68 HALF-HOURS IN THE GREEN LANES. 



CHAPTEK III. 



AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN THE TARN AND THE 

 GREEN LANES. 



EFOKE leaving the pond, let us devote a 

 few minutes' attention to other of its 

 occupants against which a good deal of 

 foolish prejudice has been long enter- 

 tained foolish because ignorant. We allude to the 

 amphibians that find a congenial home amid the 

 aquatic weeds and other plants, and which, perhaps, 

 have amazed you not a little when you were attempt- 

 ing the difficult task of angling in the few square 

 inches of the clear surface. You observed your 

 float bob under water at an angle of forty-five 

 degrees, with a rapidity that caused you to clutch 

 your rod convulsively, thinking that nothing 

 less than a three-pound tench could have produced 

 the commotion. What a feeling of disappointment, 

 nay, of disgust, was yours, when you carefully 

 "struck ' your prey, and, on hauling it ashore, saw 

 a poor little eft, that you durst not disengage, 

 fastened on the hook ! Many a time have we seen 



