down the stream 

 is regarded. Perhaps whilst watching 

 your grub, there is, a sudden dart of a 

 dark looking object from under a sunken 

 log, a sudden disappearance of the food, 

 and as speedy a return to the sheltering 

 cover before you discover that a troiit, 

 which has hitherto given no signs of 

 his presence, has been quietly on the 



watch all the time. Another habit 

 prevalent among the tenants of the 

 pool, is that of tossing the grub about 

 by an upward movement of the nose, 

 as if sending it from one to the other 

 for inspection and report. Much fish 

 life and their curious habits can be 

 learned from the simple watching of 

 their haunts, when your presence is un- 

 suspected. 



Something meanwhile moving be- 

 neath one of the large stones or sunken 



■^pc 



The Caddis Worm. 



logs, has attracted your attention, and 

 ere long two antennae are visible, with 

 the quiet thrusting forward of a claw, 

 and then comes out with a peculiarity 

 of motion, a cray-fish, keen of vision, 

 and cautious in all its movements. 

 Eyeing the surroundings, and appar- 

 ently satisfied that everything is safe, 

 he creeps along, pausing at times in 

 his course, till suddenly some move- 

 ment on your part, or a passing shadow 

 suggests danger, and with a flip of his 

 tail, he shoots back in an instant to his 



