OR, PLAIN TEACHING. 



365 



and ponds, we enter new worlds, 

 possessing, like all we have 

 hitherto seen, countless charms, 

 the sum of which is enchantment. 

 Myriads of living things fly to 

 and fro over the surface of the 

 waters ; plants of new and curious 

 forms cover the surface of the 

 stagnant pool, or spring proudly 

 from among the laving waters ox 

 the stream. And creatures rising 

 from the waters where they have 

 passed the early stages of their 

 existence, spread out those gauzy 

 wings which bear them upward 

 into the realms of their highest 

 happiness.* But there are many 

 things that yet remain to be 

 described. 



" As I lay, in the early summer sun " (says 

 Mr. Noel Humphreys) " gathering the pink- 

 tinged ears of the soft-grass, or woolly holcus, 

 I turned again and again from my grassy 

 bouquet to my world of mystery, deep in the 

 water ; continually catching glimpses of some 

 moving thing that increased my curiosity to 

 the highest pitch. There was a certain exciting 

 charm to a young lad, already an expert angler, 

 in detecting the form of a great Jack lying 

 suspended in mid-water, enjoying his warm 

 noon sies'a; or in seeing a noble I'erch glide 

 majestically past, urged forward by a dignified 

 wave of his graceful tail, and with his great 

 dorsal fin nobly erect, bristling with a defiant 

 fringe of spears, which even the voracious Pike 

 generally considers an effectual defence. There 

 is, as I have said, a certain ineffable charm, 

 especially to the young angler, in watching 

 these larger and better known denizens of the 

 water ; but how much more eager is the stirred 

 curiosity to define the stranger forms of crea- 

 tures unknown, or much less frequently ob- 

 served, such as the larvae of many semi-aquatic 

 insects, or the early stages of the Newt, during 

 which his external breathing apparatus, those 

 mysterious branchiae, appear like some para- 

 sitic plant, springing from his head. How 

 much more eagerly the eye follows the gem- 

 like gleam, as it passes, which is emitted from 

 the air-filled globule of the wa'er-spider, shoot- 

 ing past like an aquatic fire-fly, but bearing a 

 flame of silver instead of gold. And then the 

 mysteriously moving mass that contains the 

 caddis- worm, or the strange antics of the larva 

 of the gnat, 220. These are the moving things, 

 with hundreds of other kindred shapes, which 

 fill the imagination with elfin-like pictures, 

 dre am-like as those it might embody in some 

 dark chamber of romance. How often did I 

 try, frequently at the risk of falling headlong 



• See insect T.auafurmutiuUft, p. 'Sit. 



into the deep pond, to fish up some of the 

 dimly-seen creatures, which so strongly excited 

 my curiosity I"* 



The water newt, 1, thus alluded 

 to, is a curious creature, under- 



1195. 



going similar transformations to 

 those which occur in the history 

 of the frog. The female lays her 

 eggs on the leaves of aquatic 

 plants. When she has found a 

 leaf which is likely to answer her 

 purpose, she takes her position 

 on one side, holding on to the 

 edge with her fore feet, while 

 with the hind feet she draws the 

 other edge over, so as to fold it, 

 and then depositing a single egg 

 within the fold, she glues it by 

 the mucus surrounding the em- 

 bryo, so as to effectually secure 

 it from injury. 



When first deposited, the egg is like a little 

 huffish white ball, surrounded by a jelly-like 

 covering, within which it moves freely ; in a 

 few days it unrolls, and gradually assumes a 

 tadpole form, still within its envelope. In this 

 state may be seen the simple rudiments of gills 

 striking out at the sides of the head. The first 

 pair of these gills constitutes holders by which 

 the animal afterwards clings to objects; and 

 immediately behind the gills are little knobs, 

 which are afterwards developed into anterior 

 legs. When it leaves the egg, it swims merrily 

 about, as most tadpoles do ; and while the 

 anterior gills become more distinct and useful 

 as holders, the hinder ones become beautifully 

 branched. By degrees the fore legs are de- 

 veloped, and the hinder ones appear at first in 

 a very rudimentary form. A fin- like keel 

 extends along both edges of the tail and over 

 the back, and the transparency of the wholffl 

 body is such that the circulation can be dtsan 

 * Kivur (J aliens, by Noel Humphreys. 



