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CHAPTER II. 



THE FISHES, MOLLUSCA, AND OTHER OBJECTS IN THE 

 TARN. 



'OW that we are well settled by some 

 brook or tarn side, with a view to 

 making ourselves acquainted with its 

 living contents, animal and vegetable, 

 we shall find our attention almost bewildered by 

 the variety of material. It is only when you thus 

 devote yourself systematically to its examination, 

 that you wonder at the exuberance with which 

 every spot capable of supporting it is peopled with 

 life-forms. 



Foremost among the inhabitants of such streams 

 or tarns as it may dwell in is the Pike (Esox Iwius). 

 Well does it deserve its name of the " fresh-water 

 shark." No object in nature has a more cruel, 

 voracious look than this fish. Depend upon it, if 

 there is one present, he is lurking this sunny 

 morning just where the break occurs in the weeds 

 that so thickly cover the surface of the water. 

 There he will lie, as if in a comatose state, for hours, 



