NUMBER II 

 WATER-BABIES 



OPRING is the season of young things of seed- 

 O lings, buds, and young blossom, of tadpoles, 

 nestlings, and young lambs. It is the time of new 

 beginnings, of hopes and promises ; it is the time 

 when all the world is young. 



One of the great events of spring which we are 

 apt not to notice is the multiplication of minute 

 living creatures in the waters. They swarm with 

 water-babies. Sometimes the whole surface of the 

 lake is green with minute plants, and we speak of 

 "the breaking of the meres." The same is true 

 of pond and river, of estuary and sea ; the multi- 

 plication of minute creatures is the prelude to the 

 general renewal of life. A single infusorian may 

 be the ancestor of a million by the end of a week ; 

 water-fleas eat the infusorians ; fishes eat the 

 water-fleas ; and we eat fishes. Everywhere there 

 are these long chains, like the House that Jack 

 Built. 



Young gnats and mosquitoes are among the 

 many very interesting " water-babies " to be found 

 in stagnant freshwater pools in spring. The mother 



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