PLANT ANIMALS. 



along the banks of our canals and ponds. That 

 things are not always what they seem is here very 

 forcibly illustrated. You take up a portion of this 

 apparently dirty slimy mucous matter say on the 



FIG. 2. Charchesinm polypinum. 



point of your walking-stick and your first impulse 

 is to throw it away in disgust. Put it again into 

 the water, and it is seen to spread itself out in 

 a less repulsive appearance. Take up a small 

 portion again, put it in a small glass bottle of 

 water, and peer at it through a pocket lens; it 



