44 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ch. 



was Sir John's amusement every morning, after 

 breakfast, to walk down to them — ^they lay at a 

 lower level than the house at about two hundred 

 yards' distance — with chunks of bread from the 

 breakfast table to feed the fish. There were several 

 gold-fish, and a few perch and other kinds too, 

 but the orfes were the conspicuous people. There 

 were walks round and among the ponds, and their 

 banks were planted with bamboos and water- 

 loving flowers and shrubs, some of them rare, 

 and of bright foliage and blossom. He writes in 

 May of this year : " Have been arranging the 

 pond, putting in fish — ^three gold-fish, two carp 

 and two golden orfes and water plants." From 

 time to time he made additions to the aquatic 

 population. He was always keenly interested in 

 enriching either the fauna or the flora of Great 

 Britain by the acclimitisation of foreign species, 

 nor was he less zealous for giving adequate pro- 

 tection to any of our native kinds that were 

 threatened with extinction. He was an eager 

 supporter, for many years, of the objects of the 

 Selborne Society, as well as of that excellent 

 institution itself. 



Many of his friends on the London County 

 Council were anxious that he should resume the 

 chairmanship, and the invitation was conveyed 

 to him in a complimentary letter from the Duke 

 of Norfolk. 



The reply indicates some of Sir John's motives 

 for declining, and it is worth notice that a desire 

 to have leisure for science is named among 

 them. 



