10 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 
in the sand a number of little orange-colored 
globules, each about as large as a pea. These 
were not much in themselves, but great in their 
possibilities. In the waters above them little 
suckers and chubs and prickly sculpins strained 
their mouths to draw these globules from the 
sand, and vicious-looking crawfishes picked them 
up with their blundering hands and examined 
them with their telescopic eyes. But one, at 
least, of the globules escaped their curiosity, else 
this story would not be worth telling. The sun 
shone down on it through the clear water, and the 
ripples of the Cowlitz said over it their incanta- 
tions, and in it at last awoke a living being. It 
was a fish, —a curious little fellow, not half an inch 
long, with great, staring eyes, which made almost 
half his length, and with a body so transparent 
that he could not cast a shadow. He was a little 
salmon, a very little salmon; but the water was 
good, and there were flies and worms and little 
living creatures in abundance for him to eat, and 
he soon became a larger salmon. Then there were 
many more little salmon with him, some larger 
and some smaller, and they all had a merry time. 
Those who had been born soonest and had grown 
largest used to chase the others around and bite 
off their tails, or, still better, take them by the 
heads and swallow them whole; for, said they, 
“even young salmon are good eating.” ‘Heads 
I win, tails you lose,” was their motto. Thus, 
what was once two small salmon became united 
into a single larger one, and the process of “ad- 
dition, division, and silence” still went on. 
