34 EAMBLES BOUND FOLKESTONE. 



paid in June, 1879, to this pond. It was a delightful 

 spring day (every one knows that there was no sum- 

 mer during that year), and I wanted a few specimens 

 of the Holly Blue (Lycoena aryiolus) and the early 

 Skippers (Hesperiidce), but I saw none ; the only 

 lepidopterous creatures that entered my net were a 

 battered green Hair-streak (TJtecla rubi), and that 

 very great rarity known as Plusia yam-ma, or the 

 Silver Y. But the first hour was very delightful. 

 I got down by the pond and it was teeming with 

 life, both plant and animal. Shoals of tadpoles made 

 the water black all round the borders, there must 

 have been thousands of them ; the whirligig beetles 

 and others of that ilk were moving in mazy dances 

 over the surface, while through the clear water could 

 be seen the efts lying at the bottom, or sluggishly 

 corning up to breathe. Dragon Flies of every size 

 and hue, the big yellow or blue Libelhda depressa, and 

 the airy Demoiselles of richest azure and red, were 

 there flitting through the air and resting now and 

 then on the brambles at the side. It was just one 

 of those happy moments in a naturalist's life when 

 he feels what Wordsworth well describes as thehappi- 

 ness of simply being alive, when he stands in pleasur- 

 able wonderment at the exuberance of Hie around 

 him. 



" The cowslip startles in meadows green, 



The buttercup catches the sun iu its chalice ; 

 And there's never a leaf or blade too mean 



To be some happy creature's palace." 



I noted as a fog came creeping from the east over 

 the hills what a sudden change came over the Dragon 

 Flies, how inert they became, you could pick them 

 off the leaves with your fingers, but when the sun 



