THE FKESII-WATEH AQUARIUM. 45 



to float it in still water. So witli the millions of micro- 

 scopic animals that abound in every pond and ditch — 

 without the aid of some such contrivance as an Aquarium, 

 we would not be able to keep them in any quantity so 

 as to study them at our ease. 



Header, when you are staying in the country, and miss- 

 ino- the flag-stones of the city, confessing yourself " bored " 

 with nothing to do, aud feeling the want of balls, par- 

 tics, theatres and operas, do as I shall herein bid you, 

 and my word for it, all your ennui will be dispelled very 

 quickly. Get a glass jar of some kind — a preserve-jar will 

 answer the purpose — let it hold about a gallon, and cover 

 the bottom with clean river sand and pebbles. Then go 

 to the nearest pond, aud get some of the plants that you 

 will be almost certain to see growing there beneath the 

 water, and place them in your jar, planting those that you 

 find growing in the deep soil at the bottom of the pond 

 in the gravel of your Aquarium, leaving the others to 

 float, and fill it up with water. Xow return to your pond, 

 and search at the bottom, and on the under sides of the 

 leaves of the aquatic plants, for the snails that you will 

 be nearly certain to find in those positions, and when you 

 have collected about a dozen, throw them into the water 

 of your jar. When your Aquarium is thus prepared for 

 the reception of other live stock, take a small net, made 

 by stretching a bag of bobbinct over a wire ring, and 

 attached to a long handle, proceed to your pond, plunge 

 your net, and drag it for some few feet along the bot- 

 tom ; take all it contains, when you draw it up, and 

 after washing, place it in your jar along with any fish 



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