WONDERS OF POND LIFE. 1 79 



As the astronomer, pointing to the heavens an 

 inferior telescope, can with some satisfaction view 

 many of the planets in the solar system, yet when 

 he desires to reach further finds it insufficient, so 

 with this objective we only receive hints of what 

 is beyond, and wonder at the infinitude of the 

 minute things in Nature. 



Beside these minute forms of life, that can only 

 be studied with the aid of the microscope, there 

 are many larger curiosities, which if confined in 

 an aquarium, and watched through a simple mag- 

 nifier, will afford one many hours of delightful 

 entertainment. 



The crew of that wonderful sub-marine ship 

 of Jules Verne's imagination never encountered 

 more surprising creatures than one can collect in 

 a day's search in any pond or stream within a 

 radius of ten miles of the metropolis. The gigan- 

 tic moUusk seen by Nemo at the bottom of the 

 ocean would be less amazing to me than the larvae 

 of the May-fly, the common caddis-worm, which 

 have the curious instinct of building for them- 

 selves millions of homes for the protection of 

 their dainty bodies against the crafty and greedy 

 fish. There are several species, two of which we 

 will at once put under our glass. They are work- 



