RIVER GARDENS; 
under our eyes, undisturbed by the continual neces¬ 
sity of changing the water; thus affording us the 
curious spectacle of many phases of animal life that 
have hitherto lain concealed in depths inaccessible 
to the observation of the most curious observer. 
I can well recollect my first longings, as a 
young naturalist, to unravel the mystery of the 
teeming world of life beneath the waters. The 
Pictures of those days are still vivid as things of 
yesterday. Perhaps more so; for later sensations 
are faint in comparison to those keen first impres¬ 
sions of nature in the days of early youth. I re¬ 
member the eager, straining curiosity with which 
I endeavoured to look down into the transparent 
depths of the brooks and ponds of my native War¬ 
wickshire, seeking to trace the outline and move¬ 
ments of dim forms that I could imperfectly per¬ 
ceive gliding among the tangle of rushes and Algce 
far beneath the surface. But one favourite fish¬ 
pond, in the orchard of an old house, the residence 
of a distant relative, riveted more than any other 
my greedy curiosity. I have lain for hours on the 
grassy border of that weed-grown water, peering 
between the floating leaves of the Progbit, or 
Water Plantain, into the clear brown depths be¬ 
neath. It seemed a world full of wonders. I saw 
