42 Reminiscences of 



was attracted by this feature while playing with 

 trout through the ice. I would select a good locality 

 where the water was not over eight or nine feet in 

 depth, with a sandy bottom. Lying upon some 

 blankets, with a single one over my head, and a hook- 

 less line with a small chub tied at the end and a 

 sufficient sinker, I would bob for the trout, which after 

 a while would come swimming along, and, noticing 

 the bait, would, first indifferently, but afterwards more 

 vigorously, engage with it. By drawing away the 

 bait at the critical moment, after considerable teasing 

 the trout would follow it up, and having a fair-sized 

 hole of something less than a foot square, I would 

 shortly get the trout up near the bottom ice, and finally, 

 at a last excited dash, rapidly withdraw the bait en- 

 tirely, with my hand at my side. The trout, following 

 to the surface in its excitement, would for a moment 

 be too confused to dive below, giving me in that 

 moment the opportunity to rapidly put my hands 

 below and cast him out upon the ice, unharmed, but 

 much alarmed. This may appear difficult to do, but 

 is really quite simple, and I have taken four or five 

 trout in a forenoon from a single hole in this manner. 

 The clear, sandy bottom, and the thin blanket head 

 cover, which by no means excluded the light, gave 

 abundant opportunity to observe that the white 

 specks at first mistaken for pollen, or other foreign 

 intrusion, had a motion equal to several inches in 

 a short time, and could be observed in the still water 

 moving in various directions, some apparently with 

 a revolving motion, and others without visible ac- 

 tion. Many have advanced the spontaneity or pro- 

 toplasm theory concerning the protozoa, which is a 



