THE GENESEE FARMER. 



22a 



HUJST IN A HORSE -POND. 



Frogs and newts have a new interest now that 

 uariums are becoming so common, and we make the 

 lowing extracts from Bucklaud's well-known Curiosi- 

 s of Natural History, which perhaps may give our 

 ung readers a new interest in these not very attractive- 

 )king creations: 



But let us return to our horse-pond; we have been sit- 

 g there some time, looking at, and thinking about, the 

 g family. The sun is very hot, and no horse has come 

 drink. Like a dandy from his club, decked in his best, 

 J great water-newt. Sir Triton Cristatus (the king of 

 5 pond in the absence of the ducks, who are bis arch- 

 tourers,) rolls liizily forth from his hiding place. Look 

 dis beautiful coat, and his orange-colored waist-coat — 

 i?n the whole length of his back disports a magnificent 

 •st,* for just now he is in prime condition. He is in- 

 id a handsome beast, and by the way he parades him- 

 f up and down, in front of his favorite batch of weeds, 

 evidently knows it. 



"O formose, 'Triton,' niniura ne crede colori."t 

 ^e want you : how are we to get you ? The question 

 often asked, "What did your godfathers?" &c. My 

 ifather, peace to his memory, gave me a silver cup 

 1 a bit of advice. Sir Francis Chantrey was a fisher- 

 n, and a practical man. "Never," said he, "go with- 

 t a knife, a bit of string, and a sixpence." We have 

 lowed his advice, and have all those three articles in 

 p pocket. When we see the Triton, our obedience to 

 )nsorial authority is rewarded. We cut a stick with 

 r knife, we tie a bit of string to the end of it: now for 

 lOok — ah, here is pin already, in the corner of our 

 it; this is soon crooked, and a worm affixed thereto; 

 iton sees it, he snaps eagerly, we have him, and for the 

 it time in his life he is tied up in the corner of a pocket 

 idkerchief. But where is Lady Triton ? Not far off; 

 i is recognised by her crestless and russet-colored 

 3y, but she refuses the worm. She shall be caught, 

 rertheless, by means of our sixpence. This is quickly 

 mged intD fine brass wire at a neighboring shop, the 

 )prietor of which seems to sell every thing, from a 

 1 to a flitch of bacon, or a pair of old woman's pat- 

 ,s. In true hangman style, a noose of wire is made 

 1 fastened to the stick — the captive couple meet again 

 the pocket handkerchief 



rhe newts are stupid things, and do not profit by ex- 

 •lence. In a pond, in a brick-yard not far from Han- 

 11, I caught many beautiful specimens : the worm was 

 ed on to a good-sized fish-hook in this instance, and it 

 s impossible for the lizard to get the hook into its 

 uth. I had a good day's sport, although I only 

 iked one ; the others I caught by allowing them to bite 

 the worm ; they went at it fiercely like bull-dogs, and 

 d on tight like these animals. I gave my victim 



I (5nd lliat in captivity this prest bexsomes absorbed in a few 

 s; the colors on tlie belly also lose their brilliancy, 



6 h<«autiful Triton, do not trust too much to your appear- 



plenty of time, and when he had got a firm hold, quickly 

 but cautiously pulled him out of the water. If the line 

 becomes at all loose the Triton escaped. I found that 

 they were caught by their teeth sticking into the worm. 

 One Triton actually took the bait seven times, and was 

 pulled out of the water thrice before I got him. 



The scene changes: the mule and female newt have 

 now resided a week in a private crystal pabce of a globu- 

 lar shape. What we observed about them, imprimis, was 

 that they lived like Mr. and Mrs. Sprat, 'and always quar- 

 relled at dinner-time ; a worm was given them — the gen- 

 tleman did not wait for the lady, bi.t seized the one end 

 of the worm while she seized the other— each gulped 

 their portion down as fast as ItaUans their maccaroni ; 

 but there must be an end to all things, and vv'orms are in- 

 cluded in the category. In due time the loving couple 

 meet, nose to nose, each having swallowed exactly half 

 a worm. Husband looks daggers at wife, as much as to 

 say. What business have you here? The compliment is 

 returned, and they begin waltzing, twisting, twirling, and 

 rolling over each other, round and round their globe; 

 neither will drop the worm, neither will cry "peccavi;" 

 somebody must give way, anu that somebody is the poor 

 worm, who " comes a two in the middle," and settles the 

 conjugal difficulty. 



One day I quietly let a worm fall exactly between two 

 large newts that were resting at the bottom of my viva- 

 rium ; they both turned at it at the same moment, and 

 both made a bite. The worm gave a wiggle just at that 

 moment, and both newts missing him, caught hold of 

 each other by the forelegs — newt A having the right leg 

 of newt B in his mouth, and newt B the leg of newt A in 

 the same position ; they soon found out their mistake, 

 and began writhing and tumbling about over and over, 

 round and round the vivarium, as tightly fixed to each 

 other as a couple of bull-dogs, knocking off the shells 

 from the sides, and frightening the poor water-beetle out 

 of his wits, and causing him to ply his oars vigorously. 

 Both of the combatants at last seemed tired, and opening 

 their mouths, set free the captured legs; they then re" 

 tired to opposite ends of the tank, thoroughly exhausted. 

 Could these two creatures when fighting have been seen 

 under a powerful magnifier, they would have realized the 

 strange pictures we see in Mr. Hawkin's book on The 8«a 

 Dragons. 



This lizard-fishing must be profitable sport to some- 

 body, for on asking the price of some medium-sized 

 specimens at Coveut Garden, in a shop up the stairs, I 

 found they were worth threepence each. Tadpoles also 

 were saleable articles, and cost twopence a dozen, and the 

 water-beetles, that have oars like a waterman (dytiscus), 

 cost from twopence to sixpence each. Of "weed" they 

 could "make any quantity, a pennyworth, or sixpenny- 

 worth" — so something saleable is to be got even out of a 

 horse-pond. 



The dove, recollect, did not return to Noah with the 

 olive branch till the second time of her going forth ; why, 

 then, should you despond at the failure of the first at- 

 tempt? 



Cultivate your heart aright, and remember " whatso- 

 ever a mon soetU that shall he reap," 



