8 LAKES AND RIVERS. 



satisfactory work treating of British aquatic insects, 

 the information obtainable being scattered over per- 

 haps a hundred different books and articles, each of 

 which gives small contributions to the subject. 



The fresh- water shells and their inhabitants are 

 well treated in J. Gwyn Jeffreys' " British Conchology." 

 There are a few little books on pond and freshwater 

 life in its lower forms, but I do not know any really 

 important works which exhaust the subject. 



The British flowering plants and alg<z have been well 

 treated in the various editions of Sowerby's " English 

 Botany," of which the most complete is undoubtedly 

 that edited by Mr. Boswell Syme and Mrs. Lankester, 

 although the alga and other lower cryptogamic forms 

 are wanting. This little work comprises the observa- 

 tions of the author during a quarter of a century, 

 guided by the books above specified, and many others 

 which space is wanting to mention. 



Among the subjects will be found personal observa- 

 tions on the habits of the water-shrew, otter, and 

 water-vole, observations on our water birds, amphibia, 

 fresh-water fish, insects, mollusca, lower forms of 

 animal life, and aquatic botany. The fauna and flora 

 of the banks of rivers and lakes will likewise be 

 treated of, as well as those of marshes ; and occasional 



