100 A NEW ZEALAND NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



respective abodes as it is possible for living things to be ; 

 yet at one time in the life of each it was a free floating 

 organism. Thus crabs and crayfishes may be met with 

 all the year round, but they don't live all their lives in the 

 same restricted area. The young crayfish on emerging 

 from its egg passes through many metamorphoses before 

 it settles down in the guise of its parent to a life among 

 the coastal rocks. In most of these stages it is a beautiful 

 glass-like creature, of most delicate and fanciful structure, 

 which floats on the top of the open sea and is easily taken 

 in a surface net. So unlike crayfishes are these beautiful 

 little creatures that the older naturalists described them as 

 distinct species of a genus named Phyllosoina, for which 

 they formed a special family. 



Mention of these facts leads me to note that few people, 

 even of those who take an interest in such things, know 

 how much pleasure could be derived right through the year 

 by keeping an aquarium, either a fresh or a salt water one. 

 They could not keep larval crabs or crayfishes, but they 

 could come to know the habits of many of the beautiful 

 things which live in our ponds, streams, or coastal waters. 

 Our young people have not yet learned to love and appre- 

 ciate the beauties of Nature which lie around their homes. 

 We hear a good deal about Nature studies in education, 

 but most knowledge of her treasures is sought and incul- 

 cated at second hand in books. Biit no books can teach 

 like the facts themselves, and only a little encouragement 

 and observation are needed to get the interest aroused in 

 the young. 



The sea teems with life in May, as it does all the rest of 

 the year. When the lover of Nature begins to find that 

 much which interested him in the warmer months is now 

 quite past, let him turn his attention for a time to the 

 waters. I have no idea how many kinds of conspicuous 

 living things can be met with in our harbour alone. 

 I should be afraid even to hazard a guess for fear of 

 arousing incredulity, but they must be extraordinarily 

 numerous. First hand observation of these things is 

 wanted. To lie in an anchored boat in any still clear 



