A SMALL AQUARIUM. g 



thus avoided the cruelty of passing a pin through a living body. Having 

 chased butterflies and insects, we next desired to study the aquatic creatures 

 which swarmed in the pools of the neighbourhood. For this purpose I 

 constructed a fishing-net fitted to an iron ring, and firmly secured to a 

 wooden handle. When this was plunged under the water and drawn quickly 

 out again, it came back full of slime. In the midst of this muddy substance 

 one generally succeeded in finding the hydrophilus, tadpoles, colcoptera, 



Fig. 4. Cage for preserving living insects. 



many curious kinds of caddis-worms, tritons, and sometimes frogs, completely 

 astounded by the rapidity of their capture. All these creatures were 

 transported in a bottle to the house, and I then constructed, at small expense, 

 a glass aquarium, by means of the bell of a melon-glass turned upside down, 

 thus forming a transparent receptacle of considerable size. Four wooden 

 stakes were then fixed in the ground, and a plank with a circular hole nailed 

 on the top, in which the glass bell was placed. I next scattered some large 

 pebbles and shells at the bottom of the vase to form a stony bed, poured in 

 some water, placed a few reeds and water plants among the pebbles, and then 



